Where does the time go?

I am having a hard time believing that it is April next week...  Do you feel the same way? 
Time just seems like it is flying by this year. 

I thought I'd take the opportunity to do my monthly recap now since its the weekend (Yay!) and I don't have any FOs to share just yet.  So... the crafty input/output resolution... it seems that I am not making strides in the right direction.  Am I surprised?  Umm, truthfully no, not really.  The upside is that I have some lovely goodies to share with you on the blog :) Ha ha yes, what an excuse!

So here's the walk of shame:

1.  Yarn:
On the output front I have a sock:



It needs a friend.  But one is better than none :) 
I've been travelling for the last 2 weeks for my work, and all this time on planes has given me the opportunity to get some knitting done.  I've made a start on the second sock, so hopefully I'll have a completed pair to share soon.



I've had a hankering for some handspun sock yarn for a while now, and I'm really enjoying working with this Crown Mountain handspun yarn and seeing the color changes in the yarn.  It may come as no surprise that I acquired some more:





And then the monthly installment from Skein came in.  Its a lovely color, and I was sorely tempted to retain the subscription, but ultimately saw sense and cancelled my subscription.  Baby steps in the right direction.



Ooh, I did finish another square for the Bertie's (hospice) Blankets.  Thinking I may lay the blanket squares  out this weekend.  It's pretty close to completion, thanks to all the kind folks that donated squares.



2.  Fabric:
I made a couple of squares for another one of the gals at quilt guild.  Love the colors in this - bring on Spring!



There was the infinity scarf from my last post.  But I also picked up some more fabric for the Local Quilt, which I'm eager to try my hand at.



I almost forgot, I also made a 'huggie' for my cross stitch frame.  It helps keep the edges of the cross stitch linen protected. And it's plain old cute since it goes with the 'Once Upon a Time' theme of the cross stitch.  :)



I have the perfect project bag for this cross stitch project.  This bag has tremendous sentimental value:  After my Grandma passed away last year my Mum was packing her things away and found this hand quilted bag that Grandma had made.  Mum knew that I would love it.  My Grandma was a wonderful lady who I miss dearly.  It makes me so happy that I have something that she made.   







3.  Cross Stitch:
I finished the first in the 'Frosty Forest' Series:  Raccoon Cabin.  So cute!



I've started the 2nd square in this series, but I'm also itching to get started on the Once Upon a Time sampler - I am 3 months' behind.  Yikes!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Sam xxx

Voile Infinity Scarf

A good friend had a birthday recently and I wanted to make her a little something to mark the day.  She loves to wear scarves and I thought she'd like an infinity scarf.


I used the directions from the Anna Maria Horner Figure 8 scarf... but instead of using velveteen, I used voile on both sides.


Voile is such a lovely fabric:  Lightweight, soft and with a silky feel. 
Silly me had no idea how to pronounce 'Voile' when going into one of my local fabric stores... but figured that it must have a fancy pronunciation for such a fancy fabric.  So there I was asking for where they stocked their 'Vwaaahhl'.  Of course the lady looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears.  Lesson learned:  Voile is pronounced like foil, but with a V.  Which sounds nowhere near as sophisticated in my northern English accent :)))

Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Sam
xxx 

Happy March

February flew by, didn't it.  The 2nd month of New Year resolutions... how did you do?

For me, the health related resolutions took a back seat this month.  Must do better:  My goal weight/size date is 2 months today.  The target is still doable... if I work hard at it.  I need to get my butt in gear!  ;o))

I have been making reasonably good progress on the crafty resolutions, but ultimately they are still out of kilter:  intake is exceeding output :)

Yarn:

• I completed another 3 squares for the Berties (hospice) Blanket (in addition to the square from last month that is also included in the photo below.)  I've found a local hospice who are eager to get their hands on these knit blankets, so trying to get this completed ASAP.

• And there was Naomi's pink sweater dress (which I am totally counting even though my Mum did a bunch of the work... but using yarn from my stash... so that counts, right?  :o)))
• I also started a cute baby sweater using stash yarn

• However, I've also picked up a couple of skeins of sock yarn including Skein sock in La Mer (yup, still need to cancel that subscription)

• Handspun sock hop yarn (so pretty!)

• Hello Yarn sock

moving swiftly on...

Fabric:

• On the output front, there's the monster bags that I just blogged about.  And although I purchased about 5 yards for some of the monsters, I also used about 10 yards from stash.  So all-in-all pretty good going there.
• There is the 2nd converging corners square that I made for a quilt guild swap

• And 3 stained glass squares that I made for a WIP quilt for Naomi

• I've also signed up to do the Local Quilt from Carolyn Friedlander with our local quilt guild.  I picked the following from my stash, and only needed to pick up an extra yard (ish) for the blue dots that will form the sky.  Good intentions here too :)

Cross Stitch:

• I am far behind on the cross stitch front
• Jan, Feb and March installments for Once Upon a Time are in.  I have the materials needed (and they are so pretty) but haven't yet started

• Jan-March are also in for the frosty forest, and my January block is still in progress. 

• To end on a positive note :)  I did get my 12 days of Christmas back from the framers this weekend, and oh my, I am in love!  I've liked everything about this project - the design, the materials, the theme... and now the framing! 

Well, thats it for me today.
Hope you are having a lovely Sunday,
Sam xxx