Still knitting

The back of my sweater is starting to take shape. I'm coming along pretty quickly with this...it's not really that hard once you master the cables. I just hope it fits properly when I'm finished.

While I knit, I've been listening to audiobooks on my ipod from here. All of the books are fairly old since they are in the public domain, but there are some good old classics out there. Also, the books are read by volunteers, so that's pretty cool. However, I do prefer the books that are read entirely by the same person, and not a different reader for each chapter.

I also read this yesterday. It was an absolute page turner, and I'm heading out this afternoon to pick up the next book in the series.

Knitting for babies

I like making things for babies. Babies are small, so their stuff is small. Babies aren't curvy and look cute in anything, so fit isn't much of an issue. And babies are not ungrateful about your handmade gifts. They're not particularly grateful either, but they can't help that. So it makes sense to me, when learning a new craft, to make things for babies... small things that don't have to fit well. Not to mention the fact that I've been attending more baby showers these days, and handmade baby gifts are more in demand. We've been to a lot of weddings over the past several years, so I guess one follows the other.

I recently got my hands on the Mason Dixon Knitting book, and there are several good baby projects in there. (Check out the Mason Dixon Flickr group here.) You may not be able to tell, but this is a bib. It's my first finished knitting project. I'm not sure how I feel about how the variegated pink yarn knitted up, but I suppose it will work for an object that my niece is going to drool and spit up on. Now I just need to find a cute button for it.


Here is another project in progress from the book. It's the baby kimono sweater, a wrap sweater knit in one piece. I plan to make one for my almost-one-year-old niece, but I'm making the newborn size from the book first. I'm using dishcloth cotton yarn from the discount store for this one, but I'm on the hunt for some different yarn to use in the kimono for my niece. I'm looking for a soft, pale pink, but most of the cotton yarns I've seen so far are screaming Barbie pink instead. Luckily, as we now, hunting for the perfect yarn/fabric is half the fun.

hello, blog

Wow, I can't believe it's been 3 months since I've posted. In case you were wondering, I am alive and well in my new location. I went a few weeks without internet access, and I'm slowly getting things organized around here. I did get some quilting/crafting done during the chaos of moving, so I have lots to show you once I get around to unpacking things and taking their picture.

I have to admit, I may be taking a quilting hiatus for awhile....I've started knitting. Actually, I sort of taught myself to knit a few months ago, but I've been doing a lot more knitting lately. Thanks to my new LYS (local yarn shop), I have a ton of gorgeous new yarns at my disposal, and I'm taking full advantage. Like fabric, they are hard to resist. The sweater I'm working on is the central park hoodie, and the yarn is cascade 220 tweed in icy blue (can't find a link to that particular color... must be really new), if you're curious. If there are any other crocheters/knitters out there, are on ravelry yet? You may already know about it, but I always feel like I'm the last person to find out about these things. Just in case I'm not, there you go.

I do intend to post quite a bit more often now that I'm settled...thanks for sticking with me!

Home Stretch

Don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but I am closing the my quilt shop's retail location this Saturday, June 28. (Skip on over to the shop's website and have a look...all internet orders are 30% off.) To make a long story short, I've been busy with the shop, winding things down and tying up loose ends. I may be a little scarce around here for another month or so as I wrap things up at the shop, job hunt, and get moved east a little ways. Never fear, though, I'm still getting some crafting done here and there, and I'll keep you updated.

Now for some eye candy. Our little guild's biannual quilt show was last weekend, and I snapped a few pics. I'm very drawn to the older quilts passed down through the years to the current generation of quilters. These quiltmakers didn't get their panties (or bloomers or whatever) in a twist about perfectly matching fabrics or points. And I love the results.





Sorry, I'm writing this 7 hours after I originally started this post. I'm too lazy to caption these pictures, so just make up your own. It's been a long day, and I'm starting to get a little punchy. Even so, I'm thinking about stopping by the grocery store on my way home and buying a carton of strawberries so I'll have something to eat with my Nutella when I get home. Eh, screw it, I'll just have my Nutella straight up, on a spoon.

No sir, I don't like it.

I was originally inspired to make a granny afghan by this photo (not the softy...the afghan in the background). And then I saw this. I was completely smitten. But then I had second thoughts. After all, where would I put this masterpiece, assuming I ever finished it? A bright red, green, yellow, and blue afghan would definitely stand out in my current home decor. So then I thought that maybe I should try making a granny afghan in a bit more subdued colors. Here's what I came up with for my first square.

