I was able to make it to the shop and finish quilting Missing Ivy.  Of course I forgot to take pictures again!  But I quilted everything except the dark blue border.  I decided to do those on my domestic at some point this month.  I hope to get those done in time for the April guild meeting.  The next one is next Monday and I am not going to push myself to get it done by then.

Missing Ivy
Finished top!
10/10/16

I cut up some fabric to make more drawstring bags.  I hope to get the two for this month made.  I don’t like how the drawstrings are coming out and someone suggested a different material than what I had been using.  I’ll have to head over to the big box crafty store to see what’s available and try some out.  All other updates have been done on the knitting front and that will wait until my Knitting Tuesday post.

The fabric stash:  

• Used this week: 0 yards
• Used year to date: 7.5 yards
• Added this week: 0 yards
• Added year to Date: 8  yards
• Net ADDED for 2017: .5 yards

For the Budget: 

I was able to catch Voolenvine’s update yesterday and was lucky enough to check out with some things.  That added to my spent section this week.  And I got in on a yarn of the month club with lolodidit.  Other than that I was able to control myself this week.  I’ve been watching a number of knitting podcasts and every time they mention some wonderful yarny goodness I feel the need to check them out.  So far I’ve gotten lolodidit, yarn ink , legacy knitz and some other ones.  On my wish list are: AndreSueknitz, and A Homespun House.  I really do not have any space for more yarn (my yarn space is very tiny indeed) so I’m trying really hard to knit my current projects and use up my fabric making quilts and bags.  But if I can catch an update and check out with 1-2 skeins, I’ll be happy. To be fair, I am trying to knit 12 pairs of socks this year and I do not yet have 12 skeins of sock yarn.  So… I think I can buy more sock yarn until I do. 🙂

Spent this week: $64.75

Spent year to date: $887.75

Slow Stitching Sunday

And for Slow Stitching Sunday with Kathy at Kathy Quilts… I will continue to work on Block 7 for A Rainbow Garden!

Here’s where I was last time:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 7 – in progress
2/26/2017

Hopefully will get those other 2 leaves down today.

~happy crafting!

~Melanie

see more stash reports at and hand projects at  and 

Melanie

I was able to finish another couple of drawstrings so that’s a bit used this week.  I didn’t take a picture.  Yesterday, I was in the middle of quilting Missing Ivy when the machine decided it needed a time out.

Missing Ivy
Finished top!
10/10/16

I forgot to take a picture of it on the frame.  I had just finished up one bobbin and put in a new one when it just stopped.  And we couldn’t get it to work. So my quilt is at the shop waiting for Monday when the service guy will be in to take a look at the machine.  Hopefully I’ll be able to come in next Saturday to finish up the quilting.

And finally, I made a zipper pouch.

My first zipper pouch
2/26/17

I started making two but the other one had a bit of a mishap so I’m left with one.  🙂  I love it.  I did learn a few things that I would do differently the next time around.  First, I want the stitched edges by the zipper to be a bit more defined.  I was using Aurifil 50w and it’s too fine for what I want it to look like. I tried Aurifil 40w and it still didn’t produce the look I wanted.  I am planning on trying different stitches on my machine to see if one of them will give me the look I want.  Second, I want the little handle to be more centered on that top part.  And third, the interfacing I used is a little too thick to my liking.  I’ll use it until I run out as it’s what I’ve got but when I run out I’ll be searching for something thinner for these pouches.  The fabric was from my stash and was something the girl had me buy a long time ago somewhere.  I don’t know where and I don’t know when.  But I’m happy to be using my stash!

The fabric stash:  

• Used this week: 1.5 yards
• Used year to date: 7.5 yards
• Added this week: 0 yards
• Added year to Date: 8  yards
• Net ADDED for 2017: .5 yards

For the Budget: 

I’ve been supporting the knitting industry this year.  First, I’ve been buying different tools to see which needles I like the best.  I think I’ve settled on HiyaHiya sharps as DPNs and the fixed circulars.  I love how smooth the yarn works through them and the sharpness of the metal tips.  I still use my bamboo DPNs when I need the yarn to have some grip on the needles.  I also still use my interchangeables from KnitPicks. But spending money for the right tools is important.  It has prevented a lot of the hand, wrist and arm ache I get when I knit a lot.  Of course, I still have some pain when I don’t listen to my body and keep knitting instead of taking breaks.  But in addition to that, I’ve been buying yarn.  That will have to stop soon as I’ve got no space for it and I cannot possibly knit all I’ve got this year.

