I’ve slowed down over Christmas, but now I need to get quilting again. I’m currently working on a wedding quilt for my younger brother and his fiancee in rose and pale green (very romantic floral stuff, not what I usually do, but she’ll love it). I always have tons of things I want to do, so I’m sure I’ll start something else soon. I think this may be the last quilt I have to do for awhile–we’ve had a huge run of weddings and babies in the family, but I might actually get to try something neat next. I’ve been collecting ‘literary’ fabrics–anything with letters, words, or images of books/reading. I might try something with those…
I have far too many cross-stitch projects in hand right now, so of course I started a new one. This one’s simpler than the others–lots of solid blocks of color because it has words–and I ought to get through it relatively quickly if I stick to it and don’t get distracted. It’s a design based on Isaiah 9:6, the verse used for a “Messiah” chorus, with nice fancy lettering. So I have a constant replay in my head of that piece.
My other x-stitch projects, which I have worked on recently, really I have! include a springtime picture of a quilt and irises (can’t resist those quilt designs), a triptych Nativity in a sorta medieval-tapestry style (millefleurs background)–I’ve done the Wise Men, and am working on the shepherds–, and two towels with Celtic spirals in blues and greens.
Oh, and there’s a quilt of hexagons in greens that I’m doing by hand, too. My workbox is disgracefully full.
The strangest thing I’ve ever done…hm. I’m feeling depressingly un-strange right now, and can’t think of anything. I once did a baby quilt in those eye-hurtingly bright kid prints, in a stack-and-whack 9-patch. That turned out pretty interesting. And I have this great lap-robe-sized quilt top I need to finish, all crazy blocks in dark blue batiks with a center medallion with a large moon and some stars appliqued on. It’s pretty cool.
I wish I could knit. I can’t seem to keep the knowledge in my head, it just leaks right out.
I am obsessed with counted cross-stitch and always have a project lying around. I’m quite picky about the designs I do and am quickly running out of sources for more. (Of course when I’m done, they just get rolled up and stuffed in a drawer, heh.)
I would love to learn to knit. However I’m a “learn by showing & doing” type of person and need to seek out someone to get me started. In the future I hope to have some yaks and want to be able to do something with their wool other than felting. I’m also interested in quilting.
Hopefully this year I will master card-weaving and also start doing more non-x-stitch related embroidery. I’m in the SCA and being nudged in this direction by people who think I’m capable of doing more than just x-stitch kits.
Over Christmas two of my sisters and I put together a king-sized quilt with a Chinese double happiness character on the front. (It’s going on our bed, but it’s not done yet–my sister is still binding it).
I was also working on a family scrapbook before Christmas. Now I’m taking a break and reading a lot!
I’m mostly a shuttle tatter. I’ve put that aside lately though to crochet baby afghans for the new babies of (what seems like) every woman I work with.
Now I’m making granny squares from all the different scraps of yarn left over, maybe some day I’ll attach them all together into some strange multicolored thing.
Neat ideas!! gulo gulo, if you’re serious about learning to knit, there should be some people in the SCA who do it, although you may have to sit through endless tedious debates about what is and is not period. A better idea would be to check out the local yarn shop. A lot of them have knitting nights where you can learn by watching and doing.
As for me, I think the strangest thing I’ve done is make several knit doughnuts. They were an in-joke and Christmas present to some co-workers. I’m afraid I’ve also made my best friend’s receptionist jealous. You see, I made her and her husband matching Aran sweaters for a wedding gift, and I finally gave them to her at Thanksgiving. Now her receptionist is wondering how much she’d have to pay for me to make her one. Unfortunately, I don’t think she can afford what my friend paid – 20 years of friendship, 3 moves, one year of being college roommates and a wedding. Even so, the gift didn’t measure up to what she’d given me.
In the unfinished projects category, I have a counted cross-stitch tree skirt which was going well until a minor automobile accident fouled up my neck. By the time it was better, the sweaters had taken over. Oh yes, I also cross-stitched a dragon onto a bag for a Wiccan friend of mine to use in rituals, by way of thanks for inviting me to visit her and her husband for a few days. I’d also love to do something with stained glass.
I don’t know abou the rest of you, but I’m enjoying this!
CJ
I sew, embroider, and crochet, and I am slowly teaching myself to knit. My current projects are sewing a dress for myself (almost done) and crocheting a stripy afghan (not nearly done). Over the holidays I crocheted a bunch of tiny stockings. A crochet site I like is Stargazer’s crochet links–there’s something for everyone there.
I’ve done some cross-stitch, needlepoint and crewel embroidery. Someday I would like to do a sampler from a historical pattern such as the ones offered at The Scarlet Letter and The Essamplaire. I love the old band samplers.
I’d also like to do an embroidery project in the style of the Bayeux tapestry–not quite as big, of course. I am still thinking about how I could design it.
The strangest thing I have made is, I think, an iMac cosy–actually meant to be a dust cover for our flat-panel iMac–pleated at the back into a sort of train like the back of a Regency-era gown.
Even so, the gift didn’t measure up to what she’d given me.