Bearypatch

how not to start your new year

2012-01-03T22:05:00.006-05:00

DH and I have made a habit of saving enough of our vacation to take the time between Christmas and New Year's off. We started when DD left home and started dancing professionally. If she can come home for Christmas it is usually that week. This year vacation turned out to be not much of a vacation. Day 1 we made a nice long list of all we planned to do during our week off. Day 2 got up and started on our list. DH got as far as vacuuming the kitchen and then started feeling sick. Runny nose, swollen glands, sneezing and decided he needed to sit down for a while. Yeah sure! He just didn't want to finish vacuuming. I kept going. Took apart the stove and thoroughly cleaned it. Cleaned out the fridge. Wiped down the counter tops and was really feeling good about my progress when guess what I started feeling a little crappy myself. Hmmm, maybe he wasn't just sick of vacuuming. Long story really short no further items were completed from our list. New Years day was spent in the Emergency room where DH received multiple breathing treatments and his breathing wouldn't loosen. They ended up keeping him overnight in the ICU and I went home to try and get some rest to get better myself. He came home yesterday with a diagnosis of asthmatic bronchitis, 4 new medications and feeling enough better to finally get a good night's sleep last night. He woke up feeling enough better to take me to my Dr. today. I came home with a diagnosis of a virus and 3 new medications that made me feel enough better to get some rest this afternoon. Both of us missed our first day back to work of the new year, but are hopefully on the mend.
Now for my wonderful SSCS package. My partner Sandy sent me some beautiful gifts. Love, love, love them. Look at these adorable buttons. Think she might have read my blog and realized how much I like bears? I need to make something special enough to use them. Which probably means I will save them forever.
I have been noticing bags like this on other blogs and have been wanting to make one for myself. Sandy saved me the work. She does beautiful stitchery and I am not that good at it. Huge win for me! I also have this gorgeous stocking for decoration for next Christmas.
I do really love all of my gifts and I am sorry Sandy that I didn't post them earlier. Everything just sort of went on hold around here when we both got so sick. You should see what the house looks like. :-\ Actually, no one should see that.

i'm a grammy ;)

2011-12-13T00:09:00.005-05:00

I have a new grandpuppy. Isn't she adorable? I think DD is in love.

it's here!

2011-12-12T22:14:00.004-05:00

My SSCS gift arrived this weekend from Sandy in Australia!
I opened my ornament and found this beautiful stitchery. She does really nice work. According to the card everything in the packages is created by Australian designers and uses Australian fabrics. I can't wait until Christmas morning to see what the rest of my packages hold. :D

who am i

2011-11-09T20:08:00.005-05:00

This year I have had the toughest time trying to figure out what to make for a SSCS gift for my swap partner. I have read and reread her blog trying to figure out something she would really like. I finally decided to make something I would like and hope for the best.
It made me wonder if what my blog says reflects me. I read through my older posts with an objective eye. Lets see. I live in Maine with unpredictable weather. Check. I own an obscene amount of fabric that I don't seem to be able to use up. Check. I collect teddy bears. Check. My DD is a ballerina. Check. DS is very lovable and breakable . Check and check. Our kitties run our household. Don't they all? check. I have a friend named April who frequently leads me astray. Check. I quilt, especially mini's. Check. I knit. Check. I weave. Check. I try to live green. Check. I love my old house. Check. Yup. Sounds pretty much like me. ;^)

i love fall sunsets

2011-10-03T22:33:00.001-04:00

april's birthday

2011-09-18T20:23:00.004-04:00

My friend April is my favorite person to give gifts to because her taste is so similar to mine and she always loves what I make her. I didn't post around her birthday which was in ummm April, but I took a picture intending to post. As I was sorting through my photo card I found the picture and decided that everyone was just dying to find out what I made for April's birthday.
This tiny 9 patch wall hanging. Those blocks are 3 inches square so it's not very big. DH, who is usually pretty ambivalent about my quilts, really liked it so I told him I would make one for his office. The 9 patches are finished and the borders cut, but I don't have any more of that red background fabric. I really like the way that the color goes with the red in that vine border. I don't care if it is the same fabric, but I have been on the search for something similar. I have bought a few different reds, but so far nothing I like as well. Not very good for stash busting, but I love red. :-D

now where was i

2011-09-14T22:40:00.005-04:00

It has been pointed out that I haven't updated my blog in a little while. Every post seemed so negative that I didn't feel anyone wanted to read all that so I took a little break.
In a nutshell here's what happened while I was out. My dad didn't come through his stroke as well as we thought at first. When first moving back into the assisted living facility he steadily improved for a week. Then things went bad fast. It wasn't long before he needed more care than the assisted living could provide. He was moved into a nursing home in February and then passed away on March 16. His dementia had progressed to a point that he didn't really know where he was and for the last couple of weeks he just slept. He passed away quietly in his sleep and now he's with my mom.
On March 9 I started a new job. Four working days before my dad passed away. It really made me nervous needing time off when I had just started, but I had told my manager the situation during my interview for the job so they weren't surprised. My new job is great, although I am still learning. It is right across the street from my old job so I still see my friends and I already had friends at this company. The software development business in Maine is a small community. ;)
Last week DD came for a visit with her new boyfriend. They have been dancing together for a few years. We liked him and they seem very happy. He is from Cuba and this was his first trip to Maine. We made the rounds: showed him where DD went to high school; he met my sister and family; showed him my parents house; went to Fort Popham; went to Bar Harbor (DD has always loved Bar Harbor); drove up Cadillac Mountain; he tried Maine lobster, Maine shrimp and Maine micro brews. This is a picture from the top of Cadillac mountain. They said they had to take this picture for a friend. Evidently every time this friend travels they take a picture in attitude with the scenery.
I haven't been doing much crafting lately. Between learning my new job, trying to settle my father's estate and keeping the home-front running there hasn't been a lot of extra time. I am still managing the Jo's Little Women at my LQS. I'm slowly completing the patterns. Here is the start of my new little quilt wall. I have 4 others ready to be quilted. I'm really happy. I love Jo's patterns!

i'm still here

2011-01-05T22:22:00.004-05:00

I guess my last promise to post more often wasn't worth the cyberspace it occupies. It's been so long I've almost forgotten how to blog.

I wish I could say I had been off doing fun creative things, but no such luck. At first I was just working hard to get my early obligation Christmas presents ready. My SSCS got off on schedule and my advent swap with April got delivered on the first. I had just started shopping for my own family and working on things for our adopted family at work when my dad had a stroke. I spent 5 hours one night getting him checked into the hospital. He really seemed to make a miraculous recovery with treatment, but still needed to move to a rehabilitation facility for therapy. We moved him into a facility and he started deteriorating almost immediately. He started hallucinating and having paranoid delusions. He would see people with us when we went to visit and one time my aunt went to visit and he didn't even talk to her. Even though she was talking to him he didn't know she was there. He also didn't seem to be getting more mobile or any stronger. My sister went to see him last Friday and he was trying to call the police to tell them that he was being held prisoner on a train. Luckily, he couldn't figure out how to dial the phone. On Sunday I got a call from one of the nurses asking if I could talk to him. He was agitated and told me that he was kidnapped and that the place was probably run by the mob. I explained to him that he was fine and we knew where he was. He then told me he never thought I was that gullible. He then decided I must be in on it with them. I did manage to get him calmed down by telling him he was going back to his place the next day. We had already decided he had to leave there so my sister had set it up with his assisted living place to take him back as he was. This past Monday he moved back and by evening he was walking by himself with one of his caregivers spotting. I am not sure exactly what the problem was, but he has improved so much since leaving. I just hope he continues going in the right direction.

This was not one of my better Christmas's. DD didn't come home and with my dad's problems there really just wasn't much Christmas spirit here. There were a few bright spots however. I got a beautiful SSCS gift from Fiona. A covered journal, a couch caddy and my ornament. I can keep my ornament out all year because it's not strictly Christmas at all. She does such beautiful stitchery and the colors go great with my couch. I love them. Aren't they gorgeous?

My advent swap with April was great too. It's so much fun to get and give gifts to someone you know so well. We would meet every day online and open our gifts together. I had made a list so I knew what she was opening each day. She had tied a Godiva or Dove chocolate to the outside of each of mine so I knew I was getting a chocolate treat every day. (I wish I had thought of that.) We both enjoyed it so much we're already planning to do it again next year. I have a number of new ideas running around in my head that I think she will like.

I'm going go get Christmas things done early this year. What do you think? Is that pledge worth the cyberspace it is occupying?

busy, busy, busy

2010-11-21T22:26:00.005-05:00

My poor sewing room doesn't look anything like that nice picture in the last post. Since I started my new job we have had 2 launches one Monday right after the other. A launch means that we take down the web site, move in new code and quickly test it to make sure everything is ready for business when we bring it back up. In other words I have to go into work at 1 am. 1 am is usually about when I am heading to bed. Both weeks I really tried to go to bed around 7 for some rest, but ended up with almost no sleep. Turning my sleep cycle directly around for a day doesn't work very well for me. I ended up coming home from work, taking a 4 hour nap and then waking up groggy. My Sunday quilting time was cut into because I was trying to get some sleep, then I couldn't even make it up on Monday because I was sleeping and then no energy. This is a long story to just end up saying what sewing time I had was used sewing and not picking up after myself.
I did manage a finish. Finally, my quilt I got from the long-arm quilter almost a year ago is bound. Here it is being modeled by Miss Misty. When I laid it on the bed and went to take a picture she jumped right up on the quilt and laid down looking at me. Almost like she wanted her picture in cyberspace.
I do have other finishes, but I can't show. ChookyBlue would not be happy if I posted my SSCS before my partner gets a chance to open it and if I posted the advent gifts for April she would peek.
I started a new quilt wall. My 2 finished Jo's are up. I want to cover the entire wall. I can't wait to put the mini-minis I made up.
We had Jo's club this past Thursday, and I won the door prize! 3 Jo's fat quarters and a really nice Lori Smith pattern. Next month we are doing a pot luck dinner and Yankee Swap. I'm not sure how many meetings we have left. With all that's been going I haven't been very good at keeping track.
I really need to post more often. I'm going to be a better blogger from now on I swear.

a productive day

2010-10-27T22:43:00.008-04:00

It took quite some time, but I have finally set my sewing room to rights. It has been a very long time since I had the entire surface of my ironing board to work with. I had almost forgotten it was that big. For almost a year now if I want to do anything in my sewing room I have to move things from one surface to another and then clear that surface when I need to use it. I figured I better take a picture while it was clean because it probably won't last long.
I then spent the remainder of my day sewing. October Road is now bordered. I like the way it turned out. I had bought a different fabric for my inner borders, but when I was cutting the sashing for my mini Friendship Star I noticed how good it looked with what was already done so I decided to use it there as well.
Here is the finished top of my very tiny Friendship Star. I am not as happy with my worksmanship as I was with the 4 Patch, but that small is really hard.

great things are happening

2010-10-25T22:08:00.004-04:00

I am back among the ranks of the gainfully employed. :D I accepted an offer today. I'll be starting on November 1. My commute will be cut in half and I should be getting home at a pretty decent hour so I am hoping I will have more time to quilt than I did with my old job.
On Saturday April and I took a miniature quilt class. I brought my camera, but completely forgot I had it until I was packing up to leave and found it in my bag. The class was amazing. I have always loved tiny things and these are so tiny. This 4-patch will finish to about 6 inches square. I also have some friendship star blocks made ready to assemble into another tiny little quilt. I'm going to add these to my quilt wall. They should add a nice little accent among the giant Jo's little quilts.
Since I lost my job I didn't feel like I could do anything except try to find a new one because I had no idea how long it would take. Now that I have one, I have a week to do whatever I want. Believe me it's been a long time since I have had any time to do any more than what was absolutely necessary to keep the household running. I have decided that I would like to get some projects finished. I seriously debated if I should post this horrible picture, but this is what my sewing room looked like this morning when I went in to get started. I figured not much would get done until it was cleaned up. After spending most of this afternoon in there it doesn't look much different. I spent this evening folding fabrics to put away in my cabinets. Now I just have to find space to put them away.

let's start at the very beginning

2010-10-18T00:11:00.010-04:00

This has been a very eventful week here in Maine. Tuesday morning I showed up for a normal day at work and first thing I was called to a conference room to be told that my position was being terminated. You know that dropping feeling you get in your stomach when you just can't believe something is happening? That was me. I gave my all to my job, working nights and weekends. Spending multiple Mother's Day weekends at client sites. Having to have relatives pack for a move because I had to travel to take care of a client emergency. You would think your job would be there for you. Not so. I do think in this case they may have made a grave error in judgment. We had a very small and close office and no one can believe that I was let go. I was an effective, dedicated and loyal employee going more than the extra mile in most cases. I was a go to person who people came to for help. The remaining employees are seeing that it doesn't matter how hard you work, the company has no loyalty. I know of a number who are now updating their resumes and starting a job hunt.
I spent Wednesday making phone calls and I already have a few leads on new jobs. Some good friends (former employees who have left and have been trying to get me to leave for years) have told me I will be much happier in the end. I already feel less stressed.
Soooo what do you do when you lose your job??? You go sewing machine shopping of course! I have actually been looking for a while. My Bernina 1230 has some issues that I have tried to have fixed, but the fixes doesn't seem to hold. After the fiasco with my Bernina 200 I am not attached to the brand as I used to be. I looked at Juki, Pfaff, Janome, Elna and Bernina. In the end I really liked this BabyLock Quest Plus (ignore the mess). It has all of my minimum requirements plus some extras I was really impressed with. It came with this extension table complete with seam guides etched in. Love it! There is also a built in walking feed. It's smooth and solid making for a nice stitch. I used it to put together my October Road blocks today. Very easy to keep a 1/4" stitch.
And for a pleasant change, I'm thinking this must be some sort of good omen. On Tuesday I got an email from LaVieEnRosie saying I had won some cool wool and linen cuts for posting on the Fall-o-ween blog hop. I never win anything so this is a good sign. They arrived in yesterday's mail so I had 2 exciting packages to open last night. She also included this nice tray from Ikea. I love Ikea and I can never go because it is too far so I was excited to have this cool little catch all. It took me 5 tries to get this picture without a kitty in it. They must have liked the smell of whatever finish is on the fabric.

another done another begun

2010-10-10T23:20:00.004-04:00

Can you believe it? I finished another Jo's mini today. All quilted, bound and sleeve applied. Ready for the wall. I had to run to the LQS for more of that final border fabric because I wanted to use it for the binding as well.
I also spent some time on my October Jo's assignment. We are making October Road for this month's club meeting. It was a little big for my taste so I cut down the size to make the blocks smaller and fewer of them so it can fit in with the others on my wall. The blocks are going to be 5 inches finished. I got the centers done and my fabrics chosen so maybe I can get some done this week evenings after work.
DH spent this weekend at the building we still own in the town we moved here from. The previous tenants sold their business to new owners. For some unknown reason the town has all of these new complaints about the building and the business. The prior owners had been there for 7 years and no problems. These poor new owners move in and they are demanding all sorts of modifications from different exit signs to steps over a 2 foot wall from an emergency exit that no one uses. There is a walkway beside the building that has been fine, but all of a sudden there have to be steps. DH is taking care of the outside modifications while they make the changes to the business inside. Poor DH, after having worked behind a desk for the last number of years, is not used to all this hard labor. ;-)

done and done

2010-10-03T21:53:00.007-04:00

October is already a much better month for finishing projects than August and September put together. Two finishes this first weekend!
My Pickup Sticks is quilted, bound and is sporting a nice hanging sleeve. I can't wait to show it at Jo's club this month.
I also finished and blocked my socks. Just in time too. It was down to 42 degrees last night and supposed to be pretty cold all week.
I have 2 other projects queued up and ready to finish. I'm thinking this will be a good month.

no finish, but some progress

2010-09-29T21:34:00.008-04:00

I am not going to get a project finished for the second month in a row. I have made some progress and should be on track for a couple of finishes next month.

I got the borders on my Jo's Club basket quilt. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. We got a packet of fat quarters with our registration. I used almost every last bit of the outer border fabric. See those bits of selvage on the edge? It's within a 1/4 inch, but just barely.

These socks are ready to knit the cuffs. I should be able to finish them up in an hour or so if I have some dedicated knitting time. These are knit 2 at a time, toe up, on one 40" long circular needle with this free online pattern. Since I tried this method I have used it almost exclusively. I just love finishing both socks at the same time. It's also nice to have the option of just making the leg shorter if you find you are running low on yarn instead of finding out halfway through the second sock. JudyL is planning a November knit along for socks. There are a lot of people who are anxious to try sock knitting. I would recommend this method. It is a little fiddly getting them started, but after you get going I think it's much easier and faster.

who is your tv crush?

2010-09-22T21:45:00.007-04:00

We do have random conversations at work. Yesterday, during lunch, someone was talking about the last episode of House. One of the guys proceeded to tell us that he has a huge crush on Cuddy. Others joined in and pretty soon as people would walk into the kitchen for lunch they would be asked who their tv/celebrity crush was. It is funny what you can learn about people by who they are attracted to. Our resident intern, who is somewhat of an admitted geek likes 7 of 9 from Star Trek. This gave everyone a really good chuckle about him being attracted to someone who is part robot. By the end of today I think pretty much everyone has weighed in on their crushes. One of the very quiet QA guys likes Meredith Baxter and Valerie Bertinelli. My friend, who is a very strong personality, has a thing for L.L. Cool J and Vin Diesel.

I think the only thing the guys I am attracted to have in common is a little bit of mischief in their eyes. Shemar Moore, Sam Elliot and John Bon Jovi.

So who is your tv/celebrity crush? Lets see what we think it says about you.

meeting days

2010-09-19T21:15:00.007-04:00

Planning days at work can be my favorite days. With our agile method of working we work heads down, really hard in 2 week "sprints". Then we have 2 days of planning to define the work for the next sprint. The planning meetings tend to be long and drawn out. Luckily no one expects us to just sit. You can see Patrick crocheting on the right, Ed with his squishy bat and all the toys on the table. I spent my time doing some knitting on a pair of socks. I think I got about 2 inches done on Friday and am hoping to get up to the cuff tomorrow. I actually find it easier to concentrate when I'm bored if I have something like knitting to occupy some part of my brain.
I made a little progress on my process this weekend. Yesterday my LQS had an open house and sale (gotta love a sale). I had been looking for something to use for sashing and I thought this Jo Morton was nice. I had the cornerstone fabric in my stash. I am thinking of adding a narrow accent border and then a wider one.
This month's Jo's challenge is October Road. Not my favorite so I'm not sure I'm going to do it. I've been thinking and I might cut the blocks down and only do 6. I might like it better smaller. :-D

look what i did

2010-09-12T22:13:00.005-04:00

I am going to be prepared for my Jo's Little Women Club 2 months in a row. :-D
Now I just need to decide how I am going to quilt it. Those are half inch strips. There are TONS of seams as I'm sure you can imagine. I'm not sure I could hand quilt without using really big stitches.

friday fun

2010-09-12T10:21:00.006-04:00

Friday was our annual summer outing at work. Usually we are taken to some nice resort type place, offered a choice or chicken or lobster and then allowed to partake of the activities offered until time to leave. Not so this year. A couple of the managers got it into their heads it would be fun to have a surprise outing. The time outline was given to us, but with the activities left out. We were to meet for lunch in the office, do our activity then all meet at 4 for cocktail hour at a local restaurant and prizes at the end of the day.
Everyone met at our gathering area in the office for lunch and were divided up into teams. While everyone was eating the activity was revealed and time for strategy given. Our leaders had been very busy. They had set 14 geocaches spread out around the city, given points by difficulty. We had 3 hours to find enough to add up to 12 points and then call in to get coordinates to a final "big kahuna" cache. We ran from one end of the city to the other and ended with all but one team frantically searching the parking lot of the restaurant for the final cache. It took more than an hour, but the final cache was finally found by the team that had arrived first so I guess it was fitting. It wasn't my team though. :'( We got there second. I have to tell you I ended the day completely exhausted and had to come home and take a nap. I am way out of shape from my sedentary job and I think I will have to do something about that. It was fun though and I wish I had known about geocaching when my children were younger. It would have been a great family activity.

blogging the process

2010-09-06T00:07:00.010-04:00

I am still in the Jo's Little Women club at my local quilt shop. We finished the scheduled (or rather some of us - not me- finished) patterns for this year. Our group wanted to continue so the second half of the year we are doing projects from Jo's latest book. Our first class we worked on the little needle book I posted previously and we then had the next month to finish these 4 basket blocks. I finished the blocks before the month was out. Everyone was duly impressed.

The second month we did hand piecing. I made this tumbling blocks block. Not sure what I am going to do with it, but I love hand piecing and had a really good time doing it. I cut my blocks down from what everyone else was doing, I can't ever seem to follow along, but really wish I had made them even smaller. I am contemplating doing an entire hand pieced miniature from tumbling blocks. 3 dimensional blocks are so fun.

We now have until next meeting to make this tiny rail fence quilt top. Each block is only 3 inches finished. There will be 24 blocks so I am more than half way there. I think 2 months in a row I might finish my assignment. A huge improvement for me. ;-)

one foot in front of the other

2010-09-05T22:01:00.004-04:00

It has been a really long time since I blogged last. I didn't intend to be gone so long, but things have been, shall we say, difficult in the Bearypatch.
I was going along pretty well at my job when my company decided that I was needed on a different team. A team where I had no idea about how to do what I was being asked to do. I have spent the last few months running as fast as I can just trying to keep up. I am finally starting to figure things out, but I still feel far from proficient.
My father is all safe and snug in his assisted living facility, but he is bored. He is used to being a relatively active person. He liked to putter around his yard and house. I have tried to come up with ideas of things he can do in his more physically restricted state, but everything I come up with he dismisses. His only answer is for my sister and/or I to entertain him when we aren't working. With my new job learning curve I have been putting in over 60 hours a week and most of the rest of my time is spent trying to keep my household running and his bills paid and errands done.
Last week I got a message saying I have been deactivated from the Stash Quilts ring. I've been on it since almost the start and this made me realize that I am working myself into the ground and haven't been doing anything for myself. I am going to start timeboxing and work blocks of time on tasks and make sure to set aside blocks for the things I enjoy. And I do enjoy blogging. :-)

just under the wire

2010-07-31T22:31:00.003-04:00

I got a single finish for this month and it wasn't a very big finish at that. This little wool applique needle case was our latest project at Jo's Little Women club. It was all hand work so I was able to get it finished. I haven't even been in my sewing room for a couple of months. Sometimes things in life do not go as you would wish.

2 more finishes for may

2010-05-31T23:06:00.003-04:00

I have finished 2 new UFO's to add to my May tally. The completed tops moved here with me over 3 years ago so they were well overdue for being finished. These are also the first 2 quilts I have quilted with my new quilt machine. I am really enjoying being able to quilt an entire baby quilt in about half an hour!

my life is nothing if not eventful

2010-05-27T22:28:00.003-04:00

This past weekend DH started feeling jealous that both DS and I had ridden in an ambulance. He decided that he would like to have the experience for himself. Saturday, as I was working on my first quilt on my new quilting machine (more on that later) he came and told me that he was not feeling well. I tried to get him into the car to take to the emergency room, but he was in so much pain he didn't think he could make it. Long story short paramedics, drive to the emergency room, 4 hours and numerous tests later he has gall stones. For the time being he is going to try and control it with diet, but he may eventually have to have his gall bladder out.
Now for the good stuff. I have a new long arm quilt machine!! :D It was April's, but she is on a serious Spring cleaning spree and is getting rid of loads of things. Well her puirging is great for me. I've been wanting one for a while and this was just too good to pass up. I had 2 baby quilt tops that I had made a while ago that were waiting to be quilted. They are both ready for binding. It's going to take me a while to get good at it, but I'm pleased with my first and second attempts. I'm going to really try to get them both done for my May OPAM tally.

a real blog post

2010-05-05T22:56:00.007-04:00

I think I have forgotten how to blog. It has been so long since I have made a real blog post. My mother always taught me if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all. So I have been saying nothing.

Remember DD and her European trip? She ended up a refugee of the Icelandic volcano. She didn't get to finish her auditions and never left Madrid until she flew home days late. All of this cost a lot of unexpected money. It turned out to be a very expensive, non-productive trip.

