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With the finish of the TTMT UFO Deadline Challenge, my mind is filled with the projects that I am not only working on, but the ones that have been on the back burner.
Before we start, some definitions:
UFO = UnFinished Object – a project that has been set aside and allowed to collect dust. Chances are it’s existence has been forgotten until it’s pulled out of whatever dark hole it was stuffed into. While there, it probably multiplied like Tribbles, leaving many more UFOs than you remember putting there in the first place.
WIP = Work In Progress – Always in danger of becoming a UFO, a WIP is a project that is currently being worked on, and will hopefully become a…
FO = Finished Object – What all projects dream of being. The object of much blog activity and excitement and a good source of personal pride. The Ultimate Destination of a UFO and WIP.
This year, in addition to my list of UFOs, I’m including my WIPs and some DYI. This is by no means a complete list because I’m very much a Do It Right now kind of person. That is to say, when I get an idea, I often have to stop everything and do it now!
See my 2010 UFO list and the follow-up post.
Bear Paw Pass Around
STATUS – UFO
Started as a pass around project with my bee in 2008, I sadly have not touched these blocks for over a year. I did go through the box and make a plan…
I plan to use the gold fabric for sashing and was playing with the idea of using brown for the cornerstones. The more I look at the fabric, the more I think I want brick red cornerstones. The brown just sort of disappears against the gold.
Half-square triangle exchange blocks
STATUS – UFO-ish
These are the results of two half-square triangle exchanged I participated in last year. I have not yet decided what I’m going to do with them, which is what gives them their “ish” status. They’re just waiting for the right project to crop up!
InuYasha Quilt
STATUS – Still Collecting
I started collecting shirts for an InuYasha quilt for my daughter last year. The plan is to use the Shoji Screen pattern and place the t-shirt fronts where the large panels would be. Unfortunately, I only have one t-shirt so far, courtesy of ladyoflosttimes. If you have an InuYasha shirt you’d be willing to part with, please let me know and we can work out a trade. InuYasha is her fandom of choice and the least a good fandom mommy can do is make a fandom quilt for her daughter!
Harry Potter/Magical Swap blocks
STATUS – UFO
These quilt blocks are the results of several swaps. Sadly, I’ve had them several years now. I am one step closer to doing something with them now that I realize I need to break them into sets. The top set are all the 10″ blocks with images on them that say “Harry Potter” to me. The bottom set are more traditional blocks, blocks that are bigger (or smaller!) than 10″ or magical blocks that aren’t as HP-ish. I still love all the blocks, but I definitely need to make two, possibly three, quilts out of these!
Christmas Quilt
STATUS – UFO…leaning towards WIP
Started two years ago from a swap I participated in on All About Paper Piecing (a currently defunct ning network), this quilt is getting a piano key border out of Christmas fabric. I’ve already got it sorted out and plan to start cutting in the next month so it’ll be ready to go to quilt retreat in March.
New York Beauty Quilt
STATUS – UFO
I started this NYB for a class I taught last year. I had lots of models for the class, all in different stages of done-ness. The class was a blast…and then I lost my steam. I will be optimistic and take this one to retreat in March. I have all the pieces cut and just need to get them together. Will I? Who knows!
Beginning Hand Appliquéd block
STATUS -UFO…leaning toward WIP
I took a beginning hand appliqué class last year and learned lots! I even almost finished my class project. Can you see there are two leaves that need to have buds added and to be stitched in place? That’s it…all I have left to do to finish this block. I’m putting it in my car so I can work on it in the carpool line. Maybe I’ll actually finish it then!
The Project of Doom
STATUS – WIP
All the blocks for the PoD are designed and I am several weeks ahead of everyone else in piecing them. I plan to have my quilt top finished by the end of March. This is my pet project for 2011 and my gift to my friends in the Harry Potter crafty fandom. Want to play along and make your own Harry Potter mystery quilt? Click the banner above!
Below – Tackett protects the PoD blocks.
5 @ The Hive Fall Colorway 2011
STATUS – WIP
5 @ The Hive is Honey Bee Quilt Store ‘s Block of the Month. I’m participating for the first time this year. The two blocks above are my January blocks. I’m doing the fall colorway with the extra block. By the end of the year, there will be enough blocks for a completed quilt top. I’m super excited about this one because 1)I’m not designing it and 2) it comes with fabric and 3)I love the blocks and the layout.
