Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a special day and gets to spend it with the people they love. Cherish the time you have with them now!

The Post Where I Talk About Goals

(I apologize for the lack of pictures in advance!)

I can't believe its almost Christmas already, and that means it's almost NEXT YEAR! And that means it's time to figure out everything I want to get done, and all my goals. I have a LOT it seems (mainly because I slacked on them this year) Here is the post where I wrote out my goals for 2013. I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked to. I did make my Weekender bag, and finished my my Butterscotch Cake throw quilt, and nearly finished my Scrappy Log Cabin quilt top. I also finished my Sidebraid quilt too,a long with several other projects. But I will save a recap post for later. This post I am going to dedicate to FINISHES in 2014. I have a lot of them.

1.) My Farmer's Wife quilt- it is currently my longest work in progress, and I haven't touched it in months. I started on the background for the blocks and squaring them up, and that is right where I left of. IF I just sit down and dedicate some time to this, I could have the top finished pretty quickly.

2.) Scrappy Log cabin- This is another quilt that is very close to completion. I have to basically put the border on it and quilt it, and that is seriously it. The top is done except the borders.

3.) Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt- in all honesty, this may not even be finished in 2014. Since I am doing it totally by hand (including the quilting) it is going to be a very long work in progress. Especially since I am caught up in knitting right now, and spend all my time working on that. 

4.) St Louis 16 Patch- The top is already finished. It has been sitting around waiting for quilting for months. I just need to get the backing, I already have the binding. 

5.) Modern Maples quilt- I have several more blocks to do, and then figure out how I want to put the top together, if I want to follow the pattern or do my own thing. I am still undecided. 

My biggest undertaking is my sewing room. We are in the process of cleaning of one of our spare bedrooms and converting it into a sewing and craft room for me. I was hoping that this would be done before the end of the year as well but it doesn't look like it will. Hopefully we will be able to paint it after the holidays and get my things moved in and situated soon after. Once I have more room and have things organized I am hoping it will be a lot easier to finish projects instead of them languishing around. At least that is the goal

Christmas Dresden Plate Tabletopper

I actually sewed some this week. I had picked up some new Christmas fabric and was itching to get in the Christmas spirit. We have been running a bit behind here on our decorating and I felt the need to do something. and I love LOVE Dresden plates, so I decided I needed to put the two together. I had some cute white on white dots in my stash that reminded me of snow and made the perfect background! I went with "vintage" looking fabrics from my Dresden blades.

                      

I like the look of Dresden's when the center is the same color as the background fabric, that is just a personal preference. I am extremely happy with the way this came out. I machine stitched the blades down instead of hand appliqueing. Hand applique is just not something I have ever been able to get the hang of, I know I just need more practice, but this wasn't the time for it!

                     

I also bought some new fabrics during a nice Black Friday sale from the Fat Quarter Shop. I LOVE Pam Kitty fabrics, Unfortunately they seem to be sold out of her Designer Bundle that I purchased, and a lot of her fabrics, after the big sale. I'm not quite sure what I want to make with these yet, so they are going in the stash.

                                 

Did you get any Black Friday deals???

Black Friday and a Long Weekend

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was exhausting. And unfortunately we didn't get to take our trip to Gatlinburg. I was pretty disappointed, but I we will make plans to try it again soon.

I don't do Black Friday shopping, in fact I didn't even leave the house on Friday. I stayed in my Pj's all day, ate leftovers, and worked on my new shawl. I did stop by my local Joann Fabrics this evening the check out their sales and Christmas fabric and picked out a few half yard cuts that I wanted needed for pillows.

I have a soft spot for anything vintage Christmas and they had a few good selections. I like shopping their holiday fabrics, because they usually do carry a lot of good choices, especially vintage looking ones. And sometimes I can find some hard to find Alexander Henry holiday fabrics. (like the backing for my Halloween quilt!)

The candy cane and the green deer with the angels I knew I wanted and was lucky to find some left, I saw it there about a week or so ago when I got the flannel for my tunic. The others were just a bonus, but I adore the gray fabric with the little train and village on it, its even metallic gold!

                 

Speaking of my tunic, it was a partial success. It came out great, but doesn't fit quite right, its a little too baggy in a few places and I am giving it a rest to see the best way to do some adjusting on it. I will definitely be making myself clothes in the future though.

