Productivity and Christmas in September

After starting the TV blanket for Shawn, I've started to realize that Christmas isn't really that far away. And when making handmade gifts, one needs to start well in advance in order to complete the gift on time. This got me thinking and using yarn again got me dreaming about all the other yarn I have stashed in a bin at the bottom of the closet. So I dug it out. And inside I found a partially completed scarf. Now if you've been reading my blog at all, this would come to no surprise, you'd know that I am amazing at starting, and not so great at finishing.

So where am I going with all this? I was beginning to wonder myself.

I finished the whole scarf yesterday, and am going to give it as a Christmas gift. And that means already, I have one down and many more to go. The great part is how economical it is to make gifts, especially when you have more than enough fabric, and every craft supply imaginable. So this year, I am challenging myself to make all gifts, and in the spirit of Simple Sparrow's Use What You Have I will try to use only craft items that I've already purchased. However IF there is something that is required to complete a project that I don't already have(i.e. quilt batting)these types of things can be purchased. So basically I will try as hard as I can to make these items with supplies I already own.

Back to this scarf, it fills all the criteria AND I've also finished something that was incomplete. I think this is going to be great. I’ll document the process.

WIP Thursday?

I know it really is WIP everyday around here. I promise there will be some finished projects eventually. As September started to approach I realized that it is time to start working on Christmas gifts. Especially those that require 140 crocheted granny squares. This is a gift for Shawn(my fiancé)he loved the idea of a TV blanket for snuggling up and watching TV. He's seen the blocks in progress and knows about it, but I will keep the finished product hidden until Christmas.

I sort-of knew how to crochet but never really made anything. A new friend gave me a refresher course, and now all I want to do is make these squares. On the bus, at my desk at lunch, at home in front of the TV. It's a real shame I can't make them in my sleep. I have been dreaming about it, but no finished squares on the nightstand in the morning.

WIP Friday

I'm really disappointed in my lack of posts. As it is Friday though, I thought I should post a WIP. since I have mostly WIP's. Tell me crafty ladies, how do you stay motivated to see something to completion? I just want to start projects. Too bad I couldn't teach the cat to sew, I need an assistant to do the finishing.

Note: My job is super busy right now and this week is just the beginning of extreme busyness. So I apologize in advance for not being in the computer mood when I get home from using it all day at work. :S

I'm Back

Wow, that was a fairly long week(month and half). I've been working on some craft projects, but was focusing more on getting the rest of my life sorted out. Eating better, starting aquafit, spending way less time on the computer. My current project is reorganizing the sewing room and perhaps a bit of a purge. I was thinking of selling some scrap packs since I have way too much fabric, and it doesn't look like I will stop buying (any fabric catches my eye)any time soon.

I will work hard to post more often, and with pictures.

Oops!- See ya next week.

In all of my excitement to go to the cottage for a week, I totally forgot about WIP Friday. I will make up for lost time when I get back. I'm bringing many in-progress projects with me in hopes of making them all a bit more complete.

Until next week. :)

my WIP was a WIP

In honour of Work In Progress Friday, I am now posting my WIP on Saturday. Is that allowed? I've always got a million projects on the go. This something I just started working on. A WIP in every sense. It is the beginning of a wallhainging about food. Not just any food though, all the foods that I should steer clear of or avoid completely. I've got digestive problems and this little quilt is my way of working through it. Some inexpensive therapy. At the moment he food is just construction paper(it will be appliqued fabric in the completed piece), I was testing out the idea of all these foods emerging from the bowl. I'm still not sure where it is going yet.



This is the border for the quilt.

Obsessed? or Insane?

Thursday near the end of the day at work I decided that I wanted to make myself a mouse pad. After putting up my sewing shrine, I felt like my desk needed even more jazz. The package I received from Kim couldn't have come at a better time. She'll notice that in the picture of my swapping goodies, I didn't include everything. And that is because I used some of it that night.

