Hand Work

 So, since the advent of the knee issue, I have been working on lots of hand projects. I always have some going on for sitting and slow stitching or crocheting. I have made great strides in my hand work and now that I am able to sew again, I need to keep up on the hand work too.

First, there is this long term crochet project. I started it last year before our move. Last weekend I was down to needing 13 more blocks.

I had been making one complete block at a time up until now. I decided to go ahead and make all 13 flowers first, assembly line style. Here they are.

I usually weave in the ends of my crochet work as I go. I learned that from Lucy at Attic 24, whose pattern this is. It keeps you from losing momentum at the end of a project if all the ends have to be done.

I have no idea why I never did that with these blocks. But once all the blocks were made, I found that I had to weave in two ends on 100 blocks. That's 200 ends. I made myself sit there over 2 days and do it.

And now, here they are all neat and tidy. I can assure you this will never happen again. I have learned my lesson. Weave in as you go.

And now the next step is to slip stitch them all together in rows to make the throw. this is the first four rows all done. You slip stitch the vertical rows in a chain fashion, and then go back and slip stitch the long horizontal rows.

This is gonna take some time, but I will keep plugging away and be back to show it off, hopefully soon.

Last hand work to share is this cute little stitchery from Kirkiri Press. There is a series of these little animals that you embroider and embellish and then stuff into little hand size stuffed animals. This one is Fiesta Cat. I bought the kit from Snuggly Monkey. You can find them lots of places on the internet.

Okay, that's all for now. Have a great day.

Feeling Better

So, now that I am feeling better, my knee is still recovering though, I can sit at my machine and sew a little. So this is what got sewn this week.

I was able to sew up the blocks for April's installation of the Pas de Deux quilt that I am making along with Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color. I had cut all the pieces out last week before I hurt my knee, so, the sewing went pretty quickly.

 And I was able to sew up last week's and this week's blocks for the Perfect Pineapple QAL that I am doing with Amber from Gigi's Thimble. This one is a block a week for 36 weeks and now we are half way there.

Last weekend I made carrot cupcakes for Easter with the grandchildren. This is a recipe from King Arthur Flour and the stuff on top is candied walnuts which turned out great. The recipe is their Spicy Carrot Snacking cake, which also has directions for the cupcakes. So good!

Then, just because I felt like it, and also because there was a need, I made some thread catchers. This is a tiny one to actually hold chalk for a chalkbord. Thimble is there for scale.

This is a pattern I bought years ago from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. I have mad a bunch over ther years for lots of folks. My oldest daughter has taken up stitchery and needed one to crry around with her as she stitches all over the house. I had given her one of mine, but the time has come to make her one.

This one with the Rapunzel fabric is for my granddaughter. She needs one because she will take her mom's if she doesn't have one of her own. And I have never been able to figure out what to do with this cute fabric.

This one is for my daughter. I thought she would like the mustard yellow and the bright pop of pink.

This one is for me. I haven't had a new one in years, and I do love this fabric. Besides, I'm not taking the one of mine that I gave her back, so this counts as a replacement. I love these little thread catchers. I have become so used to them being wherever I need them. Have a great weekend everyone.

The Week That Got Away

So, as you know, I have been trying to catch up on so many projects since our move. Last week, I was making good progress on the Scrap Stash Plus quilt by Quilty Love. I got really revved up on Tuesday, and decided to put everything else aside and get that top together.

And so I did. But...you knew this was coming? Right? When I went to put it up on the wall to take a few pictures, first of all, my design wall is too small. So I thought I'd use washi tape. I had a jar of the stuff, hardly used. You know what? Washi tape goes bad! I couldn't peel a strip off of any of the rolls to save myself. I was really mad at myself for letting it sit like that and then I had to throw it all away. So next I got out my painter's tape. And my step stool. That's where things went awry.

I misstepped while climbing up and down to put the tape up and while I was startled by that, I didn't fall. So I was fine. Or was I? That evening, my left knee was a little sore and stiff, so I took a couple of ibuprofen and went to be. The next morning, I could hardly walk. Then I noticed my knee was swollen. 

Well, there went my week of progress right out the window. I was relegated to a char or the couch, knee elevated with ice applied in 20 minute increments. For three days. The up side is that I did have hand projects to work on as well.

I finished this embroidery from Liz at Cozy Blue. I bought it awhile back, but it had to stand in line in the embroidery queue. I love her simple designs. I have six of them already hanging up in the sewing room. This makes seven.

I am also finally, finally finished with the squares for my Flora Granny Square blanket. 100 squares, done. Now I have begun the process of joining them all together. I began that, but then I noticed that from some unknown reason, I never wove in the ends when I finished the squares. Y'all, I never do that Lucy @attic24 taught me to always weave in my ends promptly. I have no excuses for this misstep in the process. So I am weaving in. I am about half done. Pictures soon.

The knee is better enough that I can sit at the machine and sew again, so I am going to try and at least catch up my #perfectpineapplequilt and finish my April Pas de Deux blocks this week. Wish me luck! And no more step stools for awhile.