I made a sock!

I am now halfway through making my husband a pair of socks, still trying not to get distracted with other projects, namely baby ones. I'm at that age where everyone I know is pregnant, which means everywhere I look there is baby pictures, baby news, cute baby things. I really should try my hand at tiny baby things, they take so much less yarn. The next socks I make may be tiny ones. Anyway, this is the first one just before I bound off. He was so happy to wear that one sock, telling me "No one has ever made me a sock before!"

Amigurumi Mermaid

I've loved mermaids ever since I was young. I used to believe I could become one after watching the movie "Splash" (which after seeing recently, I have concluded that Disney imitated bigtime). Well, I noticed a little amigurumi mermaid I had favorited on Ravelry, and sought a better one. Like my quilt, I wouldn't just start with something easy- I had to start with my ideal even if it was beyond my skill level. My husband says that I jump right into things. Unfortunately, sometimes I get ahead of myself and take a long time to finish. Here's how I started.

I bought the pattern here and went over the abbreviations. I watched videos on youtube to help me learn each technique. If I can learn algebra, I can learn this! It's not so hard, it's just foreign. Once you learn how to do the different stitches, it's as simple as keeping track of where you are. A post-it and a pencil help. This project spurred me to buy a stitch marker which is a life saver. I started making quick progress the first day and could see the tail taking shape! I started it on August 2nd.  A week later I was almost done, but the hands were a little slow-going. I messed up on one arm and had to frog it (which means unravel the progress I made). With some tenacity, I may finish this weekend (or in a few days) and I'll post the finished product and the stages of finishing her: stuffing her, sewing her, attaching her hair and embroidering her features. It took a lot longer than I thought just to start stuffing her! It's turning out great, though.

Having these disembodied limbs laying about make me feel like the Ice Truck Killer.

 I have this itch to make more things that my fingers can't keep up with. I want to go knit ALL the amigurumi now.

Link has come to town

Ok, I'm a huge Legend of Zelda fan, but I've only really played 3  4 of the games and never finished one. The farthest I ever got was in The Ocarina of Time for N64, and in Link's Awakening on my gameboy color. I've tried Majora's Mask and the classic A Link to the Past but never got too far. I loved playing OoT, though. I would play it again in a heartbeat. I love the exploration, the characters, Epona, the Ocarina... I love that you can go fishing and swim in the lake. It's a classic adventure game. You can even say it's Legendary. I have two different versions of the soundtrack, and currently when I get a text message on my phone, it plays the sound effect that plays when you acquire a new item!

Anyway, I acquired a pattern years ago of Link in Wind Waker style, even though I never played the game. I thought he looks kawaii and chibi and all that. I never got far, but I started again after unpacking my craft supplies from our recent move. I love mindless crafts, why not multitask and make something cute (instead of being put off by crafting altogether because it is a "time commitment")? Besides, just sitting there and stitching string into holes is kind of boring because my mind will wander and itch for some other stimulation. I like letting my mind wander, too... but I like listening to podcasts or watching The X Files or Dexter while I stitch (right now it's Doctor Who). If I don't have any other stimulation, chances are I'll have the Hyrule field theme playing on loop in my head while I stare at Link. About 2 weeks ago he didn't have a head or color. I expect to finish him in another week or two, and then I'll move onto my first attempt at amigurumi.

I have some elaborate (and some simple) cross-stitch projects I have to post about soon. I have half a dozen ideas on designs that have yet to come to fruition. There is so much to stay tuned for, so stay tuned!

Depression Era Quilt - going on 10 years in the making

When I was about 16 years old, a friend of mine showed me a quilt she had made, and I was so intrigued I just had to learn to make one, too. I had already gone on a big knitting kick at this point, which inspired someone to give me knitting needles for my 16th birthday (All I knew at that point was the garter stitch!) Needless to say, having limited sewing experience, this was quite the ambitious undertaking for me. The quilt has curved pieces, so it was considered at a "challenging" difficulty. You know, it wasn't that hard- it came so naturally to me, but I concede that I may have also done a much crappier job than someone more experienced may have. The entire structure was composed of squares like this:

 

For many years, I s-l-o-w-l-y finished squares. There are 49 of these squares in the pattern. In 2007, 6 years after starting these 24 are all I had finished:

The following summer I got another bug to finish this after years of hiatus. I spent the entire summer being obsessed, and I finished the remaining 25 blocks in a matter of weeks. What took me 6 years before took me mere weeks with experience and motivation. It was a tremendous project, but so rewarding! My husband actually helped me arrange the blocks in a complementary pattern:

If that wasn't enough of a task to complete, it's only half the work. I hand-stitched all the pieces up until this point, and then I used my machine to assemble the blocks.

 

 I didn't take pictures of this part, but I had to use masking tape on the back layer, taping it to the floor, then add the batting and the quilt patchwork, then pin, then baste... it was a huge pain! After that, I was able to start using my hoop and do the actual quilting by hand.

 

This was a little tricky to get used to- I had to have one hand in front of me while the other was stationed beneath the hoop! I was equipped with a thimble to push the needle in and a thick plastic sticker-thimble on several other fingers to prevent them being shredded by the needle as I eased it in and out of the cloth. It is incredibly tedious. The end result was very satisfying, and let's just hope that the fabrics I picked as a teenager will stand the test of time.

So, here we are, June 2011- I finished quilting my quilt in February. I still have not finished the binding. I now have a 95% complete future heirloom sitting in storage. Now that we have a table with ample room, perhaps I can re-learn to use my machine and actually make it functional, rather than just arbitrary...