Crafty resolutions

2013 is almost over, and I'm not the least bit sorry to see it go. I guess every year has a certain amount of sucky things happen, but it seems like this year had a lot. Hm. Anyway, I've been thinking about new year's resolutions. A friend of mine makes odd resolutions. One year, she resolved to only use chopsticks when she ate Chinese food, stuff like that, rather than the usual "lose x pounds." My one non-crafty resolution is to use my Fitbit for the whole year, barring technical difficulty. My Mom has a Jawbone, and she loves it, but she's had to send it off to be fixed/have battery replaced a couple of times. Sadly, I did not keep my resolution from this year, which was to finish the whole-cloth quilt I started back in...2011? I did finish the quilting in the center, though, so that's something. Now, my crafty resolutions are to put in some time with my drop-spindle, to use at least one of the skeins of pretty yarn I have in my stash, and to work on my quilting skills. Here is my plan for the last one: I'm going to make a sampler quilt. I went shopping this weekend, and bought my fabric. I've spend weeks looking at books and websites, and I picked 12 blocks. I got Quilter's Academy, Vol. 3 for Christmas, and I picked up Volume 4 as well, so I'll be using those. I want to work on triangles and diamonds, and get comfortable with them. I would like to be able to say "I want to make a Cut Glass Dish quilt" and actually do it without losing my sanity. So the plan is to make at least one block a month, and to get all of the blocks completed by the end of the year.

Well, things are looking up since my last post. My husband has a new job! In fact, tonight we went to his office Christmas party, and I got to meet some of his co-workers and see his office. This past week, we had an ice storm. There is still ice on the ground! It rained today, so by now, most of the frozen stuff that's left are dirty sleet balls along the sides of the roads. I spent four days, Friday-Monday at home. I got the Sea Snails quilt finished! Woo hoo! It's washed and dry. I have a few more loose threads to snip, and I think it will be ready to go. My next quilt is going to be for me! I realized that my husband has a quilt, but the only quilt I've made for myself and finished that I still have is one with no batting that I made about 10 or 12 years ago. It's great, it's nice and soft, and the flannel on the back is pretty warm, but it's not as warm as a quilt with batting would be. I've got two Honeycombs of Honeysweet, by Fig Tree. I think I'm going to modify a pattern on Moda bakeshop. Here's a link to the original: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/10/sweet-as-honey-quilt.html#more It's a nice quilt, and I like the idea, but it seems like kind of a waste of fabric, I mean, there are a lot of hexagon pieces that get cut off to make those blocks, and what's the point of making a nice hexagon rosette if you can't see the flower pattern? So my idea is to make a full 7-hex rosette, and then cut hexagons out of some tea-dyed muslin specifically to cut them in half to fill out the block shape. So that's the idea, we'll see how it goes. I made some progress on my whole-cloth quilt. The center is now completely quilted! Now, I have to do the border. First, though, I have to even it up. I think when I made the quilt sandwich, the layers weren't quite even, OR, when I made the backing, I turned the center panel the wrong way when I made the back, or but it a little short. Either way, the border needs to be evened out, and possibly trimmed all the way around. The original border pattern I was going to use has squares set on point. Half had a grid pattern in the middle, half had a flower, and in the spaces in between blocks, there were three leaf shapes. I think I'm going to use a design from another quilt from the same book, Quilts of Provence. I think I want to use a curved vine with leaves, and large daisies in the corners and in the middle of the border. I'll fill with slanting lines, like I've seen in a lot of feather patterns.

Well, things haven't exactly worked out like I had thought. For one thing, the Sea Snail quilt still isn't finished. The PTO fundraiser for my school that was supposed to be over before Halloween STILL isn't over. My husband lost his job for b.s. reasons. He's got some good prospects, and so far, we're doing okay. So, yeah, it's been interesting. In that "oh, God, oh, God, we're all going to die" kind of way. I have discovered one really cool thing. I went through a Little House phase, from the time my Mom gave me the books when I was 8 until almost junior high. My family didn't really get it, and I didn't know anyone else who did, either. However, I've recently discovered 2 memoirs written by women of my generation who made pilgrimages to the places where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived as part of a voyage of self-discovery. Kind of like Eat, Pray, Love for people who find a couple of weeks traveling around the Midwest easier to manage than Italy, India, and Indonesia for months on end. "The Wilder Life" is quite good, I thought, I haven't finished "My Life as Laura" yet. I've been so happy to find out that there were other people who felt the same way I did! I loved the Little House books, and I always knew that everyone around me thought it was weird. Even though I moved on to other things, those books left a mark on me. For instance, I wouldn't have learned how to quilt if not for those books. So, that's something that's made me happy recently.

