I was talking with a friend a week or two ago, and she mentioned how she wasn’t going to take any more classes or start any new projects until she finished some of the quilt tops she had already started. I knew the sentiment but didn’t really think anything of it. Somewhere in the dark and cobwebby section of my brain, an idea started to percolate.

How many projects, both knitting and sewing and otherwise, do I have in different baskets, bags, and drawers that I started but never finished?

I spent one afternoon pulling out all those projects.  The grand total came to 34 projects.  Some were started a week ago, some were started four years ago.  Some need only an hour to be finished, some probably three weeks.  I can’t say why some of these projects were set aside.  Perhaps my adult onset ADHD, maybe boredom, most likely something shiny (or more interesting) caught my eye.

How many of these projects could be completed if I spent a month focusing on finishing these projects?

I’m going to try and find out.  I’m calling this September my Focus on Finishing.  I’m really excited about getting some of these projects completed.  It’s an opportunity to clean up my craft room, get some stuff done, and clear the decks before Christmas crafting starts.  I’m not going to put any of these projects away until they are either done or the month is over.  If I’m lucky, one of these projects might end up being a Christmas gift.

Bill asked me this morning if I had a plan of attack.  There’s definitely some low hanging fruit that I’m going to start with to build up some momentum.  And I already know that there’s at least one project I am not going to work on, an afghan I’m knitting that’s only about 20% complete.  It’s more of a November - December thing anyway, when it’s cooler outside and you want something warm on your lap.  There’s a couple of larger projects that I’m going to try and work on every week so that I make progress, but still leave time for other things.  My goal is to try and finish at least 25 projects.

Here’s a list of all the projects (from left to right):

1. halloween knee socks     (Row 1)
2. whippoorwill shawl
3. craft room curtains
4. baby booties
5. cabled capelet
6. my design tote bag     (Row 2)
7. satin lingerie set
8. cotton skirt
9. bill’s pj bottoms #1
10. green chevron love mittens
11. nappy (gym) bag     (Row 3)
12. amy’s quilt
13. lizard ridge afghan
14. feather & fan scarf
15. cotton voile top
16. blue basketweave cotton top     (Row 4)
17. elephant pin cushions
18. fuschia satin top
19. gathered scarf
20. coasters     (Row 5)
21. bill’s pj bottoms #2
22. bb chevron love mittens
23. fabric boxes
24. happy forest sagano shawl
25. basketweave afghan     (Row 6)
26. christmas pjs
27. dog bed
28. black and white tunic
29. concetta cardi
30. green table     (Row 7)
31. jersey knit top
32. tawashi
33. green and white cotton top
34. sweetheart cuff down socks

I’ll keep you updated on my progress and if you’re interested, feel free to join me this month as I Focus on Finishing.

Mosaic created using fd’s Flickr Toys.

This happy dance started last Sunday. I went to Joanne to buy some supplies for a couple of projects. I had coupons, but most of my stuff was already on sale. I bought duck cloth and cotton fabric for some fabric boxes, more duck cloth for some bean bags, and fusible interfacing for some bags and to make sure I had some on hand. The interfacing wasn’t on sale so I was able to use my coupon.

I got to the cutting table and had 16 people in front of me. What to do, what to do… Not many options so I went with looking at pattern books. As it turns out, simplicity patterns were 5 for $5 and I found 5 that I liked. You can never have too many patterns. Once my fabric was cut, I checked out and would you believe that I saved $103? I did, I did!!!!!  You are probably wondering how much I spent to save so much.  I spent $36.  Yup, I saved almost three times what I spent.  The patterns were a big chunk of my savings and a great deal!

Doing the happy dance…

On Thursday, I started a project with my sale duck cloth.  I have been meaning to make fabric boxes to store some blurays and wii stuff on our tv entertainment center.  There’s this great tutorial on All Buttoned Up that I’ve been using.  I finished my first box. I’m always amazed when something actually turns out how I want it to turn out.  Especially on the first try.  The box actually fits my blurays.

Doing the happy dance…

I made a couple of additions to the tutorial.  I stitched in the ditch a little on the side seams of the boxes so that when I slid in my interfacing, they would stay in place.  I’m able to slide them into a little pocket. Then I stitched in the ditch along the bottom seams to keep everything in place.  Just about two inches. And instead of interfacing, I used manilla folders to line my boxes.  We have lots of manilla folders lying around.  I don’t plan on these boxes being washable.  Hence my using manilla folders.  I didn’t prewash my duck cloth, and I’m pretty sure it would still shrink even if I had prewashed it.  I’ll vacuum them if they get dusty.

One box down, five more to go.

the housekeeper is nowhere to be found.  We are immensely relieved that the laundress ended her work stoppage voluntarily. The husband did pony up some cash for a few skeins of yarn, but that was a small price to pay for clean undies.  As for the housekeeper, apparently she would rather walk around the neighborhood and smell the…

roses.

