Art, Craft and Needlework, December 2010

[Harmony]

Your cards are always so beautiful, Twins. I don't make cards, but last year after the holidays I took the cards I would have thrown out and made gift tags for this year's packages. There are lots of little figures, scenes, etc., on the cards, some on the very back too, and I cut them with my paper cutter and have unique tags to use.

Booksaver, that's so nice that you use your sewing skills to help others like that. Looking forward to your pictures.

Nancy, twice the prayers, haha, I like that!

Day after Thanksgiving I helped DD1 with DGSs' boy scout patches. She had tried to use patch glue, and it didn't hold. I tried to machine stitch them on. Couldn't understand what was happening, but finally saw that the glue was sticking to the thread and the needle, making a mess. So I ended up sewing them by hand, except that the glue was gumming up the needle and thread and every other stitch I had to wipe the needle with alcohol. Lesson learned: don't ever use patch glue!

Then I put my royal blue spool of thread on the end table and never did get it put away...running the sweeper the next day, the spool fell on the floor and the vacuum likity split caught the end of the thread and zipp just like magic wound a whole spool of thread all around the beater bar. I could not get it shut off quick enough.

Last week it took me half an hour to cut all that thread off the beater bar. Another lesson learned: put thread away after I use it!

[BookSaver]

Did not finish the toys and pajamas previously mentioned so will keep them for next winter since they are definitely Christmas print fabrics.

Ran out of time to make pieced bookmarks like the ones Harriet & dd pictured. I had wanted to do them for sewing group board members, but there are 10 of them and I only had time to make 1 bookmark. We cancelled our December business meeting anyway, so I would have had to mail the gifts. Decided to drop the idea.

I whipped together a travel tissue holder for DMom yesterday morning which doubled as a gift card holder. Extremely quick and easy from these instructions --
http://sewing.about.com/od/bagstotespur ... ecover.htm
I made the slit style cover, not the envelope style, in a scrap of beautiful colorful floral print fabric.

[Nancy]

Thanks Harmony. I've got a list in my head of things for making up next year so I'll be gathering up yarn and supplies patterns ideas etc.

Slippers maybe.
Granny square throws for the rest of the grand kids three more to go I can do this!!!
Hoodies a few more needed.

Pattern on website to check out for mittens at crochetme.com they have free patterns under the drop down bar at the top under patterns. Looking up slippers with out much success I might add.

Made a hat last night.

[Harriet]

LisaB, how are you prioritizing your Works In Progress? Nancy is also in the planning stages for a lot of projects at beginning of 2011. BookSaver has postponed some projects to 2011 and is prioritizing them, too.

This is really on my mind, because I have so many UFOs or WIPs. I need to streamline my physical containers of them and I need to streamline my thinking process ABOUT them. Everybody keeps telling me that it's okay I'm so far behind on family event quilts (wedding for ds, baby for dd) but when one is ready (taking up space laid out or on the wall) and waiting for my input, and then I have to put it away because of time constraints, it ultimately takes more time to finish it. I lose my momentum. For this reason, ideas like "spend an hour on project one, then an hour on project two" don't work as well for quiltmaking, unless most of the projects are small.

I do a remarkably good job of starting projects. Like I mentioned in PWYC today, 2011 needs to be my completion year. "No new projects"

I have been thinking about ideas like regular monthly days of creativity (Rudolph Club), and some of the ideas in the "Handling UFOs, UnFinished Objects" in the About-Links thread at the "top" of this forum, etc. (btw, I deleted one of those links today as its domain was evidently dropped).

Harmony, I learned about that supposed glue thing for emblems when ds spent a year at a private school that required emblems on every shirt, and provided ones with glue on the back already. The other boys' were literally falling off in class he said, and then they were getting into trouble because of it one way or another, so I never trusted the glue to make it through a day of school. I sat and hand sewed all those stiff things. Sigh!

Cute link, BookSaver! If everybody starts crying at a wedding, that sure would be a perfect pass-around help! Efficient purse item.

Wow, LisaB's dd is already 13!

[Lisa B.]

LisaB, how are you prioritizing your Works In Progress? Nancy is also in the planning stages for a lot of projects at beginning of 2011. BookSaver has postponed some projects to 2011 and is prioritizing them, too.

