Weekend sewing- Friday Night with Friends

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sew on Friday night as planned- nothing is working as planned so far for the New Year...

I did get some time yesterday though.

I started a spur of the moment idea for a leader's and enders project.  Tested these and will finish getting it cut out today, hopefully.  I am putting lots of UFOs together so need Leaders and Enders for between rows etc.  

I love bees and have quite a collection of bee fabric.  Two other bee quilts in the works.

I got two more Weasley Blanket blocks crocheted on Thursday.  

I did go purchase more yarn a few days ago so that I would have enough variety of accurate colors.  

These one color blocks take just a few minutes and I love doing them.  They are relaxing and I feel like I am making progress.  

I hope I will have a quilt top to show by the end of today, as well as a new outlook for the New Year.  Focusing on recentering and reorganizing from the crazy start I have had to 2022.  

Happy sewing!

Spring update

Wow!  I can't believe I haven't posted since January.  Time flies!
Weird to be at home, social distancing.  Schools are closed until April 6th.  I am doing a bit of work from home but also getting a lot of home projects done. 

This blanket gets a row or two added every day or so.  Moving slowly on it.  It is from the Attic 24 CAL for the Dahlia blanket.  I also have one started in the Dahlia colors.  This is the Moorland pack of yarn.  

I started a quilt with this package of beauties yesterday.  I hope to make some progress on it today.  It is not a stash buster as I purchased all of this just recently.  It's not safe for me to drop by the quilt shop for a piece to complement what is in my stash because I end up picking up other items...The stash will never shrink at this rate!  Probably a good thing that all the local quilt shops are shut during the "quarantine".

My latest passion...

Paint by number.  So relaxing!  My daughter even joined in for a day...

I am loving it and have already ordered many more PBNs so I will be working on them for a long while.  Who knew it was so addicting?

And, since I have the paint mess out, I decided I should do a few on my own.  This is a tutorial with the Art Sherpa.  Mine looks nothing like hers, my bee is way too big, but I am happy with it.  

Then I did two quick palette knife abstracts yesterday.  Again, very addicting and fun!  The second one is done on top of a painting I had started and didn't like so I am making use of my resources.  This one is much better than what was on the canvas before.  

I have also been doing a major cleaning task almost every day that I have been home.  So far, the master bath, which is huge, is half cleaned- more today possibly, the office is half cleaned- not sure when I'll get to the rest of it, and the floors have been mopped.  

Hope you all are finding some time to enjoy life while we face this pandemic.  Always look on the bright side!

Happy Creating!

Slow start Saturday

I am not moving very quickly this morning.  2 cups of coffee have not removed the dull ache from my head so I guess I'll move on to Excedrine...I think my daughter is on her way for us to have a sewing/singing kinda day.  Hope we make some progress on something...

Here is where I am with the Attic 24 CAL.  I am not liking how my rogue colors are playing together but I will stick in a little longer.  I LOVE the pattern though and it stitched up super fast so I ordered 2 yarn packs from Wool Warehouse yesterday. 



I had a few hours of sewing yesterday and got this tropical quilt top together.  3.5 hours of sewing.  Just need to add two borders and it will be ready for its place in line for quilting...

It is a design I have seen online in many places and just quickly drew up on EQ8.  I just upgraded from EQ7 with the new year discount.  This is the first quilt I worked with so I still have a lot to figure out with the new features.  I am hoping I can do quilts with differing sized blocks.  That is supposed to be lots easier with this version of the software. 


I have to head back to work on Monday so my productivity will plummet again.  And, I haven't been attending to my exercise like I should. 

The last two nights have begun my opera education.  My daughter is going to graduate from University in May with her degree in Opera Voice Performance.  She is currently applying to graduate programs.  So far we have watched The Magic Flute and Daughter of the Regiment.  Both amazing performances on MET on demand. 

Happy Saturday Stitching!

Second day of a new year!

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday.  I did minimal cleaning so that I could get a big quilt loaded on to the quilt machine, minimal cooking, some crochet, spent time with family!  It was lovely and relaxing and rejuvenating!