It's okay, but I'm not in love. And if I'm going to crochet that many granny squares, I want to be in love with the project. So I think I've decided to just stick with the color scheme I fell in love with. I'll figure out where to put the darn thing when it's finished.

As for the yarn I used in my test square, maybe it would make a nice ripple afghan.

Belated Happy Father's Day, to my dad, and to yours!

On my coffee table...

From the bottom, up:
1) The Summer 2008 issue of Interweave Knits, because I can knit now! I'm so excited! Pics to come...
2) June 2008 BHG. Good recipes (I think I'll actually try a couple), lots of decorating inspiration, and a large article on gardening (surprise, surprise) which I probably should put to good use but probably won't.
3) Encyclopedia of Crochet, checked out from my local library. A pretty good selection of stitches, granny squares, etc., but the projects were a little uninspiring. Probably b/c the book was published in 2002.
4) The Crochet Stitch Bible, recent purchase from Amazon. I don't know if I would necessary call it the crochet bible, but it does contain a lot of stitches, granny squares, edgings, and even some tunisian crochet. This is not a project book. It's a stitch book. It's not all-inclusive, but I'm not sure any book could capture every possible crochet stitch. Definitely a handy reference.
5) Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker, checked out from the library. This is one I may have to buy. It's a decent stitch reference guide, and there are several projects I would like to make from this book. As a matter of fact...
6) ...I've already started one. I'll wait until it's done to show you which one I picked.

Flea Market Finds, Episode 1: The Fabric Menace

Okay, so I mentioned that I'd been to the local flea market. First just let me say that the flea market is a dangerous place for me to visit. I spent entirely too much money. Entirely. I felt the need to "adopt" half of the store. I spent a good hour and a half in there, and when it came to decision time I felt like I was choosing puppies to be saved from euthanization instead of shopping from a multitude of other people's castoffs . However, I'm really happy with what I bought, and like so many other things I want to buy, I have now forgotten about most of what I decided to leave behind.

This is part one of my flea market purchases, "Episode 1", if you will. (Please indulge me the corny Star Wars reference.)

First up is a piece of lightweight Winnie the Pooh fabric hemmed around the edges (it was labeled as a "baby blanket"), and a somewhat wonky quilt block. I'm not sure if the quilt block is salvagable or not as it isn't square and doesn't lay completely flat. That's a project for another day (or year).

And please ignore the wrinkles in anything you see here. I can't be bothered to iron just for pictures. I'll do that when I actually want to use the stuff.

In this photo, from top to bottom:

1. a bunch (haven't counted) of hand-pieced 4-patches.
2. over 3 yards of 36" wide pink gingham, which I am totally stoked about since that's the new Tie One On theme.
3. a large, oval tablecloth. Maybe has a future as a bag.
4. another table cloth, large & oblong. Love the pattern on this one...could end up as a bag also.
5. my favorite piece (from this group, anyway) a hand-embroidered baby quilt top. There are 8 embroidered blocks, set together with plain pink squares. Here is some detail of the blocks:
   

They're just too adorable. I can't decide what to do about this one, but I think I'm going to take it apart and reconstruct a small quilt out of the blocks, squaring things up as I go and probably using a better quality fabric or maybe even some quilt blocks to set it together. And maybe I'll even get ambitious and hand quilt it when I'm finished. I might be getting a little ahead of myself with that one, but it's a thought.

We're forecasted to get some really nasty weather tonight, so if you're reading this from, I don't know, anywhere in the Midwest stay safe. My hubby has requested this for dinner, so I'm going home to fry bacon and either embroider or crochet.

Stay tuned: Flea Market Finds, Episode Two!

Sewing Rule #1

Okay, maybe not #1, but definitely in the top ten:

Don't get in a hurry.

Case in point, my new tote bag.

Looks harmless, doesn't it? And it was... at first. Until I started running out of time and got in a hurry.
Here's the other side of the bag. With a partially attached handle. Why is the handle partially attached, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. The handle is partially attached because as I was sewing I noticed I was sewing the handle on backwards. You can't tell from the picture, but there is a "right" and "wrong" side to the handles. Probably not a mistake anyone would have noticed, but it would have driven me insane. And I'm insane enough as it is, thankyouverymuch.

