Catching up
Sit back and relax, this is going to be a long one!
Hello! It was recently pointed out to me by a couple people that it’s been over a month since my last post! I wasn’t planning that much time off, but I just really haven’t had much to say!
When I knit something, all the details go up on Ravelry. I’m doing a couple daily photo projects on flickr, so I post over there a minimum of two photos a day, often with explanatory text and conversations in the comments, so it’s like mini-blogging. I twitter…I just feel like by the time I get to the blog, I’ve already said what needs to be said 3 times over and to have to format more pictures and upload them to my server (I know I can blog them from flickr but I don’t like to do that) and think of yet more to say about them, it’s just too much pressure!
But I am going to make an effort to blog more frequently! This winter has been particularly asstastic, so hopefully the arrivial of spring (and my 30th birthday which is approaching rapidly, eeek!) will get me back in the game. Also thinking a blog re-design might be nice, so I’m looking into that too. In the meantime, if you’re really dying for more Bertha (and honestly, who woudn’t be), you can bookmark my flickr photostream here (or subscribe to it here if you use an RSS reader) and it will be just like getting mini-blog updates from me a couple times a day.
Now that that’s out of the way, I do have a couple things to share! I’ve been doing a little bit of sewing!
For Christmas (um, yes, I realize it’s now March), I decided to make a few projects for my good friend Phoe (she moved recently and has been without internet for over a month due to continuous screw-ups with two different service providers. I seriously think I would be non-functional at this point). I have to apologize in advance for the absolutely horrible pictures I am about to share as they were taken at 2 in the morning in horrible lighting conditons and they were already packed up and on their way to England before I noticed how badly the pictures sucked. Hopefully Phoe can get some better pictures for me at some point!
Here is a set of tiki-themed tea towels that I embroidered from a Sublime Stitching pattern! Phoe loves and collects tiki paraphenalia so when I saw the pattern I knew I had to make them! I really enjoy embroidering, it’s so much more instant gratification than knitting!

I also made Phoe a lap quilt. This is the Flock of Triangles pattern from the Denyse Schmidt quilts book. I had asked her about her living room color-scheme and she said she’d like something orange, so I picked these great Amy Butler & Heather Bailey fabrics. Again, sorry the photo is so craptacular!

And lookit what Phoe sent to me!

A gorgeous handknit hat that I LOVE and have worn regularly despite it being officially spring since it’s been flipping freezing out, a handmade bracelet, earrings, the cutest project bag ever, amazing chocolate (srsly. It was amazing.), yarn!, and delicious English cookies! Thank you so much Phoe!!
Once I finally completed Phoe’s gifts, I started to work on some other projects, some of which must still remain secret, but here are a couple more of those that I can show:

Log cabin pilows! I made these out of some more Heather Bailey “Pop Garden” fabrics. I love how bright and cheerful they turned out.
Recently, I participated in Sonya’s handmade mushroom swap! You had to make 5 mushrooms and you’d receive 5 different mushrooms in return. I made these little mushroom cottages, hand sewn with wool-felt and embroidered.

The pattern I used for these is from a wonderful blog, Little House by the Sea, love! I will definitely make more of them.

And here are the mushrooms I got in return!

Aren’t they all so wonderful!? If you click through to flickr, you can see the details on who made each one. Thank you so much to Sonya for hosting this great swap!
And finally, I can neither confirm nor deny that I’ve been bitten by the crochet bug…

I also may or may not have joined a crocheted pot holder swap…I am not sure what I have become…








































































