WIPs

So what am I working on now?

I started making cafe curtains for the kitchen. These are crocheted in 12 weight cotton, and have an undersea theme. The first one is done, and I haven't started the second one yet, but should start that again soon.

The stairwell needs a nice curtain to keep the hot air downstairs. At present there is just a provisional curtain there. UGLY! but it's material I had on hand. My plan is to use 45cm diamonds in a lattice. So far I have two done. One is the practice piece from a hand quilting class. The other is crazy quilting with a vegetable theme. One thing about moving - I found a LOT more stash than I knew I had. I figure that these diamonds give me a chance to use up a lot of it, and get it down to a level that the new workroom can hold. (Yeah, right! We all know that one. But hope springs eternal.) Some of the diamonds will be single pieces of work. Others will be crazy, built around odd bits of stitching that I found.

The current block I'm working on has a Fall theme, built around a lovely hedgehog. Problem. The material the hedgehog was stitched on is very loose, and it sags. I have padded out the hedgehog - goldwork techniques, but using batting instead of felt. And now I am invisibly quilting the background to the base material. Boring, but it does work. Except that I ran into some lovely small motifs and decided that I needed the hedgehog and the acorns for this square, so I interrupted that to make those.

The other thing I'm working on right now is sewing backing onto the bath mats. The rubber had all come off, and they were not very safe. One is done, and works very well, so no excuses on getting the other one done, too. I also need to replace the belt on Steven's black shorts. PE class is hard on clothing. We were in Salzkammergut in November, and I bought some lovely material for a blouse. But not enough, so I need to get something else for the sleeves, and sew that.

Yesterday I took Christmas down. The wall where the Advent calendar was looks really empty, so I ought to finish the sunflower sampler I started for the same problem in the old apartment. BTW, I knew that I hadn't known what I was doing when I made that calendar. It was the piece that got me started on needlework again. I had done a fair amount of cross stitch in India, but hadn't done any since until I saw this project in a shop window when the boys were tiny. Apparently I also didn't wash the material before starting. It's dark green. It was so dirty when I took it down that I didn't want to store it without cleaning it. It ran and ran and ran and ran. But I remembered not to panic, but to keep rinsing, and finally the water got down to just a touch of green, and I finished (with distilled water). Now it's laid out on a towel in Steven's room.

I guess I'd better get either hard at work finishing the hedgehog diamond or else come up with a quick project that counts, or I'll be behind before the year has even gotten going.

Of course, if the snow gets away from the roses (which it should do today or tomorrow) I also need to get the pruning started...

Week 12 Project 8 Happy Birthday,Steven!

Steven wanted a mouse he can carry around. They use laptops a lot at school, and he works better with a real mouse. So I bought him a mouse and special thin mouse pad. (Whether there are technical problems is his worry, not mine.) My worry was how this mouse is going to survive in his pack. So I made him a mouse pouch. The pouch is quilted and the pad also acts to protect the mouse, so I think it should be safe. There is also a small pocket for Steven's Data stick, which also tends to get lost or damaged at regular intervals.

I've taken pictures, and should get them up soon. The camera and my computer don't talk to each other, so I need Jerry's help - it talks to Jerry's computer.

I'm not totally happy with the job I did of the sewing - I usually figured out how I should have done things about two or three seams further on, and I didn't frog it to make the improvements. I still think he'll like it. He was very funny when I asked him to help pick out fabrics for a mystery project. He didn't like picking fabrics without knowing how they would be used. And then I insisted on including a mouse print (the animal) I had, which also confused him. Tonight all will become clear, I hope. I'll need to make strudel, too.

Plenty of time, though. This weekend is the Seussical, and he won't be home before 8. He's the mayor of Whoville. And if you are wondering why the mouse pouch only got made this morning - it has to do with my being told on Saturday that he still hadn't brought in his black shorts for his costume. His black shorts? What black shorts? Steven! I managed to get a pattern and black cotton gaberdine before stores closed on Saturday, and he now has a very nice pair of black shorts. One of my next projects is to make him a second pair of shorts. I also bought navy gaberdine, but this pair I intend to spiffy up with a different fabric for the pockets and coloured top stitching. Watch this space!

BTW the sampler is making great progress.