Tunisian Crochet Mystery Project

By now you have had a chance to try out some Tunisian Crochet stitches and you've seen the cute little yellow duckie washcloth.

Are you ready for another quick Tunisian Crochet project? Here's one for you, but with a twist...no chart to work from and no picture! It's a Mystery Project!


With a sporting spirit, some basic supplies and the information you will find below, you can whip up a fun little something which will be both attractive and useful. It will be nice enough to give as a gift or to keep for yourself. It can be used in the bathroom or the kitchen, so choose your yarn color accordingly.

What you will need:

• 1 ball crochet cotton such as Sugar 'n Cream in a solid color
• Size K-10 1/2 afghan hook
• scissors
• large-eye blunt point darning needle
• magnetic board or ruler to help keep your place on the pattern (optional)
  

Stitches to review before beginning:

• Tunisian Knit
• Tunisian Purl

Pattern:

NOTE: One row consists of the forward half where you pick up the stitches, and the return half where you work the stitches off the hook. Loop left on hook does not count as a stitch. See video tutorials listed above for demonstration if necessary.

Chain 33 to begin.

Row 1-4: Tunisian Knit (K) all 32 stitches.

Row 5: K 4, Tunisian Purl (P) 2, K 7, P 2, K 2, P 2, K 7, P 2, K to end

Row 6: K 4, P 2, K 6, P 8, K 6, P 2, K to end

Row 7: K 12, P 8, K to end

Row 8: K 13, P 6, K to end

Row 9: K 14, P 4, K to end

Row 10: K 9, P 3, K 3, P 2, K 3, P 3, K to end

Row 11: K 9, P 4, K 6, P 4, K to end

Row 12: K 9, P 5, K 4, P 5, K to end

Row 13: K 5, P 2, K 3, P 4, K 4, P 4, K 3, P 2, K to end

Row 14: K 4, P 4, K 3, P 3, K 4, P 3, K 3, P 4, K to end

Row 15: K 4, P 5, K 5, P 4, K 5, P 5, K to end

Row 16: K 5, P 5, K 4, P 4, K 4, P 5, K to end

Row 17: Repeat Row 16
Row 18: Repeat Row 15
Row 19: Repeat Row 14
Row 20: Repeat Row 13
Row 21: Repeat Row 12
Row 22: Repeat Row 11
Row 23: Repeat Row 10
Row 24: Repeat Row 9
Row 25: Repeat Row 8
Row 26: Repeat Row 7
Row 27: Repeat Row 6
Row 28: Repeat Row 5
Rows 29 - 32: K all stitches

Bind off with slip stitch. Work a single crochet border all around, working 3 single crochets into each corner. Join with slip stitch into first single crochet, cut yarn, pull through loop and tighten. Using your darning needle, weave in beginning and ending yarn tails.

Enjoy your new _______! If you would like the chart for this pattern, just send me a picture, or a link to a picture, of your completed ______ along with your email address and I'll email the chart to you.

Happy Stitching!

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Another February Finish and a Crochet Mystery Project?

One Pay It Forward gift is finished and has been added to my list of finishes for the One Project a Month challenge on my sidebar. I'd love to show you a picture of the completed item in its proper context, but I think the person who will receive this reads my website. So you'll have to wait until I send it off and know it has been received before I spill the beans! Sorry.

But here's a consolation prize for you...

Recently you read here about how to work the Tunisian Rib, and I mentioned at the end of that article that I had come up with an interesting way to use that technique. Well, I thought I would make it even more interesting and offer it to you as a mystery project. What do you think of that idea? If there is interest in a Tunisian Crochet Mystery, I would love to present this little project in that format. I will tell you up front that it won't cost you very much money and it could even cost you nothing if you have the supplies on hand. I will also say that it is not a very big project, so it won't take long to finish. If I were to sit down and start it now, I could have it finished in a couple of hours, so maybe plan on a couple of evenings if you are a slow crocheter.

So what do you say? Are you up for a little mystery project using your new skills with Tunisian crochet? Leave a comment and let me know.

Happy Stitching!

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Fascinating and Amazing!

