Making some progress

Here it is the start of another week and yes, another week where I am not certain how much time I am going to have to enjoy some crafting. I think I will just have to wait and see what happens. The weather is slowly warming up as well so it at least it is starting to feel like spring. Now we just need the rain to stop because it has been raining lots the last couple of weeks.

324 - This project did get some attention this week and I am loving how it is turning out. I have at least got 4 rows completed and now have 14 more rows to go. It is a lot of run working on this project because each motif or square doesn't seem to take long to do so you see progress quickly on it.

This project has also made me want to organize all my floss better so that is also what I have been doing while working on this project. When you have to use 324 different colours of floss on a project you need to have a method where you can easily find all of the colours when you need them. When I get all of my floss organized, I will take a picture of it to show you what I have done.

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - I did spend a little bit of time working on my shawl this last week but not as much as I would have liked. I would like to get back to doing the 30 minutes of knitting a day so that might be something that I try and do a little more often. It would be nice to have this shawl finished before too long and the only way that is going to happen is if I can sit and work on it even a bit at a time.

This project is easy to work on especially when there are webinars that I need to watch, and I also need to pay some attention to the content. Having a shawl that is easy to work on especially for those times is nice and now to see if I can continue to move this piece forward.

Other projects - I have been working on a bit of my English Paper Piecing so hopefully by the end of the month I should have some progress to show you on that.

The Mystery Knit Along that I started for 12 Birds hasn't had any attention again and that doesn't make me happy. The fourth clue has now been released and I am still on the 1st clue, so I have a lot of knitting to do to catch up on this project. This project does require quite a bit of focus so I need to have the time where I can sit and work on it without the other distractions that happen.

This month is a busy month for me so there isn't as much time to sit and work on my projects, but I am trying to make sure that I take a bit of time each day to do something for myself. It doesn't have to be my crafting, it can be reading or just sitting and chatting with my husband. It is time where I am not stressing about all the other things that I should be doing.

I am not certain what this week has in store so will see what I can get accomplished. If things go well, I should have some progress on something to show you next week but only time will tell.

Hope everyone has a good week and remember that just taking that little bit of time for yourself and doing something that you enjoy is very important. We all need time to relax and recharge our personal batteries as that it important to each of us and those around us as well.

 

Progress and a new start

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully a week where I can find some time to work on projects as I know it is going to be a busy work week for me as well.

I have been trying to find time at least most days to do a bit of crafting and that has helped. Seeing bits of progress on things is good. Now to see what this week has in store.

Half the Fun - this project got a bit of attention this last week and I was able to add a few of the modes of transportation to it. Just sitting and working on this for a little while helped me move it forward and now I will see when it gets more attention.

Using the variegated thread has been nice because I am just letting the colours happen where they do. Because I am basically using one colour of thread it means that I can just continue to move from one area to another without having to think about what is the next colour that I need to pickup and use.

I think this project would stitch up quickly if it was my focus piece but currently it isn't going to be that because there is another project that I have started and that will be the piece that gets the attention for now.

324 - here is the new project that I started this week shortly have the pdf was released. This design is by Arlene Cohen of Works by ABC and it was just released in early March of this year at the Nashville Market Place. Arlene released the pdf version of this pattern on April 1st, and it didn't take me very long at all to purchase the pattern and start organizing the flosses for it.

It is called 324 for one main reason and that is because there are 324 colours used in this pattern. Yes, each motif is a different colour of floss so that means that it is going to be an interesting project to work on. I went through all my floss that I could quickly locate and found out that I only needed 3 flosses to complete this project so that made it an easy decision to start it right away. This was going to be a birthday start for me but I ended up starting it a few days early but that is fine because it is a fun piece to work on. Now to see how much of it I can get done this week as it is a lot of fun to sit and work on.

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - this is the knitting project that got a little bit of attention yesterday. I haven't been getting a lot of knitting done this past week so figured it was time to try and work on something that I could maybe see some good progress on quickly and this project was the one that got the attention.

This section of the pattern is the easy section as I am just increasing every second row, so it means that I don't have to look at the pattern until I have got 134 stitches on my needles. It does make for an easy knitting project especially when I am watching webinars or videos that require a bit more of my attention.

I hope that this week I can continue to move this project forward as I would like to see how much of the increase rows I can get done. The lace section does require a bit more of my attention so I will need to ensure that I have the time to focus on the lace section when I get to it.

