Art, Craft, and Needlework, November 2011

[bittersweet]

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.
Thomas Jefferson

What projects will help to fill your 'extra' hours this month? What enjoyable activity will you invest in when not engaged in housework, errands, kids, elder care, etc?

[bittersweet]

Believe it or not, I actually signed up for the NaNoWriMo this year! So far, I've filled out my profile a bit, and come up with a basic synopsis for the novel.

As is quite usual for me, I'm finding myself quickly getting bogged down in a multitude of decisions. Computer or notebook? Google docs or Word? Pen or pencil? I think that what I should do first is get a good night's sleep...it's already after 1am here, and although I have tomorrow off, I do have a fair bit of stuff I want to get done.

[Nancy]

Yea! Found my yarn so I can make another puppet!

[Harmony]

Quilt I designed on paper in October, bought material for, changed whole plan twice because couldn't find proper material choices and didn't like how it was turning out...can you say disaster? I just cleaned up whole room and put all of that stuff away. I've been to store yet again and material is in washer. Should be an easy project. I am busy for the next 4 weekends, so no time to piece something as I am slow at that. Hoping this latest try will look good enough to give away.

[Harriet]

Harmony, you could choose to give a quilt at a later moment. My family has gotten used to receiving quilts well after the fact of an event. At this point, ds' marriage and dd's third child have still received NO quilt - something I would have sworn a few years ago that I could have avoided. And although dstepgd did get a handmade quilt from me, dstepson and ddil never had gotten a quilt for their marriage 10 years ago, so they received an antique quilt I bought for their 10th anniversary last month instead.

I did take a sidestep or two and make a quilt for HRH's surprise-and-only newborn niece, and one for dsil when he started displaying for battlefield re-enactments, but I certainly can't criticize myself for doing the sewing I was inspired to do, just because others keep having events, lol. (Well, they all know that now they are waiting because I have no time to myself. I'm sure everyone realizes there will be no Christmas quilt given this year, and time is just not on Mom's side!)

bittersweet, have great fun with your writing project. I hope it goes very well for you and that you enjoy the input of others, maybe can give some advice to them, too.

[Harmony]

Well, You can get away with that, Harriet, because your quilts are sooo special, and you are no doubt appreciated and loved in your family. In my case, it's very different. We don't have a real cemented relationship, probably because they've always lived so far away, and she has her family there close. We didn't make a trip of 3+ hours one time to meet them for just a few minutes and they didn't speak to us for probably a year. So, you get the jist of our situation.

I'm just doing a printed top to which I added borders and I'll quilt it and bind it. I have the border on and it's layered and pinned and I'm stuck right now with the marking.

Nobody in her family does any sewing or crafting or even cooking. They're all into careers and making money! So, I'm sure this will be fine.

[Sunny]

Harmony... that sounds like a perfect solution and a quicker one also. You can always follow up later on with the design you had first planned. That way you would have time to make it so you will be pleased with it.

[Harmony]

DH helped me mark the top of the quilt. I didn't have the correct template, tried to make one from a pattern in a book and couldn't figure out how to make that work. He got out his compas and protractor and made something which I still couldn't figure out and he applied it to the quilt and I drew the lines.

So it is on the rack and I have finally begun the quilting. It is an all-over jungle pattern so I'm doing an all-over Baptist Fan quilting. That's a lot of stitches, but I've made a start, always the hardest part of any project for me, the starting!

[Harriet]

The arc of the fan is so pleasant to quilt, though, since your arm can just naturally travel, pivoting at the elbow. You can go relatively fast. My paternal grandmother almost always used it on her patchwork. HRH smiles at the idea of a fan pattern name being associated with a church, but we're both old enough to know why.

bittersweet, how is the writing going?

Nancy, what color puppet are you working on?

[Nancy]

The last few have been striped, one grey and white, and one red and white.
Next could be red, white, and navy blue if I have enough.
Yarn supplies are getting low here now.