Lucky 7

More flowers! I am so close. I changed my last flight from Thursday to Wednesday so I could sleep in my own bed a day earlier, and it meant that I had a lot of extra time in the airport, so things are cooking along!

I forgot that I actually finished the green flower before my last post (so there are only three newly finished ones in the first image below), but I decided not to retake the photo because it's fun that they ended up in the same orientation as the last one! Clearly that is The Right Order.

You can see in the second photo that I'm making good progress on the next set as well. I will definitely plan to leave the orange one at home when I leave again tomorrow, since there's only one seam left, and I will definitely plan to take the red one (3 seams left), but I'm on the fence about the yellow one. 

I also fixed one hexagon that had a big cut in it (see last image), by ironing on a little patch. It will make the sewing a bit harder going, and I thought a bit about sewing it up instead, but I think the patch will be nicely invisible. That cut had relegated the whole flower to the end of the envelope pile, but now that there are only 4 (!!!!) envelopes left, there's nowhere to hide. 

Excited to see how far I can get in the next 13 days (until I'm again back at home)!

Full flowers: 57/64 (3 started)

- Catherine

A new help

I am officially traveling now - I've got two full days at home next weekend but otherwise will be on the move for the next 20 days. It's a lot, but all good stuff! And then I'll have a quiet weekend/week to crash afterwards. Whee!

Thanks to time on the plane and a very friendly lap cat (my new helper, see?), I have finished a new flower and am one seam away from finishing the blue one I had started last week. Plus two others in progress. I also only have 7 envelopes of hexagons left!! I really can't believe it.

I am enjoying the new rhythm of threading my many needles with one long thread, using those to close up the big seams between hexagon strips, and then using the short remnants to create new strips. This strategy will also be helpful to make sure I'm finishing flowers rather than just starting new ones over and over, since the short seams are unsurprisingly easier, but then I have more and more bits to carry around. Hopefully I can finish these three and leave them at home when I stop by!

Full flowers: 54/64 (3 started)

- Catherine

And then there were eleven

Kablammo! I have sewed and sewed this week, and I have eight new flowers to show for it. See? The one in the bottom right is newly started - I needed a way to use up the short thread left over from my long seams, so that was a perfect pairing. 

I still have to do 2.5 per week if I'm going to get through them in December, but it's feeling a bit more possible. I have travel coming up that will be conducive for sewing, and then a few quiet days in between & after in case I have to buckle down... we'll see! 

In the meantime, I'm going to try a fun thing today, which is making chocolate chip cookies using sourdough discard. We've been making flatbread with it for the last few years, and it's time to mix it up (pun not intended). Also, it's always good to have cookies. :)

Full flowers: 53/64 (1 started)

- Catherine

When grumpiness pays off

What a bummer about your sweater! I like the wide neck, though - very dancer-ish. :)

That circle quilt is so cool! It would be good practice for curved seams, which I am always intimidated by. And sorry about Jeff's thumb!! That sounds terrible. Quite the roller coaster over there. :(

I was in a grumpy mood on Monday and so took the day off to read and sew and otherwise goof off. I always encourage my team to consider mental health days as part of their sick day count, so I figured I could follow my own advice. I also had good sewing time with mom and during some webinars, so I am excited to report an unprecedented *3* flowers done since our crazy weekend trip! You can see the most helpful kitty came to help me take a photo of my progress. Fortunately there was only one pin/needle pair in all of the fabric, so easy to avoid him stepping on those. Unfortunately, the sister-in-law who will be receiving this quilt is allergic to cats; I may have to think about washing the quilt top once it's done before I send it off.

I'm thrilled to be under 20 left. I had put each set of pieces into a different little envelope back in the beginning, and those packets are really starting to dwindle! If I aspire to finish before the end of the year, I'll have to complete ~3.5 per week for the next 5.5 weeks. Seems... unlikely, but you never know! 

