Finally done! Well kind of.

I finally finished my embroidered quilt top.  I've been working on this for at least four years.  My Grandma Clara used to make these quilt tops using variegated thread.  When she passed on she had made a quilt for each of her daughters-in-law and enough that all of the grand kids got one, except for me.  I love how they look when they are done so I decided to make my own. 
When I first considered it I thought of doing it in purple, but then I decided that blue would be better.  Good thing I switched - Jerry's favorite color is blue and a purple quilt wouldn't look very good in our bedroom :o)  The thread I used is pearl cotton 8 from DMC.

The first picture is of the three panels laid out; I still need to sew them together, pick a backing, sandwich it all, and quilt it.  The middle panel also has the small border with butterflies at the bottom.  However, I'm very happy that I have the embroidery done, so had to share with everyone!  The second is a close up of the tulips in the middle panel.

Bookmarks and Cold Weather Preparedness

I've been working on large projects for the most part so I haven't had anything to share since the beginning of the year.  So I took a break from the big project and did a bookmark swap and made a scarf. 
The scarf is for Jerry.  A couple of weeks ago we had pretty cold weather and he had to work outside for most of the day.  Well, that resulted in Mr. I-don't-wear-scarves requesting one.  I've been wanting to make the Antlers scarf from the book Son of a Stitch n Bitch since I got the book, so away I went.  I chose Dove by Taki Yarns, an alpaca yarn blend, because I wanted it to be really warm.  It didn't  cable as well as I wanted, which I expected because the yarn is a loose plied single (I think), but I do like how it turned out.

 I made these four bookmarks for a swap on craftster.  From left to right they are: a knotted purple and green book thong made from embroidry floss, a paper collage inspired by the Outlander series and the main characters time in France, a stamped cake decorator bookmark, and a crocheted fan bookmark made with Heart & Sole sock yarn.  Now I'm hoping to finish some more projects in March!

Last Project of the Year, a Wrapup and Craft Plans

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  We spent Christmas with Jerry's family at his parents house.  It was a lot of fun and I think everyone liked their presents :o)  We spent New Year's Eve with some of my family and Shawn and Jess at our house playing games and visiting.
For Christmas I had planned to make Fran a holiday table runner.  That plan fell through when both of my sewing machines crapped out.  I have a newer Singer that is kind of a POS, but it worked to piece the runner together until I got to the final border piece.  Then I switched to the old Singer that used to be my Grandma Clara's.  I got the final border on, sandwiched the thing and began quilting.  Then Grandma's machine went out on me too.  It is currently in for servicing because apparently being at the cabin through a couple of winters without servicing was bad for it's guts.  Luckily mom brought her Bernina with her so she could have it serviced while they were in town.  So with mom's help the table runner got quilted and is now finished.  I just have to get it to Fran now.  I included a close up picture so you can see the quilting.

  

Inspired by some conversations on craftser.org I've kept track of my projects for the year.  So here it is, my 2010 craft year in review:

Quilts 

1.  Christmas table runner
Crochet
2.       Zippy hat & mittens for Fran
3.       Flip top beanie
4.       Snowflake ornaments
5.       Swap toddler hat
6.       Tunisian washcloth
7.       Lil monkey afghan
8.       Step by step socks
9.       Soap saver
10.   Mobius
11.   Flared hat
12.   Bat filet
13.   Spiderweb bookmark
14.   Felted cloche
15.   Red fingerless mitts
16.   Skinny scarf
17.   One skein scarf
18.   Swap hook holder
19.   Swap stitch marker holders
Knit
20.   Swallowtail
21.   Plum Blossom mittens
22.   Commissioned hat for Kevin
23.   Eyelet socks
24.   Accidental girly mitts
25.   Pretty as a peacock
26.   Baby yoda
27.   Sarjanti Booties
28.   Skull washcloth
29.   Lacy swap scarf
Scrapbooks
30.   2004 scrapbook
31.   2005 scrapbook
Stamping/other paper crafts
32.   Art journal swap page
33.   Amy’s wedding card
34.   Tim’s birthday
35.   Fran’s Birthday
36.   Post secret 1
37.   Post secret 2
38.   Post secret 3
39.   Post secret 4
40.   Post secret 5
41.   Washer necklaces
42.   Christmas cards
Polymer Clay
43.  Witch house miniatures
44.  Star & snowman
Household Crafty
45.  Dog biscuits for swap
46.  Valentines glitter hearts
47.   Christmas latchook
48.  Halloween wreath (swap)
49.  Felt leaf swag (swap)
50.  Shrinky Christmas hangings (swap) 
 Sewing (not quilts)
51.  Fran’s jewelry holder
52.  Eco bag (swap)
53.  Wallet (swap)

And finally these are the projects I'm hoping to complete this year.