Or she would rather play with fabric squares…

The husband sees the housekeeper and she behaves as if she owns the house, sitting on the couch knitting.  In the meantime, we’re up to our eyeballs in dust and animal hair tumbleweeds. What is going on in this house?  Sabrina thinks we’d better get it figured out ASAP.

A cute little kitty can’t live in these kinds of conditions.

One of the things that I think makes for a happy sewist, and probably a happy quilter, is the ability to live with imperfections. Imperfections are part of crafting and tend to add character to the final product.  That said, mistakes are another thing.  Some mistakes can be lived with, others have to be corrected.  My squares NOT lining up well in the top photo are an example of mistakes that I couldn’t live with.  I am a beginning quilter, and I don’t expect that every corner will line up perfectly, but this was not within my tolerances.  I took my time cutting the squares, I did a pretty good job with my quarter inch seams, so why were my squares off?  I measured them, and when they should have been 4 inches, they were all over the place.  Yuck!  I decided to try an experiment and start from the bottom of my quilt and remeasure and trim my pairs before finishing the piecing and before I sewed two rows together.

Those are my trimmings.  Doesn’t look like much right?  It’s amazing the problems they caused.

My squares are lining up a lot better now!  A lot better!  I do have some that aren’t perfect, but as I started this blog, imperfections are okay.  I’m not an experienced quilter so I don’t expect it to look professional.  If the rest of the quilt turns out like the bottom photo though, I will be VERY happy.

Now let’s not talk about how much longer this process is going to take me.  And I’m not even gonna think about what to do with the section I’ve  already done.  I think it is going to involve my friend the seam ripper.

I struggled through today.  When you roll over in the middle of the night and your sore butt muscles wake you up, you know it’s going to be a rough day.  Yesterday, I resumed my class at the gym which I’ve been away from for about a month due to travel and a cold.  I was surprised it had been that long, but the calendar doesn’t lie.  I took it easy, cut the weight on my barbell, but I am moving like a 90 year old woman.  Actually, that is probably an insult to 90 year olds.  My legs are not my friends.  As painful as it is to move my bottom half, in a weird way it feels kinda good to get those muscles working again.

Despite my soreness, I spent the afternoon laying out a quilt.  It wasn’t easy scooting around on the floor, but I’m pretty happy with how the quilt looks so far.  When dealing with so many different fabrics, I couldn’t think of any other way to make sure that the fabrics got “evenly” distributed.

The supervisor approves.

Then she had to mug it up for the camera.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for the day, Bill and I went to see Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band at the Mountain Winery. It’s a nice intimate venue not far from our house.  I have to admit, I wasn’t super excited for the concert.  I knew it would be a nice evening, but that was the extent of my excitement.  Well, his All-Starr Band was really an All-Star Band.  Edgar Winter sang Free Ride which was my favorite song to play when I was in the Penn Band.  And then, Richard Page sang Kyrie which is my favorite 80s song.  Favorite.

Rick Derringer sang Hang on Sloopy, Gary Wright sang Dream Weaver, Wally Palmar sang What I Like About You…  Ringo sang, played drums.  It was pretty cool.  And can I say that Ringo looks great at 70.  (He was moving way better than I was.)

Now that really was enough excitement for one day.

I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on in the Casa Napier these days.  Well, it’s a little of this and a little of that.

I’m making progress on my twin size quilt.  I need a name for it, other than twin size quilt.  I’m sure something will come to me.  I finished cutting all my white squares and have made a very good dent on the patterned squares.  I took this picture Thursday afternoon and I think I’ve doubled the number of cut squares since then.  I don’t really have a plan for this quilt, other than I will alternate white squares and patterned squares.  I’m just cutting a ton of squares and hoping that they will somehow all come together.  My focus is on yellow and white, with bits of other colors thrown in.  Doesn’t look like there’s much yellow in that pile, but that has changed.

I started a new knitting project, the meandering vines shawl (rav link here).  I’m knitting it in Sweet Georgia Cashsilk Lace which is Divine.    Yes, with a capital D!  I love how it feels moving through my fingers.  It is 45% cashmere and 55% silk.  Soooo soft.  The color is a beautiful, vivid  aquamarine, with bits of green throughout.  I’m also enjoying the pattern, thanks in large part to my stitch markers.  The pattern is easy to memorize and ends up looking a lot more complicated than it is.

And of course, there’s been time to relax outside.

You should have heard the squeal that I let out when I saw my finished birdie sling!  I’m SOOOOOO happy with how it turned out.  I saw the fabric a few weeks ago and loved it.  It’s so summery and happy and just perfect!  That Heather Bailey sure knows how to design fabric.  Anyway, the fabric practically told me it wanted to be a birdie sling, so who was I to say no.