This is really on my mind, because I have so many UFOs or WIPs. I need to streamline my physical containers of them and I need to streamline my thinking process ABOUT them. Everybody keeps telling me that it's okay I'm so far behind on family event quilts (wedding for ds, baby for dd) but when one is ready (taking up space laid out or on the wall) and waiting for my input, and then I have to put it away because of time constraints, it ultimately takes more time to finish it. I lose my momentum. For this reason, ideas like "spend an hour on project one, then an hour on project two" don't work as well for quiltmaking, unless most of the projects are small.

I do a remarkably good job of starting projects. Like I mentioned in PWYC today, 2011 needs to be my completion year. "No new projects"

I have been thinking about ideas like regular monthly days of creativity (Rudolph Club), and some of the ideas in the "Handling UFOs, UnFinished Objects" in the About-Links thread at the "top" of this forum, etc. (btw, I deleted one of those links today as its domain was evidently dropped).

Wow, LisaB's dd is already 13!

Harriet, dare I say it,....my list of WIP's is in my head, as there are only 5 large projects and 2 small stitchery ones - easy to keep listed in my head. Currently, on my table, is the pinning board with the alterations done on the pattern sheet for my blouse - now ready to cut out of fabric for a muslin to make sure it fits properly before the final cut into the actual wearable fabric. On the one corner, is my DD13's pattern for her skirt with the fabric and thread. Under that is the instructions for the anniversary quilt. There are 2 other projects i've planned but not yet started - one is a pair of pants and the other is a pencil princess seamed skirt - both these are going to be worn at the office.

Also, there is a small plastic tub I keep close to my couch, wherein there are small stitchery squares I'm working on (my sashiko is one of them). The larger WIP's are the ones mentioned before.

My mom has given me a hardback A5 size page a day diary.......thinking I could us this to schedule time (running short of this item) when it's just for the sewing or quilting that I've got listed in my head.

[Nancy]

Thanks for asking gals!

How am I planning my W.I.P.'s {Works in progress}.
Start small is my game plan!
Use up the yarn I have on hand.
Practice some new knitting stitch patterns a flexable goal I have also.

Finished up a hoodie and ski hat for winter wear as dd family are working / playing outside.
And these are fast to do up.

Last night I finished up a prayer shawl that was nearly done.
One bday gift is in mid Jan. and there is no way I could get that done so it's going to be pushed back until next Christmas.

I do not have the yarn for that or the other two.
So I"m working on the things that I have yarn for on hand.
I like to have a project going that is easy and fast to feel like I've made progress.
Other granny square projects will began after I talk with the recipients about the color they want.

One year we bought and wrapped gifts then forgot what was inside of them. Ack!
That did not work out so well.

I like to work on bigger projects when it's colder out this winter, and smaller ones in the summer when it's hot out.

I still have one hoodie here it's great to keep one around for a pattern.

It is not realistic for me to have say 4 big quilts, or afghans I want to do up in the same year.
So I keep knitting so I put some time in on projects I like and that are fun to do.
If I hate a project I don’t finish it or re do it most of the time that is anyway.

I’m organizing these in my mind today as I think about it I try to have a crochet project going and knitting Project going alternate these with big and small ones, like the small crochet bags I want to make up just for fun That go with the dish clothes and hot pads for a bar of soap as a hostess gift to keep on hand.

[Harriet]

Thanks for the input about prioritizing projects, Lisa and Nancy. Both of you have been much more sensible than I have up to now and so you have a good handle on what you want to do next (and next). Lisa, I really like the diary idea for scheduling and accountability. Nancy, you are so right about realistically admitting you can't expect to do 100% on 4 big projects in one year (unless you quit everything else in life), plus admitting to yourself if you don't really like a project and letting go of it.

I realize I am really out there with the number of projects I have. I've always been too optimistic/illogical about starting something new (and then moving on to some new technique before finishing). I think about 5-6 years ago I started reaching a level of projects that I could barely handle as it was, and about that same time all my years of caregiving started with my dear aunt's illness, then our family events started happening pretty fast, with quilts I wanted to make for family pushing aside the other projects. At first, I integrated family-event quiltmaking into my life reasonably well, and got dd30's wedding quilt done by her 1st anniversary and DangerBoy's baby quilt done by the baby shower. Then HRH's only brother surprised us late in life with his one and only child, and I wanted to make a quilt for them, and belatedly made one for dstepgd. In the midst of that I found out about dsil's need for a quilt for his reinactment work and couldn't stand it until I met that need. Sheesh.

