Hybrid Afghan

This is an afghan I made last year and I just finished weaving all the ends in last week.  This is a special blanket and I’ll tell you why.  It was made with one hundred percent new materials.  Normally, I don’t do that.  People have unloaded an incredible amount of craft material on me that someone purchased and didn’t use before they died.  Moving to BC meant that I left any craft material I wasn’t madly in love with back in Alberta.  So last year, I didn’t have the same craft supply to draw projects from, so I decided to try something different that required initial shopping; a hybrid blanket.  This is how it went down. 

First, we have the fabric.  The purple fabric was fabric I bought years ago, because I loved the print.  It was probably around the time prints like that first came out.  Now they’re everywhere and that is the least interesting coloured square.  I almost didn’t use it, but I wanted the blanket to be actual blanket size and the extra colour brought me into the right dimensions for that.  Then we have the green and the grey.  Both of those I got out of a remnant bin, so they were super cheap.  The yellow was on sale.  The black and the pink were full price.  I only bought half a meter of those and my wallet burned while I did it.  So, since I only had half a meter of the black, pink and yellow, I sat down with my calculator and made the squares the best size they could be to make the most of the fabric.  I used the same amount of all colours.  I cut all the fabric and all the quilt batting.  I did not have a quilters wheel.

So, then, we get down to sewing on the machine.  I sewed each block right sides together with a matching block (didn’t want weird colours bleeding through the yellow per say).  Turned them inside out, stuck in my quilt batting, and then sewed an extra line all the way around the outside.  Now, those of you who know what I did, know that I then had a little hole in each one of those blocks between the seam from when I turned it inside out.  Some of them got sewn shut when I sewed the square about 5mm from the edge.  Some of them didn’t. 

Next, I took white baby weight yarn and blanket stitched by hand all the way around all the squares, so I would have something to crochet into.  It also closed any remaining holes.

I used the same baby white yarn to crochet three border lines around each square.  Doing one square probably took about an hour. 

Then, I arranged all the squares the way I wanted them and whip stitched them together… on both sides. 

Then, I did the border.  The border just went in a seashell type pattern until I ran out of yarn.  I also added a little gray line on one side that I think it quite charming.

Finally, I weaved in the ends and proclaimed it finished.

Now, I have some things to say about this project. 

The sewing part took a couple weeks and the crocheted part took like six months.  I had no idea quilting was such an easy hobby.  Really easy.  That’s why you go into those quilting shops and the ladies have cut their fabric into diamonds two inches long and with the seam allowance, there’s only one inch that’s visible.  They’re trying to make it harder.  That’s the goal, because that’s the only way quilting is going to stand up to other hobbies with a similar ratio of money spent on materials versus how long you were entertained by it.

The next thing to point out is that crocheting into a solid piece of fabric is the pits.  When you crochet into the work you have already completed it has a bit of give to it that is very pleasant and I completely took for granted.  The weave of quilters fabric has zero give and it was like crocheting into cement.  My hands would hurt after I had done a few lines when I used to be able to crochet for days.

The other thing is that I have crocheted in public a lot.  It’s a really good way to prevent boredom in hospitals and waiting rooms.  Not only do you have the work you’re doing, but you get a lot of admiring glances and comments when you’re crocheting something pretty.  Crocheting something interesting is how you pick up people in waiting rooms.  It’s the equivalent of having a dog at the park.  There’s a handy icebreaker, so everyone thinks they can talk to you.  Sadly, I hardly ever got admiring comments or glances when I was working on this thing.  No one knew what it was I was trying to do.  The usual was someone glancing at me and saying, “Cute fabric.”  But that only happened when I was working on the pink.

I wish I could remember how this priced out.  I didn’t buy enough of the baby weight white yarn and had to buy more twice, which I found very demoralizing considering a huge percentage of my usual crafting materials are donated to me and then sold for a profit.

Basically, if I ever wanted to prove that I am persistent to the point of stupidity, this blanket was my way of proving it.  I’m like a mountain goat who keeps banging things with her head. 

Upcoming Novels

This winter has been a really good time to write.  I mean, really write.  Finish unfinished projects.  I have a lot of unfinished projects.  Let’s talk about them.  Of course, I can’t guarantee that any of them will actually be available for purchase anytime soon, but you know, all forward motion counts.

Kiss of Tragedy

This is a book of mine I originally published under the title Vampire Kiss, which is not a very inspiring title if you ask me.  When you write online and publish a chapter a week, unless you have the whole thing ready to go when you begin, you might have to post online under a working title.  I really felt that was the case with this story, and rather than alienate my readers, I left it under the old title.  Though, it’s really not a very good title for the book, as anyone who has read it will tell you.  

The book had the tag lines:

Vampire hunting can be dangerous business, until he turns out to be something worse.

He’s not a vampire, but he kisses like one.

Anyway, those were the original tag lines.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to come up with something a little more accurate and fun for what I consider to be my best novel when it comes out in ebook and soft cover this spring.

His Sixteenth Face

Originally, I posted this short story on fictionpress.com (as a side note there are also a few chapters of Kiss of Tragedy posted there too).  I’ve been working on a complete novel version of His Sixteenth Face for almost ten years.  What can I say?  It’s a really tricky subject and has required a lot of reworking.  I once finished it and then chopped off 35,000 words to go back to the spot where I was blocked to begin again.  It gets better every time I touch it, but it’s a really courageous piece of work, and I have seen a lot of similar pieces bomb, so I have to be careful with it.  It’s my bonsai tree, in that it can’t get bigger because I keep chopping stuff off.  I posted the first chapter in December of 2009, so my goal is to finish before it has its tenth birthday as an unfinished book.  

The first chapter is still available for reading so, here’s the link.

https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2749766/1/His-Sixteenth-Face

If you read the first chapter and like it, please fire me off a line saying so.  I could really use the encouragement at this point.

A Little Like Scarlett

I decided to write a partial autobiography of my teenage dating years.  The thing is, as an author it is my duty to write in detail about any unusual experiences I have had.  So, this is that.  Unusual experiences I had while dating as a teen.  So, far I’m up over 50,000 words.  It’s pretty fun.  The next time I post about it, I’ll post a sample.  

Where Her Garden Grows

This is the sequel to Behind His Mask.  It might not be published under that title as I still feel dissatisfied by those words as the banner for the story.  But, on the whole, I’m very pleased with how this book has turned out.  

So, there you have it.  What I would really like is to publish two books every year.  At least, I should be able to do one a year.  Hopefully… You know… hopefully.