My major project over the next couple weeks is this skirt:

 

I hope it’s cute on me.  But if it’s not – well, I am taking this opportunity to practice sewing.  It’s fun and right now I have the pieces cut up. Tomorrow, I plan to cut some interface for the band and to start sewing all the pieces together.  Oh and I need to buy a zipper.  So we’ll see how far I get tomorrow. I’ve been wanting to sew skirts for a long time and I hope that this will help me learn to do more.

I did a bit of unplanned crafting today.  I took my daughter to a school tour to see if it’s one of the places she might attend for college. It was not as far as I had thought and we spent about 30 minutes when she decided it wasn’t the right place for her.  So we returned home much sooner than I had thought and was able to get some things done.

1st, I was able to get part of my sleeve done on my featherweight cardigan.  I am having some yarn management issues as I transition from yarn 1 to yarn 2 so I finished yarn 1’s part on sleeve 1 and now just need to do the same on sleeve 2. Then I can continue on the body and get to the point where I start adding yarn 3.  I love how it’s turning out and I’m sorry I cannot get a very good picture of it.  Here’s the last time I was able to take a pick:

Then I was able to work on Mama’s Bukid.  My goal for February is column 1 and 2 and I’ve been stitching 1 box per day.  So today’s the 9th and since I was a little behind I stitched both box 8 and box 9.  I have 3 more boxes and I will be done with column 1 and 2 for the month. I don’t really like stitching on Mama’s Bukid but it’s my focus WIP for this year. I’ve discovered since I started stitching more that I like to stitch 18 or 25 count. As Gamer is on 18 and A Stitch In Time is on 25. Mama’s Bukid is on 14 count and I feel like it’s so big.  I need to use 4 flosses to get the right coverage I like.  But I’m persisting and I’m on track to get this done this year.

And Finally, as of this moment of writing, I measured the perimeter of Celtic Solstice and pulled fabric from the stash bins to start cutting for the binding.  I hope to cut and piece the binding tonight before I move on to my next project.

And since I pulled fabric and went through the bins in my closet, I started looking at the projects that I’ve got going.  I’m going to 2 retreats at the end of March.  It just kind of happened.  One of the retreats is with a friend and we will be up in the mountains in a cabin.  We’re both excited for that one as it sounds really nice to be up in the mountains near LA in spring.  This one runs Monday through Thursday and the second retreat is near Santa Maria, CA the following Saturday through Monday.  I will be taking my work laptop and I hope they have internet in the mountains so I can stay connected and take care of anything if necessary. So I looked at some longstanding WIPs and I’m starting to plan which projects I will take with me.  I’ve got 2 quilts ready to be quilted and those are not going to go with me to the retreat.  The 3rd quilt I’ve been working on, Provence, will probably be done before the retreats and will be in the quilting queue with the others. So I have to look at what I will take. I am still working on my Civil War Diary quilt but I generally only do a block or two at a time. My computer crashed a couple of months ago and I still haven’t re-installed EQ7 so I can print more of the block instructions.  But I think I have 2 blocks printed and ready to use from the last time I printed block instructions.  And I’ve got Area One Mystery Quilt from 2012.  I have quite a few blocks finished from previous retreats and that will be a good #1 project.  I also have Bonnie’s Good Fortune quilt that I can continue working on.  So that’s 3 projects.  I pulled a Glam Clam quilt that I started a few years ago and I don’t think it ever made it onto the blog. I also pulled “Dancing with the Stars” which is an old Linda Ballard pattern I started at a class I took with her at PIQF many years ago.  I love how my quilts are slowly getting done and I’m starting to go into my old WIPs.  At some point, I’ll be going through my new fabric and making stuff with them.  I took this opportunity to pet some of them. 🙂  I have quite a few that I purchased specifically to make skirts or to make bags.  So, one of these days, I will jump on that.  But I currently have 2 totes in process so I want to finish those before I start any new bags.

Happy crafting friends!

I will go back to my cutting table and start cutting the pieces for my binding.

Happy quilting!

Hugs,

Melanie