Knitted hand warmers - progress

I haven't worked on these in a while, even though I had grand plans to at least get the first one finished over Christmas. With 14 hours in the car (although I did drive half of it), I should have had more than enough time to finish this one up, but I just didn't feel like it. Right now I'm at the point where I'm just about ready to close up the thumb hole (pattern calls for 1.5" opening, but it didn't seem big enough), then just a couple more inches & it'll be done. Hopefully I can get out of this crafting funk I seem to be in, and start working on these again.

Until next time...

An interesting challenge

Here's an interesting challenge from Kristy at Textiles for You: complete 365 items in 2011. I don't really do resolutions most years, they're typically forgotten within a few weeks, whether they're met or not. I was pretty proud of myself in 2009 for not only remembering, but conquering my resolution - to get married. Hard to blow off or forget that one. :)

But back to Kristy's idea. I actually think it's a good one. Sure, 365 items sounds like a lot. A LOT. But thinking about all the little stuff I make, I bet they all add up. One of Kristy's questions was about quilts - do individual blocks count as individual items, or is the finished quilt one item? Personally, I'd say it probably depends on the type of block. Some blocks take a ton of work, and should absolutely count as separate items (and the completed quilt as another since it's a beast of a project in & of itself). But should a nine patch cut into four disappearing nine patch blocks count as four items? Probably not.

So, starting January first, I think I'll start keeping track. I certainly can't promise that I'll be able to make all 365 items, but I can promise to try! Anybody care to join?

Until next time...

Quilting Bee Inspiration

I've been looking at quite a few blocks on Flickr lately, especially stuff I find in the Quilting Bee Blocks group. If you're looking for a bee to join, or some inspiration, it's a good place to start.

Lately, there have been a lot of mosaic/stained glass blocks posted and I'm really loving them all. I'm a big fan of mosaic (I'll have to share pictures of a couple mosaic tables I've made from old fish tank stands), so now I'm really leaning towards the pattern for my month in the String Me Along quilting bee.

The mosaic pattern can be found at Oh, Fransson.

Here are some of the great ones I've found so far through Flickr (pictures should link back the the respective Flickr albums, if I've figured this out correctly):

Okay, this seems to be the only one I can share, so check out my Flickr favorites to see a couple more.

Until next time...

TWT: Praying Mantis

These were taken the same day as the last bee picture, when I seemed to be having some issues with my focus. It also didn't help that as soon as I would get this little guy into focus (using my old-school 35mm K1000), he would charge me. These things really creep me out, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some pictures. These two are the best of the half a roll I shot of it.

Until next time...

ABSS Sew Along - a few more details

I'm still working through all the details for the Amy Butler Style Stitches Sew Along (isn't that a mouthful!), but I'm so excited about the response I'm getting for it! I never expected so many people to be interested, you guys are wonderful!

First of all, I'd really like your input on the process. Make sure if you leave comments with questions or concerns that you've got an e-mail associated with your profile, or leave your e-mail in your comment. If you don't, I don't have any way to get back to you! I can't tell you how many e-mails I've sent to "noreplyblogger" lately trying to respond to comments on the sew along. I hate seeing that & not being able to respond!

So here's what I'm thinking. At the beginning of each month I'll do a quick run down of the pattern we'll be working on for the month. The plan is to just work through the book in order, so I'm sure everybody can figure out where we are, but I'll do it just as a reminder. If anybody has questions about the pattern, feel free to e-mail them to me & I'll answer what I can, and share the questions in a later post (anonymously, if you prefer) so we can get input from everybody who's participating.

Throughout the month I'll share any questions I may have received, updates on my progress, and we can have a linky party or two for you to share your progress.

At the end of each month, we'll have a linky party so you can share your finished project. I know some people may want to work the book out of order, or work ahead, so I'm okay with people linking up to the project even if they didn't make it during the designated month. Since the book hasn't been out too long, it's not like we're going to be dealing with year's old projects here. :)

Also at the end of each month, we'll do a drawing from all those who participated. I don't know exactly what the prizes will be yet (Still working on that part! If you'd like to sponsor a month, shoot me an e-mail!), but they'll be good. Then, at the end of the year, we'll do a sort of grand prize drawing from everybody who participated each month. Again, no definite details yet, but I'll share as soon as I can.

I would like as many people to participate as possible, and know that not everybody will be able to participate each month. No problem! Just jump in on the months you are able.

Again, and I can't stress this enough, this is still sort of a work in progress, but I promise to have things ironed out a little better by the time we start. Thinking of this idea right in the midst of the holiday season wasn't exactly the best timing on my part. :)

So, I look forward to hearing what you've got to think about this, and I'm really looking forward to getting started after the new year.

OH!!! I nearly forgot to mention - to kick this whole thing off, I'll be doing a drawing at the beginning of January for a copy of the Style Stitches book! So put it on your wish list if you don't have it already, but if you don't get it, you'll have at least one more chance when we get started!

Until next time...

UPDATE! You can now grab a button for the Sew Along! Let me know if it doesn't work for you, it's my first time. You'll have to go to the upper right corner of the blog, I can't get it to post here.

Disclaimer: This sew along is not sponsored by Amy Butler, at least not yet, but you just never know what might happen! :)

I just had a crazy idea...

Bear with me for a few moments here, but I just had what might be a really crazy idea.

Does anybody else have this awesome book:

And is anybody else having troubles getting started working through it? I can't be the only one, please tell me I'm not the only one!

I love pretty much all the bags in this book (some are a more...love for someone else, but not necessarily for me...type of feeling), and really want to work my way through it. So I was thinking it might be fun to have a sort of sew-along. There are twelve bags (yes, I know it says 26, but those are just size/strap variations, for the most part...don't get me started on that part), so we could work through one a month, starting in January. I realize that may be super slow for some of you, but I know most of us have lives outside of crafting too (GASP!), so it seems like a decent pace to not overwhelm & still give time for other projects as well.

So, tell me - am I crazy, or is this something any of you would be interested in doing? And if you know others who might be interested (or if you know somebody who's already doing this, and I'm WAY behind the times) feel free to send them over here. We're all friends. :)

Until next time...