Making New Friends

I can't believe we're almost six weeks into the "new" year already!  It's just been whizzing  right past me.

I've been doing a bit of knitting, though I have yet to finish anything this year.  I've been making progress on several things.  I have also been doing some sewing and quilting, though I haven't got any finished quilts to show yet, either.  The other thing I've been doing is some "smaller" sewing projects.

I finished up this little caddy intended for carrying hand-sewing tools:



Here's what it looks like on the inside:



This was probably started well over ten years ago, and all it needed was the button and the loop added so that it would close!  Yes, I may have a slight case of quilter's/knitter's/crafter's ADD.  The dark fabric in the picture is actually a pretty burgundy/barn red color. 

Then I also made this little zipper bag, which measures about 5.5" x 8.5":



And here's the other side:



The color's off in the photos of this bag, in reality they're pretty, somewhat darker than pastel colors.  This was a little kit I got somewhere, I don't even really remember where.  I'm thinking it was a door prize at a retreat or something, because while it's kinda cute, it isn't something I would have bought.  It was a fun little quick project, though.

Then, I was in the mood to make some stuffies.  First up is Frieda, the free-spirit.  She doesn't like it when I call her a Monster, so let's keep that part just between us, okay?



Frieda really likes to play hide & seek, but since her arms are permanently stitched to her torso, she can't cover her eyes.  So she ends up throwing herself onto the floor face-first so she can't see.  Then she has a hard time getting back up -- again, the arms attached to the torso make it tough for her to find a way to turn over or stand up.  So, she started dancing.  She discovered she really likes to dance, too.  She likes all kinds of dancing, but her favorite is line dancing.  She just has trouble with the clapping...

And finally, I'd love you to meet Owl-livia:



She's made from a panel.  I was at one of my LQSs in January for the Block-of-the-Month session, and they showed the panel, and they had one made up.  Well, I thought it was just too cute to not bring home with me.  And in contrast to my usual tendency, I started and got it finished in pretty short order.  The pattern didn't say to quilt her, except for her wings and feet, but hey, I'm a quilter, it's what I do.  I also thought she could use that extra touch, somehow.  I hadn't done any free-motion quilting on a regular sewing machine in quite a while, and she was a great project to "warm up" with, because I didn't really care if the quilting was wonky or less than "just so," and the uneven stitch length and the places where I lost track of where I was or where I was going just don't matter because, well, she's a stuffy.  It's nice to do those kinds of projects every once in a while, where you can just cut loose and have fun with it.

Frieda's been spending a fair bit of time keeping an eye on our DVD collection lately.  I think she wants to choose what we watch on our next "Movie Night."  Owlivia has settled down on the cutting table, and decided she likes having a front-row seat to my sewing area.  I hope you enjoyed meeting my two new friends.  I'm planning to make some more throughout this year, and I'll be sure to introduce them here, too.

Thanks for stopping by to play.  Come back again soon.

Another Project Bag

This is a quick project bag I made recently. It's the size of the piece of fabric I had -- I happened to have a zipper the right length, and some webbing in a color that would work for a tab and a wrist strap/handle.


It's big enough that I can put a pair of socks-in-progress in it, and still tuck some other small things in there as I need to. I think ultimately I may leave this one in my truck with a pair of socks-in-progress, so that if I forget to bring knitting with me somewhere, I'll still have something I can work on.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Socks, a Mug Rug, and Sacks!

I've finished the first 9 pairs of socks for the 26 Pair Plunge on Ravelry. The challenge is to finish 26 pairs of socks in a year, from 1 July 2011 -- 30 June 2012. You can include any socks you had in progress before July 1, as long as they're not completed until on or after July 1. So, as you may recall, I've been working on getting a headstart going on a number of pairs of socks.

here they are:












Then, I participated in a mug rug swap in the Quilters Knitting group on Ravelry. My partner should get her package tomorrow or Monday at the latest. I was late sending out her mug rug, so I also made her a project bag and a tote bag, in the hopes that at least she'll think the package was worth waiting for ;-)

Her mug rug:


The project bag I made her (with one of my projects in it for the picture):

And the tote bag:

Now to get back to sock knitting -- I'm participating in a challenge for the month of August, to finish as many pairs of socks as possible. I've got a lot of in-progress socks to choose from, so I'm taking the opportunity to be inspired by the challenge, and get some things finished.

Thanks for coming by to play. Come back again soon.

Retreat Wrap-Up/Design Wall Monday

I'm home now from retreat, and I was thinking about just how much I got done. Frankly, I'm impressed! I've already shown some of the pictures, and some will be in my Quilter's Accountability (QA) Report post on Wednesday, but here's what I accomplished:

1. Made two hobo bags. pictures are in this post

2. Assembled two quilt tops, added borders, and made the bindings for them. pictures will be in Wednesday's upcoming QA Report post

3. Added the last two border strips to a quilt top I was donating, made bindings for it and another top (already completed) I was also donating, and handed them both off to someone who will take them to the person who's collecting these donated tops. They'll be quilted, and will be for a fundraising event in late Fall. Silly me, I forgot to take pictures of these tops before I handed them off!

4. Assembled a quilt top from four stitchery blocks, which have been done for several years at least. pictures will be in Wednesday's upcoming QA Report post

5. Made three sock knitting project bags. pictures are in this post

6. Quilted, bound, and added hanging sleeves to two wall quilts. pictures will be in Wednesday's upcoming QA Report post

7. Made 12 fan blocks, though I still have to applique the fans down to the background blocks. I have border fabrics for these, but I'm thinking about saving them to use as the basis for a new jacket for next winter, so for now I'm going to "live with them" for a while, and see what they say they want to be, quilt or jacket.


8. Finished applying the fabrics to the sweatshirt base for my mother's jacket, zigzagged around the pieces on both sleeves, and started the zigzagging on the jacket front. pictures when it's closer to finished, as right now it doesn't really look like much

9. Squared up a set of 16 stitchery blocks, and started thinking about the design of the quilt they'll become. picture of the blocks, and the fabrics for the quilt, are in this post


If I hadn't had to leave retreat, and essentially lost 2 days of sewing time, I'd probably have finished the fan blocks, gotten them set into a top (if that's what I'd decided to do with them), started setting together the stitchery blocks, and finished my mother's jacket. Who knows what else I might have done, as well? It was a fun and relaxing time, and also productive. I can hardly wait for the next one!

Check out Judy's blog, and see what's on other folks' design walls. Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Today's goal...

Well, besides some cleaning and organizing, that is. Today's somewhat quilty goal is to get this:

into the house (from the garage) and get it covered with flannel, so I can use it as my design wall. At the moment, I'm using a flannel-backed tablecloth hanging flannel-side-out in front of a bookcase. It's okay, but only about 30" wide, ripply, and I have to pin everything to it. So I'm looking forward to having these two 4'x8' insulation sheets covered and ready to use.

I also hope to get the setting squares and triangles cut for my charity top, and maybe sew the center together. DH is working tonight, so this evening SHOULD be prime sewing time.... And since that first picture isn't very thrilling, let me give you a little bit of cute for today -- the kitty you can see is Max, and the big lump next to him under the covers is Muffin.

Getting under the covers is a new trick of Muffin's, he's only been doing that for a few months. This winter, I guess. He's almost 12 years old, so maybe he's starting to feel the cold more.

Wish me luck on getting my tasks for the day accomplished! Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again any time.