Lending a hand. Or a neck.

I finally finished my latest pair of hand-knit socks - seen here inside this bag and again here when I found them amongst my widely strewn craft projects. They turned out perfect and fit so well! I haven't yet taken a photo of the finished pair, but plan to soon.

Anyway, since I can't seem to go a couple days without starting something new, I am ready to tackle my first knitted shawl. I'm planning to do this one called Cladonia, designed by Kirsten Kapur. I think it is so, so beautiful, but not super dressy, which is perfect for me. I think the stripes make it a bit more casual, but with just enough lace to get your attention.

Before I can really begin though I have to wind my yarn hanks into center-pull balls so they are easier to use. I have a yarn winder, but no swift, so I have found a perfect stand-in.

Martha.



She's the perfect size to hold a hank of yarn, keeping it tangle free while I wind it up. And she is super cuddly and cute as well.

A good match

During my last trip to quilt camp (in, uh, February), I finished this top after lots of indecisiveness about the layout. I tried a lot of different options and nothing seemed perfect. This was my favorite one, though.



It's made from a layer cake of Santorini by Lila Tueller. I don't usually have the nerve to mix so many large prints together, but I really like this line, especially the fabrics that look like stained glass. Anyway, because the prints were so large, I wanted to make sure to not cut the pieces too small, otherwise I would have lost a lot of the patterns.

Months and months ago I had sewn all the fabrics into half-square triangle blocks, but then it sat around my apartment for a while, because I was perplexed as to how I wanted to lay it out. Then at camp the indecisiveness continued. (For some reason, I agonize over decisions all.the.time. You would think it would be choices about my last quilt or last meal EVER, but no, it's usually not very important stuff.)

I am happy with how it looks, although it seems a bit unbalanced color-wise to me. I am hoping that after I quilt it that it blends together a bit better.

I picked out fabrics for the back and binding last time when I went to Joann Fabrics. I am very satisfied with what I found, because sometimes I find it hard to match the color shades from one line of fabric (usually Moda lines) and the basic fabrics I buy elsewhere. (The green is for the back and the pink is for the binding.)



I'm really looking forward to finishing this!

Stuck

I was thinking that the reason I haven't been quilting was because I've been so busy doing other crafty things and reading a lot.

Maybe not. I sat out in my living room for like an hour earlier trying to pick a project to work on and NOTHING appealed to me. At least not any projects that are in progress. Many of them are held up in one stage or another (mostly finished tops), and nothing is getting done.

I have SO many projects started that I feel guilty starting another. But when it comes down to starting something new or not quilting at all, I'm torn. I can't keep starting quilt tops and never actually layering and then quilting them. I think the main problem is that I don't have anywhere in my apartment where I can baste or pin quilts. That is a definite challenge. I think I may have to use the tables at work again soon so I can remedy my huge backlog of quilt tops.

Blah

It's been a blah sort of week. I haven't been feeling well, because out of the blue my left leg has been possessed and hurting like mad. I hate the amount of grumpiness that settles in when I'm in a bad pain phase, similar to the dark cloud that hovers over Eeyore. When I'm feeling like this, I tend to hide out and lay low. I am miserable and don't want to make anyone else miserable by being around me or hearing about how crabby and depressed I am.

It's so easy to see the world as bleak as hell when I am in pain. I know it will be better again soon, but when I'm right in the middle of it it becomes hard to acknowledge that. I just want the pain to stop. I've got quilting and knitting and crocheting and reading to do.

Sunday Stash

I am still in a holding pattern quilting-wise. I've been reading obsessively (the Hunger Games trilogy - OMG AMAZINGLY GOOD) and doing some more crocheting (I've well into my second forget-me-not, this time in black and white). I have, however, bought some fat quarters that I've been fabric-stalking for quite a while now.
My newest acquisition?

Castle Peeps. Love, love, love.

There were only a few etsy shops that had any of these left, but I was lucky to find one that had three fat quarter sets - one blue, one green and the other red/violet/orange. It was so tough to decide, so I just ordered them all.



It's not really even my colors, or patterns or anything, but I adore it so much. And I've seen so many amazing quilts made from this line that I just had to get some.









I was going to post photos of my favorite print, but I had trouble picking just one! I especially like the top castle print though.

No design has been picked yet, but I've got some ideas floating around in my head. I just need to get to work!

