Category Archives: 2019 Plans

28

Dec. ’19

Jacob’s Weasley Sweater!

Yesterday, I posted my update on my make9 list for 2019.  Here’s #8 – Jacob’s Weasley Sweater.  He’s Ravenclaw.

My goal is to have a Weasley Sweater for each of my family members and to take a family picture with us each wearing them.

Last year, I made Kayla’s Weasley Sweater. She’s Gryffindor.

This coming year, 2020, I’ll be making Ricky’s and in 2021, I will make mine.  Ricky’s will be Slytherin and mine will be Hufflepuff.  Not because we are those houses like the kids but because I wanted us to represent each of the houses.

~Always,

Melanie

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans, Knitting. Tags: , , , . Leave a comment

27

Dec. ’19

2019 Recap of my Goals

I got a lot done on my #make9 projects for 2019.

1- Celtic Solstice: Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt from 2013 – Finished!

Celtic Solstice
Finished
February 2019…

2- Have yourself a quilty little Christmas by Lori Holt – Finished!

I still need to take a picture of this quilt all quilted and done.  I am sure I have a picture somewhere but I cannot find it.  So that’s something I need to get done soon.

3- Staycation by Lyn Brown – The top is done but I still need to do the rest of it.  I believe this is ready to go – meaning, I have the batting ready, the backing ready and all I have to do is baste and quilt it.  The basting is the hardest part for me.

4- Mama’s Bukid aka Farmland2 – This is not done but I made a lot of progress this year and I plan to continue with my current pace so that I’m on track to finish this coming February.

Mama’s Bukid
12/24/2019

5- Gamer by @medusadollmaker (just 6 pages) – I only got 3 pages done this year.

6- Kiss for Snowman: a dimensions kit – Not done. I really do not like working on this project so I consider it my travel project. I only work on it when I’m not at home.  Lately I’m getting a lot of work done on it as I’ve been taking it with me to the stitch in’s at our local needlepoint shop.

7- monthly socks – I continue to knit on socks but I’m not as strict as I used to be.  When I created my 2019 goals I used to knit a pair a month and my plan was to continue that through 2019.  Well, I have a lot of hand knit socks now so one can only use so many hand knit socks in Los Angeles.  I even gave away a bunch to my daughter who went away to college in Boston where she has much use for hand knit socks.  So, I always have a pair on the needles and I always work a bit every day on these.

8- Jacob’s Weasley sweater – Is done but I still need to take a picture of it.

9- Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig – Finished!

So my take on my #make9 – even though I didn’t get everything I wanted done, I made significant progress on everything I didn’t finish.  And that’s always a win.  For 2020, I plan to make up another make9 but I also want to make a list of goals like I’ve done in previous years.

Always,
Melanie

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans, Cross Stitch, Knitting, Quilting. 1 Comment

01

Dec. ’19

December 2019 Plans

Happy December!

This year, I want to spend time with the people that are important to me and to enjoy the holidays. I started by texting the people I rarely see to schedule time. Those are the most important because if we don’t put it on the calendar, it will not happen.

In terms of my crafty life, I do not have a lot of goals.

Goal #1 – finish Jacob’s Weasley Sweater.  I have to finish the sleeves, mattress stitch the open sides, knit the collar and weave in the ends.  My goal is to have these done by Christmas so we can get our annual Christmas picture done with him in the sweater.

Goal #2 – 2 columns on Mama’s Bukid.  I’m on track to get this finished in February as my goal is to get 2 columns done each month.  (Yes, I only have 6 columns left to do!)

That’s all my must do goals for this month. Everything else is pure enjoyment.  And over the last couple of years, the way I do goals have changed.  Before I used to have annual goals, that I would then break down to monthly goals and then weekly goals.  And every week and month I would document what my goals were, where I was with each thing and what I planned to do the following week or month. It was helpful until I started spending more time stitching and then knitting.  As I did more and more crafts I didn’t see the same kind of progress that I used to have.  Now I devote time to each craft and however much I do is how much I get done.  Unless I have a deadline for something, I do not set goals to getting things done.  I set a queue of things and I have priority projects in each craft and I work on things as I need to.

So for December, here is what I plan to work on:

Quilting – Good Fortune.  I have the inner top put together. I just need to put the borders together and then this top is done!  I am not playing with Bonnie’s Mystery Quilt this year.  I realize this past year I have a ton of mystery quilts that I have on the go and I’m a bit tired of them.  So I’m pulling her instructions each week to do at some point later on.

Sewing – I’m taking a sewing class right now and I’m working on garment sewing. I just started and will update you as I go along.

