March plans.

The first three days of March have been dry, warm and sunny. I wonder if its going to last?  Not only is it dry but its light in the morning when I leave for work and I can also get home in the light so long as I leave work on time. The trees are starting to have a green tinge to them as they slowly come into leaf. The birds are gathering nesting materials and spring is definitely on its way. However I'm holding my breath as I'm very aware that the cold wet weather could easily return. 

It's time to think about plans for March so let's start with the Chookshed challenge. The number for March is 2. This is my Japanese theme quilt. I was hoping this number would come a little later in the year as I need to buy some sashiko threads for the next part. Not a problem as I have some planning to finalise while I wait for it to arrive. This is where I've got to.

The space on the left has been filled with stitching but I just haven't got round to taking another photo. I can do that when I start work on this quilt top.. The next round involves more sashiko stitching but I need to copy out the pattern and as I don't work on a Friday I will have time to do that on Friday and complete the plans for the other blocks. 

The frog stitcheries are finished and I need to get the blocks made. My plan is to check the finished size and to reduce the size if needed. This is for my new grandson and I don't want the quilt to be too big.

I have finished the back of my cardigan I'm knitting. I'm really enjoying working with this yarn, it is so soft. I will be starting one of the fronts and will knit it in the evening as a slow down activity before bedtime. I'm not in a rush to have this cardigan finished.

I think I also mentioned I had started another project to try and use up my yarn stash. The stash is made up of left over yarn from other projects, yarn I was given after my mother in law died and yarn from friends who have decided they don't want to knit any more. Whilst I like both knitting and crochet I don't want or need a stash of yarn. If I decide I want to knit a garment I like visit a good yarn shop and buy the yarn that I want and that matches the pattern requirements. So back to trying to use up the stash I have. I knitted my grandsons blanket from yarn from my mother in Law's stash. My daughter wasn't particular about the colour and thought it was a great idea to use what I had. This is the blanket before it was blocked.

I then used up the remainder of the yarn making this basket weave blanket for a local charity for children under 5. It is amazing the difference the light makes to the colour of the yarn in the two photos.

The end of last year I also finished this larger blanket made from left over yarn and yarn that I had been given. Unfortunately these projects haven't made a very big dent in the stash.

In an attempt to use up more yarn I have started two projects, one knitting and one crochet. I think I've already shared the start of the knitting project, the mitred blanket. I haven't done very much on this one. The squares are all the same size and square, it's just the angle the photo is taken at.

The second project involves crocheted hexagons that will be stitched together to create a blanket. Neither of these projects will be finished quickly but they will use up some yarn but not huge amounts. 

So over the month I'm looking forward to working on the Japanese styled quilt and hoping to make some blocks for the frog quilt. I want to knit one of the fronts for my cardigan. I will be taking either the crochet or mitred blanket to work with me to do some work on during my lunch breaks. I also want to try and do some more stitching on my embroidered table cloth. I don't think I've done any stitching on this at all this year. I want to try and finish to the corner this month. This will be my one monthly goal for March. I still have two complete sides to stitch and also half of the third side.

I think I'd better get on with some of these projects so they keep moving forward.

Over the month there are also three birthdays. My son in law's birthday is on Saturday and we are going over to visit on them on Sunday. I'm making a chocolate cake so I need to check I have all the ingredients. On the 15th it's John's birthday. We are away for the weekend so we will celebrate as a family on the Monday. Finally my brother's birthday is on the 21st. We will be seeing them a couple of weeks later as my friend has bought me a ticket to the Stitch Festival at the Business Design centre in London on the 21st and she has also booked us both into a workshop. Apart from our weekend away we currently don't have any visits booked for this month but I'm sure something will come up between now and the end of the month.

I hope all is well where you are.

Take care

Lyndsey