Progress

Today I'm going to post my first week of taking a photo a day.  I don't have a fancy camera, just a Sony Cybershot from at least 10 years ago, so excuse any blurry pix.  The first was taken at the mall when we were there doing a Christmas return! On another pic, I found a small orangey red and grey feather about an inch and a half long.  I couldn't get it into focus so just had to go with the blurry bittersweet (which is where I found the feather) that self seeded in our yard a few years ago.  Anyway I'm having fun and trying to think outside the box!

I've also been to Michael's (twice) and bought some yarn to make a blanket.  The yarn was half price and that's the reason I went back for more!!  I have some knitting ideas for later this year so thought I'd start stocking up now. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!  Here are the 3 colours I chose.  It's Loops & Threads Impeccable and has 268 yds per ball.  I'm using size US 13 circular needles and working with 2 balls at a time.

 I'm bordering the blanket with moss stitch and working in 20 row stripes. I'm challenging myself to do at least one stripe a day - I'm a stripe behind but hope to catch up today and tomorrow.

And just to update you on my December Daily progress.  I've run out of photo paper but am almost finished.  Hopefully I'll be done with it soon.  
So until then ...

Winter

Let me start out by saying "Winter is my favourite season".  There's something about waking up to a surprise snowfall or being inside all toasty and warm when outside it's cold and windy or pouring with rain!  I love it!  And today is one of those days - it's snowing!

Today I thought would be a good day to post the photos of a few of the things I'd finished last year. The baby blanket turned out really well and I ended up giving it to baby after he was born.  It felt thick and cozy and now has me wanting to make a few, slightly bigger ones for the house/porch (Hubby and I like to sit out on the porch and watch the world go by in any kind of weather). I think a trip to Joann Fabrics and Michael's will be happening tomorrow!

This was a quick and easy blanket knitted in garter stitch throughout on size  US10 needles and 110 stitches.  I used Vanna's Choice yarn in 5 colours (check the yardage on each ball because one of them had a lot less yardage for some unknown reason, so I bought an extra ball of that one) and knitted 50 rows per colour.  If you have any questions leave me a comment below.  I am also happy to knit one for you - again leave me a comment.

And here is the pillow I made as a gift for a friend at Christmas.  I saw this on Pinterest (no shock there!) and new I had to make one. I wrote the word in freehand with a fabric pen and then went over it with a Sharpie.  It did bleed a little but overall I was very happy with it.

Not the best photography but you get the gist!! The pillow form was 12" x 16" and the fabric was Osnaburg.  I also used my new labels for both of these projects that I'd ordered from Labels and Ribbon.com

And lastly another cowl.

This cowl was knitted on size US35 needles using two strands of Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn.  I love how this turned out and can't wait to wear it.

I challenged myself today to do my blog and work on a few other things before going into work.  So far I'm loving my word choice for the year (challenge) and hope to keep the momentum going!  I'm also keeping up with my photo-a-day and will be posting those at the end of each week, even if some of them are a bit blurry.  So until then ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 This year I'm going to pick a word for myself and use it through out 2015. It's easier to achieve than setting specific goals as it will encompass everything I do.  My word is
                                               CHALLENGE

My first challenge is to finish my December Daily by the end of next week.  My sister (Twinnee) and I are doing this for the first time and have been skyping regularly each week with our progress and ideas.  It's been a fun way to do something together even though we're oceans apart.  The hardest part for me was finding something to "journal" about each day.  We had decided at the beginning that we weren't going to prep our pages but now looking back I think it would have been a lot easier.  I got caught up trying to come up with page ideas instead of taking photos and journaling. So next year...

I also want to get caught up with my projects from last year.  I need to post the pics here of the finished things I made and moving forward I'll need to keep up with doing that.  I have found that it's a good motivator to show the beginnings of my projects - it makes me more determined to finish things in a shorter amount of time.  So, I'm challenging myself to follow through and try to only work on one thing at a time!

I'm really excited about having a fresh start and look forward to sharing my little slice of the world with you! I hope you're excited too about starting out 2015 with new hopes and dreams.  Until next time ...

A Sunday in September

Today was a great day.  First I skyped with mum and dad for almost 2 hours.  We caught up on what's been going on over the last couple of weeks and showed off our "new" sewing/craft rooms!  Mum has had a sewing workroom for a number of years because she had a soft furnishings/upholstery business.  Over the last few years, she wound down the business and is now sewing purely for pleasure so needed to update her room with a more casual but functional space. Dad cut down her once huge table and they moved around the sewing machine table and desk. Mum is gradually organizing all her quilting supplies, threads, fabrics, patterns etc into all the open shelves left from removing all the business notions and supplies.  And when mum hangs her quilts on the walls it will make the space even more inviting.

