Knitting projects last week

In addition to the sewing that I got done last week, I got a bit of knitting done, too!

A couple of dishcloths...



Finished a baby cap...



And I started my Summer Sweater class!! I was the only one in the class at Lambikin's and Donna, the teacher, was very nice! I sat and knitted for the whole class and there were a couple of ladies that came in for help and sat and knitted with us. It was very relaxing and entertaining!! After two and a half hours, I have 14 rows done!



I'm really happy with how this is coming along so far and it has been very easy to knit. Granted it's only 14 rows, but I really like the yarn!

Maxie was a little upset that I knit without him....

Sock frenzy?

Since I am getting so close to having my first sock finished, I'm getting anxious to work on more socks! I spent a bit of time discussing yarn and sales with Amy this week. And I remembered that I had gift cards to Hobby Lobby, Michael's and Joann's! Talk about burning a hole in my pocket!! I stopped by Hobby Lobby on my way home from work yesterday just to see what they had. Of course, I walked out with yarn and a set of double pointed needles. Today, I got an oil change for the car and stopped by the craft stores that were in that vicinity. When I was done there, I still had coupons for Joann's that expired today so I stopped at a different one and used a coupon there, too!!

I also had to shop for m Secret Valentine Swap partner through my Yahoo group. :)

Here's the haul!! Enough for 6 pairs of socks, 2 zippers for a couple of bags, knitting supplies, a monkey clip and some dish cloth yarn.



Here's a closer view of all of the sock yarns. The lime green to the left already has an owner in mind for the socks. And the bottom right yarn is a blue, green and white striped yarn - also has an owner in mind. :)



OK, now I'm off to work on my sock and watch some TV. Oh, and hold the pups for a while, too! :-D

2009 in Review

After a little encouragement from my quiting buddy Jennifer, I went through my year to see what all I accomplished. I didn't keep track of 2008 so this will be my baseline year. :)

It was quite an exciting year for me! I upgraded to my Janome 6600P in March, met Bonnie Hunter in August and learned to knit in October! Helped organize the April St Jude Retreat and we had our best turnout in the 3 years since it started and raised a great amount of money!! It was awesome meeting some of my blogger friends in person, too!

Hmmmm... I feel like I'm forgetting something....

OH YEAH!!! Brought home a Judge's Choice Ribbon from the Indy Quilt Show in April!!!

OK, onto the breakdown of quilting/sewing for the year. A small disclaimer - since I seem to have so many projects in differing stages of completeness and there are a few that I only quilted without assembling the top, this is broken down a little more than Jennifer's.

My 2009 accomplishments:

Quilts finished this year (either completely finished or that I have finished my part of) - 21
Binding only - 4 (1 baby, 1 lap, 1 table topper, 1 large quilt)
Quilting only - 2 (1 baby, 1 large - Milky Way)
Quilting and binding - 8 (6 baby, 2 large)
Top and binding - 3 (2 lap, 1 large - Wizard of Oz One Block Wonder)
Top and quilting - 2
Complete quilts - 2 (Cafe Au Lait and commissioned dog quilt)

Quilted for others - 5 (1 baby, 3 lap, 1 twin)
Tops assembled, not quilted - 7 (2 baby, 2 lap, 3 large)
Blocks made for 4 other quilts, but the top assembly has not begun yet. There were also blocks made for 4 comfort quilts throughout the year and 10 blocks for various Guild functions.

Bags - 4
Wall hangings, table runners - 3
Place mats - 15

And Miscellaneous sewing-
Pants - 4 pairs
Pillowcases - 12
Tool Caddy's - 6
Wallets - 7
Rice bags - 23
Coasters - 7 sets
Thread Catcher - 1
Block Butlers - 5
Oven Mitt - 1

Knitted 10 dishcloths and 2 baby caps and crocheted a decorative edging on fleece for a lovely blanket.

Oh and it should be added that of all of this, 8 of the quilts that I completed were for my Guild's Kid Komforts that go to needy children, the 2 baby caps will be donated to a local hospital's NICU unit and the crocheted blanket will go to Project Linus.

December Accomplishments

Well, after ringing in the New Year last night with the pups, I am ready to get busy on my goals! I pulled some fabric last night and cut out a few things to make some UFOs. After playing with this fabric, I am excited to work on these projects!

I've also decided that I need to have crafty accomplishments instead of just quilty accomplishments since I am knitting and crocheting again. And hopefully will be cross stitching before too much longer!

