Progress but a little less this week

Here it is the start of another week and time to show what I was able to accomplish in the last week.  This past week was busy with a few other things, so I didn't get as much stitching done, but at least I made some progress. My knitting has continued to get the 30 minutes a day, so that helps.

Mini the Forgotten - this project once gain was my focus for the week, and I was able to get some stitches in on it. My goal for March was to reach 50% complete on this piece, and I was able to do that yesterday.  I still have a lot more stitching ahead of me, but being able to see that I have got that much of the piece done makes me feel good. Having this as a focus for March has helped me more this forward a little faster than I had originally planned.  

I hope to continue working on Mini the Forgotten as a focus piece for longer, but I do know that I will be adding in some other projects before too long.

Wedding Shawl - this is the focus knitting project for right now, and I have been able to continue to keep working on this shawl for at least 30 minutes a day. It is a nice pattern to work on, but I still need to have the pattern in front of me, so it isn't something that I can do from memory, but it has been enjoyable to work on. I haven't measured the shawl yet because I know that I still have a long way to go. Maybe at the end of this coming week I will finally measure it to see where I am and how much more I have to go on it.

Other projects - this past week I didn't work on a lot of other stuff other than my English Paper piecing did get a little bit of attention. I know that I have at least moved the large motif throw forward a bit in March, but I guess we will find out when I do that blog at the beginning of April.

I hope everyone is continuing to find those projects that make you happy, and you spend a bit of time each day working on them. There may be times when we don't get a lot of time to ourselves, but even making that 10 or 15 minutes a day a goal helps. I know for me, there are days that I don't get a lot of time to do my knitting, but I try and ensure that I take bits of breaks and do something that I enjoy.

Have a good week and hopefully next week I will have some progress to how you on what I have been working on.

 

Focusing on projects

Here it is the start of another week and yes time for another update and what I have been working on. I have been trying to focus on projects for the last couple of weeks and it does make me happy to see the progress that I have made on a couple of things.

I have enjoyed just working on a couple of projects and have been able to see some good progress on both over the last 7 days.

Wedding Shawl - this is my knitting focus, and I must admit that I have been enjoying working on it as it does seem to knit up quicker now. The pattern is 12 rows, and it is easy to work on once you have a couple of the patterns completed. The shawl is getting about 30 minutes each day and it has helped move this project forward. I still have a long way to go on the shawl as it will measure around 70 inches if I knit it as long as the pattern calls for.

This knitting will continue to be my focus for the next little while as I would like to see how quickly I can get it completed by trying to focus on it a bit each day instead of bouncing between a lot of different knitting projects.

Mini the Forgotten - I have been using this piece as my cross stitch focus and it has helped me move it forward quite a bit. Over the last couple of weeks, I have only been stitching on this piece and have loved seeing the progress that I have done on it.

This past week my focus was on trying to get move of the background completed and it has helped me see some of the sections getting closer to being filled in. Being able to focus on a piece has meant that instead of a couple of projects getting stitched on and not seeing a lot of progress I am seeing at least some progress on this piece.

I have another project that I would like to start but there is a lot of me that wants to focus on this piece through the end of March and see how much of it I can get done. I am currently working towards being 50% completed and that I hope I can do this week but will just have to wait and see. 

Other projects - of course, my English Paper Piecing is getting a bit of attention but not a lot. I am continuing to move this project forward as well and, in some ways, having the focus that I have had this month it makes me happy seeing how much I can get done on something.

I hope everyone is finding the things that make them happy. My joy is ensuring that I find that 30 minutes a day to sit and knit and think through what I want to accomplish that day. My knitting is my start to the day, most of the time, and it gives me that time to set up the day so that I can get things done.

Next week I hope to have more progress to show you and I will see if I can continue to just focus on these projects for another week and see what they look like. Have a good week and enjoy your time that you set aside for yourself.

 

Progress, new start and a finish

Here it is the start of another week and I do have a bit of progress from this last week. It has been a good week for me as I decided to focus on just a couple of projects and see how it end.

I was busy doing some other things that wasn't crafting so that took quite a bit of time so didn't have as much time to focus on moving things forward.

Mini the Forgotten - this week I decided to just focus on working on this piece to see how much of it I could get done. It was different than just working on this piece for a couple of days.

There is still a lot of this project to go but I am happy with the progress that I have made on it. I am trying to focus on getting the bottom section of the piece completed so will see how that goes over the next little while.  I am not sure if I will focus on this piece again this week or work on something different. That decision will be made when I go to do the stitching.

Wavy Lace Scarf - it didn't take me long to get this scarf finished this past week. It was a nice change using worsted weight yarn on a knitting project. 

