friday things

Ahhhh!!! Tomorrow is December!!!! Now that I got that out of the way, I did something ridiculous this week. I had been planning on quilting the feathers quilt one day when my husband was home so he could take the little one and I could really focus and get it done. And he came home the other day and told me that I could have all day Wednesday to quilt and he would take the little one out and to swimming lessons and such. I was so excited, and I got the whole thing done. That's right, an entire queen sized quilt quilted in one day. That is 7 hours of quilting in case you were wondering. And I am still super sore from it. In retrospect, I really should have spread it out a bit, but I am glad now that it is done and I can just work on binding. The only picture I can show is this one from my phone that I took while I was quilting. I promised no more sneak peeks until it is in the recipients hands.

I am loving it though. It came out so well! I am hoping to have it done and delivered in the next week.

In other news, I am slowly starting to pack up all my sewing stuff. I decided to start by refolding all my fabric and this is what I have done so far.

This is almost all of my quilting cottons, but unfortunately, my closet is still full of various other fabrics and yarn and all kinds of goodness, so I still have a ways to go. But isn't it just so pretty?!?! If only it would stay that way in the cabinet! Maybe I'll work on it some more this weekend. I am sad to see it packed up, but I know I won't be needing most of it for a while. I already have the stuff I'll be needing to finish piled around the house, so I should be good to go. Now that the monstrous quilt is finished I can focus on the other {smaller} things that need to get done.

WIP Wednesday {11.28.12}

So much to do, so little time! After the better part of the week away, I am feeling ready to get some of this stuff done and off my list. I did make some handwork progress, so that is good. I just need some good movie time to keep going on that. I can't believe that December is so close; it keeps giving me little panic attacks every time I realize it. I am hoping by next week I can relax a little.


Completed:

napkins- finished. again. washed and looking lovely, ready to be wrapped and mailed.

hubby's gift- I finished it yesterday and I love it! I hope he does too. I can't show the whole thing until I give it to him, so here is a peek until then.

Must Do:

feathers- it is basted and I am going to start quilting today!
bag for dad - I started quilting the pieces yesterday so I'm on my way.
bag for mom - still a nice pile to be cut
seat belt cover - requested as a gift
lanyard - a graduation gift for my nursey friend
little ones gift - I know what I am making, but I need to pick fabric
sisters gifts- I have a couple of little things planned
key fobs - little gifts for everyone
needlepoint - well underway. I just need to not lose momentum and get it done!

Want to do (most of these will be for all the time traveling and away from my machine):
christmas pjs for the little one - If I have time, I already have fabric and a pattern picked out.
hexie pillow - I started these little buggers while we were gone. I have some nice little stacks going on and am almost 1/4 done what I have.

hat for me
socks
cross stitch  

Waiting:

*lilly belle - this is getting moved down here until I have time to get supplies and think about it again.
*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....


I guess finishing 2 things while gone for a holiday week really isn't too bad.  It just doesn't make the list seem much shorter. This week I'll make a dent in it though, so maybe I'll feel better about it next week. And maybe I'll start folding and packing up my fabric. I already can't wait until January when I can unpack and get set up and get back to business :)

A hummingbird

Well I'm back, and of course more tired then when I left. Still, I am feeling ready to tackle everything, so that's good. 3 weeks from today our house will be packed up and the move will happen, so I am feeling the crunch. I am going to start out easy today with some napkins to get me started, and so that I can mail them to the bride and groom. I am hoping to mail them out this week so I need to get on it.

While we were away, I spent a lot of time chilling on my mother-in-laws couch working on a needlepoint. I have had this thing for years, but when I bought it, I thought I was buying cross stitch or something. Then I found out it was needlepoint, which I have no idea how to do so I tucked it away. In my cleaning, I found it and decided to make it for the original recipient I had in mind.

I didn't do too bad. It feels like I have been working on it forever and it should be done by now, but there are a lot of stitches in those 5 square inches. I got the bird completely done and the bigger flower almost done. I am going to try and finish it up pretty quickly if I can. Because really, when it comes down to it, I think I really dislike needlepoint. I don't know why; I mean I like cross stitch which is fairly similar, but I really dislike it so I really just want it done and out of my way. I think it is the colored canvas which I find really hard to follow.

