Weekend Wind-up

Today, I don't feel like I accomplished anywhere near what I did last weekend.
I'm sure this is partly due to being called in to work last-minute today, the day I had planned to use for replacing the kitchen light, crocheting some more motifs, and finishing up piecing my first quilt top.
Instead I got to venture out into the cold and wind for a few hours.

But I did succeed in a few things yesterday, most notably creating (and subsequently rejecting) two more motifs, as well as piecing a large chunk of the quilt I am making for my niece.

One of the things I like about trying out so many squares (and other shapes) is that with every completed square I realize more of my requirements for that "perfect" one. Size is important, as well as ease of construction. Picots are out, and too many single crochets are cause for rejection, as well. Shape is, oddly, not that critical to me; squares, circles, hexagons, and octagons are all fine, so long as I can join them easily.

First, the crochet:

This motif came from the Sunset Evening Throw available on the Caron website. The motifs actually look pretty nice in the deep red sample featured on the website, but I don't like working it. All those little loops? There are many single crochets in each one of those. Far too tedious for me.


Next, is the Castle's End square, the pattern for which is on Crochetville:

Actually, I shouldn't say I've rejected this one yet. It's actually really cool-looking, and it's pretty fun to make. Also, the one I made is 7" square, which is pretty decent. This motif shows some promise.


On to the quilting:
I decided some weeks ago that I want to start making quilts. I have no idea where this impulse came from, but the upshot is that I planned two kid-sized quilts to make for my niece & nephew, Liz & Lincoln. I found a (very simple) pattern utilizing charm packs (5" squares of fabric) here, and I ordered the fabric, which arrived last week. I spent Saturday morning cutting, and Saturday evening sewing. As of bedtime last night, this is what I had:

There are eight strips piled on my table. Yes, that is a crochet tangle peeking out from underneath. No, I haven't made any more progress on either of these. My intention was to finish sewing the strips together today, but getting called in to work put a hold on that.

My weekend was by no means unproductive...it just wasn't as productive as I would like.
Maybe this week I can achieve more?