BOTM Rolling Stone - Finished

I've finished the Rolling Stone block that Deanne Eisnenman of Snuggles Quilts chose for the May installment of her Block of the Month (BOTM) series.

I hand pieced it and used batik scraps from my stash. I'm usually a bit more original with my color choices, but I happened to have some fabrics in the same basic color scheme that Deanne used that looked so good that I decided to go ahead and use them. I'll mix things up a bit on later blocks.

I've already started cutting fabric for the March block, Twisted Star. I had just enough of the beige background fabric left, and I'll be using the same green and blue fabrics that I used in Rolling Stone and adding in a brown.

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

Last week was the Week From Hell, and this week doesn't seem to be going much better. First I was sick, then I had jury duty which gave me a migraine, then I had a really bad rheumatism flareup, then my bathtub spontaneously overflowed and I had to clean the entire bathroom, and now I'm feeling sick again. The upshot of all of this is that I didn't feel like doing much needlework, and when I did do some I only worked on my cross stitch project. I didn't make to the store either, although I did manage to order some more fabric for my quilt.

So, anyway.

I did make fairly good progress on Brilliant Butterfly Celebration from The Gold Collection by Dimensions, all things considered.

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.

Weekly Update

I'm getting bored working on the same one or two projects all the time, so I've decided to try something new.  Since I do so many different types of needlework, I figure that if I keep one project for each type of needlework out I should have enough variety to keep from getting bored and still actually finish things occasionally. It should make the blog a bit more interesting to look at as well. So, I plan to have one each of the following types of projects going at all times: crochet, cross stitch, knitting, blackwork, Swedish weaving, quilting, and finishing.

For my Swedish weaving project, I'm still working on the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly. I got a little bit done on it this week.

My current quilting project is still Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs.  I got the 3rd row done and sewn to the first 2 rows.

For my cross stitch project, I pulled out Brilliant Butterfly Celebration from The Gold Collection by Dimensions again. You can see how far I'd gotten on it last time here. The first square section is completely done now, backstitching and all.

I haven't pulled out any crochet, knitting, or blackwork projects yet, but I have plenty of UFOs to choose from. I have a finishing project in mind, but I have to wait for next payday before I can buy supplies.