So I left the bag and the handle for tomorrow, when I'm in less of a hurry.

Playing

with my new camera.

Lots going on...pics to come now that I have a working camera.

Finished!

Do you hear it? Trumpets are trumpeting, angels are singing, people are cheering...I finished a project!

This is my finished tiramisu blanket. I don't know how, but this blanket just sort of happened. During American Idol performances I wasn't interested in, commercials, riding in the car, and sitting outside in the evenings with my husband enjoying the gorgeous weather this past week, it happened. I started it on April 21 (on the way to quilt guild in Pittsburg...KS), which means it took me just under a month from start to finish. That has to be some kind of record for me. And I really like how it turned out. The yarn is a bulky weight (Bernat Softee Chunky), so the blanket is nice and thick. I used 5/8" ribbon instead of the 1/2" that the pattern calls for, but it worked out because the yarn doubled over as I wove it around the blanket, so the shiny side of the ribbon shows on both sides. I know I could have been more imaginative with my color choices, but I liked Alicia's version. Plus it will work for either a baby boy or baby girl gift, which is great because we all know I'm not very good at planning ahead for baby showers.

This is the rosebush in my backyard (and my dog guarding the backyard, which she does fabulously until a trespasser actually approaches...then she hightails it to safety). It's absolutely bursting with blooms right now. Now, I don't want you to get the impression that I had anything to do with the number of roses on this bush. Quite the opposite, actually. Shortly before I took this picture, this bush was threatening to take over the yard. But I was feeling a bit frustrated. The city had our water shut off all day. All day. No laundry, no dish washing, no watering the dog, no washing your #%&*@ face or brushing your teeth. No washing your thrift store finds so you can photo them for your blog. So like I said, I was frustrated. So I took out my aggression on the rosebush. Pruning can be very cathartic, you know. So anyway, even though you're not supposed to prune roses in the spring, I pruned my little heart out until the rose tree became more of a bush. Not only do we prune liberally and without regard to the bush's health, but we have yet to feed or water this rosebush. It's invincible. It's also threatening to take over the neighbor's yard, but I figure that's their problem. Sheba and I have enough on our hands defending the territory we've got, be it from trespassers or renegade rosebushes.

One last thing. I have quilt guild tonight, so I'm going to miss the American Idol finale. However, my husband has promised to tape (that's right...tape...as in VCR tape...no DVR for us) it for me, so I can watch it when I get home. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle the suspense. I finally got my vote in for David Cook last night at 11:07 on the 47th try, but I voted dang it. I get the feeling he needed by vote...I'm just hoping that fact that I couldn't get in for 3 hours is a good sign.

Planting flowers

Sheba and I planted flowers today.

Afternoon Adventure to Outer Space

Not too much going on here today. I've been longarm quilting for the last few hours. Here's a quilt I just finished up. I believe the pattern is Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs.
I love this focus fabric - too cute!
And the backing fabric is pretty awesome too.I wonder who the lucky little duck is that gets to snuggle up under this quilt. No doubt the munchkin will have dreams of rabbits & rocketships.

What do you know...

Practice really does make perfect. Well, maybe not perfect yet, but definitely improving. This is my "take along" crochet project - one that I don't have to think about too much and that only uses one skein of yarn at a time, making it very portable. (Free pattern here. And if you don't already read her blog, shame on you.)
The reason I'm so impressed with myself is that it's actually staying pretty square. Usually my crochet projects tend to shrink as I go along, forming more of pyramid shape. Or trapezoid, if you want to get technical. But this one is pretty much square. It's only taken what seems like 100,000 hours of crocheting to get to this point, but hey, I've got nothing but time, right?!

Here are some pics of my niece and nephew from our trip to TN.

My nephew loves to drive his car around the yard. Until he saw the neighbor kids buzzing around on 4-wheelers. Then suddenly his car wasn't fast enough.

And here he is after he had just picked everyone a dandelion, explaining that we should save the dandelions for when we get married, and after the wedding keep them and show them to people. I could barely keep a straight face. Where does he come up with this stuff? I didn't have the heart to tell him I was already married.And my niece, who's at the age where she's just happy to be fed and get some attention. This was a rare moment when she wasn't being held. Her momma was just to my left, hence the big smile. And yes, I made that pink & white ripple afghan. I'm so happy she actually uses it.

