Weekly Update

Household:

My next household project is to make some quilted coasters. I fussy cut 3 flowers from the same fabric, cut batting and backings for each, and made all of the binding strips. I had to double up on the batting because this stuff is so cheap that you can see through it in places.

I also started quilting one of the coasters. I'm quilting along the outline of the flower.

Blackwork:

I finished the fill pattern on Da Capo by Elizabeth Almond, outlined it, and did some of the star border on the next section.

Swedish Weaving:

I finished stitching the Feathers To and Fro afghan from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly. Now I just have to hem the ends.

Quilting:

I finished Part 8 of Nabby's Dowry, a sew-along by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts.

Crochet:

I did some more work on the star for the Purple Passion Throw designed by Vicki Marshall.

Cross Stitch:

Finally, I did some more work on the Rose Cross by Irene O. Thomas.

Weekly Update

Blackwork:

I stitched some more of the fill pattern on Da Capo by Elizabeth Almond.

Swedish Weaving:

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

Quilting:

I finished Part 7 of Nabby's Dowry, a sew-along by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts.

Crochet:

I was actually able to do a decent amount of crocheting this week. I finished the star for the Purple Passion Throw designed by Vicki Marshall, sewed all the pieces together, and started another star.

Did you notice my mistake? I wasn't paying attention, so one of the stars ended up sideways. After a bit of contemplation, I decided that I didn't care about it enough to frog it and that I would just call it an example of the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi.

Household:

Finally, I finished the washcloth based on pattern #27 designed by Darla Sims from Leisure Arts' The Big Book of Dishcloths and did 2 more. I'm now done with the washcloths.

Weekly Update

Blackwork:

I picked up Da Capo by Elizabeth Almond again and finished the star border on one section and started the fill pattern.

Swedish Weaving:

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

Quilting:

I finished Part 6 of Nabby's Dowry, a sew-along by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts.

Cross Stitch:

On Planetarius, which is adapted from the artwork of Miles Pinkney, I did bit more on one of the planets.

I also did some more work on the Rose Cross by Irene O. Thomas.

Crochet:

My arthritis again kept me from crocheting as much as I would have liked, but I did some more on the star for the Purple Passion Throw designed by Vicki Marshall.

Household:

Finally, I finished the washcloth based on pattern #27 designed by Darla Sims from Leisure Arts' The Big Book of Dishcloths and started another.

Weekly Update

Swedish Weaving:

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

Quilting:

I finished Part 5 of Nabby's Dowry, a sew-along by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts.

Cross Stitch:

On Planetarius, which is adapted from the artwork of Miles Pinkney, I finished the wizard's hat, did some of the nebulosity, and started one of the planets.

I also did some more work on the Rose Cross by Irene O. Thomas.

Crochet:

My arthritis has been acting up this week so I didn't get as much crocheting done as I would have liked, but I did make some progress on a star for the Purple Passion Throw designed by Vicki Marshall.

Household:

Finally, I almost finished the washcloth based on pattern #27 designed by Darla Sims from Leisure Arts' The Big Book of Dishcloths.

Weekly Update

I've been sick with a cold this week so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to, but I did manage to keep up with my goal, household, and sew-along projects.

Cross Stitch:

I did a small amount of work on the Rose Cross by Irene O. Thomas.

Swedish Weaving:

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

Quilting:

I finished Part 4 of Nabby's Dowry, a sew-along by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts.

Knitting:

On the Octopus Garden Blanket by Georgia Vincent,  I embroidered the face and wove in all the ends on the 2nd octopus (Olivia).

Crochet:

On the Purple Passion Throw designed by Vicki Marshall, I finished a butterfly, sewed it to the 3rd row, and started a star.

Household:

Finally, I finished the washcloth based on pattern #27 designed by Darla Sims from Leisure Arts' The Big Book of Dishcloths and started a new one based on the same pattern.

Weekly Update

It's time for a change.

