Author: Laura Kate

One of six children, I was raised by a busy mom, who instilled in me a love of fabric. Though I learned to sew and knit at a young age, it was the arrival of my first grandchild that pushed me into action. A long-time knitter, I am now ready to explore all things fiber.
Posted in knitting

Unraveled Wednesday: Autumn Bloom

Posted on by Laura Kate

Dear friends

Thanks for letting me join your monthly Wednesday knitting show and tell. Today I have photos of the pullover finished recently for my daughter. Her friend Krystal kindly snapped some photos.

I was gratified to find that it fit her perfectly. This is a version of Autumn Bloom by Olga Putano Designs available on Ravelry.com. My modification is in the sleeve. Daughter did not want the stranded panel included in the pattern, which mimics the yoke design. Instead I worked the contrasting yarns into the very deep cuffs by knitting them with a corrugated rib stitch.

Using the gold Malabrigo yarn was a little tricky. I had skeins from multiple dye lots, so they didn’t really go together. I blended two different toned skeins by alternating each round. The two strands are twisted together at the center back.

The multi colored yarn in the yoke is Knit Picks Hawthorne dk in colorway Foster Powell. I also used a skein of Swish in colorway moss.

And that will satisfy my desire to knit sweaters for awhile. Projects planned for 2025 completion are mostly accessories and socks. But don’t quote me on this. When I come across an amazing yarn or pattern, I’m not shy about changing my plans.

To see the work of other Ravelers, click here.

Posted in painting

Friday Finish: Dash for the Splash

Posted on by Laura Kate

A baby sea turtle, hurtling its little body toward the safety of the sea. This watercolor painting was made as a donation to the 2025 6 by 6 art sale for my local art association. The reference image was found on Unsplash – so many years ago that I lost track of the photographer.

Friends, I know that I have been inactive for three weeks. Life has been full of other stuff. But the turtle painting marks the start of what I hope will be a steady flow of new objects on Daily Fiber.

I liberally applied masking fluid with a toothbrush for the wave action, and with a tiny brush for the white shell markings on the turtle. Pigments were yellow ocher, burnt umber, burnt sienna, Winsor Green blue shade, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and white gouache. A few Micron pens stipples were added to suggest motion.

Posted in quilting

SAHRR 2025 Round 6: Kites

Posted on by Laura Kate

A brand-new-to-me quilt block, kites was select by Emily at the Darling Dogwood for the final round of the Stay at Home quilt challenge this year. First, I practiced making the shape with scrap fabric. I used instructions given by Diane at Little Penguin Quilts and came up with a decent sample. She recommended this site: Scrapdash, including a post called Catch That Kite Quilt Block.

Flipping through my Japanese block directory, I discovered no kites at all. There was a block that started out as a kite, but ended up as a tiny kimono.

Instructions and fabric cuts
Cutting and sewing the kite
Here’s where the kite is split and turned into a kimono.

So I went a different direction. I decided to “fake” a japanese style block by selecting a general design, inserting small kite blocks into the design, and then finishing the block with sashing. It went like this:

Kurume kasuri musubi is designed to be used with traditional kasuri fabrics (plain weaves in solid colors, also ikat fabrics) The design itself is based on a knot.

The four squares in the knot will be replaced with four kite squares. They finish at 3″ each, leaving room for the sashing and border in a dark color. I had to estimate my fabric cuts, but managed to figure it out.

My fabric choices are solid gold, dark gray, and a metallic print black which features little flowers.

Cut fabric for the first block
I love that my kites look like manta ray fish in the photo

Now the fun design decision: how will I orient my four kites?

And the winner is……..

As you might expect, the assembly of my made-up block did not go smoothly. I had to rip apart my first try, re-cut some of the strips and sew it back together. The second block went much faster.

These two will be added to the front of the kimono, just below the sleeve section.

Here is how my quilt looks today.

I still have two rows to make up, and the whole center front, which will be built from half blocks on either side of the opening. No doubt you may have trouble visualizing it. Me too – honestly, I haven’t decided what patterns to use for the remaining rows. They could be some simple repeats of earlier rounds, such as half square triangles or quarter log cabins. Or more Japanese traditional blocks.

Fortunately, I seem to have enough fabric left.

I hope you have been enjoying all the products of on-line quilters who are making SAHRR quilts this year. Check out their work at our design creators’ sites.

  • January 13th: Center: Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • January 20th: 1st Round: King’s Crown block or inspired by your first initial  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • January 27th: 2nd Round: Half Square Triangles   Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • February 3rd: 3rd Round: Stars Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • February 10th: 4th Round: Slice & Insert  Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 17th:5th Round: Partial Log Cabins Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • February 24th: 6th Round: Kites or inspired by your first initial or the letter “k”
    Emily @ The Darling Dogwood 🠜 You Are Here
  • March 24th: Finish Parade: Gail @ Quilting Gail

Be sure and check back with me after March 24th. Maybe I will be finished by then.

Posted in embellishing, hand embroidery

Bygone Days of a Future Fiber Artist

Posted on by Laura Kate

Today I am joining As Kat Knits for * Unraveled Wednesday, making something from materials on hand.

I have a souvenir T-shirt that I love, but the neckline has stretched out and sagged something terrible. I no longer enjoy wearing it.

So I got the scissors and cut off the neck binding. After pressing the edge under and fusing it down, I considered how I might embellish the now-scooped neckline. Blanket stitch seemed the obvious choice.

While stitching away, memories flooded back to me of the moment when I learned to sew this stitch. I had just joined the Girl Scouts. Our very first activity was to make a sit-upon out of oilcloth stuffed with newspapers. This object was to be used outdoors when we needed a dry place to rest. To sew the edges of our sit-upons closed, we used blanket stitch.

Sorry, friends, I do not have a photograph of the original item. For obvious reasons, that product didn’t last very long. But the happy memory of the scout meeting when I made it lives on in my brain. I was with my friends, starting on a new adventure – who knew where we would go during scouting. Our future was bright and we were eager.

These days, I still have a soft spot for good old blanket stitch. Today, I held together dark blue and pale green 12 weight threads to give a my shirt some pop.

And here is my revived T-shirt, all tricked out with a sexy neckline.

I’m ready for my next adventure.

  • oops, my bad, I didn’t realize that Unraveled Wednesday was for knitting projects. I promise to follow the rules in my next post.
Posted in quilting

SAHRR 2025 Round 5 – Daily Fiber

Posted on by Laura Kate

Thank you, Brenda, of Songbird Designs, for choosing log cabin block for this round. It’s just about my favorite block to make, and one of the most beginner-friendly as well. Brenda has chosen to use the quarter log form of the block in her quilt. I like that, and made a few test blocks in this version.

Quarter logs, some borders added
or maybe they look better on point?

I’ll likely use quarter logs at some point. But for this round, I want to use a Japanese version of the log cabin. My block directory has two to choose from:

Pieced raimon, also known as the spiral block, is interesting. But those are very narrow logs to squeeze into a nine inch square block.

Hiratsume sanmasu is what we in the West might call Courthouse Steps log. I also like that this pattern has one set of strips cut 1 and 1/2 wide, to finish at 1 inch. And I have the perfect fabric to take advantage of the layout:

When I unwrapped this fabric, among the selection I purchased from kimonomomo on Etsy, I knew it would be a good companion for my crane star blocks. So I made three concentric square log cabin blocks. Here they are in place.

And this round finishes out the rows of blocks for the back of my kimono.

Next week will be the last challenge, and I have a whole front side yet to make. I will be repeating some of the block patterns used on the back, especially the blocks that make up the sleeve section. And I will be doing some improvisational design, inspired by Japanese quilts, of course.

To see how other quilters handled this challenge, visit Songbird Designs and click on the InLinz link. Here is the complete list of SAHRR 2025 host sites.