Full flowers: 45/64 (4 started)

- Catherine

Déjà vu all over again!

 Nice title on the last post.  

I have been working on a new sweater for Smallest and somehow have misunderstood the pattern in a way that led me to put increases and decreases in the wrong places.  I have looked and looked at the pattern and tried to figure out how I have messed up, but alas, it is a mystery.  So I undid several inches of sweater and am reknitting it.  Very frustrating.

  This is before I put in the bad decreases/increases and I pulled it 

back almost this far.  I lost about 50 rows?

I'm about to take a break on the sweater to make many mittens for Sarah and Javi.  They want a mitten they can hold hands in.  I've found several patterns on the web, but none in the weight I made their matching hats in, so I'll use a book I have that gives instructions in any weight yarn and see how it goes!  I think they need other mittens to go with the double, so it will be mitten-fest.  I think they'll go quickly.  They're sock like, but not as big as socks.

I am excited because this is a nothing weekend!  We are going to the dance concert at HSPVA, and then there is nothing going on this weekend.  Hooray!  I've been getting up early early to help Jeff get ready for work, so I'm more tired than usual.  Jeff had an accident with his miter saw which necessitated some surgery on his thumb, so he's unable to do some things for a bit.

We had Lauren in town last weekend and had fun with her.  We happened upon Heritage Day at the George Ranch, just outside of Houston.  It was very fun and we saw this very cute quilt in one of the houses.

That's about it for me today.  I need to get back to preparing a grant proposal budget.  Joy!

I get to see Smallest in her professional debut a week from tomorrow, and I get to see you in two weeks!  Yay!  I hope Thanksgiving will be fun.

Margie

Grand plans and grasslands

Well, I had the best of intentions to sew a lot on our brief camping trip this weekend, but between the early darkness, trying to follow roads that turned out to be giant ruts of mud or had gates closed, and admiring the scenery of northwestern Oklahoma (no really! Black Mesa is beautiful), I didn't even open my sewing bag. Actually, my one point of contact with my sewing was when I was reaching into my larger bag to get something else and stabbed myself with some of the pins. Rude.

Anyway, here's a photo from Thursday - you can see that I have finished yet another flower and I'm only one seam away from finishing the red (top middle). I was catching up on a few webinars. :) The nice thing about making the shorter strips and priming the longer seams (where you can see the "V" of the two strips together) is that when I do convince myself to pick up one of those, I tend to mindlessly follow along until the seam is done. And it's only 4 of those big seams for each flower, so I don't need that many kicks-in-the-pants.

The coming two weekends are blissfully empty of too many plans, so hopefully I'll keep momentum going. 

Full flowers: 42/64 (5 started)

- Catherine

23 and me

Behold, I have finished another flower! I had a nice few hours yesterday morning of finishing an audiobook and sewing, and so completed the orange flower while making progress on others as well. 

I also got an unexpected phone call from a lovely friend, and so used my one free hand to pull out the pieces for ~10 more flowers and arrange them in pairs so they're ready for sewing. Not picture worthy, but it'll save me a minute or two once I open those packets back up. 

And yes, Margie - I work on these during "Arts & Crafts" time (with Mom). Some weeks it's the only time I work on them, so good to keep things moving along!

I have done some research previously on local long arm places, and the websites have lots of good information. The quilt I was working on at the time was my giant heart, which did not have a lot of extra fabric (which is what they typically require), but I should have more flexibility with this one. Still, I would rather just make sure I have all the rules and regulations down before subjecting my handmade quilt to the machine. And it'll be a nice change of pace. :)

So much knitting!! You can't be stopped. Happy anniversary, and have fun in Austin!

Full flowers: 41/64 (5 started)

- Catherine

Car knitting

Go flowers go!  You are making good progress!  Do you work on them when you're with Mom?  They are so cute and cheerful.

