Swaps and Being Sidetracked

Do you remember when your Mom would ask, "Now if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you jump in after them?" My Mom is no longer here to ask me that question, and I guess I somehow forgot the answer. This is a picture of my Christmas Signature block from the swap that I signed up for over on the DJ Alternate List. That list is a sub group of the original Dear Jane list, and lately they have turned to swapping blocks for anything and everything. I signed up for the regular signature swap earlier in the year because I wanted a signature quilt for the year that I finished my Dear Jane quilt. No, it isn't finished yet but all the blocks are done and I have 3 triangles finished. The Christmas Siggy swap is the first ever, and I thought I should get in on the ground floor so I would have a quilt from the very first Christmas swap. The swap Mom posted a database where you could sign up, and when I signed up halfway through the month, I was number 55. Piece of cake. We have until September 30 to get all sewn, colored, and mailed. By the time all was said and done at the end of the month, 160 people had signed up for this swap and we needed to send in 5 extra "just in case". I had already bought my fabric for the triangles and stamped the center piece of muslin so there was no turning back. I have them all finished except for a bit of heat setting with my iron, and then they will go in the mail. I will not sign up for any more swaps!! Well, there is this other swap I'm in with cute little 3 inch blocks, but that will be for another post.

These scarves were yesterday's project. I saw this Crochet Today magazine and bought it because of an afghan pattern. But, before I got to the pattern, I saw a nice article about a program to stitch a scarf for each participant in the 2009 Special Olympics. You have to use Red Heart yarn in Delft Blue and Soft White so I went on the hunt and couldn't find the yarn. I finally gave up and mail ordered 2 skeins of each color. By this time, a friend had found it in one of our local craft stores so I bought a couple more skeins. I told my husband last night that I should give up knitting. I thought he feinted there for a second because apparently he has some idea of how much yarn there is upstairs. I just meant that I've crocheted much longer than I've been knitting and could work it up faster that way.