Busy weekend

This was a very busy weekend, but lots of fun. My sister and brother were both here for the weekend. We had lots of fun reminiscing, laughing, and eating good food... maybe a little too much food!

I did take time to attend our Tollway Tatters meeting Saturday morning. We spent quite a bit of time trying to track down a vintage edging pattern. Although we did not find what we were looking for, we did enjoy the search.

My goal for the weekend was to finish the fabric strips for the patchwork jacked I want to make. Mission accomplished!

Next on my to-do list was to finish sewing together a strip for my quilt. I only have one strip left to go!

This afternoon I decided to start adding the strips of fabric to my jacket sleeves.

I think the second one turned out better than the first, but I don't think it really matters. I'm not going to set any goals for tomorrow, but I am hoping to finish my jacket this week. I already have ideas for another jacket!

Eight weeks!

 

It's true. I checked my blog. It has taken me eight weeks to successfully tat Robin Perfetti's Criss Cross pattern from Four Dozen Tatted Bookmarks.

Now that I have completed it, I can't believe it took me so long. The problem? I was looking at the wrong spot on the diagram, so I didn't realize that when I reached the bottom portion of the bookmark I should have had one more pattern repeat on the second side than I had on the first side.

When did I come to this realization? It was right before I headed off to bed Tuesday evening. Of course, it took me all day Wednesday to un-tat my precious hand-dyed thread (size 20m Hakelgarn, Buttercup, from LadyShuttleMaker). I was able to finish the bookmark in about an hour this morning. 

Yes, I have made myself a note so that when I tat this beautiful pattern again, I will not have the same problem!

I can now move on to the next bookmark!

Multi-crafting

Today I finished binding all of the blocks for my quilt. Now I can concentrate on joining them together and finishing up the quilt.

I crocheted another ornament. It would be nice to figure out why mine doesn't look as crisp as the one in the video. I'm beginning to think I didn't follow the directions correctly.

Instead of exploring the crocheted version further, I went back to knitting on my circular knitting machine. I think I may stick with these. I have a lot of ornaments to cover, and I can complete six ornaments in about an hour. I'm pretty sure the crocheted ornaments take me about two hours to make one. I think I'll go with faster!

All better!

I survived my wasp sting and finger slices. Now all I have is some very small rough patches of skin, which are healing nicely thanks to some lavender salve that daughter Joanne gave me this summer. I did manage to get some crafting done, I just didn't take the time to post.

I finally finished the Curds & Whey bookmark (Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior) that I started a couple of weeks ago. This is more of the Serafil thread that I bough a while back. I have been working slowly on Robin Perfetti's Criss Cross from Four Dozen Tatted Bookmarks, but I don't want to post my progress and jinx myself!

I found this cute crocheted ornament tutorial on YouTube. I wish I had used a darker green, but I am determined to use yarn that I have in my stash. I'll keep looking for a darker green.

I've been helping the new elementary school librarian get the library set up as she likes it. I made these adorable curtains for her, and we were able to hang them last week. The blue/gray wall looks very boring to me, but I know Stefani will do her best to give it more interest. I do miss the Smoky Mountains mural that some very talented teachers painted years ago in memory of one of our teachers who died from cancer. The mural and Mara's rocking chair were part of the library for many years. Both disappeared after I retired from teaching.

I have some scraps left, and I think I'll try and come up with something cute for Stefani to use in the library.

I now have four strips of my quilt sewn together. I hope to finish up the final two strips this week.

Angela came over on Saturday to help me do some organizing upstairs. The art students are definitely going to have some fun with craft items that I no longer need!

Wasp sting

What an adventure! I was stung by a wasp after I posted on Friday. I really was minding my own business, and a wasp should not have been in the house. I was sweeping the floor when I felt something on the back of my neck. I brushed it away and didn't think any more of it. I have a long handled dust pan, and when I went to empty it I grabbed a different part of the handle. Apparently, the wasp followed me and landed on the handle... right where I grabbed it!

Boy, did that hurt! I put ice on it right away, and elevated my hand. I could not believe how much my finger swelled, and when the pain of the sting eased, it itched like crazy... for two days! I tried every remedy I could find. I wasn't taking any chances!

At the same time the wasp stung me, I managed to cut my pinky finger on a rough spot on the dust pan handle. I didn't even know there was a rough spot!

Distraction is the best medicine for me, so I cranked out some more Christmas ornaments. With an injured middle finger and pinky finger on my right hand, and injured thumb on my left hand, tatting was not an option.

Oh, did I mention that I accidentally grabbed my thread snips by the sharp end and sliced my thumb? I think I was meant to take a rest from crafting.

I did manage to sew the next two strips of my quilt together. I think I'll work on sewing the two strips of two together before moving on to the last pair.

Mom keeps saying that life is an adventure, and I think she's right!

Remembering to post

With changes to my daily routine, I have been forgetting to post!

Reaching into a plastic box to retrieve ornaments was annoying, so I pulled out what was left and put them in this fabric bin for easy access. As you can see, I've chosen red for the next group of ornaments. It has a nice silver thread running through it for added sparkle. I plan on finishing up this group of ornaments over the weekend.

Stitching the first two rows of my quilt together took two evenings. I can usually sew the rows together in one evening, but the t.v. show we were watching really caught my interest, so I kept stopping to watch what was happening on the screen. The funny thing is, I can't remember the name of the show or what it was about!

Two more blocks are bound. I kind of lost my rhythm for accomplishing things with volunteering at the elementary school library. If I hadn't volunteered, I really think I would have finished this quilt a week ago. Luckily, I'm not on a deadline!

Mission accomplished!

Stefani and I were able to finish getting the elementary library books in order yesterday. What a feeling of accomplishment! Now I can get back to my "normal" retirement routine.

Angela came over Saturday morning and put together the second storage unit for me. Sunday afternoon, I spent time going through a couple of boxes of supplies, deciding which to keep and which were no longer needed. The two little storage cabinets are coming in quite handy.

There was no school on Monday because of Labor Day, so I really expected to get a lot done. I did not. Angela came over for a sewing lesson, which was lots of fun. Moving things around to make room for the new storage cabinets inspired me to stop looking at half finished projects and start working on them. 

Last year, I really enjoyed making knit Christmas ornaments on my 22 pin circular knitting machine. I have quite a bit of Christmas colored yarn in my stash, as well as the 3 1/2" ornaments that I bought on clearance. 

Monday afternoon I rewatched the YouTube video on how to make these ornaments, and then I made it my goal to use up what was left of the green yarn. That, of course, led to using up the little bit of red and the little bit of multi-color. The result was ten ornaments finished for Christmas gift giving!