UFO's 1.13.10

I'm currently working on the February Lady Sweater so many folks on Ravelry have fell in love with. I started once and it was too small. I got gauge and even though the sizing meshed with my measurements, it would have just barely fit instead of being just right. No sense in spending the time to knit a sweater to have it sit in the closet. I frogged it and am slowly re-knitting. It's taking me a while to get back in the groove, but I feel the motivation headed my way. The yarn (Malabrigo) is wonderful to work with and I absolutely adore the color. My mom is the recipient. She's most deserving :) I hope to be done with the sweater in February.


My mom got me a sewing machine for Christmas - YEAH!!! - and I've done a couple things with it so far. I made a crunchy tag toy for Miles and the front of a quilted placemat. I'm using the placemat size to practice quilting before I dive into a large play mat for M. I hope to get started on his playmat in February. I need a couple feet for my sewing machine and can't seem to find the darning/embroidery foot available anywhere. It's a necessary item for free motion quilting. I've been trying to decide on fabric for the play mat and it's going to be a tough decision. I would like to use Oh Fransson's Map of the States tutorial as a template for my quilt blocks which means I should have a few different color schemes throughout my fabrics. I really like Cloud9 Fabrics. They're wimsical, organic, and I adore the prints. I'd also like to use a linen blend for the sashing and backing of the quilt. I have a great love for linen and if I get to choose what I'm using - I'm going to use it all I can. (Speaking of linen, check out i heart linen if you too have a love for all things linen.) This may be a gutsy endeavor, but that's my style.

My dad and I were going to build a play kitchen for Sydney, but a friend has a wood one she no longer needs so we're going to inherit that one and use the wood for some other project. I'm thinking along the lines of shelves, craft table, craft organization... the wheels are turning. And while we're not going to build the kitchen for Sydney, I do plan on adding some personal touches to it.