House Arrest

Okay, not really house arrest, but I've been told by my doctor not to go back to work until after the baby has arrived.

I'd like to say that I'm using the time productively to clean up the house and get things ready but we all know better don't we? I'm under orders to relax in-between doctors office visits and dropping in at various day cares.

I finished all the blocks for my mosaic quilt and I think I've decided on navy blue sashing.

I've flirted with Fall Fairy a bit, concentrating mostly on the upper right hand corner. I'm ALMOST all the way over to the other side. Its slow going since I'm doing the backstitching as I go. I think I'd hate to do it all at the end. I'm going to run out of one of the colors, which surprised me so early in the project, so I'll have to contact Dimensions and get more before I can go much further on this one.

And today I spent a few hours repairing Jack's Dagorhir garb and working on some embroidery for water bottle carriers.

The Last Alliance

House of Valdyr

The Deepwood Rangers

Finally the JYAG afghan is coming along quite nicely. Its only barely big enough for a doll blanket right now so we've got a ways to go.

Tomorrow is the first day I've been off work that I don't have to run to the doctors or meet another appointment so I'm hoping to get a few minor baby prep chores out of the way. What are your weekend plans?

An Assortment of Crafty Pursuits

 Last weekend was a glorious three day weekend. Happy Labor Day to all, I hope you had a relaxing time! I was able to put a little bit of time into a quilt I've been working on. I now have eight of the twelve blocks completed on my mosaic quilt. This quilt is using the leftover castoffs from my drunkard's path quilt and is done using raw edge applique.

 This week while at work, I unraveled the waffle stitch scarf I had been working on and went with a simpler pattern. This is called the Everybody Scarf and the pattern is available free on Fiber Flux. I think this new pattern suits the yarn much better than the waffle stitch did. It took me about half and hour to get this far, so its a very quick pattern to work up. Currently, its only about four inches wide, so I will probably unravel it again and restart it with a few more columns.

I'm also having a lot of fun continuing with my JAYG afghan project. I took it with me this morning to the hair salon and was able to complete several squares and weaved in most of the ends while waiting for my niece to have her hair done. This picture shows the colors much better than the previous photo.

So labor day has passed, schools are back in session, and the temperature is dropping rapidly. We had a pretty mild summer and the temperature outside is falling to about 50 degrees F every night. I haven't yet had to turn the heat on and I'm resisting doing so, but it probably won't be too much longer.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Harvey in particular hits close to home as my brother's house was flooded and most of his things damaged beyond recovery. He currently only has the clothes he was able to throw in his go bag when he evacuated and has started a modest fundraiser to help replace the necessities. The fundraiser can be found here: Clothing and Personal Effects Fund by Christopher.  Please consider donating to this or one of the other charities assisting in the recovery effort, such as the Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team.

Baby Blankets

At the baby shower two weeks ago, we received several beautiful handmade blankets. Two were crocheted and two were quilted, and I was really happy to get them as I love giving handmade blankets to people. 

By my mom

By a lady from church

By my good friend Akkina

By my sister Katie

I'm sure they'll all be well used before too long, thank you to all who took the time to create these for the baby.

It's September!

And just like that, fall is here. September brought with is a 10 degree drop in temperature, making it a cool 54 degrees F on my way to work this morning. August was already very mild so I'm hoping this is not indicative of another unbelievably snowy bitterly cold winter like the one was had a few years ago.

I promised a crafty update and so you shall have a crafty update.

I've been working a bit here and there on my C2C blanket and I hope to finish the main part of the blanket soon. I also found something called Shawl in a Ball by Lion Brand in the Prism colorway on clearance at Walmart and scooped them up. With this yarn, I started another lightweight blanket this past Sunday for something a little different. I'm using Motif #118 from Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs with a 4.0mm hook and I'm attempting to do it as a Join as You Go.

Between the crochet and the thank you notes I wrote this weekend, my wrists started hurting again, so I had to set it aside before I wanted to which means I've been working on a cross stitch project instead.

Mini Innocence made its appearance back on my cross stitch stand this week. I was happy to get to discover that the first page isn't entirely background. I'll be stitching some of her wing soon, you can see the beginning of the outline of it in the lower left hand corner.

I hope you are having a great holiday weekend. I had the offer from a family member of help with house stuff tomorrow but I turned it down in favor of a mental health day. I plan to do many crafty things and a few necessary chores here and there and generally keep things quiet and relaxed.