Two finishes!!

I promised pictures of two projects I was working on and here they are! (I'm just so darned excited cuz I actually finished something LOL!)

This is a stitchery block I did eons ago and just had lying around, unfinished. Well, I spyed it on Sunday and decided to grab it and finish it. The borders are just scraps from my scrap jar - I pieced both side borders because I liked the look. I just put them on log cabin style, zipped around the edge of the stitchery portion with my walking foot and put on the binding. Done!! I may decide to do some tea dying on it, not sure at this point. I'm just glad to have such a cute little wall hanging in my kitchen.

Next up is a table runner for Valentine's Day. I bought the kit for this runner last year at my LQS and just never made it up. I believe the fabric is Sandy Gervais' line from last year and the pattern is an adaptation of the Framed 4 Patch pattern in the Little Charmers II pattern from Anka's Treasures. The original runner in the pattern consists of the of just the framed 4 patch you see in the middle of my runner, and it has pointed ends. My LQS owner took the pattern and added setting triangles on the ends and an inner and outer border to make it rectangular. Very cute for Valentine's. Below is a close up of the fabrics used in the runner.

Last night I got to go a mitten knitting class at a shop in town. I really love the Fiddlehead mittens you can see on Ravelry (if you're on there) or on the Hello Yarn website and decided I had better learn how to make a basic mitten first before attempting these. Aren't they just too scrumptious??!! Anyhow, back to my class - it was actually combined with open knitting time, so there were a variety of projects being worked on and I learned so much - not just about my mittens - but about other knitting obstacles I'm facing and also about how important it is to stretch. The instructor gave us a handout on stretches we can use to help fight muscle fatigue when knitting - very cool! Hopefully I'll have some finished mittens to share soon. I also think I'm going to purchase the pass this shop sells which entitles you to six sessions (must be used within a year's time) of help on any project you're working on. Maybe I'll finally get some of these stalled projects done on off the needles.

Well, that's it for now. Today I have to return some books to the library, pick up some books I reserved there, and go buy something (not sure what yet) to donate for a live auction at our county's beef banquet on Saturday night. Right now I'm thinking either of putting together a family fun basket or DH just suggested some nice wind chimes (it's dang windy here today). So we'll see what I find when I venture out. Have a great day!