I also managed to get a few hexies basted while we were gone, but I don't have a picture of those yet. I have really missed my regular sewing time though, so I am really looking forward to getting back to that today. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!

WIP Wednesday {11.21.12}

Happy Wednesday! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I must admit I am pretty excited! Since we are traveling this week, I don't have as much done as I would like, but I did a pretty good push before we left so I have a couple of things done and even more prepped for when we return.

Completed:

feathers quilt top - Ready for the next phase!

hat - Done and I am in love and need to make one for me.

zip bag -Obviously I needed a little bag for some of my hand projects while we travel. And no, of  course I didn't already have one I could use.

Must do:

finish feathers quilt - quilt.bind.give.

napkins - all cut out and ready to be sewn.

hubby's gift - I am hoping to work on this while we are gone.

bag for dad - all cut and ready to be started

bag for mom - fabric pulled, now to get cutting and sewing.

seat belt cover - requested as a gift
lanyard - a graduation gift for my nursey friend
little ones gift - I know what I am making, but I need to pick fabric
sisters gifts- I have a couple of little things planned
needlepoint - if I can figure out how to do it, it will be a gift for my grandparents
key fobs - little gifts for everyone

Want to do (most of these will be for all the time traveling and away from my machine):
christmas pjs for the little one - If I have time, I already have fabric and a pattern picked out.
hexie pillow - I have my supplies and brought this one with me to start if I have the chance

hat for me
socks
cross stitch 

Waiting:

*lilly belle - this is getting moved down here until I have time to get supplies and think about it again.
*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....

I'll be honest, for once, it didn't seem as bad until I wrote it all down haha. And really I'll have only 3 weeks to do it all. In light of this, I am now going to go prepare to gorge myself for the remainder of this long weekend and come back prepared to get down to business. And don't forget I also have to pack up a house in that time. No prob. I just keep telling myself that there is an end in sight!

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

feathers!!

I finished the feathers quilt top!!!! Not only is it all sewn together, it is basted too!! It feels so good to have gotten this far and actually reached the timeline goal I set for myself. I am so glad it is basted before we go so that I just have quilting/binding to do when we return. It was so hard to get a picture of such a large quilt top (90" x 108"), but I tried. I had to clear out pretty much my entire living room to have space to baste it and I was still up against furniture that I couldn't move. Definitely my largest quilt.

I still have a ways to go to get this beast quilted and bound, but I have the binding fabric and even some quilting ideas. So hopefully I will get that done fairly soon after thanksgiving. It looks like I may even get all the gifts done *crosses fingers* but more on that Wednesday when I actually write it down and see how bad it is.

Now I am off to go to story time at the library for the last time here, and then drive to visit family for the week. I can't believe that when we get back, we will pretty much have 3 weeks until we have to be packed and out of here and begin the transition to down south!! It is coming too fast, but at the same time I am ready for it to be over! I'll be back Wednesday with my list of insanity :)

thistledown hat

Hello and happy Friday! I am still working on turning my feathers into a quilt top, but I did manage to finish the knit hat this week! I am so in love with it, it is going to be so hard to give away. If only you could feel the softness of the yarn, it is really quite incredible. Now if only I knew what it was.....

It was a pretty quick knit. The pattern was only $1.99 through knit picks. It is a really simple pattern with a really impressive result, the best kind of pattern. I went up a size for each needle, actually out of necessity since I already had the smaller needles a size larger and the store only had a size larger for the bigger ones, but I knit tight and usually go up a size anyway so it worked out just fine. I am already planning another that I can keep :)

Now I need to go hide it in the gift pile so I don't keep wearing it. Have I mentioned that it is the softest yarn ever?!?!  Hopefully I will be back next week with an amazing finished feather quilt top to show off. It is looking really good so far and I am quite excited. I also hope that we make good progress this weekend on the cleaning out of all our crap so that after thanksgiving, the packing can begin. Ahhh so much to do so little time!!

WIP Wednesday {11.14.12}

Is it really Wednesday already??  Amazing how that keeps happening....I am still trucking along with my feathers. I should finish them today, so by next week I hope to have a basted quilt ready to be dealt with after the holiday travels. Other than that, not too much to report. I am hoping that once the feathers are done things will start to move more quickly and I can get out of panic mode.  I have nothing completed and nothing new so....

