Quilt - Part 1b and a pair of warmed hands

This is mostly a quilt update. Didn't seem right to call it part 2 when I'm still in the middle of the first of four major quilt-making steps: 1. Sewing quilt top; 2. Pinning quilt layers together; 3. Quilting (definitely the most time-intensive part); and 4. Binding the quilt.

The quilt top step is possibly the most fun since it is in this part of the process that the personality of the quilt emerges. All of the fabric choices come together to blend colors and patterns.  This step is now half complete with 14 of the 26 long strips of 28 squares sewn together.  I'm thrilled with the look of the quilt top so far!

Another project that was worked in over the past month was a pair of handwarmers.. that i gifted to myself. I was in a handwarmer craze several years ago and made several pair, all of which were gifted away with the intention of making a pair for myself one day. Finally, I revisited the blog of a Roman girl who seems not to be blogging much anymore but still has free handwarmer patterns up. I had to experiment quite a lot with the number of stitches and rows to make the sizing right for my yarn and am happy with the result. The yarn is a pale mint cotton from Coats & Clark.

I can't resist closing with a pic of Sim who decided he would try to get packed up with our kitchen stuff when we were preparing for a weekend trip to a Cheaha cabin.

If he blended in a little better with the slow cooker he might have made the trip!  ;)