The scarf is a nice length, and I am looking forward to seeing if I can make another one of these scarfs before too long. Theses scarves are easy to knit and don't take too long to make which is a nice change from what I have been knitting and am currently knitting. 

Wedding Shawl - after I finished the Wavy Lace Scarf it was time to start another knitting project so after trying to decide which project, I would start next I picked up and started the Wedding Shawl. 

This shawl has 12 rows to it so that means that I need to make sure that I know where I am on it. It does work on fairly quickly when I can sit and work on it for the 30 minutes. It has been nice continuing to do the 30 minutes of knitting each day as it gives me a bit of time to sit and relax and figure out plans for the day. My knitting is normally done with my coffee after breakfast and before I start my day.

Other projects - my English Paper piecing did get a bit of attention again this past week and I will show you what I got done when I do that blog at the end of the month. 

It has been nice having a couple of projects that are my focus as I am seeing that I can get quite a bit of progress on something instead of just bits of projects for a bunch of projects. I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy helping you recharge your personal batteries. My knitting has been my recharge and focus my thinking project and I have been able to make some good progress on things.

Hope everyone has a good week and hopefully next week I will have some more progress on things to show you.

A finish and some more progress

Here it is the start of another week and I have been able to make some good progress on things again this week. I hope that I can continue to see things either completed or at least moved forward in the next little while.

Life seems to be getting back to normal, and being busy with work and other things means there is less time to hide and do some of the crafting that I would like to do.

Ruskin's Penguins - here is the project that was my focus for the last little while, as I wanted to get it completed. This past week, I decided to put a lot of effort into it and see if I could get it done. I was able to get all of it stitched which means this is another finish for the year which makes me happy. Now to see what I work on next as I am going to be trying to move projects forward even just a bit.

I did use Anchor floss for this project, and my experience with the white floss wasn't the best. Anchor floss is similar to DMC, however it comes on spools instead of the skeins. The black floss was fine to work with, and I enjoyed using it and felt it was very similar to the black DMC. Some people say the Anchor black covers better than DMC black, but I didn't see much of a difference. The white floss to me felt rougher than DMC white, so it wasn't as enjoyable to work with. It might just be the spool of white that I got, but I am happy to have finished this project, as I will be putting that spool away.

Mini the Forgotten - I continue to work on this piece, and I am looking forward to seeing it finished. Being able to work on this piece each week is making me happy because I do see progress on it.

I have been able to get the bottom right corner stitched, so that made me happy because I know that I have now touched two of the corners. I still have a long way to go before I have reached the other corners, but I am going to continue to work on this piece, as I would like to see how much of it I can get done this year.

Wavy Lace Scarf - after finishing the other scarf last week, it was time to pull out something else that I had started and see how much of it I could get done this week. I had just started this scarf a while ago, so this week I made some good progress on it. The goal with this scarf is to knit it until the ball of yarn has been used up, and I am seeing that it shouldn't take me much longer to get this scarf finished up.

Other projects - English Paper piecing continues to get worked on and at least one of them got some attention this week. I haven't been working on other things as I have been trying to focus on moving only a few things forward at a time instead of bouncing between too many things.

I hope everyone had a good week last week, and you continue to find the time to do something that you enjoy each day.  Taking that little bit of time for yourself each day is important, and it helps you regain your focus.

Next week I hope to have some more progress on something to show you. Not sure what my projects are going to be, but I will continue to try and move projects forward, even just a bit.

English Paper piecing - February progress

Here it is the end of February and the start of March, and it is time for an update on how the throws are progressing. English Paper piecing is still that project that is so relaxing that I try and put some effort into it each week. It may not get a lot of time at once, but even that hour here and there helps move the projects forward.

One thing that I have been working on this month is trying to find the various ways to finish a quilt top once it is done. I have been watching a lot of different videos to see what I like and what I think might work for my projects.

Large motif throw - this project got some time again this month, as I am looking forward to having all of these motifs joined together. I was able to add another 20 motifs to this throw in February, so that isn't too bad. I have got over the 50% joined now so that is good and only have 67 more motifs to go. I currently have 77 motifs joined.

Of course, after the motifs are all joined it is the quilting and finished of the throw, but that is ok. I am looking forward to getting to the point where I am figuring out how many more motifs go in the various sections of the throw, and I don't think that is going to be long, as I am already working on the areas that are getting close to the 12 motifs across and 12 motifs high. I am currently at 10 motifs, so shouldn't be long now.

Scrap throw - this project also got a bit of attention in February, and I attached 16 motifs to it. This project is going to take a lot longer to get done, but I am enjoying it, so I am not going to complain. Being able to see some progress on this project each month is nice, even if it is just getting a few motifs added.

