It’s a Bug’s Life

Yes, I fell off the face of the earth again. We visited The Genius.  I spent two whole days planning our bus trip.  (You’ll hear a lot more about that in July.)  I’ve tried to keep this house and back yard under control.  I may finally be winning. And life is calming down for a little while.

This morning was the first time it was warm enough, not raining, and I had time to sit in the back yard.  It’s glorious out there at 8 AM.  (Yes, I’m finally an adult and get up in the morning, even when it’s summer.)  I haven’t done much knitting in the last week because I’ve had a big knot in my neck.  I did a little bit this morning, and it was so relaxing.  My little white sidekick loves it when I sit and knit.  She just hangs out with me.

So…this week is all about the Kids World quilt.  This morning I made bugs.

 

And a caterpillar…

I did some funky leaves!  The fabric was custom dyed by the famous Mickey Depre and her hubby Paul!  The dark green on the caterpillar is the same fabric.  It much more vibrant in real life.

I traced this leaf from the wallpaper in my sewing room.  I didn’t realize until after I cut out the centers, that I could use those too!

And then there are a few more funky flowers and leaves.

I’m going to have to start laying all this stuff out on the quilt soon.  I have a feeling I’m going to panic because I feel like I’ve made lots of stuff for the quilt, and it’s not going to be nearly enough!

And now it’s time for another hour in the sewing room and then it’s off to Frankie’s baseball game.

Crazy Knitter Spotted!

Yes, I knit in line at Disney California Adventures.

My children are so proud!

I had one lady tell me she wished she had thought of it.  I didn’t even get any strange looks.  My kids are used to my weirdness.

Enjoy your weekend, and watch out for strange knitters.  After all, Worldwide Knit in Public day is Saturday, June 8.  I just got an early start!

Contest Winner and Enjoying The Sunshine!

First of all, congratulations to Patricia, the winner of the Angles With Ease quilt book and ruler!!!  She was comment number eleven.

Today was a day filled with sunshine!  It seems like most of the country has been experiencing strange weather this spring.  While we haven’t experienced the devastation of tornadoes that Oklahoma has seen, we have had lots of rain.  And that makes us appreciate the sunshine even more.

Our day started with church.  This was the Sunday where we honor the high school and college graduates.  It’s always a fun day, filled with excitement and celebration.

After church, I did a grocery run while Frankie and My Hero cleaned the hedgehog cage.  Then it was time to let Hannah run.  She loved the grass!

One more for good measure!

I also had to watch the end of the NASCAR race.  I got a bit of knitting in as well.

Tonight we had friends over for dinner.  We lit the fireplace and ate dinner outside.  It was a perfect evening.

Now I’m sitting here trying to decide what I want to accomplish this week.  I think the first thing I need to do is go to bed since it’s nearly 1 AM.  I’ll make a to-do list in the morning.

Tonight I’m just going to be thankful for the gorgeous day we had today.

Now This Is Fun!!!

First of all, if you’re looking for the giveaway of the Angles With Ease quilt book and ruler, check out this post.  Hurry!  The contest ends at midnight!!!

I’ve spent the last couple of days working on the ginormous Kids World quilt.  (If you would like to read the back story on this quilt, here are the details.)  When I last blogged about the quilt, I had added the tree to the quilt.  I took a break and did some knitting, traveling, and sewing room cleaning.  And then I procrastinated because I was worried about decorating this quilt. So the other day I took the plunge and started making stuff.  Here are the first two pieces I did!

I’m going whimsical with this quilt, because I can’t draw to save my life!!!  But I will have to say these guys turned out great.  I also made a home for one of them.

I also made a birdhouse and some flowers.  I’m not going to attach anything until I have more stuff made because once its ironed down, it’s not moving!

And now for todays finale’, my favorite thing so far…..a hedgehog!

My sewing room was clean on Monday and it’s now trashed.  I’m going to clean it up and make some more stuff.  This is fun!

I do have to take a little break tonight.  We have 20 high school freshmen coming over, and the weather isn’t looking too good.  Yippie!?!?!?!?  I can survive four hours, right?

New Quilt Projects And A Giveaway!

I have a new quilt book and template to show you!

This is Heather Peterson’s new book called Angles With Ease.  I’m loving the projects in the book!  And they’re really easy!!!

First I decided to try just a little project for fun.  I did this table topper.  I think it would be a great tree skirt made with Christmas fabric.  I think I could have completed it in an hour if there wasn’t so much chaos at my house all the time!!!

Ok.  That was fun!  Then I moved on to a project with the new Glamping (by Moda) fabric my mom gave me for my birthday.  I just love this quilt!  It was so fun to make.  Heather gives excellent pressing directions so everything nested and went together perfectly!

