Friday Finishes

Small finishes this week - the second of two crochet charity scarves, several sets of quilt row pins, and four linen dish towels. After looking for reasonably-priced nice dish towels, some pretty linen/cotton blend at Fabric Depot caught my eye and I waited for a sale. The first towel convinced me that marking the mitre at the corners was worth the effort, and the next three were much quicker.

Thinking my new hem guide would keep me from burning my fingers, I found it was too small to be useful. My trusty Dritz metallic hem guide was more practical, and with the steam off made the first press, then pressed again with steam and without the guide for a crisp edge.

The quilt row pins were inspired by a photo on Pinterest. I tracked down reasonably priced floral pins at JoAnn's, and found number beads online. I did not pay attention to the fact that the "numbers" page did not include any zeros (they were on the "alphabet" page), and had to make a second order to be able to make a "ten" pin. It helped that both the pins and beads were discounted too. To fill out the order I have more snowflake frames.

The first few sets were fun, the next few not quite as much. I've learned to use a heavy hand with the glue, and check each pin before putting the sets into packages. Haven't used mine yet and gave a few sets away, so will see how successful they are. The beads came in varying quantities and I will make as many sets as I can. My other row markers are small squares of felt with machine embroidered numbers on them.

My goal this weekend is to make a list for the 2016 Finish-A-Long hosted by Debbie at A Quilter's Table and other bloggers. After looking at several other quilter's lists, I really like the idea of just focusing on goals for the first quarter of 2016, rather than listing all of my UFO's and PIM's.