Well, technically my first knit was the coffee dishcloth (see here), but this is my 'official' first project for my knitting class.

it took me a few hours for each mitt. 36 stitches on size 6 dpn. 2x2 ribbing. 6 inch wrist, 2 inch back and forth for thumb opening, and 7 rows and bind-off. The instructions were written out by my teacher but I lost them and made it up. They will be a gift to her because she is bringing me sock yarn and sz 2 dpns to start knitting socks, and she'll use them more than I would anyway; the wool itches me something crazy.

I don't know which is my favorite: the blanket *SUPER WARM!* or the teas... they smell so goooooooood.... Megan also sent me some lovely flower pens, which will grace the kitchen table, because I am always searching for pens in the kitchen, and they're pretty enough for a centerpiece. lots of post its, and a folding book full of inspirational quotes, which I have yet to read all of them, but they are very well selected! take a gander at that stitching on the blanket. A wonderful idea!

Haha... she forgot to tell you I folded every scrap of paper into something origami.  Mwahha. I'm glad you're happy with it! And I got my MYB from Glittergirl on the same day as she got hers! How cool is that?



i started opening the package on the kitchen table. The first thing I saw was my FAVORITE CHOCOLATE COVERED HAZELNUT CANDY EVER -- so I knew I had to go hide it in my room before the chocolate thief in my family got it before me.

Everything on my bed:


Some of it is hard to see, but there's a great pair of cherry earrings, a TON of business cards for Seams Historic (which are beautiful), and of course, the wrist warmers, which only came off for the picture. Yay for warm hands!

My hair is so slippery it won't stay on my head unless I bring it forward.  Not in the mood to pin it, so here you go:

MlSocci74 sent me a great swap journal! I've already filled out the pages for the swaps I've done in the last month. Wooohoo!

(clickable thumbnails)



So professional looking!

I got a great make up bag from AliBeachGrl! Humbug style, and huge! I can fit my monster brush in here and still have room for everything else. Thanks, Ali!

(clickable thumbnails)



She also sent Lost Laysen, written by the author of Gone With The Wind! What a nice surprise!

You are very welcome ^^

There is also a pocket on the inside -- useful, I thought, for keys or cash, but if you ever wanted to fold the bag up into that pocket instead, this is what you'd see:

Yay for finally getting started nearly a month later...

I did a lot of cutting out today, and probably wasted a yard in cutting out the wrong size, or my ruler slipping and slicing through the piece, or just being stupid.   But I still love my rotary blade!

I finished one block to see how it would come together. Finished size is exactly 16" (not including seam allowance) so YAY I did it right.


The colors aren't very accurate. The 'brown' is more green like the flower pieces. The narrowest pieces (and the little squares) are finished 1".


The back of the thing. I had originally planned to make a slew of 4" blocks and piece them together, but I cut out sections instead. It's surprisingly easy.

I don't think I've ever sewn a modern garment. When I was taking sewing classes, I started off with a civil war dress pattern!

I can't find the pattern online to give you the number, and I'm too lazy to go down two flights of stairs to get it. sorry. Simplicity.


My dog, Cheyenne, insisting that my hem isn't even and hiding the fact. Very kind of her 


Stripey flowers!


Another view.

I don't know how to hide zippers ;_;. Civil war dresses don't have these evil things. Should've gone with a black one...

[Anyone else have designs they're dying to make? I would love to see them!]

I found the Tile Puzzle block in one of my mom's 70's quilting books (here it is, colored differently on quilterscache.com). I was drawing it out on graph paper because I could not picture the assembled quilt in my mind, and it reminded me of a trellice or grated window, and I thought -- what would you see through one of those? A sunset, of course.

A scanner, a sunset from google images and photoshop provides the perfect 'peek-a-boo' of what my idea would look like.



Anyone else have designs they're dying to make? I would love to see them!