If you find someone who does long-arm professionally, I don't think they'll make a mess of it, and they should help you with information needed to prepare the quilt?  They might also have suggestions about quilting patterns.  I bet you could also google it and find some ideas.

Next year - put it on the calendar - International Quilt Festival.  Houston.  It's earlier next year! Oct 9-12.  The quilts are amazing.  There are classes too, if you are so inclined.

I finished the socks for Middle.  One might be smaller than the other?  But the bigger one might be stretched out because I've tried it on?  I need to check.

I'm working on socks for Jeff now, and I realized that I've made him exactly the same socks before.  Oops.  He said he doesn't mind, so I'll put a different colored toe on them and I'll do something different next time.

I got some yarn for Sarah's mittens, but it was the wrong color to go with leftovers I had from their hats, so I've ordered more and will commence knitting.  I will swatch tonight and start tomorrow.

I also finished the blanket, but I need to give it a bath.  I like how squishy it is.  I also need to get Katie's address so I can send it along.

I've started a sweater for Smallest, because she is in a cold place now.  It's cotton, so not terribly warm, but I had the yarn already and needed to get it done.  There might be discussion at Xmas of warmer sweaters.  She has a wool one but she confessed that she doesn't like it a ton because it is a little itchy.  Alas.  I'll find something better for the next one.

We had a nice dinner for our anniversary.  Rice Homecoming was fun, I saw lots of people.  We're heading to Austin this weekend for the Texas Woodworking Festival.  This means I'll have at least five hours of car knitting.  Yay!  Mittens are quick, so I am hopeful that I can knock out some mittens.  The only downside to car knitting is that Jeff keeps pointing things out to look at, and we play a Whataburger spotting game, so he's always winning that.  Ah well.

Other than that, and overwhelming existential dread, things are pretty good.  I hear you got some snow!

Quilt oddity

24... 23... 22... 21...

For some reason I feel like it's time to start a countdown, even though there are still so many flowers to make! I hope Major Tom would approve. 

I finished the nearly-done flower, and have made good progress on the others already underway & a new one. See?

The clumpy bits at the bottom are two different red flowers, demarcated by the three-hexagon bits in the center, in case that's not obvious.

There are now 9 weeks left in the year, so I would have to complete 2.66 flowers each week in order to finish. I'm torn between "Yay, that's an ambitious but achievable goal - I will dedicate the time to make it happen!" and "Oof, that is ridiculous, and I shouldn't set unrealistic expectations that will just depress me when I don't finish on time." I also have two other goals (related to reading and walking) that could work in my favor (audiobooks) or against (hard to walk and sew)... we shall see!!

Full flowers: 40/64 (3 started)

- Catherine

Pushing 40

My flowers must be facing a midlife crisis, because we are only one seam away from 40 complete flowers! Very exciting. 

I went to a charity quilt sale recently and was reminded how cool quilts can be when they are actually quilted properly. I think I will plan to get this one done on a long-arm machine, if I can find a pattern that will play well with the flowers - I've certainly invested enough time already to make it worth doing nicely. 

That also suggests to me that I will need to pause on this quilt at some point and work on another one - I have never used one of those machines before (or had someone use it on my work) and need to test out the process in case the person/place I find makes a mess of it, or if I make a mess of it - there are a lot of specific instructions about how wide the edge fabric needs to be, etc. I will try to keep my momentum on the flowers and then we can pause during the endless white hexagons in the middle!

Ta ta for now!

Full flowers: 39/64 (3 started)

- Catherine

Nails + tires

Look at you!  You're over halfway on all your flowers!  Good job.

I love web meetings where I don't need to take notes.  We have a weekly seminar on Tuesdays that I need to observe for trouble, but I don't need to pay attention, so that's knitting time.  I am also recently took an Excel class at work that was online that I decided to screen record so that I could refer back when I needed help, so that was also knitting time.  I have an in-person training currently that is mostly stuff I don't need to take notes on, so I sit in the back row and knit then also.  It's been very helpful!