A friend sent me a link to this amazing website that I just have to share with all of you who are in any way interested in knitting. It's called Bugknits, and browsing through it has given me a whole new appreciation for my size 10 1/2 knitting needles! The woman's name is Althea Crome and she lives in Indiana. You can read about her on the site. While you are there, take some time and look at each of the galleries listed on her sidebar. She knits in miniature, but not just normal everyday miniature like a little sweater to use on a stuffed teddy bear or to hang on the Christmas tree. She describes it as "dollhouse for a dollhouse scale" and you have to see it to believe it. Make sure you watch the short video that is on her main page. Truly amazing!

Another fascinating article I want to share with you is this one from a newspaper in Kentucky from last September. It has absolutely nothing to do with needles or hooks or yarn or fabric, but I just thought it was so clever and artistic that you might enjoy seeing it too. I love a new Sharpie as much as the next guy, and this guy apparently had quite a thing going with a few of them!

And now on a more relevant topic for Hooked On Needles, did you all know that Myra over at Blue Meadow Designs is offering another mystery quilt? It's true! Remember the Criss Cross Applesauce quilt that I did a few months ago? That was from Myra's site. This new mystery quilt uses a charm pack plus a few yards of other fabric. I was lucky enough to win the charm pack prize drawing that Myra did from all those who sent pictures of their completed Criss Cross Applesauce top and I've been looking for a project where I could use it. I think I've found it!

My 2009 Project List is getting a little more Red every week or so lately as I finish projects that have sat idle and begin others. I've started working on one of my Pay It Forward gifts which uses a knit stitch that I will be sharing with you shortly. But I just discovered that Mary Maxim is having a Knit and Crochet Contest with the grand prize winner receiving a total of $2000, so I just might have to finish up what I'm working on and get busy creating a winning afghan design. I'll let you know if I decide to enter the contest, and of course you'll know if I win!

Happy Stitching!

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Fun New Year's Quilting Projects

There are so many creative and generous people out here on the internet sharing their ideas and patterns and imagination with anyone who wants to click or bookmark or subscribe. I have found a couple of long-term projects being shared by designers I have been following for quite a while now, and I thought you might find them exciting as well.

The first one I want to share with you today comes to us from Sandi Andersen in Minnesota and her website A Legacy of Stitches.

This is the Block of the Month for January, a handsome snowman with a smart hat and scarf to keep him warm and cozy. I can't resist a cozy snowman so this one really caught my eye. Sandi offers her pattern for this right on her website or you can request an email of the PDF file. Sandi will be sharing a block a month for 2009. These blocks will feature something special about each month and she suggests making them into one quilt or finishing each separately to be used as seasonal wallhangings. I am sure each one will be more creative than the last!

The other project I want to share with you today is found on Helen's website Hugs from Helen. You might remember that Helen was the brains behind the Stitcher's Angel Swap that provided me and so many others with great opportunities to make friends from all around the world.



Helen's project is a 65 inch square Mystery Quilt which she will be presenting during Australia's summer holidays which coincide with our very cold and icy winter up north here. She calls it The Great Summer Holiday Mystery Quilt. The fabric requirements are posted this week, and next week she will begin with the instructions. If you just can't stand a mystery and you must know what you are getting yourself into before starting, Helen even provides a link that will reveal the mystery and show you what the finished quilt looks like. But that would be spoiling the fun, don't you think?

If you are looking for a new project for the new year, there are two fun ideas that could keep you busy and creative for quite some time. I have admired Helen's and Sandi's work since I first started following each of them and I just know they will not disappoint.

Happy Stitching!

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Mystery Quilt Project Finishing Finale -- Finally!

The last few finishing details are all that is left for this fun Mystery Quilt Project I've been working on. The next thing I did after layering the backing, batting and top, and machine stitching the quilting lines, was the binding. On other quilt projects, I have left the backing big enough around the edges so that I could simply fold over the extra and stitch it in place on the front, but for this quilt, I decided to cut bias binding from my leftover piece of backing fabric and bind it that way.

Here's an easy way to make bias binding from a square of fabric...

You can go to this handy bias binding calculator to see how big your square of fabric needs to be in order to get the length of binding you need. For this little quilt, I used a 17 inch square of fabric and drew my lines 2 1/4 inches apart which gave me enough to bind the quilt and have about 8 inches leftover.

