Design Board and Traveling Stash

It's been a while since I've posted because I haven't been sewing much lately. I've been working on organizing scraps while considering the Traveling Stash Box which I got a few weeks ago.

It came packed with fabrics, patterns, a couple books, and some miscellany. I snagged a cool book, some pre-cut 2 1/2-inch squares, a couple fat quarters, and some other scraps. I've added in some more patterns and some fabric. Now I'm looking to pass this treasure along to another lucky blogger.

If you're interested, leave a comment and I'll draw the lucky number and send it along. It's a fun project. All you have to do is agree to pass along the Stash Box and blog about it. Easy peasy, right?

Now about the Design Board, I've just about finished my latest Week-ender Bag. I've made 4 others using pre-quilted fabrics. They make wonderful gifts. This one is different in that I used leftover fabrics from other projects and faced and re-quilted it. This one is slightly more stable than the others, but it also was much more difficult to assemble. My shoulders were aching when I was done! I still need to add the bottom stabilizer and cover it and it will be good to go. It's a cool project and I'll probably do more in the future, although the "Franken-bag,"  won't be done again soon.

This sock is my first-ever color work. I started using Patons Kroy (one of my favorite sock yarns) but I knew I  didn't have enough to finish, so I decided to make-do and learn colorwork at the same time. I wasn't concerned about coordinating colors; I just wanted the leg to be tall enough.  I accomplished that, and now feel I can tackle another color work pattern. Yay me!

 

I'm linking this to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Check it out and be impressed with all the creativity!

A Mixed Bag

Texas Braid is done and I love it!
 



Marge's socks are done and gifted
 

My to-do list for February had five items on it, and I only completed two of them. In my defense, however, I completed two additional knitting projects, so I'm not feeling too bad about my productivity.  Also, I rearranged my sewing room and had a week of vacation in Arizona and finished three books. The sewing room project took way more time than I ever imagined! Combine that with getting ready for vacation and I missed two weeks in my sewing room!

The sewing room saga began late last year when I began looking for a sturdier cutting table. The one I had was a cheap one from JoAnn's and it was pretty wobbly. The glue holding it together had dried and the top flipped up if I wasn't careful about there I stacked my fabrics. I looked at several options and decided on two sturdy work tables from a mail order catalog. I wasn't planning on this project until April because of some commitments, but DH ordered it as a surprise and I got them in early February.

 

Needless to say I had to scramble to clear out space for them. In doing so, I nearly emptied the room. The tables are assembled and in place and I love them! They measure 48 by 30 and I have them back to back so my work surface is 48 by 60 and there is absolutely no wobble now.

 

While re-assembling the room, I also decided to move my sewing machine so I could see something besides a wall while working. I think I'm really going to like this new arrangement. I've only sewn for a few minutes so far, but it's going to be nice to look up and see the trees outside my window.

 

These "cousin" socks are done!
 

While putting the room back together I've come across a whole bunch of stuff I forgot I had, including some projects! That's a bummer. Now they need to go onto the UFO list. So many projects; so little time!

All this is justification for failing once again on my to-do list. Let's see where I stand. My February commitments were: 1. finish sewing and get Christmas Diamonds to Michele for quilting. Not done, but very close. I cut the backing yesterday and will have that together as soon as I get off the computer. 2. finish Texas Braid. Done on Feb. 4th. 3. finish the blue socks I discovered while looking for something else. Done. Blogged about here. See photo above. 4. layer and quilt Sophie's Butterfly. Not done. This won't happen in March either. 5. Block Lotto blocks. Not done, I wasn't feeling the love and didn't have my room in order to sew until yesterday. That was a very low priority anyway because I wasn't feeling the love for the block in the first place.

 

The two additional projects that I knitted were a ruffle scarf and a pair of socks for the two lovely women who hosted us on our vacation. The socks are the in-progress shot above. I used two strands of Heart and Sole to make a worsted weight pair that I'm sure will keep her feet warm. The colors reminded me of the red rocks near Sedona. The ruffled scarf was from Sashay in wonderful teal colors that happened to match her jacket perfectly!

