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!

 

Baby steps

I feel like I was taking baby steps with crafting this week. I've been volunteering at the elementary school library for the past two weeks, and I will probably be there for all of the upcoming week. I'm helping the new librarian reorganize the library. It's turning out to be a much bigger job than either of us anticipated!

As a result, I'm too tired to do much of anything when I get home... a ring and a chain here and there, five minutes at the sewing machine, ten minutes of reorganizing at home... I'm looking forward to getting back into a normal school year routine of leaving the house around 10:30 and arriving back home around 1:30.

One of the high school girls is saving money to buy a sewing machine. When I heard what she was doing, I asked if she'd like to help me organize my craft supplies, something I've been working on for years without much success. She came over Friday afternoon and put together this seven drawer storage cabinet for me. It's a great size for my craft supplies, and I have two great spots where it will be useful. I may have to order another!

Dave's sister gave daughter Carol her chair that she was given as a young girl. The fabric was well worn, and the chair needed some tender loving care. Carol went on a fabric hunt and found some beautiful vintage fabric from the 1930s on Etsy. Even with the extremely high shipping cost, the fabric was less expensive than any fabrics she found in upholstery shops in our area. 

We were surprised at the similarities between the two fabrics. Carol is holding a piece of the old fabric that the upholsterer was able to salvage.

The chair looks great in Carol's bedroom! So, my Saturday adventure was picking up Carol's chair. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a half hour drive to Carol's house and another hour to the upholstery shop.  That makes a total of three hours driving time for me. I didn't mind. I find it easy to talk with all of my daughters, and that always makes the time fly by.

I recently watched a YouTube video on turning a sweatshirt into a patchwork jacket. I followed the directions for cutting apart the sweatshirt earlier in the week, and I chose the fabric that I wanted to use. Yesterday afternoon I cut my fabric strips into the size rectangles I wanted. My plan was to also bind more blocks for my quilt, but I ran out of energy.

I'm making slow progress on my latest Curds & Whey bookmark from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. 

Dave is heading out to help a friend today, so maybe I'll have some time to make good progress on my projects. I want to accomplish as much as I can today and tomorrow, because I know that crafting time will be sparse in the coming week!

Starting the second strip

 

There wasn't much time for crafting today, but I did manage to bind two blocks and join them together. This week is proving to be a very busy one, so I don't expect to get much done. Still, any progress is good progress!