1. Signed up for a knitted sock class. It starts on Monday and I am very excited!
2. Finished 3 Lemon place mats for 2 different sets of the fruit place mats and table runners.
3. Wrote a knitted baby cap tutorial.
4. Finished a second knitted baby cap.
5. Finished the Storm at Sea binding and label.
6. Made a set of criss cross coasters.
7. Made a Hot Stuff oven mitt.
8. Made a 9 patch block for the River City Guild.
9. Got to the 200 yards used mark for the year!
10. Made 2 Christmas hunks pillowcases.
11. Made a travel case, a take along bag and a thread catcher.
12. Made a Stich'N' Chix bag.
13. Got my quilting machine working and quilted a baby quilt and 4 place mats!
14. Got a quilt from my bestest friend, Regina! It's just gorgeous!! And now a UFO for me. *sigh*
15. Got a very cute sock knitting bag and a Homefront charm pack from Sue!! Love it!
16. Started organizing my stash room and took inventory of my projects.
17. Packaged up the swap box and comfort quilt for Heather. I'm happy that she got the swap by Christmas!
18. Started a blog for a Judy Martin Quilt Support group.
19. Came up with my 2010 crafting goals.
20. I haven't posted pictures, but I also got 4 granny squares completed for the Calypso afghan that I started crocheting in November.
21. Knitted 2 or 3 dishcloths.

Wow! I was busy!! Now, for the books... I finished 8 books in December!!

1. Knit Two by Kate Jacobs - sequel to the Friday Night Knitting Club. I enjoyed this one!
2. A Quilter's Holiday by Jennifer Chiaverini - the latest book in the Elm Creek Quilter's series. These are very easy to read and not worth getting the audio book. I can read them much faster than listening to them. It was enjoyable, if not a little predictable.
3. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie - cute, light book.
4. The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber - about a yarn and knitting shop. I read this one 'manually,' too. It was a good read and I couldn't put it down once I got started. Very easy read! First Macomber book I've read and I am more than halfway through with the second in the series.
5. A Superior Death by Nevada Barr - This is the second or third in the series. I enjoy the books, but not all of them are on audio as unabridged. This was one, but I can't find the next one so it will be a manual read, too. I like all the twists in Barr's books. I enjoy trying to figure out who the killer is.
6. The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult - I enjoyed this book, but it was a little different than the rest of Picoult's books. I kept waiting for the court room scenes and was a little surprised when the book ended a little suddenly.
7. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich - a typical Stephanie Plum book! :)
8. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - LOVED IT!!! I finished this book last night just a few minutes after the ball dropped. Several times last year, I got into book discussions with ladies at the quilt shop and a couple of them said that I just HAD to read this book. When they described it to me, I just sort of smiled and nodded with no real interest. But the comments that the ladies made about the book and the excitement that they showed stuck with me. I downloaded the book from Audible.com early in December and started it just before Christmas. I couldn't turn it off!! I have already downloaded the second book in the series, but I think that I am going to listen to something else first. If you like period/historical novels and romances, this book it for you!!

Man, I did a lot this month!! I'm amazed that I got 8 books read with everything else that I got done, too! I totally rock! ;)

Bobo's and Storm

Friday night, I couldn't resist heading into the PetSmart that was right next to Joann's. They had Bobo's on sale!! And I had a coupon!!! There's Rudolph, a nutcracker, a snowman and a Bobo in a present.



Maisy couldn't wait!!



Yesterday, I finished the binding and sewing down the label on the Storm at Sea. I'm glad to have this finished!



And once that was done, I finished up another baby cap and started another dish cloth while the pups became familiar with their new Bobo's!!

The weekend

This weekend was a pretty laid back weekend. Saturday, I spent the morning and part of the afternoon cleaning up my inbox, my sewing area and my bedroom. When we woke up in the morning, apparently I was not moving quickly enough for Max. As soon as I sat up, he moved to prevent me from laying back down! Goof!!



Once I got the cleaning done, I worked on attaching the binding to the comfort quilt and then worked a little more on some placemats. I ran out of bias tape for the binding so I have to pick up some more of that from Joann's. After attaching that to the last 2 and a bit of hand work, these will be done!



I also worked on another baby cap to practice with the double pointed needles. I took pictures along the way and I plan on writing up the tutorial today.



And Sunday, I made another dishcloth to donate to the raffle for the Guild. The new one is the one on the right. And I had a few more things to donate.



The raffle was last night at our monthly Guild meeting. This was the first time that we did this type of event and I think that we did well. We are hoping that we made at least $500! And I think that we will definitely do this all again.

November Accomplishments

November was a fairly productive month! Lots of little things done and several projects were worked on.

1. The dog quilt - I finished assembling the quilt, quilted it and bound it. It was very well received!
2. Quilted the Crumbs quilt
3. Added the borders to the shop quilt. ** This will be the last quilt I do for the shop as I have quit. There was not enough benefits to working there and it was just getting in the way of my free time.
4. Made 10 swap blocks for a swap on the TQI yahoo group. I also swapped all of the blocks out.
5. Finished a patterned dishcloth. Worked on other dish cloths, too.
6. Started an afghan of granny squares.
7. Went shopping at Joann's for Black Friday deals!
8. Assembled and quilted the comfort quilt for Heather's hubby
9. Knitted a baby cap with double pointed needles
10. Cut out 2 different quilts that will be made from the same pattern
11. Cut out 4 RV placemats, 2 pillowcases, and an oven mitt
12. Assembled most of 3 fruit placemats. They just need to be trimmed up and bound.