As a result, I'm almost done with the festive socks, and just this morning I've reached halfway on the blanket for Carroll's grandbaby.  I did finish Jeff's scarf and he received it for his birthday.  We talked about various ways he can wear it, which was fun.

Once I finish, I have some Xmas mittens to make for Jeff's older daughter and her husband.  They want mittens that will allow them to hold hands with mittens on.  Ravelry has several patterns for "Lover's mittens" that are exactly that!  So, it's about to be mitten time.  And I think I need to make her a new hat.  The one I made her last year seems too small.  And then there are some other socks I want to make, and your sweater to return to.  I still need to do some math.

Jeff is currently making some shelves for the closet in the front room, that is Sarah and Lauren's room, but also just a room with a closet full of stuff.  Adding shelves will help make it more functional.  Yay!  The Boy and I have had colds, I think because of allergies.  We are almost done, but they are lingering.  Boo.

Oh - Smallest and dance!  We headed up to Virginia the second weekend of August and she decided that she didn't want to take a large amount of stuff because she didn't like driving with the UHaul trailer.  So we were zippy and got there in two days.  The drive up was nice, and uneventful.  We did notice that the tire light was on the second day, so we put more air in the tire.  Once there, we ran some errands and then made a plan for Ikea.  On the way to Ikea, we noticed the tire light was on again, and when I went to put air in, I saw a nail in the tire.  No bueno!  There was a tire place right next to Ikea, so we headed in with the car.  Long story short, there were nails in two tires, and chunks missing out of the third tire and they were all pretty worn, so Smallest got new tires.  Her dad paid for them, which I appreciate.

Ikea haul went well, we assembled lots of furniture, and she is happy with her space.  She has nice windows that make her plants happy.  She was missing some boxes from storage, including the one that had all her bakeware in it, but we replaced the essentials when we got there, and her dad sent her a new set to replace the one he had given her before.  That was very nice.

I think that's pretty much it.  Things here are slow, we're trying to decide what we want to do for our anniversary.  This year would have been #30 if Ex and I had stayed together.  While I'm glad we didn't, seeing other friends share anniversaries stings a bit.  It's definitely possible to get there with Jeff, if we both stay healthy!

Do you have a favorite flower color to make?

Margie

See Cat sew

 My sewing break has paid off - I am reinvigorated to work on my flowers! I have finished three more, and am 5 seams away from having 4 more complete. See? The first photo is from a week ago, and the second is from just now, to capture more progress. 

The first push came courtesy of sewing in the car on our way to/from western Colorado, where we stayed in a cute campground along the Colorado river, visited Colorado National Monument (why that isn't a national park is beyond me), and attempted to go on a winery/bike tour, only to be stymied by some very pokey plants that gave me two (!!!) flat tires. 

The second push came courtesy of a 6 hour training at work (which unfortunately turned out to be partially redundant with another training we'd had in July, which I just caught up with the night before) and some other meetings where my presence was necessary, but there weren't a lot of notes to take.

As a result of all this forward progress, I've had to pull out some new sets of hexagons to start on; when I get to the end of the longer seams and have short threads left over, it's nice to use them for shorter joining-of-individual-hexagons rather than starting a new long seam and having to knot off/start over partway through. 

Very exciting! I also have some events coming up that should lend themselves to sewing; let's see what happens. :)

Full flowers: 35/64 (5 started)

- Catherine

She's going the distance

Whenever I hear the phrase "going the distance," I think of the band Cake, which was a very divisive topic among my graduate school colleagues - one guy in particular LOVED them, and most others who had any opinion HATED them. I fell in the "HATED them" camp, but I've mellowed over time. :) And it seems an appropriate title for the second half of the full flower efforts!

It's been a month with no posts, and almost no sewing, sadly! 

