Ongoing Projects and How 20 Minutes a Day is Working

So it's been more than two weeks since I announced that my goal was to knit or quilt for at least twenty minutes every day. How's that going you may ask since I don't post often enough for anyone to really know.

Let's just put it this way. If you took the total amount of time that I've spent knitting and quilting and divided it by the 19 (today is the 19th), I think my average would actually be a bit better than 20 minutes. The every day thing...not so much.

I am working on a variety of projects so I thought I would share. I've never been good at doing only one thing and so there are always a variety of WIPs (works in progress) in my "to do" basket, well baskets actually.

The first thing is a very easy comfort shawl. I've done a few of these over the last two years and donate them to the local Visiting Nurses' Association to give out to their clients. It was a project started by my mother's best friend, Mary Garrett. She started the project, called Debbie's Shawls, as a memorial to her neice who lost her battle with cancer. Sadly, Mary lost her own battle with cancer this past July. So I'm continuing this project for her. I always keep one on the needles and it is very easy to do. You can pick it up anywhere, anytime and before you know it, it's finished.

The other project may have been a bit ill-conceived. I had this unquenchable urge to do a project using Noro Silk Garden yarn that EVERYONE was using. The Yarn Harlot devoted quite a bit of time to producing several of these scarves using two different colors of the yarn and doing two row stripes. My local yarn store did not have two colors that I really wanted so I just bought one color and mixed it with another yarn I already had. Unfortunately the variations in color in this particular yarn are not terribly interesting to me. But I soldier on and I will complete this for myself. I made it skinny and want to make it long for a nice serviceable scarf. I should have enough to make a matching hat. I hope it looks better when its been blocked! I don't hate the project; I just don't love it.

In the quilting department, I'm working on a t-shirt quilt for the daughter of a friend. I made a t-shirt quilt several years ago for my daughter and to make a long story short, it was a hit. I didn't particularly enjoy working on it but the finished result was kind of fun. My daughter picked the sashing and the backing and although it was a bit funky, she still uses it almost five years later.

The current quilt is ready to peice together. The t-shirst have been backed and cut and the arrangement has been approved. As you can see in the picture, Miss Scarlett, my loyal beagle assistant is also carefully checking the layout.

Because of all the colors of the shirts, the sashing will be an amish black and the backing will be flannel. The quilt will be tied with the knots on the back. I think it will go together pretty quickly and then I can move on to something a bit more creative.

So these are the things that are occupying my time these days. Too bad I have to actually work for a living or I'd be finishing projects right and left!