Week 3 of 4x7 Challenge

Well, I kind of fell flat on my face this week with sewing.  I made a cute little drawstring bag for my little knitting projects and then I got sick, Timmy got sick, and then Jared got sick.  We were just a lovely family of sickies last week.  :)  All are better now and I am already halfway through the final week of this challenge and doing better.

I used this tutorial, again.  :)

It is just the nicest pattern and the cutest little bag.  I really need to buy 

the pattern so I can make all of the different sizes.

And now my little zip pouch that holds my knitting tools matches my bigger bag and my smaller bag!

I got some more done on my sock, too.  I survived the heel and gusset, so on to the toe I will be marching!

Week 2 of 4x7 Challenge

So, I got some stuff done this week!  Woohoo!  The weight of my self-inflicted project due dates lifting off of my shoulders feels good.

Small Christmas quilt - done.  It measures 35"x42", perfect for throwing over the top of a chair or using with a wheelchair.  Not sure where this is going yet, but I think my mom has her eye on it and she gets first dibs.  :)   I tried a new border pattern and it isn't perfect, but I was really happy with it for the first time.

I love the back.  :)  It is another gray day here, so it looks yellow, but it matches the cooler tan colors of the front.

Baby Quilt - done.  2 out of 4 piles of half triangle squares used up!  This is just a little guy, measuring up at 28"x28", but it would be great to roll up in the diaper bag.  If it doesn't find a home by this summer, it is a strong candidate to donate for our Project Linus collection our quilt guild does.

Yellow minky on the back.  Working on evenly spacing my meandering line is a goal of mine...little uneven, but improving!

"take my picture with daddy, mom!"

A pretty little ring of posies, waiting to go on a workbag for myself.  I went to get a solid gray from our local fabric store and they were all out, so hopefully it comes soon so I can finish this up before the end of the month!  (These are 3/4" hexagons if you are curious)

In other crafty news, I learned how to knit a sock!  It isn't a whole sock, but I did it really larger so I could really see what I was doing and I made it through the heel and gusset steps, so it will be ripped out and rewound for another project.  So exciting!  (does anyone else have random stickers stuck to their coffee table?)

Here is my first official sock, thanks to my secret pal at quilt guild.  She knows I like yarn, too, and got me this beautiful sock yarn for my birthday and with it the motivation to get my first pair done.  It is going to take forever with size 1 needles, but it will be great project to take on the road!

And on a sad note...I got ready to baste my swoon quilt this morning and my 90" backing that I bought last spring was not cut correctly and is only 80" wide.  My quilt is 82".  Sigh.  On the plus side, the backing is a neutral tan swirl, so it will work for something else.  On the negative side, this quilt isn't going to get done this week.

Linking up!

 

 

Happy Birthday to me!

We had a nice day planned out today and it kinda all went out the window.  Jared ended up needing to go to Sioux Falls to visit a parishioner in the hospital (6 hours round trip) and Timothy woke up with a stuffed head and then developed a fever by mid morning.  I decided to do some birthday sewing for myself.  :)

I made myself a knitting bag!  Super easy pattern and worked up quickly.  Here it is (free!) if you want to make one yourself.  Thanks to Eric and Michelle, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, for the gift card for Christmas and my birthday.  Michelle and I had a great trip to the fabric store where I picked this fabric out.  Yay!

I also made a matching zipper pouch for my accessories.  Here is that tutorial.

Here is a shot of the inside.  Perfect for a medium project or a couple of little ones.

Here are the projects going on right now:

A Star Wars scarf for my sister, Mindy.  I have 52 rows done.  388 more to go.  

Seriously. 

I am almost done with what I call the fighting kangaroos.

My husband just rolls his eyes.  :)

And my sweater is slowly growing!  I have about 18 inches done so far, another 26 inches to go!  It is kind of boring, but perfect for when I don't want to count stitches.

Do you want a Star Wars scarf?  Here is the tutorial.  I am not making another one.  ;)

Here is the link to the sweater too.

Happy 2015 and Happy Making!

A New Hat

One day, my husband needed a new hat.  

He found a pattern that he approved. 

(and killed a ton of time exploring the wonderful world that is Ravelry.com) 

He picked out the colors from my stash.

I learned and conquered the rolled edge cast on and knit with two colors, plus gained some more experience on double pointed needles.

He loves it!

I had this hat whipped out in 3 days!  

Pretty incredible!

The pattern is here (and free!) if you want to make one too!

And Timmy wanted his picture taken too.  :)

Handmade Holidays 2014

WARNING: This post contains a LOT of felt and yarn.

Work in progress: Table runner (small squares are actually brown)

Campfire out of felt for Timmy's birthday (aka Mr. Camper)

Woodland creatures masks out of felt (in progress).  There is a fox, bear, deer, raccoon, and owl.  :)

I learned how to double knit!  Working on a snowflake scarf:

Felt nativity.  These are pieces that will be going in the advent calendar I made last year and there will be a piece of felt on the wall for Timmy to play with.  I just need to get some people done!

Death Star is done other than some lines I need to sew on around the thing.  It took almost an entire bag of batting!

Timothy, making a mess and shoveling snow, his two favorite things to do this week :)

The Land of Fermentation 2

Jared received a small batch beer brewing kit for his birthday.  It is something that he has been eyeing for months now, but hasn't jumped in and purchased one.  But now he has one...and as of this morning, brewed his first batch!

