A little Yarn

I like to knit. I am not fast. I am not an expert. But I like it. I find it sort of zen most of the time. I used to crochet all the time, but stopped when a Dr. told me the motion was making my neck worse. Using my arm at all makes my neck worse so I am going to crochet again. In moderation.

Just like with quilting I am always looking. Trips to the yarn store are almost as much fun as trips to the quilt shop(s). When I went to Portland for my niece's wedding in 2011 I found a lovely yarn shop. I picked some yarn, a pattern and needles. Didn't start on it while I was there. I did start on it last fall. Then stopped because I didn't think I could do the pattern. I let it rest a bit and the pattern got easier. LOL. This is my shawl in progress. I hope to finish it this year. It is a complicated pattern for me so I tend to work on it for short periods of time.

(BTW on the same block where I found the yarn shop there was a bead shop and a quilt shop...heaven) .

Every other year the guild I belong to has a quilt show. As a part of the show we raffle off a quilt and a doll. The doll is an American girl doll complete with as many outfits as the guild can get made, a bed, a clothes rack and a set of plastic drawers to keep all her stuff in. I really am not very good at garment sewing so I usually try to knit something. For the show coming up this fall I knit a dress
(pattern from Ravelry).
And a shawl in case it gets cold out. (I think this was a free pattern, but not on Ravelry).
I also found an adorable skirt and a cable top I want to make before the show. It is in the fall so I can do it.

I am working on some Christmas gifts too. Maybe I will get them done before December.

I won a magazine from Sue (here) She designed the cover piece! How cool is that? I am going to try making this one, but I think I need to dust off the crochet hook first.

Happy stitching

Update: When I took the picture of the shawl, I saw I made a big mistake way back . I will unravel and start all over again. Thee mistake is a whole row and very obvious. :(

2013 UFO Busting

Two years ago I happened onto the Pat Sloan quilting forum and I have had so much fun every since then.  So much quilty inspiration. Pat has challenged us to bust some of those UFOs. She will be giving tips along the way.
I pulled out all of those UFOs.

I looked at each and every one of them. I knew that I no longer loved all of those projects, but I just could not seem to part with any of them. I realized that my UFOs were starting to impact my desire to sew. I was just feeling so very overwhelmed that I just moved projects from place to place and stopped making progress.  Something had to go.
Projects barely started like this tree of life class I took. Way too fussy for me and I know it will never progress from this point so out it went.

BOM from Joann's years ago. I quilted the pieced blocks and stopped. I have looked at this so many times and concluded that while I like all the colors and even the blocks. I just don't want to finish it. Bye bye.

A speaker at guild showed these fantastic animal quilts. I bought the Westie pattern. I pulled fabrics. Much later I prepped the fabrics and put them back in the bag. I know mine will never look as beautiful as hers did, normally that doesn't bother me, but this time it did. Outta here.

The guild is collecting scraps for resale (as a fund raiser) in conjunction with our quilt show this year. I have a stack of fabric for them. I don't mind sharing fabric. I don't mind donating fabric. Just can't toss it out.
Ended up with this bin of completed tops with backings.

This is quilt tops that still need backs and batting.

A not full bin of projects started that I do want to finish.

WIP (works in progress, like current BOM do not count as UFOs.) Unstarted projects do not count either. Lucky for me.
My tally:
8 quilts that need to be bound
29 that are completed tops, need to be quilted
2 applique pieces that need blanket stitching
18 projects in various stages of completion that I do want to finish
I do have 13 WIP.
I have 90 projects not started, and 35 wool projects not started.

I will not even get into all the cross stitch, needlepoint, punch needle, and knitting projects. I do have to go through those too.

Do you feel better now about your UFOs? :)
Happy stitching