Other projects - the 12 Bird Knit Along didn't get any attention this past week but will see when I can pick it up and work on it again. Three sections of the pattern have now been released so that means that I am behind on this project, but it doesn't bother me because I will get it knit when I can.

I didn't work on my English paper piecing at all this week so that means I need to spend some time before the end of the month at least moving a couple of the projects forward. There are going to be times when I can work on these projects so at least something should get moved forward by the end of the month.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to do something for yourself. It doesn't have to be a long time but just having that little breaks where we can recharge our personal batteries is very important.

Hopefully, next week I will have some progress to show you on at least a couple of projects, but we will see how things go. 

English Paper Piecing - March Progress

In March I didn't get a lot of time for working on my English Paper Piecing, but I did decide on one of the previous projects that I had started. I had started making two inches motifs for a throw for myself using fabric from my dad's shirts. I wasn't enjoying making that large of a motif, so I had to decide if I was going to continue to make the motifs and struggle to join them or should I restart this project with smaller motifs.

This is actually the third version of the throw that I am making. The first version I just need to finish the quilting section and then do the binding around the throw, and it will be done. The second version is still using the 2-inch motifs and I am over halfway through joining all of the motifs so that one I need to pick up and work on finishing the joining so that I can also get that one done.

As this version is for me, I had just started to make the motifs and hadn't started joining them together. Of course, the motifs are going to be half the size compared to what I started to work on, but already I am feeling happier, with the progress that I have been able to make. I am going to continue to work on this project and I will also work on finishing up the other two throws so that I can give them to the people that I am making them for.

Now that life is starting to get a little more organized and I am feeling good about things maybe I will be able to start moving my English Paper Piecing forward a little more. 

Other projects - I still have the table runner and the scarp throw that I am working on so that means I now have more projects that need my attention. I hope to be able to figure out an order of working on these projects and then see how it goes. Until then, I am just going to enjoy working on a project that I enjoy working on.

In April, I hope to be able to find some more time to focus on a project and maybe more it forward a bit more. It is always fun to see what I can get done so we will see what gets the attention in the next month. Until then, I hope that if you are doing any English paper piecing that you are enjoying your project and getting it moved forward.

Some progress and a couple of finishes

 Here it is the start of another week and yes, it's going to be a busy week for me but at least I know it before it starts. Hopefully I will be able to find bits of time where I can at least get a bit of crafting done but we will just have to see how things go.

The weather here is warming up a little bit so that is also a good thing because now I think we might be able to enjoy the spring after have about 6 inches of snow a week ago. The snow quickly melted so we are back to seeing the brown grass.

Alzheimer's Poem - here is a project that I wanted to get finished as when I wrote the last blog, I was getting a lot closer to a finish. This last week I did pick it up and it only took me part of a day to get it all done.

I am happy to have this piece finished as I did start it in 2020 so it's been hanging around for quite a while. I am not certain what I am going to be doing with it now but at least it is one project off the to-do list which does make me happy.

I started this project just after we were told my dad may have dementia or Alzheimer's and I wanted to do it for him. He never got to see it finished as we lost him in 2021. It is something that I will have to remember the journey that we had with him.

It is now going to be into the finish drawer for now and I will figure out what I will do with it later on. I am happy that I did finish it even if it did take me quite a while to do.

Las Vegas Sign - here is a start and finish in the last week. I started this cross stitch while sitting in the Toronto airport waiting to board a flight to Las Vegas. This piece got a bit of attention when we were away. I worked on it in the airport and then on the flight there and got 299 stitches in on it which made me happy. The next time I picked it up was sitting in the airport in Las Vegas waiting to board our flight home. As you can guess I didn't have a lot of energy or time to work on the piece while we were there. While waiting to board the flight home I added another 44 stitches to the piece.

I did want to get this project finished quickly and the piece isn't very big as it is roughly 2 inches by 2.75 inches. It was a fun piece to work on and it is another memory of our vacation to Las Vegas and walking the entire length of the Las Vegas Strip.

Half the Fun - here is another project that I wanted to start on vacation, and I did. As you can tell it didn't get much attention at all. This project was started while waiting in Las Vegas Airport for our flight home and I added an entire 28 stitches. This piece should get some more attention now that I am home and finished the Las Vegas Sign. Half the Fun is an Ink Circles piece and I am looking forward to working on it for a while.

Twelve Birds MKAL - here is the knitting project that I have started since getting home. You aren't going to be seeing my progress until after May 7th when the actual pattern is released but I can tell you that so far I am enjoying the project and am looking forward to seeing if I can keep up with this knit along.

