Happy Easter to All

Today, I awoke to a beautiful, clear, blue sky. The forecast was for rain. I'm sharing my bit of spring with those that still have winter clinging on. May your day be blessed with peace.

Market Bag

I'm spring cleaning my craft closet by finishing up projects that have been on my "To Do" list for years. I'm finding ways of using those yarns that have somehow multiplied while sitting on the closet shelf. Don't ask me how that has happened- but it's true. So at night while watching tv, I have been working on my knitting projects. Since this market bag tutorial, http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/grrlfriend-market-bag, has been on my list for a couple of years, I decided to make it last week. This is so much faster than making a sweater.

Fabrics and Designs

I spent part of the day playing with fabrics and quilt patterns. I'm in the planning stages for a quilt that will be given as a graduation gift to my neighbor's daughter. She'll be graduating from high school this spring. I'm planning on designing the quilt with both sides having a different look to the quilt pattern.

Since her favorite color is pink, I'm working with pink as the main color on one side. Although this isn't my favorite color,  I'm warming up to that color since there are some fabrics with fun motifs. I'm adding an orange since I like the look of the orange with the pink.

For the other side, I have chosen bright and cheery colors with cute motifs.
I thought I knew what I wanted to do for the one side, but now I'm leaning towards a different pattern.

The Mink

Five years ago, I picked up the vintage mink collar at a second hand store for $25 while shopping with my daughter.  I pictured a jean coat with a mink collar that I thought I would quickly sew that autumn, but that never happened. This month while organizing my fabric closet, I came across all the material for the coat project and decided it was now or never to make this garment a reality.

It's cute, it's done, and I'm ready to retire to just focusing on making quilts.

At Least I Finished It

It only took me six years to knit and assemble this sweater. This is my first sweater project, and I can proudly say it is my last...never again. Any future knitting projects will just be socks.

My evenings this past month have been spent finishing this project while watching all three seasons of Downton Abbey. I love that show! I enjoy looking at all the elegant dresses of that period of time...and the vintage sewing machines.