Catching Up

Once again, I have let time slip away. I've been working, knitting and sewing. No quilting has been done. It's been a fast moving spring and summer is almost here. School is over in a month!

We are in the middle of state testing and my students are so ready for it to all be over. We are all suffering from spring fever.

I've been knitting away and have finished several pairs of socks and another Weigh It Shawl. I haven't blocked the shawl, so no photos. I have started a special pair I work on when I watch GHS Softball! It is a great yarn I picked up at Stitches South from Twisted Owl Fiber Studio. It has splashes of royal blue along with my favorite beach colors.

 

I made this lovely bag from scraps I had left over from the house quilt and I have several more half squares I plan on making into bags or more needle cozies.

 I've also dabbled in making stitch markers and I'm very happy with the way these turned out. I need more beads. The ones I purchased do not have consistent hole sizes and I had done my research on what types/sizes to purchase for markers.  These are some of the lovely socks I've been knitting. I've purchased my first yarn from Desert Vista Dyeworks and I love her yarn! 

 This is a lovely skein of Star Wars complimentary yarn from Must Stash Yarns. Droid Wars socks will be cast on May 4th. As you can see, it is kitty approved. The last photo is some of the yarny goodness I purchased at Stitches South. 

New Year

2015 has rolled in and I remembered to write about it! Last year's blogging effort was a fail. I didn't do well journaling my days. I realize once again that I'm not a good journal keeper.

Four months have flown by since my last post. This school year has sped by and in a lot of ways I'm glad. I really enjoy my eighth grade classes. The others, not so much! But I'm determined it will be a good year.

Knitting is going well. I've spent Christmas break finishing WIPs before I allow myself to start on new projects with my Christmas gifts. Quilting has stopped while my machine is in the shop. It is ready to be picked up and I plan on making a few project bags as soon as my machine returns.

The pets are good although Asher gave me a scare during mid terms. He ate 20 inches of elastic ribbon and the result was extreme vomiting, dehydration and kidney failure. Thankfully, we have a fabulous vet who got him rehydrated which stopped the kidney failure. He passed the ribbon the evening he came home. It took almost a week before he got his bounce back. Still shaking my head over the entire situation.

I leave this post with a few pictures of projects and pets.
Stitch Markers
Fingerless Mittens
Baby Hat for Jaxon
Project Bags
Socks with a slightly bent needle, don't know how that happened.
Multnomah Shawl
One IV owie
Sister's Christmas Tree shirt
PomPom Hat minus the pompom to match my mittens
Lovely scarf that almost doubled when I blocked it!

Beautiful Weather

I decided today was finally the day to pressure wash the house and get it looking nice for fall and winter. I spent four hours washing and now my hands and feet are killing me. But boy it looks so good. I just need to wash off the porch furniture and then the evening porch sitting will begin.

Here's an update of my latest knitting project.

August and today:

This is a Hitchhiker shawl/scarf. Love it!

Crafty and Cleaning Days

I spent yesterday visiting a friend and playing with her grandbaby! Oh the fun we had. I love baby Claire and she is as sweet as pie. She is crawling and loves to follow you through the house. I realized while visiting that I really needed to clean my house! I'm not fond of cleaning and more into crafting. :) But Claire crawling on the floor was something she couldn't do if she were visiting me.

So today, I've been cleaning and I still have a lot more to do, but at least I don't have fur balls rolling like tumbleweeds any more! Need to steam mop and dust, I'll do that in the morning. I have turned my dining area into the crafting area and I spent a lot of the morning putting things back in their proper location.

While I vacuumed and puttered around, Asher curled up in the chair and napped. Puff hid in the bedroom, she doesn't really like the vacuum cleaner.

I took the leaf out of my dining room table, I find the more space available, the more I pile in that space. I still need to finish the borders on the baby quilts. I may attack them again this afternoon. My mitering is not going the way it should. After finding the top of my table, I pulled out my Matthew Precept study and did a couple of days worth. I haven't been diligent in doing this study. But I'm committed to finishing it and part two. I love these studies and I'm trying to ingest them slowly.

I kept seeing these denim baskets on Pinterest. So I made several. They were quick and very easy to make. I need to take to work and find homes for them.

Day Three and Four

I did shoot on the appropriate days, I was so mad at myself I didn't post last night. More about that later.

Day Three - favorite shoes



Yes, I love Crocs and I had these on yesterday when I worked on the porch.

Day Four - Mother Nature Father Creator



I rarely have two lilies blooming at once. They don't last long and a third is poking its bud out of the water.

Back to being mad, I took a quick knitting lesson a couple of weeks ago. I finished the two face/spa/dish cloths and got very ambitious and started a scarf. I told my sister it was a shame I had expensive tastes no matter what my hobby. She said buy cheap.

I went to a local yarn shop, LYS, and was looking for a heavy yarn to start a scarf. Every skein I picked up was $20+. Because this is my first scarf, I know better than to spend $25 on a skein that will only be worn because its a gift and not because it is a pretty handmade scarf.

But I found a gorgeous silk in a my favorite colorway and decided the first scarf, with all it's flaws should be for me. I bought needles and proceeded to have almost 3.5 feet of scarf knitted when I realized I had some how turned the scarf and was now knitting the wrong side.