Spent this week: $a gazilion

Spent year to date: $823

Slow Stitching Sunday

And for Slow Stitching Sunday with Kathy at Kathy Quilts… I continued to work on Block 7 for A Rainbow Garden!  Normally I post this in the morning but I didn’t have a chance to update the blog until now.  So you’ve got the pics in real time! 🙂

Here’s where I was last time:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 7 – close up
2/19/2017

And here’s where I’m at now:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 7 – in progress
2/26/2017

Two of those leaves are appliqued down.  I’ve got 2 more left and I hope to get those finished next Sunday.

see more stash reports at and hand projects at  and 

Melanie

2/19/17

Missing Ivy
Finished top!
10/10/16

Nothing used, nothing added.  I was able to schedule time on the long arm for this coming weekend to quilt Missing Ivy.  It will probably take me another few weeks to get the binding on and count that as truly finished.  But that’s okay.  I’m another step closer to being finished.  I’m still working on the drawstring bags and I hope that that will be done before I go back to the real world on Tuesday.  Then I can add it to next week’s stash report. 🙂

For the fabric stash:  

• Used this week: 0 yards
• Used year to date: 6 yards
• Added this week: 0 yards
• Added year to Date: 8  yards
• Net ADDED for 2017: 2 yards

For the Budget: 

I spent money again this week.  I haven’t counted it all up but I joined some yarn clubs and other things.  Nothing I received yet so I need to go through and figure it all out.  I’m not doing well with my crafty budget so far this year.  🙁  I think I need to rethink the purpose of this section and see if it is truly doing what I intended for it.

Spent this week: $a gazilion

Spent year to date: $385.07+ a gazilion

Slow Stitching Sunday

And for Slow Stitching Sunday with Kathy at Kathy Quilts… I will continue to work on Block 7 for A Rainbow Garden!

Here’s where I was last Sunday:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 7 – in progress
2/12/2017

And here’s where I’m at now:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 7 – close up
2/19/2017

see more stash reports at and hand projects at  and 

Melanie

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2/12/17

I got new fabric.  One of the members of my mini-group was distributing fabric from her recently deceased mom’s stash.  I got three yards of both the blue and beige fabrics with the quilt block names and 2 yards of the tan flower fabric.  I can see project bags out of these.  And my baby girl finished another pillow case.  Thank goodness because that really helped my count this week.

For the fabric stash:  

• Used this week: 2 yards
• Used year to date: 6 yards
• Added this week: 8 yards
• Added year to Date:0  yards
• Net ADDED for 2017: 2 yards

For the Budget: 

Even though I got free fabric this week, I’ve been spending too much time shopping for yarn and all things knitting related.  I joined in the Knitting Expat’s New York Sock Collection.  In addition, I joined A Sweet Sparrow Yarn Club called “A Year in Middle Earth”.  This season the theme is hobbits.     And I bought some yarn at Joann’s for a project I’m crocheting for my son.  Luckily my LYS (local yarn shop) had to close early last Tuesday and knit night was cancelled.  Otherwise, my spending would have been more.  This spending cannot continue as it is going.  But for now, I’m okay with it.  Maybe next month I’ll go on a spending diet.  I am enjoying watching my friends at LifeAsIInterpret and Declutteringthestuff with their #LeanSpendingMonth and while I admire them, I’m not ready to go there.  I have been slowly getting rid of stuff this month as I am playing my own game of get rid of something every day in February.  But it doesn’t help that I’m buying a bunch of knitting stuff.  Part of it is that I don’t know what my favorite needles are and I find that some needles I’m getting are not great.  What do you do with tools that you buy for a project and then realize that they’re not the tools for you?  I’ve got a bunch of knitting stuff that I’ve gotten the past few months that fall into this category.  For now, I’m keeping them because I am using them.  But once my project is done, I’m not sure.  I guess I’ll keep them for now and see if I may use them for a different project.  But, as of today, I do not think I’ll be knitting socks on #1 needles again.

