It's hot. There. I said it. Tomorrow it's suppose to three degrees hotter. I heard on NPR that, beginning today, the days would become shorter along with a decrease in temperature. Only, he added, that we wouldn't likely notice because, well, it's . . . hot. Nice, huh?
Anyway, I managed to eek out a crocheted sock monkey for Anna two and a half weeks ago for her birthday party. I'm talking about almost around the clock crocheting of this rakish little creature from Patons yarn. Boy, my hands were aching! It was worth it though because she looooooooves him. There were tea sets, clothes, and several Monster High dolls at this gig, and my gift was the one she has been toting around since then. :)
Yup. I'm pretty cool now. At least until I deny their request for seconds on brownies. Then, its downhill. haha.
There was a bunch of little things I wanted to share, but I took too long to write about it. Since I have been on a roll with working on UFOs, I'll share with you Emily's quilt.
I'm somewhat pleased with it. It has been awhile since I've machine quilted, mostly because I have a difficult time using the walking foot on all my sewing machines. I can't figure out whether it's user error and the foot itself, but, everytime I "strap" on the foot, it starts to come off after stitching a few inches. I'm convinced that a new Bernina 440QE will remedy it, but, for now, I basically have to stick to free motion quilting.
The other problem I have is a lack of planning. I do well piecing tops together, but deciding what design to quilt leaves me stumped sometimes. I think I had a really good idea with the motif for the pinwheel blocks, and I figured I would decide later what to quilt in the areas. Once done though, I reverted to my trusty swirls before finishing up the borders with straight lines (sans walking foot). Kinda lame. But Emily loves me so I doubt she'll mind the imperfections. Ahem.
After Emily's quilt, I was suppose to move onto to Jada's hopscotch quilt, but, it's lost among the unpacked boxes and bins of fabric, yarns, and more fabric and yarn. I pulled out this old project that I started back in 2008.
I have always wanted a double wedding ring quilt. They look so intricate and tricky, but its not really. In fact, I realized that, when I finally got back into the process, it moves along rather easily. I purchased acrylic templates by Sharlene Jorgenson to cut out the pieces, and I am assembling line sewing the arcs and melons. Already, I've pieced together six circles in the past week. I just have to stick with it. Originally, my goal was to complete at least one ring per day with the idea of finishing the top in two weeks, but now I'm doing each step all at once. I think its still feasible. After that, I will really have to put some thought into the quilt design.
On the fiber front, I haven't been knitting much lately, but I have been working on my crochet cardigan though. Outside of having to frog it at least three times, its easy, so I hope to share that soon.
Wherever you are, hope the weather is pleasant.