This week, I wore the first pair of socks I knit myself. It wasn't the first time I'd worn them, but it was the first time I'd worn them that wasn't the dead of winter. I was really surprised at how comfortable they were, and how good they made me feel. I don't know why. They're not perfect by any means. I know there's a super-stretchy cast-off for socks, but I didn't do it, so the cuffs are kind of tight at the top. They're made of a wool-nylon blend I bought at the old yarn shop in Hillcrest. I had intended them to be for Neale, but they didn't fit him because of the tight cast-off. The socks are blue and gray striped, the yarn is self-striping. I'm working on my second pair of socks now. I finished the heel, and now I'm working my way up to the cuff. I was very proud, I I did a short-row heel with just a couple of peeks at an online tutorial. There are some gaps where the I picked up stitches along the heel that I'll go back and sew up later. I'm working on garb for Diamond Wars. I'm about half finished with a pair of pants for Neale, it just needs finishing on the seams and hems and a drawstring. I FINALLY found the other pair of linen drawers I made last year, so now I have two! Yea! I want to fix the hem on my red cotehardie and I have a lavender linen-cotton one that needs the sleeves re-attached to. I really want to make a wool over-coat. Nothing too fancy, just a simple open-front over-thingie. I kind of think if I use the tabard pattern from my Period Patterns Italian Ren pattern and attach sleeves, that might work. If I get my act together, I might be able to do it Sunday. Like all weekends, though, there will be too much stuff, and not enough time. :( I'm teaching two classes at Diamond Wars, so I need to work on handouts. One is on quilting, the other is basic embroidery. I'm not going to do stitch diagrams for the embroidery class, I think I'm going to go with a simple list of tips and resources. I'm going for "look at this cool, easy thing you can do to make your garb and accessories look nice," rather than "here's how to do perfectly accurate embroidery for Kingdom A&S." I also want to bring hoops and fabric for people and let them choose thread to practice stitches. So, yeah, I've got a lot to do before we leave on Thursday!

It is a crime against God to deny yourself love

I'm watching Jane Eyre on Ovation for the hundredth-ish time. It's the miniseries version with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens. That's probably my second-favorite version. Can't beat Michael Fassbender as Rochester. I could so do with knitting and sewing as classes at school. But, I digress. I haven't read a lot of classical literature for a while. I think I've gotten out of practice. I first read Jane Eyre when I was about 8 or 9, and I was too young. I didn't like it, I just slogged through to the end to find out what the secret was. When I re-read it as a teenager, I fell in love with Jane. She was "poor, plain, obscure, and little," but she didn't let herself be trampled on by anyone. I identified with her rage at being treated unjustly as a child and being powerless to stop it. Honestly, Jane Eyre is still a role model for me. I cut the last post short because my sister called, and there were things...and stuff. It's amazing how family can instantly turn reasonable, responsible, 30-something women into bratty, arguing teenagers. It was one of those arguments that wasn't really about the issue that started it, and went off into all the wrong that had ever been done, ever. It was ugly. My husband had to calmly take the phone from me and end the conversation. After that, I just couldn't concentrate much on writing about crafty stuff. So, it's Friday. (Woot!) Sadly, I have a workshop to go to in the morning for work. It won't be too bad. After, I'm going to see Wicked with my mom and sister (the plans, and a mistake on my part were responsible for the argument. The initial screw-up was mine, I admit.). Later, we're probably going to have our goddaughter over, unless she stays with her Grandma. Still not quite sure. Busy weekend, when all I want to do is be a slug on the couch until the sinus stuff we've had goes away. The weather is supposed to change soon, and I hope that clears it up. I've been browsing laundrybasketquilts.com. I really like the wedding ring pattern. There are several traditional patterns I really like, like double wedding ring and Dresden plate. My Great-Aunt Caroline was a quilter, and my grandfather has a double wedding ring quilt of hers hanging on the wall in his den. The work is beautiful. The color palette is not my favorite. It's all brown and mustard gold with a little red. That '70's "Harvest Gold" sort of dark yellow is probably my least favorite color ever. The sink and stove at my parents' house used to be that color when they bought the house. It was hideous, especially since the sink was really scuffed on the bottom and the color had worn in places. Both of them are long gone, thank goodness. Anyway, when I see pictures of Edyta Sitar's quilts, I really like them, but when I look at pictures of her fabric collections, they're kind of...meh. I love the pop of the bright batiks against the neutral backgrounds, but her prints are very antique-looking. I just don't care for the sort of muddy-colored Civil War-repro/primitive fabric, except in very small doses. The plan for the weekend, sewing-wise, if I can get some time, is to cut sashing strips for the Ocean Snail quilt, and maybe lay the blocks out. If our goddaughter comes, I doubt I'll get that far. I have a recipe for bread that I want to make with my class this week, and I need to test it first to make sure it will work before I try it at school.