Sunday April 25th we were talking with DS on the phone and he had to leave. His ship was being evacuated and they had to take refuge in the basement of a church because of a tornado warning. So we had one child being held hostage by a tornado and the other by a volcano. Now you all can say what you like about Maine snow, but snow won't pick up a house and we don't get enough to shut down air traffic for a week or more.

I have all of my Jo's Little Women quilts that I should have been working on, but I just haven't felt like it. I write nice lists about what I would like to get done, but somehow when the time comes I just can't force myself to do anything. I did manage to make April her birthday present. It was a little (25 days) late, but I think she liked it. I saw this organizer on TV and it started me thinking. I designed a prettier version for her to use in a tote bag to keep her project supplies organized. It has pockets around all sides inside and the sides are fairly rigid so it can be pulled out and sit on a table for easy access. She seemed to like it, although I doubt I will ever be able to top the needle binder. :)

And just for fun....

How does this......

Fit into this??

Silly Misty.

it's ready!

2010-04-18T19:54:00.008-04:00

The pattern for my needle case is finally finished! It has instructions for a scrappy binder cover with pockets and a variety of pages to hold all your different kinds and sizes of needles. This is my first attempt at selling a pattern so bear with me while I get everything worked out. I have had a PayPal account for years, but I have never used it to sell, only buy. I am planning to distribute by emailing a pdf file so if you are interested leave a comment here making sure I can get back to you.

Edited to add: I have a lot of comments from people wanting my pattern, but their blog profile is set to no-reply so I can't get back to you. Please email me in person at dyerta@hotmail.com.

look what i did!

2010-04-12T22:46:00.004-04:00

My dad has been safely moved into assisted living. He seems to like it. It has somewhat reduced my stress without having to worry about my aunt and him being too much for her. There was no way he could go home by himself so this seemed to best solution.
DD is currently in Madrid. She had a great time in Dresden, Germany. She is under strict instructions to be in touch with us at least once a day. So far she's doing pretty well. I have lots of lovely pictures of buildings in both Germany and Spain. Here is the lady she is staying with in Madrid. She found a hosting situation on a website. She has been emailing back and forth in Spanish since she signed up and is very proud of herself and how she is making use of her High School Spanish. She loves paella and was excited when she got home after a day of sight seeing and this was dinner. I also have a great picture of her holding it, but she wouldn't let me post it. She claims I always choose the worst pictures of her to post, but I like pictures that are more candid and she only likes posed ones.

Now that some things are a little more settled I actually got some time to sew yesterday. We are in month 4 of Jo's club and I finally got the top for the first project together. If you want to feel totally inadequate you should join my Jo's club. The second meeting we had one person who had made 3 complete quilts in different coloration's from this pattern. I am just happy to have the top to mine finished. I can't wait to add it to my mini quilt wall.

calgon, take me away

2010-03-28T20:40:00.005-04:00

I truly haven't meant to be ignoring my blog. Things in my life have gotten quite difficult of late. In addition to all the "regular" stresses in this down economy we have had to make the decision to put my father into assisted living. His Parkinson's has progressed and the Dr. has decided that he can no longer drive. This means he can't go back to his house. It is too remote to be able to live there without a vehicle.
My DD doesn't think this is an issue, but it stresses me out. She is leaving next week for a trip to Europe to audition for ballet companies in Madrid, Dresden and Warsaw.... ALONE. When she first started planning this trip a friend was going to go with her, but her friend needs surgery to continue dancing next year so she is staying. Then, to top things off, both of the airlines she is booked with are having strikes. I am just hoping it works out OK. I have nightmares of her being stuck without a flight home. The company she is currently with didn't give any promotions or raises for next year and is planning to cut their season by 4 weeks meaning she will only be paid for 29 weeks. No companies in this country seem to be hiring. In a recession supporting the arts seems to be something that people cut from their budgets. It is going to be a terribly long month for us. She doesn't understand why we worry so much and won't until she has children of her own.
My work has also decided that our goals this year need to be more aggressive. I have 3 time consuming goals to complete, one for each of the next quarters this year including Microsoft Certification. We are being given limited time at work to work on these and no reduction of workload. I already spend approximately 11 hours a day on work including commute time and I have no idea how I am going to fit it all in. Sounds like I won't be doing a whole lot of sewing. :-(
At least DS is back to work. He's off on a cruise up the Mississippi with a strong admonishment to BE CAREFUL. We don't need any more calls from him as he's being loaded into an ambulance.

another march finish

2010-03-09T23:22:00.003-05:00

Maybe this finish should count as more than one, but I'm just glad they are done.
There are 5 different styles of page to hold my different knitting needles. The pattern is all roughed out and ready to add pictures. I took a ton! If I put them all in the file will be huge. I have to crop and be sure I include just enough to illustrate the process. My first pattern. :-) I hope it is understandable. Our tech writer at work is going to proofread it for me and April is all set to test it. Then it will be ready for public consumption.

first march finish

2010-03-03T00:17:00.006-05:00

So far one person wants to trade 1 1/2 inch squares with me. Kathie and I are going to see how much of a variety we have between the 2 of us. :-) I'm still looking for anyone else who might like to increase the variety of their reproduction tiny squares.

I have promised myself March is going to be a more productive month than February and so far so good. It was disappointing to only complete one project, but it has been a really busy month at work and there have been some family things that needed to be taken care of.

This is the cover to a binder that is going to hold my knitting needles. It has taken me a while to complete because I've been taking pictures of all the steps along the way. If you remember my friend April loved the one I made her for Christmas. She posted pictures on a number of Ravelry groups and has been keeping an eye on all the responses. I now have a lengthening list of people who want the pattern when it's done. Not much more to go. The pages are cut and fused so all that still needs to be done is to cut and put the pockets on the pages. And of course more documenting.

anyone want to trade?

2010-02-28T23:47:00.008-05:00

My life has become so crazy I don't get time to do the things I really want to do. I have one, lonely little finish for my OPAM for February. At least I met the goal. After I made the hat and scarf for my nephew this Christmas DH said he really liked the scarf so I made him one too. Maybe he will wear it tomorrow to blow the snow from the big storm that is supposed to be coming tonight.

It has been a relatively mild winter here, but we had heavy rain with high winds last week. Our power went out again Thursday and it didn't come back on until sometime Saturday. We are so tired of losing power for multiple days. We ended up spending Friday night in a hotel. Watching the news tonight I can't feel too sorry for us. There are households who are still out of power.

I posted last month about the Jo's club. I haven't done a class, except my one day teddy bear, since we moved here. Whenever we have moved before I have taken adult ed crafting classes to meet people. There is no adult ed in this town so I haven't had the opportunity to make new friends. I am really enjoying getting out once a month and meeting new people.

Is anyone else out there doing Jo? I am working on the first 2 projects. The first one takes 128 1 1/2" squares. I don't have the variety of quality reproduction fabrics I would like to use. I tend to gravitate towards dark fabrics so I am particularly in need of lights. Is there anyone who would like to do some swapping? I have a whole bunch cut, but way too many of single colors. I would love to find others in the same spot. We could organize trades. It's much easier to cut a strip and then cut it into squares and then trade some of mine for some of yours. Anyone interested? I'm trying really hard to use what I have and not buy new.

i got nothin'

2010-02-07T22:20:00.002-05:00

I've been busy, but I haven't accomplished anything. It seems to go that way sometimes. After I had such a good January I hope I can get back on track for February. I've been having a little trouble focusing on one thing. DH is home from Alabama for good. :D I've been spending time with him instead of sewing.
Work has been taking up more time as well. We have 2 book clubs going with work related subject books. I am going to become an expert on the art of agile programming and programming design patterns. I've never been in a book club before. It should be fun.
April loved the needle binder I made her for Christmas so much she posted on some ravelry groups and has gotten a number of people interested in having one of their own. Her mother really wants one and I suppose I should have one for myself. I have been working on writing up a pattern with step by step instructions and pictures. A number of years ago I started writing notes as I design projects because I have wanted to duplicate something before and had trouble remembering what I had done. The problem is that my notes aren't very understandable for anyone else. I have been constructing one for myself and writing down the steps as I go along. I'm getting pretty close to having the cover complete. I will write instructions for the individual pages and people can decide which configurations work best for them. When it's complete I'm going to hand it off to April to make one for her mom as a test of how understandable my instructions are.
I spent a few hours scouring the stash for fabrics for my first Jo's little quilt. I need 64 light and 64 dark 1 1/2" squares. It's not that I don't have that many fabrics, but I want them to be of the same quality and "feel" of patterns. In addition to the 24 fat quarters I got with the class I have come up with another 10 or so. April is going through hers as well and we are going to share. I am not going to buy any more.

i am dusky

2010-01-27T22:43:00.001-05:00

King of all I survey.

i have so much to tell

2010-01-25T22:41:00.006-05:00

It's so weird. Either I have nothing to write about or no time to write about it.
My LQS started a Jo Morton's club. I have always loved Jo's little quilts and wanted to do the club, but it has never been convenient. This one meets the third Thursday of every month at 6:30. My LQS is right on my way home and stopping for a quick bite makes the timing absolutely perfect. It's been so long since I have had time to do something fun for myself I am so excited. This is the beginning of our first project. It is so tiny I didn't think I was going to be able to finish before the meeting next month, but once I got started I just wanted to finish. This is going to be a medallion in a 12" x 12" quilt.
A couple years ago I read an idea about a way to make Christmas less stressful. Every month on the 25th of the month use the day as a crafting day to get projects done for gifts for that year. By the time Christmas comes around you will have a good start on your gifts. I work, so I had to modify the plan to shoot for the weekend closest to the 25th. This past weekend was it. I made a list ;-) I finished a scarf I had started after Christmas and knit up a pair of slippers. They just need to be felted and I can add them to my OPAM finishes. I would have gotten more done, but I got hung up with the embroidering the ladies.

January is shaping up to be a good finish month.

she loved it...

2010-01-13T23:37:00.014-05:00

and my first OPAM project for 2010.

I was a little behind on my Christmas crafting and with DD's surprise visit I didn't have time to get together with April for our Christmas lunch until today. This year was really hard for me to keep secret about what I was making. April had gotten some knitting needles from her mom for Christmas and she was asking me how I thought she could store them. I was in the process of making her this needle case and I didn't want to let on. I was trying to think of advice I could give without it being too good so she wouldn't go out and buy something. She finally decided to put them back in their packaging and she was going to make some drawstring bags for each type of needle. I figured she could use drawstring bags for something else so no harm no foul. Well she hadn't gotten to the bags anyway and she was thrilled with my solution. She took these pictures for me after she got home and filled it with needles. Luckily I have most of the same ones so I was able to tailor it to the needles she has.

Project number one in the done column for January.

April gave me some beautiful yarn lace yarn with a pattern and knitting bag and basket. She also found the most adorable little lamb for my feather tree. I try to find ornaments that aren't seasonal for my tree so I can keep it up all the time. The lamb is perfect. (When I looked at this picture I noticed that I really need to dust my poor tree.)

the hurrieder i go the behinder i get

2010-01-10T23:23:00.005-05:00

That's just the way my life is going. I just cannot seem to get on track. I am always behind and it seems I just get further and further. To all of my friends I owe emails.... I haven't forgotten and I will write back. I will also try to post here more often. I also have to clean this house at some point. DH really does a lot around the house and with him gone I am having a hard time keeping up. The way I figure it at some point things just have to level out.

I have sent thank you notes, but I haven't yet posted my final gift from the Advent Swap I was involved in. It was great fun and if it comes along next year I am signing up again. In the meantime April and I have decided to do one of our own. I already have a list of ideas of things to make and do and 2 gifts started. My final gift was this nice tote bag with a sewing theme. Thank you Jenny.

I haven't posted my SSCS either. I have been doing this swap since Chookyblue started it. She runs a great swap. Thanks Chooky. My swap came from Christine this year. This is an adorable little wall hanging with beautiful little stitcheries. The bon bon was filled with yummy chocolate. That did not last long at all.

I got a great surprise on New Year's day. DD surprised me with a trip home. I tried to get a picture of her to post, but she wouldn't let me. We had a nice visit, but not long enough as usual. She didn't let me know she was coming either and I had just taken 2 weeks off from work so I couldn't take more time.

