Something Old, Something New -- part II (with button and grab code)

Note: This post is almost identical to the information in the tab at the top of this blog so you may have already read it. Please leave a comment if you're thinking of joining the party! ;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nearly all the crafts-people I know are like me. We all have UFOs that we "should" be working on but the lure of the new beckons us.

In 2014, I want to concentrate on learning new techniques across many of the crafts in which I am involved. However I also want to get some of those UFOs out of my craft room and into use.

Hence: Something Old, Something New. I am challenging myself to finish (at least) one UFO a month and, at the same time, learn (at least) one new technique a month.

How do I define UFO? Any project I haven't worked on in the last three months is a UFO. If I've done some work on it in the last ninety days, it's a WiP and doesn't really qualify! But that's the boundaries I've set myself. You can set any boundaries/rules/guidelines -- whatever works for you!

Maybe you are unlike me and have no UFOs but would like to learn some new techniques.
Or maybe you've dozens of UFOs and no plan (right now) to learn new techniques -- you just want to get those UFOs done!

You've come to the right place.
For me it will be "old" and "new" but for you it might be either "old" or "new".

Won't you please consider joining me for this year's challenge?   
Any craft, any project, any technique is welcome.

I'll put up a linky party on the second day of each month (there are many other linky parties happening on the first of the month! LOL). In that post, I will share my progress from the previous month and list my goals for the month to come.

There will be no prizes, no give-aways; just the joy of sharing and perhaps meeting some new blog friends. 

I'd love you to join me -- parties are much more fun when other people come along! Here's the button for your blog if you accept my invitation!

<div align="center">
<br /><a href="http://2hot2knit.blogspot.com.au/" title="Never too hot to Stitch!"><img src="http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a607/ellebee57/85d98e30-e984-4b34-925f-027fc19b8dc5_zps40bbf708.jpg" alt="Never too hot to Stitch!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
<br />

2013 – “the Year of the Finished Project” UFO Challenge

As you may know, I have decided that 2013 will be the Year of the Finished Project.

I even had some fun creating a button and writing some html code for it (thanks to Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts for the great tutorials).

The butterflies are a reminder that some things can, and should, be transformed!

My plan is to finish two projects for every new project started.

I am going to set up a linky party on the first Thursday of the month for anyone who wants to join me.

The only rule is that you must finish at least one UFO or WIP before you start a new project! Don’t worry, I’m not going to haunt your blog to see if you are following the rules.

The party is open to any form of stitching: knitting, crochet, quilting, sewing, dress-making, embroidery, applique, cross-stitch, etc.

Participation is simple:

• On the first Thursday of the month, nominate a project (or projects) that you are going to concentrate on and see finished. Tell us a little about the project/s, where you’re up to, why it stalled, etc.
  
• In the same post, give us a progress report on the project/s you undertook in the previous month/s.
  
• Include the button above on each post. The code is under the tab “2013 – The Year of the Finished Project” at the top of my blog.
  
• Link back to this blog with the URL of your blog post, not your full blog. People want to read about progress, not spend time searching for the relevant post.
  
• Read and comment on some other blogs that link to this party!
  
• You don’t have to get your project/s finished in one month, some bigger projects take longer, and sometimes life just interferes with our stitching!
  
• You can finish one project in one craft and start another in a different craft if you wish. For example, you may finish a cross stitch and start a quilted table runner.

I've never hosted a linky party before so if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to suggest or ask. Please make sure you leave a contact email address so I can get back to you!

the eleventh question

warning: long, photo-heavy post (hurrah for the new internet connection and Windows Live Writer!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday I answered ten of the eleven questions posted by Freda (a.k.a. Impera Magna) on her blog The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe.

I had to leave the last question because it needed a post of its own (as you will soon see).

Q. How many UFOs/WIPs do you have right now?

A. Let’s begin with the sewing based ones …

1) The quilt that has been occupying my attention this week is my Country Houses quilt which started life as a single (twin) bed quilt in May last year; it’s too big for a single bed so I decided to finish it to queen size to go on our bed to keep me warm on these chilly winter nights. As you can see, it’s way too big for our bed! I am considering taking one or two rows off but, as yet, have not made up my mind!

 

2) Scrappy Log Cabin: I don’t have enough scraps to make the border I intended and am still thinking about what to do with it. Here it is with the inner border which has been added since I last showed the top-in-progress. It looks black but it is actually a dark brown because, despite all those blues, the quilt has an overall brownish look.

3) A cloth book I started for the Grandboys for Christmas (they got two of four before I became really ill a couple of weeks before the big day) – I need to unpick the last page I sewed; so it has been having time out in the “naughty corner” since November. This is the page I haven't got to yet!

