Where Do I Start?

I haven’t posted since February.  I’m not sure where to even start!

I went to a Hill Country Weavers retreat with my mom the end of February.  One of the highlights was finally meeting Christina.  We’ve been blog friends since 2007!

After that was a trip to Florida where My Hero worked and I did lots of spinning.

Then I went back to Texas to DFW Fiber Fest with my mom and The Genius.  We took spinning classes with the fabulous Jacey Boggs.  The Genius and both learned a lot.  And, if you’re in the market for a spinning magazine, Jacey publishes Ply Magazine.  Go subscribe!  There was also a fabulous marketplace there.  Miss Babs and Western Sky Knits got most of my money.

And I got a nasty cold.  A cold that I’m still fighting four weeks later.

Between naps and fevers and a running nose, I’ve done some spinning and knitting.  Rather than describe all of it, I’m just going to do a photo dump.

As of today, I think I’m going to survive this stupid cold.  Maybe I’ll blog again before May!

The First 2015 Finishes!

I just finished the two dumbest projects ever!!!!!  Not because they’re not really nice things, but because they took so long.

I think I quilted this quilt 10 years ago.

It’s an old Moda Christmas line that included a panel with each letter of the alphabet.  I quilted it soon after I got my longarm, which may have been about 2004.

I finished stitching the binding this morning.  Good grief!  How lame is that?  So, it’s packed away in the quilt closet, ready for Christmas of 2015.  I’m pretty sure I had it on the bed in the bus one year.  I guess I used it without the binding being stitched down.

My other dumb finish is a sweater for My Hero.

The reason it’s dumb is that I think I started it about 8 years ago.  I worked on it about a year ago, and then put it away with part of one sleeve left to complete.  That’s really dumb!  I even had the seaming done on one side before I abandoned it.  So I finished it on Saturday while hanging out at my sisters house.

It’s a really nice sweater and the neckline finishing is probably some of the best I’ve ever done.  The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran, and it’s long discontinued.  I loved knitting with it though and I love the sweater.  I may have to pick up stitches at the bottom and knit ribbed band.  It seems like it may be a little short.  I’ll have My Hero try it on and then decide.

I’m actually home alone for a while today.  I’m going to enjoy it by cleaning my kitchen.  (That was sarcasm.  I don’t really enjoy cleaning anything!)  I need some order in my life!!!  After that, I’m heading for my sewing room to do a little cleanup before it gets out of control again.  And then I may work at finishing up a couple of quilts that are nearly done.

And…I have leftover ham, so I think some wild rice soup is on the menu.

I’ll be back soon with some weaving that The Genius did, and a finish for me.

 

Christmas Quilting

I finished a quilt.  Yes, you read that right.  Well, sort of.  It’s pieced, but not quilted.

I started this quilt several years ago and quickly got bored making star blocks.  I’d pack it away and every time I’d pull it out to work on it, I’d realize I didn’t have the pattern book with the quilt.  I’d search for the book, make a few more star blocks, and pack it away.

Last week, I pulled the bin out yet again, and started a google search for the pattern.  I think what finally yielded a photo was “Christmas star quilt”.  Score!!!!!  It’s a Brenda Riddle pattern from the book Comfort and Joy.  I ordered the book and finished the star blocks while I waited for the mailman.  Then I finished the quilt, and didn’t do it quite like the pattern anyway, because I was going to run out of fabric.

 

I think this will be one of the prettiest quilts I’ve ever made when it’s quilted which will probably be two years from now.  The fabric is Roman Holiday by Three Sisters for Moda.  Don’t even bother looking for it.  It’s long gone.  I think I saw somewhere that the fabric came out in 2006.

And….another finish, though not nearly as major.  I started a scarf last fall with some squishy soft yarn that I actually spun worsted.  It should have been a quick scarf to knit, but for whatever reason, my ball of yarn seemed to go on forever.  I pulled it out the other day and decided it had to be finished.  Frankie had a band concert the other night.

Yep, that’s him playing the tuba.

Anyway, I finished the scarf!

It’s a big squishy roll.

It’s finished and I really like it.

And….there is weaving.

Only it’s not mine.  The Genius got a loom for Christmas….a little early.  She’s never had a lesson and this is her third project.

We call her The Genius for a reason.

And now I’m off to see what else I can finish.

Giving Thanks and Other Endeavors

Thanksgiving weekend was great.  I think I’m still recovering from the amount of food prepared and consumed.  My parents were here for six days, and Dad cooked several of the nights.  He was depressed because we banned him from the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day.  Otherwise, we gave him free reign.

There were 16 of us around here a lot of the time.  We ate, watched football (yuck!), knit, made puzzles, napped, sang, and ate some more.

I’ve stepped it up to a new kind of crazy and decided to knit Christmas lights.

I purchased the pattern from kooklacreations on etsy.  I’m not sure how many I’ll make yet, because I’m not sure where I’m even going to put them.  They just loooked fun to make.  And they are!

I finally got around to stitching the binding on a beautiful Christmas quilt!

The pattern is Vintage Holiday by Camille Roskelly of Thimbleblossoms.  You can purchase the pattern here.

If you google Vintage Holiday quilt, you’ll see lots of Camille’s signature aqua and red, and a few traditional green and red quilts, but nothing like mine.  I used a Hoffman Christmas line but I’m not sure what it was called.

I fussy cut a lot of the fabrics.

I love the border fabric!!!

This chevron block may be my favorite.

My goal was to be able to decorate my railing in 30 seconds.  I think I succeeded!

I was getting frustrated last night, because I feel like I’m not finishing anything.  I have knitting, spinning, weaving, and quilting projects going and I want to work on all of them.  So instead, I wandered around my house yesterday, cleaning up messes and trying to decide what I want to work on, and not doing any of them.  So last night, the girls were cyber Monday shopping and I knit most of a cowl.  I finished it this morning.

The pattern is Rainbow Twist by Thao Nguyen and it’s a freebie!  The yarn is one skein of Malabrigo Rasta.  The whole time I was working on it, I was wondering why I was bothering to make it.  I didn’t think I’d ever wear it.  When I tried it on this morning, I loved it.  I think I’ll wear it a lot.  It’s so soft and I made it loose enough so I don’t feel like I’m choking.

And now for the model shot!

In the interest of full disclosure, yes, I did take this in my pjs.  And yes, it’s almost noon and I’m still wearing my lovely flannel pajamas.  Notice I did put red lipstick on to match!

And now it’s time to get dressed and decide which crafty endeavor I’m going to tackle this afternoon.