Happy December!

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Day 1

The countdown until Christmas has finally begun! I’ll be sharing my Advent calendar one day at a time this year. I’m going with wool felt for Christmas related cut-outs. I’m pretty much making them as I go along, so I’m not allowed to run out of steam on this one. You’re allowed to yell at me (nicely, please!) if I don’t post my new cut-outs each day!

Quilted Fluffiness

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Now that I’m officially finished with the ugly curtains (yay!) I’m able to get back to work on the things I like to do. First up (besides the few Christmas presents I’m working on and can’t show right now) was to finish up the log cabin square that I started last week. I decided to go for a quick to finish project, and make a pillow.

Log Cabin Pillow, no. 1

Shortly into it though, I realized that I was actually far behind the times. These pillows at A Bird In The Hand are far superior to mine. So I know that I’m not being that unique or creative after seeing those, but it was a lot of fun to make, so I whipped up a smaller second one, too.
Log Cabin Pillow, no. 2

I really enjoyed making these, and there may be others like it on the way!

Get Cozy

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Snowy Thanksgiving

Here in Michigan it’s been getting whiter all day long. At work this afternoon, all I could think about was coming home, putting on comfy clothes and quilting. After a week of sewing nothing but curtains (I’m so tired of curtains) I’m so eagar to get back to projects that I want to work on.
Bent Squares

I started this quilt a few months ago. I got bored one night and just decided to start sewing squares together to see what I could come up with, and it ended up turning out. It was fun proving to myself that I actually could make something look good without a plan or a pattern.
Ecletic

Then the other night in a fit of curtain boredom, I decided to start working on this log cabin quilt block. I wanted to challenge myself to put together fabrics that I normally wouldn’t have put together. I want to do something with the log cabin block to make it look less frumpy and country, and more modern and bold. I’m not done with this one yet, but hopefully after a couple more hours with it, I’ll have something that I’m happy with.
And no matter where you are at tomorrow, and regardless of what country you’re in, Happy Thanksgiving to you all. With all that I’m thankful this year, I really am so lucky to have the ablity to keep and write this weblog. Your visits and comments really do mean so much to me. Many good wishes to you all!

New Knits

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Before my curtain frustrations get the best of me, I thought I’d share a few knitted projects that I’ve recently finshed up. My friend Kristina had been admiring the poncho that I knitted for myself earlier this year and asked me to make her one. It’s a really easy pattern to do, but I was only so-so pleased with the way hers turned out:

Kristina's Poncho

The main thing that disappointed me about it was the neck. The last one I did I used size 9 needles for the neck, only because when I started it, it was the closest needle that I had to what the pattern called for (size 13). I had been in a hurry to start, and in the end, I think that was a better move anyway. The new poncho’s collar is floppy and won’t hold shape. I just think it could have been a bit better, had I used different needles.
What I am happy with, however, is this:
Dimond Lace Scarf

I used the Dimond Lace scarf pattern that Laural at Thimble wrote (thank you!!). I made a few minor changes to the pattern, but nothing major. I hadn’t done any work with knitting in a lace pattern before, but I ended up being really impressed with how easy and quickly the scarf came together. I’m giving this one to my mother-in-law for Christmas, so I hope she likes as much as I do.

Ugly Curtains

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PUKE!

Isn’t that fabric horrible? I’m making curtains with it, and while I’m doing it, it’s making me gag. I sort-of volunteered to make curtains for work about a month or so ago (okay, I only voluneteered to do it because they said they’d pay me for it). I didn’t figure the fabric they were going to pick out would be the most stylish of prints, but this stuff is so awful that it makes me dizzy to work with it. The most frustrating thing about it all is that I need to get it all done (or I won’t have the extra money to shop for Chirstmas presents with) but I have so many other projects that need to be done too, that I have no ambition to do these. I really hope they all sew up really, really fast.

Another Felted Bag

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More Felting

After doing a couple of felting projects this year, I’m still not sure what I think about them. I like the idea that I can knit a project together very quickly (and sloppily) and then just by running it through the washer, have something totally new. But it just seems like a way to get out of working hard on something and having it look nice in the end because you actually did a good job on it.
Anyway, this is my second of these felted bags. I made another one this summer for a friend’s birthday, but for some reason I think hers turned out better. I think that after awhile, the whole process of making it started to annoy me. (I’m just a big grump too–that probably has to do with part of it!)
Either way, I think I’ll be taking a break from felting knits for awhile.

Self Portrait Tuesday

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Just Me

I’m feeling compelled to write today but I’m also feeling like I’m without anything important to share. Instead I’ve decided to join the SPT bloggers with a photo of my own today. I’m always a little hestiant about posting my pictures here, especially ones of myself. There’s so many people who can outshoot me so well, and I worry that what I do post pictures of looks so bad that people will think less of what I do, because of it. I guess I’m not really worried about that today though!
So this is me, standing in my mustard yellow bathroom, pleased to pull my hair back in a ponytail and feel a little relaxed for the evening still to come.

Trick or Treat!

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Arrrgggg! It's Frankie!

Happy Halloween, everyone! The mini light up Frankensteins and I are mere minutes away from helping our neighborhood kids get their very important, yearly sugar fix. I hope you all are doing your part in your town too. Think of the kids (and think of yourself with your leftover candy, too)!

Vintage Booty

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This past Saturday (yep, it’s taken me this long to write about something that happened on Saturday) I went to a really amazing vintage textile show at our local antique district. I’m glad I only went with $20 in my bag because I seriously would not have been able to control myself with more.

Vintage Goodness

I did, however, pick up four pieces of vintagie goodness. The first three pieces on the right side are feedsack fabrics (my favorite kind of antique fabric). I think I would have bought more of that too if I had found others in better condition. And I think the paisley is fabulous. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with paisley to be honest.
As for what I’ll be doing with it, I haven’t any idea.

DS Quilt-Along Update

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I have finally made some progress with a project for the Denyse Schmidt Quilt-Along! I’m working on a crib size “Flock of Triangles” to give as a gift later this winter.

Baby Flock

I know the picture is really bad, but as soon as I had all the pieces in a good spot, I had to snap a shot of it. I wasn’t real excited about doing a light blue and white quilt, but it’s actually pretty nice. If it were for me, than I think I would have chosen some more interesting colors. I’m just glad that I’m finally getting started on a quilt from the book!
We’ve had a few new joiners too! Jenne has made the coolest oven mitt, and is planning on doing a few more projects as well. We’ll be watching to see what she does next! Stephanie is a knitter who just got bit by the quilting bug, and will be trying out “What A Bunch of Squares” for her first project. It’s already looking great! And finally, Juliann has made a crib size version of “A Day At the Beach, and it turned out amazing:
Juliann's Day At the Beach

I’m so excited to see what people have done so far. All of your projects are coming (or have already come) along so well. We’re making some great pieces from this book!