It is fun working on this project, as the joining of a motif doesn't take as long as joining the larger motifs. As I want the large motif throw completed, I have to try and focus on that one and not let this one become the major focus.

The other thing about this project is I haven't finished making all the motifs, so that is something else that I was working on in February. Making motifs is so relaxing and is something that I can do after dinner while sitting and chatting with my husband. 

Most of the remaining motifs that I need for the throw are ready to be made, so hopefully over the next couple of months I can continue to work on getting more of them into the bag of completed motifs.

Bag of small motifs - when I say that I have a lot of motifs still to join on the scrap throw, here is the bag that I am currently working with. Between what I have joined together and what is in this bag, I have about 70% of the motifs ready for this throw. It is a lot of fun working on the various stages of this throw because each part has a different level of relaxation involved. Making motifs are relaxing, and joining motifs are also relaxing. 

I will see what happens in March, as I would like to continue to join motifs to the scrap throw as well. I may not focus on this one as much as the large motif throw, but it should get a little bit of attention.

Fun comparison - here are the two throws, with the scrap throw on top of the large motif throw. Took this picture to show something that I wanted to illustrate. The large motif throw has 77 motifs joined together, and the scrap throw has 71 motifs joined.

The sizes of the motifs are a lot different, with the large ones being 2 inches and the scarp motifs being 3/4" inch. Yes, you can complete a throw faster with the larger motifs, but I do enjoy the smaller motifs a little more.

March is now here, so that means I need to start working on moving both of these projects forward again. I will see what I can get done this month and hopefully will have some progress to show you at the end of the month.

Progress and a knitting finish

Here it is the start of another week and an attempt to try and move things forward as well as juggling other things that are going on. I have been able to continue to move projects forward, which is making me happy. Now to see what the next little while is going to be like.

Mini the Forgotten - I have once again been able to work on moving this project forward a bit this week. I am trying to see if I can continue to get the various colours done up to a certain level. It would be nice to see how things go in the next little while.

What I am currently trying to do is work on completing sections of a colour so that it makes it a little easier to add the other colours to it. I am continuing to see that I have been able to get the stitching done that I want to do each week. There has been a goal that I have set for my stitching on this piece and while I might not say it publicly I have been working on achieving different things in regard to this project.  I have seen progress and that is the biggest achievement that I have wanted to achieve.

Ruskin's Penguins - now here is the project that I have been trying to work on during the week. It has been a bit of a challenge, as I have discovered that I don't like working with the Anchor white floss that I have been using. Given that I am this far along on this project, I will continue to use the floss, but I don't think I will be using it for another project where there is a lot of white.

In the pictures, what you aren't seeing is how much of the white that I have been able to get completed in the borders. I have been working on getting the snowflakes completed in the centre of the piece, but I have also been working on getting the white filled in on the bits of the border, and that is taking some time.

I am going to continue to work on this project and see how much more of it I can get done. I am looking forward to having this piece finished before too long, but will have to see how it goes. Being able to see more of this project done would be nice, so that is going to be my focus again during the week this coming week when I have some time to pick up and work on my cross stitch.

 

Wavy Lace Scarf - this has been my knitting project and I have been trying to knit at least 30 minutes a day on it. It is amazing how much knitting you can get done when you decide to focus on just one project instead of bouncing between a bunch of different things.

This scarf was started in 2021, and it didn't get much attention until I pulled it out this month to see if I could get it finished. For most of the time, I only worked on it for 30 minutes a day, but it didn't take me long to realize that I could get it done quickly. Today was the day that I worked a little bit more of the scarf, as I knew that within probably 45 minutes, I would have it done. I sat down and picked up this project and yes, I was able to get it finished, so this is another project that is now finished.

It is now time for me to figure out the next project that I am going to be digging out, and I think I have already figured it out. I am trying to complete a bunch of projects that I started a while ago, so that means another scarf will probably get the attention for the 30 minutes of knitting a day.

Other projects - I am continuing to work on my English Paper piecing projects and that makes me happy. I will be writing a separate blog on that because a weekly update wouldn't show much progress.

I hope you continue to find that bit of time each day to do something that you love.  It doesn't matter what it is, but making sure that you send that bit of time doing something for yourself is very important. It helps you to regain that focus that you will need to help others and to accomplish the other things that you want to do.

Have a good week and I hope to have some progress on things again next week.

 

2 Finishes and progress

Here it is the start of another week and yes a start of moving things forward again. It would be nice to have more weeks like I just did, but I don't think that is going to happen for a while. It was a good week getting things achieved, so now to see if I can continue to do this.

