It's Time To Take Stock

It's time to take stock of the year and figure out what I want to do for the rest of the year. Some of my projects could really use finishing up and some are new starts.

There are a few things I would like to complete before the end of the year.

1. Four Christmas presents.
2. My dark confessor's dress. Seriously, this has dragged on long enough.
3. The dragon donation quilt, which is due at the end of January.
4. My first Kaleidoscope quilt. This needs borders and quilting and is Just For Me. Even though I've been quilting for three or four years, I've yet to keep anything for myself that is bigger than a wall hanging!

I spent yesterday evening cooking and freezing meals. I did a batch of Lasagna stuffed shells and a batch of Taco stuffed shells and a batch of chicken and dumplings for me to take to work. I'm hoping to spend a few more evenings doing this, and thus start avoiding the "I don't wanna cook dinner/Don't have anything to cook" syndrome. This past Sunday and Saturday, we managed to eat entirely out of the fridge and freezer, which was fabulous. It wasn't gourmet - Sunday evening I just reheated the frozen leftovers that I had packaged for work lunches - but it was homemade and waaaaay tastier and easier that eating out. If I can fill the freezer with stockpiled food, I'm hoping that I can focus more on other things I would like to do over the holidays, instead of constant cooking and cleaning.

I've also started thinking about which projects I may want to give priority to next year. I would love to finish The Castle cross stitch and Fall Fairy. I would like to make more progress on my Affairs of the Heart quilt, or even finish it. The Kona Sunset quilt and DP9 train quilt should be pretty quick finishes if I ever get to them. And there is of course, the visions I have in my head for a complete Dagorhir ranger kit. And I do really need to learn to split and stitch larger designs on my embroidery machine. Supposedly there is a Craftsy class to help with this. Sigh.

Anyone want to pay me to stay home and get my crafty on?? Pictures coming soon, I promise. :)

Slow Sunday Stitching

It's Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's Quilts. I don't always get around to this but today seemed like a good day to get a little cross stitch in. 

I've been working on The Fairy Spell by Stephen A. Roberts. 

This may look familiar to you, as this is the third time I've started this project and last time I showed a picture, it was of the lower right corner, because I was silly and decided to restart it on the opposite opposite corner of where I usually start projects.

I found it actually quite tedious to try to stitch in right to left and so I carefully counted all the way back to the upper left corner and started stitching up there.

I'm a little afraid that I counted wrong, but I won't have many stitches to take out if I did and the stitching is going much faster now. Look at all the empty space I need to fill in o_0

I've also been working on one of the Christmas presents, but I need to pick up more serger thread before I get much further. And lastly, still typing away on my Nano novel for the year, a sort of futuristic urban fantasy where I have completely leveled Detroit. ;) 6272 words and counting, so not quite keeping pace with where I should be but still swimming along. 

A Homemade Holiday Season

Well Halloween is officially over and now we are looking forward to the Holiday season. It was a nice and comfortable 76 degrees outside today and I am cautiously optimistic that the predictions of a mild winter may yet come to pass (although I don't expect it to be this mild all winter). Last year we had bitter cold temperatures and record setting snow.

I've already spent a few hours on Etsy searching for original handmade gifts to give out this year, as I find myself once again wondering what to give everyone for Christmas and more and more drawn to a simplistic laid back holiday. This article over at Nourishing Minimalism  kind of sums it up for me - I want something fun and relaxing and free of the gimme gimme gimme.

I have to balance this with my husband's desire to find the BEST PRESENT EVER for everyone he knows. He gets a lot of enjoyment out of trying to figure out what we can give that will put the biggest smile on a recipient's face. We are both especially vulnerable when it comes to buying presents for our niece, whom we adore and like to shower her with presents on her birthday and Christmas.

Plus, I've really come to resent how Christmas now starts before Halloween. I've seen the stores stocking Christmas items for a few weeks now. Really? Three months of any holiday is more than I can take.

I could honestly spend hours here elaborating on why Holidays are more tiring than fun and how much I don't like the clutter that accumulates but I'm sure you can find dozens of articles on those topics and I don't really need to go into it.

I am determined to enjoy the holidays this year and also avoid the yearly credit card trap, so towards that end I've picked out some useful, handmade gifts that I will be attempting to make to give away on Christmas day. I won't be posting a lot of my projects until after they have been gifted, so I am sure my after-Christmas blog post will be extensive.

What a Weekend

Where did the weekend go? It felt like it flew by, with the days shorter than ever. I had big plans for the weekend but they seemed to get derailed easily.

I did finally manage to get the label and binding on Baby Matt's Quilt.

The quilt is 280 2.5 inch squares and finishes at 28" by 40" and is designed to be an easily transportable quilt for car rides and stroller trips.

It was even pretty enough outside to take it for a quick photo shoot before the sun set.

I was kind of uncertain about the backing fabric but with the quilting on it, I think it looks like river water and I really like it now.

I also took one inside for one final look before dropping it in the washing machine. Washing machine always is the most worrisome part of quilting for me, because this is where we determine if the quilt will make it - no bleeding, no torn seams, etc.

I am mourning Daylight Savings Time - this shift of an hour always seems to jet lag me for several days. It's 4:30 right now but getting dark quickly and feels like its almost bedtime already.

In any case, Happy Nanowrimo all! I'm swimming along with 2,817 words between today and yesterday. We shall see how far I get this month.

Darkharvest Loot

I managed to squeak through another finish off my list tonight. The water bottle carrier for the Darkharvest prize (our annual Halloween party) is now complete. 

It is made of black linen, lined with two types of fleece for insulation, with a draw string closure and an adjustable strap. This is the second water bottle carrier that I have made and I still have some issues to work out with the pattern, so I imagine I'll be making a few more before I attempt to post a tutorial. This version has a circular base instead of a boxed base and I think it looks a little more polished than my previous one.

I have a very long day planned tomorrow, with a court appearance for a ticket, then working late to make up my hours, and finally Akron's Halloween party. If I have any energy on Saturday, I will *crosses fingers* finish Baby Matt's quilt which is about 90% done with the quilting and then it will only need the label and binding attached.