What I want to do this summer...

Maybe I need a bigger coffee...

Let's start with a cup of coffee as I think I'll need a lot of caffeine to get all of the things that I want to get done over the summer. This is in addition to hosting my niece for a visit (can't wait!!!), working out, and tending the garden.  Suspecting I'll have to trim the list a bit but here it is in it's initial state! Other than the two timelines, these are grouped by craft. I've emboldened the ones I think are priority.  I'll strike through anything I finish!

Between now and the end of May when I leave on vacation, I'd like to:

• Weave the other bootlace for DH, put aglets on them and deploy to his boots.
• Sew together Delavan for class
• Sew up the the other PJ top that's cut and waiting.
• Sew together the blocks for my pinwoven shawl.
• Clear the loom of the black and white scarf I don't like.

Over the summer (June 15-August 15), I'd like to:

Mosaic:

Isn't this pretty? I must weave it.

• Mosaic the two table tops for the aquarium stand, one flowers, the other geometric.

Quilting:

• Make a baby sized donation quilt.
• Get the Pub quilt quiltable.
• Kit up the Christmas quilt.
• Finish one or both of my Judy Niemeyer quilt tops.

Sewing:

• Sew up a cute little zipper bag thingy with fabric from my stash, or solar printed. 

Weaving:

• I promised K a back scrubber!
• Make some bootlaces for my brother; would be fun to dye one of the warp threads.
• Bootlaces for Frank
• Reverse engineer and weave that fabric I saw in class for my fall tailoring class.
• Weave a rep rug.
• Start a Navajo Tapestry.
• Create a bag out from a fabric on my RHL, an inkle band, and a braided closure as an example for 4H.
• Weave up that kitchen towel kit that's been in my stash for 2 years.

Dyeing:

• Dye the rest of my warps
• Dye some fabric for a shirt, then make the shirt; maybe a camp shirt with buttons and all.

Knitting

• Fingerless mitts to match my Ram Tam.
• Finish the skirt I'm knitting.
• Knit Oasis (vacation knitting).
• Knit Pebble beach shawl (vacation knitting).

Oh yeah, and join the Tour de Fleece. Maybe on Team Overcommitted. It's all doable, right?

Racing to finish!

Lots of progress, I'm on a finishing streak. I've got a bunch of things finished or close to finished:

• The Tam is done; see my cute little sheeps?  I'd started it at a Stitches class by Candance Eisner Strick. When we got to the center, she gave us two design options, and some graph paper in case we wanted to design it ourselves; then mentioned none of her students had ever done their own design! So.... yeah. I call it Rama Tama Ding Dong. I'm delighted with it. 
• The Ruana is done. It's so comfy and warm that I could live it in; I want 10 of these, in every color. I took all the pieces down to my knitting retreat and my buddy K helped me figure out what to do next; basically, I hemmed the back on my machine (who wants to sit on fringe?) then picked up and knitted along the inside edges; I did a 3 needle bindoff to about the 1/2 way point. Same process for the outside edges, except without the join... a quick wash and press, and it lays relatively straight.
• The blue top for my class is done; photos for that and the other sleeveless top will make it into my Q2 finished items post! I'm now working on my Delavan jacket. I've done one muslin and made mods, now for muslin 2 and on to the jacket.
• 59 out of 60 squares are done for my pin woven shawl. 
• I'm making DH a back scrubby that matches the new bathroom. It's off the loom but still needs hems and finishing. He knows it's coming but I still pretend it's a surprise.

I also took my last workshop for awhile... It was a 2 day Kathrin Weber dye workshop sponsored by the local guild. The first day was fabulous... but sadly I had such a bad headache all night before the second day that I couldn't make the second class.  I ended up with one dyed skein and one dyed warp, both of which I adore, and a lot of info that I will use to dye the other warps I wound in preparation for the class.

Other than that, I'd like to concentrate on my two college classes; putting together a knitting kit for my trip to Italy; and finishing whatever else I can before I head to Europe. Oh yeah, that and compiling a list of what I want to get done over the summer. Looking forward to that.

Q2 2018 Completed Things (7)

April:

Not a summer top...

I call it ramatamadingdong.

I'm procrastinating everything, so decided to clean up the studio by finishing a T Shirt I started a year ago and never finished because I did not like the neck. Sleeves are a little short and I'm still not sure I like the neck, but it's moved from the bin of unfinished projects to the laundry pile by way of my sewing machine and iron. You can't tell in the photo, but it's a lovely dark green interlock. Perfect for wearing around the house or out and about! And finished, on the second day of Q2...

The Tam is complete, with seven rams circling my head... I have enough fiber left for fingerless mitts!

This is the summer top!

I wanted to make the summer top out of one of my batiks, but after I washed it, I realized it's a little stiff. It'd make a lovely camp shirt, but not a tank. So back to Joann's, and found this lovely blue denim type fabric with embroidered flowers. Shirt features flat felled seams and Hong Kong finishes on the armholes and neckline in a cotton knit T-shirt fabric.

The Ruana is complete. I am loving it,  and wearing it multiple times a week, even though the fall colors are slightly unseasonal... I'll need to take a photo!

And I made a couple of back scrubbing clothes for my DH out of some plain old kitchen cotton. I ended up with 2 scrubbers, woven with some texture and handles sewn into the hem at both ends, and one face cloth. He likes them! And a bonus, they coordinate better with the bathroom colors. His old one will retire to the shower by the workout room, where it's green color is a better match.

May:

Can I count painting the garage as a May accomplishment? Probably not. But it took 3 long days.  I'd like to say it looks great but the two cans of paint I used were not close enough in color (yes, I bought them at the same place); after the nice men finish with the new cabinet installation,  I'll see if it needs some touch up. I think there's two spots that will bug me, easy to fix...

Delavan almost complete, with Owl
photobombing.

I made a second pajama top out of flannel sheep fabric, since I enjoyed the first one so much. Flat feel seams, hand hemmed sleeves and bottom, contrasting color and pockets. Otherwise nothing interesting here.

I finished my version of the Delavan jacket, the Delavan vest. See my blog post for all the details.  I added self lined patch pockets on the front (after blogging).