On my way home from work on Thursday I was in ANOTHER accident. I was yielding and the car behind me didn't. I am starting to get a serious complex. People must see the spare tire on the back of my CRV as a target. I felt the hit, but when we got out and looked there didn't appear to be any damage to my car. This seemed unlikely since the grill was smashed and the hood was crumpled on the car that hit me. Yesterday DS took the spare off and there are some pretty good dents in the panel behind the tire. It is going to have to be replaced. I'm going to make an appointment with the body shop tomorrow to get an estimate. See why I am behind? I can't seem to catch a break. I bet no one wonders why I hate to drive. My count is now at 5 and none my fault. Does anyone else feel like that is a lot?

last day of 2009

2009-12-31T20:21:00.026-05:00

I needed to get in one more blog post for 2009. It was another pretty good month as far as finishes go. The OPAM challenge really worked out for me this year and I am going to resolve to do it again in 2010. I am a lister and if felt so good posting my list of finishes every month. I think it really helped my motivation.

When I posted this picture of the socks I made for my niece, DD saw them and decided she wanted a pair too. I had offered to make her a pair last year when she was home for Christmas, but she wasn't interested then. I had to quickly finish up this tweed pair I was making for myself to free up my needles. I found this new yarn by Deborah Norville with bamboo that is so soft. I thought the colors would be good for DD.

It was a pretty knitty Christmas. I made my nephew a hat and scarf. DH liked them so I guess I have another set in my future. My niece got aforementioned socks and a bamboo lace scarf. I used another nice bamboo yarn. I like knitting with bamboo. It's so soft and if you knit and haven't tried bamboo yarn you really should.

As a bonus, it's also a nice, very sustainable, green product

(although so is wool.) ;-)

My last finish was for my beautiful, delicate DD, the ballerina . She has developed a fondness for skulls. It used to be nice, pretty dragonflies. Not sure what changed, but for the last few years it's been skulls. She didn't come home for Christmas this year so instead of sending her stocking I made her this bag with a skull applique and filled it with her stocking stuff. Not very Christmasy, but it'll be useful after the season. I think it's about the right size for pointe shoes.

One of my New Year resolutions is going to be blog more often. I have been letting life get the best of me, but I am going to work very hard to keep that from happening next year. April and I have signed up for our local Jo Morton club. This should help. I haven't done much but work since we moved. The transition to working in an office hasn't been terribly smooth. This year I am going to get a better balance.

motivation

2009-12-07T22:18:00.005-05:00

I am horribly behind. I have been thinking about all the things I need to blog about, but never actually setting fingers to keyboard. Since DH left I have been having a terrible time finding my motivation. It's very lonely. :-(

Lets start with my quilt. I was going to wait until I got it bound before I posted, but who knows when I will get around to that! I got my quilt back from the longarm quilter and I am very happy with the results. I have had this top hanging around for a couple of years waiting to have the time or the money to get it quilted. She was offering a sale so I jumped on it. Now I wonder how long it is going to take me to get this bound.

Next we will move on to my Advent Swap. This was a great idea. My friend April and I have decided we are going to do one for each other next Christmas. That is going to be so fun because buying things for April is like buying things for myself. ;) My partner this year is Jenny from New Zealand and opening my daily gift has become part of my morning routine. Here is my haul so far. I hope Jenny is enjoying what I sent her as much as I am enjoying what she sent.

My SSCS has arrived as well. My Santa this year is Christine. I've been reading her blog for quite some time and admire her beautiful work. She made me the cutest little bird ornament. I don't feel it is just for Christmas at all. I'm keeping it out all year round. I am excited about opening my gift, but my Advent gifts are helping to reduce the temptation to cheat and open early.

another finish

2009-11-30T18:43:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow morning I take DH off to the airport not to see him again until probably Christmas. I've been trying to come up with things to do to keep myself busy while he is away. I've got quite a list of projects for Christmas gifts as well as things to finish up for us. Lets see how much I can keep myself motivated.

I've been pretty busy on my last day of vacation. Back to work in the morning after the airport. I have been weaving on the project I warped {{blush}} almost a year ago. I've made some pretty good progress in the last couple of days. I've also finished another project for my OPAM challenge. November has been a really good month. Another part of my nephew's Christmas gift is finished. Sorry, no picture. ;)

First of December tomorrow. I can start opening my advent swap. Woo hoo. Can't wait to see.

sometimes things seem so unfair

2009-11-23T23:18:00.004-05:00

I am so annoyed. DH's work has decided to send him to Mobile, Alabama for 2 months. His job is not a travelling one and he rarely has to go anywhere. Usually when he does he has time to plan and he is gone for 2 days at the most. He was supposed to be told last week as he is leaving next Tuesday, but he now has only a week including a holiday to get everything ready. He had dentist and Dr. appointments for next month. Snow will start at any time and I am going to have to deal with that by myself. I am also going to have to do all of the Christmas shopping, deal with our frequent power outages and everything else without help. I am not looking forward to being alone for 2 months. If I can find someone to take care of my babies I might go down and work remotely for a week or 2. Does anyone know of anything fun to do in Mobile? Any really good quilt shops? His company has been rotating people in and out every 8 weeks. I want to know why we get stuck with the worst winter months?

My SSCS is on it's way to it's destination. Pictures have been sent to Chookyblue and I feel good getting all my swaps sent off , and on time. ;) I hope the recipients enjoy what I sent. My Advent swap arrived here today. I can't wait to get started opening all my little gifties. Maybe it will keep me occupied while DH is gone. :`(

I have so many finishes this week and I can't post pictures of any of them. :( Two finishes for my SSCS and part of my nephew's Christmas present. I can, however, count them as finishes for my OPAM Challenge! November is turning out to be a great month. Maybe I can win the drawing this month. :D

advent swap

2009-11-08T22:36:00.004-05:00

My package is all ready and sent for my Advent Swap. As a happy side effect I also have my first OPAM challenge project for November. I had to open the big super secret Christmas day present after wrapping because I forgot to take a picture. Can't show it now, but I like how it came out so I wanted to be sure I could post it after my partner opens her package. This challenge was great fun. I had a lot more ideas of things to send and I wish I had thought of some of them earlier. I spent quite a while wrapping up all those little presents. I should have been wrapping right along as I bought things, but I've never been good at getting things done ahead.

And because I can't have a post without a picture here is the Don Quixote picture I "should" have put in my last post. The one I picked "looks like a recital picture." Oh well, I liked it. ;)

don quixote

2009-11-04T22:37:00.006-05:00

My daughter is an amazing dancer if I do say so myself. ;-) I haven't seen her dance for a couple of years and it was so nice. I know ballet isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I sure wish I lived near Denver so I could see all of her shows. I made some friends in the audience who were also impressed with her dancing (at least that's what they told me). One had a six year old daughter who was so excited it was adorable. There are 3 acts in Don Q and after the second she was disappointed because she thought it was over. When I told her there was one more act she was all excited. The father gave me his card to have DD get in touch with him so he could have her babysit his daughter.

There was one little glitch in our trip. We left in the middle of 1.5 feet of snowfall and I guess Delta had pissed off the Denver International Airport de-icing team. We pushed back from the gate about 20 minutes behind schedule and since we had about 1 1/2 hour layover we weren't worried about catching our connecting. We then sat for 1 1/2 hours first in line to get de-iced while they took other planes from behind ours. Needless to say we did miss our connection and had to spend the night in Detroit. Of course the airline wouldn't spring for a hotel room since it was "weather related". I still love to travel, but getting there just isn't fun anymore since there are almost always flight problems. The airlines just don't have any care about customer service at all.

denver!

2009-10-18T22:40:00.004-04:00

We are getting ready to take a trip to Denver to see DD. She is performing a couple of big parts in Don Quixote. I haven't seen her dance in a few years. It's been even longer for DH. Part of the reason is because when she is performing she is so busy we don't get to spend any time with her so we opt to go during the Summer instead. During performances they do a show on Friday, 2 on Saturday and another on Sunday. We'll be seeing 2 to see her do all of her parts. We scheduled this trip so that we are there on the last show weekend and she will have Monday and Tuesday off. Looks like we will be spending that time helping her move and then leaving Wednesday morning. I'm really excited about getting some time off and seeing DD. I still have most of my vacation left this year and if I don't take it by December 31 I lose it.
Here is my THIRD finish for October. These are for a Christmas present. I seem to be on a knitting path lately. I have a number of projects ready to take with me for the trip. We will spend a lot of time with nothing specific to do. We might do some things around Denver, but I'm thinking a lot of time just relaxing will be nice. I wanted to finish this pair of socks so I could start on a new pair to take. I also have some wool applique and a small hand quilting project I'm taking. Maybe I'll have another finish by the time I get back.
DS is staying here and will watch the kitties. We promised him a trip out in the Spring when he and his sister can spend some fun time together. Ballet is not his favorite thing. He spent more time than he cared to growing up, at ballet performances.
DS's hand is healing pretty well, but as of the last visit to the Dr. it's looking like he can't go back to work until December 1. He is doing physical therapy supposedly every hour, but it's hard for him to sit around waiting for every hour to arrive. He is starting to go a little stir crazy. His splint is rigid plastic so he can do some things without worrying about re injury, but not a lot. He's has read a LOT of books and now owns a loads of dvd's.

aren't these the cutest?

2009-10-14T23:38:00.003-04:00

I have completed my second project for October!
There has been a sudden rash of pregnancies at my office (must be something in the air) and I have been waiting for someone to have a baby girl so I could make these little booties ever since I saw the free pattern on Ravelry. All of the children so far and any others who already know are boys except for one... so my friend James is going to be the lucky recipient of these for his first little baby, a girl due November 4.
I think they are just adorable and told DS that he needed to have a grandbaby for me so I could make some more. He looked at me, rolled his eyes and in that dry monotone he uses said "I don't think you really want that do you?" He's 21 so he's right of course, but I don't know why he can't just play along with his silly mother. ;-)

productivity

2009-10-11T23:50:00.004-04:00

I had a good time this weekend working in my sewing room. I pulled out my UFO tote and got some really old projects ready to work on again. I am determined to force myself to get started. I know as soon as I get myself going I will be so glad I did.

I finished my first October project today. I have made a number of these Santa wall hangings and given them away. Mine has been finished except for binding for quite some time. Why is it that the one we do for ourselves is always last??

retail therapy

2009-10-04T23:31:00.004-04:00

I didn't post my purchases from our mystery trip last weekend. When Kathie commented about my new repro fabrics it started me thinking about how I shop. I had planned my projects for the weekend carefully. I used all scraps except for the lining for my tote bag. It made no dent whatsoever in what I have either in my cupboards or my scrap bins. Goodness knows I have no need for more fabric. I had brought enought to keep myself busy and planned not to shop at all.

We walked to the first shop and I checked out a nice selection of sale fabrics. I liked a couple of them, but walked right on by. I meandered around in the shop admiring and touching a few. Others were taking bolt after bolt up to the counter to have varying amounts cut and I was feeling so proud of my self restraint. Then I found it..... A beautiful Jo Morton. Light and perfect for a background of a miniature quilt. I picked that up and then it was all over. I went around and started picking up all the fabrics I had been admiring and had dismissed. It's like I can resist if there isn't anything amazing, but as soon as I find one thing to buy my mind says "why not more". Here is the fabric I ended up with from the 2 shops where we stopped. After my first day's break I didn't see much point in abstaining on the second. I also got 4 skeins of sock yarn and a fat 8th of green wool for a project I am wanting to start.

How do you shop? Do you find that when you start you keep on going? There must be something that keeps us all adding and adding to our stashes.

it's all about me

2009-09-29T22:02:00.009-04:00

I spent my entire weekend working on things for ME. I seldom make anything for myself, but I have a huge backlog of things I have been meaning to make.
It was our annual mystery ride weekend with my quilt group from the town I moved from. We left Friday night and got back on Sunday. A great time was had by all. We rented a house on a lake that slept 14 for the entire weekend. The view from my sewing machine as I sewed the day away.
We walked to one quilt shop on Saturday and stopped at another on the trip home on Sunday. I was not a good girl . I felt it was necessary to support the local businesses who opened after hours and on Sunday for us. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I got some beautiful repro's and 4 skeins of sock yarn.

We sewed Friday night, all day Saturday and half of Sunday before heading home. I made myself a tote bag like I designed for my bag swap , last year's SSCS and April last Christmas. I have tried to personalize them by changing up the pocket. I also made this cute little pouch from a Whimsicals book I recently bought. I just thought this was so adorable.

It's about time I got back to my wool rug. I know it's been a really long time since I worked on it, but I have all of them preped and only have 1 and a half stars left. Then I have to attach them to the background. That will probably be the hardest part. :-/

I really needed a vacation. It was great to get away for a long weekend and catch up with my friends with no worries. I'm going to have to work harder to keep in touch. I just wish work didn't take so much of my time.

This makes 2 projects for my OPAM challenge. I missed two months, but I've already completed more than one a month. :-D

where i grew up

2009-09-18T23:39:00.006-04:00

We went to visit my dad the other day and I took some pictures so I could show everyone where I grew up. My parents lived in the same house almost their entire marriage. It is down on the coast in Maine. Mostly cottages and summer homes, down a long dirt road. We were the only year-round family there. Growing up I hated it. It was isolated and I didn't have anyone to play with except my sister. There weren't any other children on our road so my sister and I had to walk 3/4 of a mile to catch the bus. I tend to be a type A personality, always trying to be on time or early. My sister, on the other hand, was more laid back. I remember many times running the last few yards as the bus was waiting and us arguing because she was making me late. :D
Here is the view from the front deck. We would walk along the shoreline and see how far we could get before we couldn't go any further. That sand bar through the trees was also a great playground. I remember going out with our cousins and we would each draw floor plans of houses in the sand and create a little village. We would play "house" for a while visiting each other, but we would quickly lose interest in that. The fun was in the designing. My kids and niece and nephew LOVED playing out there as well. My niece and nephew named the rocky outcropping on the left of the picture Survivor Island when the TV show came out. They would go out and play "survivor".

I'm not sure what's going to happen with the property. My dad can't physically stay there winters anymore and we're not really comfortable with him so there in the summer either. Difficult how fast things change as you get older.

ds update

2009-09-09T21:24:00.004-04:00

DS is home. DH took a train down to Rhode Island and drove him back in his car. He is taking painkillers so he can't drive until he stops. He had an appointment here on Friday and then had his hand operated on yesterday. There were 2 muscles and a tendon that had to be repaired. The Dr. feels he will make a full recovery. His hand is all bandaged up and in a splint for the next week and then he will get a smaller splint and start physical therapy. He wouldn't let me take a picture (he's rather grumpy). He had hoped to be back at work week after next, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. We'll have to see how things progress.

We took a little drive this weekend since DS can't do much more than walk or ride. He loves history and we have been to most of the forts in the state, but never hit Fort McClary in Kittery. We took the long scenic way to get there and had a nice walk around the site. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend.

April came and sat with me while I waited for DS to have his operation yesterday. It was helpful to have someone with me, especially since the actual operation took about twice as long as they said it would. We had a nice chat and knit-in. Today she finished her Swallowtail shawl we started back in March. Woo hoo! Mine is up to the point where I start borders, but I seem to have stalled. I worked on some socks. I have missed the last 2 months for the OPAM challenge. I have to get at least one done this month and I think I can make it with my socks.

he really should have come with a manual

2009-09-02T23:52:00.005-04:00

DS has been working this summer on a small cruise ship as an engineer. They have different trips in the Great Lakes and up and down the Eastern coastline. They finished their Maine coastal trips last weekend and are leaving tomorrow for a trip through the Great Lakes to Canada. Long time blog readers will remember our fun one week after we dropped DS off at college. He appears to be a very breakable child. Well at least that time he was in the same state!
My fun this morning started with a 10:30 am call at work telling me there was nothing to "freak out" about, he was all bandaged up and able to walk to the ambulance ready for a trip to the hospital from where his ship was docked in RHODE ISLAND. I don't think children realize how hard it is to hear something like that when they are 3 states and 4 hours away. I was ready to drop what I was carrying and get in my car. Apparently he had cut a deep gash in his hand when his knife slipped and he thought he might need stitches. To make a long, very stressful, day long, story short, he ended up spending all day in the emergency room, calling with updates. The hand specialist determined he damaged a tendon and needs surgery to repair it. For some reason this can't be scheduled there until the middle of next week. He is just anxious to get back to work so wants it ASAP. (what's up with that?) They stitched the skin for now and bandaged him up. I have some phone calls to make in the morning to find a good hand specialist and we might bring him here for the surgery. At this point he is safely ensconced in a hotel as his bedroom leaves for Canada early tomorrow morning. I made sure to get the name of the hotel as he is alone and told him if he didn't answer his cell I would be sending someone from the hotel to check and make sure he is alright. DD had a bad reaction to Vicadin after she had surgery once and I am so worried about him there all alone. We will probably be going to get him tomorrow as he really shouldn't be driving. {{heavy sigh}}
I think an instruction manual should have come with him when he was born.... Do not allow to play football. Do not allow to play with or use sharp tools. He will give you many, many sleepless nights. Try to take it in stride and drink heavily. ;-)

gardening

2009-08-31T22:27:00.005-04:00

It feels like fall these last couple of days and I'm a little disappointed with my vegetable garden yield. This has been a horrible year for gardening in Maine. In June we had a record setting month for rain. My garden seemed to handle it in good shape. Things started to flourish and I commented on all of the tiny tomatoes we had coming. Two days later my tomatoes started dying from the bottom up and I am going to be lucky if we get more than a couple. The only thing that is doing really well is cucumbers. I pick anywhere from 6 to 12 in a day from 6 plants. Figures that what is doing the best is something that can't be preserved. I could make pickles, but I don't like them and DH shouldn't have all of that sodium so I've been giving them away. People at work are happy, but I'm not getting any tomato sauce this year.

When my mom died my friends from one of our clients sent me a planting arrangement of lily bulbs and ferns. They sure have grown. I couldn't believe 2 years later how tall they are. Just gorgeous. I planted some day lilies and hosta around them this year to expand the garden. Those need a little time to fill in, but it's going to be beautiful. I had to post a picture to show my friends in Wisconsin how nice everything looks.

it was my birthday!

2009-08-17T22:53:00.002-04:00

I am not missing. I am just temporarily lost. Things have been going on in my life that have kept me from wanting to share much. I have been faithfully taking pictures and storing them away until I found the motivation.

My birthday was 10 days ago and look what April got me. She made me a really cool workstation to put by my chair for, whatever. Isn't it great? Absolutely my colors. I love the little bag to put my threads and scraps in to throw away.

She also got me a yarn pot. It's so clever. I guess they are made by a potter here in Maine. It is going to be so handy. The yarn was one of my gifts from last Christmas not knit yet. {{oops}} I just put it in there so you could see how ingenious the pot is. I do think I want to write to the potter and ask if he could make me a second lid with 2 cutouts for when I do my 2 at a time socks. That would be a huge help. When I only have a single ball of yarn I knit one wound from the outside and one from the center pull. It's hard to keep them from tangling. The lid would hold the ball in place and still allow me to pull the yarn through the cutouts.

where has july gone?

2009-07-25T23:32:00.009-04:00

Is anyone still with me? I know this has been a long, long absence. The longest since I started blogging. Things are still hectic and I have been woefully neglecting my blog as well as blog reading. The last time I checked I had almost 1000 unread posts. Shame on me.
NOTHING crafty to report at all. I haven't managed to finish one project this month so far. I am probably not going to complete my OPAM challenge with a perfect record. This is as close to getting anything done as I have gotten. Carrying my knitting back and forth to work every day just in case I find a spare minute or two. So far nada.
The main topic of conversation here in Maine is the weather. It rained 29 out of the 30 days in June. It was really showing in everyone's mood. July has been slightly better, but we are still getting rain at least a couple of days a week. DH made some comment about right after he buys a new motorcycle we can't ride. :-\ We have worked in a couple of day trips. Last Sunday we managed to go to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. It was a beautiful day for a ride and the Kancamagus Highway was crowded with motorcycles. Here's DH sporting his 45 mph hair do.

We are leaving for New Jersey tomorrow for probably 4 days. DH is executor of his mother's will so we need to take care of everything involved with that. Not a particularly enjoyable trip considering the circumstances, but we are going to try and find time to visit a cute little teddy bear shop we found a couple of years ago. The last time I went I got this great feather tree complete with fence. It is a lot more decorated now. I keep it up year round decorated with bears and primitive ornaments. I should also be able to get some handwork done in the car. I have a two at a time pair of socks on my needles and I have the last 4 wool applique stars to finish for a rug I started before we moved.

I am going to try and do better with my blogs, both posting and reading. I feel so out of touch.

final opam for june

2009-06-30T23:27:00.006-04:00

I have not been the most motivated person lately and I have been seriously slacking on my blog. When I logged into my blog reader today I had almost 400 posts to read. It has been raining here for weeks and weeks with the odd half sunny day. All that rain really starts to work on your mood. I think I have decided to move to Seattle to get away from rain. ;D
Here are the finished socks from my last post. They only ended up taking me about a week and a half to complete. I'm about 5 inches into another pair. I had a Microsoft Roadshow presentation to go to for a full day 2 weeks ago. I debated with myself if it would be appropriate to knit while they were presenting. I decided that if I could do it discreetly I would give it a shot. The coworker I was with and I found seats not right at the front but still with a good view and knit while we were waiting for them to get started. I then looked a couple of rows back and there was another woman knitting mittens. I felt so much more comfortable about it. I actually find it easier to pay attention when my hands are busy and the presenters didn't seem to mind at all. I felt like I had accomplished a lot at the end of the day. I had some work questions cleared up in my mind and I had knit about 6 inches on my socks. I love multitasking.
Despite all the rain my garden is looking pretty good. It loved our mostly sunny Saturday this past weekend. Other people I know have had their entire gardens rot because it has been so wet. I think mine is saved by being raised. I have 1 of those Topsy Turvy planters on the far right in the tree. We only bought 1 because we didn't know how it would do. I planted a tomato in it and it is doing much better than the seedlings I planted in the garden from the same pack. If I had known how well they would do I would have bought a couple more.

the knitting zone

2009-06-18T23:07:00.004-04:00

I finished my first project for June. I just love this yarn and can't wait to wear the socks. As soon as I finished this pair, I started another. It will probably be my second finish. I'm doing 2 at a time and going like crazy. I have always knit in spurts and I seem to be in the knitting zone.

I find knitting a great stress reliever. Our lives have been very stressful lately. DH was in New Jersey all last week. His 86 year old mother had emergency surgery to repair damage caused by a colonoscopy that perforated her colon. She was fine right after she came out of the anesthesia, but within a day her lungs filled with fluid and she had to be put on a ventilator. When they took her off she was breathing on her own, but then her lungs collapsed. She went downhill rapidly from there and died early Tuesday morning.

Poor DH was exhausted when he got home. He had been up nights at the hospital and picking up catch as catch can meals. Not terribly nutritious. The first thing he did when he got home was to have a big salad for dinner. After his pneumonia earlier this year the Dr. told him to he had to get his blood pressure and cholesterol down. He told him he should read the book Eat to Live and drastically change his diet. He immediately lost 30 pounds, dropped his blood pressure and his cholesterol levels are way down. He had been doing so well that he really noticed the difference when he wasn't eating right. We are both desperately in need of some down time. We were hoping to go for a motorcycle ride this weekend, but now it looks like rain all weekend. Bummer. We'll have to come up with something else fun.

i'm a farmer

2009-06-01T01:16:00.003-04:00

Here is a picture of the new little farm in my kitchen. I have started a worm composting system to both fertilize my garden and avoid putting compost material into plastic bags and into a landfill. DH had a problem with having a compost pile in the yard (more of a problem having it on the counter until someone took it out). He's not terribly thrilled with this either, but it doesn't smell bad and I guess he decided it was a lesser evil. I am excited and hope this works out well. I'll keep you all informed.

My stashbusting seems to have come to a standstill. I haven't even been into my sewing room all week.

fabric in this week: 0

fabric out this week: 0
fabric in ytd: 21.75

net fabric out ytd: 6.125

not much of a stash report

2009-05-24T22:33:00.004-04:00

April and I finally got together for her birthday so I can post a picture of her gift. We talk every day, but our schedules don't allow us to see each other in person very often. Does this look familiar? It is very similar to the one I made for my Spring Swap partner. The colors have been changed to reflect the recipient. I think she really liked it. ;-) She has thanked me numerous times since I gave it to her.

