Sew slow

Oof, where did 6 weeks go?

Congrats on your adventures and your completed projects!! I successfully guessed which pattern Smallest would like best, lol. Sorry about all the time you wasted on the bad sweater pattern. :(

I have made progress on three projects since I last posted. 

1. The quilt is coming together - I have one block of 8 horizontal strips, one block of 4, one block of 2, and three more pairs waiting to be sewn up. 

2. The green of the peacock has grown, though only slightly. The stitches are so small that I have to work on it without my glasses on / with my face up close like an old person. It's ridiculous, I know. But also, it means that it's not a good project if I'm in any moving vehicle on the off chance I poke a needle in my eye.

3. I've come back to the flowers cross-stitch; the last post I can find that shows a picture is this one from Dec 2023. Between then and August 24, I did a bit of work on the leaves in the bottom left (see first photo), and through today I've finished that block, added a second color blue to the top right flowers, and am more than halfway done with the leaves of the middle right yellow flowers (see second photo). I still don't know who I am making this for, humph. Maybe Mom would like a little garden since she can't grow her own anymore?

I aspire to finish the pinwheels this weekend, and then I will talk to a long-arm person to make sure that I'm preparing the quilt sandwich correctly. 

I also want to cut out the white hexagons this month, as I have a big trip coming up in October that will be perfect for sewing.

I also need to regroup on my projects list, as I think I only have 3 completed so far and I was aiming for 25. Hmm...

Yay for sewing!

- Catherine

No More Kids!

Well, it has happened!  We are all alone at home.  I had a nice drive to Vermont with The Boy.  It was long, but entertaining.

When we got to Massachusetts, we were driving along the Pike and I was thinking about how fun it was to visit you in Amherst, and then I realized that a friend from grad school is there now.  It was close to dinnertime, so we called her and met up with her and her son for dinner there.  Very fun, and great to be out of the car for real food!

Me and my friend Tina (not college roommate Tina)

The move-in on Thursday went well, I got talked at a lot by school people.  It was helpful.  I stayed with my Rice/S&B friend Laura M. who lives about an hour away from The Boy in Peterborough, New Hampshire.  It was so fun to see her (and her husband), and see her house in the midst of kitchen renovation, and talk and talk and talk!  She also has a very sweet dog (also a Lucy!).

Lucy was a stray dog in Aruba!

I came back late on Saturday and I think for the first time in many, many flights there were no small children on my flights!  What is this magic?!

I did go to Green Mountain Spinnery while I was there, and they do think there is a market for Icelandic sheep wool, but they can't process it.  I bought yarn for a sweater.

I did work on your sweater while we were driving, and I have some bad news.  Below, behold the sweater:

Check out the width on that puppy.  The sweater it's on top of is a boxy cut sweater that is baggy on me.  It is 25 inches across, so 50 inches around.  I think it is Too Large (and this is also before blocking!).  I'm going to look for a better pattern that won't require heavy modification, or see if I can use a book of patterns that I have to create our own.  So sorry!

The yarn for Smallest's vest came in.  It's a surprisingly small amount of yarn, so hopefully it's all correct!

Oh yeah, I have that quilt to make too!  We don't seem to be using the table for dinner any more, so maybe I can just set up the sewing machine there.  That would be excellent!

 

Margie

Catching up and dropping off (almost!)

Oh, you have been so good about posting!

So, since the post in June I have finished many things!

I was disappointed to find that I was needed for more things at both meetings than expected, so less progress than desired.  Alas.

You have done so much!  And I applaud Helper Cat for his excellent holding down of the quilt squares.  Good job, Nairo!  The peacock is cute and so tiny!  How goes the flair with the asymmetry?  I really like that quilt pattern with the colors you have chosen.

I finished the top for Smallest, but I think I didn't sew the buttons on?  No, no buttons, but she can sew those on.

I also finished the shawl I started.  I think I started it in April, after I finished those socks for Jeff.  That was very fun, the construction was different, it's knit tip to tip, so you have to increase one side all the time and decrease the other side.  It was clever.  Blocking is, again, magical.

I delivered the cowl and it was well received.  Yay!

I realized that I still have a top waiting to be finished, so I will take that and your sweater along with me tomorrow when The Boy and I leave for Vermont!  (Fun fact, his school is five miles away from Green Mountain Spinnery!  They make nice yarn, and they also process fleece for people.  I have had this idea about processing fleece from a herd of Icelandic sheep that live in Colorado.)  I am really excited for him re-starting the school process, and I'm excited to have no kids at home, and I'm really going to miss him a lot!

The drive will be about 28 hours, according to Google, and I need to make The Boy a better long distance driver, so he needs to do most of the driving, which means knitting for me!  And then there's the flight back home.

Once I'm back home, the baby quilt awaits me because the baby came waaaay early (due in Nov) so we've picked out fabrics and a variation of the goose chase pattern.  Cutting and piecing next!  Ginny has her paw on the border fabric, then next is some sashing, then the colors for the "geese" and the neutrals for the background of the geese.