So you figure out what size square to start with, then you cut the square in half diagonally. Sew your triangles together with two short sides right sides together and the right angles at opposite ends from each other. Mark lines parallel to the long side of the triangles the required distance apart for the size binding you want to make.

You can either cut the strips at this point and sew them together end to end, or you can sew the other two short ends of the triangles together, matching up the marked lines but offsetting them by one. This will seem very awkward, but if you do it this way, you will only have to sew this one seam instead of having to piece all the short strips together individually. After sewing the offset seam, start at one overhanging side and cut along your marked line, going around and around until you have one long strip of bias binding. It's a real time saver once you figure it out!

The next step in binding the quilt is to fold the binding in half with the wrong sides together and pin the raw edges to the raw edge of the quilt on the top side. Stitch the binding to the quilt using a 1/4 inch seam.


Now bring the folded edge of the binding to the back of the quilt and pin it in place over the stitching line.


Using the blind stitch, hand stitch the folded edge of the binding to the backing of the quilt. To do this, you simply take a small stitch in the backing fabric, bring your needle up into the binding fabric and take a small stitch, then back down into the backing fabric and so on, in a sort of weaving motion, until you have gone all the way around the quilt. This makes an invisible seam where the thread runs along the edge of the binding, alternating between the backing and the binding.


This is what it looks like on the back once the binding is complete.



Remember the little stitching mistake I made where I stitched the edge of the backing to the back of the quilt? I figured out how to cover it up...this is where I placed my label. It was actually a good place for it since it was close to the edge. Now that mistake can be our little secret, right?


On a scrap of the gold fabric from the front of the quilt, I wrote my little label with the quilt name and date and my name on it. Then in keeping with the "criss-cross" theme again, I stitched it onto the back using the herringbone stitch, just like I used in the assembly of the "Here Kitty" scissor holder I made for my Angel Swap friend Lyn in Australia. I think it's such a pretty stitch anyway, don't you?


So this is what the finished back looks like.


And here is the finished front -- finally! I think I will put this in the center of the table at Christmas with a pretty wreath or flower arrangement on it. A very satisfying finish to a fun project. Thanks Myra!

Happy Stitching!

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Mystery Quilt Project Finishing Begun

Myra's Mystery Quilt Project, Criss Cross Applesauce, is almost finished! It was so fun to work on a little project like this that could be completed in such a short time. The layering and quilting is complete and I used something on my sewing machine that I have never used before -- the darning foot. You must understand that I've only had this machine for 25 years, so we can't rush into things you know!

Here's how it all came together...



The backing is the same green leaf fabric as in the 9-patch blocks. I layered that with the batting and the quilt top and then pinned it at regular intervals to keep the layers from shifting while I sewed the quilting lines.


I got my darning foot all attached and my thread and bobbin ready, then I folded up the quilt so it would be more manageable at the sewing machine. Then I stitched diagonally from corner to corner, right through the green squares making a big X of green machine stitches on the quilt. I then stitched in the same manner the four shorter rows of green squares. This wasn't enough quilting so I decided to stitch an X through each of the four big tan blocks and extend those lines through the border blocks as well.


I am not very good at eyeballing longer straight lines, so I used masking tape to mark where I wanted this second set of stitching lines to go. Stitching just along side of the tape, I was able to stitch four pretty straight lines starting from the corner of one border block, going through two big tan blocks and finishing at the far corner of the other border block. I used tan thread for these stitching lines.


This is the design that the quilting lines made on the back of the quilt -- nice neat squares, unless you look too closely. Then you would see that this really is my first experience with the darning foot and having to guide the piece myself and move it along to regulate the stitch size. Some stitches are longer and some are shorter, and sometimes the stitching strays from the path just a bit, usually from where I had to stop and adjust the quilt and then start again.


And here's another mistake I made. Can you tell what happened here? The edge of the backing was folded underneath the quilt and I stitched it to the back. Ooops! Luckily I was able to cut around the stitching and not cut into the fabric that was needed for the back of the quilt. Whew!