Some of you may know what this is, though I have my doubts.  My son, 19 years old, has convinced my husband and I to start playing World of Warcraft Classic.  He created himself a new character so that he could help us along our journey and my daughter joined in as well.  He spends most of his game time saving our butts!  So, we now spend some time, almost daily, playing together as a family.  It is family time where we talk about the game and have a good time.
It has been fun but I know it will happen less frequently once I get back into the swing of work next week.  However, it gives us a great link to our kids and what is going on in their very busy lives.  Both are in college and we do not get to see them enough so this gives us a little connection. 
These are my and my husbands characters. 

Our doggies are always so happy when the kids are home.  Here, Jack is enjoying the smell and feel of my son's backpack while we sit around the table as a family. 

This is my preparation for the Attic 24 Crochet Along that starts tomorrow!  I can't wait!  It is the first time I will actually be joining in the fun.  I am sure I will fall behind quickly but am going to try hard to keep up.  I still need to grab a couple more pinks, hopefully will find them today. 
I guess this means my current project of a Neat Ripple blanket and the languishing Cosy Stripe blanket will be left unattended until after the Dahlia blanket CAL is complete. 

I also want to keep up with some quilting, daily exercise, and I am joining an A Capella group that rehearses every Thursday, so I am going to be a busy girl!  And then there is that thing called work that is going to take up the majority of my time...

Reading goals may suffer this year.

 Here is one of my latest creations- a very simple little quilt made from a digital print fabric I have been eyeing for months.  I finally decided I would just get it and do a simple something. 

It is wall-hanging size, and has now been quilted and binding sewn on.  Just need to find the time to do the hand stitching on the binding. 

I had a major oops when adding the hanging sleeve.  Don't know where my mind was...I sewed the thing on inside out...

But I fixed it and all is well.  Hope to get it on the wall some time this month. 

So, you know how some people choose a word to focus on for the year?  I am choosing an animal. 
I have chosen a wolf- mostly because I need to focus on running and what better running partner could one have? 
Also, you may have seen this somewhere, I have found it online- in many places...

Advice from a Wolf

• Trust your instincts
• Be at home in nature
• Keep your den clean
• Stand fur what you believe
• Stay on track
• Howl with your friends 
• Pack life with good memories!

In addition to my running, my husband and I are planning on doing a lot of hiking to get ourselves out in nature and spend time together focusing on health.  I always need to clean more...but mostly want to focus on spending quality time with quality people and having a great year!

I need to head out to the grocery store today, and start focusing on laundry and meal prep to get ready for next week.  I am due back at work on Monday, bright and early.  

While I enjoy my job as a High School Librarian, I am sure everyone can understand the draw of being at home, warm and cozy, coffee, tea, and poodle cuddles whenever I want, quilting, crochet, books, naps under a soft quilt, time with my college kids who are also on vacation...

Who would ever want to leave that?

Hope you all have had a wonderful Holiday and are looking forward to 2020!  We can do this!

Midweek update

Here is where I am with the Frolic Mystery- again, not committed yet but you gotta have something to do when you can't sleep.  So, if I end up completing this quilt, it might be called "Insomnia".

Here's the majority of my cookie baking crew, all decked out and only slightly messy at this point.  It was a great time with family that I don't get much of anymore.  Treasured moments for sure!

Here are the pajamas for PJ day at school this week.  I made the shirt with my Cricut and the pants are warm and fuzzy.  Fun to wear!
Yesterday was flannel day and today is Christmas hat and sock day.  The fun goes on all week, trying to motivate students before they take finals next week.

Made a little progress on my Neat Ripple afghan.  The pattern is from Attic 24.  LOVE HER!  But I don't know how she makes such fast progress on her crochet.  It took me about 2.5 hours for 4.5 rows.

Hard to see but the above are the results of my GoodReads reading challenge for 2019.  40 books so far this year and still counting.

And, the solar panels have been installed but await the inspector's approval before they can come in to use.  I'm less than thrilled with the appearance but hopefully our cooling bill this summer will make up for it!

Gratitudes to get me through the week:  2 great kids who are working hard on college finals, a lovely home to keep us warm and cozy, an amazing spouse who puts up with all my craziness and crafts, Secret Santa week at work to remind us all what is most important- making others smile!  Being healthy enough to worry about getting healthier, canine companions who have been devoted friends for many years and will be greatly missed when they are gone which is almost certain to happen for a couple of them in 2020, a fresh new year on the horizon.  And lots of quilting a crochet projects to keep me busy!

Happy Hump Day!