I was skill building this week, practicing some new stitches on dishcloths. Problem is, I think this one turned out too pretty to wash dishes with. But it really was good practice, so it’s okay.
I used this pattern, Smocked Cloth Pattern, but I’m such a novice knitter I used size 4 needles, not 4mm. Turned out to be a good mistake though, because I like smaller dishcloths and this one is plenty big even on the smaller needles.
So yesterday I spent more money than I probably should of. Only I wasn’t at the fabric store, I was at USPS. At least it was for a good cause. I got my IBOL boxes in the mail for the Fallujah push. Boxes need to be out this week, if you are working on a package, now’s the time to finish it up. I also got Trees for the Forest off to the birthday girl.
I need some WIP link up buddies input today. In trying hard to finish up things, I’ve been working on a series of Uno Quilts from a pile of stray string blocks I’ve had sitting around. Last week I did black and blue. This week I did a purple top, but I decided to add a little something more to it. I’m not convinced that it was a good idea and am contemplating ripping off the dashed border and just sticking with white. Any thoughts?
I don’t have any sewing stuff ready for travel right now, so in my down time at work I’ve been knitting instead. I was going to do this striped like some other throws I’ve made, but I thought the variegation in this yarn was just so pretty it didn’t really need stripes.
Finally, I could have just gone ahead quickly sandwiched the Bike Path Quilt since I found the back…but instead I made more work for myself. I was going to just sew this strip of left overs from the front to a solid gray background and call it a back, but I do that for a lot of quilts and wanted to try something a bit more interesting. So I’ve been working on turning it into improv lettering. I’m going for “Share the Road” for now I’ve got SHA…
The Rest of the list:
4. 3×6 Swap Blocks- I did a test block this week, so I’m hoping to get these done and in the mail in the next week or so
5. Blue String Quilt
6. Green String Quilt
7. Mennonite Baby Quilt 3 (And then 4, seems like we’re having a population explosion at Chapel Hill Mennonite!)
8. Scrap Quilt
9. Baby Bears Quilt
10. Rainbow bright String Quilt
11. Spirograph Napkins
12. Stacks of pillow tops
13. Stacks of embroidered blocks
14. Little Birdie Embroidery Blocks
In non-quilting WIPs…well, life is stressful right now. I applied to 52 jobs last week, starting to get some responses, but still have no real idea where I’m going. I have 34 days to find a new place to live. I have three rooms to paint and a whole house to pack. And of course the full time and part time job. And maybe, you know, sleep once and awhile. Probably going to be pretty quiet on the blogosphere for awhile, but that just means I get to come back and see a whole bunch of new stuff you’ve all been working on!
Check Out Everyone’s Great WIPs Over at Lee’s Link Up:
A bit belated, but nonetheless: Happy New Year Everyone! With all the crafting commitments I’ve made for this month, it’s going to be quite the busy one. Here’s what all I’ll be up to:
1. I’ll be embroidering along with Little Miss Shabby’s Birdie of the Month Block
2. I’m super excited to be doing my first online quilting bee, the 3×6 Mini Sampler Swap on Flickr. I’m excited to find out what colors all my group members want so I can get started on some fun blocks!
3. The biggest challenge to myself for this month is to really grow my etsy shop with daily creating. I got inspired in the Etsy forums by Domestic Icing. She is challenging herself to an original painting everyday and so far they are great. She’s already got her first one up in her shop here. Aren’t the books cute?
I can’t quite commit to 7 new items a week, too much of my stuff just takes longer than a day. So I’m committing to five a week and I’m off to a good start. Since I was out of town I didn’t get much sewing done, but as you can see I’m cranking out the cowls!
So, yep, like I said, busy busy. What are you all going to be up to this month/year?
When I committed myself to a 100% handmade Christmas, I maybe should have been a bit less ambitious with my hand making plans. T-13 days and here is what my list is looking like:
So, basically I’ve got to craft non-stop for the next two weeks. At least most of the big gifts are done!
While I’m busy crafting my gifts for everyone else, I’ll be excitedly waiting for my own Birthday/Christmas present from my family that I purchased for myself yesterday. I will be hanging on the postman all week, hoping to see my new sewing machine! Heavens knows my mother’s 1975 Kenmore has served well and is a straight stitching workhorse, but it’s been time for an upgrade for awhile now so that I can do a bit more. I can’t even dream of a brand new Bernina, but I found a 1130 on ebay and from all the extremely good reviews I’m expecting it to serve me well. 
Are you ready for a Christmas gift? Check back here tomorrow. I’m participating in Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway day!
Posted in Crafting, Holidays, knitting, Uncategorized
Tagged christmas, gifts, holiday, knitting, sewing machine
Are you a crafter living in Durham , NC? In a 50 mile radius? If you don’t already know The Scrap Exchange (http://www.scrapexchange.org/), you MUST check it out. If you don’t live in Durham Range, I encourage you to google creative reuse center and find one near you. What could possibly be better that buying supplies that are environmentally friendly and incredibly affordable?
Check out today’s score: All yarn buy one get one free, then 20% for members got me all this fabulous yarn for $13.
Need I say more? I need to get knitting!
