A Little Yarn On The Side

Ms. Sutton jumped out of bed early today, excited to start work on the quilt again today, because yesterday went so well for her. Will the aliens who took the REAL Ms. Sutton please return her?  Er.....just as soon as she finishes this quilt??????

....but definitely a "progress" Friday. First, the attack of the coasters!!!  Here they ALL are--in their little desperately-trying-to-rack-up-projects glory. Now....what did I do today? Remember this quilt from.........well, not recently?  I thought it was time to get at least one of the quilt tops at least a little closer to being finished.  Not to mention someone really likes quilting. First, we added the green pieces to the two remaining sides-- (first managing to sew the strips into right angles before the caffeine kicked in) then we cut out the backing (and just in case you were wondering, that was an extremely crooked cut), but there is BIG news! Look at that!!!!!! NO BIG FREAKIN' PUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah.......kicking some quilting but & taking names!!!!!!!!  Well, until It seems that the Quilting Gods are both fierce and fast.  Smugness over the lack of puckers will automatically qualify you...

Okay--I now have 5 sets of Christmas coasters:  4 sets of 6 and 1 set of 4 because that's how it came out when I cut them.  I have some leftovers that can be made into rectangular packages, but I've had enough!!!!  28 of these coasters is enough for any sane person......or relatively sane, depending on how you want to look at this whole "100 Projects in a Year" thing. 

Okay, knitting will always be my first love, but when I need a cheap, meaningless fling sewing is pretty hard to beat.  I'm up to 3 sets of finished coasters & probably 2 more in progress.  The fact that I should be at 25 projects by March 31 to stay on track and I'm only on project 19 might have something to do with this sudden fascination..... To be fair, the ostrich plume scarf is getting some attention: I used the ostrich plume stitch pattern once for a mohair shawl, and it is gorgeous, if I do say so myself.  Ostrich plumes is a lot like feather & fan (a series of yarn overs compensated by a bunch of decreases) except that it regularly shifts the pattern over and then back, rather than remaining in columns like feather & fan, such as on this from a blanket I did a year ago: or the reverse stockinette rows that may or may not be on feather & fan.  Now that I have contributed to the world-wide knitting pattern confusion, I'd probably bette...

NOTE TO SELF:  Do not attempt to sew before your morning coffee.  When you only discover you've stabbed yourself with the needle because the thread is bloody, you're not fully awake yet.

We have a beaded cowl!!!!!! It is, however, not a mobius strip.  It is a cowl with a full twist in it.  Now, of course, that makes sense.  For it to have become a mobius strip, I would have needed to manage to have the top edge meet up with the bottom one when I joined them.  So.....I have a rather bizarre knitted object....which can't be blocked in the normal method. Oops.  Time for a bit of ironing bit by bit and the finished object: It's still rather pretty, and there are some purplish beads on it that just don't show up in pictures, but it isn't exactly what I had in mind.  BUT--the March Project of the Month is officially done!!!! Not to waste any time, my sidekick and I moved on to the ostrich plumes scarf, (some of us more literally than others) See that tiny bit of scarf sticking out by his ear?  Yeah--that would be the scarf I was going to work on.  He's such a helper. Part of me really wants to pull out another project bag a...

Yesterday afternoon I got an idea for Christmas coasters.  So, digging out some Christmas material & some white felt, I stuck them together with quilting basting spray to make them easier to cut out as a set --as well as using a feline weight just in case-- I cut out four and a half inch squares from the layers then drew chalk lines 2 1/4-inches from the edges. Then, cutting 4 1/2-inch pieces of 1/4-inch ribbon, I sewed them over the lines for the present's ribbons, then stitched 1/4-inch from the edge, clipped the edges with pinking sheers, and added a bow in thinner ribbon, and.... Christmas present coasters!  I made two sets of 6, which I think will be really cute in a bag with some hot tea or coffee. And after this first one, I even managed to make them all so that the snowmen are right-side up.  I'm quick that way....:) Cowl?  What cowl?