Variegated and Browns
STATUS – UFO
I completely forgot about this until I cleaned out my stash. I will get back to working on it after I finish the next project on the list. This will probably be a blanket for The Linus Connection.
Black/Red Knit or Crochet Swap
STATUS – WIP
After doing absolutely nothing with these fabulous black and red knit and crochet blocks from a Twilight Crafts swap in 2009, I have created enough white blocks to make a chess/checkerboard out of the set. The next step is to crochet them all together and then add a red, white and black border.
Rope Bowl – “It’s A Wrap” style
STATUS – UFO
This is the only unfinished craft project I found, and it can really be classified as a sewing project…so, go figure. This was the bowl I started when I taught the It’s A Wrap class last fall. I brought it home from class and promptly forgot all about it. I would like to get back to it and finish it up because the technique is just so darn fun!
Staircase makeover
STATUS – WIP
Just last week, I pulled the carpet off of our stairs. It had horrible, gross carpet that the builders installed 20 years ago. I’ve steamed cleaned them so many times, the thought of doing it again made me feel like weeping. The stairs are now de-carpeted, de-carpet-tacked, scrubbed and primed. The next step is a faux finish to turn the stairwell and stairs into a stone passageway. Yeah, you heard that, I actually said it out loud!
I have about a million and one other projects that I’d like to tackle this year. These are some ideas that have crossed my mind that are on the high end of happening.
If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.
Happy crafting!
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Every once in a while, I get an idea that will not leave me alone. I have a friend named Wendy. She loves rainbows. LOVES. Like loves adores worships…you get the picture. I had wanted to make her something rainbow-worthy for a while, when I came across a skein of Red Heart Kids in Crayon, which inspired me to create an awesome, HUGE scarf for her.
I wanted the project to be a surprise, but I also wanted her to know I had a project in the works. Yeah, I’m funny like that. I shared this photo as a teaser!
This is part guidelines, part pattern. It’s super simple and works up really quickly.
Super Long Spiral Boa
Loosely cochet an RLC (Really Long Chain). Mine was about 6′ long and reached to my knees. Yours can be shorter or longer.
Row 1 – sc in to the third ch from the hook, and in each ch across. Chain 3, turn
Row 2 – 4 DC in the same st as the turning ch, 5 DC in each st across.
Finish off.
See, I told you it was easy!
When you get done, your spiral is likely to not be 100% spirally. Not to worry! Find a place to hang your scarf…a hook, a clothesline, your bff, etc. Working from one end of the scarf to the other, make sure all the spirals, well, spiral! It might take a few minutes, but it will be worth your effort.
Did you watch today’s TTMT? I made a matching hat using Amber (of Amber’s Originals) Bella at the Beach (on ravelry).
Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!
How quiet can I be? Pretty darn quiet!
If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me, post it to my Facebook page or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.
Happy crafting!
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Recently, I’ve been working on dishcloths for a dishcloth swap among my friends on Livejournal. While digging through my patterns, I found a scrap of paper from around 2000 that had instructions I’d scribbled for a dishcloth.
Once I worked the pattern up, I realized it’s not just a dishcloth, but one of the favorites I’ve been using in my kitchen for years!
I’m naming this easy-peasy project “Carpool Dishcloth” because I can make one in it’s entirety as I wait for my two kids at their two different schools. I sit in my car with my windows down and crochet while I wait. If you follow me on twitter, you probably have seen my carpool craft photos!
Made using Peaches and Creme cotton yarn – the pink/black/white dishcloth is Black Cherry, the other colorway is Sunflower.
Carpool Dishcloth
Size H Hook
worsted cotton yarn
ch 36
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch fr hook; ch 1, sk 1, [sc in next ch, ch1, sk 1, sc in next ch] [across]
Row 2: ch 1 turn, sc in 2nd ch fr hook; ch 1, sk 1 [sc in next ch, ch 1, sk 1, sc in next ch] [across].
Repeat row 2 for pattern until dishcloth is approximately square.
To add a border, continue the pattern around, making a sc, ch 1 sc in each corner and making sure to skip rows as you work down the sides, work pattern in the back side of sc on the foundation row and up the other side. Finish off.
Happy crocheting!
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Happy crafting!
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Sewhooked for A Little Haunted and Tree Trimming
Hardcopies, buttons and Hats on Etsy
Pants!
Texas Brick Pattern
Happy Crafting!
