Quick turnaround

 

The end of the week held pleasant surprises... all of my quilts are finished! This one was going to be for daughter Alison, but it is too pink for her. Unless one of my grandchildren claims it, I think I might keep it for myself.

This one is for Joanne and Jan's king size bed.

I think Kara will love her new twin size quilt.

I used every single square from the packages for these quilts. I figure that some day there will be a toddler visiting who needs something to snuggle at nap time, and I will be prepared!

The crib size quilt is from squares left over from Sophia's quilt.

Sophia's quilt is for a full size bed.

Janko's is for a twin bed.

I bet you're wondering why some of the quilts are not opened up all the way. Well, Mom and I were looking at them yesterday, and I meant to take pictures of each of them on the bed. I took a picture of the pink quilt, but forgot to take pictures of the others until they were all neatly folded and back in their bags. I didn't have the energy to unfold and fold all of them again!

I have another color that I really like, Winter Flowers. This is another I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. Most of the yarns work really well in my little Sentro 40 circular knitting machine. However, every once in a while there is a color that just does not work well. I've started a bag of yarns that I can't use in the machine, and I will find another way to use them. I'm thinking that another scrappy waffle stitch would be great fun!

Big hit

Well, Dakota certainly was a big hit! I've had several staff members at school request a twisted headband in that beautiful color, and I only had one skein of it. Luckily, Hobby Lobby still stocks it. If Mom feels up to another shopping trip, I'll definitely pick up some more.

Mom and I had a busy day today. We had haircuts, which always makes us feel good! I worked on my afghan both before and after our trip to the hairdresser.

Today's goal was to finish up the headbands I cranked yesterday. The Forest color was a big hit with the volleyball girls, so I'll have to try and find some more of it.

I really like the way the Teal ones look. Both colors are I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby.

I got a little carried away with cranking after school. Now I have seven twisted headbands to finish. I guess I'd better get started!

Variety

 

Before breakfast, I finished off these two twisted headbands that I cranked last night. I love this color! It's Dakota from I Love This Yarn. Could it be that my taste in colors is expanding?

After breakfast, I shifted gears and spent the morning working on this waffle stitch afghan. Mean Green Goes Pink night is less than a month away, and I have about four more rounds to go to finish this. I can do it!

The volleyball girls asked me if I could make twisted headbands in green for them. So, Mom and I headed to Hobby Lobby to buy some green. The yarn was on sale, but they only had three skeins. At least I can get started. The solid colors of I Love This Yarn have more yardage, so I was able to crank three headbands from one skein. 

Despite limiting my cranking time to what I could do before dinner, I managed to crank the tubes for five headbands, one of which is ready to go. I feel like I accomplished a lot today!

Still cranking

 

I really did think about doing something other than cranking out headbands today, but the temptation was too strong.

These two headbands were made with Lion Brand Feels Like Butta, Dusty Blue. The yarn is super soft. I think I may check out other colors.

These two are lighter weight. I made them with Bernat Softee Baby Jacquards, River Ripples.

These are the ones I cranked last night after dinner. They're out of I Love This Yarn, Peacocktails. I really need to shift gears and get some other things done, but I am having fun!

Potato chips

I feel like I've opened a bag of potato chips that I can't stop eating. However, potato chips are not my addiction at the moment. Have you guessed?

If you guessed twisted headbands, you are right! I finished one last night and made the other two this morning. These are in Big Twist Value from JoAnn Fabrics. They call the color Sapphire. It doesn't look like Sapphire to me, but it is pretty!

Mom asked how many I've made so far, so I laid them out on the table to see... 19!

When I got home from school, I cranked out two more. These are I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. The color name is one I will never remember... 424/Green/Turquoise/Red. I guess Hobby Lobby has as much difficulty coming up with names as I do.

Mom finished knitting a scarf in Big Twist Twinkle, Red. She gave me the leftovers to try on my machine. I was five rows short, so I added a some Denim Ombre to finish it off. Mom and I both love the way the touch of blue peeks out from the center.

I cranked out two more after dinner, but I'm done for tonight. These will get the finishing touch tomorrow. I think it was a pretty good day's work!

I meant to make a hat

I really meant to make a hat today, but I also really wanted to make more twisted headbands. The headbands won out!

I knew that I could get two twisted headbands out of I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the striping, but someone is sure to like it. The color is Denim Ombre.

Surprise! I was able to get three twisted headbands out of one ball of Lion Brand Mandala Ombre, Chi, This yarn is super soft, and I'm tempted to go buy some more in other colors. I think I should work my way through what I have first!

Good intentions

I had great plans for today. I was going to cut the strips for daughter Andrea's quilt, watch two YouTube videos, crank two headbands, and get some housework done. I did not succeed.