When I think this through, I've been able to produce 5 large quilts in the last 5-6 years (respectable), but never finished a single one DURING that time that I had started BEFORE that time!!! Talk about a bottleneck! And yet very often rescuing orphaned blocks was still happening as "therapy" for me so I have actually added to the waiting projects.

Anyway, no use fretting over it. Family still trumps any other projects and I've become a grandmother twice again and a mother-in-law once again since then.

Last evening I gave 45 minutes over to just generally neatening and organizing in the room. Then I sat up in bed last night and prioritized the 5 most likely projects.

Two large ones:
1) WonderBoy's toddler quilt (Houses) before he turns 3 in April, and
2) ds25's wedding quilt (Forest) before he has a 2nd anniversary in July
And three small ones:
3) wall hanging
4) more bookmarks for gift closet
5) more pincushions for gift closet

So I'm changing up and putting the first "deadline" (Houses) ahead of the one I was working on through this past year (Forest), so I'll have the best chance at both deadlines. 'Course these may not all happen. My ddad may require more care. We never know what will happen and either could also be a Christmas present. But it's a plan.

First I'll need to manage getting a design wall up for the Houses quilt, and I'm going to see if I can just reverse the one that's already up so I don't have to dismantle the Forest quilt "wall". If not, I'll come up with something more slap-dash!

[Lisa B.]

A pleasure Harriet. At the moment, my projects are visible as well as the list in my head. Visibility means that I can at least see the projects that require doing. Whether I complete them in time is another matter of discussion.

Nancy, I'm amazed that you are the most productive of all of us with your finishes.

Harriet, my idea of the diary is that I need to get into the habit of using one or at least put the time I want to have on the cards. I ideally would like to have around an hour to an hour & a half each night but sometimes I only have 15 minutes and one cannot get much completed or even cut fabric.

Yesterday pm I re-folded the few bits of quilt material I have and put them in a fabric shoe organizer that lays pretty flat - it's only around 3 to 4 inches high. I still need to sort and re-fold the fabric that is for the blouse and skirt on my to do list.

I was looking at a table runner quilt pattern and thinking of adding this to my to do list but am not sure yet. Am thinking this through a little more to see if I want to add yet another project to plan for to my list.

The other table runner that I did, has just been unpicked - so need to re-press the pieces and re-stitch back together - hopefully this time to ensure that the seams are laying correct with the setting triangles and not skew like I did last time. This project has been moved to the top of my list as it now needs my full attention on it.

[Nancy]

Harriet & others I did finish an orphan block this past year or two, put it on a tote bag for a pocket so I could say to myself I'd finished something that's great for mojo and feeling more successful.

Lisa thanks for saying that and for noticing!

I started a planned practice project last night to try out new stitch patterns on and I know I"ll
be doing a lot of ripping on it but am so excited as some new patterns are coming in these
sessions a cross for one. Great for the blizzard warnings in the forecast and while I do not have
granny duty for a couple of weeks.

Got a square done on a granny square throw for dear step grand son. So happy about learning how to put those together this year. Yea!!!

[Harriet]

Lisa, in January I posted thislink about getting projects finished and it is encouraging. But do you notice she mentions using 15 minutes at a time as an idea? Practically, that just doesn't work in my experience - I agree with you. You end up frustrating yourself because you can't get back into the "swing" of your previous thoughts/plans in such a short time. It would be better to use spare 15s to get things that are not creative out of the way, so you can save up more creative time at one "sitting"!

New stitch patterns to learn sounds very inspiring, Nancy. No matter about the ripping out. We learn more ripping out than we do if everything is so easy we never make a mistake.

Smiling today because I got an email from dd30 asking me to make her a patchwork Bible cover - how could you say no to that nice request? But it's amusing that it comes just as I made a (tentative!) plan. That will take the place of the wall hanging as the first small project I work on between bouts with the Houses quilt. I wrote her back asking her for an adjective or two to describe the look of a cover she would like.