Must Finish Lists

I have trying to be good and not start a ton of new projects, no matter how tempted I am.  My friend Amanda and I are trying to hold each other accountable to our "must finish" lists.  The idea is we have a project in mind that we want to start, and a list of projects we need to finish before we're allowed to start that new one.

Today marks a day that we are able to start a new project.  We've both chosen to start embroidered kitchen towels.  Before I am allowed to start another new project I will need to finish:

• the embroidered towels (days of the week so there are 7 of them)
• the crocheted afghan pictured later in this post
• the quilt I am making for my MIL
• the Nook cover I am cross stitching
• a knit zebra for prayer shawl group (little ones don't want shawls!)

 Big list!  But I am determined, and I'm sure Amanda will keep me honest.

On my list is a quilt that I put together last fall and set aside.  Of course now that it's getting warm out I decide it's time to finish it up.  Go figure.

I love the backing fabric I found for this quilt.  It just seemed to fit.

All of the squares are flowers, and quite a few of them are applique.  I definitely need to work on my applique skills. 

I found pieces to a quilt that I had started back around 1998 when we had a little flood in our basement due to the sump pump acting up.  I couldn't believe it when I found them all stuffed into a bag.  I remember cutting out the pieces for this little lap quilt.  I cut some of them wrong and that's why it wound up in a time out.  Several moves and lots more projects and that poor thing was completely forgotten.

Well when we had that little flood, the pieces all got wet so I put them in a lingerie bag, washed, and dried them.  Then they all had to be ironed, the triangles needed to be sewn into squares, and the squares that had been cut the wrong size had to be cut down.  Then I had to remember how to put the dang thing together into the pattern I had intended.  I'm quite pleased with the results.

Now I just need to decide what I want to border and back it with and this little quilt can get added to my next "must finish" list.

The bavarian crochet afghan is coming along nicely.  It seems to take a million hour to finish a round now, but I knew that was going to happen.  I've finished the first repeat of all the colors and think it will be big enough when I've finished the second repeat.  I don't want something huge.  Just big enough to cuddle with on the couch while watching TV.

The Nook cover is making progress too.  The width is perfect, but the length is going to be a bit short.  I think I'm going to extend the border and maybe put my name on it to lengthen it some.  With the right lettering that should do the trick.

Quilting

When I was sorting through all my various boxes of craft things, I ran across a box full of the quilts I had made way back when.  All of them are just the tops and have been awaiting quilting for more than ten years!  I really need to get back them finished and put to good use.

I could get them finished quicker if I do my quilting by machine, but I didn't like doing my quilting by machine back when I made these tops.  I decided to make a few potholders to see if I liked machine quilting any better now.

Nope.  Just don't like machine quilting at all.  I need to toughen up those quilting fingers and get to work and face up to the fact that it will be years before all of these tops are quilted.

Even though I didn't care for the machine quilting, and I rushed so my seams don't match and they are all a little "off", I do like the cute potholders I made.  I'll be making more of these since they are so quick and easy to complete.

I finished this easy hanging kitchen towel in just a couple of days.  Used up some Bernat cotton I had in my stash.  Need to remember on the next one that the buttonhole tends to stretch so I need to make it smaller or use a much bigger button.  I'm going to have to stitch up the buttonhole a bit on this one because I like the button I used and don't want to replace it.  A couple of these with some dishcloths and matching potholders would make a great gift.

I really like that I've taken up so many of the crafts I used to do but had given up in lieu of knitting.  I stitched up a couple of cards for Mother's Day and really like how they turned out.  Paul wrote a poem that we've written inside.  Now to pull out some more floss and work up something for Father's Day so nobody feels left out.

I needed something pretty mindless to work on while I watched TV, and the washcloths I had in the bathroom were in dire need of replacing, so I tried out this waffle weave pattern I've had queued for some time.  I really like how it turned out, so now I'll be making a bunch more and getting rid of some of the more ragged looking ones currently in use.

I learned about Bavarian Crochet at this past month's Prayer Shawl group meeting.  One of the ladies there had made a gorgeous afghan for someone as a gift and I knew immediately that I had to make one for myself.  A and I stopped at Michaels on the way home and found the pattern book and bought yarn, even though we both had promised not to start anything new.  A rationalizes that since we learned about it in church it is OK.  LOL

The pattern works up pretty quickly until you get to about round 10, at which time it seems to take endless hours to complete one side.  This photo shows 5 rounds complete, and I have now completed 12.  I love the look of this textured pattern and the colors I chose.  Another in progress photo later in the week.

Happy Projects

Recently, my crafting has been all about the gifting.  More of my projects are going to others than are sticking around for my own use.  It's a nice change :-)

Last summer I crocheted a metric buttload of flower granny squares and made a tote bag out of them.  I think I used the tote twice .... ummm that's a lot of work to just sit around and look pretty.  That project was an -along with my friend A.  She gave up on finishing her bag because she realized she wouldn't use hers any more than I was using mine.  Instead, she chose to turn quite a few of her squares into a crochet hook roll.  I immediately went to work taking my tote apart and made notion bags out of it.  I had plenty of the quilted fabric I used for the lining of the tote left over, so the only supply I needed to buy was zippers to close them up.  I made two different sizes, and made three sets.  Two of the sets were made as special gifts for two special women in my life, and the third I am using myself.

The other gift I finished recently is a baby blanket for my hair stylist.  I fell in love with this pattern when I first saw it back in 2008.  It's the only pattern in the magazine that I even cared for and I bought it, knowing that some day I would have a baby to make it for.

This was a fairly quick project to crochet, but the sewing together of all those little pieces took me the better part of a day to complete!  I love it dearly though, and hope C does too.

Sewing Room

I've been promising to take and post some photos of my sewing room for an online friend, and finally got around to taking the photos.  Posting them took another week or so *sigh*.  I get so sidetracked playing silly online games and crafting that I forget all about posting to my blog.  I know I say it all the time, but one of these days I'll get better at this blogging business.

Anywho, on to the sewing room photos.  The room is still a work in progress, but all in all it's a nice cozy place to do some sewing.

I don't have a fancy sewing cabinet or table, but I got this nifty corner unit at a reasonable price on sale at Jo Ann's.  When you factor in the fantastic 25% off total order coupon I used, it was a great buy.  Both my sewing machine and serger can be set up for use.  Hey T, I adore the sewing machine cover you made me!

 

I found creative ideas for displaying favorite cards and such on Pinterest and went to work making them up for my sewing room.  I covered 4 cork boards with 2 different fabrics and got coordinating pushpins for them.  Hung them up in a checkerboard fashion and pinned up some favorite tidbits that make me smile when I'm in there working.

Put up some shelves to display other favorite odds and ends.  I'm going to need to add more since I've filled these up already and haven't found a home for all my stuff.

Finished up a couple of projects in the past week or so.  Now to get photos and hopefully remember to post them :-)