WIP Weekend Washout

Oops.

Oh well...at least the proposed Christmas Snowflake thing got some work done on it...

Luckily I proclaimed it a WIP Week also

o_O

WIP Weekend + WIP Week

Well, in my usual fashion, despite not having done much crafting for some time, my WIP's appear to have flourished. How does that happen.

So have decided to have a WIP Weekend followed by a WIP week.

My list of projects (in no particular order of finishing required, nor actual importance...)

1. The scarf I was making for my former housemate. To give to her on her birthday. In September. Then rescheduled to give to her before she flew to the US for Xmas. Three weeks ago. Now re-rescheduled to finish and post to her by 1 December...
2. Similarly, a scarf for my former housemates boyfriend. *sigh* I probably could've had this finished BEFORE they went away if I had only knuckled down. But not long to go on that one.
3. A paper snowflake mobile for Christmas. Only started this on Monday. Cutouts done. Ironed nice and flat (FYI best done without the steam function turned on...). Just dabbing some KindyGlitz on for sparkle-arkles and then have to thread together and I am done.
4. The afghan. 'Nuff said.
5. Plastic canvas fridge magnets. Long-term, semi-abandoned project fished out of a cupboard yesterday;
6. An aged baby blanket I started about 5 years ago. Oh well, other people are still procreating...
7. The Thimbleberries Quilt. Have finally galvanised myself to buy the backing fabric. I suspect I should have it completely finished in, oh, about 2 years at this rate...
8. Finalising some storage cards for my plethora of DMC embroidery threads.
9. The skirt I started back in July. Which I fear no longer fits me...
10. Some applique to tea-towels which had tiny fraying holes in, but are otherwise perfectly serviceable.
11. Oops. The baby hat for my friends 3 1/2 month old baby o_O
12. Some applique to screen prints I did at the last Brown Owls I attended..
13. I'm sure there's more...

So there you go. In the snatched moments between social engagements this weekend (you think I'm kidding. I'm totally not...), I shall endeavour to finish at least some of this list :)

Wish me luck...I think I'm gonna need it o_O

Wip Week Wrapup

Oh dear.
WIP Week wasn't wildly winning...
No matter tho' - I did manage to make a teensy-leetle bit of headway into the great unfinished projects hole. And at least now I know I only have 7 bits of unfinished craft business ; )

So, because there are ONLY 7 of them, I had a bit of a sit down and a sift through the detritus that is my craft room (good lord! It's like an historic excavation in there at times. What future generations will make of the different strata of debris, I simply do not know!!!).

And, after I crawled out from under the piles and piles of stuff and dusted myself off slightly (darn those cobwebby bits...), I managed to compile what I am going to call My Project Wishlist (or MPW...I love acronyms...hey! I work in a bank, it's all acronyms all the time...).

My Project Wishlist (in a sort of order, which will be subject to change and or addition without notice by the blog owner)

1. Thimbleberries Block of the Month. A previously covered off WIP. SImply MUST finish this and get it off the back of the craft room door;
2. Bento Box Quilt. Another previously mentioned WIP. This is just getting ridiculous;
3. Hardanger Napkins - hmmm, perhaps these should be # 1 due to impending Mothers Day gift issues...
4. Scarf - for a friend (yes, yes, OK it's ANOTHER WIP...I know, I know...);
5. Knitted Afghan WIP. Only about, oh, 40 blocks to go...
6. Les Lapins Cross Stitch. I suspect this is a bit of a long-term WIP. Although I do enjoy cross stitch and other embroidery, it is a somewhat laborious endeavour;
7. Baby Blanket. Dammit. The child this was intended for has nearly started school. I've moved house THREE TIMES since I started it. IT MUST BE FINISHED;
8. I'm going to make my first ever piece of clothing. A skirt for work. I have the pattern. I have the fabric. I have the lining. I have the other requirements, including an ability to use a sewing machine;
9. I want to knit myself a pair of socks. I picked up some lovely self-patterning teal coloured sock yearn on the weekend;
10. I got a GREAT Japanese craft book with felt cakes and whatnot in it. I sooooooo badly want to make some of this;
11. Numerous baby items. One of my good friends is currently preggers and I have soooo many projects I want to do for her and bub. I think I'll just call them all # 11. A Clochette baby hat; fabric bibs; knitted booties; etc
12. Fun Fur Kitschmas trees from Monster Yarn's blog. I have a ludicrous amount of novelty yarns, so this will be an excellent way to use these up (actually, this could probably go further down the list...);
13. Make some toys for the Toy Society;
14. Mending. Yes, that's right. Mending. I've recently lost a few kilos, which has resulted in almost none of my clothes being able to fit me properly. This has resulted in a great amount of expenditure both on new ensembles and also on tailoring those clothes I cant manage to sort myself. I hope you all appreciate the sacrifice I am making for the retail purchases led economic recovery.
15. A rag rug. Saw a great pattern on Moda Bakeshop. Want.
16. Lollychops Wendy Bird Pattern. I made one of these for a friend and it was fabulous. Therefore, I want more for me;
17. ABC booklets for my littlest niece. I think I saw these on Craftypod the other day. 8-page booklets with a letter on the front for the kiddies to fill with pictures cut out from magazines, where the item in the picture starts with the letter on the front of the book. Geniusly (I don't think that's a real word BTW) way of learning ABC's;
18. Key chain lanyard. I've got a swathe of access and security cards I need for work, and at the moment they are on a daggy black ropey lanyardy thing (which I dislike intensely);
19. Use some of my Sublime Stitching patterns. Not sure what for, but inspiration surely MUST strike : )
20. Bookmark pyramids. Fabric pyramids, filled with rice (or similar) to keep cookbooks (or similar) open;
21. A bag for my swimming gear. Partifularly my training fins. Carrying them around in the clear plastic bag I bought them in is just, icky....
22. Drawing. I used to do a lot of drawing in primary and high school and I'd like to get back into that;
23. Geisha quilt panel. I bought this such a long time ago because I loved it. And you know what? It's sat in the bottom of my fabric basket since then. Time to shake a leg;
24. Fabric covered bulletin boards. Too cool.
25. Hmmmm, surely there's more....watch this space

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Day 4 of 31 (or 365) - I'm now seeing granny squares everywhere people!! The fashion parade that everyone has mentioned in the last week; The oppy; and last night on the news when someone was visiting a hospital somewhere. I vote Granny Squares for Prime Minister...