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Tomorrow is the monthly meeting of The Linus Connection, which means this is the day of the month where I gather all the things in my house that have been accumulating to take to Linus for donation. The quilt above made from the leftover pieces cut from a Storm At Sea quilt that was set on point. It’s the same quilt I call Electric Amish. I’ve been hand quilting it for an interminable number of years now, and I sometimes wonder if it will ever be finished. Completing this toddler version with the leftover pieces of Electric Amish is a small victory and it gives me hope to finish the mama quilt some day.
This next quilt I’ve dubbed Stash Monkey and is made from what I have left from the Log Cabins For Linus collection I held in the earlier part of 2010. There are still a few orphan blocks in my bag, and I hope inspiration will strike again and I will come up with a quilt that’s just as fun as this one! Made from orphan blocks and scraps from my own stash.
Brand new in my life this month are quilts quilted by me on a long arm machine! Dianne, the owner of Honey Bee Quilt Store, where I have my day job, very generously allowed us to use the store’s HandiQuilter to finish up some Linus quilts. Not bad for a beginner! I also quilted the Baby Storm At Sea.
This granny block ghan is made from the very last of the donations from Go Get Granny (the yarn half of Log Cabins For Linus). All of these blocks were donated. I joined them all together and wove in the ends. As you can see here, I’m experimenting with hanging afghans the way I do quilts. It works…sort of. I just love photos taken in natural light, but afghans are not a fan of being hung. Shared in this TTMT.
This gorgeous quilt was made from a top donated by the ever lovely Laci. She sent this to me some time ago and it ended up going to a professional long arm quilter that donates her skills to Linus. It’s all done now and the quilting is just lovely. It was featured in this Talk To Me Tuesday (sans binding), where you can see the beautiful quilting close up.
My very last offering this month is my final Carpool ‘Ghan for the 2009-2010 school year (also featured in the video linked above). Both of my kids are musicians and honor students, which simply means they carry a ridiculous amount of stuff to and from school. I drive them back and forth, as well as taking them to music lessons, rehearsals, etc. That leaves me sitting in my little car all by myself more time than I care to count. What’s a girl to do? Well, if she’s crafty, she brings something to work on! I make afghans for Linus when I’m waiting, keeping a bag of yarn and a crochet hooks in the car just for that purpose. You’d be amazed how much I can get done sitting in my car every day! It’s a good thing I finally finished this one, seeing as how the new school year for my kids starts on Tuesday!
The Linus Connection meets the third Saturday of every month at St. Phillip’s in Round Rock, Texas. Check out the website for more information.
Happy Crafting!
Just over a week ago, I got to do something that I look forward to all year around – see my best friend, Jewells. We live hundreds of miles apart and with our kids still in school, we’re lucky to get one visit a year.
I’ve talked about Jewells here before, when I shared the quilt I made for her 2008 birthday.
Jewells always shares amazingly thoughtful handmade gifts. She’s knitted socks for me, made “snowballs” for my kids (who rarely see snow here in Texas) and just generally shared her talent, creativity and thoughtfulness with my family.
Due to a variety of circumstances beyond her control, my birthday gift for this year was belated. Parts on back-order and such created one delay after another for her. Due to the delays, she was able to do something that I can’t remember happening in many years – hand deliver my birthday gift!
I’m so excited to share this truly wonderful gift here. This gorgeous perpetual calendar was an idea from a craft store flier than ended up morphing into a whole new design that Jewells made especially for me.
She pieced, stitched, stamped, glued, stenciled, covered buttons, crocheted and oh my gosh, I don’t know what else! Look and be amazed. I am truly a lucky girl to have had such an amazing friend for almost half of my life.
Oh, and? It was her FIRST QUILT ever!
Jewells talks about this project here and even more here!
The whole Kit And Kaboodle! Why coffee? Because it’s been one of our favorite past times since our time as college roommates and we still enjoy sitting over a cup o’ Joe and chatting the day away.
The months are stamped on felt which sticks right to the velcro. Each month is customized with coordinating ribbon!
The months have their own nifty little pouch for storage.
Each date was stamped on fabric, which was then used to make custom velcro-back buttons.
The set includes the calendar and two pouches (one for the months, one for the days). Even the back is coffee themed!
I repurposed a cafe rod and hooks for hanging this beauty in my foyer. The cafe rod and hooks were cream and brass and have been primed and spray painted black.
Thank you, Jewells, I can’t even express how much I love the time and thought that went into this gift. Even better was getting to open it in front of you!
