Just doing my part

The husband and I are planning to get healthy this summer, hopefully get a little more fit by beach time. And I just took the first step, ate a bowl of ice cream. He has mandated that we can't have any sweets or unhealthy snacks in the house, but that we are allowed to finish what's here. So, in an effort to clear out all that unhealthy stuff I had a yummy dish of Andes Mint ice cream. Mmmmm.

Eventually we will eat all the good stuff and the next step will be much harder, but the point is to be doing it together, which I guess will make it easier. My problem is I'm a snacker and I also like to have treats every once in a while, rewards for doing well...I'll just have to enjoy all my rewards in advance :-( Hopefully we can stick w/ this and eat better and work out more over the next month or so and see some results. Here goes!

Project Updates!

Two projects done in one week! Finished the scarf for my friend Sara's bridal shower on Friday [only took one week!] and finally broke out my sewing machine for its first test drive to finish the Snow Mum Pillow.

First things first, Penobscot Scarf: my first attempt at lace, pretty happy with how it turned out. I had to block it after I was done b/c it wanted to curl at the ends and throughout the length and after I was done it looked so good. I hope it keeps its shape. This was pretty easy to make in a week w/ some serious knitting time.


The next project is like 6 months in the making. The NWC got together to make this back in the winter and I bailed early b/c of the snow [which amounted to nothing]. I finally got my own sewing machine [thanks Grandma!] and set about to finish it this weekend. Now, this is a pretty forgiving project, the wool felt hides my crooked sewing and it still looks ok. The hardest part was sewing the petals on since my presser foot didn't really get up high enough. I learned that I don't know a lot about sewing and need to work on my technique...like remembering to put the presser foot down before sewing...but it's done!


I love the way it looks on our new-ish bedding. I have our summer chenille spread on w/ the shams from our duvet cover and the mum matches perfectly. I love the look. Now we just have to work on making the bed up more often so we get to see the full effect.


Now I just have to find my next project :-) Any suggestions...?

Baby Sweater Machine

Tomorrow I'm headed to my cousin's baby shower. She's having twin girls in September. She's the sixth friend/relative I have that either is having or had a baby this year. So I've been pretty busy knitting, which is actually pretty fun. Baby clothes are way easier than adult size and you can try out different yarns and patterns. I stuck w/ the same baby shrug for the twins as for another friend's girl since it was easy and I needed to get two of them done asap. Looking forward to the next project...but I need to know the sex of the December baby first. I'll pick a new pattern this time to try something new and hopefully perfect some skills. So, here are the baby shrugs I've made recently:
I've also started another knitting project for a friend. It's the wrong season for a scarf, but the name of the scarf reminds me of this person and I thought it would be a special gift. It's the first time I've done a lace pattern but so far its easy. I need to finish by Sunday though...so I'm on overdrive. I think I can do it though! I'll post the final when I'm done. Now I'm off for a knitting break!

I've joined the land of the sewing!

I'm back! And I'm gonna learn to sew :-) My mom dropped of my grandma's sewing machine today. It's a 13 year old Singer and it's basic but just what I need. Mom taught me how to thread it and we took it on a test run. Works fine, I just need to get some thread and get sewing. I'll finally get to finish my Snow Mum Pillow...at last. I won't have to borrow other New Wives machines and we can all sew together :-)

I'm looking forward to the project Beeps has proposed, a zippered clutch w/ a wrist-let. Can't wait. Now I have to start amassing large quantities of fabric and queue up some projects.

The only bad thing is now I have to choose between sewing and knitting, between the two the possibilities are endless!