My solution wasn't great...

 In my last post, I said I wasn't sure if I would be posting my next scheduled day.  I didn't and my solution was to just not post at all for two!! months.  We are well into summer and zooming to autumn.  We have trees starting to drop their leaves, but I think it's more stress from lack of water (although today should help a lot, it's been raining since early this morning) rather than seasonal change, but one can hope (I am not a lover of summer).  

So, grab a cuppa and hang on, this one's going to be long...

I mentioned I was planning to go to Michigan the end of June for Cassie's birthday.  I made it!!  I had a wonderful time and it was so good to see everyone again.  Here's the "card" I made for her and a picture of a one year old eating cake:

To save space, I made up collages, some things were cropped a bit but think you can see everything.

When I got home, I did a lot of sewing and knitting.

I saw a YouTube video on these bags and decided to give it a try.  I love them! The size is perfect for large gifts (I used the animal one for a baby shower (more on that later) gift), and storage (the other two have sweater quantities of yarn).  I have fabric ready for a few more that I will use for general yarn storage. The nice thing about this bag is that it takes minimal supplies - 2 fat-quarters for the outside, some interfacing, a zipper and lining fabric.

I enjoyed sewing so much that I did some rearranging in the guest room and brought my sewing desk up from the basement, so my machine is now out  all the time and my sewing things are all in one place again.  When I decide to work on papercrafts, I just move my sewing machine to the floor and have the desk for my work surface - it's so much better than the dining room table.

The majority of my knitting was on the blanket for my niece's baby (my other niece texted that she was going to host a baby sprinkle the same weekend as the family reunion so I needed to get it finished).

Here's the finished piece and a close up of the bubbles:

I needed a card and made this:

So July 23rd, I bundled the blanket into the animal bag and took the card and headed back to Michigan for the family (my dad's side) reunion, a baby sprinkle and to see everyone again.  I had a wonderful time and it was so good to see the extended family again.

The baby sprinkle was not a minute too soon as on July 31st, Miss Ellidae (Elli) Louise was born.  

She was 10 days early, but she seems pretty happy to be here:

She's named after a maternal great-great-grandmother (her nonno's grandmother) and shares her oma's middle name (which is my dad's mother's name).  Everyone is doing well and settling into being a family of four.

I am hoping to get to Michigan over Labor Day weekend to meet her.

With the arrival of Elli, my focus changed to her birth piece.  Here is the finished Winter Hearts by Shepherd's Bush

and a close-up of the hearts:

There is hardanger (lower left), pulled thread (upper right), and cut work (upper left) in the piece.  It is stitched from the kit on white Belfast using Au ver a Soie and white #12 perle cotton.  I'm going to finish as a wallhanging, but need to get a few more specifics from my niece before starting.  

So after getting things finished up for Elli (well, except for the hat I'm knitting for her for Christmas), I started on things for the next baby (my nephew and his wife are expecting a boy the end of October).  I started a blanket (crochet this time, I'm not sure I'll knit a blanket with a time limit again), but there's not enough for the pattern to appear, so will show it next time.  I also started:

This is Baby Bug Ball by Shepherd's Bush.  It's stitched on Light Sand Belfast with the silks and beads from the kit.  I'm waiting for the fabric so I can get started on his Christmas stocking.

In the few minutes between sewing or working on baby things, I've been knitting.

This is the Neutra shawl by SweaterFreak.  I started the make-along, but I'm rubbish at them so didn't keep up, so am just doing a bit when I can - this is all of part 1 and a bit of 2 (the slanted ribbing).  This is not as dark as it's showing up here.  It's also hard to tell, but the blues are a gradient set, I think they will show up better in later parts.  While I do have to pay attention to what I'm doing, this one is only knits and purls.  I'm very tempted to do another one with a light gray main color and a burgandy gradient.

With all the different knitting projects I have started and planned, I have a small but growing needle collection.  To keep them all separated, I made this:

This is the Flip Pocket Portfolio by comfortstitching.  When you open it, there are six zippered pockets:

I had some difficulty with the binding as the directions were very different from what I'm used to.  I'd never stitched with vinyl before, so I'm sure that didn't help the process any.  This wasn't a complicated sew but it did take good chunk of an afternoon and evening.

We were notified that we won't be called back to the office until at least October 1st, most of us are thinking it will be closer to the end of the year, and that my boss is pushing for either remote or maximum telework for her staff, so I finally felt comfortable enough to start a craft rotation.  While I'll be crocheting and stitching to finish up baby things, I'm making time for other crafts.  I don't know how long I'll keep it up but it's nice to be able to get some other things started and finished.  That announcement also helped me realize that I don't have to save up all my housework for the weekend, so I've finally started spreading it out during the week so that my weekends are usually fairly chore free and truely relaxing.

Hope everyone is well.