Quilts

1.       My  quilt

2.       Christmas lap quilt

3.       Quilt kit from mom

4.       Baby quilt for just because

Crochet

1.       Crocheted table cloth

2.       Classic ripple

3.       Violet Beauregard

4.       Phoenix Mitts

5.       Thrummed Mittens

6.       Papyrus

7.       Fluffy Bunny Slippers

8.       Market Bag

9.       Baroque Tabard Tunic

10.   Coming Home Poncho

Knit

1.       sweater

2.       Versatility

3.       Cable Rolling Socks

4.       Grace Cardi

5.       Old Navy Scarf

6.       Central Park hoodie

7.       Ballband dishcloth

8.       Antlers scarf

9.       Celtic Tote

10.   HoneyCowl

ATCs

Christmas tags
Random gift tags

Scrapbooks

1.       Hawaii scrapbook

2.       Wedding scrapbook

3.       2006 scrapbook

4.       2007 scrapbook

Stamping/other paper crafts

1.       B-day cards for family

2.       Christmas cards

3.       Thank you cards

4.       Art journal

5.       Random event cards

Embroidery

1.       Embroidered quilt top

2.       New embroidered pillow cases

3.       Punch needle quilt motifs

4.       Set of towels for on hand gift

5.       New set of kitchen towels for us

Polymer Clay

1.       Polymer clay altoid tin

2.       Polymer clay/bottle cap magnets

3.       Stitch marker beads

Household Crafty

1.       Sand/re-varnish deacons bench

2.       Refinish desk

3.       Shadowbox from Grandpa’s frame

Sewing (not quilts)

1.       Halloween costume

2.       Purse

3.       Reversible bags

Cup cozies

More Fall Crafting

I've been busy making more crafty stuff since the Halloween swap.  I've also been out of town for work for two weeks, so that's my excuse for a late update :)

I've made a couple of scarves - the first is made from wool that was hand painted for me by a friend almost 2 years ago.  I used the One Skein Scarf pattern from the Happy Hooker book. The second scarf was made using left over Caron Simply Soft from the Silky Soft Scarf free pattern on Ravelry.  I think I'm going to give both away as Christmas Gifts.

I also crocheted some fingerless mitts from the same leftover Caron.  These already went to Ruth at work :o)

One of my favorite recent projects is a felted cloche, that was also crochet. I used Lambs Pride worsted weight in black and white, instead of the suggested Plymouth yarn.  I've felted Plymouth before (on accident) so should have used that brand.  The Lambs Pride felts, but not as small as I wanted.  Especially the white bit.  I've heard from others that lighter colors, especially white, don't felt as well in general though.  Even though it's a little big for me I still really like it.  As long as I fold up the brim it looks pretty cute.  This was made using another free pattern on Ravelry, the Beacon Street Cloche.

 Finally I did another swap on Craftster.  It was the Once You Pop Winter Edition swap.  In the Once You Pop swap, you clean out a Pringles can, decorate it, and fill it with crafty goodies.  They're a lot of fun and you don't have to craft a ton to fill the can.  In the picture you can see my can at the back.  I knit my partner a lacy scarflette (short scarf)   using a feather pattern from a stitch dictionary and the remains of a pound of love Lion brand yarn.  The hook case and stitch marker holder I used left over acrylic in pink & cream using the  Wave-Stitch Coin Purse pattern from Crochet That Fits.  I also made her ornaments, two from shrinky dink that I stamped on and then colored in, and two from polymer clay.  I really like the little snowman, and may make myself one.  He doesn't have any arms, cause I liked him better without them.

Now I'm looking forward to having almost two weeks off over Christmas to get more crafting done.  I'm hoping to get the center panel of an embroidered quilt top finished, finish the Christmas table runner for my MIL, finish the sweater I'm knitting, and make significant progress on hand quilting my pretty quilt top I posted awhile ago.  Of course I'll also be spending time with friends, Jerry's family, and my family so probably won't get all of that done!

Halloween Swap - lots'o'stuff

I recently participated in a swap on craftster.org for Halloween.  We needed to send out 13 packages for the 13 days of Halloween.  Here's what I made:

First up is a bag that folds into it's own pocket.  I got the pattern from my mom.  Funny thing is - she had the bag cut out already, I just had to assemble it - with only half of the instructions.  I didn't put it together correctly but it came out nice anyway.

 My favorite project was the wreath I made. I bought a cardboard floral wreath at Micheal's and wrapped it in black felt that was glittery.  Then I added skulls and bats.  The bats came sparkly, and I added the glitter to the skulls.  My original idea was to wrap the wreath with a black feather boa instead of the felt, but those suckers are expensive.




I did two thread crochet projects; a spider and web bookmark, and a bat filet.  The bookmark pattern I found on ravelry and can be found here: http://sandyfroglegs.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-spider-to-web-bookmark-pattern.html.  The filet is from the Happy Hooker book.  This was my first filet project and I may make a version with multiple bats to hang up for next Halloween.  I didn't realize how easy filet crochet was until I tried it.  It's all double crochet and makes pretty pictures :)

I've had the Big Ass Book of Crafts forever, and now I've finally done a project out of it.  I made a leaf garland instead of a curtain.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, I was a little afraid it would look like a kindergarten art project.  When it's all spread out it looks really nice though.  I picked colors that would go with my my swap partners decor.  I may make this project for myself in browns and greens for our mantle.

 

Next up: a simple tri-fold wallet done in skully fabric.  This is an easy project.  I took two pieces of the fabric, sewed them wrong side together, turned them right side out, sewed shut the small turning hole, and pressed the fabric.  Then I folded it into the wallet shape and pressed again.  Finally sew up the sides, leaving the flap free, and attach a fastener.

The knit project I threw in was a skully washcloth.  Pattern can be found here: http://www.blackrayne.com/pages/skully.html

Finally was a project I've been wanting to try for awhile.  I saw these on craftster a few months back and loved them.  Washer necklaces.  The tutorial is here : http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=329854.0.  I chose two paper patterns that I thought were Halloweeny and went for it.  There was a third, but the washer was too small and it looked bad so I didn't send it.  People may be getting a version of these with their Christmas presents.

All of my other presents were either store bought or had been posted about before.  Well except for the poly clay miniatures I made for her dollhouse.  I forgot to take pictures of those so just imagine really small pumpkins, a cauldron, and a witches broom.

Birthday present

I've got a few projects done that I need to post but the only thing I have a picture of is Fran's birthday present.  I've been wanting a new jewelry box or jewelry holder for awhile, so while looking for ideas I came across a fabric hanging holder.  Jerry thought his mom would like it so we made her one for her birthday.

I got the idea from a seller on Etsy.  I used a fat quarter to make the fabric part and Jerry cut and sanded the dowel.  I'm not sure what kind of wood it is, but it is a hardwood dowel that we got at Home Depot.  Jerry also put the hooks in.  I really like how it turned out and may make some more around Christmas time.

A quick update

Here are a few of my most recent projects, both crochet.


First up we have my first (and possibly only) pair of crochet socks.  I used left over sock yarn from my last pair of knit socks.

These had an after-thought heel and I didn't particularly enjoy making them.  An afterthought heel is when you make the entire sock and then go back and pick up stitches in the heel hole, crochet in circles decreasing by two every round.  I just don't like how they turned out.  I usually like to crochet more than I like to knit, but socks are an exception.

Next up is a mobius I made using Misti Alpaca Chunky Solids.  I also bought a fancy wooden L hook to use.  This was an expensive project, but I love how it turned out.

I was inspired to make this by seeing Andee Graves's published pattern in Crochet!  The magazine messed up her mobius pattern but she explained to me how it actually worked in order to make it a true mobius instead of twisting after or working on both sides of the chain.  I wanted something in a chunky yarn so didn't use her pattern.  So I made up my own pattern after flipping through some pattern books for inspiration.  This was a quick project and will be a really warm wrap.  I'm a little afraid to block it because alpaca can grow or bloom (kind of fluffing out) when it gets wet and it's already almost too big for me.

I've also dabbled again in card making.  I made a card for Amy and Scott's wedding but I haven't pulled that picture off of my camera yet.  It came out pretty cute though.  Stamping tip of the month . . . When re-inking a stamp pad remember to put the ink dispenser on the pad.  If you don't the ink doesn't come out, then when you touch the ink bottle the ink leaks out under your fingernails and you get to go to a wedding with purpley-black finger nails :)