Mini-update on a mini peacock

Juts a little update for today - I finished the border of the peacock tail! Of course, in closing the loop (around the 4:00 mark), I discovered that I had messed up something coming from the other direction, so the outline is no longer symmetric. But, I didn't even realize it was meant to be symmetric until I started working my way down the right-hand side, so I've decided not to care. :)

Isn't he so cute?

Also, I've put the mitosis fabric through the wash, so it's ready for sewing. 

More to come this week!

- Catherine

Seesters united

Four exciting things to report this week:

1. Margie was here!!!! Amazing. 

2. I showed Margie the fabulous mitosis fabric (technically a dress, but I ordered size 5x because a) there weren't many sizes available, b) I didn't think I would want to wear a whole pink dress, and c) that assumes I'm going to do something else with the fabric, so I should get as much as possible!). She immediately saw that it should become pajama pants, so that is the plan. I found a pattern I already had in the house for that exact thing (theoretically a 1-hour pattern; it does indeed look straightforward), and I've already deconstructed the dress into its component parts. Most of those are now in the wash, though the binding around the neck has made for a very nice kitty toy. :)

3. I've pressed open the quilt blocks that you saw in the top left corner in my last post, and sewed & cut more quilt blocks (and there's one I have to fix a little, not yet cut). See?

4. Next week, I'm taking a staycation! I think I will make it a challenge to complete the quilt top and pants, and do some regrouping about what my other projects are for this year. I am dreadfully behind on my 25-in-25 goal.

- Catherine

Pinwheels and peacock

Oof! Your summer plans sound exhausting. But I'm glad you have so much time for projects! You are amazing, with all the things you have going on. I have been trying VERY HARD not to go to any bookstores while I have so many unread books in the house, but I did go to the library a few weeks ago - I am in the middle of a 1000 page book, and it's the culmination of a 14 book series, and there's so much fighting - I needed a break. :P

I am chugging along on my pinwheels - today I sewed 6 more blocks & cut them up, and have marked/pinned the next few. Here's a snapshot of where things are at (not including the purples that were in the last post). 

I also realized I haven't shared a picture of mystery cross-stitch in some time. It is probably no longer a mystery, as I am much farther along now! So cute. Hopefully next time I will actually finish the border. 

My current plan when I'm finished is to turn it into another pencil case, but I'm not sure who it would be for. Think think think.

- Catherine

Making plans!

I love the pinwheel squares!  They are indeed cute!

I will see you in only four sleeps!  How can that be?!  Very soon.

My trip to Colorado begins my Summer Chaos.  Ready?  Next week I go to Boulder, then I come home and host my Stitch & Bitch reunion, then I help make dinner for the cast of Noah's Flood during the week, then The Boy goes to Chicago to see Weird Al with Middle, and we go to Galveston for a birthday dinner with Sarah.  The Boy comes home.  On July 4th, I meet Smallest in Charlotte as she's driving home from DC, we get home on the 4th or 5th.  Middle arrives on the 5th, The Boy will probably leave for his summer program on the 5th or 6th, I go to Bulgaria for a week on the 7th, I come back on the 13th, and Middle goes back to Chicago on the 14th.  The rest of July is a bit more calm, but at the end of the month, I go to Chicago to see Middle, then to a meeting in Urbana-Champaign, then back to Chicago to meet up with Jeff for some fun, and then home.  The next day is the final poster presentation for our summer research interns, and then if The Boy goes to the summer program, he'll return on the 9th.

Oof-da!

So, there's a lot of crafting time available in the coming weeks.  Especially in Bulgaria!  I need to be at the meeting, but I'm not in charge of anything so it's a lot of sitting around.  Perfect for knitting.  I will bring your sweater to CO because I want to consult with you about it, and then I'm planning on taking it on my trip.  The later meeting is another sit around and knit meeting, so I get two whole weeks of knitting!  Nice.

I have a little top to make for Smallest, so I'll probably take that on the driving trip with her.  It's speedy.  I'm also working on a shawl that I've wanted to make forever, (this one) and that's going quickly, so it will be another travel project.  I've memorized the pattern now, so it's also easy TV knitting too.

Things are better with the International Office.  We are friends now.  They are patient with me.