I cut the fabric on Tuesday.  Ironed the interfacing on Wednesday.  Started sewing on Friday and finished sewing on Saturday!

I thought I had read a pattern review that said the construction was a little fiddly, but all in all, I thought it was pretty straightforward.  My only hiccup was that I sewed the top bands on upside down and had to rip them out.  But that was really my fault for not taking the time to double check the pattern.

Almost immediately after I finished, I started to dig through my fabric to make another one.  I think it would make a great beach bag if done in a darker fabric to better mask inadvertent stains.

Have I mentioned how much I love this bag???

I’ve been bitten by the quilting bug these days.  I’m not a very experienced quilter; I can count the number of quilts I’ve sewn, in my life, on one hand.  I do enjoy the process of seeing bits of fabric turn into beautiful works of art and family heirlooms.  I’ve also started reading the blog, Red Pepper Quilts, and am inspired!

A good friend adopted a baby girl almost two years ago.  I’m so happy for my friend as this was a long process, filled with ups and downs.  It’s so wonderful to see this family together and happy.   The baby, who’s not really a baby anymore, is going to get a big girl bed soon and I wanted to do something special for both my friend and the baby, so I’m going to sew a quilt for the new bed.  I am VERY excited about making this quilt.  But I am also agonizing over it.  I want it to be near perfect and loved and cheerful…

I started to second guess myself.  I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Like yesterday, when I called my mom in a dither about using white fabric when I think the walls in the room are cream.   (Mom says you can’t go wrong with white.)  Today, I sent my friend a near frantic email:  You have two choices for fabric. funky/whimsical (as shown above) or girly/floral.  My original instinct, knowing my friend, was funky and that’s what she chose.   I can incorporate some of the florals in with the funky/whimsical, but it wouldn’t really have worked the other way around.  In addition to the fabric, I’ve been obsessing about what kind of pattern to use.  Last week, I decided to do something based on this beautiful quilt.   Two nights ago, I browsed quilt photos on flickr and started reconsidering my pattern.  I’m loving the triangles.  And then there’s this tutorial.

After some calming breaths (and a discussion with Mom), I’ve decided to stick with the squares.  I think it will work best with the fabrics I’ve chosen and is more suited to my experience level. I’ve been prewashing my fabrics and am ready to start cutting fabric!!  The fun begins.

I just returned from a ten day vacation.  You might think I am recharged and refreshed but I am exhausted.  Bill is happy to be returning to work so he can rest.  We had a fantastic trip, it was just wasn’t as relaxing as we thought it might be.

The reason for the trip was my Mom’s 60th birthday.  (Does my mom look 60?  She’s second from the right.)  Her husband took the family (eight of us total) on a Caribbean cruise.  Bill and I also took an extra day at the beginning and end of the trip to visit Bill’s family in Miami.  It was great to reconnect with family, especially because it’s been years since we’ve seen them (both Bill’s family and my family).

We had so much fun which is why I’m so tired.  We met almost every morning for breakfast, except for one because Bill and I had an early excursion.  Bill and I would get up early to get a little exercise before our morning meal.  We were busy during the days, especially in port either hitting the beach or doing an excursion.  On the days at sea we found comfortable chairs in the shade to sit and read and chat.  We ate dinner together every night, usually meeting for a pre-dinner cocktail, went to most of the shows, and usually hung out afterwards.   Bill and I didn’t stay up terribly late except for maybe two nights, but the constant activity throughout the day tired us out.  There was a lot to do on the ship, including a water slide.  They also had games.  Mom and I played The Match Game where couples are asked a question and you are trying to come up with the same answer as your partner.  Mom and I won and were given medals!

We stopped at four ports: Grand Cayman, Carnival’s private beach in Honduras, Belize and Cozumel.  The eight of us hit the beach in Grand Cayman and Honduras, and Bill and I went cave tubing in Belize and to Tulum in Mexico.  The beach in Grand Cayman was my favorite.  I think because it was the first stop, our first visit to a gorgeous beach, and we weren’t tired yet.  Cave tubing was interesting.  Basically we sat on inner tubes in a river that ran through caves were Mayan’s made sacrifices.  I’m glad I did it, but don’t see myself doing it again.  Tulum was beautiful, but a two and a half hour trip (one way) for a two hour visit to the site.  And it was HOT.  And HUMID.  If I look unhappy, it is because I am HOT.

The Mayans did do some pretty amazing things and the site was impressive.  The view was incredible, right off the most blue water.  It was just a long boat and bus ride and I generally like to spend more time at the site than it takes to get there.  Although it was hot and Bill and I felt we saw everything we wanted to see.  If we had more time, we would have gone to the beach, but we decided to have lunch instead.