4) curtains for Older Grandson’s bedroom – his mummy needs to find the hooks WM accidentally left there and I’m not finishing them till she does! (no photos here)

5) Dotty Bright needs basting and quilting

6) Scrappy Strings II: the top and backing have been made but are too long (Is this a theme emerging in my quilting? I hope not!) so I need to unpick the bottom row of blocks and cut down the backing then baste and quilt (it’s been spending time in the “naughty corner” too)

7) and 8) two scrappy quilts made from one donated partly-made flimsy; I don’t have anywhere near enough scraps to finish either of them (the flimsy was separated between the long floral strip and the yellow strings)

9-13) five rainbow quilts which are being made as part of the Scrappy Rainbow Challenge over at SoScrappy; I have blocks in various colours for a four patch quilt (17 blocks made), a nine patch quilt (11 blocks made), a string quilt (15 blocks made), an improv quilt (44 blocks made) and a Wonky Windows quilt (9 blocks made). Obviously, these are long term projects!

14) Hearts quilt: this a shared project with DD; we are hand-stitching applique hearts onto white squares – eventually we will have enough for a quilt! This began as a project to take to Guild meetings and for me to take to meetings of the “Caring Hearts Community Quilt Group” when I don’t have any quilts that need binding.

15) a cover for my fold-up cutting mat (originally used for dressmaking, now mostly used under a white plastic tablecloth to block my knitting)

– I am going to use the embroidery I started in class in April; I just have to finish the satin stitching of the butterfly  then I will decide which fabrics I want to use to piece what will be a large drawstring bag (probably lined)

16) Sampler Quilt: I cut out the pieces for the first block in class on Monday so I guess it’s now a WIP!

17) a long-untouched cross stitch which I really ought to get finish, it’s so close to being done! I just have to finish that sheet music (dozens of cream stitches on a white background), the scroll-work music stand and a little more of the piano keyboard to the left then I think it’s finished.

… and then there’s the knitting WIPs …

right now I'm knitting a pair of  men's mitts which I will finish today, then I need to revisit the following projects:

18) a pair of gift socks (I can’t say any more, just in case; deadline 22 June)

19) and 20) socks for me

       

22) Merlot toe-up socks for someone with big feet (I knitted the first sock on 72 stitches instead of 64)!

23) baby blanket (which I am considering frogging – it’s just not working for me!)

22) intarsia blanket (I haven’t seen this for a couple of months and was considering ripping it out but now I’ve seen the photo I’m loving it!)

24) sideways striped jumper – need to pick up stitches and do the collar

25) Ambassador of Love mittens (second mitten syndrome) – I finally located the yarn for the second mitten yesterday! Now I just have to find or download the pattern again!

26) Lace Infinity Scarf which I am also thinking about frogging;  the yarn does nothing for the lace pattern – perhaps a dark colour was a poor choice?

I guess it’s time to crack on with the stitching!

other crafts

A long time ago, when I was a "winter" knitter, I decided I had to find a different craft for summer because it was too hot to knit!

I had tried embroidery which I showed you in this post. I enjoyed it and thought I might do some more of it.

We were going away for a few days because our cork floor tiles were being recoated and the smell of polyurethane is unbearable. We had some long-forgotten reason to visit a local store and, though I looked all over their small craft department, I couldn't find an embroidery kit. However, I did find a small cross stitch kit. Ideal! Everything I needed (except scissors and a hoop) was in the package. It was small so I could work on it in the car and it was inexpensive so if I didn't like it, it was no big deal!

I finished that first cross stitch, framed it with the embroidery hoop I had used to stitch it and gave it to my mum for Mothers' Day. It's still on display in her china cabinet.

But I was hooked! I started making people cross-stitch bookmarks. I bought "waste canvas" and began embroidering on tee-shirts and socks. I bought a couple of kits and worked those. I think people even began to expect that they would receive small cross-stitch embroidery from me for presents.

But then came Big Project #1. DD and I still smile at how I finished it and was washing it in the bath while she stood lookout for Daddy coming home from work. It was his Christmas present and I needed to block it! He loved it.Then my sister got engaged and I began a cross stitch of blue and white crockery on a dresser as a wedding gift. I have no photo of that one to show you but I know it still hangs in my sister's dining room (even though that marriage is long over).

DD was given a cross-stitch for Christmas one year but she outgrew it and we had to take it from her room and hang it in the hall. She says she still loves it (or maybe she has renewed her love for it) so maybe, one day, she'll hang it at her place.Mum's 60th birthday came next and what better thing to give a "new Australian " (she had become a citizen just six years before after living here for thirty one years) - Australian wild flowers! I took this photo over the mantlepiece, way above my head so please forgive the funny angle. The photo below shows some detail (if anyone is interested it is 14 count Aida cloth); the big red flower is called a waratah.It is the floral emblem of my state and grows only in sandy soil. We have clay soil so, unfortunately, have not been successful in growing one (WM dislikes pots). You can read more about waratahs here.

Then mum and dad gave me a pattern for a piano done in cross stitch (yes I do play - badly). I never finished it, I think all that cream (on the left) was just too much for me! It has become one of my many UFOs about the place!
What about you, did you once have an obsession with another craft?