Definitely Summertime...and lots of photos!

I've been seriously remiss at writing anything in recent months. It's a bad habit to get into, since the less I blog the less I think about blogging, and the less I feel like blogging...
So I'm back. Sort of.
And I have a lot of catching up to do...

Let's start with the quilts. Remember that quilt top I pieced back in March? Well, I finally finished it:

I machine-stitched the binding on this one. It's something I tried when I finished the quilt for my nephew Lincoln, and it really works for me. It may not be quite as pretty as hand-sewn binding, but it is so much faster (and requires far fewer curse words!)
Here's a bit of detail on that:

Those mitered corners turn out great, too.
This quilt is currently adorning the back of our new sofa, along with my City Lights quilt:

And the Painterly Stripe Afghan:

Yes! I finished afghan #2! Which means I still have 4 more to go if I'm to make my goal of six for the year. I think I'm behind schedule.

There are a bunch more projects that I've finished, but I think I'm going to save those for a bit later this week. I need a reason to keep blogging, after all.

Weekend Wind-Up (photo-heavy)

Three day weekends are awesome.
Especially when your birthday falls on one...even better when your husband manages to throw you a surprise party. Which is exactly what happened on Saturday, when I thought we were just going over to a friend's house for dinner. Instead, the house was decked out in Hello Kitty birthday decorations (yeah, the Exchange is kind of limited on party supplies, and this is Japan, after all!)
Here are two of the sweetest things from the party:

There are two mini-bouquets in there, from a co-worker's two adorable daughters. I love flowers, and these are now brightening the LDK.


The other great thing about three-day weekends is the amount of work you can get done! I don't mean catching up on paperwork at the office (although I did get called in for an hour to fix a problem), I am of course referring to all things craft.

I managed to crochet another panel for Tim's Babette blanket:

And here is the entire project thus far:

I got started on the sweater I'm making for Tim:

Another thing I made was a mug rug.

Ok, I feel the need to explain something here. I'm not really a "mug rug" type of person. I am a coaster person. I have several gorgeous sets of coasters that I am quite fond of using. Not a single one of them is made from fabric. I prefer stone or wood.
However, I like to practice free motion quilting, and I like to play around with different ways to cuts fabric to little bits and sew them back together. Hence this little guy.

He did, in fact, provide a place for my coffee mug this morning:
But I'm pretty sure he's going to go in the stack of mug rugs that are, in fact, a chronicle of how my skills improve with practice.
(This one is much, much better than the first oversized coaster I made.)


Finally, there is the super-awesome finished object that I am oh-so-happy to announce completed.
My nephew Link's quilt:

Now I've completed both quilts (there was also Liz's quilt that I completed a couple weeks ago), I can throw them in the washer, then dryer, then box them up & ship 'em across the sea.

And then, I can start planning exactly what I'm going to do with this newly-arrived fabric.
Yes, that's Kate Spain's Good Fortune line. I am totally in love with it.

Weekend Wind-Up

This weekend, I came very close to finishing my to-do list.
The goals were as follows:
1) Finish the quilt for my niece.     I got this one:

Have I mentioned how much I detest hand-sewing the binding? I really, really need to find another way.

2) Make another panel for Tim's Babette blanket.
Again, accomplished:

This is going to be pretty big. Right now, it's about 26"x17", and it will be more than four times larger when it's complete. If it makes a decent bedspread, that will be awesome...but it will likely end up adorning the couch.

3) Organize the tatami room - Still in progress. Tim decided the tatami room off the LDK should be my sewing/craft room. He even cleared away all the stuff that had been sitting there since we moved into the house. This weekend, I added a shelving unit to the closet, and tried to organize my fabrics and yarn...I think I need more containers, though. The challenge is trying to keep things stored with some sort of logic, instead of just stuffed into drawers or cardboard boxes.

4) Make an apron. -Fail...but this is not a make-or-die situation. I was actually starting to lay out fabric for this project, when I noticed that one of my elephant figurines was a little dusty. So I stopped to dust it. And then I realized that the entire shelf needed dusting, which then led to a full-on assault on dust throughout the house, followed by four loads of laundry. No apron, but the house is clean!
I did, however, sew a crochet hook case, which just needs binding added before I photograph it. And as I mentioned before, I detest sewing binding.

Goals for this week:
1) Finish a knit object. We'll see what I come up with.
2) Order fabric for a quilt that Tim wants me to sew.
3) Order extra fabric so I can finish my nephew's quilt.
4) Figure out what I need to finish getting the tatami room usable.

Am I missing anything?

Too many projects?

I do have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew. And then, being incredibly stubborn, I'll force myself to get it all down.
That might be what has happened here this weekend. Might. It depends on who you ask. If you ask Tim, he'll answer emphatically that I have too many projects at the moment.
But if you ask me, I've got just enough to keep me busy.

First, I am really making progress on my City View quilt:

It is fully quilted! I used 8 full bobbins while quilting this. Wow. No matter how many books, magazines or blogs you read, you really don't anticipate things until they happen. I should mention, this is a small throw-I used crib-sized batting (45"x60") and had about 3 inches extra on every side.
Not pictured: the binding that I made. It's currently pinned to the quilt edges, but since Star likes biting at pins I put it up immediately. I had to shoo her away more than a couple times while I was pinning. I also had to retrieve one of the pins that she pulled out with her teeth. She does this with any type of pin or needle she can find. (And yes, we initially discovered this "bad kitty" move the hard way.)

