Friday Night Sew-In

Head over to Handmade by Heidi and sign up for the next Friday Night Sew-In on Friday, December 10th.

If you need a break, you might want to check out  Gwenny Penny, too .

Little gifts and a Holiday Quilt

 I've been a little busy, finishing up some little gifts before I start mailing packages. (Might mail the first few tomorrow - 3 days ahead of schedule!) First up are these 7 necklaces. They are crocheted with beads. My son has even asked for one so I need to make another for him. They were pretty easy to make - I made these while watching the Grey Cup on Sunday (Canada's version of the Superbowl).  Kids had fun picking out which colours to use for their cousins.

 First 2 mug rugs completed. They will be gifts, as well as 2 more tissue wallets.

 A needle case.

 I also finished the cardigan for my youngest niece. Just need to block it and add a snap or something else to close it.  Not a zipper though. Maybe a ribbon.

Here is one package almost ready to go to northern Ontario. 

I finished this quilt this summer but was only able to show a peek since it was designed by my sister. She said its okay to show it now (she put her version in the fall blogger's quilt festival).

I don't often do hand applique, but I did for her. If I took too long of a break between appliqueing the trees, I would have to look up how to do the blanket stitch, again. 

Another close-up picture.

Close-up of the free-motion in the snowflake blocks.

The back is a very wintery print.

Here it is hanging above the piano in our living room. I like that I can leave this up past Christmas since the fabrics are more wintery than Christmas. Thanks Sarah for having me test your pattern. Perhaps this will be the push you need to get it published.

2 Finishes and 2 WIP's

 2 Market bags done and ready to be mailed, but they look a little empty. One is for my sister and one is for my sister-in-law. I wonder if they know which one goes to who?

 Here's the first one, now with some fabric and other goodies inside. I took fabric from my stash and bought some new as well.

 Here's the second one. Hard to believe I am giving these fabrics away - they are so me. Unfortunately they have to wait a few more weeks to play with all the fabric.

 I am making this little cardigan for my youngest niece (6 months old). I don't usually make cardigans so I figure do small first. I have about 9 more rows and then this one is done.

Finally making some progress on the sweater I am knitting for myself. Started the armhole decreases last night. I almost ripped this sweater apart and started something new but now I'm glad that I didn't.

There are a  few more gifts I would like to make before I ship all the presents back home in a week or so. We braved the stores (as a family) yesterday. We drove 40 mins to a slightly bigger town that has more stores than we do. Crowded but nothing like the stores in Ann Arbor so it wasn't too bad.  The worst part yesterday was waiting for all the people who thought black Friday was the perfect day to bring back returns. I'm not exactly sure what they were thinking.

Mission, I mean, Mittens Accomplished!

They're done!  I love them, and they're the same size (something I worried about). Now to make myself a pair. Although that will probably have to wait til next year, after all the gifts have been made and mailed.

Weekend-Wrap-up

 After a disappointing Friday Night Sew-In (for me anyway), Saturday and Sunday made up for it. Here is the second mitten. I'm even further along now - I just finished the thumb gusset and have set those stitches aside to be completed later. It would be really nice to have these finished by tomorrow since we got more snow last night and so far, it has snowed all day.

 I also restarted the second market bag. I decided to use the same pattern as the first one I made. I'll show pictures once I am done both. I already have the gifts for inside.

 Put the binding on this baby blanket. Took pictures this morning and hope to have it listed in the etsy shop by this afternoon.

 Made a nice mess on my quilt table. In the top left corner are some small gifts, cut and ready to be sewn together. They should be done by the end of the week - I hope. What's that neat little stack in the middle?

 Mug rugs. I wasn't going to jump on the mug rug band wagon... but I came across the squares above. The half square triangle blocks were leftover from a project. I had cut them the wrong size but I wasn't about to get rid of them (especially since some of the fabrics were favourites). I had kept them in a sandwich baggie for the past year, wondering what to do with them. I refound them this weekend and thought - Hmmmm, there's enough here to make a mug rug. Needless to say I got hooked. I went and found all the little baggies holding squares and the triangles that are trimmed in the process of piecing some blocks and I made 15 mug rugs. They're a little addicting, aren't they? Hopefully I can get some quilted and in the etsy shop this week. I made mine in pairs since a cup of tea (or coffee) is always better with a friend.

Here are some "scrap" triangles sewn together into squares waiting to become yet another mug rug.

I finished this little birdie earlier this month but didn't post it. It is the result of just having some fun at the sewing machine one night. I really like it and debated whether I was going to sell it or keep it. I've enjoyed it for a couple weeks but I think I am going to put it in the shop too. Both the birdie and the baby quilt will be listed in the shop the next time I need to take a break from knitting the mitten. Time for lunch, then back to knit 2, purl 1. 

Hopefully this week can be as productive as the weekend was.

Friday Night Sew-In?

 Last night was Friday Night Sew-In. As I was beginning to come down with a sinus cold, I wasn't really in the mood to sew, but since we had some of snow this week, I knew I needed to do something.

 I finished the first mitten for my husband. He says the thumb is a little short but he'll wear them. Now to start the second one.

Then I was almost finished my second market bag, but decided I didn't like the pattern, took it all apart and wrapped the yarn back up.

Not a very productive night but hopefully I will feel better soon and I'll be able to get something done.
Go check out what everyone else did last night. Thanks again Heidi for hosting.

When the power goes out...

 ... you can get a lot of hand work done. Making good progress on the first mitten for my husband. The right side is on the inside so it will look nicer than this when finished.

I also started this market bag this morning. We had no power for roughly 4 hours today after a major wind storm last night. No damage to our property but at least one tree came down in the main park and there were several big branches down (I went for a walk this morning to the library). Since this bag is working up quickly, my plan is to gift Christmas gifts in them this year - just one per family and will probably hold the moms gift.