I was originally going to do the Twenty Four Birds MKAL but last week Helen Stewart released the Twelve Birds MKAL so I decided that I would work on that one instead. It is a project that I think I am going to enjoy and hopefully I will be able to get it done quickly and then be able to show you what it looks like.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any other projects in the last week. It was a good vacation, and I took time to really recharge my personal batteries which I needed to do. Now to see what this week has in store as there are a lot of things on my list of things that I need to work on. 

I hope everyone has a good week and hopefully I will be able to make some progress on other things this week and will have something to show you next week. Remember to take that bit of time each day to yourself as it is important to ensure you are recharging your personal batteries so you can be there for everyone else.

Slow progress

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully I will be able to make some progress on things. This last week I haven't been able to get a lot of crafting time so let's see how this week goes. 

I have been trying to get some other things done so it has meant that the actual crafting time has been limited. I have been able to spend bits of time each day working on things, but I haven't been able to get a lot of progress on things. Hopefully after this week I will be able to get back to seeing progress on things.

Alzheimer's Poem - this project did get some attention and that makes me happy. I have been trying to move it forward as I am looking forward to seeing it finished. I had hoped to have it done this week, but I just ran out of time.

I should be able to spend some time working on this piece this coming week and hopefully I will be able to see a quick finish or at least I hope it is a quick finish. I have the last three lines to finish and then I will be able to take this piece off the q-snap.

It will be nice to see it finished given I started it in February 2020. It shouldn't have taken me this long to finish it, but I put it aside for a while and finally decided that this was the month that I was going to aim to finish it.

If I can get this piece finished up quickly, I will see what else I can get moved forward as I have quite a few projects that I would like to give some attention to.

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - I know I said that I was going to start a Mystery Knit along this week, but I decided that I was going to wait just a little bit to start it. I instead started another Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl, and this one is with my favourite colour, TEAL. So, I hope that I can move this project forward at a good speed. I do know that there are still other things that I would like to knit so hopefully I can get this done.

I am still going to knit the Mystery Knit Along, but I needed to spend some time reading and understanding the pattern before I jumped in and started working on it.

Other projects - I have been working on some English Paper Piecing so I will have some progress to show you at the end of the month. 

Now that things might be slowing down, I will try and get back to making progress on things again. Next week I hope to have some progress on things to show you, but we just have to wait and see what actually happens. Have a good week and remember to take that little bit of time each day to recharge your personal battery.

Finishes and some progress

Here it is the start of another week and a week where I hope that I can continue to move things forward. It is going to be a busy week so now to focus on at least making some progress on things.

This last week I was able to spend some time stitching and I am happy with the overall progress that I was able to make on the projects that I picked up.

Sheltie - here is one of my old starts that I wanted to see if I could get it moved forward this week because it has been sitting around for a very long time.

This piece was only around 40 x 60 stitches, so it didn't take me long once I was able to pick it up and focus on it. It felt great being able to get this piece done so that is another project that was started years ago off my list of projects to do. 

I do have another project similar to this, but it is going to wait for a while. It feels great being able to continue to get more of the projects out and finally completed so now to see what happens and how I am going to finish this piece.

Blue bird - after I finished Sheltie it was time to look through my projects and see if there was something else so that is exactly what I did.

Here is a project that I started in 2019 and figured it was time to pull it out and see if I could get it finished. The key was the part of the piece that wasn't as enjoyable to do as it was using metallic thread. I figured it wouldn't take me long to move this piece from a started to a finished project.

The bird was a lot of fun to stitch, and it didn't take long to get it all done so that was great.  It was only two colours of thread for the entire project so that made it easy to do. I am not certain why I didn't get this piece finished before now but at least it is now finished and that makes me feel so much better.

There are two more birds in this series but once again as they aren't started yet I am going to wait and work on them later on. Currently I am trying to move things forward so will see how that goes.

This Blue Bird is by Wild Violet and now I just need to figure out how I am going to finish it but that will wait until I am in a finishing mood.

Star Touched Meadows Stitch Along - January - between trying to move projects to a finish I knew that I needed to spend some time working on the January section of the Star Touched Meadows Stitch Along.

I was going to focus on this piece over the weekend but after working on the blue bird I decided that this project would get some attention. I am enjoying working on this piece when i pick it up as I can sit and work on a colour and see some good progress.