Oh! I forgot, I saw a cute vest pattern that I thought Smallest would like.  She does, so I tested colors and the red and cream with the cream "v" pattern is the winner.  I need to order the yarn for that.  It should be quick.

I finished the book series.  I liked the series over all.  I wish it hadn't leaned so heavily into pairing everyone off and soulmate stuff, but ah well, it is a series for teens.  Now I'm finishing the Southern Reach series by Jeff Vandermeer.  Annihilation was the first in the series.  They're weird, but interesting.  I'm making progress on the Wheel of Time book I was stuck on.  It will be good to move on to the next one.  I'm also glad there's a glossary in the back reminding me who people are.

If you get bored, you can call us on the road Tuesday or Wednesday!  Here are bonus pictures for your amusement.

Margie

Pinwheels pieced!

The first pinwheels have been officially made! I've sewn 4 of the horizontal strips together (on left in the photo), and have two more sets of two that are ready to be sewn together (bottom right); the remaining 8 strips are waiting to be kicked off (pile top right).

I had ambitious plans to get all 20 rows put together this weekend, but I am behind on the work I get paid for, and then the other work I volunteer to do (but am still accountable for), so I cannot dedicate as much time as hoped to sewing. Alas! However, they do come together pretty fast; we'll see how many more I can get to.

I also had a lovely walk this morning, catching up with an old friend. While walking through the open space, I found myself going the opposite direction of a (small) herd of cattle (here's the second half). Two babies took a good look at me going by! They did not know what I was all about. :P

Next week I will be away from home, so hopefully I will make some progress on the peacock. I also need to make a plan for what project I will take with me on a big trip coming up - more than 2 weeks, including a fair amount of time on planes. We shall see!

- Catherine

Pushing on with the peacock

Mini-progress to report for this week - I've finished the two strips of quilt squares that I was working on last week (only 4 left), and I made some good progress on the peacock's flair during a business trip last week (see?). The mishap in the green border that I mentioned last time proved more challenging to address than I expected; hopefully it won't be too noticeable in the end.

Evil twin will be traveling himself this week, so hopefully I will fill the time with some crafting!

- Catherine

Pieces of pinwheels

Well, I did not make the pajama pants, or regroup on my next projects. Le sigh. Nor did I finish the quilt top, but I made a lot of progress! I finished all of the quilt blocks, and ironed them open, and laid them out to design how all of the pinwheels will interconnect. I think it will look great! See? The pattern definitely used lighter fabric for the entire gradient, so this one will be darker in general and maybe the gradient is not as obvious, but it's ok. You can also see helpful cat is helping. :P

Then I pinned all those individual squares together, and am nearly done sewing them into strips. See? Some of the last ones in progress are in the top photo; the completed strips are laid out on the bed below (the pattern is also there, for comparison). 300 seams overall, oof. Then I sew the strips together (15 big seams), easy! Ha ha.

Hopefully will get more time on this next weekend - will be a busy week of travel and singing and biking!

- Catherine

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

Procrasticleaning

 So... I should be working right now.  However, it's a beautiful day here and I want to be doing other things.  After this, I will get to work.  Really.  I promise.

Smallest finished the quilt.  It is not perfect, but the washing made a lot of errors less noticeable.  She chose an aqua colored binding, which I think looks great.

She may be back home with us for the summer, which would be lovely.  

I have made a little progress on the cowl, I think?  And today in church I worked on Jeff's sock.  I got past the gusset decreases, so now it's a straight shot to the end of the foot.  I just have to maintain the stitch pattern and all will be well.  

I still need to do the neck of the sweater for Smallest.  I'll have to sneak that in somewhere.

Work is super busy right now (thus the working on a Sunday, which I usually do not like to do), so there hasn't been much goofing off and with the visitors, there hasn't been much free time.  I did officially quit the Stewardship committee this week (yay!) and so I have very few church obligations right now.

I have a top that I started a couple of years ago (even before your sweater!) and I'm almost done with it, so perhaps after I finish the three things above, I can focus on your sweater and this other top.  Things to think about...

There is other exciting news, but you should contact Smallest about it, I don't want to steal her thunder.  We should also be hearing about Middle's significant other's grad school applications soon also.  Lots to know!

Margie

Multicraftual!

Smallest is here for a week to deal with some medical stuff, so she decided that it would be the perfect time to make a small quilt for work friends who are having a baby.

She bought a "jelly roll" of strips with stars, sewed them together in groups of three, I cut them into squares, she pieced the strips and then put the strips together and voila! the top was done!  She pieced the strips on Friday, put the top together on Saturday, and then yesterday (Sunday) we made the sandwich and she quilted it with a simple rectangle pattern.  Is it perfect?  No.  It is cute?  Absolutely!  She's going to put the binding on today while I"m at work (probably).  We got some bias tape binding over the weekend to make it easier.  She didn't want to deal with a border, so that makes things easier also.

The backing fabric is fairy tale characters, which is very cute also.  Here is the progress:

The squares before piecing.

The squares after piecing.

The quilt sandwich after quilting.

So that's been the fun with Smallest.  She leaves on Wednesday, so there is time to finish it up.  It was very satisfying when, after trimming the edges for the binding, the corners all matched when I folded the quilt.

