It's Time for a New Challenge

Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching, a linky party hosted by Kathy @ Kathy's Quilts. Today is the day that you slow down, get some rest, and focus on a handwork project.

I started by decluttering my project pile a bit. These are three abandoned projects that I have had no desire to get back to. The square one was a test patch for a baby blanket and I decided that the white washed out the beautiful blues and greens too much. The crocodile stitch scarf was one of my first attempts and it suffered from multiple hook sizes and a variety of other complication. It has laid abandoned for a couple of years at least. Finally, I neglected the project on the bottom because I couldn't get the scales to lay flat. They currently languish in a corner of my living room and I will give my niece the chance to adopt them before discarding - she used to like having little things like this for her stuffed animals, although I'll hazard a guess that she might be growing out of that.

Having eliminated a few WIPS that I was dreading (whew, what a relief) and freed up a few skeins of yarn, I started a new project, the Sophie's Universe Mandala.

Rounds 1-12 of Sophie's Universe

Please please please, if you take this project on, count your stitches every round. I've saved myself a ton of work by doing so, because I've been able to correct mistakes immediately. I really like that every round is different from the previous, making it less rote work and more brain power.

The other slow stitching project this weekend has been Tiger Chilling out by Dimensions. I've had this one back out for just over a week.

Before

As of 3/26/17

I hope that you are having a nice, easygoing, peaceful, relaxing, and restful Sunday.  What slow stitching projects are you working on this weekend?

Completed Baby Blanket

The power was still out at work yesterday, but my supervisor told us to show up anyway, so I dragged myself out of bed and drove through the snow to get there. Upon arriving, I was instructed by the building manager that no one was supposed to be there. He sent everyone straight back home. I wasn't complaining. I went home, went back to bed, and then managed to finish off this little beauty.

I wrapped it up and passed it off to my cousin, who will see that it gets to her new niece, Baby Anna. It's approximately 40" across and took four skeins of Red Heart Unforgettable in Peacock. There is a little left over. I didn't think it was enough for one final round and I decided not to play yarn chicken.

In other news, I've been reading up extensively on Trim Healthy Mama. Its a way of eating where you're supposed to be able to eat just about anything using natural sugar alcohols like stevia instead of cane sugar and low glycemic impact carbs instead of white bread/pasta. The vast majority of what they say makes good scientific sense and they stress being guilt free which is totally helpful. One of the reasons I didn't go with the Whole30 (another plan I was looking at) is that they insist you can't slip up even once or its wasted effort. Ugh, who needs that? My bad day resulted in a chocolate bar and suddenly my whole diet is reset. No thank you.

We're so used to the sugars and carbs around here that its going to take some getting used to. I think I'll have to give it a solid month or two before I can figure out if it works for us. My first goal is to get breakfasts prepared and frozen, for easy on-the-go at work foods. After that it will be working out lunches and then eventually dinners. Baby steps, ya know? Wish me luck!

Unexpected Four Day Weekend

Power outages due to a windstorm have left my workplace without power both today and yesterday and I find myself celebrating the impromptu four day weekend with the appropriate laziness. Despite being home all day yesterday, I only did one load of laundry, one load of dishes, and still found myself exhausted by 4 pm and in bed by 9 pm.

I did however, spend a little bit of time working on a quilt for a baby cousin we are expecting soon. I had originally planned on making the Sorbet Quilt (find it here on Craftsy) but I wasn't thrilled with how it was working out in the colors I chose. I came up with this alternative layout which I am still considering. I think its an awkward size (40" x 60") and would rather have a fifth column of blocks if I can finagle it. I have a few pieces left over that were cut wrong, so I'll play with it a little more to see what I can come up with.

I also spent a little time crocheting the twelve point star blanket and some time stitching on the next Life is Beautiful block. Although I had visions of doing really elaborate embroidery for these, I've decided that they look best with a simple backstitch. I also think the message might be lost if there's too much going on.

This weekend I plan on continuing to work on the above projects and maybe a little bit of catch up on the housework side of things. Oh, and a fair amount of gratuitous video gaming. Because what else are four day weekends for?

So Many Things to See

Its been just over two weeks since my last post. The lack of exposition on the various crafting projects I have going is due to a number of factors, one of which is that I'm not sure that my progress is post-worthy. The items I am choosing to work on seem to be more long term and less instant gratification (with one notable exception.)

This post will serve as both my 100 Day Challenge and Slow Sunday Stitching check in.

1. I have finished the quilting on the Rainbow Dresden Quilt. This was Numero Uno on my 100 Day Challenge list and now I have just over a month to get the binding on to meet my goal.

2. The Castle by Teresa Wentzler - I haven't touched this since January. Its a very frustrating project and I've been too tired lately to deal with it. This is where I left off a month or so ago.

3. C2C Blanket - I've added almost another skein but since its barely noticeable I'm not going to take a new picture. But this one has taken a backseat to the baby blanket I've been working on.

Slow Stitching Projects

1. The twelve point star baby blanket - Another skein was completed last night! We now have three down, one to go. The baby for whom this is intended was born yesterday. I figure another week or two and this should be done. Its about 3 feet across right now.

2. Random Scarf - I started this at the baby shower for the above mentioned baby. Its now about half done and is alternating rows of triple crochet and half-double crochet.

3. Life is Beautiful Block Two - A finish!

4. My current stitching project - Imagination Unleashed. I'll be hopefully spending more time on this today in between loads of laundry. I have barely scratched the surface of this but I technically have a page finish. That little gray leaf all the way to the left is its own page :)

I hope you are all doing well. Remember to take some time today to relax and slow down, enjoying the process of creation by hand. See Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching Post @ Kathy's Quilts for more enjoyable projects and also a link to the health benefits of hand crafting. And please pop over to the 100 Day Challenge to see how people are coming along with their projects this year.