Life Lately v.04

Remember the good old days of blogging where I used to overshare all the time? Well they're back! Sort of. It's been a long and strange road navigating Grainline from where it started in 2009 as a small personal blog, to the full grown business with employees it is today. During that time I gradually stepped back on the personal side of the blog, but I miss sharing my individual making journey with you all and hearing about yours! So after a lot of thought, I'm back starting with this random assortment of things I've been working on over the summer. Get ready because it's all over the map!

Carolyn Friedlander's Collection Quilt

At some point in 2015 (I think) I signed up for a block of the month kit for Carolyn Friedlander's Collection Quilt. The quilt functions as a needle turned appliqué sampler so I was excited to hone my limited skills in that area. I took a class with my mom many years ago, before Grainline was a thing, and wasn't half bad at it. I've always excelled at tiny, fiddly stuff with limited real world application so appliqué was right up my alley.

The quilt kit started showing up in bits, month by month, and I really struggled with having the space and proper equipment for the project. I had to cut the pieces at work, then hauled them home and had to set up at our tiny kitchen table with a mini ironing board and low powered travel iron. A 500sq ft apartment just isn't large enough for two adult humans, one cat, and anything besides a knitting project! I packed away the kit, which kept arriving in pieces for the next 12 months btw, with the hopes that we'd have a larger space someday.

Cut to us buying a house and POOF! Larger space procured! Last summer was filled with moving, projects, etc. so this summer I dug out the kit and went to town! I finished the first block in May and the second in June, then my travel schedule for work got crazy and I had to set aside the pieces I'd cut for the 3rd block. I'll be getting back to that soon, and I'm so excited! My plan is for this to be our living room couch quilt someday.

Nani Iro Quilt

This is another long in the making quilt that was waylaid due to lack of space. I picked up this Nani Iro fat quarter pack back in oh, June of 2015, when I was teaching a Morris Blazer class at Fancy Tiger Crafts. I stayed at Jaime's house and slept under her amazing Nani Iro quilt and knew that I had to have one of my own. As you might be able to guess, this is another tale of getting fed up with trying to work in our tiny apartment that had no sewing machine so this got pushed to the side as well. Back in May I pulled the fat quarters out of wherever they were and pieced the top. Now I just need to decide if I'm going to quilt this myself or have it done somewhere...

Assorted Knitting Projects

I did a fair bit of knitting this summer, as usual. Some of it was for the Summer of Basics Make-Along that just wrapped up, and some of it was just for me (or Jon). Clockwise from top left:

• Getty, part of the Summer of Basics and blogged here.
• This grey sweater was one I finished for Jon last winter as part of the Fringe and Friends top down KAL. Turns out it wasn't finished after all and needed 3" added to the hems of the sleeves and body. I think this one is done for real now!
• Ludlow, also part of the Summer of Basics and blogged here.
• High Pines Cowl knit in Arbor. I've never knit or worn a cowl, so I figured a work trip would be a great place to knit my first one. It still needs blocking, and cool temps, so the verdict is still out on how much I like cowls.

Working on the House

In addition to the crafty things I've been up to this summer, we've also been doing a ton of work around the house. Last June we bought a super cute Chicago bungalow and have been slowly transforming it into our dream bungalow. It'll take a few years to get everything done that we want but it's definitely fun planning everything out. We still have a few empty rooms since we've been furnishing slowlyafter we paint each room, and moved here with really no furniture, but it's really coming along!

Plants Plants Plants!

One of the amazing thing about Chicago bungalows is how many windows they have. Our first floor alone has 23 windows and 3 skylights that were added later. Since I was super picky about the house facing west, we have amazing light for plants. West facing in front for the ones who love a bit more light and can tolerate a bit of direct sunlight and east at the back for those who prefer a more chilled out, but still bright, light experience. Plants are one of my favorite non-craft hobbies, and since moving they've been growing at such a rapid rate that I've had to do quite a bit of trimming. This means I've started a bit of a propagation situation in the front windows! We're heavy on the ficus family at home because Roamy finds them very boring, but I'm excited to see what roots and what doesn't and how each plant handles being trimmed.

OATMEAL THE BEAGLE!!!

If you follow my personal Instagram account you know all about Oatmeal the Beagle! Oaty was my sister and brother-in-law's dog, though Oaty, my sister, and I were all roommates when she first adopted Oaty as a tiny pup. My sister has to move a ton for her husband's job (Oaty was Canadian for 3 years!) and during the last move from Seattle to Pittsburgh they dropped Oaty off with us to stay. It was a hard decision for my sister but having a 4 year old and a beagle that don't love each other (Oaty is kiiiiind of an attention hog) was becoming pretty rough and I'd been plotting ways to claim Oaty for my own for years anyway. So now Oaty is ours and it's so fun! She loves to help and comes to work with Jon and I every day. She even has her own little fenced yard complete with a family of rabbits, which is endlessly entertaining for her since beagles were originally bred to hunt them. Lucky lil puppers!

So that's my summer in a very large nutshell! Are you working on any crafty projects besides sewing garments?