Tag Archives: Good Fortune

02

Feb. ’20

Quilting update on my 2020 crafty plans

Quilting: I finished 2 quilt tops in January

Good Fortune
Top is done!
1/4/2020

Glam Clam
Finished Top
1/13/2020

My primary project is Scrappy Stars and I finished Clue #3.  When I finished Clue #3, I found the last page of Clue #2 and realized I didn’t finish that clue. I had 2 steps left. I finished the first of those 2 steps and now I’m working on the 2nd step. The rest of my WIPs I haven’t touched yet.

  1. Area One Mystery Quilt (2012):

    Area One Mystery quilt

  2. Craftsy Mystery Quilt with Kimberly Einmo
  3. Area Two Mystery Quilt (2012)
  4. Dancing with the Stars by Linda Ballard (2013)

I started the Diamond Wedding Ring by Judy Niemeyer but haven’t gotten very far. I’m waiting on the pattern pages so my last post on this is where I’m still at.

 

 

 

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11

Jan. ’20

My weekly update, 1/11/2020

Now that the first full week is almost done, let’s do a quick check in to see my progress. To see the full 2020 crafty plan, click for quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and everything else.

To summarize, I have no specific goals other than to carve out time to craft on particular projects. This week, the first full week basically blew me out of the water because I got sick. So sick that I missed my minigroup get together on Monday, worked only part time Monday – Wednesday, and barely made it to knit night on Thursday.  I was able to do some things but not all things every day.

Monday – In addition to minigroup, I was supposed to go to yoga. I didn’t go. I also didn’t go on Wednesday or Friday.  🙁  I hope to change that next week.  I know yoga is not a craft but I need it to stay healthy and enjoy crafting.  So it’s part of my weekly “must do’s”.

First up – morning knitting on my socks for 15 minutes every Monday – Friday.

I checked this off for 4 of 5 days.  It doesn’t look it, but those tubes are about 15 inches long and I’m just starting the cuff.  There is no heel yet but I’ll be adding those on using the afterthought heel method when the cuffs are done.  I smell a finish coming…

Second, my evening knitting on Ricky’s Weasley Sweater every Monday through Friday.

Ricky’s Weasley Sweater
1/11/2020

I checked this off for 3 of 5 days.  It’s really hard to take a picture because it keeps rolling on itself and it’s on cables.  I did my best above and hopefully the colors come out right on your end.  It looks fine on my monitor.  His sweater is Slytherin but he did not like the idea of a green sweater so I made it gray with green.  It originally was supposed to just be a Green R but I wanted there to represent more green so included striping at the bottom of the sweater. I hope to also have stripes on the sleeves but that will depend on whether I have enough of the green.

I also did a couple of rows on my Fairy Hill Shawl which I still do not have a picture of. It’s because it’s all bunched up on cables and any picture I take will just be a jumbled mess.  And I did another blip on my mix wave cowl.

Mix Wave Cowl
1/11/2020

For Cross Stitch, my goal is to work on it every evening Monday – Friday.

Mama’s Bukid
1/11/2020

I checked this off for 4 of the 5 days and I’m almost done with the first 2.5 columns of these last 2 pages. There are 2 pages (a top and a bottom) and I want to finish 2 columns per month so I can get this long time project done and framed sooner rather than later.  I’m in the home stretch now because once I finish these columns I will only have 4 columns left!  And if I am on pace this will be done in March.  The problem as I’ve said in previous posts is that I’m not loving working on this project right now so it’s super hard to get myself to work on it.  I started these columns in December and didn’t even get halfway through the column.  Now, these are made up deadlines so if I take a month or two longer, it’s not a big deal.  🙂

And finally Quilting! My only schedule for quilting is to quilt all day Saturday but sometimes I work it in during the week.  So I was able to finish my Good Fortune Quilt!   I posted this picture recently but here it is again in all it’s glory.

Good Fortune
1/6/2020

It’s hard to see but the top is done and I have already put it away in my quilt queue.  Next up is Glam Clam and I’ve already started working on it today.  In fact, I finished another row.  I only have 1 row left and if I buckle down I might be able to get that one done today and have a second quilt top finished in January!  It’s stuck up under my sewing machine until I finish typing up today’s post so you get a picture of it “under the needle”.

Glam Clam
under the needle
1/11/2020

I do not actually have all day today as we are expecting friends for dinner this evening so I will need to end early to get ready for the socializing.

For Sewing, I just posted about this yesterday so it’s the same status.  But tomorrow is Sunday and normally Sunday is sew day.  Unfortunately, but fortunately, instead of sewing, I’ll be taking a quilting workshop with Mike McNamara offered through my quilt guild.  So I’ll be quilting tomorrow as well.  More on that later.

I hope you all have a happy crafty week!

