Taking a Breather

Amidst all the holiday gift making craziness there was a small space of calm. This was spent making a winter themed pincushion for myself. It's not real big, but it gave me a much needed breather from all the gift making and allowed me to satisfy the overwhelming need to make something just for me.

I had a bit of fun with it and embellished it with Swarovski crystals.

The gift making is coming along. I had to re-evaluate my to-do list to see which things I could get done and which would have to wait. Not the easiest thing to do...especially when I feel the need to make everything that was asked for. But it's done and I don't feel so hurried now.

Here is the wall hanging I made for my mother. Just need to get it ready for mailing. It's a simple quilt but I think she will love it because of its gardening theme....and she's really into gardening. Plus she will like the crystals I embellished it with.

Along with all the gift making I managed to squeeze in time to make a few fleece throws for my dogs. I ended up making four of these in all. I love fleece throws for the dogs! There's no worry about raveling of any sort. They wash up nice. The dogs seem to really enjoy using them. Plus I can have them out on the furniture and they look nice.

Spinning has been non-existent since the gift making frenzy started but here are a couple of photos of yarn that I finished before the craziness started.

2-ply core spun suri alpaca/ bamboo blend with a commercially spun over twisted shetland yarn for the core. Turned out really nice. It's a bulky weight yarn. Super soft to the touch.

Shetland/Huacaya alpaca blend. Light fingering weight 2- ply. Was hoping I would have enough for a lace project I want to do but I don't. I'm about 100 yards shy. This will be put aside until spring when it will be warm enough for me to wash fiber outside.