Books read

1. The Longing by Beverly Lewis - The last in a three part series. Lewis is my favorite author of Amish stories.
2. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith - I am not up to date on this series and I can't wait for the next one to come out!
3. Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson - This was the latest in the Goldy Bear/caterer series set in Denver, CO. I have read all the rest of the books in the series and it had been a while since I read the last book. I forgot how much I adore this series and the characters and the author!
4. Something Wicked by Carolyn G. Hart - I am enjoying this series and this was only the second or third in the series, but not all of them are available in audio form. I had to actually read this one and it took me a while. I have the next book ready to start reading 'manually,' too. I'm hoping that I can get to the audio versions quickly!
5. Murder on a Girl's Night Out by Anne George - I started this book on tape a while ago, but my tape player ate the tape and I wasn't able to finish it. After a bit of searching, I was able to find a Book on CD version and was able to finish this one. I don't like not finishing books so I was happy to be able to hear the end of this one, but I won't be continuing in the series. It was not one of my favorites.

So that is it for November! Now, I have to write up my December goals. I got a lot done from what was on my November list, but there are a few things that will be carried over into December. That's quite all right though - everything will get done in time!

Yarn news

Over the weekend, I took a mini break from fabric. Well, Friday night, I did finish my swap blocks and prepped the packages, but that was all that I did with fabric the whole weekend. I had plans to work on more, but it didn't happen.

Saturday morning, I signed up on Ravelry with the ID of JillQuilts. After that, I ran some errands - post office, grocery, etc - and then got back home around 1. The dogs and I ate and then I ended up ripping the paper off of 5 paper pieced blocks from Heather. Ok, so this was fabric related, but this was it, I promise! LOL

I decided that the bedrooms and sewing area needed a good once over and after a few hours, the dogs told me it was time to nap! But I was too amped up to nap so I picked up my knitting. I ended up knitting and crocheting and watching TV for the rest of the weekend. So relaxing! And great quality time with the dogs! Max was very happy!

Here is what I got done - a dishcloth that I started last Monday night... I think that I got the right side and the wrong side messed up when I did the ending scallop. And my stitches were way tight so it is curling a little. But it is still usable!



And I did a granny square for the afghan. I'm really digging the colors and I liked how quickly this square went together. Unfortunately, it was a little small and I didn't have a larger hook. After a quick stop at Michael's after work, I picked up 2 larger hooks and tried one and it works much better!



Today, I got my H1N1 shot at work. It has made me extremely sleepy all day! In spite of this, I was still able to adjust the pattern that I choose for a super secret quilt so that I can use more of the fat quarters that it calls for and I will have very little waste. Woo hoo! And since Barb and I are shopping this weekend, I will be able to pick up the additional fabric that I need and that won't be supplied from my stash! I am anxious to start this quilt!!

Ok, now it's bedtime! Night!

Too much to write about....

There is so much to write about from the last 3 nights! This may be a picture heavy post, but it really all relates. :)

Wednesday night was the last Beginning Knitting class. I've already shown the progress of the current dish cloth in this post, but I can assure you that it is coming along beautifully! I can't wait to finish this one! But I do have pictures to share of the baby cap that I started on double pointed needles. The yarn is so thin and soft! It's Dreambaby D.K.



Last night, I finished the binding on the dog quilt and found buttons to sew onto the two dog face blocks. OK, when I say found, I mean that I cut them off of a blazer because I didn't realize until 10:30 that I forgot to pick them up and I didn't want to be rushing this morning. I can always replace the buttons on the blazer!



I had to take the pictures at work and didn't want to draw attention to the quilt by asking someone else to hold it up so I sort of pinned it to my bulletin board and draped it. It doesn't look too different from the last picture of it. Oh and my co-worker loves it! I can't wait to hear what her daughter thinks of it!



Since I took the first knitting class, I have been surfing the net for free patterns. I found an awesome pattern for a crocheted afghan on the Lion website and I just have to make it! Luckily, the yarn that I choose to use for it was on sale at Michael's this week! And once I got the balance that was owed for making the dog quilt, I headed straight there!!!



I substituted a less expensive brand of yarn for the pattern, but I think that these colors are still true to the pattern. And of course, while I was at Michael's I looked around and found a few things that I had to have!



The Sugar 'N Cream is still on sale so I picked up a few more skeins to add to last week's purchases. I have knitting needles in size 7 and 9 so I picked up 8's and another skein on sale of a soft yarn for baby caps and more practice. The dish cloth book was on sale, too, and the patterns are very neat!

After all of the excitement at Michael's, I came home and finished the rest of the swap blocks, packaged up everything to be mailed out and straightened the bedroom up. Quite a productive few nights!

Dish cloth... DONE!

This morning, I just couldn't take it anymore and I had to finish the last 10 or so rows to finish this dish cloth.



Once I got it done, I saw that the yarn was 60% cotton/40& acrylic and dish cloths should be done with 100% cotton. So I am not sure how this will fare or what the outcome will be for its use. I have tried to find some information online about what the yarn composition should be various types of things, but I haven't been able to find anything.

Oh well, at least this is done! :)

And I have gotten most of the fabric cut for the dog quilt and now I have to start sewing! I'm hoping to have it done fairly quickly so that I can move onto something else!