I unraveled six to eight inches of scarf last night. Luckily I figured out where to stop and put my needles in correctly. (that part wasn't taught in my class) Today I'm reknitting those unraveled inches, I'm on the phone with sis and Puff decides the shiny needles need to be played with. She's still giving me the innocent look. It took forever to get the needles and stitches in the right spot. I'm still not sure I have the stitches lined up correctly.

I'm just happy I picked a very forgiving open weave pattern. The next scarf is for sis, I hope she remembers she said go cheap. ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Things I've Learned

Today, I decided to work on a quilt I started the winter after mom passed away. I learned several things. First, I shouldn't piece anything complicated when I'm depressed. The blocks aren't the best I've ever sewn, as you can see even when I put the rows together I made constant mistakes. At the time I didn't realized I was in the state I was in. I was trying to get back to normal and thought this class would help.



Second, I've done more unsewing than sewing today. I also shouldn't work with biased edges. As I recall working on this quilt in class, a few people commented about the bias. But I was in a zombie zone and didn't think I was having problems at the moment. But now that I'm working on the final part of the quilt, I realize that I had major issues with all of the biased edges. 

I would love to start over on this quilt but I have no more fabric. :) I will make this patten again but with a totally different piecing technique. I have several more rows to put together before I decide on borders. I think I originally decided to just border in the background print.



The last thing I learned was not to wait so long between piecing and putting the top together.  I have another quilt that is partially pieced and I've lost the directions putting it together. It was the first mystery quilt class I took and I have no idea where the directions went. I thought they were with the fabric but when pulled the project out t see how much work needed to be done, there were no instructions.



As you can see, I had a lot of help from the quilt inspectors, they were really taking their job seriously. ;)

Have a great day,
Tracy

Winter break

I'm so enjoying this break. I was ready to have time off. It is hard getting adjusted to new holiday schedules. Sister has this week off and we spent some time doing last minute shopping and having lunch.

I didn't think I'd miss going to Florida as much as I do. I miss going to Tallahassee and doing the day after Christmas shopping. I miss taking a day and going to sit on the beach and reading, just soaking in the ocean sounds. But most of all I miss mom and dad and that really says it all!

The kitties and I have been taking it easy, just hanging out. Today they had an adventure and investigated the garage. Had they not knocked things over, I'd never have caught them out there. Puff did come in wearing the evidence in her whiskers. That was all the excitement we could stand today. :)

Christmas Spirit Pt 2

I've gotten there!  LOL my Interact kiddos came over and I put on the holiday music and Christmas spirit arrived. We had a nice time, they came and talked and talked. I love the randomness of their conversations. Dinner was a meal of lasagna and bread sticks. We played a quick game of Dirty Santa and then they went home. The house seemed empty and quiet then.

The kitties are getting used to having company. Asher actually came out and participated with the festivities. Puff continued to be a shy girl and stayed in the bedroom, but she at least stayed on top of the bed and not hidden underneath. I felt so blessed when I purchased my house. I knew I was supposed to use it as a place for bible study, to have my students over, and have a strong Christian influence in the lives of others.

I am such a clutterbug, that I often let that stop me from having friends over. That has to stop!!! I've made great improvements in that since moving over a year ago. But have a long way to go, two rooms are still disasters and my goal over Christmas break is to get one of them under control. I love the FlyLady technique and hope to put it into place again. It really does work!

Off to put the Christmas music on again and may wrap a few presents!

Merry Christmas!

Quick Recovery

This is Asher. He really likes to sit in my lap all evening. But because I'm on the computer tonight, he is laying as close as possible. He is a great cuddle buddy!

I'm thankful that my foot isn't as painful as I thought it would be. I thought I might have a problem after working all day and not being able to elevate it. But I can thankfully say that I've only had motrin once today and that was at work!

Now I'm waiting to watch the snow fall! I can't believe we will see snowflakes tonight or in the morning.

Have a great Tuesday,

Tracy

Today

I'm thankful for relaxed days. I enjoyed a brief nap this afternoon.

The kitties and I have enjoyed the day. The hardest thing we did was unpack a Scentsy order! Kitty Puff loves to play in the boxes and bat the packing papers around.

Thankful Day Four

I am thankful that I have company when I come home. These two are constant entertainment.

Puff is quite the lounger, she does not like to cuddle or keep you company. But she must be in the same room, she is very nosy. Asher loves to sit in your lap and watch what you are doing. He started this after Sam (mom's Rat Terrier) passed away. Sam was very much the lap dog.

 

Every evening they do the equivalent of the Basset 500, racing through the house chasing each other. They roughhouse and tumble and you often hear Puff squeal Uncle when Asher has her pinned down. He is very serious about winning.

Right now, there is a bird in the crepe myrtle bush outside the dining room window. Puff is on the attack and very seriously stalking the bird from window to window. Always something going on and I'm thankful for the company. Single life can feel very lonely sometimes.

Have a blessed day,

Tracy

Fall Break

This week is a week of rest! I'm planning on stitching and reading. I've loaded my iPad with lots of ebooks from the library. I have plenty to stitch and way too many things started. None are in the near finish stage but I am picking up me needle and hopefully making progress.

My stitching companion is waiting.