Hello Fall!

I had a couple of small finishes in the last month. The first project was a quick coaster for my side table in the family room. I used a plastic disk I had to give it some stiffness. The wicker surface of the table is uneven and I wanted something to give my coffee mugs little stability. It also had to be soft because the Smidget won't hesitate to pick it up and throw it if I'm not paying attention. 

 

The next item was a couple Desktop Cubes from the Sew Sweetness Minikins collection.These are for the Smidget's dresser, one for on top to hold things like diaper rash cream and the second to collect his socks. This is the second attempt I've made at a Sew Sweetness Pattern and let me just say that they are well written, organized, thorough, and contain lots of helpful pictures. My biggest downfall has been not reading the instructions completely, instead I've jumped ahead assuming I know what I'm doing and then I later find out that things don't quite fit or come out a little wonky. So I highly recommend the patterns and I advise you to read each step completely before doing them, because then you won't make my mistakes.

 Two scarves now completed. The are about six feet long and are quite fluffy and warm. I really like the look of the combined yarns and am planning to make a hat or two that match.

I've had to rearrange my day a bit. Trying to get anything accomplished with a demanding one year old pulling on my leg is darn near impossible, so I've set things up so that I only plan on doing work around the house after he goes to bed for the night. This frees up his naptimes for me to do things like...eat...nap...and cross stitch. You know, the important things ;) I've been alternating between Magnificent Wizard and Tiger Chilling Out. 

I'm no longer certain that my choice of hand dyed fabric was appropriate for the tiger, but I'm half done and will not be changing now. I just have to hope that all the water stitching will look okay when it is done. I'll be really sad if it doesn't work out. When I ordered this fabric, I had thought it was much closer to a navy blue, which I think would have looked phenomenal. That is part of the problem of ordering things like this online. 

I get very little time to sit at my computer, so I'm afraid I haven't been keeping up with my blog reading. However, I'd be thrilled to drop in to your blog and say hi if you leave me a link in your comments. Happy Crafting!

Big Changes in the Future

I know its been quiet around here for the last couple of months but I haven't been idle. Aside from working on whatever project caught my interest at the time, I've been mulling over ways to earn a little income from home. I spent a fair amount of time on Freelancer (I do not recommend them), browsing options on FlexJobs (currently they all demand more time than I have), taking a couple of Coursera classes to develop my skills, and letting my brain run circles around some ideas.

In the hopefully-near future this blog will be moving and under a different name as I attempt to launch a home sewing and pattern business. I am a bit concerned about a saturated market but I think I have a few ideas that I haven't seen out there quite yet. There are a plethora of things that must be done to do this right and make it stick, like establishing my own website, product research and development, learning about sales tax collection and reporting, and a near constant state of prayer that this is the right direction in which to focus my efforts and that we won't run out of money before I make it work. I'm utilizing tools like Wave, Trello, and OneNote to organize.

Part of the slowdown is that I have so many ideas and options its hard to determine which to pursue first. I'm going to have to narrow it down to make any progress.

In the meantime, I've been making slow progress on some old projects and a new one. I almost have another block done in my Mini Joy's Journey, I'm filling out the gaps my motif blanket, and I did a few more squares for Reflections on the Go. I also started using up some random skeins making "scarves." I'm not sure whether I'm going to border them and use them as a Mile-a-Minute afghan or just make a bunch of easy scarves.

 

I hope you are all having a wonderful September. As the temperatures finally cool off around here, Smidget and I are enjoying the occasional park day and walk around the block. Its the best time of the year to work on those warm projects like afghans and quilts.  Let me know what your plans are for this fall!

Sometime this spring, I stopped getting emails for comments, so I haven't been able to reply to my readers as I would like to. Due to Real Life, I wasn't able to look into it until now. Unfortunately it appears that all my settings are correct and so the mystery continues as I attempt to find a work-around. Please everyone, know that I read and appreciate every comment.

Since I couldn't respond directly to Justine (nice to hear from you as always and I agree that the Smidget is much more fascinating than my crafty projects!) I decided to respond in this post. First, here is a picture of the Smidget. I know I was overdue to show him off again.

He's a delightful happy little guy, very playful and snuggly. The reason I'm not sharing dozens of photos (I'm a proud mama and would happily do so) is that his father and I agreed that limiting his online exposure is in his best interests. We intentionally do not, and have requested that family members do not, publish photos of him on any social media platform. So I have had to exercise restraint and will unfortunately probably stop sharing photos all together when he gets a little older. It makes me so sad that this is where we are as a society, but I must adapt to what I cannot change.

