HST 16 Patches

I've been busy trimming, pressing, and sewing hsts for my February UFO project. 

So far I think the purples are my favorite. No surprise there.

I like the blues in general but there's just too many floral prints for my taste but I'm someone will love them. They won't be as noticeable once sewn into a quilt so that helps.

When I started trimming hsts I was feeling a bit cocky and decided not to press the seams open. They came to me already stitched and pressed to one side so I was being lazy. I did end up pressing the long seams open on this group of 16 patches though. As I'm trimming the brown and green hsts I am re-pressing the seams open. For such small (3")  hsts there is just too much bulk otherwise. I don't normally press my seams open so this is a different process for me. It's a necessary step but not one I'm too fond of though.

TTMT #29 HSTs Galore

February's UFO

It's time to see what UFO I will be working on for February. This month's lucky number is #9. Number nine is a gallon size bag with individual sandwich baggies of hsts. A few years back I purchased a couple medium/large flat rate boxes jammed full of mystery fabrics. I don't remember the price but it had to have been a steal if I bought them. Among the random fabrics were some color sorted 3.5" hsts.

Of course they were all untrimmed. As I was trimming them down to 3.5" I found that a few of them would lose their points at 3.5" so I decided to just trim all of them down to 3". That way they would finish at 2.5" when sewn together.

I started with the blue baggie. If you know me you know these are not my colors. I'm all about the brights and strong colors and these feel a bit muddy and muted to me. Once I cut them down smaller I felt better about them. Still not my style but at least I can work with them now lol.

I think I will sew them into color chunks to start with. After that I'm not 100% sure what they will become.  Maybe they will become a lap quilt or I might just leave them as color block minis. We won't have to wait long to find out.

WiP Parade

While I have several projects waiting their turn to be worked on I'm only actively working on a select few. I've just lost interest in some of my other projects. Oh, I'm sure the time will come when I feel drawn to them again but for now they're just hanging out in the craft room on my new project rack. I'll have to show you that sometime soon.

I've gone back to knitting dishcloths. I knit these when I have just a few minutes, like while making dinner. For quick and easy knitting I just stick with Grandmother's favorite dishcloth pattern and I like size 5 needles.

The nerve damage in my neck makes my hands numb. During the Winter it also makes them very cold. I have a ratty old pair of fingerless mitts but I decided it was time for an upgrade since the original pair was knit flat because I didn't know how to knit in the round at the time. I wanted the mitts to be form fitting so I went with a pattern that had ribbing. I came across this pair which uses one of my favorite stitches - the waffle stitch. I'm almost at the knuckle ribbing on the first pair.

I added a few more white hexies to my mini red, white, and blue wall hanging. I started using beeswax and I really like how it strengths the thread and keeps it from tangling. I also like how it "twangs".

My youngest Robbie (18) was so excited when he received three pairs of hand knit socks for Christmas last year that I decided to make him a box of socks this year. Instead of 12 pairs like most knitters have in their box of socks, I'm aiming for 6 pairs. Robbie wears a size 14 and that's a lot of sock to knit. I imagine I could knit him a pair a month if his socks were the only thing I worked on all month but that's not gonna happen lol.

Do you have any special projects you're working on this month?