So... what have I done since my last post...

Administrator-land is getting easier, maybe?  I've made several mistakes and I am learning many things!  I am hoping that it will go more smoothly as we go forward.  We have an NSF Site Visit in May which is a Big Deal, so that needs to go smoothly.  We have a proposal to submit to the NSF before April 11 which is also a big deal.  

The water leak has been repaired, but the street has not been repaired.  I am annoyed.

I finished the first sock for Jeff and have turned the heel on the second sock.  I thought I had a picture of that, but alas, I do not!

I disassembled a cardigan that I made last year, I think? I didn't really like the fit.  The magic of yarn.  I will find a better pattern for it.  I actually bought the yarn to go with a specific pattern, so maybe I should try that one.

The yarn for the cowl did indeed arrive at last and I've been working on it for a bit.  It's over three inches long, probably?  It will be around 10-12 inches total.  I like the colors and the ribbing pattern.  It looks green on one side and grey on the other, but if you stretch it a little, you'll see the contrasting color between the ribs.

Other excitement - our neighbor decided it was time to take down some trees that were in the fence between our yards.  Jeff and I repaired the hole from the front tree the first weekend in March.  Here's our handiwork!

We had Sarah, Javi, and Lauren in this past weekend.  They came to go to the rodeo.  It was lots of fun, we ate too much, and they went to the rodeo with Jeff while I stayed home with Smallest.  A good time was had by all.

It does occur to me that I need to finish her sweater before she leaves.  Maybe I should do that tonight...

Have a great time on your trip!  ICTP is pretty neat.

Margie

Quiltabulous!

In order to have a quilt for the long-arm experiment, I offered to make a quilt for a local friend. On Sunday, we talked all about patterns and colors and sizes, oh my! She is so excited AND picked a really simple pattern to execute and some very fun fabrics out of the samples I had brought over (those elephants!!!), which makes the whole project much more fun for me. 

I've got some accounting to finish for a non-crafting side project, but then I will turn to doing all the math/getting extra fabrics for this one. In good news, the instructions (see photo) are very clear about how much fabric of different intensity I need, and give a really good tip for how to sew 8 squares at once - so handy! I also need to reach out to an actual long-arm operator and make sure I have all their rules in mind for how much extra fabric they need. 

Very exciting. :)

While I'm doing math, I will return to my grandmother's garden quilt to figure out how much white fabric I need to join up the flowers. After a year of sewing at every possible moment, my hands are itchy without something to do!

In the meantime, I've been continuing my work on the mystery cross-stitch. I have decided this one is fated for another pencil case, maybe for me this time? Here's the latest:

- Catherine

The tiniest pillow!

I have finished the cutest little pillow ever - I had it mostly sewn and stuffed yesterday, and sewed up the final seam during a call this morning. I have put it in Nairo's window seat, where he likes to sleep while we're watching TV; now we just have to see if he'll use it! So exciting. 

I also finished up the last two pencil cases - I had to redo both after I ironed interfacing to the interior fabric, rather than the exterior. I naively didn't realize how much of a difference it would make, but it was a big one! Unfortunately, for Nina's bag (the green checkerboard), I didn't have enough of the interfacing or the interior fabric left to make a single big square, so each is kind of its own checkboard of interfacing bits and yellow seams. I think the seams inside are pretty invisible - the top half of the yellow fabric (closest to the zipper) is one bigger piece. The structural support from the interfacing is also a bit lacking, but I think it'll still get the job done.

You may notice the aspect ratio of Darren's second fish bag is a bit different - he asked for a deeper bag so he can put his little notebooks and calendars in. I didn't have enough fish so the swirly ribbon is just extending the fabric. It doesn't really match the interior green, but close enough? 

Yay for my first three projects of the year wrapped up! I've even already mailed the pencil case out to Nina, bonus points. 

- Catherine

25 for 25

Happy new year, seester!

One of my big aspirations for this year is to keep the momentum going with all of my sewing projects, including: 

• Finishing Darren’s second pencil case 
• Finishing Nina’s pencil case 
• Finishing the pin cushion and scissor keep that Mom did (I found a taker!) 
• Doing my first experiment with long-arm quilting 
• Making two little Japanese sashiko samplers into a tiny pillow for Nairo 
• Some mending/remaking of clothes 
• More work on the grandmothers garden quilt  
• And other things! 

Obviously, if I am to have any dream of succeeding with this goal, some of the projects will have to be smaller in scope than others, but I think the list above has some good easy things to pair with the more ambitious efforts. 

Speaking of smaller: last week for Arts & Crafts with Mom, I picked up this little cross-stitch again. The fabric is so small I have to take off my glasses to see properly! I need a plan for what I’ll do with this once I’m done. Perhaps another pencil case in my future?

Also, I didn’t get a picture of three pencil cases I made in December for my team at work - here they are, along with Martha's pencil case (the one with the crazy fabric)! The superhero guy is an inside joke that I turned into custom fabric; my first time trying that and it was definitely a success!

Excited for more fun this year!

• Catherine