Busy Busy

You know you are busy when your To Do list is actually a To Do chart!

The chart on the left was for deadline #1 (met on Friday), the chart on the right is for deadline #2 (today).

I have a To Do list, too, but I love using charts like this to break down all the different steps I need to complete when working on freelance projects. Ticking off each step one by one is very satisfying and gives you an easy at-a-glance overview of how a big project is progressing and what tasks you need to do next.

After hitting the "publish" button on this post I'll be finishing up the last few bits for deadline #2, drawing templates and making prototypes for deadline #3, then ordering some supplies for deadline #4. It's nice to be busy but there's lots to do!

All this work behind the scenes sadly makes for boring blogging as I can't show you what I'm making, and I've been so busy that the only non-deadline-related creative stuff I've been doing lately is a bit of colouring in to unwind and relax at the end of a hectic day. Please bear with me! :)

A Busy Monday

I'm having one of those busy "tick a gazillion different tasks off your To Do list" days today.

So far I've written some emails, caught up with replying to blog comments, been to the Post Office, bought some thread for a project I'm working on, taken some stuff to the charity shop, eaten an icecream (okay, so this wasn't strictly on my To Do list!), taken and edited some photos and cut apart some prototypes to salvage the usable felt (isn't blanket stitching a nice stitch?).

Next up I need to do some sewing with this rainbow of thread...

... take some step by step photos, edit them, do a bit more sewing, write up some instructions, draw and scan some neat templates, answer some interview questions and tidy up my day's sewing.

Then if I've got time I'm hoping to write a book review, prep and schedule this week's (awesome) guest post and edit my photos from a recent Nice Day Out in sunny Kensington.

Lots to do! Time to put the kettle on and get back to work...

This Time Last Year

This time last year, I was working on my new book, Super-Cute Felt Animals. Exciting times! :)

 

I cut out lots of felt...
 

 
... did lots of stitching with colourful thread...

 

... and worked my way through a To Do list that was so big  it was actually a To Do chart:

I designed and stitched lots of felt animals...

... I took over the coffee table in the lounge so I could sew while watching all the old movies on over the holidays...

... and the cats helped! (well, they kept me company while I sketched and stitched and scribbled).

Thanks to everyone who's bought a copy so far and/or said kind things, you are all awesome xxx

You can read more about Super-Cute Felt Animals HERE and find a whole series of fun free tutorials to accompany the book HERE. 

Getting Stuff Ticked off Lists

Remember that big list of crafty things I needed / wanted to get finished?

I've already finished #2 (making pompoms for little knitted hats), #6 (using up my stash of leftover yarn to knit more little hats and moss stitch squares), #14 (finishing a couple of owl masks), #15 (finishing a swan mask) and #20 (sewing eyes on lots of felt owls)... and I managed to tick a few more things off the list this weekend... with the help of my furry assistant!

 

I've been gradually working on #13 (sewing lots of felt birds) over the past few weeks and finished the very last batch yesterday - some bluetit brooches. I also finished some cherry blossom and forget-me-not brooches (#16 & #17).

I crossed #12 (altering the sleeves of a vintage dress) off the list very quickly after trying the dress on and deciding that actually I don't like the fit any more & am pretty unlikely to actually wear it... so instead of spending ages altering it I've just added it to the charity shop pile. Life is far too short to faff about altering dresses you're probably not actually going to wear!

I also finished weaving in all the ends for my leftover-sky-blanket-yarn blanket (#4) and I have (finally!) almost finished my sky blanket (#3). I just need to weave in about half a dozen more yarn ends, and then sew on the button I bought to mark where the year begins. 

Here's the last heap of yarn ends trimmed from the blankets...

... and here are both the blankets, waiting for me to add that button:

 

You can see how much chunkier the original sky blanket is compared to the one I've knitted from the leftover yarn!

Oh, and I've also finished prepping the 13 free tutorials I'll be sharing as part of my book launch next month. It feels great to have got all those tasks ticked off & have all the posts scheduled and ready to go!

Keeping Busy: Knitting, Sewing, Designing, Tidying & Planning

This week is flying by! Wanna see some pics of what I've been up to?

In the evenings I've been doing some wind-down-at-the-end-of-the-day knitting and have finally finished knitting all my leftover yarn into little hats for the Big Knit (and weaving in all the ends, and making little pompoms for all the hats).

 

Here are all the finished hats...

...  It's always quite hard to part with these, they are just so cute. I hope all the folks who find them on their smoothies this autumn will enjoy them :)

My "big project" at the moment is a series of free tutorials I'm planning to share here on my blog to celebrate the launch of my new book. I've been editing lots of photos and scanning lots of template sheets and generally prepping lots of blog posts - as you can see from my To Do list / chart there's still a few things that need doing, but I'm getting there slowly! I'm really excited about the new book coming out (less than a month to go! Yay!) and about sharing these free projects with you guys.