 I too have been reorganizing my craft room.  I'm making more space for my scrapbooking and journaling.  I now have an L shaped area with all my goodies readily available.  I do still need to go to Ikea to get some shelving and maybe some kind of peg board or magnetic board and then I'll take some pics and show off my room.

Then after a quick lunch, I skyped with my Twinnee.  We've decided to do The Documented Life Project which we found via Pinterest (no surprise there!).  We're going to make our official start date for October 1st 2014.  This will give us some prep time for our journals - we're using a composition notebook - and to gather any necessary supplies.  I've found some great stuff in the dollar bins at Target, and Michael's always has lots to choose from in the Smash Book/Project Life area of the store.  Plus it gives me time to mail a few things home as it's either too expensive in the UK or not yet available.  In between  visits from The Bean and Sissy, we got a lot of ideas from each other and are dying to get started!  We're planning on skyping and working on our journals all at the same time.  We figure that as we can't be together in person, then this is the next best thing!

I'm still knitting my baby blanket, but as my carpel tunnel has been bothering me it's taking a little longer than planned.  It has to be ready by next Sunday as it's supposed to be a baby shower gift and the shower starts at noon!

I'm off to knit a couple of rows in front of the TV, so until next time...

Striped Baby Blanket

Yesterday I went to Michael's and bought some yarn to knit a baby blanket.  It's just going to be a simple garter stitch stripe in shades of blues and grays.  I also bought a circular needle but after casting on and knitting the first row, I discovered that one of the points was rough and kept catching the yarn.

So I found a long pair of bamboo needles and continued on them.

But I didn't like how hard the yarn felt so I undid everything this morning and changed to a slightly larger needle!

It's going well and I hope to have the first colour finished today!

I'm still working on my granny squares - I'm about halfway through crocheting them into squares but I'm kind of bored with it at the moment!  I do need to finish it because I want to put it in The Bean and Sissy's room upstairs.  But that's for another day!  

Until next time ...

Summer Vacation

My parents arrived on the 1st of July for a two week vacation.  Our plan was to spend as much time with our two grand daughters - The Bean and Sissy, float in the pool, build a small pergola at each end of the deck and do a little sewing and knitting!  Well I can honestly say we accomplished it all!  We went out a couple of times for coffee and cake and reading magazines at our local Starbucks inside Barnes and Noble!  Mum and I caught up sharing all the things that we've made over the past year. Then we planned out what we wanted to do if we had time whilst we were together and went fabric shopping! We were able to cut out and start our zip purses - mum was making two for gifts, and mum cut out and sewed together a baby quilt (like the ones I made for Sissy and my craft show).  She also knitted and felted a wool bag and made a knitted doll for Sissy.  The doll has become a "requirement" for each of mum's grand daughters and great grand daughters!  She first knitted the dolls for twinnee and I when we were tiny babies and has since knitted at least five more!

This is Dolly!

The very last thing we made together was a pair of boxer shorts for each of us to wear to bed! I bought the fabric from Joann Fabrics a few years ago to add to my stash!! We finished them the morning before they left!

Dad and hubby built my pergola which I absolutely love!  Last time mum and dad were here, Dad and hubby built me a potting shed for my vegetable garden!  I'm so lucky!  I planted some climbing plants to grow up the pergola but don't think they'll get very high as we're halfway through the growing season but next year I'll be able to start them a lot earlier.  We just have to put up my lights and we're done!

I haven't quite finished my zip purse yet but hope to get to it sometime this week.  Until next time...

Crochet Blanket

This is the first crocheted blanket I have ever made so it's a learn as you go project!  I found the blanket on Pinterest (no surprise there!) at Three Beans in a Pod .  I went to Joann Fabrics and chose 5 colours - 4 for the circles and 1 for the squares. I'm using Vickie Howell Sheep(ish) yarn that has 70% acrylic and 30% wool in it.  You can make approximately 10 circles from one ball of yarn so I only bought one of each colour for the circles and two for the squares - hopefully that's enough because I bought it a while ago and I'm not sure my Joann's still carries it!!!

Here's my progress so far - the circles are pretty quick and easy to do.

I just have a few more purples to go ...

And here is one of the turquoise circles made into a square with the green...

I hope to get started with the squares this weekend and then I can lay them out and decide how I want to put them together. Can't wait to get it finished