Now for the boring stuff. I'm chugging away on the Amethyst Project Bags. Slow. Slow. Slow. With many mistakes and having to recut pieces. Its been an experience. I'm getting there though. They will be lovely when completed, or so I keep telling myself.

I have spent a bit of time on other projects here and there but mostly we were working on converting the family room to a baby safe area. Its mostly complete and now the Smidget can free range over most of the space, which he seems to enjoy. There are still a few things on our list to do and of course, he still finds things to get into but on a whole I'm pleased with how well it worked out.

Thank you all for your comments and I hope to resolve the email issue soon so I can easily get back to you directly.

A Plethora of Projects

A few days ago, the Smidget and I were outside playing and we happened to see a robin land rather close. I thought it was a great opportunity for a couple photos and much to my delight I discovered that he had caught a worm! I was really pleased to be able to capture this on camera. I know its the stereotypical robin thing to do but I never imagined I'd actually see it. 

I'm still working on the Amethyst Project Bags. It is slow going. This is my pile of project pieces. Everything is there, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I suspect this is the type of project that comes together all at once towards the end - right now it feels like I'm twiddling away at components.

My Mini Joy's Journey Afghan has the next three blocks stitched on. Six blocks down, fourteen to go!

Another thing I did was pull out The Castle. I'm trying to put a few stitches a day in this beautiful project. I really would love to finish a couple of cross stitch projects. I found another one that I am dying to purchase but I don't want to start it until I have a couple finished so I'm going to put a concerted effort into The Castle and Tiger Chilling Out.

The pattern I found is called Hogwarts in a Bottle and its sold on Etsy in the shop CutePatternsbyMaria. She has many absolutely beautiful patterns and I hope she will publish more bottle/snowglobe type patterns in the future. I've linked above to the pattern in her shop, please check it out if you are interested in cross stitch, she is a very talented designer.

I've had to descontruct my crafty corner in the family room as we are attempting to convert it into a child safe area for the Smidget to free range in now that he's learned to crawl, so I also mostly cleared off my desk in my sewing room and I'll be setting up my cross stitch projects there. By the way, this upcoming weekend is Hermit and Stitch weekend so consider pulling out a project and get rolling! Happy Stitching All!

Priorities

 

The dishes are dirty,

the house is a mess.

When the laundry gets folded

is anyone's guess.

My little one's small 

for only so long.

So I read him a book 

and I sing him a song.

We play with his toys

or go for a walk.

Sometimes we sit 

and do nothing but talk. 

Someday he'll be big

with a child of his own.

And then I'll think back

on how time has flown. 

The dishes, the laundry, 

the chores will all wait.

Snuggle those babies

before its too late. 

Amethyst Project Bag

My July project is the Amethyst Project Bag by Sew Sweetness. 

It took me almost two weeks to get the majority of it cut out and the interfacing fused. I don't think that I could have chosen a more complicated, involved, or expensive project for my foray into structured bag making. Please note that this is not the fault of the pattern author. The pattern is very well written and includes excellent pictures. Rather, it is a result of my over-ambitiousness and deciding to build three of the darn things instead of just one. 

Having said that, I would rate this project somewhere between intermediate and expert skill level. If I didn't have extensive sewing experience already, I'm sure it would have baffled me. By the time I am done with all three, I expect to be extremely comfortable with zippers and structured bags.

The exterior pieces of the Amethyst Project Bag

 Below are just the lining pieces that I cut out. I have a small mountain of exterior and foam interfacing pieces not even pictured.

I am slowly chiseling away at these bags and hope to have them done by the end of July (hahaha!)

Post-Ragnarok Clean Up

Of course the scramble to get to Ragnarok consumed the last week or so before we left. There is always more projects to complete than there is time to complete it.

One of the things I wanted to do was create a little bit of garb for the Smidget. 

And he looked so stinking cute in it. I also picked up a little coif for him at Rag from one of the vendors.

So if you've been following me for a while you know that the weather is always a topic of contention every time Ragnarok rolls around. This year we had two really warm days and a little rain. The second half of the week was pretty comfortable. The most annoying thing was the ANTS that were EVERYWHERE. I got up one morning to find them crawling all over Smidget's play pen. And wouldn't you know, I neglected to bring any of my airtight waterproof totes with me.

