Needlework Tuesday - A Charming Invasion

Needlework Tuesday is open to all readers looking for inspiration, encouragement or who want to share their recent needlework project. Introduce yourself in the comments and be sure to leave a link to your current post. Feel free to grab the cute little mouse for your post.
There are days when I just can't wait to pick up my stitching and lose myself in whatever I am working on.  There were a couple of those days last week.  With Easter almost here, I was reflecting on the loss of my nephew.  It will be difficult sitting down to dinner and have no takers for the drum sticks.  Since he was small, he was the one that always asked for the turkey's drumsticks.  As he got older, he would eat one for dinner and then take the other home in a big baggie.  No one else ever ate them as we all knew how much Alex enjoyed them.

Many of us help deal with our emotions by directing them into our needlework.  Having this focus sure does help. 

Two evenings of knitting have brought me to repeat 11 on my Amalia shawl.  Almost half way on this section.  Soon it will be time to wind the second skein into a ball.  Not my favourite activity, but easy to do while watching TV.

To further distract myself, I put a new book on my player.  I am listening Storm Front by Jim Butcher.  This is the first book in the Harry Dresden series.
Stitching busily on my Faded Charms quilt top.  Most of the squares are now stitched into pairs and pressed open.  Time to sew the centre panel.  I am enlarging mine quilt, so the centre is 10 x 16 charms.

Next round will be 4 x 18 charms and 4 x 20 charms.

The next round after the 4s are 2s.  Lots of 4 patches to be sewn and then pieced in long strips of 2 x 28 and then 2 x 26.

The centre and the first round are completed.  I found a white and mauve print that I had set aside for another quilt, though it is going to look very good in this quilt instead.

I ran into a few problems when sewing these charms together.  As I mentioned last week, I had traded for a lot of charms around the turn of the millennium.  This was the first time I dug into that stash.  Seems that several women had it in their mind, that 2 1/2 inch squares really needed to be cut at 2 5/8 inches.  Dozens of charms had to be re-cut.  Some included the selvage when cutting.  Into the scrap basket with those along with a few of very dubious heritage, those poly parents.  Yesterday when sewing a four patch, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  Looked like a glowing spot on the patch I had just picked up.  Closer examination showed a hole.  Don't use defective fabric when you are partaking in a swap.  Garbage for that one.  I'll still swap with quilters as it's a lot of fun to meet others, but I will be careful about what I send out and ensure that it is the quality that I want to receive.

Now that I have shared how I deal with my stress, I am wondering what my readers do.  Read, knit, crochet, bake?  Leave me a comment, perhaps your method will work with another reader.