American Idol results in a few hours. I can't help myself - this is one of the few shows that I get into. It's one of the reasons I've been doing more crocheting in the evenings...it's hard to hear the TV over the sewing machine. I'm pulling for David Cook, but they're all good. Let's just hope that tonight it's not interrupted for severe weather updates. I heard on the radio that the meteorologist got a bunch of hate e-mail for interrupting American Idol last night. Poor guy, he can't help that a funnel cloud decided to form between 7:00 & 8:00! Maybe I should e-mail him again and apologize. Just kidding, people.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Mom Test

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. 'Why?' my daughter asked. 'Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs' I replied. At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, 'Momma, how do you know all this stuff, you are so smart.' I was thinking quickly. 'All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom.' We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. 'OH...I get it!' she beamed, 'So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad.' ''Exactly," I replied back with a big smile on my face.

Memphis

Woa, sorry (once again) for the delay between posts. We went to Tennessee last weekend - to Memphis for our best man's graduation from optometry school, and then on a little further east to visit my family for a few days. We were only in Memphis for a day, but it was an interesting day. If you've ever been to Memphis, you know what I mean. Apparently, we were lucky enough to be in town during "Memphis in May" which, from what I gathered, is a music festival that takes place downtown on Beale Street. Since we gathered at a restaurant on Beale after the graduation ceremonies, we got to witness a few interesting things. Some of these things might be commonplace to you, but for a small town girl like myself, they were a bit out of the norm.

1. I started the day by slamming my pinkie finger in the car door. Oddly, it hurts worse now than it did when it happened. You don't realize how much you use your pinkie until you injure it. This has nothing to do with Memphis or Beale Street - just another weird thing that happened to me that day.
2. A very polite and very skinny gentleman on a bike attempted to sing to us for tips while we hid from the rain under the awning as we were leaving the restaurant. Since he only sang two lines of the song (rather poorly, I might add) before he asked for a tip, we decided he didn't deserve one.
3. Beale Street was gated off, and we were carded as we entered. We were approached by several different religious groups passing out flyers and carrying signs. My favorites were "Ask me why you're going to hell" and another sign that had words randomly written all over it that said things like "Sinner", "Satan Lover", and "Fornicator". I wanted to point at that I'm married and fornicating isn't necessarily a sin for me, but I thought it best not to provoke a conversation. Not to say I don't agree with their message...just not their methods.
4. A little while later, it started to rain, and the religious demonstrators headed for cover. Most ran using their signs as make-shift umbrellas. One fellow in particular caught our eye - he was running up the street with a cross over his shoulder. We were all marveling at how fast he was going carrying a cross until someone noticed that this was no ordinary cross. This cross was outfitted with a wheel at the base to make it easier to drag around. I bet Jesus wishes he had one of those.
5. As we watched the procession of retreating demonstrators, sipping our adult beverages and being entertained as one can only be by watching people stranded in the rain, one of my friends called out, "Jesus would have stayed in the rain!" I don't think they heard him, but we thought it was funny.
6. Having done our part to stimulate the economy on Beale Street, we headed for the "Parking Can Be Fun" parking garage where we had entrusted our cars to the staff for a mere $5 each. On the way, we passed an ambulance and EMT's performing CPR on a girl right there on the sidewalk. Definitely a weird moment. I felt like we ought to be doing something to help, but we couldn't. And I don't think they wanted us watching, so we continued on our way.

Tennessee to be continued.

Intervention, please

Seriously, people, it's time. I have a problem. I can't stop starting new projects. Typically I don't worry too much about having too many UFO's laying around, but it's really starting to get out of hand. I thought about making a list, sort of like a confession, but I'm not sure I can remember everything, so I'll save that for another day. For now, here's my latest:

It's the Babette blanket (pattern by Kathy Merrick and available from Interweave Crochet). I know I shouldn't have, but can you blame me? Take a look at the flickr group. Who can resist? Not me. Obviously. This picture is from last week...I know have all 50 2-round squares finished along with 20 4-round squares. Lots to go, but I'm making progress. Not that I'll ever finish it, because, ya know, that's not what I do.