Margie, congrats on all your projects, including the Spanish! I decided to take a break from my language learning in ~August 2023, and have yet to regain momentum. The stripey shawl is beautiful! The scarf is so fun! The socks are fabulous! I like your plants, too. Hope Ginny's allergies are under control. 

I do have some progress to report: The green (top left) bits are the one that was in progress a month ago (not much changed there), but I have had a few others join the party, including another discovery of a flower "core" (like in July). I actually discovered at the time that having the core was almost more annoying than not having it, since the way that the inner hexagons were joined together made it extra difficult to move from one seam to the next (which is not a problem with my updated joining-of-strips strategy). However, it's certainly not annoying enough to actually take the seams out!

I've promised myself that I'll refresh my knowledge of other ongoing projects today, and I've realized today that I am WAY BEHIND on my reading challenge for the year (which could work in favor of flowers, if I'm listening to audiobooks, or against, as I have many physical books I am excited to read), so who knows what the next few months will hold! If I did try to get through all of the flowers before the end of the year, I would need to complete 2.06/week from here on out. Hmm.

Full flowers: 32/64 (4 started)

- Catherine

Quilt like the wind!

 You are doing such a good job of quilting and posting!  Maybe I need to set a time on my calendar to post...

So I last posted in April.  

I finished Spanish 2 and have been using DuoLingo instead.  It has helped with my vocabulary, but I really need to be around people who speak it.  I might go back to class, but I really like having my free evenings.  Decisions, decisions...

I finished the stripey shawl, and I have knit, unknit, and knit more on Catherine's sweater.  There is a current delay while I need to do some math.

Ginny's issues seem to be environmental allergies.  We have spent many dollars to find this out.

I finished the knit along socks, and am making progress on Jeff's scarf.  I think I only have a quarter left to go.  Let me go find pictures!

The completed stripey shawl!

The violets! Still happy, although not much blooming this summer.

Sock 1

Sock 2

Catherine's sweater!

Birthday yarn from Germany (yes?) I am thinking I might be able to make several pairs of short socks out of the two balls I received.

Jeff's scarf.

So that's all for now.  I'm probably going to make some basic socks in a crazy yarn and work on the sweater (and some other things) for the next couple of months.  I don't think anyone needs Xmas knitting.  We'll see if anyone asks.

I'll post again soon with the details of the departure of Smallest to her new place and dance company!

Margie

Halfway there!

This post is coming a week late (the photo is from Aug 11), but there has been a lot of work stuff to do. Meaning! I almost met my goal of getting to halfway by Aug 9, and anyway am done and slightly past that now. See?

I am at a science thing now, and have brought my sewing in case there's a good opportunity to get in some hexagons. We shall see. :) I'll also have a fair amount of time on planes in September and October, so I may make some progress there. This is definitely a big project!! 

I did also pull out some of my other projects in progress, and will have to remind myself where they're at. More on that next time!

Full flowers: 32/64 (1 started)

- Catherine

August. Rude.

How is it August already???? I think it should be... maybe February.

Well, we are getting dangerously close to August 9, but I am pleased to report that two flowers are finished, and another two just have two seams to finish (one of which is partially done) before they're done as well! You can see them and my helpful kitty below.

Actually, the two mostly-finished flowers are so close to being finished that I won't take them on my trip at all - it would be silly to finish them quickly and then just carry them around for a week. But I will take the most unfinished flower and a whole bunch of not-yet-started flowers, and see how far I get. 

In unrelated good news, a nearly finished project that I inherited from Mom has found an interested taker! I hadn't finished it because I didn't know what I would do with it, so this will reenergize me. Stay tuned!

Full flowers: 29/64 (3 started)

- Catherine

Yay for Past Catherine

Well, it's been 8 days since my last post, in which I said that I needed to complete 1 flower each 6 days to stay on track. Unfortunately, I have not completed a single whole flower. However, I have started each of the 5 flowers I need to get me to halfway - see below (the 5th flower has less than a full seam done, but it's started!!). The top image was a fun surprise - apparently Past Catherine started working on this flower and then tucked it away again in the envelope, so when I pulled out what I was expecting to be single hexagons, the inner circle was already done! I can tell it must have been VERY EARLY in the process, because I stopped sewing them from the middle out like that after about the third flower...

