A Return!

Did anyone else have a crazy November? I don't know what happened to that whole month. It seems like I had an event of some sort planned every weekend and the time just flew right on by...

I was also participating in National Novel Writing Month. I've participated a few times now and won 3 of those. If you're not familiar with NaNoWriMo, "winning" means I wrote 50,000 words or more in 30 days. It's a lot. At the end of it I have a big, messy pile of words that will need to be heavily edited and rewritten before they really become anything, but it's a start.  I did pretty good about writing in college, but when your grades depend upon whether or not you finish a poem or short story for workshop the next day, it's much easier to stay motivated. So I have been working this year on taking my writing more seriously and trying to develop daily habits instead of doing a mad dash once a year and then forgetting about it.

But somehow, I also had time for some crafts. Here's a short rundown.

I FINALLY finished this beast of a quilt last night. This picture shows how much I had left when I ran out of bobbin thread. OF COURSE. You may remember me starting this... in March of 2014! I know. It's shameful how long this has been in progress. Especially considering this was supposed to be a gift for my now-husband in 2014. But this is the year! It will finally be finished!

I know this picture sucks, but this hat was a gift and I sent it off before I took any decent pictures. Sorry! But this is a Vermonter made up in Manos Franca yarn. It is lovely and soft and the colors are just gorgeous. I had to make some changes to the pattern to get it to fit, which you can find on my Ravelry page if you're interested. I made this for a friend who lives in a much colder area than me. She's been going through some hard stuff, so I sent her a bit of warmth. Like you do.

And this little beauty is my first Hermione Everyday Sock! The other one is almost done. I've turned the heel, made the gusset, and now I just need to knit the foot. It got put on hold in favor of the Vermonter, but I will be returning to it soon!

There has been more stuff, but this is a little sampling. I plan to return to this space more often to share, so keep an eye out :)

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

I Finished Something! (Sort Of)

This is the Week of Birthdays, which will be followed by the Weekend of House Guests. Which actually may end up being called The Weekend of House Guests who Melted because the AC Broke. Yeah. It's that kind of week. And with temps already reaching the mid 90s, boy do we need that AC!

But anyways. Look! The churn dashes! They are finished! And I am please to report that Mario is very happy with the way they turned out :)

It's actually bigger than this. There is a 4th row on the top. But it was too tall that way to be held up!

Unfortunately, I have not started quilting... or even ordered a backing for this. I have been distracted by my attempts at quilting the scrappy chevron quilt (more on that soon) and a sudden obsession with making clothes (more on that soon, too).

So all you get today is pictures of a finished quilt top and tales of a happy boyfriend. More drama to come, I promise! What have you been working on?

Linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!

A New WiP

Yes, I have started a new quilt. It's been a while, huh?? I have been a little more focused on small projects lately it seems.

This one is for Mario, my wonderful boyfriend who has waited ever so patiently for me to finally make him a quilt. It has taken me this long to get around to it because I just couldn't decide on a pattern! I wanted to do something amazing and complicated and time consuming. Because you know, Mario is special. But I finally decided I should just bring him in on the decision.

And as it turns out, Mario loves churn dashes! Who knew, right? He especially loves them when they're huge. So that's what I'm doing. Enormous 24" blocks! They're marvelously fast.

Sorry for the dark crappy pictures! I have not been doing well with remembering to take pictures before work in the morning... The red is really much better than that! It's Kona Poppy. And the background is Kona Meringue, just in case you were wondering ;)

This can was the color inspiration. We ordered this beer at a local pizza place and Mario thought it looked awesome. So naturally I said we could turn it into a quilt! So we found some at Total Wine to help with the fabric choosing. Yes, it is empty now. I wanted to get a picture before we actually drank the beer, but there was Top Gear to watch and it really couldn't wait. You understand, right?

I currently have 7 of 12 blocks. There is every possibility that this will be done before his birthday in late May! EXCITEMENT.

Linking up to WiP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced!