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Home of the Organized Crafter.

Archive for February, 2012

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.

This weekend was a much anticipated one for me, as I finally got to take a tartan weaving course. The whole reason that I wanted to learn how to weave is so that I could weave tartans. And, just a mere 6 or 7 years later, I finally took a course!

The course was hosted by a guild in Purceville VA, and we met at one member’s new work space, the Barefoot Weavers Studio. There were 14 people in the class, and the style was round robin. This meant that we got to weave 14 different tartans (and try to get used to 14 different looms!).

My maternal Grandpa was a Cameron, so that is of course the tartan that I warped on my loom. (Actually, not my loom, but the loom of my kind friend Beth who saved me from having to use a table loom! Thanks Beth!)

All ready for class

We started the day at our own loom, weaving our own tartan. I was so stoked to see the pattern start to appear on the loom.

We used Jaggerspun 2/18 Superfine Merino (my colours were Emerald Green, Chrome Yellow and Garnet Red). This was my first time using a temple (the red thing up there – it keeps the weaving spread to the full width at the reed. Helps to keep your edges looking good).

Once I was finished with my little sample, I moved around the room doing 13 other tartans over 3 days. Here are a few of the others I worked on.

I had a little more warp to play with when I got home, so I made a couple more samples.

I can’t wait to make myself a full sized project. I think I am going to make a stole, maybe out of wool/silk. Mmmmm, silk.

This weekend has really made me want to do more family research. Not a lot of history is known in my family – maybe I should be the one to start it?

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!

Sigh. I am having one of those weeks when I am overwhelmed by the number of projects that I have on the go that seem to be going nowhere. I want everything to be finished RIGHT. NOW. So, the first thing is to make a list, right? Right? Somewhere else out there has to be as list obsessed as I am (btw – 2Do for the iPhone? The one app I could not live without. Best money ever spent).

Quilting:

I went downstairs yesterday and got all of the pieces cut out for my DWR quilt. All 696 wedges and 140 corner squares. Yes, 836 pieces. Not exaggerating.

This afternoon I worked on sewing them together in pairs, which is taking a very long time. I am going to try to work on this for an hour or so a day, just to keep it moving.

I also have all the fabric on order for my living room quilt. This is going to be a very quick quilt top to put together, so I am hoping to knock it out pretty much as soon as the fabric comes.

Cross Stitch:

My dessert of the month for February is done! This is really going to be a cute sampler.

My sewing machine pattern though has not been touched since Florida. I am going to try to do a bit of that each night on the couch while TJ and I chat.

Weaving:

I am taking a class next weekend, and I need to measure out a 7.5 yard warp with almost 400 ends. That has to happen in the week coming up or I can’t do the class. I picked up a loaner loom yesterday, so I will get started on that this weekend.

I also have a scarf swap coming up that I need to get started on. I have picked my pattern, so now I need to do the planning and measuring and what not.

Knitting:

I am almost done the back of my Mint Julep. It is going pretty quickly when I do sit down and work on it because I am doing it in Eco Wool. I am hoping to get that well on it’s way to being finished by the end of the month.

I also (as always) have a pair of socks in progress. One of the pair is done and the other is halfway through the foot.

I did a huge knitting stash clean out and organization yesterday, and I have realized that a lot of my stash needs to go on to better homes. I am not knitting as much as I used to, because of my other ongoing crafts, so I want this stuff to go on to someone that will use it! I have some stuff up for sale on Rav if you are interested. Everything on the left hand column is for sale, plus more that I have moved over since I took this pic.

It is nice to get things organized, but I hope the frustrated feeling passes soon. One of the main things I need to do is craft instead of spending so much time with the computer on my lap. I am so bad for that!

Before last weekend’s quilting class, I decided it was finally time to make myself a scissor roll. I have been carrying around my sewing class supplies in this box bag that I made a while back as a demo for a class I was teaching.

While it worked great, I was worried about my scissors either banging around inside the bag or poking through the side. So I decided to make a little roll to keep them (and me) safe.

The outside fabric is the same as the box bag, and folded up it actually fits right in the bag as well.

Unfolded it has lots of pockets for all my sharp stuff. Rotary cutters, snippers, scissors, seam ripper etc. It worked really well to keep everything in one place, and actually helped me to keep things sorted on my table in the class too. I felt a bit like a chef with a knife roll! Except, you know, less tasty. :)