Twelve Point Star Baby Blanket

A friend is having a baby shower tomorrow so of course, I had to start a blanket for her. My usual go-to is a quilt but I had some beautiful yarn on hand courtesy of my Christmas stocking and decided to give the twelve point star afghan a try.

In Red Heart Unforgettable (Peacock)

It took me a few rounds to get the hang of it and if I ever do a second one, it will work out better I think. However, I'm very pleased with how it is turning out. This project will not be completed by the baby shower but I am going to attempt to complete it by the due date which is late February.

The pattern can be found for free on Ravelry: Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket by Celeste Young.

On the quilty side of things, I did get my sewing room floor all cleaned up. I wouldn't call the room organized but I'm making progress. I now have space to sandwich a quilt or two, so there might be some of those updates in the near future.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Just a Few Things

Hello again, and I know its been a while since I had an update. That is because I am busily working on from long term projects from my goal list that don't show progress very quickly. Mostly on The Castle, in which I have primarily filled in the far right side of the rock pile. Honestly while I love the looks of this project, it is SO SLOW due to blended threads, quarter stitches, and a hard to read pattern. I can't wait to move on to something else. Although I am devoted to getting this done by Spring, I might have to swap it out for something less stressful for a couple weeks. Maybe my Princess and the Dragon, or Imagination Unleashed.

 I did manage to finish off this scarf and hat set a couple weeks ago, getting that project off my UFO list. I've also started stashing yarn and hooks at work, for those days when I remember to bring my lunch, so there are more hats and scarves coming in the near future.

 

The temperature blanket is a no-go. I've finished a weeks worth of motifs but I just don't like it. I'm setting that project aside and instead focusing on finishing my rainbow C2C queen size, which I have finally decided is tall enough and am now working on filling in the other half. 

Cleaning my sewing room is coming along slowly but surely. The closet has these awful overlapping door, so you can only get into one half of the closet at time. I've hated them since we moved in almost five years ago. I've acquired a curtain rod and some sheer curtains, purple of course, to replace the doors with and am hoping to get them hung up sometime this week.

Happy stitching in the upcoming week! Linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday@Kathy's Quilts

2017 Goals

I've been giving some careful thought to what I would like to do this year.

Edit: I've decided to join the 100 Day Challenge at Quilter in the Closet. The goal is to choose three things to complete in the first 100 days of the year. The first three things on this list will be my challenge selections.

1. Finish The Castle cross stitch. This is probably my oldest cross stitch project. 100 Day Challenge #1.

Current Progress 1/8/17

2. Finish my C2C Afghan: 100 Day Challenge #2.

3. Quilt the Rainbow Dresden Quilt. 100 Day Challenge #3.

4. Quilt the Scattered Quilt

5. Finish my Confessor's dress. Yes I know you all are groaning at me. This has been on my list for probably three or four years. I can't find the photo of this one right now but I will add one when I unpack it to work on.

6. Clean and purge my sewing room. This one needs to happen sooner rather than later, or the quilting projects listed above will never get completed. 

7. New Ranger coat for Jack - He's been asking for this for a couple years now. His old one wore out completely. 

I think that's enough for now. As I complete these projects, I will probably add more to the list but I don't want to overwhelm myself. These are some major projects and I will be thrilled if this is what I get done this year.

The Last of the Holiday Crafting

Hello again friends, I have just a couple more things to show you. Most of these are remnants of my vacation time over the holidays. It took me just over a week to recover enough from work and the Christmas scramble to get productive and I had one or two really good crafty afternoons (yay!!!)and then went back to work. (boooooooo!!!!!)

Anyhow, here it is.

One quilt top completed and waiting for quilting. I love this one. Its baby sized but oh so pretty. But if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm still a sucker for a good bright rainbow quilt.

One infinity scarf that took about an evening or two. Made with leftover yarn, soon to be joined by a matching hat during which I hope to use  up the last of this Grandma's Attic Yarn (not a brand - I actually recovered it from my Grandmother's attic several year ago.) Its a basic chain stitch, nothing special but its very flexible and light weight. The last few skeins of yarn from the attic have either been bequeathed to my niece or put in a box for donation to my church.

One matching hat for the cowl I finished last week, and I've decided I like this set enough that its my new wearable when I'm headed out the door. The hat I did in about an hour and a half over lunch breaks and while waiting for Jack one evening to meet me for dinner.

Coming soon to a browser near you, an update on my temperature blanket adventure. It wasn't going as planned, so I fixed it. I am three days behind right now, a problem that I hope to remedy this evening. I also would like to finish the purple striped scarf and hat and the current skein on my C2C blanket. Weekend Goals! Do you have any plans this weekend?

A Finally Finished Object

Apparently I finished stitching this sometime in 2015, because that is the year that I put in the signature line. Yesterday, I took most of the afternoon to convert it into a wall hanging and it now adorns our dining room wall.

 

I used some hand dyed fabric that I had enstashed for the border. This was my first attempt at mitering corners on a quilt and it was a lot easier that I thought it would be. I imagine I'll be mitering a lot more corners on quilts in the future.

Tomorrow its back to work and I really feel like I could use another two or three weeks vacation time. Oh well, I guess its easier to appreciate vacation when its rare.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's and found some time to relax and craft. Happy 2017!