Week 16

Look what I’ve been doing!  I’ve been itching to do some sewing, and I’ve also been itching to start on some kind of quilting project. I’ve been wanting to quilt for years, but never really knew where to start. While I was cleaning out the closet where I have a lot of UFO’s and a bag or two of needlework kits, I came across these quilt block kits that I bought from Joanne’s in 1999! Yes, I said 1999! I thought to myself, “Hey, self, that would be a good beginning first project!” (Yeeeah! Maybe that’s why I bought them in the first place!!)

So I stopped what I was doing, and set myself and the room up to start on these. I had to get my ironing board out because I have to press each seam before I continue on, and also my card table to lay all of the pre-cut blocks out to see how they go together. I got the first one done in about two hours and I couldn’t believe how easy it was!! Of course, I’m really cheating because the blocks are already cut out for me, but I’m getting my feet wet in any case. The second and third blocks went together almost as fast, but I had to do a lot of time-consuming applique on the second one. The one I’m working on now has a lot of triangles that have to be sewed together to make the square blocks and then sewed onto the larger middle square. I got all the triangles sewed together, but when I went to sew them onto the larger square, they didn’t match! I was a good half-inch off! I can’t figure out what I did wrong. I’m being very careful to use the exact 1/4th inch seam, but something went terribly terribly wrong. So I ripped all of the triangles apart, but it was so late and I was tired and frustrated, so I quit for the evening. The next three days I had to get up at 3:00 am to go to work, so when I got home, I was too tired to tackle it. Today, I will try again. So you’ll have to tune in next week to see how it turns out!

I also finished the socks out of the Red Heart Strata yarn that I bought how long ago?  They turned out really pretty and I’ve decided to make more with that yarn. I’ll wait for a while, though, because I need to use up some of this other yarn that I bought on a shopping frenzy when Herrchner’s started sending me their yarn sale notices! At the same time, Hobby Lobby decided to clear out a bunch of yarn just as I was making a few trips there. (I can’t resist a yarn sale!) I dug around in the BIG bag that I’m keeping all that yarn in and I found a “fuzzy” skein that I started knitting with last night. It’s Yarn Bee yarn called Soft Delight that I got at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents. It’s a little difficult to knit with because of the fuzziness, but I think it’ll make really pretty socks. The content is acrylic and polyester, but it also has 37% nylon in it, so the socks are going to be very soft!

One of my UFO’s is no more a UFO. I made some of these socks for #1 daughter for Christmas and I had yarn enough to make another pair. I started them before Christmas and got  one sock done. (I stuffed the project away in a bag and hid it in the closet for the holidays.) I got the other one finished this week, so that’s another UFO out of the way! 

Well, I’m off to the sewing room to try again on the quilt block! See ya next week!
 

Week 15

This week was “recover from the holiday” week. (That’s really just an excuse to be lazy because I really didn’t do that much for Easter that wore me out.) But the house was cleaned up pretty good, washing caught up, and we had a lot of left-overs so I didn’t have to worry about cooking for a while. So, I spent the week pretty much just knitting.

I worked on the pastel baby afghan and got it done! I still need to block it, but it’s off the needles and I’m glad. I was getting a little tired of working on it. I need to get back to my sweater and at least get a little more knitting done on it–I haven’t worked on it for weeks!

I still have a couple of recent projects to sew together, (they are quickly becoming UFO’s). Also, I didn’t work on any other UFO’s this week. I got obcessed with finishing the baby afghan. (But it’s done!) And I haven’t forgotten about the socks. I finished one, and am working on the other one. It’s about half finished.

I’m planning on having a yard sale on my vacation in May. I can’t get it through my head that May is only a couple of weeks away! I guess because it’s been so cold (and snowing) that it doesn’t seem to be as far into the year as it really is. Crazy weather–it’s confusing me! Anyway, I went through one of the closets yesterday and started a “yard sale” pile. I’m going to try to go through a closet, drawer, or room once a day and hopefully get some things out of here. I save waaaaay too much stuff! I’ll let you know how this progresses.

Nothing much else to talk about this week. I helped hubby work in the yard this week. He mowed and I trimmed a little. I’m really anxious to start digging for the patio, if only the weather would cooperate. When I’m outside working or sitting with hubby in the swing, I glance at my lonely shop and wish I was in there painting. I’m SO getting in the mood to start painting again. But, we shall see what this week brings about. Keep those needles clicking!