We were on a Carnival ship, which I liked.  The focus is on having fun and I like that all age groups are represented.  The food was delicious, although we agreed that the sit down meals were better than the buffet food (although the buffet food was very good).  Carnival is known for making towel animals and I had my picture taken with our animal every day.  Our room steward even let us keep some of our animals.

The rooms are a nice size.  We had an ocean view room on the first deck, and had a lot of space for two people and three towel animals.  The service on board ship was excellent and you are really spoiled.  It is a bit of a shock to my system to be home and having to cook and clean myself.  I guess that is a small price to pay to sleep in my own bed and be with my furry babies (whom I missed terribly).

Because this is supposed to be mostly a craft blog, I will finish by letting you know that I made the teal blouse in the first picture.  My mom made the skirt I am wearing.  The skirt is made of brown/bronze (depending on the light) sequined fabric that we bought in NYC.  The blouse (which looked much better before I sat it in for two hours and stood up wrinkled) is made of Robert Kaufman Radiance fabric, which is a cotton/silk blend satin fabric.  It is fabulous material.  The pattern is Simplicity 3893, though I modified it to cross over in front and I did a pleat under the bust instead of gathers.  I wish the skirt had photographed better because it is stunning, and one of the best things my mom has sewn for me.  I also made my necklace (which is hard to see).  It is a large quartz focal gem.  I’m not sure exactly what kind of quartz, but it was practically made to be worn with the skirt.  (Here’s a picture where I’m slightly less wrinkled.)

Well, I’m impressed that I have managed to stay up until 10pm as I was ready to crash five hours ago.  Sabrina is snuggled up against me as I type and as much as I hate to disturb her, she is going to have to move because I am ready to sleep.  I guess we all should be so lucky to be exhausted after a wonderful ten days with family.

I’m super good at starting projects.  Lately, my desire / momentum / ability to finish projects has been in question.  I’ve slowly finished some projects that have been languishing.  Last week, I finished knitting my lacy baktus shawl.  But it took me another week to weave in the ends, wash and block it.  Lacy Baktus:  truly finished yesterday!

I started a sweater in January and knit about 80% of it in two weeks.  The sleeves were giving me trouble, I went to London, lost all will to work on projects in February and most of March, and then finally picked it up at the beginning of April.  I was able to get a sleeve done to my satisfaction.  (The problem was the pattern didn’t call for any decreasing so the part around my forearm was huge.)  I ripped out the first sleeve and redid it to match the other sleeve and wove in the ends, sewed on the buttons and then realized I was short two buttons!  It didn’t stop me from washing and blocking although I’m having trouble tracking down the last two buttons.  As I’m typing this my husband has walked in and handed me two buttons from the Joann near his office!!  Valentine Sweater:  to be finished tonight once I sew in those last buttons!

I started some pajama bottoms in November and just finished them last night.  One pair is flannel.  Not sure how helpful those will be in April, but oh well.    I do my pj bottoms with french seams which look great, but are a pain.  They essentially take twice as long to sew and the ironing is not so fun, but once they are done they look great!  3 Pairs PJ bottoms:  done last night!

I cleaned out my knitting basket on Tuesday and finished a couple of baby hats I started in November of 2007 when a friend was pregnant.  I finished the hats for her twins but had the idea to make a couple for my etsy store.  It only took 30 months, but they are done.  Not listed in the store, but done.  2 Baby Hats:  done Tuesday night!

I’ve also started a few more projects.  On Tuesday night I casted on a new top down sweater to be knit in cotton.  I’ve cut fabric to make Bill two pairs of cotton PJ bottoms.  The ones he has are all flannel.  I cut fabric for two tops, one of which I’m going to start in tonight’s sewing class.   My zig zag quilt which I started about a week and a half ago is coming along nicely.

Anyhoo, tonight is my sewing class.  I’m an experienced sewist, but am mostly self taught.  I’ve watched my mom and read lots of stuff on the internets, but I’ve never had any real training.  I decided to take a class to unlearn my bad habits and get tips, hints, tricks, etc.  Last week was the first class and it was fun!  We started with the basics and once our fabric was cut, the instructor let me go at my own pace since I have sewn before.  I was able to ask questions as I went along and I learned a few things.  It was also nice to be out with other women and makes me realize I do need to get out of the house more.  This week starts a three session class and because I got so much done on my first project last week, I was told I could bring in a new project.  This class is set up as a sort of independent study where you can work on your own but you have a resource available for questions.  I think this is perfect for me.  So tonight I am bringing a tunic style top that has darts.  I’ve never sewn darts and now I can get some help.

Between finishing projects, updating things on ravelry, starting new projects, I’m feeling quite energized!  Now if only I could get my craft room under control, life would be near perfect!