In good and bad news, I don't have a lot of required sitting around to do between now and August 2, so I'll have to make my own opportunities to move things along. I am also starting to get REALLY BORED of hexagons. Maybe my incentive will be that I'll take a break at the halfway point and do something else crafty for a bit? Time will tell!

Full flowers: 27/64 (5 started)

- Catherine

Stay on target...

Thanks to planes, buses, porch chats, mom time, and catching up on work recordings in the last week, I am pleased to share my latest progress of *6* more completed flowers! See? [The red one is not a glitch in the matrix from last week's post - I have two redundant red flowers.]

This puts me only 5 flowers away from my goal of getting halfway done by August 9! As long as I can complete one every 6 days, I'll stay on track. In bad news (for the quilt, at least), I am done with flights until August, so I will have to be more proactive about carving out quilting time. In other bad news, I've completed all the partially-done flowers from previous posts - just 2.5 seams done on the newest flower (at the bottom of the photo) - so no easy wins in the near future.

It's tempting to start thinking about next steps - do I have all of the other fabric I need to complete the quilt? Do I start working on those hexagons and sewing them into small strips? Do I start imagining the overall flower layout? What will the actual quilting look like? But I will try to stay focused on just grinding out the flowers for now - still a long long way to go! 

Full flowers: 27/64 (1 started)

- Catherine

Un deux trois quilt

I made a concerted effort this last week to work on the partially-done quilt flowers whenever I could, with the result that I finished 5 more! The complete ones shown here were all the ones in the top photo from my last post, and the green strips occupied the rest of my time sewing with Mom yesterday (after finishing the yellow flower in the first ~30 minutes). With the greens and the five sets of strips from the lower photo in my last post, I'm poised to knock out a few more quickly. I also have yet more flights this coming week/weekend, and still more recordings to watch for work and some of our favorite sports on for the next month... hopefully lots of quilting!

In other motivational news, this batch of 5 puts me at ~1/3 done with all of the full flowers, an excellent step forward given that I was 1/4 done in just my last post. I will challenge myself to make it to halfway (32) by Aug 9. That might seem like a random choice but I will be flying home from an international destination that day; a good time to catch up if I'm behind. 

One additional reason I'm pleased I tried the "jump-starting" technique (see last post) which requires many needles is that it prompted me to find more needles; I found a packet of actual embroidery needles and WOW they are so much better to work with than the two I had been using, which makes the whole experience more enjoyable. I'm going to retire those original ones for other purposes.

Full flowers: 21/64 (6 started)

- Catherine

One quarter quilted

I have made the most of my last vacation in June! I had time on planes, in a cabin (with a well-placed skylight right over the comfy couch to light my stitches) and a surprising amount of success sewing in the car, despite the bumps in the road (and without getting carsick, yay)!

I finished 4 flowers completely (the blue one in the top left that looks a little wonky had three short seams left, which I finished during a webinar this morning), have four more that only need the final two seams, and 6 that are in strips (needing the final four seams). Woot!

I experimented with a new strategy while I was in the car, which was just to sew the first seam to connect two strips (which you can see in the top photo, i.e. the fabric at funny angles) as a way to make it mentally easier to come back later and sew the rest of the seam, since it was already started. I like it! But it takes up a lot of space trying to keep everything organized; definitely a tradeoff. And it requires a lot of needles, which can be pesky. 

I also tried out sewing the 4- and 5-block strips together and then the 3-block strip onto that rather than sewing both 4- & 3-block strips together and leaving the pesky middle seams for last (like I've done in all the incomplete flowers in the top image). I will definitely do that again - having the shorter seam for the larger chunk of fabric was helpful. 

