Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Intro!

Well, it's that time of year again - the launch of Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's annual mystery quilt!  This year's quilt is called "Grand Illusion", in reference to her stay at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  Her color choices for this year's quilt are beautiful, of course, and inspired by the hotel itself.  I, however, am doing something a bit different this time around.

I've been wanting to make a Christmas quilt for several years now, and have been toying with the idea of using Christmas fabrics with a mystery quilt.  This year, I decided to go for it.  Not only am I using nearly all Christmas prints, but I'm also switching up the colors from her recommendations and only using one fabric per color.  I'm well aware that my end result will be drastically different from the original, but I'm okay with that.  Bonnie's quilts are really well designed, and I think that I'll be thrilled with the results!

So, without further ado, here are my fabric selections:

From left to right, my red & gold print is her yellow, the light green is her green, my dark green is her turquoise/aqua, and my red print is her pink.  The black subs for her black scraps, and my white print is her neutral.


Here is the link to the mystery's introduction, for color suggestions and fabric requirements. This week's clue was a big one, so I'm off to go cut and sew, and think about Christmas!

Roses on the Breeze - Clue 4

I was finally able to sit down and work on clue 4! I'm about a week past the release date, but I didn't even let myself download the directions until Tuesday night, as I really did have to spend some time studying for a test.  Then life interfered, as it seems to, and here I am finally finishing this second to last clue:

I did have just enough yarn and beads - 29 beads left, in fact.  That cut it a little close for me, but it did work out.  I've really enjoyed this knit, from choosing the yarn and beads to dyeing the yarn to knitting it up. I know I'll be excited to have it finished, but I'm kind of sad to see it come to an end...

Follow my project on Ravelry here.

Roses on the Breeze - Clue 3

I spent most of yesterday knitting.  I probably should have been studying, but we won't go there. :)

I'm getting kind of low on Yarn A and my beads... I should have plenty, but I'm getting slightly nervous.  I looked at the amounts of yarn used by the test knitters, and clue 4 is the last one that uses Yarn A, so hopefully I'll be okay.  Anyway, here it is - clue 3:

Follow my progress on Ravelry here.

Ocean Depths #2

The second clue may have gone quickly for Betsy, but I didn't find it quite as smooth. The problem was all me - misreading the pattern and some abbreviations - definitely a matter of the brain seeing what it expects, not what's there. but eventually, with several false starts, I did get it finished. I really like the way the second yarn interacts with the first. The Diadem adds silkiness and shine as well as a looser texture. I look forward to using more of it.

Ocean Depths #1

So, my version of Ocean Breeze is done in deep greens.  When I got together with Betsy to choose colors I mentioned that I'd realized recently that I don't have anything green in my closet. And I love green - it's one of my favorite colors. But it has to be the right shade to look good on me. Jewel tones are good, and I loved these two yarns together. The main yarn is a silk/merino blend, the contrasting one is 50% alpaca, 50% silk. The color is almost evergreen - and I love it. It was harder to choose the beads. They don't come in the right shade of green, so I went with clear triangles lined with black.

The first clue consisted of a chart with yarn overs, decreases, and beads added in pairs. The chart is repeated eight times, and it took me about four-five hours to complete it. I'm not fast, especially when using beads, but I really enjoy using them and I found the simple pattern very relaxing and interesting to knit.

Now I'm off to work Clue #2!

Roses on the Breeze MKAL - Clue Two

This one went quickly - maybe three hours total.  It was fun to get to use the second yarn, and start seeing some textural contrast!

Follow my progress on Ravelry here.

Roses on the Breeze - Clue One

Here it is - the first clue is done!

It went pretty quickly, and I'm thrilled with the way my yarn looks!

Follow my progress on Ravelry here.

Roses on the Breeze - an MKAL

Mom and I have been eagerly anticipating a mystery shawl knit-along (aka, an MKAL) on Ravelry by one of my favorite shawl designers - Boo Knits.  Since the MKAL is finally set to begin in a couple of days (you can find the pattern "Ocean Breeze" here on Ravelry), I thought I'd go ahead and share my yarn and bead choices.