Still Going:

feathers!

Only 10 more to go!! I should finish them up today and then figure out the layout, and put together a quilt top. I really want this together and basted before we leave next week so that when we get back it is just quilt and bind.

husbands gift
I need to sneak in some time to work on this. Soon would be good. 

napkins (round 2)

This is just sitting around staring at me, begging to be made. The wedding is in a month so I am hoping to get them done {again} and mailed in the next couple of weeks. 

hat

I am almost 2/3 done! I love this so, so much and I'm going to have a really hard time giving it away. 

lilly belle
Yep, still need a back and some batting before I can do anything with this, and then I'll need hand quilting supplies. So maybe one of these days I will get around to it. 


Waiting:

*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....




Man, there is so much to do and just no time to do it at the moment. I am starting to look forward to planning out what I want to do in the new year. I can't believe it is getting to be that time already. But one thing at a time. First feathers, then everything else. By next week I really hope to have at least figured everything out for my parents gifts and hopefully started some prepping on that and the napkins. I just keep telling myself that there is a deadline and an end in sight for all the insanity. It will be replaced with other insanity {like moving} but that is not the point. The point is many many car hours of hand work :)

drowning in feathers

This is how my weekend sewing started:

And it has progressed to this:

Actually I have more than that done now, but that was when I took a picture break. The killer: I am not even quite halfway done making these things! I think I can get them done in about 3 days if I can stay focused, so hopefully by mid week I will have all the feather blocks finished and can start working on layout. I believe this will be my largest quilt to date, just a touch larger than my farmers wife and skill builder quilts. Now, where I am going to lay thing thing out is an entirely different issue...

I just keep realizing how tight time is to get this done and all the other little things I need to do before we pack everything up and move. I am honestly not sure I can get it all done, especially with almost a week with family for thanksgiving next week, but for now I will remain optimistic. I have high hopes of having the feathers basted before we go next week, and maybe even prepping some of the other things. And how the heck is thanksgiving next week already?!?!? Ahhhhhh!!!

who doesn't love a zip pouch??

Happy Friday! I am still working my way through a pile of feathers (12/57 done!) but I thought I'd pop in with a few more pictures of the zip pouch I made a couple weeks ago now that the gift has been given. I used the tutorial from noodlehead, but I shrunk the smallest size by an inch each way. Honestly that was because I had a 9" zipper that matched perfectly so I needed it to be small enough to use that. It was a pretty quick and easy pattern and I love the finished bag. I think I am going to be making a larger one for myself soon. This was a birthday gift that I filled with candy and wrapped up all pretty. The birthday girl loves horses (animals, really) and the color green so this was just perfect for her.

Honestly, I am hoping to have the feather top done by the end of next week, but that might be a bit too ambitious. I need it done soon though. I promised it by christmas and since we are moving right around that time, it is a pretty solid deadline. Somehow I need to sneak in some other gift making too. I have been working on my knit hat though and I love it. It is a fun pattern that is going quickly and so far looks awesome. I think I might make one for me when I am done this one.

And now I am off for some much needed relaxation followed by a weekend with the in-laws. I hope I still get a little bit of sewing time, but I guess that remains to be seen. I think I will feel a whole lot better when these feathers are all done and I can move on to quilting. Anyway, have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday {11.7.12}

Remember that time I was all calm and felt like I had plenty of time for gifts? Well that time is past and it is a good thing I have half of them done or I would be out of my mind by now. The panic is beginning already, but I am trucking along just trying to get everything done. Since I actually had some time to work on things yesterday I feel a little better, but man, so much to do.

Completed:

socks!!!

I finally finished my socks! Even though they are too big for me, I love them and my husband is already happily wearing them around the house :)


New:

husband gift

Here is my sneak peek. It is about halfway done. I don't know exactly when I am going to work on it, but hopefully soon.

hat 

Another gift. I am so in love with this yarn and I don't even know what it is. It is so soft and I know it is wool, but I lost the wrapper thing after I wound it. I think I am going to want to keep this. 

napkins
I finally went and bought fabric to try again on the texty rainbow napkins. I pre-washed this time so hopefully it will go well. When I eventually make them.


