Final Finish of 2014~

Thanks to the Engineering Wife,

who so kindly took out my 

messed up stitches,

I finished up my 

second pair of adult socks!!

They were my final finish in 2014..

of anything ;)

But I have been wearing them a lot

and they are holding up well.

Much of 2015 has been BeLoW zero...yep, for real.

The Pilot Man offered to buy me new socks,

because I am a wee bit slow

with the knitting needles.

But, I think he misses the point.

These are a bit of an experiment,

but I love having socks that fit my funny feet..

and keep them warm!

Details:

Supersocke 100

100 Gram/ 420 Meter

Sportive-Color Fingering Wt.

75% Wool, 25% Polyamid 

Susan B. Anderson's Sock Pattern

Long-tail cast on 64 stitches

6.25" Cuff

*Creative Add-ons*

9 straight knit rows between cuff and heel

One heel ribbed, one not (fits better)

8" heel to begin of toe

Guess it is time to take the tree down now.....

2014, A Lovely Year of Finishes~

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

It helped to keep me focused and finishing projects!

These were Lovely Year of Finishes that I posted about:

1) Intention  January

2) Lens Bag  February

3)  Explore  March

4)  Presence   April

5) My red/white and aqua piece  May

6)  Sew-Together Bag  June

7) Fireweed Travel Bag  August

8)  Grand Canyon Suite  October

9)  Ribbon Star Color Adventure  December

They may not have been huge, but they were done!

I did set my goal,  then finished this stocking in November.

Just didn't work to post

.

 I was lucky enough to deliver it to a

special little guy.

I think it was worth being away from the computer 

to be able to see the family!

I didn't even attempt a goal in September after looking at

our trusty calendar.

And there was also one failure ..to..complete :(

in July, but I ended up finishing other projects,

so I can live with that!

It has been a filled year for us all.

Thank you,

Thank you 

to 

Melissa and Shanna

for organizing the 

Lovely Year of Finishes

and to the sponsors 

who made the wonderful prizes possible for everyone.

In May I won Meadow Mist Design's

cute

Paper Pieced Numbers and Pi Quilt

and On a "Jelly" Roll

patterns,

In August I was a winner of one of

Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Design's

creative patterns, Dizzying Diamonds,

and I am looking forward to my October win

from Clover and Violet

The Brooklyn Bag pattern.

The will be fun projects to make in 2015!!

Happy New Year everyone!!

I hope it is full of Lovely's for you.....

Final Finish Up Month and Goal Setting for 2014~

Have you been "elfing" for a while?

Getting everything ready for the holidays?

It is a busy time of the year!

One of my goals is to get the final block finished and 

in the mail for our

Color Adventure.

Here it is half-way done.  

I love it more with every added month.

I hope you get time for yourself
to enjoy

and absorb

this special time of year!

I am linking up

for the final month

with 

Melissa and Shanna 

at a

Lovely Year of Finishes.

Please stop by and check out the other projects!

Good-bye October, Good-bye~

 I guess, like it or not, 

it is time to kiss October good-bye.

Those rich fall colors have faded into darker tones.

Time to remember days that have past,

in warm, sunny places.

My October block is 

Grand Canyon Suite 

from Judy Martin's Ultimate Book of Quilt Block Patterns.

I used my version of autumn desert colors:

Kona Kumquat,

Corn Yellow,

and Valentine Pink

They were inspired by our trip to 

the Grand Canyon in 

October, 2012.

October is also Tammy's birthday month

so we celebrated it 

with a GrAnd AdvEntuRe.....

I am linking up with 

 at

Hosted by Melissa and Shanna!

Please stop by to check out the other projects.

Maybe you will find the perfect holiday gift inspiration.....

An October Goal~

I have a pattern picked out,

and three colors chosen

from the Kona cottons in my basket.

Did you notice the frost underneath it? ;-)

It is time to get October's blocks done 

for our 

Color Adventure!!

Since the person who will receive one of the blocks

reads this

(Hello!)

I will have to wait to show the details.

But that set of blocks

is my goal.

Time to get back to stitching.....

October's Goal Setting Party 

can be found here ~

Come check out what everyone is doing

now that summer is over!

August's Colors~

For us August is a time of 

back to school and birthday happenings.

In honor of our birthday girl,

I used greens and orange.

The Kona Kiwi and Honeydew greens represent

August's birthstone, Peridot.

School Bus is for the orange..

one of the current favs

of someone back at college to finish one more SemEstER!!

I chose a paper-pieced pattern

(yes, I really did) 

from Fresh Lemons,

Whirling Star.

She did an excellent job with her directions

(thank you..PP makes me

so nervous!)

By time I did both blocks,

I think I was doing better with the process.

Does anyone else feel like they 

are working backwards,

sideways

and upside down

with paper-piecing?

It is a great brain exercise!

Anyway, I was happy with most of the results.

Just need to practice,

practice,

practice...

One block has whirled its way to Oregon,

and 

that leaves just four more monthly blocks 

to go.....