So here's what it looks like with all the quilting done. I really enjoyed using the darning foot once I got the hang of it. I liked how it raised itself up with each stitch so that the fabric wouldn't bunch up on the top and leave puckers. I also like the simple straight line quilting design I did on this, sort of in keeping with the "criss-cross" theme of the quilt.

Now all that is left to do is the binding which I will show you next time, along with a super easy and efficient way to make a really long piece of bias binding from a square of fabric. If you've never tried this trick, you won't want to miss it!

Happy Stitching!

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A Fun Find - Red Delicious Mystery Block of the Month

I've always wanted to do a Block of the Month (BOM) quilt, but have never been brave enough to take the plunge and just do it. I was browsing around some new websites and came across Esther's Blog for the first time and I liked what I saw there. Her fabric stash is amazing and she is offering a very fun Mystery Block of the Month pattern to use up some of that stash.



The Red Delicious Mystery BOM pattern will be available for download from her website sidebar for a short time each month. Once a new block is available, the previous block will be removed. So if you are interested in doing this mystery quilt, you might want to bookmark her page or add it to your following list.

I don't have a very extensive fabric stash myself, so I think what I will do with this is use the fabrics I have anyway which will make the quilt not so Red, but hopefully still Delicious! We'll see.

I thought this sounded like a fun project to do for the new year and I'm looking forward to having a little something to ... well ... look forward to each month. Won't you join me?

Happy Stitching!

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Mystery Quilt Project -- Top Complete!

I am very happy to report that the top of the Mystery Quilt Project Criss-Cross Applesauce is finally complete! I waited anxiously for the final installment so I would know if I had pieced my corner blocks correctly, and after seeing the graphic that Myra provided, it appeared that I would have to remake mine. Then she posted a picture of the original quilt and I discovered that my corner blocks were correct! It was Myra's graphic that needed a little tweaking!

Here's my finished top...


What do you think? I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I love the red, green and gold fabrics. I haven't quite decided if I am happy with the tan leaves, but it really was the best option I had considering where I found my fabrics for this project. I like the tan leaves with the green, but I just don't think it looks that great with the paisley or the gold.

Anyway, I really do like the overall pattern of this little project. I have always loved 9-patch and Irish Chain types of quilt patterns. I like how the green squares turn into triangles in each corner. And I like the big open spaces made by the four large tan blocks.

My original plan was to back this with the green fabric and bind it with the paisley. Although now I am considering binding it with the green so that the outside edge would be a nice contrast to the paisley. Then I have to figure out what to do for the quilting. Oh, the possibilities!

What do you think? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Have you ever done a Pay It Forward exchange? I'm still looking for a few generous souls to join me. I would love to make something special just for you!

Happy Stitching!

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Mystery Quilt Project -- Fourth Installment Done

The Corner Blocks for the Criss-Cross Applesauce Mystery Quilt Project are complete and I really like how the colors work together. Take a look and see what you think:


I had a little trouble with the instructions though. In the previous installment, using my numbering system worked out great for keeping the fabrics organized. But in this 4th installment which explains how to assemble the corner blocks, I tried numbering the graphic like I did before and I ended up needing cuts of fabrics that I did not have.

For instance, the piecing instruction called for 2 inch squares of fabric #3 (my green) and fabric #4 (tan leaves) being put together in a 4-patch block, then a 2 x 3 1/2 inch rectangle of fabric #1 (red paisley) being added to the end. Then another rectangle of #1 added to another square of #3 and that piece added to the bottom. But the cutting instructions did not call for 2 inch squares of the tan fabric or rectangles of the paisley. They did, however, call for 2 inch squares of the paisley and rectangles of the gold.

This is what it would look like if I had followed the written piecing instructions and cut extra pieces to go along with it.

Instead, I went with the pieces I had already cut according to the cutting instruction. So I used the squares of green and paisley and the rectangles of gold to make my corner blocks.

Of course, this being a Mystery Quilt, I don't know if I made the right decision or not! I am very excited about getting the next installment of instructions so I can see if I should have cut the extra fabric and followed the piecing instructions, or if using the fabrics I had already cut up was the right solution to this discrepancy. I'll be checking Myra's Blue Meadow's Designs first thing in the morning hoping she will reveal the mystery!

I will be sure to reveal my Mystery Quilt to you just as soon as it's finished!