I realized this week that my routine of doing at least a half hour of each type of needlework each week and spending at least 2 hours each day on needlework (I actually had a spreadsheet for this) wasn't working out. I felt like I was on a treadmill, and needlework was starting to feel like a chore. Yikes. So I sat down and figured out what works for me and what doesn't and how I'm going to approach my needlework in the future.

For starters, I've scrapped the spreadsheet. Needlework is much more relaxing when I'm not timing myself. I'm going to continue to do multiple projects because focussing on just one project bores me to tears, but I'm going to work on whatever I feel like for however long I feel like working on it. I'll also continue to do at least some needlework each day because it makes me feel more centered, but, again, I'm going to stop timing myself.

I'm going to continue working on my goal to use up all of my acrylic yarn, because seeing that huge pile of yarn that I don't want anymore stresses me out but I don't want to throw it away. However, I don't think that I'm going to set a yearly goal in the future; I've been feeling a bit trapped by this one. I don't like the feeling that I have to work on a project. I'm also going to continue to work on my household projects because I do need some new dishcloths, potholders, and towels. And I will continue with Pam Buda's sew-alongs because they're fun. ;)

So, other than the acrylic yarn and household projects, on which I will do some work each week, I'm going to do whatever I like whenever I feel like it for as long as I feel like working on it. I'm also going to try to work from my stash as much as possible, but I'll still buy new things occasionally.

Cross Stitch:

Of course, the first thing I did after deciding upon this new needlework philosophy was to pull out an unopened kit and start a new cross stitch project. :) It's Planetarius which is adapted from the artwork of Miles Pinkney.  The kit doesn't say who did the adapting.

I also did a tiny amount of work on the Rose Cross by Irene O. Thomas.

Swedish Weaving:

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

Quilting:

I finished Part 3 of Nabby's Dowry, a sew-along by Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts.

Knitting:

On the Octopus Garden Blanket by Georgia Vincent,  I wove in the ends on all of the free legs, the bow, and one of the octopi (Oscar). I also embroidered Oscar's face, which was a bit difficult because there were no directions on where to place the eyes and mouth and this was my first attempt at stem stitch.

Crochet:

My arthritis was acting up this week, so I didn't get as much crocheting done as I wanted to, but I did a bit more work on the tulip that I had started last week for the Purple Passion Throw designed by Vicki Marshall.

Household:

Finally, I started a new washcloth based on pattern #27 designed by Darla Sims from Leisure Arts' The Big Book of Dishcloths.

Weekly Update

Quilting:

Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts has started a new sew-along, Nabby's Dowry.  Well, actually it started 3 weeks ago, but since the 1st step was to cut out all the pieces for the blocks and sew all the half-square triangles together, I decided to wait until Part 2 and cut and sew the basic units as needed.

So, here's my finished block for Part 2:

I finished another flying geese block for Around the Town by Dawna Baker.

I did some more quilting on Batik Cascade (Batik Go-Round) by Karen Combs.

Blackwork:

I did some more work on Da Capo by Elizabeth Almond.

Cross Stitch:

I did some more work on the Rose Cross by Irene O. Thomas.

Swedish Weaving:

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

Crochet:

I finished 2 tulips for the Purple Passion Throw designed by Vicki Marshall, and started a 3rd.

Knitting:

I started blocking the pieces of the octopi for the Octopus Garden Blanket by Georgia Vincent.

Household:

I suffered a setback on my washcloths. I was using the finished washcloth from this post when I noticed that the dye was bleeding. Thinking that the yarn just had a bit of loose dye still in it, I decided to try rinsing it until the water ran clear. Several sinkfuls of water later, not only was the water still full of dye, but the thing had dyed my sink aqua! Fortunately I was able to scrub it clean. I threw out that washcloth, the one that was still in progress, and the rest of the yarn.

I was surprised because I had used Sugar'n'Cream yarn in the past with no problems. In fact, I've never bought a yarn where the dye ran like that. However, a quick internet search showed that this is a common problem with Sugar'n'Cream. I'm never buying the stuff again. Life is too short to mess with bad yarn.

Finishing:

Finally, I attached the 2nd binding strip to the Tree Frog Trio (designer unknown) based on No Evil Frogs by Royce B. McClure.