Settling down

Alright!!  We are starting week 5 of school this year (I can't believe it!!) and I think I'm settling down into a routine again.  Yes, things pop up and life gets in the way, but a routine is again beginning to develop and for that I am grateful.

This routine has brought me 2 finishes in the last 2 days!  And I thought I'd take a minute to show them off. You know, so I don't forget what it's like to finish something.  

First up is the baby quilt I made for some sweet friends having their second little girl any day now.  It's a simple raw-edge applique where I sewed the squares down and got the quilting done all in one shot.  Yay for easy!  I'm considering going back and adding a little hand-quilting in some of the squares...we shall see.  It probably depends on when baby Sydney comes!  This baby is in process of being washed, dried, and then having all of those yucky strings that come with the first washing cut off. 

This was during a 5-minute break in the monsoon...sorry for the fuzziness, I had to work with what I got!

 Here is Miss Sydney's name up close and personal.  It's the first thing I've satin stitched in about 100 million years, so I'm just glad it's readable!  I was going to outline it in a pink perle cotton when I got done with the brown, but decided to leave well enough alone and not mess it up.  ;)

Second up--I finished a knitted project!!!  Over the summer we went to a family reunion in Alabama.  It was about an 8 hour drive, so I grabbed my GAP-tastic cowl that I'd gotten halfway through and then frogged completely (ripped it all out to start over--get it frog rip-it!!!) and started over.  Y'all know me and my on-again, off-again affair with knitting, so the fact I even started this project when temps were in the 90s is amazing, but even more so that I finished it.

It is not without flaws--first off, even with as careful as I tried to be in the car, I somehow managed to twist my stitches on the needles to make this straight cowl into an infinity style...I'm calling it a style choice although it would fit much better if it were straight like intended...  And there were some holes where my focus was apparently lacking.  And I think my seed stitch (knit 1, purl 1 consistently) took on a more ribbed look where I must have got off track in places.  BUT, aside from all of those mistakes, I am proud to have this project done and off of my needles.

I'm calling this my far-away and dreamy look, but really it's just that I felt dumb looking into the mirror to take a picture of myself! 

The weather is absolutely awful today!  It's been storming, and I'm talking house-rattling thunder and lightning, for hours, so my pics aren't great.  And for the sake of blog honesty, it is supposed to be 88 degrees today, so I am totally wearing shorts and a t-shirt with this cowl!  

Is Barbizon Modeling still open??  Maybe I should give them a call...I've got that bored model look down!  ;)

As you can see, I got my hair cut last week, cutting off quite a bit.  Toni asked if I was was going to show it on here, so here ya go, girl.  You know I love you to put 2 pictures of me up for you.  I could never make it as a What I Wore blogger because taking pictures of myself each day/week would be torture!

And as far as the hair goes, I usually wear it straight, but today it's just scrunched it up, which wasn't a bad idea with all of this rain and humidity we've got going on today...I'm telling you, have you ever sat through more than 6 hours of thunder and rain?  I can say I have after today....

And since I do have a finish and all...head over to check out Megan's Sew Modern Monday link party.  I'm linking up!