Weekly Project List Update Wednesdays

As I was going through my long project list this morning, I thought it would be a great thing to blog about and share and hopefully some motivation to get some more of these projects done.  My goal is to keep this list updated once a week on Wednesdays (or around there) and note which projects are finished or progress made on projects (like quilts that take longer).

Here is my current list.  I am curious to see what progress is made in a week and also how many new projects will get added!

Rank	Project	Status	How Many
1	Blue Knit Blanket	75% Complete	1
2	Green Knit Prayer Shawl	Started	1
3	Swiffer Wet Jet Reusable Pads		6
4	Christmas Quilt	25% Complete	1
5	Crayon Roll for Girls		2
6	Infinity Dress		1
7	Pink Pom Pom Knit Scarf	Started	1
8	Pink Eyelash Knit Scarf	Started	1
9	Crayon Roll for Boys		2
10	Car Roll		2
11	Numbers Bean Bags		1
12	Small Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
13	White Newborn Knit Hat and Booties		2
14	Riley Blake Jelly Roll Quilt		1
15	Car Mat Quilt		1
16	Animal Cloth Blocks		2
17	T-shirt Yoga Pants		2
18	Floor Cushions		2
19	Hooty Hoot Owl Quilt		1
20	Medium Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
21	Alphabet Bean Bags		1
22	Red Knit Prayer Shawl		1
23	White Knit Baby Blanket		1
24	Pink Knit Baby Blanket		1

Finding Time

Isn't finding time the problem for everyone?  Time to sleep, time to exercise, time to sew or knit?  I somehow managed on this busy Easter weekend to find time to sew for about 30 minutes.  In between all the cooking, cleaning and Easter basket prepping I went upstairs and sat in front of my sewing machine.

First I had to clean or and organize my sewing table again.  The problem with a nice giant sewing table is that it can get filled with clutter very easily and fabric, yarn and interfacing get pushed to the outer edges and it slowly creeps back towards the middle. I decided to put away some of the fabric and yarn I had recently bought because I wasn't going to get to it this weekend so it would be better stored than lost in a giant pile. 

Instead of working on a project with all the new materials I had bought, I decided to work on a quilt top that I started 5 years ago.  This is a Christmas quilt kit that I bought at the 2005 International Quilt Show in Houston and the over the past few  years I had worked on it on and off all while finishing several other quilts and other craft projects as well as getting married and having a son.  Since it is a Christmas quilt I would push it aside and say to myself that I would finished it this coming Christmas.  Several Christmas's later, still no finished quilt.  The fabric is all cut out and half of the blocks are sewn.  The other half are organized and ready to be sewn.  I doubt I will finish it all right away but my goal is to finishing sewing the remaining blocks before I work on other sewing projects.  I guess we will see what happens and it I will have the quilt for done for Christmas 2011.

Counting Down to Easter

This year for lent I tried to really challenge myself so I gave up all drinks except water.  I would normally have a cup or two of coffee, then a Diet Dr Pepper, a glass or two or ice tea and maybe another soda every day.  The easiest part was giving up the caffeine and sodas.  I do miss a large ice tea from sonic and there are some mornings where I am dying for a big cup of coffee but I really miss alcohol!  I am not a big drinker but more of a social drinker and its hard doing nights out with the girls or tailgating and not being able to have one drink.  I almost feel like a social outcast but don't worry, there will be no crazy drinking Easter morning.
I am getting tired of water and would love a little flavor here and there.  Only a week and half left.

Knitting with Needles

I have a craft background all thanks to my mom and grandma.  I started with cross-stitch, moved on to quilting, did a little needlepoint, tried some basic sewing and them got hooked on loom knitting.  I have been doing loom knitting for the past 3-4 years because it was easy to pick up, projects finished quickly and I loved making scarves in a variety of colors with a variety of yarn.  I made enough for me and then started to make scarves for family members, hats to match and knit blankets for friends.

This past Friday I was talking with my mom at the Georgetown Quilt Show about learning to "knit the real way" or knitting with needles.  That afternoon when my son took a nap I went to my sewing room, found the old Learn to Knit kit I had bought several years ago and decided to try and teach myself again.  When I tried before, I had less patience and YouTube wasn't around yet.  I took size 15 needles with some cheap yarn but the yarn wasn't moving well.  I switch to size 7 metal needles, cheap yarn and an hour later I had made a little 4 inch square swatch with garter stitch, stockinette stitch and a few rows of rib stitch.  I had a few mistakes on the rib stitch, mainly from not paying attention to well but overall I thought I did pretty good for teaching myself.  It does help that I had an understanding of knitting terms, yarns and looks from loom knitting.

While loom knitting is fun and easy, it can be fairly limiting after a while, especially when you only have a set of large gauge looms.  I am looking forward to the new and nicer things I can complete by knitting with needles now.