I don't have much of a stash report this week. It has been better weather so I have spent my time in the gardens. I have my vegetable seedlings ready to plant and some of my seeds are planted. We had a frost last week and I am hoping that it was our last.

fabric in this week: 0
fabric out this week: 0

fabric in ytd: 21.75
net fabric out ytd: 6.125

i have the best husband in the world

2009-05-18T21:16:00.001-04:00

I had never been to an Ikea until yesterday. The closest one to us is like 2 1/2 hours away and I have been wanting to go for a long time. I would see sewing rooms with all these cool Ikea cupboards and ideas on Flickr with some of the smaller storage containers and I wanted to play Ikea sewing room too. My friend April had brought me a catalog and during our weekend away one of the places I wanted to go was Ikea. The problem was that Ikea was in the opposite direction from Webs, but as luck would have it was right on the way to Rhode Island and that was the weekend DH was taking DS to his first shipping out. I poured over the catalog and made a meticulous list with catalog numbers, colors and amounts. I asked very nicely for DH to stop and just pick things up for me. I told him I had details and if he needed help he could just ask someone. He reluctantly agreed (he hates to shop more than most anything). He and DS stopped on the way down and via cell phone DS informed me how horrible it was. I was very grateful and am happy with all the purchases.

Fast forward to this weekend when I asked if we could stop so I could actually see Ikea for myself and look at some other things I was unsure of until I could see them in real life. DH is fine with shopping as long as he has something to read and can sit in the car while it was being done so he agreed. I was amazed at how overwhelming the actual Ikea store was. How things were not set up in an easy to follow system and how the little errand I asked my husband to do was actually a fairly large undertaking. Poor DH. He is so good to me that he didn't just throw up his hands and continue on his way. I think I'll keep him. :-D

two in two days

2009-05-17T23:59:00.011-04:00

I finished my second OPAM project for May. Seven hour car rides are pretty good for doing handwork. If the roads weren't so bumpy it would be even better. ;-) I got this table runner quilted and the binding machine stitched down yesterday in preparation for taking DS back to Rhode Island today.

I also finished the first, in what I hope to be a pair of socks. I have been doing 2 at a time for a bit, but for a reason, I can't exactly remember right now, decided to do this pair separately. I hope I can avoid Single Sock Syndrome and complete the pair. Don't you just love the funky yarn?

DS was safely delivered to his ship ready to start back at work in the morning. He brought his guitar, computer and more stuff this time. I saw the quarters he will be sharing with 5 other guys and I'm not sure what he is planning to do with everything. Here he is with DH in front of the ship he will be working on until sometime in July. He is then going to transfer to another ship with a promotion to work for the remainder of the summer. I am seeing 2 more 7 hour drives in our future. The one today seemed to take much longer than last weekend. I'm thinking more than a week is needed to recuperate in between.

Even though I had 2 finishes this week I didn't set any records with my stash busting. I am however, still headed in the right direction.

fabric in this week: 0

fabric out this week: .25

fabric in ytd: 21.75

fabric out ytd: 6.125

one down for may

2009-05-16T23:45:00.005-04:00

First OPAM project for May done and gone. My coworker gave me a week extra as his MIL's birthday is this weekend and she wanted to see them for that rather than Mother's Day. I was going to get the binding on last Saturday and do the hand work on the drive to Rhode Island, but the weirdest thing happened. As I was pressing I got a cramp behind my shoulder blade that wouldn't go away. It started around lunchtime and didn't stop until 9pm. Nothing I did would make it go away. I am not prone to cramps so it was very odd. No recurrence since, so I am hoping it was a one time thing. I don't have enough time as it is. I can't afford to waste more than half a day not able to move.

mothers day stash report

2009-05-10T22:44:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day

I have to say this was not my best Mother's Day ever. Plans for the day -- Lunch out and trip to the new IMAX theater to see the Star Trek movie in all it's IMAX glory. Actual events as they transpired -- 3 1/2 hour drive to Warren, Rhode Island to pick up DS for a week off from his job and 3 1/2 hour drive back. Now I have a similar trip to look forward to a week from now. :
I did manage a stop at Trader Joe's. We don't have one in Maine even though I have started a campaign and have tried to get everyone I know to go to the website and beg them to open one. On our weekend away April and I went and I picked up a few things that sounded interesting. DH and I got totally hooked on the Thai Lime & Chili Cashews I found. They were gone in less than 2 days so I decided we needed to stock up. I bought 6 pounds. I wonder how long they will last.

Stash report looking pretty good this week.

fabric in this week: 0
fabric out this week: 4.5
fabric in ytd: 21.75
fabric out ytd: 5.875

Too bad I can't count 108 wide backing fabric as more. My numbers would be a lot better if I did. ;)

stormy seas

2009-05-06T21:05:00.002-04:00

My mother LOVED all things blue. She had sets of blue dishes. A collection of cobalt blue glassware. Every room in our house was decorated predominantly blue and she wore mostly blue clothing. About 6 or 7 years ago I made this miniature wall hanging for her. She had it hanging in what my dad has now converted to his bedroom. I was down there this past weekend helping him get some things arranged and he had this crinkled up thrown on the floor under his bureau. Men! They just don't understand. I spent hours on this. It is all paper pieced and those pieces are tiny. I put a quarter on it for reference to show size. He said I could have it back so now it hangs beside my bed to remind me of my mother every morning when I wake up.

why every single thing i own is covered in cat hair

2009-05-03T23:30:00.003-04:00

I had a very productive day today. It didn't start out that way as I slept much later than I had intended, but it worked out great in the end. For weeks now I have been trying to get back into the swing of things and somehow today I finally feel like I have accomplished it.

Before noon I had the prep work done for our entire week's worth of menus. It makes the week so much less stressful when dinners are planned and pretty much made. It also sets up DH getting the evening meal on the table a couple of days. ;0)

Yesterday, it hit me that Mother's Day was next weekend. I had told my coworker that I would have the quilt he wanted for his MIL by then. OOPS. That made me have a dream this morning (which is why I overslept), that when I got it all finished it was only the size of a baby quilt. Think maybe I was feeling a little pressure? So anyway, I spent the afternoon sewing and got it to the point where all it needs is the final outer border. I laid it out on our bed to take a picture. When I got back with my camera look what I found. I always tell people when they get things from here the cat hair is free.

Stashbusting report:

fabric in this week: 0

fabric out this week: .75

fabric in ytd: 21.75

fabric out ytd: 1.375

Next week should be a nice jump because I have to back and bind that quilt. :-D

last finish of the month

2009-04-29T21:02:00.003-04:00

I just realized that tomorrow is the last day of the month and I haven't reported my second project finish yet. I had been waiting so I could post a picture along with it, but it is April's birthday present and I haven't seen her to give it to her yet. I'll post a picture when it won't ruin the surprise
This is a where I am on my co worker's quilt. I promised a picture so he could show his wife. I need to get it finished by Mother's Day. I'm not worried... Really.
I found out today why I am having so much trouble with motivation lately. Lisa posted about having the same inability to focus and feels it is Spring Fever. As I was reading I identified so strongly I figured . See it's not my fault! It's the Spring Fever. :-D

the swap has landed

2009-04-19T20:46:00.010-04:00

My spring swap has arrived to Maria so I can reveal. I got a very nice thank you note and I think she really liked what I made.

I found the base pattern for this project bag in an Australian Homespun magazine. It just looked so springy. It's hard to tell, but the patchwork around the top is 4 connected hearts. I did some spring embellishment on the pockets. The little matching book is for needles. I included some matching fat quarters so she can make some other accessories if she wants to.

This is my first OPAM finish for April. :D

I didn't get any sewing done this weekend. I am 3 strips away from finishing the center of the quilt I am making for my coworker and I didn't get a single one of them sewn onto the quilt. We had a busy, busy weekend and I will post some on that later.

I just wanted to get my stashbusting report out there.

fabric in this week: 0
fabric out this week: 0
fabric in ytd: 21.75
fabric out ytd: .625

Exciting isn't it?

swap into spring

2009-04-05T23:07:00.005-04:00

I am a little late, but my Spring Swap package is ready to head off to its recipient first thing in the morning. I hate being late, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Here is a little sneak preview since I hate to post with no pictures. I'll show better pictures when my partner receives it. It looks springy doesn't it? I so hope she likes it. I lurked on her blog to try and get some idea of what she would like and I hope I hit it right. I really enjoy doing swaps, I just always worry that the recipient won't like what I make. Fingers crossed.

This week's stashbusting wasn't great, but at least I am back to heading in the right direction.

fabric in this week: 0

fabric out this week: 1 yard

fabric in ytd: 21.75

fabric out ytd: .625

am i lucky or what?

2009-04-02T21:56:00.008-04:00

I got home from work and was so happy to see a package for me. I don't deserve it because I haven't mailed my Spring Swap to my partner yet, but lucky for me Marc is better at time management than I am. I ripped the ribbon off and then thought better of it and put it back on for its picture. This gift seemed to please the kitties as much as it did me. It took me 4 tries to get a picture without a kitty head in it. I'm not sure if Marc has kitties, a dog or if she laced the package with catnip, but they were all over it. After I opened it they were scuffling over who could rub and lay on the paper. It was so funny. I have left it on the floor and they run from the other room and slide into it.
Now for my part of the fun package. I can't believe how good Marc was to me. She made me a huge tote bag from my favorite Kansas Troubles fabrics. Then she threw in a second tote from Whimsicals fabrics. An adorable little ditty bag and a gorgeous stitchery. Some note cards and note paper and an Australian coin. She must have known that some day, some how I am going to go to Australia and wanted me to have something to spend. :D My card and bookmark both have teddy bears on them. It was so thoughtful of her to give me things so much like me.
Isn't everything gorgeous? I just love it all. So what do you think....am I lucky or what?

sunday stash

2009-03-30T23:08:00.002-04:00

A boring blog post, but I hate to break my stashbusting reporting.
I had to follow DH to the repair shop for his motorcycle so I could drive him home when he left it for servicing. The dealer is just down the street from Marden's so I had him take me there while they were talking motorcycles and repairs. It took almost 2 hours to get the estimate and everything worked out. I had a moment of weakness while waiting and bought a yard of a Judie Rothermel. I got a little work done on a swap I need to get finished, but basically my weekend was a bust. I should have put Judy's Quiltathon on my calendar and I might have had a more productive time.

fabric in this week: 1 yards
fabric out this week: 1 yard
fabric in ytd: 21.75
fabric out ytd: -.375
I need to get moving in the right direction again.

i think the economy has been properly stimulated

2009-03-23T20:43:00.009-04:00

I am home with my camera cable and .. umm.. my purchases. Did anyone notice how the stock market did today? I'm not saying we had anything to do with that... Maybe it was just a coincidence.

We were so excited to get going that I forgot to take a picture until we got to our first stop.... Marden's. We hadn't actually planned to stop there, but just before I picked April up she got an email saying they had a new shipment and it sounded great so we made a little detour. It's amazing how in an hour you can undo all of the stashbusting you have accomplished all year. :*( But Moda and Maywood studio for 2.99. What would you have done?

We stopped at a yarn outlet. Not thrilling. Then a really nice quilt shop. It was adorable. The people were wonderful, very friendly and helpful. It was about 3:00 pm after we were finished shopping and we were starving. They pointed us to a great place to eat and we had nice deli sandwiches for lunch.

Back on the road and next stop Harbor Freight. Judy did a post about Harbor Freight and how Vince could browse for hours and she would rather sit in the car and knit. Well April and I browsed for at least an hour and loved it so much we went back on the way home yesterday. I'm thinking Judy hasn't seen all the potential for the cool stuff you can find there.

The next day we went to the main stop of our trip, Webs. There was so much yarn and so many people we were overwhelmed. We had tried browsing online before we went, but without touching and seeing exact colors I had no idea what I wanted. Some time around lunch we were on overload and were more confused than when we got there. There was a little wool shop we had found online that was about 10 minutes away so we went there and then to lunch and went back to battle the crowds again. I really think I shop better without infinite choices. We each came away with about 100 in yarn and tired feet.

Here are pictures of all of our purchases laid out on our beds. April's first.

Now mine. Amazingly we bought almost the exact same amount.

On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's. One of my coworkers from Massachusetts had brought in some nuts and trail mixes so I wanted to see for myself what they had. Let me tell you, we need one of those in Maine. I found some really yummy stuff at reasonable prices. I think our favorite so far is the Thai Chili & Lime Cashews. Soooo good. I emailed them today and requested that they open one in Maine. They would do great business.