Most of the week was spent caring for the baby and attempting to find food that I could eat but I think the little guy really enjoyed the social time and having so many different people around. It was nice to get out of the house for a bit and there was always an extra pair of hands available to play with him when I needed to go do something like brush my teeth.

 On Friday we took most of the kiddos to the animal park. It was a cool day and the animals were active, which was great. Because of the rain in the morning, it also wasn't overcrowded.

 There was a small amount of cross stitch and crochet while the Smidget was napping during the camping trip but nothing far enough along to share yet. We've been home for a few days now and I've been slowly chipping away at a couple of projects here while avoiding all the laundry and clean up that needs to been done.

After purchasing all the supplies more than a year ago, I finally started working on my Amethyst Project Bags by Sew Sweetness. I'm making three in all and they are going to carry my cross stitch projects from place to place.

The other thing I've put a little time into is the crochet blanket. Right now I'm just working on the colored centers of the motifs and when I have several more rows of those I'll add the cream and join them together.

So that's whats going on around here, what is new on your end of things?

Ragnarok is on the Way

Welcome back for what is probably my last update Pre-Ragnarok. We're taking the Smidget with us this year so I'm sure it will be an adventure camping with a nine month old.

The QAYG panel is complete. I just realized that this is a terrible picture as it does not show the colors accurately. Please note you can't even see the green next to the blue . But I've already dropped this off at my church sewing group so I am not able to get a better picture and I'm quite glad to be rid of it.

I've finished three Joy's Journey blocks and started the fourth. I'm quite enjoying how every block is different.

There has of course been some pre-Ragnarok prep. A set of arrow covers for a friend and some water bottle carriers for an associate who commissioned them. The black carrier actually has two embroideries on it, a first for me.

I have two more carriers to finish and some garb I'd like to throw together for the little dude. I picked him up some shorts and solid colored onesies so he'll just need a little tabard to throw over top and he'll be all set. 

Memorial Day 2018

Crochet the Day Away

I'm afraid the time got away from me over the last month or so. I've been working on a couple projects here and there as the Smidget allows, but no earth-shattering progress so I've been hesitant to write a post. 

I finished a second square of my Joy's Journey afghan. This is still an easy-peasy mindless project, perfect for throwing in a few stitches here and there. 

Below is the afghan from 100 Afghans to Knit and Crochet. It is called Reflections on the Go and its a fun motif project. I've been joining them along the diagonal and weaving in ends as I go and I'm happy with how its turning out. I went down a hook size from the recommended size.

My two current crochet projects are another square of Joy's Journey and a butterfly Amigurumi from Beetles Bugs and Butterflies. I have an idea of who I'd like to give this too, assuming of course that I ever finish it. 

I'm also attempting to get this really super annoying quilt out of the way. This is a QAYG kit that I picked up from my church's sewing group. I have discovered that I loathe this kit and will never ever do another one. I've had it for three months and this is as far as I've gotten. Here's hoping its done soon.

The cross stitch has been put away as the Smidget is starting to be mobile and I'm going to have to figure out the best way to be able to work on it on occasion and still keep things like scissors and pointy needles away from his every curious grasp. Anyone have any suggestions?

IHSW

While working on the Mighty Samurai, I was annoyed to discover that I had misplaced the metallic threads. 

Which means that once I got to the part where I wanted to work on the metallic part, I put it away, sooner than I had planned. And then I spent two days going through my sewing room, looking for the little baggie of gold thread that I knew was there.

I did eventually find it, but not before I has moved on to another project. The Princess and the Dragon has made an appearance. Ideally, I'd like to finish the page before I move back to the Mighty Samurai. Or maybe I'll work on both :)

I have allowed myself ONE STASH PURCHASE since January - I know, I already have SABLE, but I was really excited when Dimensions released this kit. It used to be a HAED but I didn't pick it up before it was retired. The artwork is by Ruth Sanderson and its called Spring Fairy.

I'm happy with the new Dimensions patterns. They're printed on glossy high quality paper now and they aren't double sided, so each quarter of the pattern has its own sheets. I wish I could go back and trade in all the kits I have for new ones. The only thing I don't like about this pattern is the face of the fairy looks pretty awkward, so when I get there I'm going to see what I can do to modify it.