Mastering the zipper

I've always found the idea of putting in zippers daunting. I was worried about the idea of sewing over the teeth and wasn't really sure how the zipper foot was going to function. I didn't want to break my lovely machine!

After putting it off for so long, I finally bit the bullet and gave it a shot while I was at quilt camp. In January. (I put off writing this post about as long as I put off trying to sew something with a zipper!) Having a built-in group of other people learning how to do zippers and others already knowing how definitely helped me give it a go.

Anyway. At camp in January, there were quite a few projects with zippers, including some really cute box bags. I've seen some really cute ones online and have even seen knitters willing to trade really nice yarn for homemade project bags. And of course the idea of making a few bucks or trading for supplies always sounds like a good idea to me!

And you know what? It wasn't really that awful! I was really careful to read each step of the directions and not jump too far ahead. The biggest issue I had was trying to get my sewing machine to sew evenly over some of the really thick seams. I'm not really sure how to remedy that. I've tried sewing slower and faster and starting the seam right at the thick parts. I still had trouble though. For the next one I make, I may try my old workhorse of a machine, just to see if that does better.

Here's my first one. I love this fabric to death, but for projects like this, it's probably better to use a non-directional print.


(I probably should have taken the picture from the other side, where the letters are right side up. Whoops.)

And a look at the inside. It's fully lined with a pretty orange fabric. This size is great for smallish projects. It has plenty of room for this pair of socks I am working on. (It's even my own dye job!)



I want to make a ton of these. They are so handy and turned out super cute!

Caped crusader

Can you believe I already finished my forget-me-not cape? It took less than a week from start to finish, and that included learning how to crochet (at least some of the stitches) and having to rip out part of it to start over. I love the speed of crochet.

And here's the finished object:



I love it so, so, so much. Like I'm starting to plan outfits around it, rather than the other way around. Although I also do that some days with socks, too, so that's probably not that telling. :)

Here's a look at it on me, complete with a spotty bathroom mirror. I definitely need to unearth my Windex.



I'm already thinking of my next crochet project, but I seriously want to make another of these. I think one with a black foundation and then alternating black and white ruffles would be adorable. And one in my favorite color fuchsia would be pretty too. Or like a robin's egg/Tiffany blue.

Oh, and after my crying jag during Planet Earth, I had another crying episode last night. During TOY STORY 2. Good heavens, I sure hope it's hormones or something rather than me just becoming more and more sappy.

Because I need another hobby ...

I spent part of this weekend teaching myself to crochet, mostly because I wanted to make this little cape, called forget-me-not. Because I just wear capes soo often. But it has ruffles, so I couldn't resist.



I had sort of taught myself some crochet stitches a few months ago, but I never started a project. I mostly forgot what little I had learned before, but this project has been pretty easy to start and make progress on with very little teeth gnashing.

I didn't really have any problems making the foundation for the ruffles, but when it came time to add those, I was having trouble figuring out where exactly they were supposed to go. I had an entire row put on before I started questioning whether I had been adding them to the correct side or not. Ugh! So I ripped out all the ruffles and flipped the thing over and started again. I still don't know if I'm putting them in the correct spot. I was hoping to at least get that row finished before I went to bed tonight. I am so excited to get this project finished!

The forget-me-not has been quite a fun project so far (other than the backtracking), since it is so simple and quick. It's been relaxing because it's easy to keep track of the pattern and it's really a treat to not have to stop to check the pattern every few stitches. Now I want to add ruffles to everything!



While working on this tonight I watched two discs of Planet Earth, which I've been getting through Netflix. It's fascinating stuff and gorgeous imagery, but I should know better than to watch nature documentaries. I always end up crying when an animal gets hurt or dies. I know, I know, the whole circle of life thing, yada yada, but I still get upset.

Oh, and I also just finished the book "The Hunger Games" over the weekend. It was so, so good! It is so not like anything I would normally read, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Now I am so excited about reading book 2 soon.

Inspiration from weird places part 1

Lately I've been trying to be a bit more creative in my crafting endeavors, especially trying to find patterns around me that would make cool quilts.

Here's one:



I really like the way the back of this chair looks woven. It would be a cool pattern for a quilt or even a quilting design.

And for the explanation for the plastic chair in my bathtub ... my apartment is small and I don't really have room for this chair that my mom uses when she visits. I always use the tub/shower attached to my bedroom, so this one only gets used when I have company, hence the perfect storage location for my fine furniture.

I'm dyeing again!