The colours of my favourite pieces in the package got me going on this design. It finally gave me an idea for using some of this very neat penguin fabric i have. I might go back and get the flamingo stuff too. :)



Because I have an optical mouse, the little bit of texture to the mousepad makes no difference at all. Now we need one for our computer at home. Perhaps a bit more subdued.

Swapping Goodness

I participated in my first swap with a fellow creative blogger and I am so happy with the results! After oohing and ahhing over items received by Kim of Dioramarama in a swap with Stephanie from Little Birds, she suggested we do our own swap. We set some criteria, (which neither of us followed) and sat patiently by the mailbox waiting for goodness. And boy was it worth the wait. Such beautiful fabrics, nothing like what I already have, but all wonderful. It is so neat how someone else can pick fabric for you and even though it is nothing you would gravitate towards in the quilt shop, you absolutely love it.

Yet another ode to sewing

Last week was absolute mayhem, I was having trouble focusing on the simplest of task, breaking everything and just overall having a rough week. In hopes of regrouping I made it a long weekend and took today off. Got some cleaning done in the sewing room and made this for my corner at work. My workspace is very bland, so I’m trying to inject some of my weird quirky craftiness. Not sure what my coworkers are going to think. Hoping they get the intended gaudiness :)

I really like making these things. The best part being that I get to make use of all of the embellishments I’ve been hoarding but not using. Not to mention they take a lot less time than any of my quilting projects. :) I have this cool sectioned wooden box with a glass lid that I’m thinking of using for the next one. It is much bigger so I think I’m going to have to plan it out.

A finished project or two

I realized that I never posted the finished baby quilt. This picture isn't the best (ignore the cat parts) but you'll get the idea.



I have been listening to Craftsanity on my ipod while in the sewing room (although the sound of the television is good company, it can also be a HUGE visual distraction). The podcast featuring Violet Clark a folk artist from BC got all of my bright coloured creative juices flowing. Swirling around in my head were the images I'd seen of her home years a go when she was on the TV program Weird Homes, accompanied by the funky shrines I' have seen around and was reminded of when I stumbled across Retro Revamp while digging through my pile of craft books. I had also been thinking about the bright colours of this beautiful sun ornament I bought when we were in Cozumel this past winter.



Since all of these colourful ideas came at me all at once, I figured it may be a sign from the crafting gods. Time to pull out the paint, plastic gemstones, buttons, and all the other forgotten crafty supplies. A shrine for the sewing and quilting gods. For guidance in hand quilting, putting on binding, trying out a challenge, and using my fabric. We'll see how effective it is. :)

Focus

I’ve been having a hard time staying on task lately, I’ve been bouncing around, and not really getting much work done one any one project. Hence, not any pictures of finished projects. I always blame it on my interest in such an array of crafting genres. But seriously, sometimes I can’t focus to save my life, and that leads to this defeated feeling.

Maybe I’m just trying to hard to focus, and I should just go for it and be pleased with any progress, no matter howlong it takes to finish something? Just make stuff, be creative, and if you finish something-good, and if you don’t, well it was fun to work on. Maybe that’s exactly what I need to do. Switch my focus from the finished item, to the process of making and creating.

I might be on to something here.

a day well spent

I spent a better part of today working on the baby quilt fror Shawn's friend's upcoming baby. I believe that the true tester of a quilt's quality and beauty is the kitty. The second I finished the quilt top and checked that the batting fit, I set it to the side and there was Stewie giving it the seal of approval. Better pictures to come. I hope to do the quilting tomorrow.

going home for the weekend

I'm going to my visit my parents this weekend. Which means that I will probably not be posting anything. I did finish the fall wallhanging and will post some pictures of that as soon as I'm back home. I've picked up a really old project so that I have some handwork to bring with me to their house. It is a grandmother's flower garden, all handstitched. Yes I'm crazy, but I really do love handwork. And no deadline for this project, so that feels nice. Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

productivity

Although my attempt at the first stitch of the day on my sewing machine resulted in this...

