The Wall Is Coming Down!

I'm in the final stages of assembling several projects right now, 

so my design wall is looking more and more bare =^..^=

I sewed together the Rainbow Pineapple blocks yesterday, so they came down first. 

These were my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks last year.  I'm still working on the 

paper-pieced flying geese border for this small wall quilt, so it's not quite done yet. 

Right now it is about 20 inches, and so darn cute!

Then I started assembling the Easy Street blocks into rows.....

I'm about halfway done with assembling this top, as you can see by what is left ...

My design wall is made of two freestanding 4x8 pieces of insulation covered in batting, 

so it's HUGE!   I left my ladder there to show you that I have to use it to reach the top blocks :*) 

(Please pay no attention to the dried paint splatters on the ladder LOL!!!) 

My little room heater is there too - those Ivory Towers can be rather drafty, don't you know!  

Ask any princess and she'll tell you.  Why do you think they grow all that hair anyway?  

To keep warm of course!!!

Because my sewing studio has those slanted ceilings common to a lot of upstairs bonus rooms, my design wall boards have to lean up against the slope in front of my project table.   Of course, this can get a little awkward when I need to get to my project boxes under the table.  So when it is not being used, I take the boards down and put them in another room out of the way.  Easy Street has been up here for quite a while, so I'm looking forward to having all that space back in my studio!

During the Super Bowl, I had planned to work on my next Blue Collection block.  

However, I didn't  realize that I had not yet prepared the scrappy yellow background 

until the game was ready to start.  Dang!  Tricked again!!!

So I picked up my knitting and worked on the other hand warmer for my right hand...

This pottery bowl was hand made by a friend, Jim Murff.  He's a local artisan who does all kinds of wonderful artworks, including pottery, quilting and beekeeping.

I managed to get all the knitting done for the hand warmer, so all I have left to do is sew up the side, 

leaving the hole open for my thumb.  

I'm no expert knitter as you can tell from my uneven stitches LOL!!!  

But I will enjoy wearing these and knowing that I made them!

Perhaps someday I'll even tackle making a pair of socks :*O

Please be sure to go to Patchwork Times to see what others have on their Design Walls!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Get It Done - January 2013

We got a little snow here in Nashville last night, but not enough to write home to mom about.  Still, it was snow and I was happy to see it sprinkled on the ground this morning :*)  Snow, I like.  But I admit I'm not so crazy about the cold temps!!!  I'm so glad to say goodbye to January!  I know, wishing my life away and all that, but I am just NOT a winter person!  February means it's at least halfway over LOL!!!

I know a lot of quilters like to snuggle up in a warm spot and stitch during the winter - I have a hard time doing anything in cold weather.  I think I have a lot of bear in me!  All I want to do is curl up somewhere and hibernate until it gets warmer :*D

The cold did inspire me to pick up the knitting needles for the first time in a long while though.  I've been drooling over some of the cute hand warmers I've seen lately.  Having an iPhone means I need to have my fingers uncovered to use it, so I finally decided to find a fairly easy pattern and try to make some of my own.  This is my first one and I'm tickled to say it fits perfectly - it's exactly what I wanted!!!

If you look VERY closely, you can see the little bit of sparkle in the yarn - 

and you all know how I love sparkle, right?  :*D

 The opening for the thumb area was larger in the pattern, but I wanted my thumb pad to be kept warm too, so I closed it up a little more and I'm very happy with the result!

Here is a picture from the book and the yarn I used - you can see more of the sparkle here!
The pattern is from Expand Your Knitting Skills by Leisure Arts  

I knitted this one in just one evening and did the stitching together the next night.  

I think I'll be making a couple more pairs of these :*D

I'm linking this finish up with Judy's On The Needles!

Considering all the cold weather I had to suffer through in January (LOL!), I think I did pretty well with my Get It Done list.  Since this list is just to keep me focused, I'm not going to be upset with myself when I don't finish everything up!  I'll simply carry the unfinished items over to the next month.

1.     Binding on Pineapple Blossoms - DONE!  (see picture HERE)

2.     Complete piecing Easy Street mystery top - almost, but not quite .....

I finished up piecing all the blocks last night, but I still need to piece them all together into a top and apply the borders.  I'm still trying to decide on the fabrics for borders too.

I wish I could get a better picture of the whole quilt from indoors :(

3.     Complete writing up the pattern for my Stitchery Keeper - again, almost but not quite.

I still have a few tweaks to make to the pattern, especially since I added a zipper pocket to the design that was not in my original.  I will then need to work on packaging & marketing. 

4.     Dresden Blog Hop project - DONE!  You can see pictures of the Big Reveal HERE!

So for February, my Get It Done list will look like this:
1.    Complete Easy Street and have it ready for quilting, including the backing.
2.    Complete instructions for Stitchery Keeper and have it ready for sale.
3.    Catch up on all Curve It Up QAL blocks.
4.    Prepare and stitch next block in The Blue Collection.
5.    Complete and assemble the 2012 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt - Rainbow Pineapples.

I added a fifth item since two of the items on the list are simply finishes from January and shouldn't take too terribly long.  Plus, I really want to finish that Pineapple quilt!  Go over to Judy's Patchwork Times HERE to see how others have done on their January goals!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=