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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

WIP Wednesday!

This week is going by wonderfully, and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to stay home with my children.  This life of staying home with them feels so much more fulfilling.  Don't get me wrong, we  still have some bad moments and some "what were you thinking?!" moments, but overall, I am very happy with my decision to stay home.  Hopefully, our finances will be happy too; guess we'll see.

The weather has started to cool down here; which is probably helping with my inner joy.  The kiddos and I have been playing outside more; that is definitely good for all of us!  I would love to get some weeding done but our yard is garden spider central this year and I just haven't felt like dealing with  them.  We've also seen more snakes this year.  Well, maybe about the same as last year but this year they have been closer to the house.  I do not do snakes.  I'm terrified of them.  I've taken huge steps this year-I have gone to the serpentarium twice.  Once was at feeding time.  I still can't go into the little boxed in area of snakes at the pet store.  I can go near the glass at zoos and serpentariums, but not pet stores.  I think I feel like their tanks are less secure.  I will not go in to my brother-in-law's house for that same reason.  I believe he has 8 snakes?!  No thanks.  Anyway...

We planted some seeds: various beans, lettuce, carrots, and some herbs.  The lettuce has sprouted but I can't ever seem to get it to grow past this first stage.  Most of the beans have sprouted.  No carrots, but they take longer I think.  No herbs, but it's probably too cold for them.  I WILL learn how to successfully garden!  Planning on taking the boys to the farmer's market today.  Last year they had some delicious apples, so I am kind of hoping to see them again this year.  I would love to find an orchard nearby to take them to, but I think the closest is still a few hours away.



Switching gears...

WIP WEDNESDAY

I have found that having various projects in the works can be nice to switch things up, but can also start to frazzle me. 

I am hoping to get my orange yarn in today to finish the orange kitchen towel with the black stripe shown in last week's post.

I've also started crocheting a blanket but need the orange yarn (and black) that should come in the mail today.  I made this blanket for my cousin.  At first I was a little bothered by the size-it is more of a lap blanket than full afghan.  But, I think it will be a good lap blanket or I could always add more to it.  We'll see.  I was really happy with how the colors popped against the black.  I don't have much done so you'll have to wait to see as it progresses. 



I've got my fall table runner together and have started quilting it.  I finished the first set of diagonal lines and have started doing the other set.  SO far, no bubbles.  The material seems to be a little puffier than I would like.  But, after the start I had with it on Friday, I'm not complaining!  It seems I have to learn the same lessons over and over.  1) Don't try to start something if you are already frustrated and not able to focus completely.  2) Read up on necessary steps before jumping in.  I was irritated Friday so decided starting to quilt the table runner would be a good idea.  NOT.  My 2yr old woke up during the process but I continued on in my quest, even though I knew better.  I couldn't install the walking foot (not focused because it was actually easy) and when I ran my project through to do the first and second diagonal lines, the backing shifted drastically.  Well, that put me over the edge.  I thought the walking foot was supposed to keep that in line!?  After I calmed down, I did some research and found that the walking foot does not work miracles.  I learned about taping the back down and pinning galore.  It made a hug difference!  Now this table runner isn't perfect but so far I'm happy with how it is looking.  I'm using YLI quilting thread and so far I like it but don't have anything to compare it to.  I think fussy cutting the leaves distorted my squares a little (all operator error).  I think having a clear template would be much easier, will have to put that on my list.  So, what do you think?
 
Finally, my last WIP for today is a Halloween table runner.  I started cutting squares out last night but think I may make it a little longer:
 

Alright, time to try and squeeze in some school work before the munchkins wake up.  Have a blessed day!

4 comments:

  1. I think your runner looks great! I'm not a quilter, so I can't really see any of the errors you mentioned. To the untrained eye, it's just fine.

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  2. Thanks everyone! You know how much more critical you are of your own work, so it's nice to have outside opinions!

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