WIP Wednesday

A few WIP's to share this Wednesday, a couple almost done and one little finish.

I've spent the past few days quilting and quilting and was able to finish quilting the two Scrappy Bento Box quilts. Above they are trimmed and awaiting binding, which I hope to attach this afternoon.

Finished 4 spools of thread doing all that quilting. Time to go buy some more.

I started a sock almost 2 weeks ago. Getting ready to do the heel in a couple rows. 

And I hope you can tell this has grown. It's the Hello, Hello shawl and I'm halfway done the eyelet section (it's doubled in size since the last time I showed it). Hope to make more progress on it this week.

And I've slowly been plugging away at my Sarah Fielke, 2017 BOM, Down the Rabbit Hole. Since the last time it was on the blog, I have sewn down the green bias around the centre and sewed down the brown circle in the middle. I have also cut out and glued down all the leaves and have started to stitch them down. I think I slowed down on this project when the April clue came out - paper-piecing! My plan is to face my fear next month and get the paper-pieced houses done. 

Yarn ready for July Camp Loopy project. It will become an Old Growth cardigan. 

And my one little finish is this Sashiko embroidery that was part of the Studio MME's Super Stitcher's Club. I don't remember which month this was from. It came with white floss but I changed it up a bit and added some pink. I had it done in four different colours but decided I didn't like it and ripped it all out. Think I like this better.

What have you been working on this week?

WIP Wednesday - 5 Quilts and a bit of Knitting

It's been almost a month since my last WIP post and some of those WIP's don't look much different. I blame Camp NaNoWriMo for stopping my WIP's from becoming Friday Finishes. Now that my brain can fit something other than my novel into it, it is quickly filling up with all the crafts I want to make, and surprisingly a lot of those are quilts. 

I finished making the Spin Cycle quilt earlier this year. I picked the backing fabric which I need to cut and piece to fit (doing that today). I'd love to baste this today but making cookies for teacher appreciation week comes first. It wasn't until I looked at the selvedge of the backing fabric that I realized I am using Cluck Cluck Sew fabric, too. Fabric on the front is an assortment of fabrics that aren't Cluck Cluck Sew. Really dropped the ball there. This quilt is a gift for my son's preschool teacher. She also taught my two older children when they were preschoolers. She deserves a quilt. Her birthday is Sunday, but I'm aiming to gift her the quilt when preschool finishes at the end of this month. Have no idea how I'm going to quilt it. Ideas? ( I had one leftover block, which you can see. Using it on the back as a label and have all three kids sign their names, and maybe a little message, too.)

This fabric is for another Cluck Cluck Sew quilt pattern. My daughter and I fell in love with her Basketcase pattern. I bought it and some fabric and plan on making it for my daughter's birthday next month. Need to get busy cutting and sewing this one.

My Bento blocks have been ignored for weeks. I still need to iron these block halves. I think I got a little depressed about this project when I recounted and discovered I need to make 5 more block halves. It's hard keeping track of so many pieces - there are over 1,000 pieces cut - but in the end they will become 2 quilts for charity. Need to refocus and finish them.

This crazy collection of fabrics is for the Sarah Fielke 2017 BOM. I'm behind on this one too. Need to iron some fabric and then do some paper-piecing this month. I'm a little scared.

And this was a quick fabric pull this morning to make a Rin quilt. There's a QAL going on for this one that I saw on Instagram. And there was something about the pattern I couldn't resist. Not sure when I'll make time for this but the QAL doesn't start until May 17th, so I have time to finish up some other WIP's before then.

And here's the little bit of knitting that's keeping me busy. I'm about to start another test knit for Sarah of Imagined Landscapes.

And I've been working on my Duvessa cowlette. Above I am 2 rows shy of finishing chart B, with only chart C and the border left. The KAL ends on Friday but something was bothering me about the design.

The bump down from the garter section to the lace section. I didn't like it. I want to keep and wear this but that little design element had me thinking I was going to give it away. And that kind of pissed me off. There must be something I can do?

So I started over, working the first part in stockinette instead of garter.

But since I'm not sure I'll like it, or if it will even work this way, I haven't frogged the original. They're both still connected. Not sure I'll get either of them finished by Friday, but I'm going to try.

What have you been working on?

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WIP Wednesday - A little bit of everything

I think it's been a few weeks since I've done a WIP Wednesday post. I've been working on a few things but haven't made enough progress on any one project to justify a blog post. This week I started several projects so here we go.

The Duvessa KAL started last Friday. Despite my best intentions I didn't get a chance to cast on until Sunday morning. I try to knit a few rows everyday. Hoping I finish by the time the KAL ends on May 5th.

And Shannon's Tops, Tanks and Tees KAL started on Monday. I decided to cast on a Seaboard tank at  almost midnight Monday. Only have 5 rows done. And it's lace weight yarn. Don't see myself finishing this up either but Shannon's ravelry group is so active it's fun to read along. Even if I rarely comment. This KAL goes until May 8th, but her KAL's often have extensions.

My first Super Stitchers Club kit arrived last week and immediately distracted me from everything else I needed/wanted to do. Megan had been showing sneak peeks of the design and had wrote a tutorial for turning it into 4 coasters on her blog. The white floss was sent along with the kit so it looked like traditional Sashiko, but I wanted something more colorful and picked the floss above from my stash.

I had the yellow and most of the green done the day it arrived. I finished the green and started the pink while watching tv, very late one night. 

