I know I’ve fallen off the face of the Earth again!  Things have been insanely crazy lately, leaving me no time to blog.  I actually have a good reason for not being here, but am not ready to post about it yet.  It’s good news, but has been taking up a lot of my time.

I know I still owe you finished objects, and will get to them someday soon. I promise!

TTFN! 

Happy New Year to you all!  I’m already feeling that 2008 will be a better year!  Sorry to neglect my blog so much over the holidays.  We were so busy, and during those times that were less busy, I was a lazy couch potato.  I needed to gear up for another year of work I guess.  I took full advantage of my time off from work by sleeping until 9:00 every day.  It made getting up at 6 for work this morning miserable.

I was able to finish most of my Christmas gift projects.  I got all those notebooks done for my co-workers and have pictures to post soon.  I didn’t finish the purse for my sister in law, so that will have to wait until her birthday or something. 

I hope to be back with pictures soon. I hope the New Year is good to you all!

This is the current scene in my house:

None of us have moved very much today, although I’ve got a million things to do, so I’d better get moving soon at least.  My DH and I have been a little slow to do much today because we were out kind of late last night at my company’s holiday party.  The cats don’t have any excuse I know of for being so lazy. 

The party last night was a lot of fun, and I did finish my dress in time.  We forgot our camera, so we didn’t get any pictures other than the posed “prom” picture the photographer took.  That didn’t showcase the dress very well, so I took this picture this morning:

I’m really happy with the way it turned out, and will get a better picture to post when I wear it again (New Year’s maybe?). My favorite part of the dress is the back of the neck.  It’s like a collar turned backwards.

I love this fabric!  I looks different in every light, and was great to work with.  I ended up taking in this dress a little after I saw how the practice dress came out.  I like the loose fit too, but for the party wanted something a little tighter.  Speaking of the practice dress, this is it:

I messed up the hem, and ended up making it shorter, so it’s really more of a tunic than a dress, which is OK since that style is in right now.  I hated working with the brocade fabric because it frayed like crazy!  Every time I worked on it I had threads all over the floor.  I have some scraps left over, but I don’t think I use them up just because the fabric was such a hassle.

I also managed to finish one fabric notebook cover as a gift for one of my co-workers. 

I’ve got two more almost completed.  Each one has a different fabric combination.  I’m playing around with the size and the pattern a little because this one came out a little tighter than I wanted.  The second one I made a little bigger, but now it’s too big.  I should be an easy fix though.  This is the first embroidery I have tried with my new machine, and so far I love it.  It’s pretty cool to see the machine make the embroidery in less than a minute!  I’ve only got 6 more notebooks to finish, but thankfully they are pretty quick to put together.

On another note, I’m so excited because my husband has actually expressed some interest in making a craft!  I send him this link as a Christmas gift suggestion for me (I’m not subtle I know), and he decided he wanted to make an animal of his own with some of my left over material.  If he actually does it, I’ll be sure to post a picture!

Alright, time for lunch and then some sewing.  TTFN!

As usual, I have bitten off more than I can chew in terms of my holiday crafting.  I have given up on knitting or crocheting for the holidays, which I feel is a smart choice given the time those kinds of products take, but I am still sewing like crazy.

To start it all off, I have decided to make a new dress for my company’s holiday dinner dance.  You may remember that I made my own dress last year too.  This year I found this great pattern, and decided this would be the dress I would make (the sleeveless version).  I went to fabric.com and bought some fantastic purple, 100% silk dupioni fabric.  It was of course $17 a yard, but since I only needed 2 yards I didn’t think that was too expensive.  Then I got a little nervous about ruining my expensive fabric, so I decided to make a “practice” dress with some brocade fabric I got for $5 a yard at Joann’s.  I’ve assembled the front and back of my “practice” dress, and attached the lining.  Now I am in the process of finishing the seams (a Serger would be a great Christmas present!), and need to attach the collar and hem the dress.  Luckily I found a hemming attachment for my sewing maching that should help make that process much quicker.  It actually double folds the hem and sews in one step!  I have until December 1st to finish my practice dress and the “real” dress, so I am hopeful that with the long Thanksgiving weekend between now and then I can get it done.