Still going:

feathers!

Finally all the pieces are cut! Today I am hoping to get them all matched up and start sewing. I am really hoping things start going a bit quicker now that the cutting is done.

lilly belle
Yep, still need a back and some batting before I can do anything with this, and then I'll need hand quilting supplies. So maybe one of these days I will get around to it. 


Waiting:

*wedding quilt -I think I know what I am going to do. But it might have to wait until I knock out some gifts....
*wedding quilt II- I know exactly what I am going to do, I just need to find out what colors would be preferred.
*baby quilt - still an idea just waiting for me to come play. Once I find the perfect fabric I will be on my way. Someday....

Coming up I have a bunch of things to make, but I need to finish figuring them out first. I know what I will be making my parents and have started slowly collecting supplies. I still need to figure out what I want to make for the little one. I am also trying to gather up some hand projects to do while we are visiting for holidays and moving. I figure some knitting and some epp should do it, maybe some cross stitch or something, I don't know yet. I am itching to start hand quilting, but I don't think that will be a good project for the car since it's pretty big. By next week I am really hoping that I have quite a few feather blocks finished, so wish me luck on that! Of course we have guests again this weekend...oh well, we'll see what I can mange.

If things seem a little slower around here....

It's because we have big life changes going on right now. We have learned this past week that we will be moving. In Januaray my husband will be starting a new job. In North Carolina. That means in less than 2 months we need to get ourselves together and move on down there.

Needless to say, things are a bit hectic around here, especially with all the holiday stuff going on. I am pretty much totally excited and totally overwhelmed. I have so many things to do and they have just been pushed to the side a lot more recently. But, I will still be trucking along trying to get everything done. Thank goodness I started the gifts so early so I at least have half of them done.

I am still cutting away at feather pieces, I have a new knitting project to work on for a gift, I have to remake my failed napkins, and I finally figured out what I am going to be making for my parents. Today I am going to be working on my husbands gift, so hopefully that goes well, and I still need to finalize what I am making for the little one. And I have to do all this before I have to pack up all my fabric, which I know will be sooner than I'd like. *sigh* I just have to try not to drown in all this and know that it will get done and things will calm down again in the new year.

So that's what's going on around here. I am super excited about all the change happening, I just have to not lose my mind.  I am crossing my fingers that I at least have all the feather pieces cut out by the end of Tuesday so I can start sewing. I really need to sit down and figure out how I can get all this done and what is reasonable. With all that said, I promise to be back Wednesday with something at least a little more exciting to show for myself.  We all know news is not as exciting as pictures of pretty things :)

Socks!!!

Do you hear me? I made socks, people!! And they are pretty and knit and wearable (not so much by me, but that is clearly not the point). And there are no holes or anything! I am pretty much bursting with excitement over here in case you can't tell! I didn't think I would ever make socks, and yet here I am. The next pair is already planned, and hopefully the next pair will fit my feet. Making 2 socks at once is pretty much awesome since I am pretty sure I would never make the second one otherwise. I made them from the book Knitting Circles Around Socks, and I used a yarn from knit picks, but I forget which one since I just stole it from my dads stash. And hubby says they are comfy and he likes them, which he might tell me either way, but we'll see if he actually wears them. He probably won't anyway because he'll be afraid of ruining them. Here they are on his lovely man feet

In other completely unrelated news, I am going on my first sewing retreat in March. Have you heard about Sew South?? Jennifer over at ellison lane quilts put it together for us here on the east coast and I am so looking forward to meeting some quilting/sewing/blogging friends and spending a weekend doing what we love most. When I last looked there were still a few tickets left in case anyone else was thinking of going. It looks like it is going to be loads of fun and I can't wait!!

What I really need to be doing today is working on the feather quilt. What I am going to be doing instead is going to a LQS and running some other errands and preparing for a weekend with my sister, which will not involve any sewing but will be pretty spectacular. It's okay though, I think the cutting part of the feathers is almost done. I hope so anyway. Not my favorite part. I guess that is something to worry about next week though. Happy Weekend!!!