WIP Week - Update II

Hmmm - WIP Week is appearing to be a teensy bit of a washout...

Not a lot to report on updated situations vis a vis WIP's, only a little more work on the set of hardanger embroidered napkins.

I made the critical mistake of trying to work on these last night after spending several hours surfing the net...sadly the eye strain made it almost impossible, so I had to call a halt to proceedings and move onto my afghan project as I was having actual trouble focussing my eyes!!

I probably should have included a 50 cent piece for scale - or something - but the fabric is an incredibly small weave. The heart motif is only about an inch tall.

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Day 2 0f 31 (or 365) - Brown Owls here in Perth today, where we 'Granny-ed Along'. Fun was had by all (I hope!) with varying degrees of perfection : ) More on that later...

WIP Week - Update 1

Hmm, not too much progress on the WIP's. Have been a) slack and b) out for work function last night (and considering I did not get home until 11.45pm, there was NOT a lot of crafting done...).

Some more inches on the scarf (Project # 3).

Aaaaaannnnddd, that's about it really...

But I did ring and speak to my Mum. So I think I deserve props for that ; )

WIP Weekend (and more...)

Well, it's been a long weekend over here in WA, as we had a Public Holiday on Monday for ANZAC Day. Not sure why as I don't believe any of the other states had one *shrugs* but, not matter! Public Holidays - the Great Australian Institution.

So, I put the long weekend to good use to clear out a few WIP's. *sigh*

I really should finish one project before I start another from a completely different craft...


I managed to finish the mini quiltlet I was making from fabrics I received from the Amitie Textiles Blog VIP mailout. I absolutely loved the fabrics they sent me. They were so pretty and spring-like. I supplemented with a few fabrics from the stash and whipped this little fella up. Apologies for the lumpiness - it needs a good pressing to make it behave.

Is it just me, or do these little easter egg decorations look like multi-coloured sperm swimming along my kitchen table???

I also finished up a little felt owl applique that I cut out months ago. Once I finished sewing the pieces together I was a bit stuck as to what to actually do with it...pop it on a hand made bag? Make it into a brooch? I pondered and pondered until I was cleaning the side of my fridge, and there were all these 'free' magnets that you get in the mail or from the mechanics etc. I don't use them because they're unattractive and I have cute magnets that I would much rather look at. Suddenly, I had a lightbulb moment and with the held of a little PVA glue, et voila! An owl magnet :) Yay!!

So, in the spirit of the WIP Weekend that I have just enjoyed, I thought I would put in a BIG EFFORT and have a WIP WEEK, where I work on nothing but WIP's. That should clear some of them out, and leave room for the list of new projects that I am already compiling...

To start off the WIP WEEK, here is a list (in no particular order) of all the projects I currently have outstanding:

Project 1 - A Thimbleberries BOM quilt. I've had most of the top completed for some time. I just have to add the second border. And buy the backing fabric. And quilt it;

Project 2 - Bento Box Quilt. Again, I've had the top pieced for some time and partly quilted. I have had to unpick some of the quilting as I have this terrible quilting disability where I fail to keep the backing fabric taut enough and it gets all caught up and folded over and unfortunate. So, I finished the quilting of the main pieced section on the weekend, and now I just have to decide how to quilt the borders and add in some hand quilting and then I'm done;

Project 3 - As previously mentioned, I'm knitting a scarf for a friend. As a rule a scarf should be as long as the recipient is tall (apparently). Bec is about 6ft. Perhaps I should've started with a shorter friend...I'm about a foot and a half along at the moment;

Project 4 - My knitted afghan. This has been going on for approximately 12-months thus far. Basically, I got hold of a book that has 200 knitted blocks in it and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to knit up an afghan rug. I've finished all the single coloured blocks in the book and am now about a third of the way through the multi-coloured blocks. It takes me about an hour to two hours to make each block, but I can only make one per night due to the RSI I have in my right wrist;

Project 5 - Les Lapins cross stitch. Ummm, started this about 10 years ago on printed sail cloth (actually could be longer than 10 years...maybe 15???) Never really liked the idea of stitching onto fabrics that aren't Aida or Hardanger cloth, so it got folded up and put in the back of the cupboard whilst I went onto other stitching projects. Dragged it out just recently (read : was having a cleanout and found it hidden in the back of the drawer) and decided I would jsut get a bit of Aida cloth in the right count and whip it up;

Project 6 - Hardanger embroidery napkins. Started these last year for my (now) ex-boyfriends mother. Suffice to say as that relationship has ended I am no longer sending her gifts...Have done two napkins and might try and finish the others in time for me to send these off to my own mum for Mothers Day...;

Project 7 - A baby blanket I started about 5 years ago for a pregnant friend. Needless to say, her baby is now 4-ish and no longer in need of a blanket, but I am over half way through and can't really frog it back, so think I will finish the blanket and then give it to charity or the childrens hospital, or something.