Picture Post – As Promised

I’m addicted. Seriously addicted. To making string pieced blocks for quilting projects. How in the world did this happen? Yowza!

I’m going to make my mom a chemo quilt to keep her warm during her treatments, I’m calling it the Happy Crazy Smile quilt. I’ll be making 24 – 12″ blocks that will be cut into various sizes. This is the first 12″ block done (click to go to flickr for larger sizes of all pictures):

I made these blocks for the swaps I mentioned in the previous post. The first 2 sets of 6 start out as 7″x7″ but have since been cut to 6 1/2″x 6 1/2″. The pink one at the bottom is 12 1/2″ x 12 1/2″.

As for my other sewing: Here are a couple of the sets of coasters I tried to sell at the craft fair. Yes, there’s a safety pin in the corners, it’s just to keep the sets together in the travel bag. Each set has a different fabric on the back, that way you have two ways of displaying them.

I went to a couple of craft/art fairs in the last month or so and picked up a few things:

A set of 4 placemats, about 16 x 16, blue/white gingham on back. They’re very similar in look to the old fashioned oil cloth fabric.

A serving bowl and chip/dip bowl by Adama Sow, perfect for a party. Didn’t notice until I got home, they coordinate with the place mats!

An acorn pin for a certain someone, made from clay. Very cool.

Another gift for someone, it’s made from fused glass.

A hanging for our south window in the living room, also fused glass. About 13″x 13″. Sorry for the towel but we haven’t hung it up yet.

I also purchased a pretty sun catcher and a tote bag. The tote bag is made from the same ‘fabric’ as the place mats but not in a fruit pattern. The bag is reversible, silver/gray inside, gray floral print on black on the outside. I’ll get those pictures here this week. I forgot to take pictures because I already hung up the sun catcher and have been using the bag for school.

Okay, I’m hungry and need to do homework. I’ll be putting an update about my mom at the cancer blog tonight or tomorrow. She’s doing well. I’m not surprised. That’s my mom.

I Love Fall

I heart fall. I do, I do, I do. The wind, the cloudy skies (and often bright and sunny ones), the smell of wet leaves. I know I’m probably odd that way but it works for me – so there. Unfortunately, the hubster prefers summer or at least more sunshine than I do. Can’t win them all from Mother Nature!

I had no idea it had been so long since my last post. What has been going on, you ask?

• I finished knitting the lace scarf with the yarn I received from Gimmesanity and will be blocking it this week. It’s so pretty!
• I started a pair of socks this weekend with the yarn I received from Yarny Old Kim.
• I made 156 cloth coasters for an arts and crafts fair and sold….drum roll please…ZERO! However, I gave two sets to a friend of my hubster’s, one for him and one for his parents. His mother loved them and said “It was the wrong crowd to sell them to because these are priced just right and they’re really cute.” That made me feel better because she’s been to and sold items at a ton of places. Another friend said perhaps beer cozies would have been better for them to which I added, why not sell cut off tshirts to let that old muffin top hang out along with the beer cozies? Haa! If nothing else, people will be getting coasters as stocking stuffers for a few years to come. I may also try to sell them at a consignment shop or at my etsy store. No big deal.
• I’ve really been getting into sewing. Don’t tell my knitting needles but it’s really been fun and I think I’m addicted to a new technique! I’m in a swap on swap-bot.com to exchange string pieced quilt blocks using shades of pink (October is breast cancer awareness month which is when this one will be swapped, hence the color choice of pink). The finished size is 12.5 x 12.5 which when you create your quilt or whatever you’ll make with it, it will be 12 x 12, and you have to make two of them as you have two partners. I made three. I loved the fabrics I picked so much I wanted one of them! Those will get mailed out next week.
• I’m also in another swap on swap-bot.com to make more string pieced quilt blocks but in a much smaller size (finished mailing size 6.5 x 6.5 to be used as a final size of 6 x 6). The beauty of this swap is that there isn’t a specific color theme so you can go crazy with your fabric scraps and not have to buy any fabric at all. For the bigger one I did in pink I did have to buy fabric. But I bought fat quarters, five of them, spent $10 and got three blocks out of all that fabric. In fact I know I could get one more in that size out of it so really – $2.50 per quilt block in that big of a size? Deal of the century!
• Fall semester started Aug 26th so I’ve been in school four days a week. Afternoons, really, except for Tuesday’s when it’s pretty much all day. I am still enjoying it though am also still annoyed at the young ones who play on facebook or IM their friends when the instructor is lecturing. I’m just so big on respect and this is just plain rude. But one of my very good friends is a middle school teacher pointed out that this is a whole different culture today then we were in school. Simply no comparison between having a blackberry or cell phone versus paper and pencil and a push button land line.
• I’m behind on photos of things so my next post will be just that, photos.

Later, ya’ll.

Shhh…I Bought Stuff

I received my order from Knit Picks today. I haven’t bought any knitting related stuff in a long time but I justified the order for that very reason. Haa! I bought:

1. Knit Lace Blocking Wires – I’ve wanted these for a long time so why not?
2. Knitting Blocking Mats – I bought two sets of these so I’d have enough for different sized projects. I noticed they have a slight odor, think if I lay them out for a while the smell will dissipate?
3. Split Ring Knitting Stitch Markers – These are always good to have.
4. Locking Knitting Stitch Markers – Very helpful.
5. Knitting Stitch Markers – I own many handmade stitch markers, made by me and by others but sometimes I just want the basic and boring ones.
6. Sock Knitting Needle Holder – I thought I’d give this a try, I’ll post what I think about them once I use it.
7. Kitchner Dogtag – This is cool, definitely something that will get used! Though I doubt I’ll actually wear it, I think I’ll put the tag on my key chain instead.
8. Stikki Clips – I just thought these would be cool and not necessarily just for knitting.

That’s all for today, folks.

p.s. I think I’m going to take a little nap and then do some sewing.