Melanie

 

Posted by . Categories: 2020 Crafty Goals, Cross Stitch, Knitting, Quilting. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

06

Jan. ’20

A finish! Good Fortune

Good Fortune
Top is done!
1/4/2020

Okay, it’s not really a finish but the top is done and we all can celebrate!  I’m debating on what to do for the back, whether to do the back now or wait until later. I’m pretty sure I have 2 tops with their backs and batting ready to be basted and quilted.  But I recently gifted myself a Q20 and I’m patiently waiting for it to arrive.  So, there’s no rush to do the back now.  I can simply put this aside and put a few more rows on Glam Clam. and maybe even finish the top… 🙂

~happy quilting!

Melanie

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02

Jan. ’20

2020 Crafty Plans

Over the last 3-4 years I’ve added more crafts to my crafty life and I only have so much time for crafts.  Time is a fixed element.  There is only so much time and I love to do all the things. I quilt, knit, cross stitch and now I’m learning to sew and make project bags, and on and on and on.  Over the holiday break I used my gifted Christmas money to get a bobbin lacemaking kit.  I’ve got a ton of half done projects and plans for other projects but not enough time to do everything I want to do.  So rather than have goals each month of making progress on certain things I’ve decided to dedicate time to different crafts.

To summarize my crazy, I knit on my socks for 15 minutes every morning and 1-2 rows on my high priority knitting project every evening Monday thru Friday.  I cross stitch on my projects every evening Monday thru Friday. I quilt on Saturdays and I sew on Sundays.  Obviously if something comes up like an event or party or meeting, I will not be crafting. As a result, I like to avoid attending events and tend to stay home or hang out with like minded crafty people (just kidding – I still go out and see friends and family, I’m not totally crazy…. yet).

So here is a list of projects I will be working on during the craft times:

Quilting: So even though I’ve added new crafts to my life I still consider myself a Quilter with a capital Q.  And over the next year I want to learn to use my new machine (*more on that later when it arrives).  I want to learn how to service my featherweight, I’m taking a year long Judy Niemeyer class, take the monthly workshops offered by my quilt guild, take the embroidery class offered at my local sewing machine shop, do more hand work, and finish more of my WIPs.

My current WIPs:

Staycation

This is not really a WIP because the top is done. I just need to quilt it. I actually have this and possibly two other tops and a multitude of smaller projects ready to be quilted.  Those are top on my list to finish and will be done when my new machine arrives*.

Good Fortune 

Good Fortune
1/1/2020

I am currently finished with Border #3.  I’m working on the 4th and final border.

Glam Clam

I’ve been doing a row at a time at the various retreats I’ve gone to over the last 2 years and I only have about 3 rows left.

Scrappy Stars – I do not have a good picture of this because this was a mystery quilt from a few years ago and I’m currently on step 4 or something.  I believe that I’m at the point where I start putting the pieces together to make blocks. But right now, there are just a bunch of pieces…

Area One Mystery Quilt – 

This is another project I’ve been working on primarily at retreats.  I actually have two more sets of blocks done and I only have another 2 sets of blocks left before I can start piecing the blocks together. I know that doesn’t make any sense but I’m getting so close to a finish.  Here’s how the center looks which I got done after the above picture was taken.

Craftsy Mystery quilt from a long time ago by Kimberly Einmo.  I cannot remember where I am with this project but I started it at the last retreat I went to.

Area Two  Mystery quilt – I finished all the blocks that I have but apparently I do not have the finishing instructions!  So now I have a bunch of blocks that I have to figure out how to put together.  I will work on this at a retreat because I need a big design space and fellow retreat attendees’ help to decide how to move forward.

Dancing with the Stars by Linda Ballard – I pulled this out and started working on it again at the last retreat I went to and the last time I worked on this was in 2013.

Dancing With the Stars
2-Block A and Snowball

I get a lot of work done at retreats I attend throughout the year. These are formal retreats for my guild, and various retreats offered by shops but I also plan personal retreats with friends and with my family.  I generally work on one project at home and that is currently Good Fortune and when that is done I’ll work through this list in order.

This is a lot for one post so I’m putting my other crafts for other days.

Happy new year!

Melanie

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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

23

Jan. ’19

Good Fortune, Another Bonnie Hunter project

I do not remember if I ever mentioned this project and that I did participate… continue to participate. A guildmate and I get together most Sundays to work on our mystery quilts.  Originally it was supposed to be Bonnie Hunter’s Good Fortune Quilt but she decided to work on a different mystery quilt.  Meeting like this really helps to get me back into my quilty mode. I just started with clue 1 and I worked on that until it was done.

Good Fortune Mystery Quilt
Clue One
Finished
1/11/19

Then I started with Clue 2. I’m still working on clue two but I will probably be done with it pretty soon.

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

I’m using the square in a square method and it took me a while to figure out how wide the blue borders and the center square needed to be to get the right measurement of my HSTs. The center square needs to be about 4″ square and the borders are about 2″ wide.  The squares have to be accurate but the borders didn’t have to be exactly 2. If it was a little small or big it would still work.  This was a really fast method and my HSTs are perfect.  Hopefully, it will be done this week and I can get started on Clue 3 next Sunday.

Happy crafting,

Melanie

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