I hope that through the next little while, I can continue to see progress like I did in the last week. Now to work on making sure that I can continue to get work done as well as find some crafting time.

New Doors - here is the project that was my focus as I was trying to move it forward and see if I could get it done. I must admit that the flowers were a bit of a challenge, but I was able to figure them out and move forward.

I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on this piece because by Tuesday evening I was able to pop this off the q-snap and say it was a finish. Yes, there were some challenges with this piece, but at least I can now say that it is finished, and I am very happy with the progress that I was able to do this past week. I went from working on it to having it finished, and that felt good. I now need to figure out how I am going to finish this piece and get a frame for it, and then it will be totally done. At least, right now, I can say it's a finish or at least a finished stitching and that makes me feel so good.

Mini the Forgotten - here is the piece that I have set as my weekly project, as I would like to continue to move this piece forward and see how much of it I can get done before the end of the year.

I decided to not work on finishing up a colour now, and instead I am working on areas and also working on a colour when I can. This past week I worked on one section of the background and then decided to work on some of the other areas just to see some progress on the different sections.

It has been interesting working on this piece because there are times when I don't feel like I am making such progress and then when I step back and look at the entire piece I am happy with the progress that I have made. I am going to continue to work on this piece when I can each week because it would be nice to see more of this piece finished up before the end of the year.

Ruskin's Penguins - here is a project that I haven't worked on for a while. I think I have finally figured out why, so now to try and make progress on it.

I haven't picked up this piece for quite a while, and I have been trying to figure out just why it wasn't something that I wanted to work on. It's amazing how sitting back and looking at the project and checking every part of it can help you figure out what the project is. With this project, the biggest issue or what I can think is the issue is the floss that I am using. For this project I decided that I wasn't going to use DMC which is the floss that I use most of the time, but I was going to use Anchor floss because I had heard so many comments about it, so I figured that it was worth giving it a try.

I have used the Red from Anchor, and it was a nice floss to work, but once of these two flosses seems to causing me an issue. I am not sure why I am having such a challenge with this piece other than I am not liking working with the White Anchor floss. Hopefully, I am going to continue to work on getting this project finished using this floss, but I think it will be the last time that I work with the White Anchor floss. I am not sure about the other colours because the red that I used I didn't have a challenge, so it might just be the white floss that I don't like working with.

My goal is to continue to move this project forward, as I would like to see it finished before too long. I hope that I can see more of it completed before the end of this coming week.

Forage Shawl - Being able to sit and pick up my knitting each day and work on it for at least 30 minutes is making me feel so much better. I am seeing some progress and that is what is important.

The Forage Shawl got the attention it needed this past week and by the end of the week I was able to say that I have completed another shawl. I worked on this shawl early in the week, and Tuesday I was able to cast off the stitches and sew in the ends and call this another finished project. I hope that I can continue to work the 30 minutes a day on my knitting because I have been able to see some good progress on the various projects.

This shawl was very nice to work on, and it did work up fairly quickly when I decided to work on it a minimum of 30 minutes a day. I am now thinking of knitting this same shawl but with 7 colours, which is what the original pattern calls for. I wanted something quick to work on so that is why I just did the single colour so now to see what it looks like with the 7 different colours.

Wavy Lace Scarf - after finishing the Forage Shawl I looked in my bin to see what I had on the go and I found a scarf that I had started a while ago, but it needed quite a bit of attention. This is the wavy lace scarf, and it does work up quickly, which is also nice. I started working on this scarf on Wednesday and am very happy with the progress that I have made. The red marker lower on the scarf is where it was when I started on Wednesday, so now to see what I can get done on this scarf through the next week.

This scarf is using a grey glitter yarn, and it feels good, seeing how much of the scarf I could get done in the last few days. The 30 minutes a day does help me see that I am getting things done each week, so now to work on making sure that the 30 minutes a day continues through another week, so I can see how much more of this scarf I can get done.

Other projects - my English Paper Piecing projects continue to see bits of progress, which is good, but I will look at them at the end of the month to see what I have really been able to achieve.

I hope everyone is continuing to find that bit of time each day to do something that you love doing. Yes, it does help recharge those personal batteries that so often get drained. This week I am not sure what I am going to be working on other than my Wavy Lace Scarf as it will continue to get the 30 minutes a day on it.

Today is Family Day here in Canada, so I am going to be enjoying some time when I can relax and do some crafting while also spending some time with my husband. I hope that if you have a holiday where you are, that you have a good day and do some of the things that you enjoy.

Next week I hope to have some more progress on things but I don't think it will be as much as this week.