I knitted that in the car while traveling from near Phoenix to the Nike Missile Museum near Tucson. (Fascinating place! Go if you get a chance.)

 

The books I read were "Agenda 21" by Glenn Beck, "Across Many Mountains" by Yangzom Brauen and "After the Rising" by Orna Ross.

 

Beck's book is a chilling look at the future if the environmentalist agenda is taken to the nth degree. It's a world without any modern conveniences where there is no electricity, animals have more rights than man and The Authority dictates citizens' every movement.

 

"Across Many Mountains" tells the story of a devout Tibetan family and their harrowing journey across the Himalayan Mountains, their travails in India and ultimate settlement in Switzerland. This was a book club selection that I cannot say I liked, but that I'm glad I read. The narrator is the granddaughter of the parents in the trek. She shares a lot of information about the Buddhist religion which I found fascinating. It's really hard for this independent American woman to understand the Tibetan deference to authority which her parents exhibited, but that seems to be a big part of both their culture and religion.

 

One of her motive for writing the memoir is to promote Tibetan independence from China which invaded the country 50 years ago. It seems very unlikely that that could ever happen after all this time.

 

The third book, "After the Rising," I read on my iTouch. It was a freebie in the Kindle store and I had no idea what to expect. The story is of an Irish expatriate who returns from San Francisco to her hometown for her mother's funeral. In the ensuing weeks, she is given a suitcase full of papers from her mother's and grandmother's lives. While dealing with her own problems, she digs into the stash and finds out how involved her grandmother, Peg, was in the Irish struggle for independence from England. Ultimately I found the book frustrating because it's obviously the beginning of a series and the cliff-hanger ending did its job: keeping me in suspense. Do I care enough to buy the second book? I don't know.

 

This has gotten extremely long, so I think I'll post later about my goals for March. Stay tuned!

 

 



 

 

        

A good start and a finish

These are gift socks.

I’m working on some gift socks. They’ll go to my friend who is hosting my husband and me for an upcoming trip to Arizona.

I’m using Red Heart Heart & Sole, which is 70% wool and 30% nylon, doubled and 3.5mm Knit Picks interchangeable needles. I’m using Magic Loop.

I love the colors of this yarn, especially doubled. It really reminds me of the red rock canyons around Sedona. I’m hoping we’ll spend a day there.

Cousins?
 

Earlier this week I finished these blue socks, which turned out to be more cousins than twins. I got tired of the pattern I used on the first sock and switched to a beaded rib on the second one. It looks bad now, but I doubt it will be that noticeable when I’m wearing them. Either way, they’re done! I have no idea when I started these socks. I found them in a bag when I was looking for something in my sewing studio. I’ve been keeping a log of my various projects since 2009, and they’re not on any of them. I don’t know what happened, but it’s a finished project and that makes me happy!

I’m linking to Minutes for Me, Finish it Fridays and Judy's What on your Needles. Check out the creativity!

Hello, World!

Well, I've done it.

I'm finally taking the plunge and making my first post to my blog. Wow. I've been thinking about this for some time and today seems like a good one to start. I thought about starting on a "significant" day, but when? I missed the New Year, my anniversary and my birthday, so I decided to just do it.

This will be a place for me to share what I'm working on, whether it's related to my quilting, knitting or other crafting. I also plan to talk about books I'm reading occasionally, since that's a huge part of who I am.

Right now I'm working on several quilting projects: Imperial Diamonds from Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting ( http://www.shopfonsandporter.com/product/Imperial-Diamonds-Digital-Quilt-Pattern/), Anita's Arrowhead from both Quiltmaker magazine and Anita Grossman Soloman's book (http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1509), and a Texas Braid quilt from Bonnie Hunter's pattern in her Leaders and Enders book. Today I began practice blocks from a block of the month from Homestead Hearth. It's a 60-degree diamond design from History Repeated by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle. More on all that later.

On the knitting front, I'm close to finishing my Liesl sweater by Ysolda Teague and a pair of socks for a dear friend.

I'm reading The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon and The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie.

I'm amazed at how much I've learned just on this first post, and I'm sure I've a long way to go to be able to add all the goodies I see on other blogs that I read. Bear with me on this. I promise I'll learn what I need to know.