EXTRA

How do you like my header!! My other talented daughter, Karen, did this for me. Doesn’t this look great!?! If you would like to have a great-looking header for your blog, run on over and see her at http://www.take2max.com/blog(she’s got a fantastic blog by the way) or http://www.take2max.com/karen/
I know she won’t disappoint you!

Week 14

Well, I almost forgot to blog this week! I was busy all week getting ready for Easter. We had a great one, by the way, and hope you did too. It was really cold–probably the coldest one I can remember in a long time, but the sun was shining and it looked really pretty. I had to cover plants and flowers several nights before Easter because we had a hard freeze, so we didn’t have the beautiful lilacs and peonies that are usually blooming this time of the year.

Our barbeque was great! Hubby cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs outside, but we eat inside! We had a lot to eat and I think everyone had a great time. The only ones that didn’t get to come is our son and his family. They have two boys also, but they’re both a lot younger than the others. One is only a baby, but Zak is three and would have had a great time looking for eggs once he understood what to do. Maybe next year they’ll get to come.

The four oldest grandsons were here for the egg hunt however. They all think they’re getting too old to hunt for eggs, but since they know there would be money in them, I don’t think they minded making their ol’ granny happy for one more year. Once they got out there, though, they run around and had fun just like always! I put a special sticker in one of the eggs and whoever got it won a big basket full of candy. They knew they would share it so none of the others seem to get their feelings hurt. That might become a tradition from now on.

Needless to say, I didn’t get any knitting or crafting done this week. Daughter Cynthia and I are the ones who go to Ark. every year for the big craft festivals, and we talked about that while she was here. She wanted to make sure that I had made our reservations at a motel. If you don’t make them for the next year as soon as the event is over for the year, you may not get a room. They really disappear fast! But I assured her that I had our rooms all waiting for us! She wasn’t able to go last year and I took my Sis. She really missed it so I think she’s even more excited about going this year.

Even though I didn’t do any crafts this week, Cynthia had her crocheting with her. She’s decorating another pair of flip flops by crocreting fun fur around the straps. She made herself some last year and they were really cute!

Well, I’m on a mission to get some UFO’s done, so I’d better get to it! Have a great week and keep crafting!
     

Week 13

I’ve been knitting a lot this week, but haven’t finished anything! I’ve been knitting on a pair of socks that I bought the yarn for several weeks ago. You may remember reading about it. It’s the Strata yarn from Red Heart. I’m saving the knitting to do at work on my breaks and lunch hour. I need to keep my fingers busy, so I don’t EAT! I’m almost finished with the first sock, and it’s really turning out pretty! I love this yarn!

At home I’m knitting on the baby afghan out of the varigated pastel-colored yarn that I talked about last week. I didn’t have enough of it to make up the pattern I wanted to, so I came up with a pattern of my own using some white yarn too. It’s a variation of the multi-colored block pattern that I made a few weeks ago. It’s slow-going, but it keeps my fingers busy in the evening, so I’m not EATING!

I still haven’t gotten back to working on the 30-minute-a-day UFO’s. I did get rid of a couple of projects just by frogging them and putting the yarn back into my stash to be used for something else, so I guess you could say I accomplished a little on the UFO’s. I took a count of how many I have and would tell you, but I would be a little embarrassed. Suffice it to say, you could call me the “Mother of UFO’s!”

I also went through my yarn stash in the garage, (yes, it never ends!), and re-arranged some things so I could put the yarn on shelves that would be more convenient to get to. I had them against a back wall and had to climb over hubby’s truck to get to them when I needed something. This way, I can open the door and all my yarn is right there waiting to be grabbed and knit into something! The only problem with this arrangement is people can look in when the garage door is open and see what a “stasher” their neighbor is. (Maybe this will give me some incentive to get a lot of it used up!)

I got all of my recent knitting projects steam-blocked and ready to sew together. Now, getting that done may be easier said than done! I doubt I’ll get too much knitting or crafting done this week, though. Next weekend is Easter and I NEED to get some house cleaning done. We’re having a Barbeque this year for our Easter dinner (this is something new!), and most of the kids and grandkids will be here. Not that they’re not used to seeing my yarn all over the place, but my daughter will be sleeping in the sewing room, and she probably wouldn’t want to sleep with yarn and projects all over her bed! She could get lost and we’d never see her again! Same thing for the living room. If we all sit in there and try to visit, we’d have to peek between skeins of yarn just to be seen!

You all have a great Easter and keep those needles clicking!