Wip...Thursday?

It's been a pretty busy week. Last night, I went to a meeting with a group of parents to make plans for my school's fall carnival. The meeting went well, and I think it's going to come together pretty well. As president of the PTO, I'm an ex-officio member of all committees. Fortunately, because the co-vp's and I are dividing the responsibility for being "Officer in charge" for events, I didn't have to run the meeting. Yea! Not a lot of progress. I realized I was short a block on the quilt, and I finished that. The next step will be cutting sashing strips and laying the top out to sew the blocks together. I'm still knitting on the sock.

New Beginning

I know this blog has had more new beginnings than the run of Doctor Who, but I'm going to give it one more go. Basically, I listen to podcasts while I walk, and would love to join the podcast community, but am not sure how feasible it is to make the leap. So, the blog will become my new podcast substitute, and we'll see how it goes this time. Pam from Hip to be a Square records on Fridays, so maybe I should commit to Thursdays with occasional Monday bonuses? We'll see how it goes. Let's see, the niece of a handful of posts ago is now 2 1/2. She's still beautiful, and also wicked smart, strong-willed (family trait) and hilarious. I'm now an apprentice in the SCA. Ok, everybody knows what a knight is. In the SCA, a knight is a peer, it's the highest rank someone can reach without having been king or queen. Knights, as one would expect, receive their peerages for being really good at fighting, and also chivalrous behavior and good character. There are two other orders that are the equivalent of knighthood, the laurel for arts, and the pelican for service. Knights take squires, people they believe have potential that they personally mentor and sponsor. Laurels take apprentices and Pelicans take proteges. So, basically, I'm a squire to a knight who was knighted for arts and crafts. What I am working on now: 1. I'm working on a commissioned quilt for a friend in Memphis. I'm using the Parasols pattern by Fig Tree and Co. It's a nice pattern, the blocks are cool-looking, but they're kind of tricky, and they use that sew and flip method of making half-square triangles, so all the blocks have all these flaps of fabric hanging off the back, and it's really tricky to line the squares up to make those half-square triangles. So this one has been slow-going. I wanted to have it finished by now, instead, I just have the blocks almost done. I'm going to deviate from the pattern some and add sashing between the blocks. I'm afraid with my less-than-perfectly-square blocks, if I just sew the blocks together, the quilt itself won't be square. 2. I've picked up a couple of projects I started and put down. One is a sock I started knitting, the other is an embroidered Elizabethan coif. Think Pilgrim girl cap, but embroidered all over. The pattern is really cool, it's curling vines with different flowers and stuff in the middle of the curls. Cause the Elizabethans had strawberry/pea/rose/carnation vines, didn't you know that? It makes total sense. 3. I'm fixing a dress I almost finished a while ago. It needs to be adjusted a little in the shoulders, and the sleeves need to be taken off and re-done. I used too big a seam allowance on the French seams, so the sleeves were too tight, and I had trouble moving my arms. Now that I have a Juki sewing machine with an overlock stitch, I've been overlocking the seams, instead of doing French seams. That doesn't take up as much room, and it should fix the problem. Ok, so, Thursday, another update.