It’s not the greatest photo, but you get the idea.  I think it was because the light was hitting it from the side that made it look so puckered.  It really isn’t!

I had the fat eighth bundle, but I still needed border and backing fabric, so I headed over to Shades of The Past.  This little quilt shop, located in Clara City, MN has so many fun, different projects.  I really enjoyed wandering around.  My favorite fabric in the whole line is the red camper fabric, and I was able to get some of it at the quilt shop.

I also purchased black background fabric for this project:

Oops!  I didn’t mean to have my toes on the edge of the photo.

This fabric is Little Black Dress by Basic Grey for Moda.  I haven’t sewn these blocks together, because I haven’t decide if I want to alternate the fabrics, or have just one fabric in each block.

In this photo, every block has just one fabric.

My problem is that I like some of the blocks with alternating fabrics, and some of the blocks all one fabric.

Now I’m going to show you the really cool thing about the patterns in this book.

All of the blocks in this book are strip pieced!!!

Did you hear that???  No templates!  You just put the strip sets together and cut out the pieces.  So easy!

Here’s the giveaway part!!! 

I have a book and the “Triangler” ruler to give away.  All you have to do is go over to Heather’s blog and look at her quilts, and leave a comment on my blog, not hers, telling me which of the quilts in her book is your favorite.  (Feel free to leave a comment on her blog too. It just won’t count as a contest entry!)  Her blog posts with all of the quilts in the book are here and here.  I can’t wait to see which is your favorite quilt.  The contest will remain open until Friday, May 31 at midnight central time.

Oh, and make sure you take a look at Carter, their little boy.  He’s just the cutest thing ever.  When you wait a long time for a baby like they did, they end up perfect!!!

And now I’m going to go work on my black and white quilt for a while!

I’m Back and I’m Knitting!

Well, that was a lot of miles!  My Hero and I took the bus to the east coast for some repairs, and to goof off!  We drove 1,400 miles, hung out for a few days, and drove back home.  Yep!  That’s 2,800 miles.  Hubs did most of the driving this time, and I knit.  A lot.

The first day, while I was driving, some idiot that was either high or drunk decided to stop on the interstate and then back up, in the left lane, to take one of the turnarounds that only highway patrol is supposed to use.  I hit the brakes and the air horn.  I sincerely hope I took about 10 years off his life.

I finished one shawl on the way out, and knit almost an entire shawl on the way home.

As you can see, I blocked both of them this morning, and they will get their photo shoots later this week.

I also worked on a brainless project.  This is To The Point.  The yarn is Plucky Knitter Primo Sport and I am loving it!

I have a ways to go on this one, and it’s not the most exciting thing I’ve ever knit, but I think I’ll love it when its done.

I also did some stitching on my wool project.  I get a bunch of embellishing done on it and think I’m almost done, and then I look at how many circles still need stitching on them.  I’ll keep plugging away at it.

We just got home last night, so I better get busy.  Superblonde was our nanny and did a great job!  I was so glad I didn’t come home to a mess.

Finally! Summer Knitting!

It’s finally showing signs of spring around here!  The other day I couldn’t take it any more and went digging for bright yarn.  I may have gotten carried away!

Oh well, I’m a process knitter.  I’m enjoying knitting it even if I don’t wear it!  The pattern is Shattered Sun by Felicia Lo. The pattern is  so beautiful in colors that normal people pick!!!  The yarn is my drug of choice,  Handmaiden Sea Silk.  I purchased a bunch of Handmaiden on ebay years ago (before ravelry!!!) and it had tags on it but no color names.

The other project I started is just as bright, but at least it’s a solid color.

The yarn I’m using for this project is Claudia’s Handpaint Silk Lace.  I bought it last year at Yarnover because it was the Pantone color of the year.  And I love orange.  The pattern is a freebie called Vernal Equinox.  I ordered beads for it, but they may match too well!

I did discover something while I’ve been working on these projects.  I really like knitting with wool and wool blends.  Yesterday, in a fit of startitis, all of this was dug out and played with.  The one on the top left is cotton, but the rest are wool, silk, and other  ”winter” yarns.

I may have a plan for most of them.  Now I’ debating winding yarn, or finishing a quilt top today.

In other news, it seems to have gotten more chaotic around here.  Superblonde is home from college for the summer.  She may be height challenged, but she’s loud!  And opinionated!  And she makes everyone else around here louder!  And more opinionated!  And this family has no lack of opinions.

It’s a good thing I have yarn around here, because by the end of the summer, I may be hanging on to my sanity by a string!!!