Jumping into the New Year feet first!

Hello!

How are you? We are fine here at Chez Daisy - just jumping from project to project in honor of the New Year.

First off - some time ago I promised a photograph of the Little Bits quilt from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I sewed this quilt over a year ago for Youngest Child - but just never got around to quilting it. Well, the lovely ladies over at Two Quilting Ladies finished it up for me and I bound the edges and wrapped it up for Christmas.

Not the most exciting present this year but he's been using it every night!

After that project was out of the way, I finished up the ruffled skirt I learned to make from a pattern in Sew Serendipity. This is a great book with good ideas for adapting patterns to fit different figures.

It was a bit tricky trying to find patterned fabrics that I would wear in both summer and winter.

Tan, browns and black fabrics seemed a safe bet!

Then, I had a few days off the sewing for the holidays. 

Or, as the cartoonist put it, "Then, a miracle occurs."

I used some of that rest time to finish up my Citron Shawl. It's lovely - soft and warm - just in time for freezing winter at my house.

I also used my time off to finish a last minute Loopy Scarf for Youngest Daughter. I bought five skeins of Patons Bohemian yarn at the Minnesota Knitters' Guild Holiday Party for all of $4 TOTAL! 

I've also been using these sunny cold Minnesota Days to work on Mr. Daisy's brown River Grass Gansey. The color is just too dark to work on at night  - so I've started a new light-colored project for evening knitting!

A toe up pattern - Tangled Up in Blue by Judy Becker - with some Pagewood Farms Yukon sock yarn in the Vineyard Blues colorway. 

That, a cup of tea and some Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix have been keeping me awake this week!

So, really, most of these projects are done and gone. This may look like a lot of crafting but spread it out over December and it's a reasonable amount. 

The sweater and the socks are going to be my boon knitting companions this month - I promise!

I even had some time for a Saturday Seven.

A cook book, some unopened Christmas cards, some cheese spreaders, an ipod accessory, some coasters, a tea caddy and a pen. 

More sewing news later this week and updates on the gansey. See you later!

Snow, snow and snow.

Bah. I like snow as much as anyone else but it did interfere with my plans to mulch the garden this weekend.

Luckily, most everything was picked up because of the "Quidditch fest" we had on Halloween weekend and as long as I can still get to the bird feeders, I'll be fine.

I'm not resisting temptation any more on the Citron front. Yes, my second skein of Sumptuosity arrived this week and I am champing at the bit.

As soon as this blog entry gets finished, I'm casting on and settling down to watch Coraline with Youngest Child. I loved this movie and my book group read it last year but we just haven't sat down together to enjoy it yet.

I thought I might get finished with the Hedgerow Socks as a 21st birthday present for Oldest Daughter

- yes, she is that old! - but the cold that swept through my house cut down on all productivity, knitting included.

Today's Saturday Seven went out last week to my son's school's rummage sale. Bye bye books and tapes!