I’m so happy to share this knitting post featuring a beautiful sweater that I loved making and can’t wait to wear this fall! The pattern is by the talented Isabell Kraemer. Have you ever tried one of her designs?

If you live in the USA I wish you a Happy Fourth of July. I hope you enjoy this special day and get to celebrate our independence and freedom with fireworks and fun. We are going to Shoreline Amphitheater to hear the San Francisco Symphony and watch fireworks. I'm so excited!

It's been sunny and mild here, ideal growing conditions, and the flowers and veggies have been loving it. We are bursting with tomatoes and green beans but unfortunately watching the bunnies enjoy the cucumbers and squash. We are in the middle of an epic battle and I'm determined to be the winner in this. If you have any bunny advice, please share. The zinnia border is a bit different and more colorful than I've had in years. It's nice because it's bright and the colors really pop making it easy to see from the house and patio. I invite you to come on into the blog too see beautiful pictures of what we have growing this year in our flower and vegetable gardens.

A new sweater and he loves it! 😃 (but not at first) 😒 This sweet sweater has a sad beginning but a happy ending. I completed it in December and showed it to him and he said he didn't like it. Devastated me. I put it away and forgot about it until I came across it recently when I was making up a bag of outgrown clothes to donate. Before I put it in the bag I showed it to his daddy and he loved it and said, "It's awesome! Show it to him again!" I did, and now he loves it. Go figure. Come on in to learn all the details and visit my flower gardens too.

The green rectangle is 15 x 11 squares and here it is set in the dining room for Father's Day dinner.

Now for the how to:

Using a self-healing cutting mat, rotary cutter, and quilting ruler, I cut my fabric into 6" squares. While you can purchase precut 5" charm squares, I find them to be a bit pricey. Just for reference: a fat quarter generally measures about 20"x20", which easily yields nine 6" squares.

In addition to using my own stash, I bought a few extras. My favorite source has always been my local fabric shop, Needles—they carry high-quality cottons in the most beautiful patterns. Over the years, some of my very favorite fabrics have come from there. For more budget-friendly options, Walmart sells fat quarters for around $1 each. The quality and prints are usually more basic, but still usable. I also tried Amazon and was pleasantly surprised: I purchased a 7-piece bundle of fat quarters, and the fabric quality was excellent. They offer dozens of color families to choose from, and I wouldn’t hesitate to order from them again—especially helpful if you don’t have a local shop and want to coordinate colors.

I knew I wanted my tablecloths to be 70" square—just right to cover my outdoor tables while leaving a nice overhang. Accounting for a ¼" seam allowance, each finished square would measure 5.5", so I needed 13 squares by 13 squares, or 169 squares per tablecloth. I cut a mass—probably 250–300 squares—from my stash. I can’t imagine tackling this without a rotary cutter; it’s absolutely essential for this kind of project. (The set I used from Amazon is well-priced and includes everything you need—highly recommended!)

Once all the cutting was done, I stacked my squares in random order and threaded my machine with beige thread. To speed things along, I used the chain piecing method: I fed square after square into the machine, one at a time, without lifting the presser foot or clipping the threads between pieces. This saves time and thread. I did use a quick backstitch at the beginning and end of each square to secure the seams.

After I had a long chain of two-piece sets, I clipped them apart and began sewing them into four-piece sets using the same method. Then I joined three of these sets together, creating a 12-square strip—just one square short! I added one more to complete a full 13-square row. After piecing several of these 13-piece strips, I sewed the strips together, row by row, until I had a full 13-by-13 square cloth.

My layout was completely random—I didn’t mind if similar colors touched, but I did try to avoid placing the same pattern side-by-side. That said, I love the carefree, scrappy charm of true patchwork. It’s that kind of joyful imperfection that gives these cloths their magic. And I didn’t iron until the very end!

Lastly, finish the edges with bias tape. I used a combination of Wrights Wide Single Fold Bias Tape and Wrights Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape—both worked equally well, and I used them interchangeably. I happened to have a large stash of both in various shades of white and tan (why do I have so much bias tape? I honestly don't know!), so I leaned into the patchwork spirit and used what I had. Once the tablecloths are in place, the different shades blend in beautifully and are completely undetectable.

If you don’t already have a drawer full of bias tape (and truly, why would you?), and you don’t have a local fabric store, Amazon is a great option. I used to rely on Joann’s for this kind of notion, but sadly, these stores have recently closed. I’ve heard that Michaels has purchased Joann’s exclusive fabric and yarn lines, so I’m hopeful they’ll soon be expanding into more sewing supplies. Thank you, Michaels!

Hello! Yesterday we visited the craft/sewing room, but I'm so glad you're here again today to see my knitting room, which is really a second guest room. We only need two guest rooms a few times a year so the rest of the year this is my knitting room; a much more practical use of space. The sofa makes out into a bed and I keep the closet half empty so guests have room for their things. But the rest of it is for knitting. I often sit in here and knit when the other TV has shoot-em-up movies on. This TV can only play Jane Austin type movies and Fruity Knitting episodes. No shoot-em-ups ever! Please read on as I have a few organization and declutter tips to share.

I have some great pictures to share with you today! Our garden! I don't know what I'm more proud of, the roses, the perennial border, or the vegetable garden, so I'll show all three because everything is doing so well. The queen of the garden above, not me, the Climbing First Prize rose towering over me, is a show stopper every year, but this year she has outdone herself. Last year I kept an eye out for the newest and healthiest "main stems" that shoot out during the growing season, and during the January pruning I asked my gardener to tie them to the structure. I generally prune all the roses but of course need help with the tall climbers. Our gardeners are so sweet and they scramble up the ladder without a care. I think we added at least 3 more long stems to what we already had. Bending the long climbers in this way allows them to branch out at their leaflets and then bud like crazy. The roses themselves are almost dinner plate size and the largest ones are as big as my head. It is mildly fragrant.

The perennial border at the back of the garden is pictured below. The wisteria is just past its peak and is a few weeks away from saying goodbye for the year, but the irises have taken over and the hydrangeas and roses are in bud, and I've also planted my zinnias. But let's not forget the vegetable garden, she's going strong!

Finally a knitting post with an actual finished sweater, and it's one of the most beautiful sweaters I have ever knit! Today's sweater is a pattern from a Japanese designer paired with some beautiful Japanese milled wool, and then, snap, just like that, a mere hundreds of hours later, my gorgeous sweater is finished. Please enter if you dare and find out all about my new sweater.