Happy Stitching!

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Mystery Quilt Project -- Third Installment Done

I really want to be all caught up when the last installment of the Mystery Quilt Project from Blue Meadow Designs comes out soon. I have finished the third installment now and I think I like how it is turning out.

After cutting all the fabric according to the instructions, I started putting them back together. Here are the Nine Patch Blocks and the Border Blocks for the Criss-Cross Applesauce Mystery Quilt Project.


In the instructions, Myra included colored graphics to help make the directions easier to understand. I took my numbering system that I used when I cut the fabric and wrote the corresponding numbers on the graphics so that I could match my fabrics with the colors on the graphics. That made it much easier to get the right fabrics together instead of having to rely on the descriptions. So the purple in the graphic was numbered 3 (my green fabric), the yellow was numbered 2 (my tan leaves fabric), the green was numbered 4 (my gold fabric) and the flower print was numbered 1 (my red paisley fabric).

You can see in the above picture that I now have some Nine Patch Blocks made out of the green and tan fabrics, numbers 3 and 2 respectively. And I also have some Border Blocks made out of the gold and red paisley fabrics, numbers 4 and 1 respectively.

If I follow the instructions correctly, I should be able to continue using my numbering system throughout this Mystery Project to keep my fabrics straight.

Next time I'll show you the four corner blocks assembled and share with you a little problem I had with my numbering system. Or maybe it was a problem with the instructions? We'll see.

Happy Stitching!

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Mystery Quilt Project -- Second Installment Done

A few days ago I showed you the fabrics I purchased for Myra's Mystery Quilt Project called Criss-Cross Applesauce. Well, I have finished the second set of instructions which tell how to cut up the fabric. See what I have...


It sure doesn't look like much now that it's all cut up. I found the cutting instructions very clear once I numbered the fabrics listed in the first installment. So I numbered them like this:

1. #1 Border print and binding (red paisley)
2. #2 Background print (light tan leaves)
3. #3 Tone-on-tone print (green leaves)
4. #4 Tone-on-tone print (gold)

Then I printed out the October 11th post from Blue Meadow Designs which has the cutting instructions. The background fabric is listed first here so I numbered that with a big 2 so that I would be sure to use the correct fabric for that cutting instruction. Next is the cutting instruction for the border print fabric so that got a big 1 next to it. The first tone-on-tone was next so it got a big 3 and the other tone-on-tone was numbered 4.

I did all the cutting as instructed based on my numbering system to keep the fabrics straight. Then I moved on to the third installment in which Myra shows how to assemble a Nine Patch Block and a Border Block. She even has really cool illustrations to make it easier.

Next time, I'll show you how my blocks turned out and share some more helpful hints on how I kept track of what fabric went where.

Happy Stitching!

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Mystery Quilt Project Begun!

On one of the blogs I follow, Myra's Tactile Pleasures in Fabric, Myra reminded me of a Mystery Quilt Project that had started up a few weeks earlier and which I had forgotten about. The first post about it gave information on what fabrics would be needed and the amounts of each. You can find that post on a different Myra's blog called Blue Meadow Designs, but you'll have to go to the October archives and scroll down to the October 6th post.

Anyway, Myra of Blue Meadow Designs says that the finished project will be a small table square measuring 24 1/2 inches and it's called Criss-Cross Applesauce. That name conjured up images of fall and leaves and apples and warm colors in my mind, so this is what I picked out for my fabrics...




Now I can move on to the next installment which can be found in Myra's October 11th post. In this step, she tells how to cut the fabric. That seems a bit frightening to me without knowing how it's going to be put back together. But I guess this is the beauty of coming into a mystery project after most of the instructions have already been revealed!

If you are interested in doing this project, you can just look through Blue Meadow Designs and find the other two posts with instructions on this project. The next one is on October 26 showing how to assemble some of the blocks. The fourth installment is on November 3rd showing more of the assembly.

Around November 10th Myra will reveal the final step in the project and then your mystery will be solved. How fun!

Post a comment here if you are participating in this or any other mystery project so we can all see your mystery revealed. Also please let me know if you hear of any other mystery projects like this so I can share them with my readers and perhaps participate in them as well. I love a good mystery!

Happy Stitching!

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