Weekly Update

And now back to our regularly scheduled stitching. :)

Quilting:

I've decided that from now on I'm going to have one quilt project in the piecing stage and one in the quilting/finishing stage, plus any sew-alongs.

No sew-alongs this week. Pam Buda doesn't plan to post her next one until January, and Deanne Eisenman only just posted hers today.

For my piecing project I picked up Around the Town by Dawna Baker again.

For my quilting/finishing project I started piecing the backing for Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs. The fabric I used in this project can't be ordered by the yard, so I had to order a set of 1/2-yard cuts which I'm piecing together.

Blackwork:

I finished one square and started the next on the Blackwork Chessboard by Anne MacGregor.

 

Cross Stitch:

I did some work on Fish City which is adapted from artwork by Stewart Moskowitz.

Swedish Weaving:

I made a little progress on the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly.

Crochet:

I did some more embroidery on the 2nd panel of the Morning Glory afghan designed by Michele Maks.

Also, I have now crocheted 9 squares for the 3rd panel, and have almost finished a 10th.

Knitting:

I wove in some more ends on the center panel of the Octopus Garden Blanket by Georgia Vincent.

 

Finishing:

On Tech Support, a design by Linda Connors of Calico Crossroads®, adapted from the artwork of Kathleen Kelly of Kats by Kelly™, I pieced the backing (more small cuts of fabric) and basted the layers together.

Christmas:

Finally, during the month of December I'm going to work on Christmas-themed UFOs, starting with In The Bag, a Mini-Kats™ design by Linda Connors of Calico Crossroads®, adapted from the artwork of Kathleen Kelly of Kats by Kelly™.

Here's what I had already done on it:

And here's what I got done this week:

 

Weekly Update - First Quilt Top Done!

Yay!!!! I finished my very first quilt top!!!!

*grabs the nearest person and does the dance of joy*

 

And here it is: Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) designed by Karen Combs and hand pieced by Yours Truly!

 

If I'm this excited now, you can just imagine what I'll be like when I get it quilted and bound. :D

Deanne Eisenman of Snuggles Quilts has posted the August installment of her Block of the Month series, Cat and Mouse. I started cutting the pieces, but unfortunately I didn't have enough background fabric. I've got some more on order, but it doesn't come in until next Tuesday.

Anyway, here's what I did get done.

So, the plan is to start piecing my next quilt tonight. Tomorrow, the other sew-along I plan to participate in is supposed to start. Then, after I get paid next week, I need to head to the store and buy some of the supplies that I need to finish Batik Cascade and then order the rest. After that, I'll have to wash the background fabric for Cat and Mouse and get going on it. Looks to be a busy week.

Weekly Update

I've been bitten by the quilting bug, and I've got it bad. I'm still working on Batik Cascade and the BOTM, but I've just decided to join another sew-along which starts late next week, I've got 3 more quilts planned, I have a kit I haven't started, and I have 2 sets of novelty fabric that I need to design quilts for which will probably make at least 3 more quilts. So that's a total of at least 10 projects and I've yet to finish my first quilt top. Good grief! I'm having fun, though. :)

Speaking of that first quilt top, I got another row finished on Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs and started on the next.

That makes 10 rows done and just 3 more left to do. I plan to go ahead and start quilting it right away, but I'll have to order backing fabric and buy batting and quilting thread first which I won't be able to do until after next paycheck, and I hope to have it finished before then. So, I'll probably start piecing the next quilt while I'm waiting. I washed and ironed some of the fabric for that one today, so I'll be set to go when I finish piecing Batik Cascade.

Don't worry, this isn't turning into a quilting blog. I'll wake up some morning and decide I need a break from quilting and get back to my other projects. In the meantime, I'm up to my eyeballs in fabric and loving it. ;)

Weekly Update

Quilting:

I finished sewing row 8 of Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs to the rest the top, pressed it, and made a good start on row 9.

Swedish Weaving:

I made some more progress on the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly.

Weekly Update

Sorry about the awful pictures and the lateness of the post, but I haven't been feeling well lately. Anyway, here's what I had done on Wednesday.

Quilting:

I did another row on on Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs and almost finished sewing it to the rest of the quilt. That makes 8 rows now.

Swedish Weaving:

I got some more work done on the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly.

Weekly Update

Quilting:

I did 2 more rows on Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs. I now have 7 rows completed: a little over halfway done.

Swedish Weaving:

I did a little more on the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly. I'm finding that it's a good project to work on while watching videos.

Weekly Update

I did nothing but quilt this week (I only wish that were literally true). I did the 5th row of Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs from start to finish.

Weekly Update

Cross Stitch:

I made good progress on Brilliant Butterfly Celebration from The Gold Collection by Dimensions. The top part of the "frame" is almost done.

