Reviving Languishing Lace

Some of you may remember this spot o' lace knitting from this past summer.  It hasn't been foremost in the front of my mind mainly because I had other things I needed, or preferred, to work on. But as I was sorting through projects to take on my trip I realized that this would be an ideal knit to take. I wasn't going to bring many projects so this would be the perfect time to get some work done on my cowl.
There are lots of sitches and just doing one row takes quite awhile.
But in the evenings when we are sitting around relaxing and I am too tired to spin, I pull out my cowl and slowly putter through a row or two.
It's not progressing in leaps and bounds, but it is slowly growing.
And that makes me happy.

Snowstorm

We had a snowstorm shortly before I left. It was nice and deep and such fun to trot around in and take photos of.

Trip Update & Forays into Felt

Hello, my friends! It's nice to be back with you! The last two weeks were extremely busy ones for me. I've galavanted off to another state to help a dear friend in her last week or two of pregnancy. Before I left life was a flurry of preparing for a month away from home. There was sewing to finish, clothes to wash, items to be sorted, lists to write, cleaning to be done and setting up everything related to my shop so it could stay up and running while I am gone.
The last day or two was quite hectic but finally on the 11th, after hugs all around and my amazing family seeing me off at the airport, I was safely on my way with all the loose ends wrapped up.

My flights were thankfully uneventful. I do love flying. There's just something about it. I love getting a window seat so I can look out and marvel at the beauty of God's creation. I'm often awestruck and a little overwhelmed thinking about how tiny I am in the grand scheme of things, and what a great & might God I serve. And then I'm completely humbled that he would  ever choose me to be His child.

But on to my felt. In my last post I told you a little about what I was working on & I'm finally getting around to sharing a few pictures with you.
I don't have one of my journal cover. But I do have photos of the lovely book cover I made from scratch. I didn't have a pattern and it was such fun! I just brainstormed and measured and stitched. And this was the end result.  Let me tell you, it makes reading a luxurious experience! I was sorely tempted to start reading my trilogy before the trip. But I refrained and didn't crack the spine to read until I was on my first flight.

Tracing, Cutting, Stitching.

There has been a lot of this going on lately.  The felt, embroidery floss & scissors are scattered about and there are leafy projects taking shape. I have an extended trip coming up and I decided it would be lovely to have a handmade journal to chronicle My Adventures in. I made three of them as Christmas gifts and they whip up quite fast. For my journal I used the basic dimensions from Kata Golda's "Hand-stitched Felt" but I changed around the inside cover and came up with my own front cover design. I can't wait to show it to you all! But currently I am blogging with my phone app and I only know how to load one photo at a time and have the post still end up looking neat and tidy. Blushes.
But back to felt.

Today I lost my head for just long enough to start another felt project. I have so much to get done this weekend that to take on another project was a little silly if me. But I suddenly decided a slip cover for my book trilogy I was taking on the plane would be ideal. I'll just swap it from book to book as I progress through the trilogy. So out came the measuring tape and in no time at all a book sleeve was in progress. I'm just winging it and thus far it is sewing up quickly and looks beautiful. Of course it's hand stitching so it won't be done until tomorrow sometime.
I had to reluctantly set my sewing aside to do some cleaning. When I was sick a couple weeks ago my room rather went to shambles. I don't want to leave it in such a shocking state for a month so
clean it I must!
But now it is late evening and I can once again sit down with my stitching, a spot o' tea, and perhaps pop in a Sherlock episode.  Sounds quite ideal and relaxing right now.
That being said, I'm off to put the kettle on!

Farewell, & Happy Wednesday my friends! (Or Thursday, depending on where you are in the world.)

And we have a WINNER!!!

Although many people like to use the random number generators, I am still fond of the old fashioned way of doing a drawing.
This afternoon I carefully wrote down each name on a neatly cut slips of paper. They all went in to the gravy boat and were mixed around quite thoroughly.  Then I held it above my head and whisked out a name.
And the name was....drum roll please....Karen of Kareninkenai!!!! Congratulations Karen, I will be contacting you shortly for your address.

To everyone else, thank you so much for all of your beautiful comments! It has been a joy meeting all of you. And although the giveaways are over as of today, I will still be stopping by to all the wonderful blogs I have not yet had a chance to visit!

Have a blessed day my friends!
~Holly