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I’ve made more progress on my list of ongoing things that were causing me to feel overwhelmed, so I felt the need to do an update to keep myself on track.

Quilting:

DWR – I have the pieces sewn together in pairs, now I need to put those pairs together to make curves of 6 pieces each. I plan on working on this at my Sew-In for the Modern Quilt Guild on March 3rd.

I also have the plans drawn up for a quilt for my living room, and all of the fabric in house. I don’t think this one will take long, so I am going to work on this next week. I would like to get it finished before I host part of a progressive dinner at my house on March 10th.

Cross Stitch:

I finished my sewing machine cross stitch!

I framed it and used some fabric from my stash as a matte. I cut strips to fit each side, and then folded them in half, using some spray starch. Then I attached them to the actual cross stitch with some double sided tape.

I did this last year for an interior design client and liked how it looked, so I thought I would try it for this too. I am pleased with how it came out. I even got it hung up!

That leaves me with just the Dessert of the Month, which I am looking forward to seeing on March 1st.

Weaving:

You saw yesterday that I did get my warp done and on the loom. What I didn’t tell you is that I actually wove a scarf off that warp too! I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, so I thought I would wait to tell you so that I could hide it in a deep dark corner never to see the light of day again if it was terrible. It actually turned out ok! I will take some pics this weekend and post them next week.

As for the scarf exchange, I have picked my pattern finally. I need to measure my warp first thing next week and get it on the loom. It is due March 11th.

Knitting:

Mint Julep is coming right along. I had lots of time in the evenings after class this past weekend to work on it. The back and both fronts are done, and I am just about done one sleeve. A friend of mine is coming over to knit this afternoon so hopefully I can get started on the second sleeve.

I finished the socks I was working on, and have started a little test knit. I need different needles for that though, so we will see how far I get.

Thanks everyone for helping me really pair down the stash. I feel a lot better about what is down there now. I have a goal in mind for the end of this year as to how much yarn I will have in the stash. I am hoping to stick to it, but no stress if I don’t. Mainly I want to shop the stash first before I buy anything new. The same should be said for fabric, but I am not very good at that.

This weekend I am going to Ikea for some more storage pieces, so I will show you what I have done to update the organization in my studio sometime next week.

Thankfully over the last few days I have managed to get a few of the things on my ongoing project list finished, or at least well on their way. Thanks to everyone that has been helping me to clear out my stash. I feel better about it already. I am going to be making a trip to the wondrous world of Ikea in a couple of weeks to get some storage stuff, with plans to do a bit of a shift around in the studio. I will be sure to show you how that goes.

Over the last couple of weeks I have made a number of little zippy pouches to help me get organized. I had a sad little old box bag for my notions, so I decided I needed a new one. And my sock in progress seemed to always be getting tangled up with stuff in my purse, so I decided I needed a bag for those too. And since I have been doing a lot of cross stitch this year, I made an addition hoop bag too.

One of the nice things about ordering fabric for a business, it that you can pick fabrics for your own projects from a bit wider range (of immediately available choices anyway). These three bags have been put into solid use since I made them last week.

Then, since it was my friend Lindsay’s birthday, I thought I would make her a little zippy for her cross stitch too.

I can’t get enough of that toaster fabric. (Actually, I am almost out of it now, at least in the blue colourway, so I am going to have to get over the love affair). This little bag will hold an 8″ hoop along with your threads, scissors, pattern, etc. I also made a little card to go with it.

White is a new ink colour for me, so I have been trying it out on a bunch of different cardstocks.

Later this week I am going to post an update to last week’s list, just to keep myself on track. For now though, I am off to warp my loom!

Yesterday was my very bestest of friend’s birthday. And since, as I have been for the last few years, I am too many miles away, I packaged up a present for her and sent it along.

Many months ago I saw this cute quote on Pinterest – “All you need is tea and warm socks”. Since Laura and I often have tea dates over the phone/facetime, and Laura is the person that taught me how to knit, I thought this would be the perfect theme for a gift. And besides, isn’t everything better with tea and handknit socks?

First up was knitting a pair of Monkey socks, in a pretty purple knitpicks yarn.

This is still a favourite sock pattern of mine, because it is easy to remember but really looks pretty on. These of course were done toe up, and I didn’t reverse the chart, so they are upside down I suppose. Luckily Laura and I have the same size feet, so I could model them before I sent them off.

Next up was a mug rug. I love making these! It’s the perfect way to try out a technique or a block without having to commit to a full quilt. (In fact I just finished another one yesterday, but it is for a guild swap, so no peaking yet).

I used some of Lizzy House’s 1001 Peeps from the stash and created an orange peel block. I used fusible web for the applique and then top stitched when I was doing the quilting.

The back is more 1001 Peeps and the border is a teeny white dot on black (not sure where that one was from – it was in the ever growing stash!)

And, if you are drinking tea you need to keep it warm and keep your hand cool, so a mug cozy was next.

This is exactly the same size a disposable cardboard sleeve from Starbucks, so I am hoping Laura can stick it in her purse and use it on her way to work. I lined it with batting so it will hopefully insulate well.

Next up was a little art for the wall – because you have to have it all tied together or the theme wouldn’t make sense, right?

I found a font I liked and printed it out along with a simple clip art cup. I transferred that design to the linen with a transfer pencil, and then added some details to the cup (like the face). It has been a very long time since I have done any embroidery so I really enjoyed this one. It has been a very stitchy 2012 so far.

Finally, I packed up the whole shebang with some tea! Caffeine free, since we are usually having our tea dates in the late evenings.

Topped off with a birthday card….

…and in the mail it went! Luckily I managed to get it to her before she went off on vacation. I was worried it was going to be late! You never know with the post office.

So Happy Happy Birthday to the best friend a girl could ever ask for. I can’t wait for our next tea date!

A week or so back I signed up for Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery’s Dessert of the Month. It was only $10, and I will get 12 little cross-stitched dessert patterns over the course of the year. (On top of that Amanda is such a neat person that I couldn’t resist. You must go check out her blog. Hi Amanda!) The patterns are tiny, so I knew it was something I could squeak in over an evening. The first pattern came out on Wednesday and I think I actually made an out loud “squeek!” when I saw it. So. dang. cute.

It’s a little champagne truffle! Isn’t that adorable? I stitched on a natural coloured 32 count linen (thanks Becky!) and used DMC floss. I didn’t have the exact colours that the pattern called for in some cases, but it was pretty darn close. And Becky suggested that I hold a sparkly blending filament in with the floss. I think some people are using Cosmo floss, which has some metallic options, but I am hoping to keep this project as inexpensive as possible. I have so much floss in the stash, I really don’t want to add to it. So at $1.65 for 50m of filament (which I can add to any colour) I was sold. I added it to the white and the pink, which is difficult to see in this picture. In real life though it has just a hint of sparkle when you move it.

I can’t wait to see what next month brings!