Finishing:

I finished the hem on Purple Passage from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly and started on the beading.

I had originally intended to do netting around the edge, but that didn't work. So I tried fringe at the bottom and that didn't work either. I finally settled on a single row of beads around the edge, but it took me a couple of tries to figure out how to sew them on properly.

Once I'm done with these, I've got to figure out some sort of hanger.

I've decided that I don't much like beading. Darn things are slippery and don't stay where they're put.

Quilting:

I've got the first 4 rows of Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs sewn together.

I've gotten distracted again. Deanne Eisnenman of Snuggles Quilts is doing a Block of the Month (BOTM), and it looked like fun so I decided to join in. She's on the third month already so I have a bit of catching up to do, but not too much. I'll continue to work on Batik Cascade as well.

For May, she's chosen a Rolling Stone block. Every time I see the name of this block the following song starts going through my head.

So far, I've got the first 2 rows of the block almost completely sewn together, and have started the first unit of the third row.

I didn't get anything done on my other projects.

Weekly Update

Crochet:

I finished my sunhat.

I didn't do any work on the afghan.

Quilting:

I finished the 4th row of Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs.

Cross Stitch:

I did some work on Brilliant Butterfly Celebration from The Gold Collection by Dimensions.

Swedish Weaving:

I got a bit more done on the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly.

Finishing:

I finally got started on my finishing project. I'm making Purple Passage from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly into a wall hanging.

I've almost finished hemming the edges.

When I'm done with that, I'm going to make a "frame" for it with these beads:

I didn't get any work done on my blackwork or knitting projects this week.

Weekly Update

I felt better this week. I finally got to the store and bought supplies, and I worked on each of my projects.

Crochet:
It was hot when I went to the store and I really missed having a hat (the one I have is ugly and has to be washed by hand, so it's sitting at the bottom of the clothes hamper), so I bought some yarn to make the crocheted sunhat I keep promising myself. I'm putting aside the afghan just long enough to get the hat done, then I'll get back to it.

I'm a fast crocheter, and I got this done just while listening to Creative Mojo yesterday. I'll probably have the hat done tomorrow or the next day.

I'm using a trick I learned from Carol Wolf's blog, Wolf Crochet: I'm crocheting the brim with 2 strands of yarn to make it stiff rather than floppy. I used one strand in the crown to keep it lightweight.

Quilting:
I've sewn 7 squares of the 4th row together on Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs.

Blackwork:
For my blackwork project, I pulled out the Blackwork Chessboard by Anne MacGregor. I plan to make it into a wall hanging and display it as a sampler rather than use it as a chessboard.

Here's what I already had done. The design calls for metallic gold thread, but I decided to substitute a dusty aqua rayon floss. The rayon floss is difficult to work with, but nowhere near as bad as metallics are.

Detail of 1 of the squares:

And here's what I'd got done yesterday:

Details of the 2 squares I finished this week:

Cross Stitch:
I made good progress again on Brilliant Butterfly Celebration from The Gold Collection by
Dimensions.

Swedish Weaving:
I got one whole row done on the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly.

Knitting:
For my knitting project, I pulled out yet another UFO: the adorable Octopus Garden Blanket by Georgia Vincent. The best link I could find for her was this writeup of her winning entry in a Patternworks contest. Apparently this talented lady enters -- and wins -- all the contests. The Octopus Garden Blanket was a winner in a 2006 Patternworks contest.

This afghan is made up of many knitted panels which are embroidered and then joined together. The octopi are knit separately and then appliqued.

I had finished knitting the center panel and started the embroidery.

This is one of two sides. It's a bit hard to see since I apparently stopped in the middle of a row.

This week I got a bit more of the embroidery on the center panel done. I also discovered a mistake and had to frog a few stitches.

I also did some more knitting on the side.

I haven't started my finishing project yet, other than opening a few of the supplies. Hopefully I'll have done some work on it by next week.

Weekly Update

Swedish Weaving:

I finally got the last motif done on the first half of the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly. Now I'm ready to turn it around and work on the second half.

Quilting:

I sewed the first 3 squares of the 4th row together on Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs.

Cross Stitch:

I made quite a bit of progress this week on Brilliant Butterfly Celebration from The Gold Collection by Dimensions.

Crochet:

For my crochet project, I pulled out the Morning Glory afghan designed by Michele Maks again. You can see what I'd got done last time here.  This week I finished one of the blue flowers, so I now have 12 blue flowers out of the 28 needed, 2 of which have been sewn to the 1st panel, and 2 of which still need the ends woven in.

I also crocheted the first square for the 3rd panel and started a second.

I didn't get my knitting and blackwork projects out yet. I had planned to, but illness and jury duty got in the way. Hopefully I can get started on them this week. Also, I hope to be able to get to the store this week to buy supplies for the finishing project I have in mind.