In terms of Christmas crafts, I decided to make a monogramed fabric notebook cover for some of my co-workers.  I have to make 10 in all, but am hoping once I establish the pattern for the first one, they will only take me maybe an hour or less each.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  I also have planned to make a purse for my sister in law.  This is a practice project too, although she did request that I make her a purse for Chirstmas, so I’m really killing two birds with one stone.  A co-worker wants me to make a custom designed purse for his wife (not for Christmas, thank goodness!), but wanted something that seemed more high end that just a tote bag, so I thought itfI worked out the pattern with my SIL’s bag, it would be good practice for when I got around to making his.  I would use leather for his (since he’s paying for all the materials and doesn’t care how much it costs), but decided to use a faux leather for my SIL’s.  Not only will it be cheaper if I mess up, but I don’t think she will care properly for a real leather bag.  That should be an interesting project not only because I plan to design the whole pattern myself, but it will be the first time working with that kind of material.  The fabric I picked for her should suit her perfectly, so I hope it all works out. 

With all that going on, I haven’t had much time to make progress on my knitting or crochet projects.  I did, however, get my Ravelry invite, so I spent the better part of last night figuring out how to enter my projects on that site.  It’s really cool!  Check it out if you haven’t had the chance!

I should be back with some progress photos of something by the end of the weekend! 

TTFN!

I’m sorry to see another weekend pass, and as quick as ever!  I don’t understand where the time goes!!  It seems like I can never get as much done as I want to.  I’ve started a few sewing projects, but really didn’t have much time to work on them over the past few days.  Of course all the realtors that have popped by without calling first haven’t helped the matter.  It’s such a hastle to suddenly drop everything you are working on to get out of the house and stand outside while total strangers go through all your stuff.  I’ll be so happy when we finally sell this place!  Yesterday morning we had a realtor come by without calling first, and I was in the middle of sorting laundry.  It’s so embarrassing to have people look at your house while your dirty underwear is all over the floor!

Thanks to everyone who commented with their words of support on the previous post.  Hearing from you all definitely makes everything a little easier.  I haven’t had a chance to respond to everyone individually, but I hope to get to it during the week.  I do really appreciate all the kind words!

I have two new WIPs I wanted to post today.  First, another Clapotis.  I hadn’t planned on knitting another Clapotis, but a co-worker and fellow knitter wanted to make one and wasn’t sure if she could figure out the pattern, so I offered to knit along with her.

I’m working on section two, and have dropped two stitches so far, but you can’t really see them in the picture because of the curling on the sides of the Clapotis.  Hopefully the next time I post this project will look a little more exciting.

The second WIP I have is a cabled shrug I am making up as I’m going.

I didn’t make this easy on myself.  I didn’t realize until I was almost done with the first cable repeat that the cables on the sides are worked over 16 rows, while the middle cable is worked over 12 rows.  I have to count very carefully so I don’t confuse myself.  This is that Vanna White yarn I posted in the last post.  I’m really liking it!  It’s very nice yarn for an acrylic.

I may have some sewing projects to show off next time.  For now, I better get back to paying the bills, and other fun Sunday evening projects!

TTFN!

I’m back again, with a new WIP to boot.  I’ve needed to take some time away because unfortunately my DH and I were suffering through a miscarriage.  We were so excited about the possibility of our first baby, and before we knew it, it was all over.  These past two weeks have been by far the hardest I’ve ever had to go through, and every day is getting a little easier, but I still have my moments when I break down.  I am happy that I have told people about the miscarriage and what I have been going through.  It’s amazing how many people I know, either at work or otherwise, who have been through the same thing, and they have all been so supportive trying to help me through the pain.  It really is a miracle that anyone is born considering all that we women have to go through to have a baby!

My sister-in-law’s baby shower was the same weekend as my miscarriage, so of course I didn’t go, but I did send the layette set I crocheted for her.  Unfortunately, with all that was going on I forgot to take a picture of it.  It turned out adorable, and I’m sure I’ll make it again when someone else I know has a new daughter. 