Spent this week: $156.68

Spent year to date: $385.07

Slow Stitching Sunday

And for Slow Stitching Sunday with Kathy at Kathy Quilts… I will continue to work on Block 7 for A Rainbow Garden!  I wasn’t able to work on this project last Sunday becaue of the Super Bowl but luckily Monday night was mini-group night and I usually work on my wool applique when I’m at my mini-group.  Here’s my process from Monday night:

Here’s where I was last Sunday:

And here’s where I’m at now:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 7 – in progress
2/12/2017

A Rainbow Garden
Block 7 – close up
2/12/2017

see more stash reports at and hand projects at  and 

Melanie

2/5/17

While I have nothing used and nothing added this week, my baby girl finally started working on pillowcases that we bought fabric for last fall.  She finished 1 pillowcase and that took up 2 yards.  I’m sure I’m being overly generous in the yardage but that’s my jam to keep things simple.  She has another pillowcase pinned up and ready to sew.  Since that’s not finish that’s not going to be added in the used portion but hopefully it will be done soon.  She has a third pillowcase cut up but not pinned or anything.

For the fabric stash:  

• Used this week: 2 yards
• Used year to date: 4 yards
• Added this week: 0 yards
• Added year to Date:0  yards
• Net USED for 2017: 4 yards

For the Budget: 

I’ve been going to the yarn shop on Tuesdays to knit my kimono sweater.  It’s kind of bad since I’m surrounded by pretty yarn and stuff.  This time I had the girl with me and we found some yarn on sale.  She wanted to make a sock like me so, of course, I had to get the yarn for her and buy her needles to use the yarn.  We ended up not liking the needles we got so I got another set of needles to try.  This week messed up my budget but I am learning which needles I like to use for sock knitting and which needles I don’t like.  I am hoping that I’ll be able to use these needles I don’t like for other projects.

Spent this week: $79.70

Spent year to date: $228.39

Slow Stitching Sunday

And for Slow Stitching Sunday with Kathy at Kathy Quilts… here’s what I did last Sunday for A Rainbow Garden!  I’m not going to be able to do any slow stitching today.  We’re having friends over for Super Bowl Sunday.  I do plan on spending tomorrow with my mini group working on Block 7.  I spent the time I dedicated for hand stitching prepping the pieces for Block 7.  Here’s my process this time around:

Step 1 – trace the images onto freezer paper

I used a light box.  I traced right side up with a sharpie.

Step 2 – cut the freezer paper so that the pieces are grouped together

Step 3 – press the freezer paper onto the corresponding wool fabric

Step 4 – cut on the line.  The picture shows my regular paper scissors but I ended up using my fabric scissors.  It’s a big no-no since I was cutting on freezer paper.  But I wasn’t happy with the quality of the cut on the wool so I sacrificed and used my fabric scissors.  The results of the wool ended up being much nicer but … I generally wouldn’t recommend doing this.

Step 5 – remove all the freezer paper

These are a LOT of little pieces for this block.  But now all the pieces are ready to be appliqued on the block.

see more stash reports at and hand projects at  and 

Melanie

1/29/2017

Celtic Solstice
Inner Top completed
1/22/2017

I did get the inner border on and I started working on border #2.  They are pieced and I’ve got 2 sides on the quilt.  I’m working on the other 2 sides this weekend.  I didn’t get a chance to take a new picture but here’s me working in progress…

Celtic Solstice
piecing border #2 onto the quilt
1/29/2017

I made 2 more drawstring bags this past week.  I like these better than the first 2 last time.