Then, while I was in a persuasive mood, I emailed Outback Steakhouse and whined how much I miss the Sydney Sinful Sundae. I am hoping to start a write-in campaign to bring it back. Anyone with me? If you've never had it you should write just so you can try it when they bring it back

We had a really great time and I think it did me a world of good. I am much more relaxed and ready to get some of the stuff on my to do list done.

Now for the sad news. My stash report:

fabric in this week: 12.75 yards

fabric out this week: 0

fabric in ytd: 20.75

fabric out ytd: -.375

Ouch. It's a sad, sad thing. I have slipped into the red.

where in the world are tami and april?

2009-03-21T07:02:00.004-04:00

My life has been so filled with stress lately. I know part of it is my personality and how I take things to heart, but I think in these times a lot of us are experiencing a whole lot of stress. Every day I hear on the news of new layoffs in our area. Our work has cut back on staff so everyone left has more to do and no one feels safe no matter how hard they work. We still own 2 houses and in this real estate market no one is even looking. So all of this means that we have a need to do something to relieve our stress and hopefully do a small part to help with the economy. April and I decided that what was in order was an economy stimulating ROAD TRIP. We pulled out our credit cards packed our bags and headed out into the world ready to buy. This is where my story looses some of it's pizazz. I was so proud of myself for remembering my camera and taking lots of pictures, but I totally forgot my cord to transfer these fun pictures to my computer so as anti climatic as it is I will have to wait until I get home to post all the fun we are having. Lets just say that this weeks stash busting report is not going to be pretty. Marden's got a shipment from a quilt store and guess where our first stop was. Can you say Moda 2.99? :-0

1 more day

2009-03-18T22:15:00.001-04:00

Something exciting happening on Friday. Can you guess what? Only 1 more day until......

a finish

2009-03-15T22:16:00.004-04:00

March isn't going as well in the finishes department as January and February did. Here is my first. I felted it today just in time for the warmer weather. :-/ Its been sitting around waiting to be felted for a bit.
I think I need a different plan of attack for next month. It felt great finishing off something early in the month for the last 2 months and I think it motivated me. I do have a table runner basted and ready to quilt. Hopefully, that will be a second March finish.
A lot was accomplished today even though I really have nothing to show for it. The quilt I posted last week is now 24" longer and the shawl that April got me started on is about 5 repeats larger. Meals are all planned and pre-preped for the week and I got a couple of other projects preped and ready to work. I envy all of you who can get so much done in a week. I always feel like I am going to be productive, but on weekdays by the time I get home from work I usually end up making dinner and then sitting and reading blogs. My weekends seem to get eaten up with laundry, groceries and making meals for the upcoming week. I need to find more time in my weeks. Anyone know a secret?
I did use a little stash this week lengthening my co worker's MIL quilt. Not much, but at least I am still moving in the right direction.
Fabric in this week: 0
Fabric out this week: 1.5 yard
Fabric in ytd: 8
Fabric out ytd: 12.375

april made me do it and it's better than it sounds

2009-03-08T22:59:00.005-04:00

I know I am supposed to be finishing up UFO's for my one a month challenge and I was on such a roll. I had been being so good. Even at SPA weekend I didn't start a new pair of socks. Then, this week April messaged and begged me to do a KAL with her for a Swallowtail shawl. She has been wanting me to do something lace with her for a while and I had been standing fast saying after I finished some UFO's. I really liked the shawl she had picked out and I had some yarn in my stash that was good for it so how could I refuse? :D Now, I am hooked. It has been taking up a lot of my free evenings as well as lunch hours. I am up to 10 repeats. If I don't get my one UFO done we know who to blame. ;)

My stash report looks rather dismal this week, but it really is much better than it looks. This is where I am on the quilt I am making for my coworker's MIL. I got quite a bit of the center sewn together. I had already counted all the yardage when it was cut so even though I did all this work I have no stash reduction to report.

Here are my stats, looking suspiciously exactly like last week's:

Fabric in this week: 0
Fabric out this week: 0
Fabric in ytd: 8
Fabric out ytd: 10.875

males are all alike

2009-03-03T21:20:00.004-05:00

"Don't change it! I'm not sleeping."

It must be a guy thing. They all need to control the remote.... even when they are sleeping.

spa weekend

2009-03-01T23:22:00.006-05:00

April and I had a GREAT day at New England Textile Arts SPA weekend yesterday. There was knitting, spinning, shopping, a little weaving, massages, manicures and pedicures. We weren't quite sure what to expect having never gone before. It was all very informal. If you want to teach something you post to a bulletin board when and where and then people just show up and join in. There were informal groups knitting and spinning together all over the place.

After we checked out the vendors, we sat in on a two at a time socks demo. It was slightly different than the way I do it. I like to learn different techniques in case they are better than the way I know. I like mine better.

After lunch we wandered around and networked with people doing interesting things. We met one woman who was hand knotting an oriental rug. She showed us the stitch and the process she goes through. OH MY! The one she was working on for her DH, about 2 by 3.5 feet, she figured would take her more than 14,000 individual knot stitches. I do not have the patience, and I have no desire whatsoever to take up hand knotting oriental rugs. I have no idea when I would fit that in between all my other projects.

I have to say, I showed tremendous restraint in the vendor section. I bought this one little skein of sock yarn. I have so much yarn and so many projects I figured I didn't need to add to it.

My day yesterday motivated me to do some crafting today. If I hadn't had to spend some time preparing for a possible power outage from the big storm heading our way I would have gotten more accomplished. I started and almost finished a hat for myself (knitting in the car on the way to stock up on groceries). I also worked some more on my coworkers MIL's quilt. Stashbusting! :-)

Fabric in this week: 0

Fabric out this week: 2.125 yards

Fabric in ytd: 8

Fabric out ytd: 10.875

i have the power

2009-02-24T23:10:00.003-05:00

The power is back. WOO HOO. I am getting a little tired of winter. Ok maybe a lot tired. Here is our yard on Monday morning while trying to dig out.
That was as far as I got in my post last night when the power went out AGAIN. That makes 3 times due to 1 storm. We were out about 3 days total. It came back on while I was at work today, but somehow the wireless settings in my router as well as my range expander got blown. It took me over an hour to get everything talking to each other again. I tell you, I have much better things to do with my time than deal with power outage issues.
I did get some work done on the Lasagna quilt while I was waiting for some downloads and configuration/reboots.
I probably won't get much sewing done this weekend because April and I are going to go to the SPA Knit and Spin weekend in Freeport. :D We've never been before and aren't sure how it works. From what we have been able to figure out it looks like you just find a splinter knitting or spinning group and join in. On Saturday there will be vendors. :-0 I'm glad I'm not doing yarn stashbusting.

i guess mother nature is punishing me..

2009-02-23T14:27:00.002-05:00

Mother Nature must be punishing me because I didn't completely restrain myself on my Marden's shopping trip. I am at work doing a quick post because we are again without power. The picture in the report from that link looks about like my front yard did this morning. It took DS about 3 hours to get a path for me to get my car out. Not sure how long we will be without this time as the number of outages is over 125,000, but it kept me from doing some sewing I had planned last night. I wanted to at least have some negative to count against my acquisitions, but it wasn't to be. I will say this, I put A LOT back.

Fabric in: 8 yards. 3 of that is border for my coworker's MIL quilt so that will go out quickly.
Fabric out: 0 :-[

Fabric in ytd: 8 yards
Fabric out ytd: 8.75 Oh, that looks dismal doesn't it?

sunday stash report

2009-02-15T21:08:00.003-05:00

This is going to be tricky. April and I are going to Marden's tomorrow. They are selling 60" cottons for 3.99. :-0 We'll see how well I do with the streak I have going of not adding to the stash. I always feel better when I look, even if I don't buy anything. It's the possibility of the deal that drives me crazy.
I spent some time working on the star quilt this week and I have a lot more blocks completed.
I also started another quilt for the same coworker. His wife decided she wants one in purples for her mother for Mother's Day first. I'm doing a simple lasagna one. I got a lot cut and it's ready to start being put together.

Fabric in: 0
Fabric out: 3.25 yard

Fabric in ytd: 0 (for now)
Fabric out ytd: 16.75

another february finish

2009-02-11T19:07:00.004-05:00

The creeping crud turned out to be pneumonia. DH is still sick. He went to the Dr. on Monday and was given a heavy duty antibiotic, an inhaler and a cough medicine. The Dr. told him if he wasn't better by Wednesday to call back. So this morning he called and got yet another medication. He had a slight improvement for a couple of hours, but he's feeling bad again. Walking from room to room wears him out. He is getting frustrated being sick for so long.
Here is my next February finish, an Irish Walking scarf. It's off to DD as soon as I get a chance to get to the post office. I'm going to try for at least one more finish before the month is over. :D

sunday stash report

2009-02-08T20:20:00.002-05:00

The creeping crud has hit our house. Poor DH has been down since last Friday. Here's hoping it doesn't spread.
Anyway, this limited the amount of sewing I accomplished this weekend. More was done than the numbers show, but still not terribly productive.

I'm still headed in the right direction.

Fabric in: 0
Fabric out: .25 yard

Fabric in ytd: still 0
Fabric out ytd: 13.5

superbowl sewday

2009-02-01T21:00:00.003-05:00

Weekends are just too short. I didn't get everything done I wanted to, but I made a good start.
I am making Bonnie's Boxy Stars for my coworker. I have all of the light sections sewn together and about 5 complete blocks with the dark sections sewn on. I always have to finish one block just to see what the end product looks like. He wanted navy and brown with light tan. It's going to be sashed light with brown cornerstones, all scrappy. I think he and his wife will like it.
This weeks stash report isn't huge, but I'm still going in the right direction.
Fabric in: 0
Fabric in ytd: 0

Fabric out: 2.25
Fabric out ytd: 13.25

missed it by that much.

2009-02-01T10:12:00.004-05:00

At 12:20am I put the last stitches on the hanging sleeve for this wall hanging. I was trying to get it in for a January finish, but i guess it will have to be for February. That's OK it's a shorter month anyway so it's probably good to get a head start.
I got some more work done on my coworkers quilt yesterday. Since DS and DH are going out to a movie I have no desire to see and I don't have much interest in the Super Bowl, I'm going to have a good part of my day in my sewing room. I'll post later with all my progress and a stash report.

tgif

2009-01-31T00:09:00.004-05:00

I'm so glad it's Friday. Do you ever have a week that just seems to go on forever? Well I'm glad this one is over. I just can't seem to focus on work when I have so many quilting projects I want to finish. Now I have a whole 2 days that I can spend stitching away. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can finish a third UFO for January.

I'm posting a picture for all the poor Aussies I've been reading about who are melting with their 100+ degree temperatures. This is what our yard looks like after the big storm we had on Wednesday. At least with all the new snow our temperatures have risen above 0.

i am so proud of me

2009-01-25T22:06:00.002-05:00

We were all ready to head to Marden's and I said "I really don't need anything." I knew that looking would lead to trouble so we went straight home. April still can't believe it. :D

sunday stash report

2009-01-25T08:32:00.003-05:00

I'm going to be out for most of the day today so I'm going to do my report early. I spent a lot of time yesterday working on a quilt I am making for one of my coworkers. He asked last year at about this time, but I told him there were a lot of projects ahead of his. I have already made 6 quilts for his 4 children in the last few years. He and his wife redid their bedroom and now he wants one for them. I've had the fabrics pulled out since he asked, but of course I made some changes when I went to cut.
I haven't purchased anything this week, but I am fighting really hard to resist this ad from Marden's. We are heading in that direction today. :D I'll let you know how I do.