I am hoping to get a lot of sewing done tomorrow afternoon, at least several pillow covers finished. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon. I also have some Christmas gifts to get working on too.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, I am planning on making some zipper pouches for my boyfriend's sisters and mother and filling them with some little gifts. We have decided not to spend a lot of Christmas presents and I was looking for something useful and pretty. I made myself some zipper pouches ages ago and I use them in my purse to carry all my little things (hand sanitizer, chap stick, pens, etc) so they don't get lost at the bottom of my purse. So i thought I would buy some of the mini sanitizers and lotions from Bath and Body works but then I was stumped as to what else to put in them. Any suggestions? What would you enjoy getting? What do you use a lot or carry in your purse that would be handy???

Cottonwood Shawl

I have been learning A LOT about knitting lately, and I find it so relaxing and easy to transport. Its so much easier to take with you than hand sewing. I've been working on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt again the last week or so but I miss knitting. Especially with the cold weather lately. I just finished my latest shawl and once again I'm in love. I used the Elder Tree Shawl pattern on Ravelry but used sport weight yarn instead of worsted. I went with Madelinetosh Pashmina in Candlewick and it is SO SO soft. I can't go on enough about how soft the yarn is. I love anything Madelinetosh basically. The color is a little out of my comfort zone but it is so versatile. I've worn it with a teal cardigan and a navy blue sweater and it looks great with both. It also looks amazing with anything gray! I will try and get some better pictures of it in the next couple days.

I ordered some more yarn Friday and can't wait for it to get here. I have planned a couple more shawls. I ordered Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Robin's Egg and Natural.

The Natural I plan on using for a modified Haruni shawl and the Robin's Egg I plan on using for this pattern.

We are planning a trip to Gatlinburg coming up and I want to take some knitting with me to work on in the car and in the hotel room. I want something that will be easy to put down and pick back up without any confusion about the pattern. I think the Sunlight Shawl will be perfect for that. The Haruni I think will take a little more concentration on my part, and definitely isn't a "traveling" shawl.

Garment Sewing?

I've been spending so much time knitting lately, I haven't had much time to sew, and I've been in kind of a sewing "funk" you might say. I've been looking for something to get me motivated, and so I decided to try sewing myself a top. I had read on Amanda's blog about her wanting to do an Esme top in flannel from Joann fabrics. I had seen the same wonderfully soft flannel, and thought at the time, what a wonderful idea! That was weeks ago, and then I promptly forgot all about it. Until last night. I'm not sure what prompted my brain to somehow suddenly remember it, but it did. I had a few problems though, the first being my size. I am VERY top heavy, and most patterns (including the Esme top it seemed) were not made to fit my top. So I went to my local Joann fabrics today and braved the crazy huge crowd of people (there weren't even any shopping carts when I first got there!) and browsed through their patterns. I wanted something similar to the Esme top that would look good in flannel and be semi long enough to wear with leggings or skinny jeans and boots, but also something fairly EASY. Considering I have not had a lot of practice garment sewing before. I came up with this pattern. Its a See & Sew pattern, # B5874. I like the fact that it has ties at the sides so I can make it to fit my breasts and not have to worry to much about it being to large at my waist because I can cinch it in!

                                            

I am planning on leaving off the pockets for a couple reasons, the biggest reason being, once again, my top heaviness. Extra anything on my breasts is unnecessary, plus I don't want to worry about matching prints, etc with my plaid flannel. I also plan on using a few more buttons at closer intervals along the front. There is nothing I hate more than a button up shirt that gaps at the buttons around my breasts.

I went with this red flannel because it felt so festive! I think its going to be perfect to wear pretty much anywhere, either with some jeans or some nice warm leggings and black boots. I can even dress it up and wear my pretty sparkly black Holden shawl! I honestly can't convey to you how soft the flannel is. I absolutely can't wait to wear it! So hopefully I won't mess it up!

                  

Winter Is Knocking

I'm not a fan of cold weather. Fall, is my favorite time of the year, when that little chill is in the air, but it's still sunny and bright and the leaves are amazing colors. Here in West Virginia fall is amazing. One thing about the cold weather is how much I want to knit and make warm things! I've been knitting shawls like a crazy lady, I've made 5! A year ago I couldn't knit a scarf without a mistake, and now I'm knitting socks and lace shawls and all kinds of things!  

Here is my most recent knit, it's the Holden Shawl pattern available for free on Ravelry (I'm michyquilts there as well!) 

The yarn is Dream In Color Starry in Black Pearl and it is so beautiful!!!

I'm hoping to get my sewing mojo back soon and also hoping the weather will cooperate for some outdoor shots of some quilts!!!!