That’s it.  I’ll post more about what my thoughts on my upcoming goal and plans for 2020 later this month.

~Happy crafting!

~Melanie

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans. Tags: , , . Leave a comment

11

Feb. ’19

Update on February Plans and this week’s POA, week 7, 2019

Good morning my friends,

It was a productive week.

For quilting:

Celtic Solstice – Goal for February is to have this bound and labeled.

Celtic Solstice
2/9/19
Binding in process

Good Fortune – Goal is to finish Clue 2 and start on Clue 3. I normally work on this on Sunday’s with a friend and yesterday was our guild’s workshop so we didn’t get together. Next Sunday I will be out of town so the next time I will be getting together at Tova’s will be Sunday, 2/24.  You’ll be happy to know that I did finish Clue 2. and all I need to do is to start on Clue 3.  Which I’ll be able to do when we next get together.

Good Fortune Mystery Quilt
Clue Two
Finished
2/3/19

 

Provence – Goal is to piece the border. – not yet done… And with the next 2 weekends filled with activities, not sure if I’ll be able to get this done.

For Knitting:

January Socks – Finished one sock!

January Socks
just one
2/5/19
Honey Bees Dance
by Helen Stewart

 

February Sock – I’m working on Mercury socks by Kim McKenzie/Drotrar using Hypnotic Yarn’s Grinchmas.  I love the colorway but the yarn is too plum for socks for me.  I would probably love a hat or gloves with this yarn.  While it’s cold now, it doesn’t get cold often enough in Los Angeles to warrant making a lot of wool plump socks.  The yarn is 80% SW Merino, 20% Nylon and at first my knitting friend who is much more accomplished than I thought it might be the 80/20 blend that I don’t like.  But after a few days thought that that’s probably not it as I’ve been knitting with similar yarn compositions in the past.  So then we realized that there are only 400 yards in this 100 grams and I’ve been knitting with yardage around 430’s and up.  Which is why this particular yarn is plumper than the yarn I normally work with.  The yarn is lovely, don’t get me wrong, just not something I want to use in socks again. Anyway, I’m almost through the foot and will be working on the heel before the weeks ends.

Jacob’s Weasley Sweater – This sweater is in time out.  I can’t even talk about it at the moment.

Featherweight cardigan – I am finished blending out yarn 1 on one sleeve. I have to work on blending out yarn 1 on the second sleeve and finish blending it out of the body.  Then I’ll be working solely with yarn 2 for a little bit while I think about when to blend in yarn 3. I’ll get a picture once Yarn 1 is blended out completely. Right now there are so many yarn bits hanging out it’s difficult to try on let alone to take a pic with it.

For Cross Stitching:

  • Mama’s Bukid- Goal is to finish column 1 and 2 on page 3 and 6.

Mama’s Bukid
2/10/19
almost done with columns 1 and 2 on pages 3 and 6

  • Gamer – Goal is to finish page 6. I have about 2 more columns to do so I’m pretty close to this goal.  I just need to finish my goal for Mama’s Bukid, then I can work on this project. The only thing is that I am out of town this coming weekend so I will not be able to stitch a lot. I think that that is okay but it does mean I have to rush, which I hate doing. 🙂
  • Snowman – Goal is to finish stitching the perimeter of this WIP. I have worked on this a bit and I have about 1 side left to finish in order to have the perimeter completely stitched on this project. This is my traveling piece so I’ll be working on this a lot this weekend.

This coming weekend I’ll be out of town so I may not be able to get a post out. I plan to not visit any shops (quilt shops, yarn shops, needlepoint shops) as I need to not spend money on anything other than food and gas and possibly parking, if necessary.  My daughter was just accepted to Boston University and I need to watch my pennies.  Of course, we’re still waiting to hear back in regards to her financial aid package and depending on what they give her will determine whether she will go there or not.  Instead, the daughter and I will be visiting San Francisco State just in case the financial aid package at BU is unacceptable.

Keep crafting and love on!

xoxo,

Melanie

 

 

 

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans, Cross Stitch, Knitting, Quilting. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

02

Feb. ’19

January’s Update and February’s Plans

For quilting:

Celtic Solstice – I have all the quilting done!  To be fair, I had 2 of the sides left to quilt at the end of January and just finished quilting the other two sides today. And, I have it all trimmed and ready for binding.  So my goal for February is to get it bound and labeled.

Celtic Solstice
All quilted
2/2/2019

Good Fortune – In January I finished Clue 1 and got through most of Clue 2.  I just need to finish trimming my HSTs for Clue 2, which I plan to do in February and work on Clue 3.