 
I'm also preparing a few other tutorials, including a tutorial for a handmade card that I totally meant to finish and share last week... before I got distracted by my trip to the Festival of Quilts! Oops. In the meantime, here's a snap of the pretty colours I've been using:

I've also been working on finishing some stuff in my WIP box, including lots of owl masks:

 

Here's a pic of the WIP box in its new home...

 

... earlier this year these shelves looked quite different! I've been rearranging the stuff in my studio quite a bit over the past few months, as now I'm no longer selling supplies there's a lot more space for all my other work stuff. I'm especially pleased that now all my craft books are on one bookcase all together (and on nice sturdy shelves that can take the weight of all those chunky books)

Right, I'm off to scan in some more template sheets! 

1 Down, 25 to Go: Lots of Crafty Things to Finish

Yesterday I finally finished sewing a Gingerbread Cookie Garland for my sister. She asked me to make one of these back in 2011 (it was her favourite project from my book) but the run up to Christmas was so hectic that year I didn't manage to make one for her. I finally started it last year... but then I got super busy working on my new book and, again, the garland-making got put off. But now it is finished, hurrah!

This got me thinking about all the "in progress" projects and other crafty bits and bobs sitting in my studio that I've been meaning to make for ages... and how maybe I should, you know, try and actually finish/make some of them!

1) I recently knitted the second pair of these mittens I'm making for my other sister, but it still needs to be sewn together and have the ends woven in, etc:

2) I need to make some more pompoms for these little Big Knit hats:

3) My Sky Blanket still isn't finished! I need to sew together the remaining squares, weave in all the remaining ends and sew on the button I bought to mark the first square. This is the chart I've been using to keep track of how many squares I've sewn together - just three to go!

4) I finished knitting blanket squares using the leftover yarn from making the Sky Blanket, so now I need to plan the layout of these squares and sew them together into an actual blanket (and then weave in all the ends). I also need to work out what I am going to call this other than a "sky blanket".

5) I've also got a whole box full of random coloured squares that I've been knitting from leftover yarn for years... ready and waiting to become a blanket. Again, I need to plan the layout for this and get sewing.

6) Then there's a whole load of small balls of yarn (too small to use for making those large blanket squares) which I want to knit into tiny moss stitch squares (which I'm thinking about using for a super colourful patchwork blanket someday), and maybe some more little hats for the Big Knit, too.

7) This bit of stripey knitting needs turning into the project it was knitted for years ago:

8) And I really need to finish sewing these purses I was making last year from patchwork squares my mother knitted about 30 years ago:

9) I need to make a start on the project I bought this brown yarn for:

10) And I need to test this swatch to see if it turned out okay and, if so, make a note of it so that once I've finished some of the projects on this list, I can think about ordering some yarn to try making my first sweater (which is something I'm really excited about trying).

11) I want to turn these old stripey pieces I sewed as a teen into some bunting:

12) This dress needs its sleeves altering so it can get out of my "mending" pile and back into my wardrobe:

13) I've got a whole flock of felt birds in progress which all need finishing and turning into brooches:

14) I need to buy some more dark brown thread so I can finish these owl masks:

15) This swan mask needs a couple more small black felt pieces added to it (I didn't cut out enough when I was making a batch of these masks and this last mask has now sat in my WIP box for months)

16) I need to finish cutting out these felt forget-me-nots and use them to make some forget-me-not brooches:

17) These cherry blossom trio brooches need sewing:

18) I really want to sew together the two tiny mice I found cut-out-pieces for while clearing out a box of sewing stuff a few months ago:

19) I need to finish all these snowy owls:

20) And these sparkly owls need their pupils added, ready for an owl-themed project I'm planning:

21) I need to finally finish these felt birds I've been sewing together from a vintage kit. I'm thinking about maybe making them into a mobile for my studio?

22) I want to make a start on at least one of the lovely ornaments in these kits I bought last Christmas - some of these ornaments I want to keep for myself, others will end up being gifts. I think I may need to practice some of my embroidery skills (and learn some new ones) before making a start on some of these!

23) I'd love to finally finish this quilt I started when I was a student, especially since my mum has said she'd like to have it when it's finished. There are lots of pieces to iron and sew together to make the quilt top, even before I make a start on thinking about how to actually turn it into a proper quilt:

24) Then there was a section of the original quilt top that didn't match well, colour-wise with the rest of the squares so I've removed it and I'm planning on using it to make a patchwork cushion (it's wider than pictured and actually almost the perfect size to fit a cushion insert I already have in my stash) ... so I need to sew that together.

25) And I've got a few blog tutorials in progress which need finishing and then writing up so I can share them with you guys:
 

And then of course there are all the projects that are in my "ideas in progress" box and all the things in my sketchbooks and notebooks which are waiting to be started, and all the bits of fabric and other crafty supplies I have vague project ideas in mind for... far too many things to make and much too little time! :)