Colours aren't as bright as I had hoped. Might take out the yellow for a brighter yellow. We'll see.

Been working on more crocheted button flowers for my mom. She has asked for 42 more of each (grey buttons with yellow flower, yellow buttons with grey flowers). I'm almost out of floss, so I need to go get some more. Had to order grey buttons on etsy as they are surprisingly hard to find. They should arrive next week. I'd like to have this project done by Mother's Day.

And I've made some progress on the BOM that Sarah Fielke is doing this year. All the flowers are now stitched to the background and the second border is sewn on. The green ring is only glued down so I still need to stitch it down and add some leaves this month. And then put the center circle on. I'm not really happy with how my flowers ended up. My pieced circle is bigger than most since I had to add 4 wedges to make it lie flat, which took up precious flower space. Tempted to redo it but think I will wait. Once the other borders are added, I'm sure I'll grow to like it. Or at least I hope so.

What have you been up to?

WIP Wednesday

I've made lots of progress with several projects this past week, so let's get to the pictures.

I'm doing Sarah Fielke's Block-of-the-Month this year. The first clue was released at the end of January, with the second clue released yesterday. So far I've been able to keep up. Above is my finished clue #1. I had to add 4 wedges to get my circle to lie flat, but other than that, it's as the pattern suggests.

Tiny stitches on the back. Wedge circle is attached with fabric glue (for now), but all the stems were hand appliquéd. Store-bought bias but I'll be making my own bias for clue #2. It's nice to be learning these new techniques a little bit at a time.

Today I got started on clue #2. Using Sarah's technique for making circles. You can see her YouTube video about it here.

About halfway done the foot of the second sock.

Ended up starting a new shawl last week after a conversation with my mom about her birthday later this month.

Finished the body of my Cocoa Cardigan. 

Tried to have the three year old take a picture of it on me but not quite what I wanted.

Daughter took one for me once she got home from school. Love the fit. Now to knit some sleeves.

What have you been up to this week?

WIP Wednesday

I have quite a few WIP's to share today. Both knitting and quilting! Been focused this past week trying to finish some things up. 

Been working away at these socks. Decided these will be a gift but I have yarn lined up for the next pair of socks, which will be for me. This is only the first sock but it feels like it is knitting up quickly.

I started a cardigan for myself. This is the Cocoa cardigan. Finished the detail at the yoke and have a bit more to go before dividing the body from the sleeves.

Did some chain piecing the other day...

... and ended up with over 70 of these units. Part of a Scrappy Bento Box quilt. I cut these pieces last year, but they got set aside for gift making. Finally pulled it out this week and have been piecing when I have time. (Wow, it looks like I sewed the square pairs together last April! And haven't touched it since. Bad me.)

I also finished quilting a scrap quilt, that will be going to charity. I had to rip quilting out of this quilt twice so it had been sitting in timeout for a couple months. I picked it up on Monday and decided to finish it. Now I'm putting the binding on. (Looks like I finished the quilt top last March!)

And with some quilting mojo back, I basted two quilts yesterday. They are rolled up and ready for their turn. One is the Patchwork Olympics quilt top and the other is the Christmas Scrappy Bento Box quilt top. Can I finish both of these this month? I'd be thrilled if I did.

And I made some good progress on the Sarah Fielke 2017 BOM. All I have left to do before the next clue is released at the end of this month, is to hand appliqué 26 stems. Which will be a good introduction to hand appliqué, I guess.

What have you been working on this week?

A WIP Post

Oops, I didn't mean to go two weeks without posting. I took pictures to share and then... didn't. It's been hard living in the states the past two weeks and it's been difficult to do anything that seems like fun. Our time and energy are really needed elsewhere, but we all need to take some time for self-care every day. Or we'll go a little nuts. So here is how I've been taking care of myself the past couple weeks.

I started socks for my sister's birthday later this month. I cast on this Sunday and finished the first sock in 3 days. This picture was taken yesterday morning. Then I spent four hours at my son's school for a fundraiser and was able to knit almost half the leg. I didn't bother to take another picture so you'll have to take my word for it. Plain sock with a Fish Lips Kiss heel. For some whimsy, I started one sock from the outside of the skein, the other from the inside, so the stripes will reverse. Kroy sock yarn.

I did a few more pattern repeats of the first Run Around Mitten (also for my sister's birthday - damn, she's pretty lucky). Almost time to add the thumb. Yarn is Lorna's Laces and is discontinued.

And a few more repeats of the Hogmanay shawl have been done too. 

There is a neat lace pattern in there that will blossom with blocking. I hope. Links and info about yarn is on my project page.

And the afghan is getting bigger. This was near the end of the third skein. I just started the fourth. 

Love how colourful this is.

And my other WIP was to tackle my desk. I was beginning to wonder why I was getting nothing done. So many stacks of stuff. 

Got through it all today and am much happier. Now the stacks are organized. Books I'm reading are furthest to the right, nearest to the couch so they are easy to grab. A small pile of writing  books beside them. To the left of my computer, are my notes for the novel I'm editing and a notebook to write down other ideas. Beside it is a pile of fabric that I pulled and set aside a couple weeks ago. The green bin in the back - beside my sewing machine that has been covered for all of 2017! - is fabric for Sarah Fielke's 2017 BOM. The first clue was released this week. One of the motivations to clean my desk was so I could start working on it.

What have you been working on?