2015 - My Crafting Year In Review

 I'm counting down to the New Year. Tomorrow is my birthday, then we have New Year's Eve, then we celebrate New Year's Day.  This week is always just as special to me as the week of Christmas.

   Short Review of 2015

       It's been quite a crafting year for me.  I made a lot of projects this year.  I painted, knitted, crocheted and sewed.  I made yard art, built a quilt ladder, fashioned jewelry and I have more pincushions than I will ever need.  I learned a lot this year about what I'm good at, what I like to do, and what I should not try a second time.  I made some lovely projects and others just didn't turn out like I expected.

     I did a lot of organizing this year to make sure I could find my crafting items more easily.  I replaced some of my old tools with new ones.  I added three sewing machines to my collection and re-homed two machines I wasn't using.  

  I made a lot of projects this year with my sewing machine that I love, but my favorite project would have to be the hanging dishtowels with the button closure.  They are so freaking cute and so easy to make it's hard not to love, love, love them.  This post from November has the link to the tutorial I used and some information on how I made my first, but definitely not my last, hanging dishtowels.

   My biggest fail had to be the bathmat I tried to make in January.  The three posts about that fail started here on January 12th, with another on January 13th, and my complete resignation on January 15th.  I ended up buying a bathmat.  I don't know if I will ever try this one again.

   My favorite quilt would have to be the disappearing hourglass in black and white.  I started it on June 3rd and finished it on July 29th.  It's a nice size quilt and I love the pattern the blocks make.  This is a link to pictures of the finish.

   There were so many projects and I had fun with all of them.  I'm working on my updated crafting to do list for next year and I'm looking forward to lots of  projects in 2016.

She Who Sews Panel Quilt Project

     I'm working on another quilt top using two panels of She Who Sews (by Janet Wecker Frisch).  I received a partial panel in a Christmas swap last year and I bought another panel because some of the blocks are really cool and I'm only going to use the ones I like.  I'm supplementing the panel blocks with trimmed up leftover disappearing hourglass blocks that I made last summer and some yellow polka dot cotton.

   Here's a sneak peek at the fun:

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year!!

   I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!

Granny Square Dishcloths Made With Cotton Yarn

       I had a bunch of cotton yarn in my stash (Peaches and Creme Yarn) and it was time for new dishcloths.   Instead of small squares of closely crocheted stitches, I made eight traditional granny squares with lots of open spaces.  I make them with with 6 rounds of crochet and a size G hook.  They are easy to make (each square takes about 45 minutes), very absorbent, good for scrubbing, and last a long time.  You do have to wring them out really well after using and let them dry or they will get mildewed because the cotton yarn hangs onto moisture.

Faux Redwork Free Motion Free For All

   I had fun doing free motion with my Janome 7700 today.  I figured out what my problem was the last time I tried to do free motion with this machine.  Once I got going I had a free motion free for all.  I tried to make the quilting pretty and neat, but I couldn't.  I was having too much fun with the free motion.

   I outlined all the redwork pieces very simply and I went a little crazy on the four patch blocks.  I started with hearts then I started making uneven figure eights, squares, crazy looking bows, loops, zig zags, spirals, spiky leaves, long loops, scribbles, loops, thread spools, buttons, and something I wanted to look like scissors.

   The binding is a white fabric with little tiny hearts on it.

  So this is this quilt is done.  Not one I would give as a gift, but it's perfect for my room, my cats or even my dog.

Mini Doily Earrings

    I crocheted these beautiful doily earrings in less than an hour.  I found this free doily earring pattern on Ravelry.  You have to be a member (it's free to join) on Ravelry to get the pattern.  The pattern was written by Emily Forrest and it's a fun pattern for a miniature doily to put on your ear wires.  I used #10 crochet thread in white and a 1.5 mm steel crochet hook.  These were fun to make and I can't wait to wear them.  I would love to make some more and tea dye the doily to make it a more natural color.  Fun.

    I wet block* these mini doilies after I finished them.  They dried overnight and were ready to wear the next day.

   I have the faux redwork quilt top sandwiched and ready to quilt.  I bought a Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 crib size (45" x 60') batt and it was the perfect size to use with this small quilt top. I want to free motion quilt this quilt on my Janome 7700 and the last time I tried to free motion quilt on this machine it was not working for me, so I'm determined to figure this machine out and get this quilt done the way I want.   We'll see.

*To wet block my doilies I wet the doily in cold water, gently squeeze out water, 

place in towel and gently squeeze some more to try to get as much moisture

 out as possible.  Place the doily on a dry towel and gently stretch it, pat it, and shape 

it until it looks even on all sides.  For these little mini doilies, I tried to make sure 

all my loops on the edges were pulled out and visible. Leave it to dry.  

I don't use any starch because I'm afraid of bugs.

I learned this method from lacycrochet blog.   The link to her page is here.