All the pieces for the Father Christmas wall hanging are cut out.  Changed the book and sack to a star and gingerbread man.

Their faces and hands looked pasty, so they were lightly colored with Inktense pencils.  They curled up a bit when they got wet, but that shouldn't be a problem.

More stitching on Which Witch by La-D-Da.

The heel flap of the second sock of this pair is underway.  The colors are true to life (for a change lol).  By the end of the year, I should have at least four pairs finished, as the only time I knit on them is while I'm waiting for my shift to start at work. 

It was more fun to start a new body than stuff and sew all the pieces together on Lucy Hare from Kerry Lord's book Edward's Menagerie.  Before I know it, the body was finished and the head of a llama was on the way.  

This workbench followed me home from Harbor Freight last Thursday.  It's to replace the folding table from Wally World that is the current cutting table.  It came in pieces, so I gave Grey a hand by holding all the bits as he screwed them together.  There's a decent LED light on the top and the bottom shelf is going to be really handy for storage.  I'll post a pic next week of what it looks like set up in the craft grotto.

 

Stitched a few lengths of thread on Which Witch? by La-D-Da last week.  There's not that much more to go and I'm quite happy stitching on it.  I do need to remember to finish her hair!  That part keeps getting overlooked.  Once the lacy section of the dress is finished, it will move along quite quickly, I think.

There was also some hand quilting on Cutting by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger in perle cotton.   It's neither my favorite project or The Best Thing I've Ever Made, which is fine, as not everything we make needs to be quilt show standard, does it?  

I am enjoying the hand quilting process as I listen to Dear Theo by Irving Stone and Jean Stone, narrated by Clive Chafter.  It's an edited version of the letters written by Vincent Van Gogh to his brother.  The narrator's voice took a bit of getting used to, but the content is interesting to listen to.

It was a case of Amazon to the rescue when it came to finding perle cotton.  The nearest big box stores are 40 minutes away and they're a bit hit and miss when it comes to perle cotton.  It seems to get snapped up as quickly as it goes on the shelves.  

I found a ten pack of ten 47.5 yard balls in different shades of blue on the colored bird store and I'm using six of them.  It's soft and a little bit fuzzy, so might not be the best choice for something that will be washed frequently, but will be fine to complete this project. 

 

This book followed me home from Michaels last year.  It's been earning it's keep ever since.  lol  All the animal bodies and legs are the same, which provides plenty of repetition, which I find extremely helpful as a newbie.  The projects become more advanced as the book progresses and all of the techniques look achievable with a bit of practice.  We shall see as I work my way through the book!  

Since then, the pile of disembodied heads and legs has grown.  There's been tension issues, weird stitches, a squirrel that turned into a wonky blanket for Bailey.   This lot was gleefully tossed in the bin yesterday, as they were practice pieces.

Snapped this pic before tossing the rejects to have a reminder of how much I've improved.  The blue body is the latest.  The yellow is the second one I crocheted.  The yarn is Walmart's brand and is pretty stout.  It needs to be for the amount of ripping that's been going on!  There's just 2 1/2 ears and a tail to make before stuffing and stitching everything together.  With any luck, there'll be a finished project to show you next week.

The first couple of Half Pint blocks are finished and sewn together.   They're 4 1/2 inches square.  The border on the bottom block isn't quite as dark as it looks in the pic.  There's half a yard of both border fabrics, so I'll keep going until I run out.  Fingers crossed there will be enough fabric to finish all the blocks.

There was a bit of an oops moment.  I sprayed both blocks with a stout starch mix, so they're rather stiff.  Glad it was only two blocks, as I'd like to hand quilt this one when it's finished.

Found this at Harbor Freight.  It's 4 1/2 inches across, so works great for medium sized quilt rulers. 

Magnus Mouse has a new shirt for spring.  He's feeling rather dapper, as it's crocheted from doubled fingering weight mercantile cotton...we won't mention to him that it's scrap yarn.

The latest ring Grey made for me.  The reddish brown is dinosaur fossil.  The sparkles are meteorite shavings.  

A different part. I love it!

Pulled out Which Witch? by La-D-Da.  It's about half way through. and another of those projects where I wonder why did I put it down.  

It's being stitched with DMC 550 on 14 count aida.  The fabric is solid fluro green Rit dye which was cram jar dyed with tea.  It really needed the color knocking down and I do like the way it looks.  I mostly prefer stitching on a plain background, to keep the stitching as the focus, but this works!

A*B*C*D by La-D-Da is finished.  This is the only pic which shows the fabric color correctly.  Dyeing this color was one of those "had a wild hare" moments where I just added kept mixing yellow, tan and brown Rit dye until I had the yellow ochre color I wanted.  Then it sat in the stash until the right project came along.