A Little August Finish~

A few short weeks ago

it was the beginning of August...

Where did those days go?

My goal (#88) for this month was to turn this

pretty fabric

into a make-up bag for traveling.

I drew an oval to use as a pattern for the top and bottom,

then lined it with PUL for water resistance. 

It is tall enough for travel bottles, tooth paste, etc.

and has a pocket in the lid 

that is wide and flat.

The vinyl pockets have bias on the top and bottom

but are only sewn between the pockets.

They are located just above the bottom

so the pockets can be washed out and not get that

dreaded travel build-up!

The "floor" of the bag keeps items in their place.

Dirty running clothes can even go into

 the center so they don't 

touch clean things in her gear bag!

It was all loaded and ready to roll

back for  o n e  m o r e  semester.....

Yeowzer, did summer go fast!

Please stop by and browse these other great finishes 

at Melissa and Shanna's 

July's Color Adventure From Alaska~

Ever get an idea that you really want to try,

but it challenges your brain..

a lot?

For my July block, I wanted to make something resembling

fireworks.

The way they shoot in the middle,

then radiate out.

After some playing around,

and lots of little blocks,

this is what I came up with.

I made my triangles by stitching around the squares,

and cutting diagonally in both

directions.

It is an easy way to make four identical ones.

I cut, pressed and trimmed all of the sections..

then arranged them for piecing.

 Two Firework blocks for July!

One has been delivered to Oregon 

before this posting.....

August's LYOF Goal~

My July project is sitting here,

looking at me sadly in its

almost-finished state..

In our busy, busy July

the poor thing just kept getting pushed down the list.

..sigh..

Our warm, glorious, summer days have been such a treat
that it would be a shame to waste them.

Winter and more time to work indoors will be here 

soon enough!

I will get back to July's goal for a finish,

but right now this has jumped to the front of the line.

From this beautiful fabric, 

I will create a gift

for someone very special.

I hope you are all having a wonderful, memory-filled summer!

I am linking up for an August Finish
with Melissa and Shanna.

As always, you will find a 

lot of 

inspiration here.....

Six Months of Color Adventure~

This is 

six months 

into our Color Adventure.

Can't wait to add more blocks and colors!

And then ..

a.. 

layout.....

Our June Colors~

In June we were both inspired by flowers!

Tammy, by her beautiful over-flowing roses..

Her block is Georgetown Circles

with

Bright Pink, Clover, and Chartreuse

And my inspiration were the late tulips

blooming in Idaho.

I decided to make the June block,

Teach,

since Tammy and I both do that!

My colors were:

Tangerine, Leprechaun,

and

Lipstick 

 Flowers among the leaves.....

May's Little Adventure~

We remained on schedule in May as well.

I was in a water mode and wanted to do a block in all water colors,

but it was too blah, so 

I tried to spice it up with a splash of spring color, pink!

For the block I use components from two of my favorite

Sugar Blocks

with

Water

Breakers

Bright Pink

(That is ice breaking up in the background)

Tammy chose to make a

Morning Star

using 

Medium Pink

Crocus

Wasabi

Five months down, seven to go.....

Color Adventure - Our April Blocks Together~

I am a little behind on posting,

but here are our April blocks together.

Tammy created a block to represent 

a cross for Easter 

using royal, mulberry and citrus.  

Her block is called Blackford's Beauty.

Her husband thought it looked like a 

stained-glass window.

Mine is from the Sugar Snow quilt.

Again, we have similarities!

I am still loving this adventure.....

July's LYOF Goal~

Last winter I made a test basket out of scraps.

I took parts I liked from one basket, ideas from another

and came up with one the size/shape

I was looking for.

The intent was to make more once I had the dimensions,

but you know how that goes...

In July my goal is to get one done for a biking family we know

with a new little one

on the way.....

I will be linking up with 

the ever wonderful

 

A June Finish~

You have probably seen many version of this bag 

lately.

It seems to be popping up all over.

At the beginning of  June I chose this bag as my goal 

and have come up with this version..

I finally decided to make my first one using only things I had on hand.

Two winters ago I was wandering in Walmart and spotted

 Fat Quarter bundles on sale for $7.

These fabrics were bright and cheerful on that winter day,

and the fabric was a good quality,

so I bought both bundles and saved them for "Someday".

I added a few other fabrics and began using them in a 

Row Along last summer.

But I wasn't loving it.

Rather than invest anymore time in blocks I didn't love,

I set them aside.

Some of those are now Sewn Together in a bag!

None of my zippers are the same size..

but I wanted these colors and 

had to use my things from home.

Because the top zipper was shorter than the pattern suggested, 

I added 4" to each handles.

Inside was full of happy colors!

I like how everything can be zipped in for travel.

I can't wait to use this bag to take advantage of its organizational pockets!

The handles may be a bit too large, 

but they will be easy to snag on the go.

When I make my next one I will hand sew the bindings.  

I am never happy when I sew them by machine. 

Other than that, I am pleased with the outcome.

It was a well-written pattern

and a great idea.....

Check out all of other finishes here~