Second project: In keeping up with my goal of 6 afghans in 2012, I started the Painterly Stripe afghan. So far, I have 7 rectangles complete, out of a total 24:

I'm using Lion Brand Homespun in Painted Desert and Wild Fire. I have to say, I adore this colorway. I've been to Petrified Forest National Park, and seen the Painted Desert...and it really is as fantastically colorful as these pieces turned out...my camera really doesn't do it justice:

Ok, third project: Another crochet beret. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo yet, but this one is a prototype to show Mom. She asked me to make her a beret-type hat, and I want to give her options.

And the fourth project: I'm attempting to knit.
Yes, you read that correctly. The crochet snob who insists that there is nothing you can't make just as well, and probably faster, with a crochet hook has taken up a pair of needles. Why? Because...well, I guess I didn't feel like I had enough going on.
Ok, honestly it's because there are far more knitting patterns for sweaters & socks than crochet ones, and knitting uses less yarn. That's really it.
I became a crochet snob in response to all the knitting snobs at my LYS in Ventura. Every time I went in there to buy yarn for a project, as soon as they learned I crocheted, without fail, there would be a long, audible sniff followed by a lecture about why I needed to knit, not crochet. (Considering I had to buy one or two more hanks of yarn for my crochet project, than if it was knitting, you'd think they'd like crocheters. Or that I crochet so quickly that I'm done with two or three projects before their one is complete...I buy more yarn!) Anyway, as a response to their incessant snobbishness, I became very biased against knitting.
Of course, I'd probably still be a crochet snob if I was back in Ventura. But I'm not, so I won't be bothered anymore.

Hmm...I forgot to list the two quilts that I'm making for my niece & nephew. They're kind of on hold right now, but as soon as the City View is complete I'll pull those out again.
So that makes...6 projects currently in progress. Nope, it's really 8...there's the afghan for my sister, and the mystery afghan that I'm working on. (It's not a mystery to me...but I'm keeping it a secret for now.) Is that too many? If so, I'd like to know why?

Tim asked me to finish at least one project this weekend. I'll make it two: City View & the beret.

Weekend Wind-up

Well, it's Sunday evening again, and once again I have quite a bit to show for the weekend.

First, there's the dots. Yes, dots. Bright ones, crocheted from wool.

No, I'm not making a stoplight. No, I won't tell you what I'm doing with them (yet).

Then, there's the "City View" quilt top:

and back:

I haven't gotten around to basting & quilting yet because, well, I just haven't gotten to it yet. But hopefully, this time next week, I will finally have a completed quilt!

Also completed: A scarf & beret for my sister, but they haven't been photographed yet. Hopefully she'll send me a pic when she gets them!

6 afghans in 2012

Yeah, that's right. I do indeed intend to complete 6 crocheted afghans in 2012.
Someone in one of my groups on Ravelry suggested it as a CAL, and I jumped right in. I can do it! It's really only one afghan every two months. That isn't impossible. Last year I managed five.
One of them has already been completed...the crochet clusters afghan I finished on the first day of the year. That's a pretty good start, I think.

So here's the list, in no particular order (because otherwise Tim would pester me about working on more than one at a time):
Babette - because Tim actually asked me to make that one. He saw it, loved it, asked for it. He's not done that before.
Moorish Mosaic - because it's beautiful and will make a good gift for someone.
Painterly Stripe - On Black Friday, there was this ridiculous sale on JoAnn.com. Lion Brand Homespun was going for less than $4/skein. So I ordered a bunch. That was Black Friday. It is Twelfth Night, and the yarn still isn't here. And JoAnn.com customer service never actually answers my inquiries, just tells me that my order should arrive within 20-30 days. No, I'm not buying anything from them ever again. (Especially when WEBS and Knitpicks get orders to me in a week.) But I'm still going to make this afghan, if the yarn ever actually arrives.
New England Revs logo blanket - hmm. Yes, I have the yarn, I need to get to work on this one. It's pretty big, though, and kind of intimidates me.
Sister's Afghan - Remember my quest? ...yeah I should get back on that.
Crochet Clusters - Finished!

...oh wait that doesn't count? Ok, well how about the squares for the CAL? 24, 12" squares will make a decent sized afghan by December.

Yeah I think I can manage this. If it looks like I'm falling behind, Tim will start nagging me anyway.

First Day of 2012!

Well, the new year is off to a pretty good start for me. I've decided that this year, I am going to crochet 6 afghans and sew 5 quilts. And it looks like I might easily achieve this, if today's results are anything to go by.


So far this year I've:

1) crocheted one of the January squares for my Block-A-Month CAL on Ravelry:

(This is Melinda Miller's Pretty Petals square. I used Mary Maxim Starlette yarn in Light Willow)

2) finished piecing my winter-y quilt top:

3) finished my second Crochet Clusters afghan:

For this afghan I used Lion Brand Hometown USA in Cambridge Tweed. It's very thick and very warm. I'm excited to finish the first afghan of the year!