Fabric in: 0
Fabric in ytd: 0

Fabric out: 6.625
Fabric out ytd: 11

i need help

2009-01-21T23:19:00.004-05:00

I knew when I did it it would be a challenge, but I just couldn't resist. I mean could you resist those faces? We were having a REALLY rough year, my mom was sick, we moved, my son had gone off to college and my daughter had to move to far away Denver because the ballet company she was with had closed. I was walking through a fog and my husband felt a pet would really help. I grew up with cats and had them all my life until our son was diagnosed with allergies 16 years ago. He had just left and I really needed a pet. We decided against a dog since we are at work 10 or more hours a day and started searching shelters for one short haired kitten. I had found one online a couple of towns away and we were on our way to see him when we decided, before making the trip, we would check our local shelter one more time. There was a litter of 5 in one cage, all so adorable. Dusky chose me first. He put his head on my shoulder, started purring and fell asleep. Then, I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but Misty was coming too. We decided that while we were at work they could keep each other company.
I have been so happy that we got both except for one thing... cat hair. It's everywhere. The quilt I finished and put on the bed last week already has little cat hair balls sticking to it everywhere. Every day when I make the bed I pick them off. The quilts hanging on the wall. It floats up as they run by and sticks. Forget polar fleece. All of our jackets have it permanently wound into the fibers from laundering. We have tumbleweeds floating around all the time. I swear I could vacuum hourly and it would still be in everything. Don't get me wrong, I would not trade either of my babies for a thing in the world, I am just hoping that out there somewhere there is someone who might have a suggestion as to how I could minimize the shedding. Anyone have similar problems? What has worked for you?

another one bites the dust

2009-01-20T23:22:00.005-05:00

I finished the hand stitching on the binding and hanging sleeve on my second UFO for January. Gotta email May Britt and Kris for some credit. I just love this Whimsicals pattern. This is the 5th one I've made. It's been sitting around for over a year just waiting for sleeve and binding. Can you imagine??

I am so pleased by how this challenge has motivated me. It has done wonders with my desire to finish things. It's great getting some of these done and out of the UFO tote.

The next contestant is ready for sleeve and binding. It got it's backing and quilting this nice long weekend. An extra day off is better than chocolate (well... almost). I doubt I will finish it this month because I have some other things higher on the priority list, but it's a sure thing for February.

sunday stash report

2009-01-19T09:18:00.003-05:00

....early monday. I worked on some small UFO's this weekend. I am trying to combine my stash busting with my UFO completing. I got a small wall hanging backed and quilted and a table runner ready to quilt. I also have another small wall hanging ready to bind. All totalled not much fabric use, but a great feeling of accomplishment.

Fabric in: 0 again :D
Fabric out: 2.625 yds

Fabric in ytd: 0
Fabric out ytd: 4.375 yds

a place for me

2009-01-14T20:23:00.005-05:00

In the spirit of keeping up with all my challenges for the new year I have decided to get more organized. Before Christmas I had to spend quite some time clearing off the end table where I usually sit and sew. It gets hectic with all my Christmas projects and things were stacked precariously. Something would fall whenever I tried to find anything. I knew what was there, but it certainly wasn't easy to get to.

I have created a handwork station under the end table. Inside this basket I have divided the space with a plastic protector to hold my hand sewing tools for bindings, hand quilting and applique. Around the center are my knitting needles as well as my latest knitting project. The little basket hanging on the side has my knitting gadgets, stitch holders, stitch markers, measuring tape and crochet hook in the unlikely event that I might make a knitting mistake. :D

This sweater is the next UFO I need to work on. It's for a friend of mine and it is way past due. I am hoping having it right beside me will be motivating.

look what you can do with a clean sewing room

2009-01-12T23:55:00.004-05:00

My first UFO finish of the year, fulfilling my January challenge commitment.
This has been waiting for binding for some time. I got it back from my friend who quilted it just as I was starting Christmas crafting a couple of years ago. Then my mom died shortly thereafter and things got a little crazy. It had been put away and more or less forgotten about. When I signed up for this challenge and sorted through my UFO's I knew this was the first thing I wanted to complete. It's going on my bed tomorrow. Sorry I don't have a better picture. Everyone besides me has gone to bed here so there isn't anyone to hold it up.

stashbusting sunday

2009-01-11T21:50:00.003-05:00

I spent the day working in my sewing room and kitchen. I am trying to be more organized having meals mostly prepared. This should make my week less stressful and give me more time to sew. I bound an old UFO as well as the final round of my round robin. I am mailing that off to Karen tomorrow. I think she is really going to like it.

Stash report:
fabric purchased: 0
fabric used: 1.75 yards

fabric purchased ytd: 0
fabric used ytd: 1.75

I'm a slow starter, but I'll do better next week.

sewing room saturday

2009-01-11T10:31:00.004-05:00

Now that DD has returned to Denver, the frenzy of Christmas is behind us and I have gone back to work, I am ready to start tackling those challenges I undertook for the new year. Stashbusting and UFO completion. I also watched an Oprah with Suze Orman on Thursday so I am all motivated to make 2009 a better, more productive year. (As a side note until Thursday you can download a money management book for free from Oprah and Suze Orman).

On Friday I made lists. Lots and lots of lists. I decided nothing could be done until I cleaned up Santa's workshop out of my sewing room. I have no idea how it got so bad, but I couldn't even get to one of the light switches without running an obstacle course. It took me most of the day, but here is what it looks like this morning. Wonder how long I will be able to keep it that way.

I'm off to spend my day in there. I have a list :-D of things to accomplish today.

returns

2009-01-09T20:28:00.005-05:00

DD has returned to Denver. :*( She ended up leaving with 2 pair of legwarmers and a new rice bag in addition to her Christmas presents. I did this pair a little differently. Straight knitting instead of rib. She picked the yarn. Very princess.

She had burned the rice in her old rice bag by heating it too long in the microwave. Evidently everyone in the studio always knew when she was coming because of the burned rice smell. She has a new one scented with essential oil. They will smell sugar cookies now. :-D

Almost 15 months ago I joined a round robin. It was based on rules that May Britt had originally posted about one she had done. It sounded like fun and not a huge commitment so I signed up. This month is when they return to their original owners and mine arrived today. I absolutely LOVE it. I started with the little star up in the corner. I also sent a mini composition book with it and had everyone write something in it . It was so nice reading all the little notes with everyone's thought processes. The appliqued flower is from a photo of a Civil War wallpaper design. I am so pleased and touched with the time and effort everyone put into making my little quiltlet.

sunday stash report

2009-01-04T23:37:00.004-05:00

DD and DS are still here so no quilting has been accomplished this week. I have managed to use one skein of yarn. I made DD a pair of "dancer" legwarmers. She has been cutting a hole for the heel in legwarmers, but they fray and unravel. After a couple of false starts, many fittings and the first half of season 1 of Dark Angel, I managed to come up with the first one. I finished the second one this evening. When I asked her to model she refused to point her toe. She kept saying "I'm on vacation". So this is a picture of a dancer, on vacation, modelling her new legwarmer. Kids!

Hopefully by next week I can have started on stashbusting 2009 and the WISP challenge I joined with May Britt and Kris.

christmas, the finale

2009-01-04T23:22:00.004-05:00

I think my niece liked her quilt and my BIL liked his hat and scarf.

It was a nice, relaxing, fun day. After dinner my sister wanted to see how the Wii Fit I had bought for my husband worked. My nephew has a Wii and she was thinking she would like to get the Wii Fit for herself. My nephew is a goof and was more than willing to try and demonstrate all the different games. We all laughed so hard. Hula hoop was the funniest. Then after he had gotten everyone warmed up, my niece and sister gave a few of the games a try. We laughed so hard at my sister heading soccer balls. The game throws cleats and teddy bear heads at you as well. She was so funny trying to duck instead of lean out of the way. My BIL kept telling her the board couldn't register ducking. I'm sorry I missed pictures of that. :D

merry new year?

2009-01-01T01:33:00.012-05:00

DD made it in from Denver on an "uneventful" flight. We finally got to celebrate Christmas. It was a fun day, but so close to New Years. No time to breath in between. My dad, sister and her family will be over on the 1st to see DD and exchange gifts. They only get to see her once a year. :-(
Misty and Dusky though that opening their stocking was great fun. There were some catnip toys in there and they were searching them out. The treats were a big hit too.
I got some great Secret Santa Gifts. Quiltygal from Australia made my SSCS gift this year. I showed in an earlier post how she had cleverly packed my package with a teaser unwrapped outside the main gift. Here is the beautiful wall hanging she made me. I have been admiring stitchery quilts on a number of blogs. I love it.
I also joined in a Spirit of Christmas swap set up by Janet at Wildcraft Farm. I got paired with Tracy at Sunny Corner Farm. She sent me a cool assortment of things. Check out the reindeer hanging... and Homespun. My favorite Australian magazine. I was so excited I took it to bed with me to read.
I was really happy with my stuff I hope my partners liked theirs as well. Here is what I sent Tracy. Some napkins, towels, spice coasters and dishcloths. Anne got this bag with wool applique pocket and goodies inside. I wrapped each thing individually and then put them inside the bag before I wrapped it. I hope she likes opening.
I almost forgot.

Happy New Year!!!

merry christmas to all

2008-12-24T23:05:00.004-05:00

Christmas at our house has been postponed. The ballet company that DD dances with scheduled their performances through the 27th this year. If you aren't tired of Nutcracker, she has posted a couple of videos from her performances last year, Dew Drop Fairy and Arabian. She will be home late on Monday so we asked Santa to put our presents aside until after she gets home. :D

Merry Christmas to all and we hope you have a very happy holiday season.

i'm warped, in a good way

2008-12-22T23:42:00.003-05:00

Look what I did. I got my loom warped and started weaving. This is supposed to be 8 napkins for my sister for Christmas. Think I can get them finished? I'm thinking probably next Christmas. After I got the warp on and the header woven I figured I should probably get back to things that had to be done for this Christmas. I did sit down and do a couple of inches between projects in the sewing room. I just couldn't help myself.

winter in maine

2008-12-19T14:53:00.003-05:00

I finally did it... read all of the unread posts I had backed up in bloglines. Last weekend, at a most inconvenient time so close to Christmas, we lost power for more than 3 long days due to an ice storm. We have wood stoves, so we don't get too cold as long as we keep feeding the fire, but since we have a private well that means no water. No flushing. No shower. We can buy water for drinking and cooking, but it is very inconvenient trying to take care of the rest.
You start to get really creative. On Friday I couldn't work from home without power and DH couldn't work because his office didn't have power so we drove into my office which did have power and both showered there. I sent DH off to do some Christmas shopping while I worked. By Saturday his office was powered up so we went in there. I packed up my small ironing board and sewing machine and got some Christmas presents sewn while he worked a few hours and we both showered there.
By Sunday the adventure had totally worn off. I had managed to make my Christmas fudge on the cookstove, but we lost all the food in both the fridge and freezer. I had finished all my unread books and I had more Christmas stuff to make. We couldn't do the laundry, vacuum or get groceries. We were just debating where we were going to shower when we saw the bucket truck arrive and shine the spotlight on the pole that we have learned holds the key to power at our house. Every time power goes off in this area everyone on the way to our house has power. We are the first house after an intersection and everyone from that intersection North has power and our side of the intersection is dark. It is very demoralizing when you see the house in the field behind your house lit up with Christmas lights and I can't even sew.
We were both so excited, watching them carefully to make sure they didn't get away. Not sure what we would have done, but we were desperate at that point and I think if they had tried to leave we might have at least tried to go after them. After the bucket went up and down once or twice our house sprang to life. I quickly ran upstairs and grabbed a load of laundry while DH started vacuuming. Then showers. You really appreciate the luxury of a shower in your own house after a few days of packing everything up to simply get clean. DH says he is going to call his friend the electrician and we are getting a generator. ;D

sunday stash report

2008-12-08T02:19:00.003-05:00

I didn't join in Judy's quiltathon this weekend even though I really would have liked to. DH wanted to go and get some Christmas shopping done. I think the limited time left had finally dawned on him. I really have things quite in hand with some online shopping and a lot of sewing, but it's still fun to have him voluntarily shop with me.

I joined in a Spirit of Christmas swap in addition to Chookyblue's SSCS and that gift has been sent off to Australia. This swap started much later, so I hope the gift makes it on time. I had never read this partner's blog so I had some research to do before deciding what she would like. She is into frugal living and environmental consciousness. I felt she definitely needed a reusable wrapping bag. I'll show a picture of what's inside after she opens it.

I did manage to spend most of today sewing. I can't show my projects, but progress was made. I also have half of the ends for a weaving project warped out. I meant to get the loom dressed today, but decided my sewing projects were more pressing. Even with all my sewing my stash usage was rather dismal. I'm doing mostly small things with scraps. :-( I finished up 4 items and used about a yard of fabric. You know it's really amazing how far a yard actually goes.

Report:

Stash in 0 and I haven't really even been tempted.

Stash out 1 yard.