Good Fortune Mystery Quilt
Clue Two
In process
1/20/19

Provence – My goal for February is to piece the border. I’m still deciding if I should go with just 1 border or find a second border to add to it.

Provence
9/22/18

For Knitting:

I generally work on my knitting during the week and when I’m out and about.  So my focus knitting is on my monthly socks. Right now they are my February socks. Because it’s February. 🙂 In January, I was working on Helen Stewart’s Honey Bees Dance Socks and they are not done. I’m using a sock blank so I can only do 1 sock at a time (I dislike doing 1 sock at a time!).  And I’m still on my first sock. I have one last pattern repeat and then I can do the toes.  This is almost done. But it’s February now so these socks are not the socks I’m focusing on. I will try to finish these as I’m almost done… My February socks are Kim Drotar’s Mercury Socks using Hypnotic Yarns “Grinchmas” colorway.  I’m doing these toe up and I finished the first pattern repeat. I plan to do a pattern repeat a day so I should be at the heel in about 2 weeks. I work on these daily. On most Tuesdays and Thursday evenings I meet with some knitting friends at our LYS – A Major Knitwork in Van Nuys, CA.  There I work first on Jacob’s Weasley Sweater.  I finished the front and I’m currently working on the neck shaping. My goal for February is to be working on the sleeves.  And when I get to a good stopping point, my favorite piece to work on is my Featherweight Cardigan.  I love working on this and right now I’m finishing Yarn 1 and moving in Yarn 2. In February I want to be working in Yarn 3.

Honey Bees Dance Socks
January, 2019

For Cross Stitching:

  • Mama’s Bukid- I was able to finish the pages in January and every month from now until it’s finished my plan is to finish 2 columns per month.

Mama’s Bukid
January 31, 2019

  • Gamer – I was able to get halfway through page 6 so in February my goal is to finish page 6.

Gamer
1/31/2019

  • Snowman – My February goal is to finish stitching the perimeter of this WIP.

Have a Happy Saturday Night!

Keep crafting and love on!

xoxo,

Melanie

 

 

 

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans, Cross Stitch, Knitting, Quilting. Tags: , , . Leave a comment

20

Jan. ’19

Mama’s Bukid, A Cross Stitch

This project was started in April of 2016. And at some point, I calculated how long it would take to finish this, it was like 15 years (I’m making up numbers but it was a big number).  And that was ridiculous.  I think a normal non-crafty person would probably just hide it in a bag and toss it.  But I decided to work on it more and after some time, those 15 years were cut in half to 8 years.  Then as I saw progress and started loving on it, I worked on it daily and had monthly, weekly and daily goals to finish. Next thing I know, it’s now become a real possibility to get this project finished this year!  I know…. My 15 year project could be finished this year, 3 years after starting.  On Friday night I finished page 6 which is the bottom page for this section.

1/18/2019
Finished column 13 and 14 of page 2 and 6 which means pages 2 and 6 are finished!

I unrolled the project because it’s a monumental time and it is about 20 inches long!  And, it’s about 60% complete.

1/18/2019
Finished page 6! and I’m 60% done. 

 

So how will I finish the remaining 40% this year? I have so many columns on pages 3/7 and then on pages 4/8 (which are partial pages).  So, I need to complete 2 columns per month in order to finish this project.  That’s really pushing myself and while this has been a focus project in the cross stitch part of my crafty life I haven’t regularly completed 2 columns per month. Sometimes I do it and sometimes I do not do it.  But this year, I’m going to really try hard to get this done. I broke it down to daily stitches of doing 1 box and 2 lines per day.  And when the 2 columns are done, I will move onto Gamer.

Happy Sunday, friends!

xoxo,

Melanie

 

 

 

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans, Cross Stitch. Tags: , , . 1 Comment

19

Jan. ’19

Goals and Things… 2019

I was going to write a post about Cross Stitch… and that post will come but in getting my post together I ran across my 2018 goals. And was reminded about how funny I am. I made a whole 4 post series of my goals of which I’m not going to link up.  If you are truly interested, you can search for it in the search bar with 2018 crafty goals.  In reviewing here’s what I found…

My overarching goals were:

  1. Use what I have
  2. Get rid of the things that I don’t love anymore
  3. Only buy things I will use now

Did I accomplish these things… Short answer is no.  I continue to buy, keep (hoard) and buy things I don’t intend to start.