I'm so happy to report that I've got my dyeing mojo back again! It's been months since I've done any yarn dyeing, mostly due to the fact that I only have one skein of undyed yarn left and I am trying to sell some more of what I've made before I buy more.

But then I actually got around to doing what I've been planning to for ages ... start dyeing some of the yarn I've recycled from sweaters. And with as many of the great sweaters I've found at Goodwill, not very many have been white or cream. So I'm trying to get creative.

My first experiment looks awesome! It's the sleeve from a 100 percent wool medium gray sweater. I am using it like a sock blank. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, thinking that maybe the gray was too dark to allow much color to be noticed. It's lovely though ... a heathery rainbow. I have another I dyed very similarly, but it's still pretty wet. I can't wait until this one dries all the way so I can measure the length of the yarn (I also got around to making a homemade niddy-noddy this weekend - it's about time) and then put it into a center-pull cake. And then find a project to make. Yay! The last time I dyed sweater sleeves into sock blanks, I got both socks out of one arm, so I'll be interested to see how this one works out.





p.s. I also found the Ziploc bag that contains my one green rainbow sock and the yarn for the other. I have been looking for it for a while, thinking it was a lost cause.

Feeling blue

Last week I was lucky enough to get tickets to go see the Blue Man Group on campus. I was very excited about the show, but didn't really know what to expect. All I could think of before hand was this:

Tobias

Sadly, the show did not feature any never-nudes* (at least none that I knew of), but it was really cool to watch. Here's a couple cool shots I got from the show.







*Note: I can't help but throw in Arrested Development references when it comes to the Blue Man Group.

Stashbusting update - February

I'm now two months into the Stashbusting Contest. I definitely fell off the wagon!

Finishes:
- The top of my Santorini by Lila Tueller layer cake top. I haven't even thought about what I'm doing on the back yet.

In progress:
- Postage stamp quilt
- Polka dot paper pieced quilt
- Wonky log cabin quilt-as-you-go scrap quilt

Purchases:
- Here's where I slipped: At the quilt camp I went to last weekend, it was a Nancy J. quilt shop weekend. It's been the first time I've been to a camp with her shop there -- I loved her fabric selection! So many beautiful brights! And obviously very tempting. Here's what I caved in and purchased.



I have not decided what I'm doing with these yet, but I love this color palette and all the patterns. I can't wait to pick others from my stash to mix with these for a project.

Other fabric in:
- A BUNCH of scraps from people at quilt camp, lots as birthday surprises. I didn't even check the trash cans this time! Here's hoping I get a lot done in March.

Welcome to the zoo!

Guess who got finished tonight? (OK, it was really around 2 a.m., but close enough!)



I haven't picked out a name yet. Truthfully, I'm not even sure if this little elephant is a boy or a girl. You would think I would know, after I spent all that time stitching its hindquarters.

I think my favorite names thus far are Horatio and Violet. Any other ideas?

Anyway, now the elephant and I are headed to bed. I'll try to post more about the pattern, the materials I picked out and why this was a lot more time-consuming than I thought it would be.

A sneak peak

Just a little sneak peak of what I've been working on this week ...



I cannot wait until this is finished. I just stupidly drank a diet Mountain Dew, so there's a chance I get it done tonight!

One down, one to go

I started these socks months ago, and just got going on them again a couple nights ago when I got the urge to do some knitting. I finally finished the first sock last night. And they fit perfectly. Yay!

I'm not normally into blue a lot, but I just love these socks so far! It is a pattern called Blackrose and is knitted in KnitPicks Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn in Lullaby.





And yes, my feet and ankles look really fat in these pictures. They are fat, but they look worse than normal here because I took these photos after I had sat up all day at work and they swelled up. I'm in one of those kinds of moods where having cankles is one of my lesser problems. I'm such a glutton for punishment right now: watching WE TV is one of the worst things to do when you've just gone through a divorce and are feeling shitty about being single. Way too many happy wedding shows! UGH. Just put me out of my misery already.

Oh, and I do have gnomes on my flannel sheets. They couldn't be any more awesome.

Overdose of cuteness

Mooky.


OMG. Want.

Stashbusting update - January

The first month of the Stashbusting Contest has passed pretty uneventfully.

Finishes:
- My "I dream in fuchsia" quilt. I still haven't finished cutting off all the threads yet (ha! there are soo many!) and have not washed it. But it's finished. I don't even have a photo of the completely finished project yet. Must get one soon!

