a crafty day off

Monday was a day off for me, and I spent quite a bit of it letting the creative juices flow. Before they really got going, though, I felt the need to address a couple of knitted objects that have been sitting around waiting for their final steps. On the left is my Shift cowl which needed blocking before seaming up and weaving in ends. On the right is the sweater I have been mad at since January and unsure how to address it. What I decided to do was block the entire thing to see if it improves the fit and to examine how much I need to address the neckline. I have my notes from the first one I made, so if I need to I can just try the same adjustments I made there. Here's hoping! 

Another BIG project I have wanted to tackle since last year is a new quilt. This is going to be a complex undertaking that I'm hoping I can chip away at month by month this year. I might not finish the top by the end of the year but I hope to at least make a dent. My first order or business was to get my fabrics out and remember what I have collected. Most of these are from Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove, purchased years ago along with the pattern, and some are from the stash to augment the color families where I could. 

This is Elizabeth Hartman's Desert Animals Quilt, and the way she has written the pattern, knowing which fabric of mine corresponds to the letters of hers is going to be necessary to keep everything straight. To help my sanity, I snipped little pieces of each fabric and used a glue stick to stick them on a piece of cardboard in the same kind of grid that exists in the pattern booklet. I think this is going to be a huge favor to my future self. I'm looking forward to diving into that one sometime soon. 

The last thing I did was make another Firefly Tote. I cut the canvas pieces out when I cut out the pieces for Mom's tote, and I had all of the accent fabrics chosen and piled up. It had all been sitting on the side because I wanted to make the bigger one for myself first. I was in a clean-it-up mood, so I decided that the best thing to do would be to just make the bag instead of moving the pile again!  

 

It turned out looking great. Mom and Dad bought me these fabrics on our most recent trip to Pacific Grove. I remember Mom really wanted to get us some butterfly fabric to mark the trip. This Charley Harper print is beautiful. The lining fabric is a zinnia print from Anna Maria Parry that pairs so well with that neon geometric. I'm thrilled with how this one turned out. This took me late into the night and I went to sleep pretty satisfied with the progress, planning, and clean up I got done on a relaxing day off.