Cross-stitch Progress

The last time I posted about the Christmas cross-stitch piece, this is what she looked like. I said I was down to the last sixth of the main design, and I hoped to be either working on the backstitch or  even have it completed by the end of January. That was last year. Clearly, that plan fell through.

But with the new crafting schedule in place, this is where I am now. Now, don't be fooled. I didn't do all of this yesterday. I should have actually had more worked, but I was lazy, and didn't begin until almost 8pm. Some of that was done last January. Or sometime thereafter. I didn't work on it much after writing that post. I don't know what happened. Cross-stitch just takes so much effort to get out all the supplies, keep them organized, figure out where to go next in the pattern....and I have so many other projects that are much easier to pick-up and put back down at the end of the night. 

But that's no excuse. So I am determined to finish it. I just won't give myself a deadline. But I will say that every Monday (or whatever day I end up with, just in case I decide to rearrange my schedule) I will be working on this project until it is complete. 

Process/progress successfully updated. Yay!

Year of Crochet

On Friday, I posted my weekly schedule of crafts. I know it may seem like overkill to plan out when I'm going to work on projects, but I have so many ideas and projects that I want to get to. If I don't come up with a way to get to them in a way that allows me to complete them all (while not getting tired of working on the same project all the time), I will end 2013 with all these WIPs, plus more, I'm sure. 

If you paid attention, you noticed that there are two days listed for crochet. Three years ago, when I started this blog with the intent to clean out my craft closet, I decided I was going to finish the one crochet blanket I had in the boxes, and then donate the rest of my yarn and hooks to a close friend who crocheted. (I still haven't finished that blanket, btw). But things change. One of my friends is 21 weeks pregnant, and she has requested that her baby blanket not be a quilt. So I started a project for her...

That's all the peek you get for now. She's having a gender reveal party soon, so I'll know how to finish it off, and you'll get a finished picture after she gets it.

Then the unexpected happened. One of my aunts passed away last year. She loved to crochet (I still have the baby blanket she made for me when I was born. I'm saving it...) and she loved to shop on sale. She had boxes of yarn...boxes. Each box full of only one color. She used to make the blankets and store them, giving them away to other cancer patients she would meet. She also made wedding afghans (I have one of those too, it's beautiful), and baby blankets. But my cousins are not       crafty people, so they offered to have some of the "crafty" members of our family come down and select supplies they would take back. I ended up with several bags and boxes of yarn, but I didn't know what I was going to do with them for a few weeks. 

Turns out I had enough baby yarn to make several blankets. Plus, she had several blankets already finished, or near completion. So, what was I going to do with all this? I didn't feel right giving away blankets she had made to my own friends, and I also didn't feel right making blankets from her yarn to give to friends. After discussing it with the hubs, we came up with the perfect solution. I'm going to make up the blankets this year, and then donate them to a local women's shelter. Most of the women show up at those shelters with nothing but the clothes on their back and what they could toss into their purses. Many times they arrive with small children, and sometimes, they are pregnant. These women and children deserve a little something special and homemade. 

Then I realize that I could do that with even the regular yarn! Make up the blankets and give them to one of the local charities. So 2013 is the year of the skein. (teehee...it rhymes!) If I'm going to achieve this goal, I need at least 2 days a week to work on these blankets. And I also have that crafter's choice day, so sometimes that can give me 3 days of crochet. 

Piles of yarn. 

This was one of the completed blankets. All I needed to do was finish off and weave in the ends.

Two more completed blankets. I especially love the one on the left. Those little fuzzy tufts are just so cute!

This one was not quite complete, but I couldn't figure out all of the stitches without the pattern, so I found a fun border that seemed to match the rest of the blanket, and used that to complete it.

This was how I found this blanket. Thankfully, I was also able to find most of the yarn she used. I actually had to make one of the stars on the right. Betcha can't tell which one!

Here is the finished blanket. I was unable to find one of the yarns she used, and had to substitute with a near approximation. It doesn't quite match, but you have to look for it to find it. But I think it looks good anyway.

Schedules and Thundersnows

Here it is, two weeks later, and I must say, I'm doing pretty well. I'm not always walking to the store (who could when it was pouring down rain) but I have made it to the gym to make up some of those days. Subbing at the high school makes it very easy to achieve 5,000 steps before I even leave the building, and some days, half of my stairs as well. But even more importantly (at least for this blog;) is that I have been working on more projects each day, and making progress on each one

The current schedule is:

Sunday: crochet

Monday: cross-stitch

Tuesday: felt

Wednesday: quilting/sewing

Thursday: crochet

Friday: scrapbooking

Saturday: crafter's choice

Now, for this week, Monday and Wednesday fell through. But the rest of the week I have actually worked on each project and made progress. I have progress pics and updates, as well as new plans and ideas, but today I wanted to leave you with something else.

No matter where you live, snow is a beautiful thing. At least the first snow of the season. Then it gets old. But here in the southeast, we just received our first snow. It even made the national news last night. Some places got as much as 6 inches, but we only got about 3 (it's still enough to have cancelled school for the day! Southerners don't know how to drive in the snow.) Where we are, the bulk of the snow came down in the first hour and a half, but we saw snow for about 5 hours. Big, fat, wet snowflakes that covered everything. So I leave you with those pictures. Because it's beautiful, and today, it is melting. So I want it to last.

Sneak Peek at the New Baby Quilt

There it is. How cute is that going to be?

 

If you've been playing around on Pinterest, you may have seen and idea of what this will be by the end of next week. If not, you will just have to wait. I'm planning on using Wednesday and Friday of next week to work on gifts. And boy, do I have gifts to work on.  We just found out last week that another close friend is pregnant. She's 12 weeks along, so I have some time to work, but not much. She has requested that her baby blanket be crocheted, so I have to get to gettin' on it if I want to finish it in time to give at her baby shower.

 

But I got all that fabric cut last night. I'm so proud of me.

Working Again

I have been cutting fabric for the last two nights. I am so excited. First off, I found another I-Spy swap. Since I started collecting I-spies int 2010 the only swaps I have participated in have been of the 4 inch variety like Obsessively Stitching hosts. She has everyone find quarter yards of 10 fabrics that they cut into 4 inch squares. It has been a while since she hosted one though, and I had been collecting every time I was at a fabric store. I had fat quarters all lined up and ready to go. When I searched for swaps on Google, all I could find were other, random sized swaps. I didn't have enough fabric to participate. And then one day, in my Google Reader, with angels singing acapella in the background, one of my regular bloggers was talking about the swap she had just joined on Hammer & Thread.  I literally did a happy dance on the couch while clicking through to all the correct links to comment and join the swap. (And yes, I am using the word "literally" correctly in this instance. I actually wiggled and danced on the couch.)

Now all the fabrics have been cut and I will be going to the post office either today or tomorrow!! Aren't these just the cutest prints?

I'm not sure which is my favorite. I love the ants and the ladybugs, but the monkeys on the far left are adorable, and the pink cats are just funny. I think the dinosaur skeletons are pretty unique, though. I can't wait to see what everyone else contributes, so I can add to my collection.

 

Tonight I will begin cutting more fabric for another baby blanket. A close friend is 7 months pregnant with her second, a boy. I am making a cuddle rag quilt for him. I'll post sneak peeks at the fabric next time.

Media Fast

We were challenged in Bible Study on Sunday to "make a change that could change our lives forever." Since I have not been working regularly, I have found the temptation to relax on the couch in front of Netflix hard to pass up. Considering that I am married, I am not allowed cannot keep my sewing machine in the living room in front of said TV, and so most days I get only handwork completed. My challenge to myself is to not watch as much television and to concentrate on completing projects.

Yesterday was awesome! I didn't expect how productive I would become! I washed and folded several loads of laundry, organized the new Snapfish order that arrived in the mail, and I sewed!!  I pieced over 20 burp cloths together...

This is a stack of 45. I have been piecing them for months, but never finished them. That changes this week!

And organized them into the correct stacks with tag blankets and simple blankets according to what color thread I want to accent them with!

I hope tomorrow to be able to show them completed.

Here's to progress!

A Progress Post

Almost a year ago, my husband's granny went into the hospital for a quadruple by-pass surgery, and I pulled out an old UFO to work on in the waiting room.  I found the best distraction to be my Christmas cross-stitch pattern. When I pulled it out of the bag, it looked like this....

I know the angle is bad on the picture, but I was only a little over a quarter of the way finished with this pattern. In the hospital that day, I worked on the tree beside the house, and slowly made my way to the sky to the left of the completed house. As beautiful as the sky is, all of those half-cross stitches really got to me after a while. And then I moved to the trees. I thought they would be Bob Ross-worthy "happy little trees". He lied.

They were not happy, and neither was I.

Months later, I finished the trees, the house on the right and began working on the lower right quadrant. It was really neat watching everything coming together, seeing the people emerge out of the snowbanks, looking as though they really will finish lacing their ice skates and take off any minute now.

This is the piece as of last night. My original goal for this piece was to have it finished by the end of 2011. Clearly, that did not happen. But I do have less than one-sixth of the pattern to complete.

It's really exciting to see it coming together. At my current pace, I hope to have all the cross stitch completed by the end of the month, with the back-stitch and final details finished by the end of January. And now that DH has begun to cross stitch as well (I KNOW!!) we can each spend the evenings on the couch, enjoying Netflix and working on projects.

Here's to progress!!

Apology

Today, I apologize for not posting anything of great import. I have been debating about showing and describing my progress on the braided jean rug, or on the quilt, or on any one of the many projects in the works, but...

I plan on writing the rug into a tutorial, so it needs it's own post entirely to itself. The quilt, well, there's not much more I can say about it right now, but ow! Still building the callous, and some of it broke off today, so tonight's quilting is really going to hurt again. I'm working a bit at a time on the chalkboard, it's looking great, but I'm still fermenting ideas, and need time to think. And with all these projects going at once, I haven't even stepped into the craft room to begin playing with it's organization.

But DH and friends are going to a bachelor party out of state this weekend, so the only thing I plan on doing this weekend is "me stuff." Maybe by tomorrow or Friday I will have the rug complete, and can write up the tutorial.

Oh! And by the end of the weekend, I may have been able to fiddle with my page design, adding another column so I can have more detailed lists and links. Wish me luck on that!

Now, off to watch a scary movie and quilt before going to bed.

Chalkboard Wall

As promised, the pics from this week are here!

Today, I went up to the house to put up the first of two layers of chalkboard paint on the kitchen wall. Measured the wall, sketched it out on graph paper, then began the tedious process of marking out my measurements on the wall. Then the even more slow process of drawing LEVEL lines on the wall where indicated. After marking those lines with painter's masking tape, I stepped back to see if I liked the placement of the board. Which I thought I took a picture of, but apparently didn't. By the way, stirring chalkboard paint is tough, it gets all clumpy at the bottom of the can. But once applied, I got really excited about the way it looked. I wanted to make the paint dry super fast, so that i could apply the second coat, make it dry super fast, so I could began adding the special details that will make it Mine! But alas, 6 hours dry time required between coats, so I will just have to wait until tomorrow.

On the subject of the new house, I have pics of the craft room! Now, keep in mind, this booger is not completely decorated, and is also not completely set up. But it has such potential, and look at all the great storage space!

I love the built in shelves around the window, I'm just not sure yet how I plan to utilize them. I hate the board under the window, and am looking at removing it, since then I can place my work table at the window, which gives me a wall back. And that closet is HUGE! Storage for gift wrapping supplies, WIPs and UFOs, and yes, it's a cedar lined closet, so NO Moths!


Now, the plan is, if I can get rid of that window ledge, the work table (on the right) will move to the window, the ironing board will take it's place, and my cedar chest with UFO supplies will live on the newly empty wall. Above the chest, I will be making a quilting layout board out of felt. For other display in the room, I'm thinking about hanging some of my baby quilts and blankets up where I hope to put the ironing board. **Happy dance!!** I have a craft room!! ** Happy dance!**

And for the baker's rack, it should be pretty self-explanatory. Plain Jane boring baker's rack on the left. Several hours later, on one of the windiest days yet this year, a beautiful focus piece for the kitchen! I may still need to do some touch-ups in one or two places, but it's gorgeous and you so can't tell it came from the flea market!

Moving Update

Only 3 more days til I drive up to the U-Haul to pick up the truck (apparently the only way I get to drive the truck, which I actually like doing, is to pick up the truck. Which, considering I'm the one who thought to reserve the truck, makes sense...) I have now made 7 trips with full car loads (2 on Saturday, and 2 cars one trip yesterday) to the house. Very little actually remains in my house except for the furniture, appliances, and my clothes. Yes, J was really good and packed all his clothes. I, on the other hand, packed my shoes (3 boxes!) and nearly had a cow. I'm scared to pack the clothes and see just how much I have. I may actually have a heart-attack!

Mom came up this week to celebrate our birthdays (4/23 and 5/9), so basically i put her to work! She was more than happy to help though, referencing her own parents assistance when she moved back in the ice age (j/k mom! ;) And why do I love my mommy? Because I knew she would be perfectly suited for a job, and she Loved working on it. --Changing out the shelf liners. The liners on the shelves and drawers WAS an old 70-80s style apple kitschy plaid-like pattern. Green, and dirty. The pantry shelves were BadLy sponge-painted (I will have to post a pic, it's that bad), and they NEED to be replaced. We didn't get the liners complete, and I may end up having to buy another roll of Contact paper, but the finished look is SOOOO much better.

What else have I been doing, you ask? Well, aside from stuffing and taping boxes to load and unload in the car, not to mention the unpacking of said boxes at the new house in an effort to stay as much ahead of the task as possible...very little. I have begun work on the Funky House blocks to swap, and I have already been planning how to put the final quilt together once I receive said blocks. I think I want to make a town, you know, with a Wal-Mart, a church, the school, J's plant, etc. Fuzzy black dog playing in the front yard, trees, street lamps/lights, maybe a car or two...ambitious, I know. Maybe make the sashing be a dark gray for asphalt streets....

I did spray paint the cool baker's rack I picked up at a flea market for $20. It was dirty and rusty, and boring with it's cream paint. I picked up the Hammered finish Rust-Oleum, and it's gorgeous now. No way you would think it came from a flea market. Note to others: spray painting on a windy day= BAD IDEA!! My feet are still slightly bronze. And the porch is too. (oops)

And I have come up with a plan for a boring wall in the kitchen (I mentioned this the other day). It's only about 7 feet long, and is between the dining room entry, and the garage stairs door, so there is not enough room to place any furniture. So what to do with boring, white wall.......This I considered while giving Tigger a bottle last week. It came to me...chalkboard paint. No, don't ask me where the thought came from. No idea. I can't remember the process that got me from his bottle to the paint. But I picked up a quart of the stuff, and will be painting the top half of the wall tomorrow. Once the paint is dry, my acrylics come out, and I am going to turn that board into a Menu and Schedule board. It will be Bee-u-tiful. I think.

Proving my point that a crafter's work is never done, I have a project planned for a vaca in June - felt food. I've been saving empty food boxes to stuff and tape to use in the "kitchen area" at the babies' house. Then I found tutorials on making play food. Which I can't find at yard sales, and I'm not allowed to buy new stuff for children I haven't given birth to. Since I have felt left over from making felt board stories, this will use the rest of that felt, and be a great project to work on for the 6 hour drive both ways. It will fit in a small bag, and since it is hand-work, easy to do in the car! I will also probably make some as a Christmas gift for a special someone, but telling who might ruin the surprise.

Now, you may be wondering, where are the pics of what I have worked on this week. Um.. they are on the camera, which is at the babies' house, because I had two 9 month-olds today, and they were adorable playing together, so I got the camera out, took some great pics...and left the camera on the couch, where I placed it out of the reach of grubby fingers that could have pulled it to the floor to suffer an ignoble death. So I will rescue the camera and load pics tomorrow.

Now, as I am both physically and mentally tired from all the work this week, I am going to go take my shower, and go to bed early. Pepe thinks this is a great idea, and has thought so for the last 3 hours, since he's been stretched out across the couch that long. I am sitting on just enough cushion to hold me, as he thinks nose to tail-tip is how much he requires! Smart-aleck.