Design Idea - Fair Isle Sweaters

Sometimes finding a design idea is as simple as looking in your closet. Fair Isle sweaters have great patterns.

They may look complicated, but each row only has 2 colors.

There are simple geometric patterns and not so simple geometric patterns.

These designs can be easily adapted to cross-stitch for borders and to fill an area. Start with a simple zig-zag, line or cross. Vary the colors. Add dots, circles and other shapes. Sometimes you'll be amazed at the patterns you can make with only a few colors and a few shapes.

I've even used these sweaters as an inspiration for a beaded amulet bag. It's done in peyote stitch. The grid is a different shape than cross-stitch but it lends itself to similar patterns. As in Fair Isle, each row only has 2 colors.

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It's about time - the big reveal

My bright quilt was finished in June but I wanted to wait until both were done before sharing the pictures. Quilting the blue quilt didn't take long but finishing the binding sure did. I did procrastinate a bit as it was too warm to have a huge quilt on my lap for most of the summer. After this, I'll probably do all the binding on my sewing machine (and stick to smaller quilts). Notice the cut-out corners? That was a challenge. I found instructions here and it looked easy enough but I wished I had practiced some. After a lot of finessing I finally got good miters but I could have done much better. The cut-out corners allow the quilt to hang nicely over the edges of the mattress and it's a perfect match for a full sized mattress. But, the top edge isn't even close to the pillows. I wonder how the quilt fit on the bed it was made for. Here, at last, is the original quilt that I was copying. I just noticed - all of the baskets are

More Wildflowers of America

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Diverted by Dorset Buttons

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Erica's Stitches

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