Here is a short list of specific goals:

Quilting:

==> I can tell you that I did not finish anything quilty related in 2018.  I did sew stuff and make bags and little things and made progress on quilting the humongous Celtic Solstice.  But I didn’t get much done.  I’m a little disappointed with myself but I’m going to do better this year.

Knitting:

  1. SOCKS!
    1. Box of Sox 2018 with Voolenvine – Done!
    2. Knitting Expat’s sock clubs – Done!
    3. Knotty Gnome magical maladies pattern – Not Done!
    4. Misc. patterns already purchased – Not Done!
  2. Other knitting projects that I outlined in the original post –
    1. Finished the Land of Sweets Cowl and Kayla’s Weasley Sweater

Cross Stitch:

  1. I didn’t have explicit goals but wanted to continue to work on Mama’s Bukid and Gamer and add in a small project here and there.  I finished the Spooky Scary 5×5 Mill Hill Kit for Halloween and that’s it.

I did start multiple projects for Quilting, Knitting and Cross Stitching to add to the WIP parade. I’m a little afraid to pull it all out.  But I’ve got a short list of things and I’m working off that list.  One of the things that has been going around Instagram the past few years is people’s Make9 projects.  I created one this year and what I did was pick 3 projects from each section that I want done this year.  For Quilting, I want to finish

  1. Celtic Solstice
  2. Have a little Quilty Christmas!
  3. Staycation

Knitting:

  1. Box of Socks – Same as last year, I’m doing 12 socks for the year.
  2. Jacob’s Weasley Sweater
  3. Featherweight Cardigan

Cross Stitching:

  1. Mama’s Bukid
  2. Gamer – 6 pages
  3. Snowman

This is my short list and it is currently making it easier to get going on things.

I’m tired just typing this all up.

Have a Happy Saturday!

Keep crafting and love on!

xoxo,

Melanie

 

 

 

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans. Leave a comment

06

Jan. ’19

Sunday Stash Report —- week 1, 2019

Retreating

I’m not going to do Sunday stash this year.  I had been doing a pretty good job for a few years but last year it fell by the wayside.  I couldn’t get myself to quilt Celtic Solstice and while it’s is almost done being quilted, it is still not finished.  That held me back from doing much of anything on the quilty side of things.  I did a bit (ahem, a lot) of purchasing last year and I know that it will continue into this year (but hopefully not as much as last year).  I really shouldn’t as I have NO space for more fabric but I plan to support my LQS at least on a monthly basis and I’ve been helping my older friends with their destashes. 🙂 So I am planning on making progress and using the fabric I have.

This weekend, I spent some time at a friend’s house working on Clue one of Bonnie Hunter’s 2018 mystery quilt, Good Fortune!  I did start along with everyone else when the clues started last Black Friday but I fell behind rather quickly.  And I decided to just continue with Clue One until I finish the clue before moving onto the next clue.  I didn’t search out the reveal when it came but I saw it come through my Instagram feed and I love it.  I didn’t change the colors on my version so I’m happy with spending time working on this quilt.

My quilty goals for 2019 is to finish quilts and use the fabric I have.  I’m having a lot of trouble actually quilting in my crafting space so I’ve been going over to friend’s homes to craft.  And this upcoming weekend I’m heading over to a retreat!  I’m so excited.  Here are the projects and my plans for this upcoming weekend:

  1. Staycation – I plan to put a thin border.  I need to buy more fabric from the quilt shop and it was closed today.  So sometime this week I will need to make it over and get a bit of Kona.
  2. Good Fortune Quilt – I plan to finish clue one and start clue two.
  3. Provence – I plan to piece the inner and outer borders of this quilt.
  4. 2012 SoCal Quilter’s Run Area One mystery quilt – I looked through this project bin just to see where I was at and to make sure I had everything to work on this project.  I noticed that I had a bunch of things pinned together from the last time I worked on this project. Which was at the last retreat I went to last September.

Those are the 4 projects I plan to work on and is squeezed into my bag in the above picture.  I do not have my sewing machine in that bag so I will be dragging that along separately.

Happy quilting friends!

<3, Melanie

@thousandneedles

 

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans, Quilting. Leave a comment

01

Jan. ’19

2019 Goals

Happy New Year!

1- Celtic Solstice: Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt from 2013

2- Have yourself a quilty little Christmas by Lori Holt

3- Staycation by Lyn Brown

4- Mama’s Bukid aka Farmland2

5- Gamer by @medusadollmaker (just 6 pages)

6- Kiss for Snowman: a dimensions kit

7- monthly socks

8- Jacob’s Weasley sweater

9- Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig

Posted by . Categories: 2019 Plans. 1 Comment