Based on my quilt math of June 1, I need to finish 3 more flowers before the end of the month to stay ~on track for finishing by the end of the year. But it's very exciting to be 1/4 of the way done with the full flowers! And it's fun to bring smiles to a lot of people who sit next to me on planes. :)

Full flowers: 16/64 (10 started)

- Catherine

Quilting: the new fidget spinner

I have discovered a fun thing, which is that sewing during scientific talks helps me pay attention for much longer than normal. I learned so much cool science the last two days, and sewed a bunch! I sewed a little on the plane too, but not much. Look at my progress!
 

More talks for the next 1.5 days and then some vacation time coming up that I suspect will enable more sewing. Fingers crossed!

Full flowers: 12/64 (12 started)
- Catherine 

Quilting while wandern

Well, I had very good intentions, but I was clearly overly optimistic about how much sewing I would get done on the trip - most nights, rather than sewing, we were thinking about logistics for the next day, or getting in a few puzzles before collapsing. Most mornings, we were just trying to get out of bed, given the 8 hour time difference. However, I did do some sewing on the way over and A LOT OF SEWING on the flight home, so I am pleased to report some progress!

The most entertaining thing to report is that I tried to time myself sewing one flower from start to finish (to assist with my quilt math of last week). The purple one in the bottom corner is the result. I didn't time it perfectly (there were times that I got distracted and didn't stop the timer, and other times when I had stopped the timer and started sewing again without restarting it; hopefully those come out in the wash). I was also not 100% focused on sewing all the time, as I was watching movies too, but I don't think I frequently sit down to sew with a single-minded focus on hexagons, so that's probably realistic. All told, it came out to just over 4 hours. I may try that again just for a second data point, but it's useful to know I have somewhere on the order of 200 hours of sewing left to finish the flowers. Oof/yay?

6 more flights coming in the next 3.5 weeks! Watch out, flowers.

Full flowers: 12/64 (8 started)

-Catherine

Quilt math

I have been thinking more about my question from last week, whether I can even get through all of the flowers for this quilt this year (I dare not aspire to finishing the quilt top, since I don't even know what fabric I'm using for the white hexagons in between, and they will be so much work...). I've got 30.5 weeks left this year, and 53 flowers still to finish, so I should aim to finish at least 2 per week whenever possible (understanding that there will be at least 4 weeks when I don't meet that in full or in part). Oof!!

In bad news, this past week was not an exemplary week along those lines - I made progress on the red flower (see?) but that's it. 

In good news, I am about to go on big vacation #2 for the year, and will have time in the airport/on planes to sew. Need to make sure my little sewing light is all charged up. :D

Full flowers: 11/64 (4 started)

- Catherine 

Quilting in the land of the midnight sun

I have returned from vacation, to a destination in the north! Not the same place as last year, but still SO MUCH SUNLIGHT. Thank goodness for blackout curtains. 

I was delighted to discover (on an afternoon when Evil Twin was napping, so no pressure to be speedy in my browsing, even better!) a quilt store in one of the little towns we were in, including some fabric swatches with designs from local artists (mostly fish) and a fish applique! It's like the local culture is strongly linked to fish or something. :P

I also did get in some sewing on the trip up, and have had several hours to sew this week while watching some season finales and webinars. Making progress, see!? 

My first post that I can find about these hexagons was January 13, when I had 3 and a bit done. Will I be able to finish them this year??

Full flowers: 11/64 done (4 started)

- Catherine

Knock knock

This week I made no progress on the mystery cross-stitch, as Mom decided that we should play cards instead of doing arts and crafts. Despite not remembering that she has ever played the game before, her instincts remain on point; she knocked in the final game, collecting only 4 points, but that was all she needed! Next time...

