STARTING OVER

I admit it was hard to pull out my Swallowtail shawl. I did it in a fingering weight sock yarn using the free pattern that I found posted by the designer. I had so much trouble with it. I went by the written instructions because I generally like that over charts. I just must be dense, because I would end up with extra stitches or not enough, and then the bobbles being all over the place instead of in a curved line. Then when I got to a couple of places on the second border that said repeat from * and there was no *, I held the shawl up to the light and beheld all of the mistakes and just started ripping.
Luckily, I bought the back issue of Interweave knits that featured the shawl pattern. I decided to go by the charts this time. The charts were more understandable in the magazine issue than the charts in the pdf. This time I decided to use a lace weight and I started over. This time it is going much much better. I am almost halfway finished with the center section.
I decided to start over because so many others have managed to make this little shawl without problems. I knew it was probably more me than the pattern, so I started again. I'm glad that I did.
I managed to get the I spy top done for a quilt that I am making for my little great niece Sara. I made the mistake of picking up a small kit for this. The solid blocks were cut at 3 1/2". They should have been 4 1/2 " like the novelties. So I had to re-cut the novelties so I could use them. I bought the book "Picture Play Quilts" by Ami Simms. It had a pattern for this quilt in the book. My first mistake was grabbing it to start while sewing with friends. I hadn't opened the kit or looked at the book. If I had studied it I would have realized that although there are 12 blocks across in the rows in the quilt in the book, THAT quilt was also bigger than this one and there weren't enough blocks. By the time I realized it was when I sewed on the last row and realized that when you hold it up normally, narrow end up, all of the directional blocks are sideways. Oh well, I got it done, it is bright and colorful, and I know that little Sara won't care.
It's hard to believe I have enough presence of mind to make miniatures isn't it?
I have a few weekends before I have 2 quilts due for my guild auction. They have to be quilted. We have to make one from our miniature group, and I have to make one from me. When that is done, I have to get busy and finish my miniature. I have plans to enter it and it has to be finished before December. Whew. I'd better get busy.