SEW much getting done around here!

Hmmm, I seem to have forgotten to post last week.  Having too much fun sewing, hand quilting, knitting and reading, I guess!  It's still an abnormal summer with the amount of work I've had to do for my job (supposedly I don't work in the summer, but I've had meetings every week, sometimes up to four days a week!), but I've been making time to relax and read in the hammock, be productive in my sewing room, and do some slow stitching parked in front of a screen.

I finished the churn dash top and picked out a backing from my stash.  I have one more top to finish and quilt up and then these two quilts will go to a set of sisters who are in the process of being adopted by a friend of mine.

I quilted, bound and delivered the Giant Pineapple quilt, finishing up just 30 minutes before the baby shower when it was to be presented.  I decided on a combination of hand and machine quilting, echo quilting by machine around the pineapple and hand quilting with perle cotton inside the pineapple.  I bound it with the same fabric that I used for the backing.  The end result is far from perfect, but I am hoping it gets lots of use for tummy time and picnics with the baby.

Big stitch quilting with perle cotton was so fun, I pulled out this quilt to quilt the stars using the same method and my big stash of perle cotton.  It has been languishing for over a year - I hand quilted in the white sections and then couldn't decide what to do with the colored stars.  Meanwhile, my niece is now two years old and still without her baby quilt!  Gotta get stitching!

I started knitting an oversized shawl, The Campfire Cozy.  I can't wait to wrap up in this when the weather cools down!

And I've been swapping yarn scraps in preparation for the Scrappy Happy Pals Knit A-Long (#scrappyhappypalskal on Instagram).  I'm hoping to finish my shorty socks by September 1.

I've also continued to add destash fabric to my ETSY shop.  It is getting easier to let go as I contemplate how long different yardage has been sitting unused in my stash.  I only ever seem to use yardage for backings, preferring to reach for my scraps when piecing, so it doesn't make sense for yardage to sit around unused.  This week, I said good bye to this eclectic assembly of fabrics in hopes that they will finally get cut up and put into someone else's quilts:

I'm looking forward to spending some (social distanced) time outside with family as my sister hosts her annual Lammas Day celebration tomorrow, albeit only with my twin sister and me and our families.  Ah, summer!

Loving Summer

While there is much to create stress this summer - furloughs and the accompanying financial worries, a pandemic that is spiraling out of control, and separation from loved ones - I'm finding my own peace.  Much of it is found in my hammock...

...where I've soundly crushed my goal of reading 24 books this year.  To date, I've read 66 books, so my new goal is 100 books.  I'm currently reading Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow and Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls, two books that couldn't be any more different from each other.

I'm also making great progress on the quilts I am making for others.  I'm two-thirds done with this floating churn dash and am absolutely loving making it.  I thrive off of making scrap quilts, and love when there is no limit on the colors I am using.

I'll be adding two more rows then calling it good.  It's for a child (but not a baby) and should measure 66x74.5 when done

I also spent a day this weekend adding more of my yarn stash to my Ravelry account and adding the final singleton skeins of yarn left over from when I sold my yarn shop three years ago to my ETSY shop. 

Mirai - One of the yarns I just added to my ETSY shop

It feels good to organize things, especially when so much of life seems out of my control these days.

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

New directions

I'm almost embarrassed by how many of my posts are about new starts versus finishes.  There's always a reason for a new start...but I have no good reason for not finishing things.

So, I was focusing on my Jewel Box Stars quilt when I realized I needed some more variety in my neutrals.  While seeking out more neutrals, I got to thinking about a quilt pattern on ETSY that I had pinned on my Pinterest page as something to make one day.  If I'm pulling neutrals for one quilt, I might as well pull for another quilt at the same time, right?  Well, one thing led to another.  I had to try a block out...

And then I had to make a couple more...

So, yeah, my Jewel Box Stars is back to being a Leaders and Enders quilt while I have fun with this one.  The good news is, I've unearthed lots more neutrals to use in my Jewel Box Stars...

It has rained a lot lately, which we needed.  The garden is starting to produce - yummy lettuce and snap peas and flowers so far.  When it isn't raining, I spend much of my time outside, in the shade, either in the hammock or on a quilt in the yard, reading or listening to an audiobook while I knit.  (I love summer!)

Much like with my quilting, I try to knit and crochet using up my stash rather than buying new.  So when one of my four-year-old crocheted dishcloths came out of the dryer miserably distorted and with three holes in it, I dug through my stash to find cotton to make another.

Pattern for Diagonal Dishcloth

And I had started a knit project last September that I wasn't feeling anymore, so I frogged it and started something new.

Pattern for Dressy Poncho

All in all, it has been a wonderfully crafty week for me, even if there aren't any finishes (except the dishcloth).

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.