I did make a bit of progress on the flowers watching some training videos and cycling recaps. The final seams of the hexagons are so tedious, because there's so much fabric to deal with. I need to figure out how to focus only on the exact parts I'm sewing together and not try to gather the rest up in my hands, because that is going to become impossible once I start assembling the flowers into larger groups. Something to work on. Anyway, here's what's changed since the last photo - I completed blue, added one more purple seam, and forged a tiny green connection.

We go on vacation next week, so I hope to have some time at the airport to sew more. We'll see!

Full flowers: 9/64 done (4 started)

- Catherine

Yay for webinars

This week I was catching up on some webinars for work, so was able to get in a bit of sewing on the flowers - yellow is almost done and blue is in the running for next to finish! The fact that I didn't just finish the ones that were already more progressed is either due to the fact that the single seams (constructing the strips) are much easier than the multi-seams (sewing the strips together) or a general reflection of my chaotic brain and inability to power through boring tasks, or both. Sigh.

I also got some work done on my mystery cross-stitch on Tuesday! It's so tiny!!

Full flowers: 8/64 done (5 started)

- Catherine

Q is for quilt

I find it entertaining and useful to make an alphabet-based to-do list for weekend activities/chores/errands, etc. It is very handy to be working on so many quilts for this purpose! 

Here is my progress on mystery cross-stitch from last week:

And here is my progress on the quilt flowers! I finished the orange one while zooming with my book club today; knowing that I was planning to blog was a good motivation to do it! Creating the strips is much easier than sewing the strips together, so it might look impressive but all the hard work is still ahead on these. :P

It's so fun to see all your projects and violets, Margie! And thanks for the encouragement. :) I agree, make the same mistake bottom left (or top left?) and no one will ever know. 

Full flowers: 8/64 done (4 started)

- Catherine

It's taking soooooo long!

Well, I have to report that I am missing a magical being to work on my projects while I sleep.  After reading all those fairy tales growing up, this seemed like a more common occurrence than it's turning out to be.

The biggest problem is a lack of free time.  I'm taking Spanish 2, so my Monday and Wednesday evenings are lost por hablo español.  I've added another committee at church, which has monthly meetings and stuff to do in between meetings.  Jeff and I exercise after work every other day, and then it's time to make dinner when we're done.  If we're not exercising, then we walk for about an hour after dinner.  Just not enough time!  I need a time turner!

There have been some trips lately, but I haven't made as much progress as I would like.  Here's where things stand - I have five more colors to go on the stripey shawl.  

I've started the decreases on the waist for Catherine's sweater.  This is the slowest project by far.  I have made more progress since this picture.

I'm almost done with the first ball of yarn for Jeff's scarf.  This is usually my TV project, but we haven't been watching much TV lately.  It's over 2 ft long.  No current picture for that one.

Nothing else has been started.  I did, however, decide to participate in a knit-along, where a bunch of people will all knit these cute new socks "together" online.  They've got short legs, so I think they'll go quickly.  Plus, I always need to use up sock yarn!  

Other excitement... Ginny got sick before my trip to Minnesota.  She had mastitis, probably from excessive licking?  It was not fun.  Jeff and The Boy did a great job medicating her while I was gone.

Smallest gave me some African Violets last summer and they are finally blooming!

Oh!  I have a cross stitch dilemma!  (speaking of cross stitch, I think you need to pick up some 0.5 power reading glasses for your new project!) I have been working on the border and realized I messed up!  I have already ripped out parts of the side twice, and the error is up at the top right corner.  I do NOT want to rip it out again, so I think the answer is to make a corresponding mistake at the bottom left corner?

I think that's all I know at the moment.  I only have one trip this month, to see Smallest in her end of the year performance.  She has been auditioning for companies this spring and has two apprentice offers, so I think she will take one of those over taking another trainee position.  It's either Minneapolis, MN or Manassas, VA!  If we go by the strange coincidence that everyone seems to be 1000 miles away, it's Minneapolis, but we'll have to wait and see.

You're making great progress on all your things!  I am impressed!