By the way, this weekend is April's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, so make some time to delve into your favorite stitchy projects this weekend and know that the stitching community is joining you in spirit!

Happy Spring?

We are FINALLY looking at warmer temperatures this week, with a promise of ~60 degrees F by Thursday. I'm so looking forward to it, I've been dying to take the Smidget out to the park but its just been too cold.

We're doing a bit better. I never dreamed that once he was six months old that we would still be having sleep problems and that I wouldn't have a grasp on all things domestic and maternal.

He's back to sleeping for most of the night, waking a few times to eat, which is way better than the every hour. I'm even getting to sleep in my own bed *knock on wood* instead of trying to find a way to safely cosleep elsewhere, because that was the only way either of us was getting any sleep at all.

There's a book I came across and I'm pretty sure it saved my life. It's called "Sleep is for the Weak" by Emily-Jane Clark of stolensleep.com. I purchased the Kindle edition and read it when I was up late with Smidget, unable to go to bed.

If it wasn't for the occasional coarse language, which I completely empathize with, I would hand hardcopies of this book out at every baby shower I ever attended from here on out, for all eternity.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 13:

"You rock, shush, sing and feed a baby in a quiet room for hours and hours every evening. You are desperately lonely but never alone. You are constantly busy but nothing gets done. There is no time or space to think, talk, rest or breathe. The exhaustion is relentless and all-consuming. You are tired and miserable but at least you are FUCKING CONSISTENT. You are on the verge of a breakdown, but that is okay because you are sticking to the damn ROUTINE. Considering all of this, there is a good chance your ‘calm environment’ is well and truly buggered. So it is time to try the unthinkable. To go where no Supernanny has ever gone before. Gina Ford may well have ‘contented’ kittens at the thought of this, but to hell with it… Forget B.ED.T.I.M.E. Give consistency the finger and tell the routine to do one. Take your baby into another room, watch TV, have a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Enjoy your baby, enjoy being with your partner and CALM THE HELL DOWN! I guarantee the world will not end because you strayed from the bedtime routine. Trust me, your baby will sleep (eventually). You have not failed. Your baby is consistently content and healthy and you’ve avoided losing your shit. I’d call that a success."

This chapter hit home because I spent SIX WHOLE WEEKS trying to put the Smidget down EVERY NIGHT at the same time and all that we accomplished is that I sat alone with the baby in the bedroom for 4-6 hours per night starting at 8 pm EVERY NIGHT desperately trying to get him settled into a routine and to sleep at a consistent time. For my sanity's sake, we eventually gave up on that. If you have a Sleep Thief of your own, I strongly recommend you get this book and read it on a weekly basis. If you don't have a Sleep Thief and you just want a laugh, get this book and read it anyway.

On to the craftys.

I have decided to make my Joy's Journey afghan as set of smaller squares rather than one large square. The yarn is stretchy and it was getting distorted as the rounds continued, so I finished the first one off at 15 rounds or just about 13 inches across. The edges were still curling, so I decided to try my hand at blocking for the first time ever.

Before Blocking

I used a spray bottle with water to dampen the block, pinned it to the foam that was part of my Christmas present (FYI, the hubs got these at Harbour Freight, they are much bigger and much more affordable than the ones sold in specialty shops) while using the quilting rulers to square it up, and allowed it to dry. Because its acrylic, I didn't want to try to steam block with an iron and risk melting the fibers. I did do a couple passes with my hair dryer but it seems the Smidget has a low tolerance for consistent whiny hairdryer noises and he started fussing after a minute or so.

I'm pretty pleased with my experiment and may even block my crochet items on a regular basis. I figure I need twenty blocks to make a good sized throw. Since I'm using stash yarn, I'll have to check and see that I have enough on hand.  I do want it smaller than my C2C, which is too heavy and unwieldy to be used for anything except on the bed.

I am also working occasionally on a cross-stitch project that has not seen the light of day in a couple years at least. After getting tired of the grays in Guardian Angel, I resurrected the Samurai project.

Starting point

 I've mostly filled in on the right side, completing the branches and leaves and working to fill in the sun.

I'm finding numerous errors as I go but it looks fine to me so I won't be ripping anything out. Once I finish the sun and get the backstitching on the branches, I plan to continue on the Samurai proper. Working with all those pretty colors will be a cheering task.

Happy Spring to you all!