100 Day Hustle: Halfway

Well this will be the post in which you discover that I haven't accomplished many things that were on my original list *hangs head*

On my gigantic list, I've managed to finish:

A noodlehead clutch:

My 3x6 Bee blocks:

My kitchen rug:

And that's it. Although I have made significant progress on my quilts (they just need binding). I have been rather distracted as of late by my new cross stitch project and spending time with my dashing husband (who has been on family medicine rotation recently and all of a sudden has a somewhat normal schedule)

Perhaps I will amend my list to make it more manageable...(are you allowed to do that? Whatever, I'm doing it anyway.)

I will complete:

DGS Star Quilt
DGS Gray Quilt
Cancer Strip Quilt
Mosaic Quilt
Dessert of the Month
Kawaii Winter Wonderland Countdown to Xmas

I really want to complete:

Amy Butler Weekender Bag

Everything else I want to get done will be icing on the cake. Suggestions on how to stay focused on my list and not get distracted by other ideas are much appreciated.

Kawaii Winter Wonderland: AKA My Current Obsession

When I saw that the girls of Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery were doing a cross stitch Christmas Countdown, I knew I needed to participate. It was the perfect project to get me in the holiday spirit - so I went and got my supplies and started stitching in the evenings while my dashing husband studies for his exams.

I decided to use some silver sparkled aida cloth so I've changed the color scheme a bit to match, but so far I am loving the results...and yes, I did have to take out some (a lot) of stitches to change the outlines to green, but it was worth it.

I most likely will be posting pictures of my progress on instagram (username: PurplePandaQuilts) with the hashtag #kawaiixmas as well as on twitter (@PrplePandaQuilt) and I would love to see your progress when you decide to make one too!

If you are looking for a perfect holiday project - this is it. And the pattern is on sale for only 10 dollars until November 10th.

Scenes from the Weekend (a few days late)

**I intended to post this on Monday morning, but alas due to the negativity online from the Presidential Election, I decided to protect my sanity by avoiding all forms of social media (which led me to really just avoiding my computer) until after the election. So pretend you read this on Monday.**

This past weekend was my dashing husband's birthday (which also happens to be the anniversary of the day he proposed so many years ago), so to celebrate we spent a significant amount of time in the snowy Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a nice and relaxing getaway that gave us a much needed break...and a chance to use my new tripod.

My very first gathered clutch

So I'm not a big bag maker.

I've only made 1 other bag (my fall fan bag) before, so I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I decided I needed to make a clutch to use at my sister's wedding. I figure it would be a good step to my ultimate goal of completing Amy Butler's Weekender Bag.

After a lot of research, I settled on making the gorgeous gathered clutch from one of my favorite blogs - noodlehead. There are always well written tutorials and the site provides a wealth of inspiration. The instructions looked easy enough, so I figured I could handle it.

After a few hours of very mild confusion (gather stitches? What does that mean? You don't gather stitches while quilting!) I had my very own gathered clutch:

And ya know what?

I adore it.

I will be making more in the future, because it really didn't take that long -- and now that I know how to gather stitches it should go together even faster. The design possibilities on this one are endless. I am glad that I have made it one step closer to the weekender bag...gulp...