Both boys were busy all morning:

Boiling

Timothy learning how to put his own boot on

(and pouring salt all over the nativity puzzle)

 Siphoning finished brew into fermentation jug

Playing with play dough

Ready to ferment! 

Being silly :)

Fermenting...yeast is working!

 And I knitted :)

Finished pictures coming soon!

Vacation Projects Revisited

Well, I had better show what I worked on.  I promise that I didn't sleep or play on my kindle that much while we were in the car.  :)  It was a little tricky to stitch, however, when I needed to put my feet up because they were swollen...my belly really got in the way!

1.  Baby quilt - done!  I finished the binding on Sunday, day one of the trip.  Hooray!  It got washed and dried at my parents' house, so it is ready to go for baby.

2.  Knitted baby blanket - done!  I worked on this in the evenings at my grandma's house after putting Timothy to bed.  I also worked on it a lot on day 1 of the return trip and finished it at the hotel.  I still need to tuck in a couple of knots and then wash/stretch it, but hopefully that will happen later this week.

3.  Quiet book - I got some handstitching done, but it proved to be really difficult to work on in the car.  Jared is out of town for the rest of the week for the district convention in Sioux Falls, so I am putting this on the priority list for the next couple of evenings.  I was able to sketch some things out and cut felt pieces at my parents' table, so now it just needs to be put together.

4.  Dishrags - I didn't start on any until yesterday, but I finished one and started another.  Completing the second is going to happen as soon as I finish this post and will take about 20 minutes.  Then I need to tackle the dishes before diving into the next project.  Sigh.

The vacation projects

The thought behind this post is that I'll be motivated to work on the projects I am taking with me on our trip so I can update my progress when we get back.  :)  We'll see if I don't sleep/play games on my kindle the entire trip...

1. Bug Quilt.  I made this when I found out that I was pregnant with Timothy.  I had the back yarn tied on, the binding sewn on the front, and half of the hand stitching on the back of the binding done.  And then we moved to St. Louis.  And then I found out that I was having a boy.  And that was that.  

Well, fast forward to 2 weeks ago when I was going through my baby box in the basement and I pulled it out.  This pregnancy is a girl.  And I now know how to machine quilt.  And I realized that I did a bad job on the binding.  So, I pulled the binding off a few nights ago, cut all of the yarn ties out, put a new back on it (it was a really stretchy fleece), quilted it, and reattached the binding (correctly this time).  

My goal is to finish sewing the binding on the back in the car and then it will be done.  For real this time.   :)

2. Knit a blanket.  Remember that teal blanket I started for the baby after Christmas?  Yep, I burned out on it and it is still halfway done.  I am hoping to finish it on this trip.  Which means I need to print the directions out again because I forgot the pattern...

3. Hand stitch a quiet book.  I was hoping to get all of the fabric elements sewn on before the trip so all I would have is the hand stitching to do, and then I could come home and just sew it together.  HA!  I do have a few pages done, so I am hoping to get the embroidery done on those and the front cover at least...

4. Knit dishrags.  Because you always could use a couple more and they make great gifts when paired with other kitchen supplies...

Can I accomplish all of this?  Of course!  Will I?  Time will only tell...your prayers for my husband's patience would be appreciated.  :)

Sunday afternoon nap

There is nothing like coming home from church and taking a nap. Poor little man woke up this morning with a stuffy nose, so we curled up together on the couch after he whined and sneezed for 30 minutes in his crib. I got my snuggles and he feel asleep, breathing through his mouth and snoring. :) By the way, he is now 13 months! More on this in a later post...

I have been able to get a good length done the past few evenings and in the car to Spearfish and back. I am hoping to get another good chunk done tomorrow on the way to Sioux Falls and back.

This was taken about 3 seconds after the above picture. I guess she knows how to pick out a comfortable spot...

Jared had a good appointment with the surgeon about his shoulder and was able to get in for an MRI right away. I'll post more details when we hear the results from the MRI, but it looks like he will need surgery to repair some kind of tear.

Tomorrow we head to Sioux Falls for Timothy's appointments with the pediatric specialists. We are hoping that we can get the go ahead to start weaning him off of the feeding pump. Keep us in your prayers!

Oh yeah, and I am still pregnant. :) We are at 15 weeks now and everything is looking good!

New Project

I got to splurge on some new yarn for my birthday and have a new project on the needles. It is a new baby blanket for our summer baby. I chose Bernat Softee Baby in aqua on size 7 needles. I am loving this yarn because it is sooo soft, is a lightweight size 3 (appropriate for a baby born in the summer), and is 100% acrylic. I know there are some wonderful natural fibers out there, but this thing will be washed a lot and we have a beautiful blanket of Timothy's that was washed in hot water and I felted it on accident. oops :) We still use it because it was larger in size to start, but it is definitely smaller and thicker than intended. So I am sticking to acrylic.

I am using the summer waves baby blanket pattern on ravelry. (I love ravelry!) This is such a nice pattern that features shells and a thin cable - and it only has a pattern repeat of 4 rows and was free! The only thing I did to alter the pattern was increase the width by one pattern and decrease the needle size from 9 to 7 so I could make up for using the lightweight yarn.

I am looking forward to updating you with the status of my project (hence this posting - I figured it would motivate me to get it done quicker). I am expecting it to go pretty fast - we are headed to Rapid on Friday for an appointment and then to Sioux Falls on Monday for more appointments. 3 hours each way, each city in the opposite direction. I am looking forward to Tuesday and not having to get in the car with a 13 month old!