Middle's significant other did not get into grad school again.  I want to punch the guy who wrote their letters of recommendation (or didn't write them, in some cases).  Jerk.

I did finish the cowl, and the socks for Jeff, and the sweater for Smallest.  Oooh, and I actually took pictures too!  I haven't given the cowl a bath yet, but that is coming.  There is also a silly for you.  I don't have a specific TBR list of books, but there are books that I feel like I should read, and I go to the library and pick out other books.  I returned one this morning on my way to work and was rewarded by a notification that the next book in the series that I have on hold is ready to be picked up tomorrow!  Yay!  Now I need to put the last book on hold...

The first pinwheels!

I am finally sewing the new quilt! The cuteness begins. 

Today I sewed 6 squares and cut up 4. I couldn't find my blue fabric pencil, just a white one, so I started with the darkest fabrics. As a result, the blending of the three full pinwheels in the second image below doesn't look very interesting - if you zoom in, you can hopefully tell that the two purple fabrics are quite different, to get a sense of how they'll interlock. It will look better once I have more distinct fabrics to pick from. :)

The sewing is super easy when both fabrics are a square*. However, not all of the fabrics I cut from had enough to make a full 10" x 10" block, so some are rectangles - 5" x 10". Should I pair those together (as much as possible) or specifically not pair them together, so there's at least one square to work from? I think the former, but some experimentation will reveal all.

*The seams are short enough and predictable enough that I was also able to free up 3-4 bobbins that only had a little bit of thread left (but too much to just throw away); will be nice to have some fresh starts there!

I've also left out the white fabrics that I washed and (somewhat) ironed - I need to do some math for the garden quilt to see how many white hexagons are required, and then cut them out before folding everything back up. So many fun things to do!

- Catherine

The quilt arises

Gosh, my last post was in January! Where does the time go??

I have been working on my secret cross-stitch, and making wooden lilacs with mom (thanks to Margie), and preparing to try to fix some knitting problems; no photos for those. 

I have also finally made some progress on the long-arm test quilt! I had to meet with my friend again because I wasn't sure I had understood her instructions properly and/or was second guessing whether purple and bright orange go together), and picked all the fabrics, washed & ironed them, and have been cutting out bits. See? I have more bits that aren't in the photo, as well, but they are already up by the sewing machine for the next step, so they will have to be a surprise. 

The super cool thing about this pattern is that the artist gives you a great tip of how to make the blocks very easily - you cut these 10" squares, and then sew them up a certain way and then cut them some more, and you have the initial piece you need to build up larger blocks. I'm excited to try it!

- Catherine

Dancypants

 Have I used that as a title before?  Who knows...

Anyhow, I am heading to DC this weekend to watch Smallest perform with her dance company.  Yay!  She did master the tricky turn and did not get replaced in the piece.  Whew!  So much drama in a dance company.  Ooh!  That makes me think about our choir TV show.  Maybe there should be a couple, one can sing and the other dances!  Twice the drama!

We just found out that her ballroom coach's wife is pregnant, so I suspect there will be a quilt made while Smallest is home this summer.  Fun!  I will have to knit some cute things too.  Fun!

What else...

I'm almost done with the cowl.  It is slow, because it takes two rounds to make one row because you knit every other stitch in the row below.  I think I am at row 57-ish?  I counted Middle's cowl and it was 67 rows, so that's about 20 more rows, plus about six plain knit rows and a bind off.  The end is in sight.

I've made some progress on Jeff's sock, but still a ways to go.  I really need to do the neck of the sweater for Smallest!  Then I can deliver it this weekend.  Maybe tonight?  

Work is still crazy, and I really get frustrated with the International Office.  Alas.  The uncertainty in research funding makes things a little bananas too.  We're starting to apply for non-federal funding to try to shore things up a bit in case the NSF has trouble.

Other than that, I don't know too much?  I'm excited about airplane knitting time this weekend!  I've also started thinking about my work meeting this summer (at lovely UIUC, in Urbana-Champaign!) and all the knitting I can do!  I'm not in charge of anything, so it's a sit in the back and knit meeting for me.  Yay!

Fun fact, Middle's significant other has applied to UIUC for Creative Writing grad school.  We are hoping that they'll get in.  There's one other place they're waiting to hear from as well.  Waitlisted at both schools.  

Happy Wednesday!

Margie