A variety of critters visit Cloud 9 - deer, wild turkeys, and even bears. I suspect that Bear is a totem animal for Debbie. Friday is her birthday, and I got this crazy idea to make a pillow for her cabin, using the bear paw quilting pattern, but instead of piecing fabric, to knit squares. Here's the result...
The squares were knit on the diagonal, which surprisingly gives them a woven look. The yarn is Lamb's Pride Bulky which is 85% wool and 15% mohair, singles. I knitted 4 large brown squares, 4 small white squares, and 16 small squares that are half white and half brown. (Actually, I ran out of brown, so for a "design element", one of them is half white and half green.) I had lots of ends to sew in, and when I started to sew them together, discovered the small squares were a little too big. So.... I sewed those together with a seam, and then just butted the large square next to the resulting L to stitch those parts together. It gave the bear claw some dimension - isn't it lovely when a solution to a mistake gives you a bonus effect? Last, but not least, I crocheted a join between each quarter square, and then between halves, and then around the edges. I partially felted the result to make it softer and to shrink it slightly, and low and behold, it ended up the perfect size to stitch to a commercial 18" x 18" pillow (brown chenille.)I just got word today that the package had arrived, and she really likes it. :-D I am so happy about that! And.... she's going to take it to Cloud 9, which is perfect.
Happy Birthday, Debbie!!!
4 comments:
Cool to see the cross-over from quilting to knitting! I've been thinking about quilting block design and weaving block design lately.
(I like to believe that my various somewhat scattered pursuits inform one another and lead to cool synergies.....rather than that they totally dilute my efforts!)
Sue
It has never in ly life occurred to me to sew a pillow top to an already created pillow. Thank you!
Also, thank you for the award :). I am in the midst of book-edits and basically hate the computer right now, but when I calm down, I will post a response. In the meantime, I clicked on your other awardees and was rewarded with tons of great posts! Thankyou doubly :).
S.
I wouldn't normally have sewn this to a bought pillow - I would have preferred to have knitted a back, and then made a pillow insert. But... I bought the yarn on ebay a month or so ago, and since this wasn't a well-planned project, I ran out of brown and green. I didn't want to use white for the back of the pillow. I looked through my stash for fabric, but didn't like anything I came up with, so... with time running out, well, they say necessity is the mother of invention, right?! :-)
Can't wait to see your new book, Sara! And thank you - you are the person who got me into reading blogs, and then encouraged me to start one. Thanks!
This from said birthday girl, who just loves her new pillow. Deanna, you are the most creative and clever person I know! I'm honored by your gift, and it'll be moving up to Cloud 9 tomorrow. Perhaps it'll provide some protection from all those bears...
Debbie
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