this and that

Just a quickie today. A few pictures to share:

I was quilting @ Trains in Tacoma.

1st - the Kaffe quilt...I'm really getting hooked on this fabric, thanks to my friend Amber.

2nd, the star quilt from Shibori - I love how this turned out. (with pink John Deere Backing - is that a hoot?!?)

my instructor for the day:

Barb Frazier (who's also our featured artist at our quilt show in May).

and last but not least - our guild's Block of the Month - won by my friend who gave them to me as she knew how I lusted for these blocks. Can hardly wait to piece them together!

A Mixed Bag

I finished the latest KAL from Skacell - but I can't enter. I didn't use the chosen yarn - It was a self striping in brightish colors that just didn't strike a chord with me - BUT - I had some Fortissima that I had dyed with Kool-aid. I put it in the dye still in the skein so that the outside would be darker than the inside. It worked!

I knit the socks so the darker color was at the top fading to the lighter - I should have made the leg longer and the color change would have been more dramatic. I wasn't crazy about this sock pattern in stripes, but I really like it in this yarn. It has a nice lacy look. And it had a garter stitch short row heel that I think is my new favorite heel. Very easy to do, nice effect on the sock and very cushy on the foot. Check out the web site for the KAL.

Right now I'm modifying her 2nd KAL pattern. It was for mitts and the ribbing was twisted and the stitches were twisted. So I'm trying it in toe-up socks. I'm only a few inches in and I really like the effect. I'll post pictures in a day or two.

The other thing I wanted to share today is our Guild's Block of the Month for April. Amber W designed it and it is going to be a very dramatic quilt!

She's designed it so you can make 5 blocks at a time - bright soilds with black. I REALLY want to win this one. I can't imagine all the different colors that people will chose. With black sashing, this will be amazing. I'm probably going to make one of my own - but not till I see if I win the drawing at Guild next month. I never win the Lotto, maybe I can win this!

Tomorrow I'm off to spend the day quilting at Trains, so sometime next week I'll have some finished quilts to share. The Kaffe from my last post is going to be the first quilted...still have to decide on what color binding. So wait and see.

Interesting Week

Well, this week was definitely different! Tues., I was standing by my desk, reaching into my overhead bin when the clips in back gave way. I think what it hit was my glasses as the damage to my face seems to lay where my glasses would hit...

day 1-you can see the steri-strips and a slight discoloration on my cheekbone.

day 2- the color on my cheek is getting brighter, but the swelling is going down.

today (Sat morning) the bruise has 'matured' - to use the ER doctor's words. I should make quilts that arehalf this colorful!

but I received some lovely flowers! Roses from a co-workers and daiseys from the people who make the bins!

But I do have a finished quilt top to share with you. The pattern is called "Fat Friday" and I made it out of Kaffe Fasset and similar fabrics. Can hardly wait to get it quilted!

It's been months, hasn't it?

Lord love a duck, I didn't realize it'd been this long since I've added to this thing. Some days - I've been busy. Others - I've just been sidetracked, either quilting or knitting - - or both.

Acutally have gotten quite a bit accomplished and I'll add some pics shortly. I finished some mittens and then made the mistake of looking in Ravelry for mitten groups. I found a WONDERFUL one. http://www.ravelry.com/groups/i-make-mittens They have a thread/challenge going - to make 11 pairs of mittens in 2011. Actually there are 2 threads...one where pictures/patterns are posted. Another where they're posted and you can comment/discuss. I'm already on pair 6! Easily distracted right?

One pair I made doesn't count as I started them in 2010.

These were so much fun - even tho they're way big on me...from the book Mostly Mittens.

Since then I've gone on to make fun mittens, warm ones, difficult ones. check out the thread and I know you'll be inspired. And everyone has posted links to the patterns - they're all enablers!

THINGS HAVE BEEN BUSY...

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Actually, they really have been. I am moved and settled in. I was sick for a while (there's a really nasty cold going around this winter...), and I've been to 2 retreats, been busy knitting and quilting and....

Pictures will be posted in a couple of days, but it does amaze me how time just slips away. And I'll be brutally honest here...A couple of times, I've sat down to update the blog, opened up Free Cell just to get my brain going while I pondered what to write...and the next thing I knew it was time to go to bed! Another time or two, I opened up ravelry to get inspiration and once again, next thing I knew it was time for bed.

But I have to tell you - if you've joined ravelry, you have follow the thread "Ugliest FO" in the "For Love of Ravelry" Group. What a group of optimists! Some of these things, the knitter had to know a few rows in that this pattern wasn't working...but they persisted, in the futile hope that more yarn thrown at it would turn it into something lovely. I identify with these people (I have my own ugly object posted too) and I revel in their optimism. We should all live our lives like that - know that if we keep on keepin' on, it'll turn out beautiful...no matter what the evidence says.

Boy - it's been forever and a day, hasn't it? This summer/fall has just been swallowed up by moving in August and knitting and quilting all the rest of the time...plus I've had to show up for work to earn the money to pay for all the fun stuff.

Moved out of my manufactured home, into an apartment. A lot smaller. I've been wanting to simplify my life, I hadn't expected to do it all in one swoop, but it's mostly done. Went from 3 bedrooms to 2, but a pretty large living room, dining room kitchen to a small livingdiningkitchen room.

Still lots of 'crap' around, but not near as much as before - I was starting to feel like a hoarder. Now - my sewing room still has a ways to go, but it's shaping up...

Starting to get things color coordinated and actually do have a cutting area and sewing area set up that don't show in this picture. Right now I'm off to get ready for a retreat that's coming up in a little over a week, so I'll promise I'll write more soon...and include some better pictures.

Family

Just a quick note this morning - and it has aboslutely nothing to do with any kind of fiber...just family.

My grandsons are coming home this weekend. The younger one has been off visiting his grandfather and other grandmother for 3 weeks and they've been on the road visiting that side of the family and some landmarks along the way.

The older one is on his way home from Europe where he's spent the last 3 weeks as part of the People to People Youth Ambassador Group. (Dancing in Greece where they also helped on a community service project.)



So our little nest of family will all be together again very soon - for a little while - before they start winging off to other things as they get older.

And speaking of older...I ran across some sheet music of my grandfather's. He wrote and copyrighted it in 1900. He was a judge in Aberdeen SD - but his love was his music. He played drums in a drum and bugle corps. And - it appears - wrote a little piano music on the side. I finally got it framed. I have 2 copies. So one is placed to show the cover of the music. (Grandpa Sime is the 2nd from the left in the middle row) The other shows the actual music and the copyright. Hopefully this will help preserve for my grandsons...and the music will span 5 generations and possible more.