All Hobbies Retreat Weekend, DECEMBER 9-11, 2011

[pinecone]

Wow, everyone has been so busy!! I finished the stocking for Stella. Quilted the fabric then cut it out and added lace at the top. I appliqued her initials on as well.
Guess that does it for me until after Christmas!

piney

[Trishagirl]

I finished the draft dodger and it's in my window I need to make a couple more also have more material yay! I didn't get around to making the cards but will this week! I need to put our names on our stockings with my glitter glue also sometime this week when I'm off work.

[dcompton]

For next year, why don't we do a monthly retreat - we could set it for a specific weekend so we would be able plan for it. Maybe second or third weekend?

We could also run it say Thursday-Sunday, so even if it turns out to be busy weekend, or in my case, very long work hours on the weekend, the crafting could be parcelled out over a somewhat longer period;

[Spirit Deer]

Sounds good to me!

[Sumacaroni]

I'm all for setting it to be 2nd or 3rd week/weekend and also like thinking about it running Thursday to Sunday if that sounds good to others. I, for one, would start on Weds (my day off work) and continue with Fri/Sat/Sun as time allows.

So as long as we're looking forward, how does January 11th to 15th look for others?

[Incognito]

Once a month crafting retreats would be great, and would keep me focussed for 2012. I'm adding regular craft-work to my resolutions; I find that I'm enjoying it again, and I want to prepare a boxful of gift-worthy crafts ready-to-go.

Today I got up at 5 AM, sewed 2 Santa Bags for my grandkids, packed up all the Christmas presents in boxes, and took them downtown to the freight office. The bus freight was $43.64, and now my Christmas gifts are on their way.

Of course, I also have a huge mess in my house to clean up which will take the rest of the day. And then I'm having my first good supper in a week...nothing too elaborate, just baked potato wedges, meat loaf, boiled carrot wedges and maybe a salad; the pumpkin bread turned out great.

And now for some rest, blessed rest!

[dcompton]

Sounds great to me.

Will you start the monthly threads, Sumacaroni? Wednesday to Sunday would be fine - that should accommodate most schedules. I'm sure that for many of us, scheduling a little time over several days would be easier to fit around work and other commitments than big blocks of time over fewer days.

[Sumacaroni]

If I am online earlier in the week, I can start a thread but, of course, anyone at all could get us launched if they are chomping at the bit for that week it won't hurt my feelings if anyone wants to jump in and start us out LOL.

[nuisance26]

~Sounds good to me! Looking forward to participating more in the next one. ~

[Sumacaroni]

For January, I'm already planning LOL! I'll be concentrating on the Use-It-Up Supplies challenge by working on some UFO's to transform into gifts.

[Incognito]

And after finding out just how much yarn is required to crochet a pair of slippers (3-4 balls or more), I will be using most of my yarn stash to make half a dozen nice pairs of slippers for my family, and one good warm pair for me. If I have any left over, I can use it for crochetting 2 rugs for my grandkids, or I can make their rugs from crochetted fabric strips.

I also want to re-organize my sewing supplies dresser, organize all my gift-wrap stuff, & go through a few stacks of greeting-cards I received through the years and saved for memorabilia. I'd like to cut out bits of them for notepaper, and also use parts of them to make a few new greeting cards. I'm saving some of the cards as keepsakes (from music students), to go into my scrapbook binder.

I've still got a pile of unusable clothing to cut up into rug strips, so I'll work away at it a few items at a time, with a glove on my scissors-hand to avoid blisters. I'll be going through the closets and boxes again to add fabrics to the growing pile that will be cut up or repurposed. And there's always more rag-rugs to work on.

My wardrobe needs work; so as soon as I get time after Christmas, I'm checking it through, and doing essential mending and alterations for a simple, basic work and home wardrobe. Same goes for my shoes, purses, gloves & scarves, jackets and coats.

The fabric shower curtain needs to have the bottom few inches cut off and new fabric attached. I have a beautiful set of lace curtains I got from the thrift shop which need to be sized and sewn for my bedroom and/or living room. Also want to make some more nightgowns by piecing some others together. Would like to make a basic nightgown pattern from my best one, and just use it with a few variations.

And for fun I want to crochet a few frivolous projects: little gift-boxes, hair curlers, some more fancy dishcloths for gifts or for myself to use up my crochet thread stash. I'm looking forward to a good year of handcrafting.

[Spirit Deer]

You house must look a lot like mine, Incognito. I have a long list of similar projects I want to get done, too.

[Incognito]

My home is usually orderly, because it's also my music studio. But it's small, and whenever I'm busy doing something major, I have to take everything out and that's when things get messy for awhile. I've got a few craft bags and boxes out right now to help me get my bearings while I'm making new crafting-plans. Otherwise, I keep them organized in boxes, containers, dressers & shelves. But I'd really like to deal with all of these things in 2012 by using or repurposing them. I may be moving in a couple of years, so I'd rather do this than have so many boxes of supplies. I'm not throwing anything away; therefore, I need to work steadily on projects that will count for something, either for me or for gift-giving. It's been several years since I've been well enough to work on handcrafts, but now I feel more able, so if I can get more hand-crafting done again, I'd also be downsizing my posessions.