Slippery ends

I finally sucked it up and got back to work on the crochet blanket that I'd been avoiding. It turns out, if you make no attempt to pick up the same number of stitches on each side, it's really easy and looks fine.



Don't know why I didn't think of that before.

That is the Tiramisu Baby Blanket, mine Raveled here. (That shows an old picture, by the way. I ripped it out and started over after that one was taken. It looks a bit better now.) I love this yarn, Shine, but I can't convince myself that the ends will stay woven in, so I usually go through and secure all of them with thread. Am trying to decide if I should do that, or trust the crochet. Then this will get washed, get a jaunty ribbon (which will probably also be secured with thread because otherwise I'll spend the next 18 years with the niggling thought that the ribbon will come undone and strangle little first-cousin in his sleep, won't somebody think of the children?!, etc.), and then be mailed off.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I started another quilt I started designing during my captive free time. This one came about because I've had in my stash for years (4? 5, maybe?) several yards of large-scale Amy Butler Lotus prints. I like the fabric a lot, but I don't remember buying it and I don't really know what I was planning to do with it.

I was struck one day with the genius idea that large-scale fabric should be showcased in large-scale designs. This was after I'd considered using the yardage for quilt backs but decided that I didn't want to relegate them to where they'd rarely be seen.

My plan called for combining half-square triangles and quarter-square triangles in a windmill block. In a quilting class I took, the instructors taught us neat little ways of avoiding working with bias edges.



...But I couldn't remember how to combine different types of triangles.


So I did all the math with their handouts, then did a test run with some fabric that was near the bottom of my stash, if you get my drift.



Success! Then I made sure that with my projected measurements, I'd have enough fabric. Because I have plenty (or actually, in terms of the stripey fabric, just barely enough), I'll be making two of these and selling one.



This is what we've got so far. Perhaps I need a bigger design wall.