Finished!!!

It's finally done. The alien illusion scarf has been washed, blocked, left to dry, and given to its new owner....who simply adores it! This was a rather long project for me. The repitition of all those rows was a bit much at times. But I hung in there. I was going to edge the scarf with a crab stitch, but didn't like the way it felt....or looked on the scarf. Seemed a bit heavy and stiff. So I opted to do a simple single crochet all the way around. I think it finished up the edges very nicely and kept them from curling in.













It was definitely a week for finishing up things. I also finished up the embroidered denim pillows that I had started oh so long ago. I fell in love with the zebra embroidery the moment I saw it and knew that I just had to use it for a pair of pillows. I used cotton threads for the embroidery. Gave it a nice matte finish. I also reversed the design for the second pillow so that the zebras would be facing each other when the pillows are on the couch. A simple frame of darker denim seems to set the embroideries off very nicely. The backing is a simple four-patch using a light colored denim and a striped denim. Nothing fancy.....although fun. I think it carries the "stripe theme" to the back.

Quilting update: All of the signature split nine-patch blocks are finished. They look great!! There are 36 in all. I had purchased a couple of Christmas fat quarters for the other 36 split nine-patch blocks that still need to be made. Wasn't sure I would have enough light colored squares for them. I also purchased fabric for borders and binding. So I'm all set. Just need to finish up my mystery quilt.

Step #6 for the Carolina Crossroads mystery quilt is finally finished. Everything looks really good. I started on step #7 over the weekend. Got things all laid out. Even managed to get a whopping 8 blocks sewn up out of the 25 that I need. I hope to finish sewing up the blocks in the next day or two. Once that is done then I can start sewing the top together.

Knitting update: Started on a new project the other night. A felted intarsia bag. I've never done intarsia before so thought this would be a great way to learn a new technique. Especially since the project is a fairly small one. I'm using all hand-spun, hand-dyed yarns for it. All I can say right now is that it is definitely a learning experience. I had a third of the bag knitted up when I noticed things weren't coming together like they should. So I ended up taking it all out and starting over. I was using clothespins for yarn bobbins and I think that was causing some problems. They were just too heavy. I switched over to floss bobbins and things are going much better. Of course it's the second time through and I have a much better idea of what I'm doing.