Sorry again for the long delay in writing. I have been supremely busy at work which has left me ragged by the end of the day. With my Sunday filled with house shopping (yay!) it left little time over the weekened to settle in for a good project and an update.
First off, see this awesome magazine here (and my steaming cup of peppermint tea)?
Thanks, Grandma! She got me a subscription to McCall's Quilting magazine for my birthday. I can tell you that I made the hubby look at and evaluate every quilt pattern cover to cover. Should I make this one? What do you think of this one? Should I make this one? He was very patient. We'll see as the months go on, haha.
Here is one step forward:
I finally finished my fair isle tea cozy. The teapot is courtesy of Devon (love it!). I took a fair isle knit class what seems like ages ago and started this cozy. I got bored distracted pretty quickly. Needless to say, I finally finished it and yes it is a little wonky on top.
Here's my one step back:
I LOVE these fingerless gloves. I wear them every day to work and around town. They were getting dirty because I was smart enough to make them white and wear them constantly. Well, I washed them and look what happened?!!!! I haven't even looked to see if I can salvage them. It's exhausting thinking about it. They are set aside for now. Oh well, I did have one great victory this weekend.
The hubby got me this awesome circle cutting tool for Christmas (he's the best!). Look at it's awesomeness! It took me, literally, 15 minutes to cut out 48 perfect circles. AMAZING!
Once all of my fabric was cut I had no excuse but to start sewing. Neti was not as excited about me removing fabric.
I started with the circles and used an applique stitch to afix them. No pins, no adhesive, nothing. I love this machine.
I then spent the better part of my Friday night (really late night) placing all my fabric in position. Trust me, this was not easy, for many reasons.
The pattern was terribly written and it took me ages to match up the pieces and get the flow correct. In the end I had left over pieces that didn't fit the pattern layout! How rude! I was shorted two whole columns because of the pattern directions. They should have specified how to do the circles. It's still a reasonable lap quilt size though so I'm not stressing it. It also gives me the opportunity to have some fabric to play with on the backing. Glass half full, right?
Neti in action! Terrorizing my quilt making!
It all paid off in the end. I have a pretty crazy looking quilt top. Overall I'm happy with it. The hubby has named it "Victorian Festive" due to the crazy fabric patterns. It's stuck, so I'm going to run with it.
Of course, Neti immediately pulled it down off the back of my chair and snuggled up in it for a nap. Oh well, you can't be mad at that. It's Neti approved!
This upcoming weekend is severly jampacked, meaning the quilting will most likely have to wait. I am also in Boston all next week for work. I did start cutting out some scrap fabric to replace pillows on the sofa, though. My current pillow covers are boring and dirty. My goal is to make everything I can custom quilted. So after pillows? I've got pot holders, placemats, and table runners to make. Should be fun!
Happy Crafting!