...I got a lot accomplished this weekend (or should I say Sunday, because I spent most of Saturday with my Brownie troop). I ended up taking apart all of the block groupings that I had from my earlier projects and redesigned it to look like this...

I'm quite pleased with how it is turning out. The missing spaces will be turquoise blocks (need more) and that is really all I have left to do. Well..aside from deciding on the colour to use for the strips in between the groupings and of course assembling the whole thing. I'm not sure which colour at all to use for strips. If I knew the sex of the baby I would probably use that as the colour but they are waiting until the birth to find out. I was thinking maybe black and white prints, but also thinking that may be a tad busy. I could go solid black?? I'm really not sure. I think I'll assemble the groupings and then I can throw them on top of various pieces of fabric to audition them.

design wall

I finally got with the program and put up a design wall (excuse the terrible lighting). Very high tech. A flannel backed plastic tablecloth and pushpins. The project on display is a distraction from hand quilting my fall wall hanging (I will finish it this weekend, promise).

I made these blocks ages ago, and will be using them to make a baby quilt for Shawn's friend and his wife. The blocks were already sewn together for various abandoned projects and I am looking forward to using them for something fun and exciting. I'm not sure of the layout just yet, I would like to use as many as I've already made, and avoid having to raid the scrap bins to make more (although I am prepared to make a few more).

The current dilemma is finding a way to incorporate both the multicoloured and monochromatic blocks without it looking mismatched or like switched gears halfway through. I've entertained the idea of making the main part of the quilt monochromatic and putting a small border/strip of pink, green or whatever and then putting one or two rows of the multi interspersed with turquoise mono. I don't really want a real border, just the strip to break up the two styles.

I would really welcome any and all suggestions.

Here's to a productive weekend!

Hoping to finish the fall coloured wallhanging once and for all. Also for some time to start finishing another UFO (UnFinished Object), although I'm really itching to start something totally new, but small, just to keep the creative juices flowing. And seeing all this swapping going on around blogland, makes me really want to take part.

my guardian prince

The Powerful Prince sits high upon the bookshelf in his old school Nintendo fortress to guard my pins from a curious feline.

trying to sew much faster

This new blog is really making me realize how much work I need to do in order to be able to post pictures of finished projects, either that or focus on some smaller things that take less time to complete. I am almost finished the fall colored quilt/wall hanging that I am making for our bedroom. This is exciting because it means that I can go buy a rod and clips to hang it. :) I will post the finished result.

A month of finishing

I've started a new blog. I lost interest with my livejournal, and my craft productivity was going down. I think posting and maintaining a blog keeps me creating and inspired. After all, by sewing, crafting and creating, we have things to post about on our blogs. This past week I decided that the joy of starting new projects is hindered by the guilt I feel for others I’ve set aside and forgotten. Hence "a month of finishing". My plan for the next month (or two) is to refrain from starting new projects and buying new supplies (this part inspired by simple sparrow) and instead focus my efforts on finishing those pieces I have set aside. I’ve gone through some of the unfinished bits, and tried to pull out those I actually want complete. There are some misguided attempts that may sit aside a bit longer. A few things I have completed in the last few weeks are this blue bird original rug hooking design, as well as a small art quilt that has been staring at me from the bulletin board for a few months.

The next project is this wall hanging for above our bed, it brings together all the colours of the bedding, pillows and such. And I hope will add some cosiness to our room.

The original plan was to machine quilt it, but after a few failed attempts (it getting all bunchy and such) I have decided that hand quilting will be much more pretty and add more puckery dimension (ooh I love the pucker) as well as that handmade charm. I had a heck of a time trying to get a decent picture, so hopefully when it is done, I can take one that will do it justice. :)

by needle and thread

Please be patient with me and my new blog. Trying to get back into crafty productivity and colourful posts :)