Project Bag #3
1/23/2017

Project Bag #4
1/23/2017

I changed the drawstring.  #1 and #2 used the same material that is the primary fabric of the bag and it was pretty thick and hard to draw.  So for #3 and #4 I used the secondary fabric.  It came out much better but the channel was too big so I had to make big ties to prevent them from slipping through the channel.  Next time I’ll make the drawstring a little bigger and the channel a little smaller.  Right now I’ve got my sock projects in the bags.  I am thinking of labeling them #1, #2, #3, #4 in order of priority and then pick up the one I want to work on… I don’t know.  Right now I’m only working on 1 primarily and the other 3 as I feel like it.  I like making bags as they are quick finishes and add to my usage! 🙂

For the fabric stash:  

• Used this week: 1 yards
• Used year to date: 2 yards
• Added this week: 0 yards
• Added year to Date:0  yards
• Net USED for 2017: 2 yards

For the Budget: 

I bought more needles this week.  I’m trying to find out which needles I like the best.  I got Hiya Hiya sharps DPNs in #1 and 1.5 and I got a 9 inch circular in Hiya Hiya sharps in #2.  I really like the Hiya Hiya sharp DPNs.  They are so smooth and I’m knitting up a storm on my magenta socks.  I’m hoping to get to the heel on the second sock soon.

Spent this week: $35.10

Spent year to date: $148.69

Slow Stitching Sunday

And for Slow Stitching Sunday with Kathy at Kathy Quilts, I plan to continue my work on A Rainbow Garden!

Here’s the pic I showed last week:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 6
Finished!
1/22/2017

I spent all my time last weekend looking for Block 7.  I moved stuff around a couple of months ago and I couldn’t remember where I put the kits for this BOM from 2013. I finally found them in one of the plastic bins.  I’ve got Block 7s kit ready and today I plan to trace everything onto freezer paper.  There’s a lot of tracing and I’m not sure I’ll feel like doing much more than that.

see more stash reports at and hand projects at  and 

Melanie

1/22/2017

Celtic Solstice
Inner Top completed
1/22/2017

The lighting is not so good and it’s so big I can’t get a full picture.  But this gives you a good idea of what it looks like at the moment.  After seeing the picture, I was surprised at how much I liked it.  I liked it before but really liked it after seeing the full quilt from a distance.  Sometimes I can’t see the full beauty of a project after working on it close up for so long.  This quilt is still not finished so I can’t add it to the usage report yet.  I can add the 2 project drawstring bags I made yesterday.  Here they are:

Project bag #1
1/22/2017

Project Bag #2
1/22/2017

My cousin in Italy bought the flowery fabric in both the bags for me a couple of Christmases ago.  It’s not quilty cotton.  It’s very thick and sturdy.  It reminds me of home dec fabric.  I think I have about 4 yards of this and another fabric.  I can’t use it on quilts so I’ve always thought that they would make great bags.  And I think that’s what I’ll be using them for.  These are my first two and I have ideas of how I can make them better.  Each bag takes half a yard so I get to add 1 yard used for this week!  🙂

For the fabric stash:  

• Used this week: 1 yards
• Used year to date: 1  yards
• Added this week: 0 yards
• Added year to Date:0  yards
• Net USED for 2017: 1 yards

For the Budget: 

I know last week I said I was watching my budget.  Well, I decided to buy a sweater’s worth of yarn and another #2 16-inch circular.  This time I got HiyaHiyas.  I heard great things about them and decided to take the plunge and try them out.  I’m not doing great watching my budget but at least I’m using what I bought now and it’s not sitting in stash.

Spent this week: $73.68

Spent year to date: $113.59

Slow Stitching Sunday

And for Slow Stitching Sunday with Kathy at Kathy Quilts, I plan to continue my work on A Rainbow Garden!

Here’s the pic I showed last week:

A Rainbow Garden
Block 6
…in progress…
12/12/16

Here it is!  Block 6 all done!

A Rainbow Garden
Block 6
Finished!
1/22/2017

At some point on a previous post, I said I was going to do really tiny blanket stitches around the buds.  I did that on the 1st bud below.  I don’t like it.  So on the 2nd bud I just stitched all the way around.  I wanted it to have big and short stitches.  I didn’t like how it looked in #2.  In #3, I ended up going around doing big stitches around first then went back a second time to fill in with smaller stitches.  Bingo!  I love it.  I know some people would pick out #1 and #2 and restitch so that all the buds will look like #3.  But I don’t.  I keep it as is and enjoy the process.

A Rainbow Garden
Block 6
1st set of buds…
1/22/2017

The color of the picture above is washed out.  The picture below is the second set of buds and is more true to color.

A Rainbow Garden
Block 6
Second set of buds.
1/22/2017

see more stash reports at and hand projects at  and 

Melanie