Day 4 of Family Sew 12 Challenge

Today was sort of a rainy, stay inside day. I worked on going through some craft magazines and books and getting rid of ones that I know I will never use. Felt good, will take another box to the thrift store on Saturday.

I worked on my knitted afghan today, and maybe I will finish it soon. I have started the first side of the inside border, but it is on the long side of the afghan. I may start a new scarf this week, to have a portable project to work on during Annalise's basketball practice. I need to spend some time organizing the sewing room and get stuff put up and off my cutting table, then make some monogrammed journals for Annalise's basketball team. I also need to finish the jewelry for my sister, and do the purse accessories for mom.

Day 3 of Family Sew 12 Challenge

I had forgotten how long it takes to do counted-cross stitch!

I worked on my counted cross stitch UFO tonight for an hour. You can't see anything that I accomplished, at least I can't. Maybe I'm looking at the big picture too much, no pun intended. I'm trying to get all the outline of white and cream done where I am actually having to count. Once I get the cream finished, the rest is filled in with black. Then I can take this project with me to things like Annalise's basketball practice.

Did I mention that this is a Georgia "G" in antiqued colors? You are supposed to make some sort of lodge pillow out of the finished piece. Not sure if that is what this will become or not. At this rate, it may not get finished this year.......

Day 2 of Family Sew 12 Challenge

I spent my time today working on a knit afghan that I started in the spring of 2011. It is an afghan that uses scrap yarn, so no telling how long the scrap yarn has been taking up space in my carriers (yes I said carriers) of yarn. The pattern came from Mason Dixon Knitting, a book that I checked out of the local library. As long as the library has it, I will not buy it and add to my craft book stash! I promise to do a better job of posting pictures as work progresses.

Day 1 of Sew 12 Family Challenge

Today I finished knitting a scarf, including weaving in the ends. I also worked on a counted cross-stitch picture that I have no idea when it was started. It is definitely a UFO!

I had all materials, so didn't have to add anything to the stash today. Gone = 4 balls of yarn.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome to 2012! Seems like only yesterday it was the beginning of 2011.

My sister and I were talking this weekend as we had Christmas together at her house. She and I always have good ideas of things to make everyone for Christmas, but never quite get everything finished. We are both notorius for giving slightly 'unfinished' gifts to our family, only to ask for the gifts back to finish!

My sister mentioned a blog she had seen where it was suggested to sew an hour a day, 12 days a month, for 12 months and see how much could be accomplished with that dedicated time. (See the Sew 12 button on my blog to link to the original post.) So this year, my sister, mom, and I agreed to challenge each other in the '12 step challenge'. So last night while the men were watching football, we made the rules for our challenge.

All three of us committed to doing crafty pursuits for an hour a day, 12 days a month, for the next 12 months. If you get more crafty time a day, GREAT! but you can't use the 'extra' time for a day when you don't craft. Since we all have numerous UFO's (unfinished objects for the non-crafter), part of the challenge is to finish these UFO's before starting new projects. We used a fairly loose definition of UFO's - if you already have the majority of the materials needed for the project, it can be counted as a UFO. Another part of the challenge is to use your stash since we are all trying to get organized and get rid of stuff! My sister and I will hold each other accountable by blogging and Facebook. Mom will keep a journal of what she does and spends since she doesn't blog. If you want to follow my sister's progress, her blog is http://cutsnstitches.blogspot.com/

My sister and I want to allow our income from crafty pursuits to offset our expenses, but Mom doesn't want it to be too complicated. Alicia and I may have a side challenge going since she teaches sewing and embroidery classes, and I sell finished items. We'll iron out (no pun intended) these details soon, since there will be a winner to this challenge. And we need to decide a prize. But I figure that if we get 144 hours of dedicated sewing time and can clean out stashes, we all win!

Traveled so much for work last year, almost forgot I had this blog. Since the travel has settled down, I really should do a better job of posting.

It's time for JB and Friends Pottery and Art Show and Sale this weekend in Farmington, Georgia. Everyone is welcome to come! Show is 10am to 6pm this Saturday and Sunday. Artists include Jeff Bishoff (JB), Caryn Curry (The Plaid Polka Dot), Crisha Yantis, and Keen Zero.

Soooo It's been a long time......

Sorry for not posting in almost a year, but I have been working and enjoying my daughter's first year of real school.

Her class went to see a play of Charlotte's Web - and of course she had to have a special shirt.....

And I have placed new items in my etsy shop and artfire shop..........

I did other stuff in between, but don't remember all of it!