I spent a good part of the morning watching YouTube videos, while working on a baby blanket that I started over a month ago. The baby was born Thursday, so I guess I'd better get this finished! 

A couple of the YouTube videos were about yarns that work well with the Sentro circular knitting machine. Naturally, I felt the need to check for sale prices. Mom and I decided to head over to JoAnn Fabrics to check out the yarns, and did we have fun!

We picked up lunch and headed for home. While Mom took her afternoon nap, I got to cranking.

Since we had gone yarn shopping, I felt obligated to try out one of my purchases. This is Lion Brand Heartland in Voyageurs. The color is prettier in person, but I find the solid colors a bit boring.

The bottom one is a bit larger. I tried using a looser tension, which was fine for most of it. However, as I neared the end, I had problems with dropped stitches. Mom likes the size of the bottom one, but she would prefer red!

I think I'll stick with the tighter tension. These are bound to stretch with time and use, and I expect them to be worn mostly by teenage girls. I could be wrong!

Two skeins, three headbands

 

I know that I can make two twisted headbands from one skein of I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. For a change of pace, I decided to work with Vanna's Choice from Lion Brand Yarn.

First, I made the purple and gray one, color #202 Purple Print. I used more than half the skein. I knew I didn't have enough for another headband, but I hoped I had enough to make half a headband. Nope. There was only enough to go a little over 1/3 of length. The Purple Print skein weighed 3 oz. I noticed that #173 Dusty Green weighed 3.5 oz. I was really interested to see if I had enough to finish the one headband as well as enough for an all green headband. As you can see, I did!

Yarn day

Today was another yarn filled day, but I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked. I was needed for subbing, and that really cut into my day.

I managed to finish one dishcloth while subbing today. When I got home from school, I cranked out three twisted headbands, but I only had time to finish one. Maybe I'll have a little more time tomorrow.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself. I did go through a lot of yarn today!

A new toy

Mom, Janet, and I had a wonderful weekend together. Janet arrived Thursday afternoon as I was getting home from school, and she was able to stay until after I left Monday morning.

On Friday and Saturday, we took Mom shopping and out to lunch. Mom said it was like a mini vacation, and Janet and I agreed. Sunday was kind of a lazy day. Dave worked out in the yard, and Janet and I helped a little bit here and there.

I had jury duty on Monday and had to leave early. Janet was able to stay until after lunch. I'm glad of that, because I didn't get home until later afternoon.

As for the new toy...

It's a Sentro knitting machine, and this morning I cranked out my first twisted headband.

I learned a lot from this project. One thing is, I think these look better on people with long hair!

I took my sample to school, and the kids loved it. This may become my project for the year!

Since I had such positive feedback, I decided to crank out another one this afternoon. I switched tables and found that one 4" shorter worked a little better for me. 

The machine is a little noisy, so I know Dave would not appreciate me cranking while we're watching t.v. So, I think I'll crank in the daytime and do the finishing at night. I wonder how many I can make in a day?

If at first you don't succeed...

 

I did try again with the Oliver Twists thread, and I messed up on the second ring. Rather than trying to fix the mistake, I decided I should set the beautiful hand-dyed quilting thread aside and work with size 20 Lizbeth. So, I now have the first round of Hannah finished in size 20. Now I need to decide if I want to use different colors for each round or do it all in one color.

There wasn't much time for crafting today. My sister is visiting for a few days, and today we took Mom shopping and went out to lunch. While Mom took an afternoon nap, Janet did a bit of flower arranging for me.

I've had this coffee mug for years. It was my go-to mug, but it was dropped while we were doing dishes and broke. So, I glued it back together and decided it would make a great little vase. I love the way it turned out! I might not be able to enjoy my morning coffee in this mug any more, but I can still admire it.

Why stop with one mug? Daughter Joanne gave me this pretty little mug, but the balance was wrong for me. Now it's filled with flowers (artificial, of course... I tend to kill plants) and I can enjoy it on a daily basis.

The third mug that Janet transformed for me is my Handy Hands mug from a couple of years ago. I love the shape and the color of this mug, but it's too heavy for me. I sure am glad that my sister has a flair for flower arranging!

Hannah, round 1

 

It took me a while, but I finally decided that my new tatting project would be Hannah from Bonded with Tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. I started making the doilies in this book in order. I still haven't finished Star of Bethlehem, mainly because I haven't found the safe place I stashed it in while organizing and cleaning!

I may have to redo the first round. As I was tatting the last ring, I realized that I joined to the wrong picot between the first and second rings. A non-tatter probably wouldn't notice it, but I think it will drive me crazy!

Clean up

Last month, Jane posted about cleaning up her list of blogs that she reads. I decided it was time to do the same thing. It made me a little sad to think that I've lost contact with so many people over the past decade. I probably deleted 3/4 of my blog reading list. Most that I deleted had not blogged in the past five years or more, and many had not blogged in ten plus years. 

Yes, I did take a three month hiatus from blogging. I needed the break. However, I found that I was not nearly as motivated to create when I wasn't keeping a record of what I created. Of course the good part of taking a break was that I finally got my craft supplies in a manageable mess! I still have to look for things, but I have a much better idea of what I have and where I might find it. 

At one of our recent Tollway Tatters meetings, Sue asked if she could have a sample of the Oliver Twists thread that I had blogged about way back in 2012. Luckily, I was able to find it a couple of weeks ago. I gave samples to both Sue and Denise. 

Why samples? Back when I purchased the thread, I was able to get it from DS9 Designs. From what I can tell, it is now only available from the UK, and the shipping costs almost as much as the thread. So, sharing samples with friends was a no brainer. 

As often happens, one thing leads to another. I'm ready to tat something beautiful with this thread, so I'm perusing tatting books. My corner of the living room is a mess. I have tatting, knitting, and quilting books by my chair as well as multiple works in progress. Isn't life grand?

Finished

 

I finished the baby blanket this morning. The edges look a bit ruffly in this picture, but it looked much better after I washed and dried it. I didn't think to take another picture before wrapping it. I'm pleased with the way it turned out, but I think I prefer just ending with the waffle stitch pattern. The directions I followed called for four rounds of single crochet edging. I did two and then called it quits.

Now that I've finished the baby blanket, I really should finish the other one that's nearly done. However, I am a little bored with crochet, and I think my tatting shuttles are feeling neglected. It must be time to tat!

Two!

 

I have two waffle stitch afghans in progress. I've been working on the top one for several months. I started the bottom one this weekend. I decided I needed a waffle stitch baby blanket for a baby shower this Friday. I guess you know what I'll be doing for the next several days!

One done

 

I finally finished the first of seven dishcloths for daughter Alison. This has been my carry-along project so that I can work my way through all of the dishcloth cotton I've discovered while cleaning and organizing. Yes, there's a lot of it!

I have about 20 minutes between the two high school lunches, so I spend that time knitting. At the pace I'm going, I will be knitting dishcloths for a long, long time!

Checkered Brick

 

I finished my Checkered Brick quilt top! I love the colors in this fabric pack. I can't believe it took me so many years to find a pattern that I thought worked well with the fabric.

Since I'm on a roll with sewing, I decided to work on quilt squares that I cut out from Dad's old shirts. I haven't found those quilt squares yet, but I did find a quilt top that I started about 12 years ago. Another project beckons!

Tollway Tatters

 

Tollway Tatters met this morning, and while we chatted, I managed to finish a bookmark. I'm falling way short in my goal to tat bookmarks for all the seniors. I only have two finished, and I'll need to work at a much faster pace if I want to give each one a bookmark. Maybe I should just give each of them a button ornament!

Ready, set, piece!

 

I spent yesterday cutting out fabric for my next quilt top, Checkered Brick. The fabric is Heather Bailey's Freshcut from 2006. Daughter Alison and I fell in love with this fabric collection way back then, and we each ordered the fat quarter pack. 

I have enough pieces cut for a queen size quilt, but I think I'm going to go ahead and cut up the remaining fat quarters so that I can truly mix it up. If I counted correctly, I have enough fat quarters for a queen size quilt and a throw. My goal is to have at least one quilt top ready for quilting by the time my finished quilts are ready to be picked up. I think I can do that!

We have Tollway Tatters this morning. I have to decide if I want to work on more button ornaments or a bookmark. Decisions, decisions!

Busy sewing

I've been really busy sewing the past few days.

I finished a king size quilt top for daughter Joanne. I think this is my favorite combination of fabrics.

There were lots of squares left from the layer cake packs for the four quilts. I decided a throw would be nice. Most of the fabrics are from Joanne's quilt top, but there are squares from each of the kids' quilts. It's truly a family quilt top!

There were still squares left, so I pieced together a crib size quilt.

With all of those quilt tops pieced, I still had nine squares left. When this is quilted, it will be just the right size for a toddler to carry around. 

Now it's time to start quilting!

Just one more

 I decided that daughter Carol needed just one more dishcloth. Now I'm ready to start on a set for Alison!

On a roll

 

Dave was off to his sister's yesterday. Mom was knitting, I was piecing Sophia's quilt top. I was very happy to complete this one in one day!