After the miscarrige, I was cooped up at home for about a week, and with nothing to do, I started crocheting granny squares. 

I had this yarn hanging around in my stash, so I decided to put it to good use.  My mom has been donating squares and blankets to Project Linus through her church, so I thought I would finish this, and give it to her to donate as well.  I’d like to make it large enough for a child to use, instead of just a baby blanket, so I will probably need four or five more strips.  The good thing is that crocheting is much faster than knitting, and I can usually make about one square in an hour.  Unfortunately I can’t crochet for as long as I can knit because it hurts my wrist.  So, because my whole stash has been moved out of our condo to decrease clutter while we are trying to sell it, I had to buy some more yarn for a knitting project when the crocheting gets to be to much.

I got this yarn at Michael’s

It’s actually Vanna White’s new line of yarn for Lion Brand.  I broke down and went for the acrylic because I am so bad at handwashing my knits.  They sit forever in the bottom of my hamper because I am too lazy to wash them.  Anyway, for acrylic, it’s so soft, and almost looks like wool.  I’ve just started a cabled shrug, of my own design, using this.  I’ll post a picture when the cable pattern starts to stand out a little more.

My other exciting Michael’s find was these two knitting bags:

They are both Knitpickers brand.  The tote has plenty of small pockets for tool storage, and it looks like it could hold about 8 skeins of yarn.  The smaller bag has a hole on either end that you can pull the yarn though, so now when I am knitting with my yarn sitting on the couch it doesn’t get so full of cat hair.  With the 40% off coupon in this week’s newpaper, the bags were a good deal too!

I promise not to be too absent from now on, and  I’ll be making the rounds to everyone else’s blogs too, so hopefully you’ll be hearing from me again.

TTTFN!

Sorry to be absent for so long. My DH and I have been dealing with some pretty hard stuff on the home front lately, which hasn’t left me much desire to blog.  I promise to be back soon with some pics and new projects.

TTFN!

OK, so I’ve slipped back into my habit of being a bad poster.  I don’t know what I’ve been busy with lately, but I guess it is enough to keep me away.  I started to work on some new baby projects for another niece, who is going to be born in October.  I found a pattern for a really cute crocheted layette set with a hat, booties, and a sweater.  I finished the hat in about 2 hours, and hope that the booties won’t take much longer than that.  I’m saving the sweater for last I guess.  The shower is supposed to be on the 30th, so I hope I have enough time.

Speaking of the shower, does anyone have any good game ideas?  I’ve thrown so many showers lately, I’m beginning to run out.  If you have an idea, and could leave me a comment, I’d really appreciate it.

Other than that, we have had little luck with selling our condo.  The market is just so bad right now!  We’ve had a few people stop by at open houses, but haven’t gotten many calls.  We had one buyer this past weekend who seemed fairly interested, so we are hoping that he comes back.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

So glad tomorrow is Friday!  TTFN!

Monday is definitely not my favorite day of the week.  Getting back into the work groove is always difficult, especially when you just want to sleep in.

I know it took me long enough, but here are the pictures of the baby quilt I made for my niece Sara.

It’s a simple patchwork construction. Thankfully, my friends mother quilted it for me.  Her work is gorgeous, and I definitely don’t have those kind of skills yet.  I should have had her attach the binding as well because it was harder than I expected, and I’m hoping it doesn’t fall apart the first time the new parents wash it.

I’ve got another quilt to get started on soon!  The baby isn’t due until February, but the pattern I picked out requires cutting out a few hundred two and a half inch squares.  That should take some time!

Anway, enough procrastinating on my actual work.  TTFN!

My niece was finally born at 5:30 this morning.  My poor future SIL started having contractions on Tuesday night, and wasn’t admitted to the hospital until about 10 last night.  She was in a lot of pain, but it’s no wonder because my little niece was 9 pounds and 1 ounce!  I don’t think anyone was prepared for such a big baby!  She doesn’t have a name yet, but Grace and Sarah are the top two contenders.  Hopefully I will be able to see her after work today, and get pictures posted soon.

TTFN!