I know that I am behind on this project as the February and March patterns have been released and in a couple of weeks April will be released but it doesn't bother me. When I started this project, I figured I wouldn't be keeping up with it because I also want to work on other projects as well.

It does feel good having a project that I can pick up and work on it for a little bit and actually see progress on it. I am going to see if I pick this up again this week because it would be nice to add some more colours to the piece. I am trying to work on the bottom section of the design so that I can at least get some of the white done on the piece instead of leaving it all to the end. 

Alzheimer's Poem - here is another project that was started quite a while ago. This project was started in 2020 and it didn't get any love in 2023 so I figured it was time to pull it out and maybe work on it to see if I could get it done.

I charted this poem myself after seeing the poem as a poster. It said a lot of the things that we were feeling at the time I started it, so I felt I needed to stitch it. We are still feeling those feelings now and I would like to see if I can get this piece finished before to long.

To complete this piece, I just need to finish all the last two sections and then the piece will be finished. I am going to see if I can focus on this piece this coming week to move it closer to a finish.

You may think that stitching words work up quicky but when you have to stop and start your thread between each word it does take some time. Also, this is on 22 count fabric so it takes a bit more focus given I am going it over 1 thread.

Let's see what I can get done on this project this week. I will try and continue to add more stitches to it each day as I would love to have it done before too long.

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - my knitting did get some attention this week as I was getting closer to a finish, and I wanted to see if I could get it finished.

Of course, there were days when reading the pattern just didn't work as well as I liked, and it meant taking rows out a couple of times. It became my goal of when I was having a good knitting day to try and get as many rows done as I could. By the time we got to the weekend I have three rows left to knit and then the cast off, so I was determined to get it finished.

The shawl is now finished, and all the ends are sewn in so that means that there is another knitting project off the list of projects that I wanted to do.

I am going to see what project I pull out next because I don't have a project that is currently on the go that I want to work on. Last this week I do a Mystery Knit Along that I hope to start but will see how that goes. Before I post any pictures of this shawl, I will have to see what the rules are regarding doing that. I have never done a Mystery Knit Along, so I figured it was time to try and do something a little different.

Other projects - I have been working on my English Paper Piecing this last week so that is something else that has got some attention.

This coming week I am not certain what will get the attention other than the Alzheimer's Poem as I would like to get that piece closer to a finish.

I hope everyone is having a good time and you are finding time to do the things that you enjoy doing. It doesn't have to be major projects and for long times each day. Making sure that you are finding that time where you can relax and recharge your own personal battery is the important thing.

Hope everyone has a good week and hopefully I will have a bit of progress on things to show you next week. 
 

Making some progress

Here it is the start of another week, and it is hard to believe it is already March 11th. This month is flying by and hopefully soon we will have the weather that says it's spring.

I have been able to spend some time working on my crafting this week and have made some progress on things. Now to see if I can continue to move the various projects forward.

Sheltie - here is another one of those projects that was started years ago, and it is finally getting moved forward. Before I picked it up this week, I only had a little bit of the black just behind the mouth section done. The project is getting moved forward but I have come to realize how much I enjoy using Pattern Keeper when I am stitching. This pattern is a paper pattern that I couldn't get into Pattern Keeper, so it is slower progress than I am normally able to do. This pattern means that I have to keep looking to see where I am instead of quickly seeing where the next stitch goes.

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - here is the knitting project that I have been working on and yes, this week I was able to make a bit more progress on it. The lace section of this shawl is a lot of fun to work on once you get into it. I had a few challenges at first reading the pattern but then I realized what the issue was and now things are moving forward pretty well. 

This week I am going to be trying to see if I can get closer to finishing this shawl as it would be nice to see another project finished up quickly. The pattern isn't that hard, and I have seen this finished a couple of times and it does look wonderful when it's done.

Other projects - I have been working a little bit on my English Paper piecing as well this week so hopefully by the end of the month I will have some progress to show. It has felt nice getting back to doing the various projects.

This week I have a few things that I need to do and that means that I might not have quite as much time to craft but I am going to continue to try and find that bit of time each day to do something that I enjoy doing. I know that I would like to see the Sheltie cross stitch piece finally finished and getting the shawl finished would also be nice so I will see what happens this week.

I hope everyone has a good week and you find that bit of time to do something that you love doing. We may not be able to lose ourselves in what we love doing but even that little bit of time can make a difference on how you feel.

Next week I hope to have a bit more progress to show you, but we will just have to see how much I can accomplish. Have a good week and I hope to see you again next week.