In progress:
- Postage stamp quilt
- Wonky log cabin quilt-as-you-go scrap quilt

Purchases:
- Just that 1.5 yards of Purdue fabric (dang, I was doing so well!)

Other fabric in:
- I won a giveaway from blue elephant stitches! This is one of my new favorite blogs to visit. Great quilts with awesome fabric. And a quilt blog with elephants worked in? Couldn't help but love it. Anyway, here are the eight fat quarters that arrived for me a couple days ago.





Awesome, aren't they? Other than cutting the little 1.5-inch and 2.5-inch blocks for the charm quilt projects, I haven't made a decision on what to make with these. So much fabric, so little time.

Postage stamp progress

Can I just say that I am thrilled with how this is going so far? It's unbelievably tedious and really slow going, but I think I am going to love it after it's all done.

As mentioned previously, I have really started working in earnest on my postage stamp charm quilt. I really hadn't taken the time to layout any of the finished blocks until last night, and am really loving how this looks. Good lord though, I really need a design wall!



This is nowhere near done. So far, this photo includes almost all my turquoise, orange, black and black & white blocks. I still have more pink, red, purple and yellow blocks to sew. And I haven't even sorted my blues, greens, browns and whites/beiges. I'm thinking this is going to turn out huge.

I'm also still not sure on how to arrange all the blocks. Anyone have any ideas? One of the dilemmas is that the amounts of the colors is really varied. Since it's all scraps, I have a lot more of some colors, like blue and green, than I do others like yellow and orange. I'm open to suggestions!

Where do I come up with this stuff?

I often find myself knee-deep in insane craft projects. The kind that take infinite patience and require a little bit of delusional behavior. What can I say, I tend to be a glutton for punishment.

Take my postage stamp quilt, for instance. This project has been years in the making. I think the last time I even mentioned it here was back in February of 2009. And at that stage, I had already been working on this quilt for years.

Anyway, I spent all day - and I mean all day, from like 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. with just a few short breaks - sorting through the huge pile of 1.5-inch squares that I've amassed. I am pretty sure that I have now gotten squares cut out of just about every piece of fabric I own and all the scraps I've collected, even those I picked up at quilt camp earlier this month.

Here's a little look at the most recent pile of cut squares:



After I finished catching up on all my cutting, I started the sorting process, which is really overwhelming and can drive anyone into a nightmare of OCD. Basically, I have each color separated into a different Ziploc bag. I then lay out all the squares of one color, trying to keep them arranged from light to dark. And then the hard part: making sure I don't have doubles.

This. Is. Impossible.

I've already found a few fabrics that have made it into more than one block, but there's no way I'm going to tear them apart just to fix that. I hope that after the quilt is together no one will ever notice.

Here's a look at some of the medium red squares.



I got through most of the colors today, but still have a few left to do, including two of the worst - green and blue - just due to the fact that I seem to have more of those colors than any others. I'd really like to get going sewing these blocks together again soon. I am still not sure how I'll lay the quilt out, but I hope to have some design ideas to try out soon.

I have to admit that I am really, really curious about where I'm at collection-wise. It seems like I have a ton of squares since I've been collecting them for years, but since they're only 1.5 inches, I know I'll need a lot to make a decent size quilt.

Backblogged. And Ugh.

I've been sick this week. And not my normal kind of nerve pain sick, but more of the sipping water and Sprite and trying not to throw up before I make it to the bathroom kind of sick. It's been awful. I'm not sure what caused it - either a virus or food poisoning - but I'm annoyed that shortly before the vomiting commenced, I was eating pizza that I had ordered in. So trying not to tempt fate, there goes a big waste of money. No way in hell am I eating any more of it.

Anyway, I've been home sick. Tuesday was awful. Between bouts of sickness I slept all day, not even having the urge to get online (you can tell I'm feeling miserable when that happens). Today I've been slightly better and have been able to keep liquids down. I just ate my first solid food - a bagel - so I'm hoping I don't get sick again tonight. Today has been filled with lots more sleeping, and I still feel so exhausted. It's been sucky.

One of the bad aspects of being sick is my lack of energy and brain power to work on any projects. Here's a look at something I made earlier this month as a birthday present for my friend, Natalie. It was a lot of fun to put together. It is made out of felt, stuffing, a button shaped like a flower, and embroidery floss.



Ugh. I don't think the bagel was a good idea. My stomach is hurting again. :(