More good news. I dropped my cell phone in a sink full of water on Friday, and the phone no longer functions. The good news about that is that I got a new phone. Isn't it pretty? It's called a rockr, which is cool, but I haven't "rocked" with it yet. My sister-in-law is 16...I'll have her figure that part out.
It does have a 2 megapixel camera on it, which I used to take this picture. A little blurry, but I think that's from enlarging it. And because I can't hold the damn thing still. Whatev.
This is my sad little camera. It's 5 or 6 years old, and a few months ago I dropped it and broke the battery cover (hence the scotch tape). I know, I'm hard on electronics. It's about time for a new camera anyway.

Last but not least, I got a new pantograph in the mail today for the longarm, so I decided to try it out.
It's called feathered curls. I'm really liking it. I think it could work on variety of quilts. I'm really digging how it looks on the back of the quilt.

This is a view from underneath the quilt machine. So if you've never sat under a quilt machine, this is what it looks like. Come by some time and I'll let you sit under my machine. It's sort of like sitting under a table covered by a tablecloth. Except when you sit under a table there is less of a chance of sitting on a straight pin. Yes, I've done that.

We're off on a long weekend to a graduation and to visit my folks, so the blog will be quiet until I get back next week. Have good weekend!

Someone bought my quilt!

Remember when I told you that I was making a quilt for the local community college's scholarship auction? Well, here's the quilt.

And the back. You can't see it very well, but I stitched down the cardinal in red thread, so there's an outline of a red cardinal on the back of the quilt. Cool, huh? (By the way, those white spots are lint...the backing is black flannel.)
And here's the best part....this quilt raised $280 for scholarships! Isn't that great?! I made a quilt for the auction last year, and it was a lot more work but didn't raise nearly as much money. So I was a very happy girl after this year's auction.

Here's something I just decided to do last night. It's a 4-patch stack-n-whack from the pattern 4-Patch Stacked Posies by H.D. Designs. I found the directions a little confusing, but I've done stack-n-whack before so I just went for it. After walking the dog and watching American Idol, I only had time to sew nine 4-patches, but I really like the way they're turning out. I've got the rest cut, so hopefully tonight I can sew them together in between loads of laundry. Oh, and the American Idol results show....can't forget that.

That's not all I've had up my sleeve for the past week or so... more tomorrow!

Look what I got!

Wednesday night was the end of the year meeting for my quilt guild. Part of the evening was the grand finale of the a quilting-themed scavenger hunt. Everyone who wanted to participate was given a list of items to find - one per month from September to April. So this is what I received... I was so excited. There are some quilting notecards, a yard of white, black & red fabric, a log cabin style pin, a spool of metallic red thread, a sewing machine picture frame, a yard of red fabric from Moda's new Prairie Paisley line (yeah!), another red floral fat quarter, a quilting-themed calender/mouspad combo, a couple of patterns, and of course the container! What a lucky girl I am!

Oh baby

It seems like everyone I know is having a baby in the next few weeks. Okay, not everyone, but three people. As a result, I have a marathon of baby showers to attend, followed by the actual births, for which I will probably send a gift as well. And me being me, I feel obligated to give something handmade. I know the expectant mothers probably don't expect this (or maybe they do), but nevertheless, I feel like it's something I should do. The problem is, everyone can't get a quilt. It's just not possible, folks. So here's what I came up with. Burp cloths. They're fast, easy, & cute. And they are something that every mom can use. I found the tutorial at ANewChelseaMorning through SMS.

So here are my gifts for shower #1, which was Saturday afternoon. I tried to post on Saturday, but blogger wouldn't let me upload any photos. Three hours before the shower, I just had the two onesies.

Isn't the back of this one cute!

I made these three burp cloths in about an hour, including picking out the fabric and pressing everything. Which was definitely the hardest part. Actually, the hardest part might have been finding cloth diapers in this town (I'm told the dollar store has them...didn't think to look there), but I bought the diapers a couple of months ago.

Here are a few more I'm making for another shower this weekend, for a very stylish & very small young lady. Now I just need to make some for my niece. She's 5 months old, and she has very few handmade gifts from me. She punishes me by drooling and spitting up on me. Hence the need for more burp cloths. I'm a bad crafty aunt.
I try to make up for it in snuggles and kisses when I see her though. At least I don't call her Stinkerella like her daddy does.