Boo typically uses amazingly decadent, gorgeous and expensive yarns for her shawls - they're beautiful, and they make beautiful shawls.  Her yarn recommendations for this shawl are no different.  However, due to my current budget restrictions (broke nursing student here), I had to choose between making do with something else, or not making the shawl right now.  I've made enough of her designs to know that they turn out fabulously no matter what kind of yarn I use, and not making it was not an option!  So, I'm making do.

The biggest, most important thing about choosing yarn for this shawl is texture.  It calls for two yarns of the same color, but different textures - one silky and smooth, the other fuzzy.  What I ended up doing was getting two different bare yarns and dyeing them together.  I've used both of the yarns that I chose - Knit Picks' Gloss and Bare Hare (both fingering weight) separately, so I know that they do have very different textures once washed and blocked, although they don't look all that texturally different in the skein. 

Then I looked at what colors I've already used to make shawls, and what colors I still wanted.  I decided that I needed something rose-colored.  But it had to be the right rose - not too pink, not too dark or light... I found an acid dye that produced a color that I liked (PRO Wash Fast Wine Rose), so that began several weeks of experimenting and trying to get the dye results to match my vision.

I wasn't about to just dye my yarn and see what happened, so I started practicing.  My first attempt turned out much too dark, too wine-colored and not rosy enough:

My second try was much better (yes, the exact same dye produced both results!):

I was really happy with that, so then I dyed my yarn for the MKAL:

I love the way that it turned out (yes, I hang my yarn to dry over the kitchen sink on metal bbq skewers held down by my plastic storageware - making do, remember)!  I got the tone differences that I wanted, without clear lines between the shades.  I'm hoping that it gives a beautifully mottled effect.

So now I have my yarn dyed - and that was almost as fun as actually knitting - I found my beads, and I wound my yarn into balls.  I'm all ready!  Bring on the first clue!!!

**If you want to follow along with me on Ravelry, my project page for Roses on the Breeze is here.**

How I Spent My Five Days of Summer Vacation

Friday~
 My first attempts with royal icing flowers:

  And my first time dyeing with acid dyes:

Saturday~
 Chocolate cake with blackberry filling and white chocolate buttercream for my Mother-in-Law:

And 24 cupcakes using leftover batter and icing for the church bake sale:

Sunday~ church and visiting with the in-laws.


Monday~
 Housework, knitting, cooking, and having Mom over for her Mother's Day:

  
Tuesday~
 More knitting and dyeing!

Not Your Mama's Chicken and Potatoes

One of the keys to healthy eating and weight control is having an arsenal of recipes you like to fix and love to eat. But even the best recipes can get tiring, or something can happen to make them less accessible. In my case, the fact that my oven died has kind of messed up menu preparation. And I confess that I fell back on a lot of microwave or take-out meals. Then Betsy started raving about the great recipes in the May 2014 issue of Cooking Light. "Every Recipe under 25 Minutes" means pretty much everything is done on the stove-top. Of course, my subscription had just expired, so I picked up a copy at the newsstand, and I'm pretty sure this is the first of many meals I'll be making from it. In the case of Greek-Style Chicken Breasts and Herbed Gold Potatoes, the combination of kalamata olives, oregano, lemon juice and feta is mouth watering. And most of the ingredients are staples in my kitchen.

I only made two servings of the chicken, since there are so many others I want to try, too. But I'm pretty sure it will make great leftovers. And the potatoes are just right with it. If I'd had fresh green beans I think they would have been the perfect accompaniment. Steamed spinach or a tossed salad with vinaigrette dressing would work, too. One more note about this meal - it was tasty and filling. I realized I'd forgotten to eat lunch,so I munched an apple while cooking, and that and this meal left me plenty full when I'd finished. That's pretty awesome for a meal that came in at 10 Weight Watcher's Points by only reducing the fat a bit.

Note: Later in the week I heated the last of the Herbed Potatoes with some sliced turkey sausage, and it tasted amazing. I wasn't sure if the seasoning of the potatoes would hold it's own with the sausage, but it did. I got a delicious, quick and healthy dinner in about 4 minutes. Can't get better than that!