World Embroideries

Wrap update

2012-01-26T16:31:00.002-06:00

How am I doing on the wrap?

Monday: 20 rows

Tuesday: 22 rows

Wednesday: 19 rows

Thursday: 21 rows

38 rows to go!

I spent the day on Wednesday at DD2's house, after bringing DH to the airport at the crack of dawn, and picking him up again in the evening. His day went well, and mine went great. DD2 and I ran a couple of errands, looked for a knitting shop (that turned out to be out of business), went to the container store, and spent a couple of hours at the Barnes and Noble bookstore. I also filled up on grandkid hugs and kisses: I was running woefully short.

When we arrived home and turned into our alley at home, we spotted an animal. We were a little shocked to see it was a fox! It was a very pretty animal, and looked very healthy. I didn't get a chance to take a picture because I was driving, and since it was so dark outside I don't know if a picture would have turned out. There are forest preserves in the area, but not right next door so I am thinking it is living around here? We had an opossum in the yard when the girls were little... However, I have noticed that the baby bunny population in the neighborhood is way down.

My Beading Heart

2012-01-23T20:31:00.002-06:00

In January we had such a pretty project for the Homewood Guild. It is just red and white, but I think DMC 321 is my favorite red. There are three different kinds of beads, plus a couple of treasures. I really like how this is turning out.

I worked on this so long the other day that my hand got sore. I don't work on canvas very often, and I have been knitting more than stitching, so I think my hand is out of shape. I worked on it today for quite a while, and my hand is fine, but I was doing the beads. All the beads are stitched down, and then held tightly with another stitch lassoing the bead down.

I got quite a bit done today... I am getting toward the end of knitting the wrap for my daughter's Christmas present (about time, right?). I figured out that if I knit 20 rows every day I will be done with the knitting in less than a week! I had 16 rows knit by 10:30 this morning, so it is very doable. I did finish my assignment tonight, and I had time to knit several more rows, however, even though I brought 5 colors, I did not bring the one I needed. I was all upset that I would be wasting time, but I decided to start weaving in the ends, so the time was not wasted at all! I am glad to see too, that the weaving will not take 3 days, as I was fearing.

The edging may take 3 days, however. I will let you know.

TAST week 3

2012-01-23T19:42:00.002-06:00

The stitch this past week was feather stitch. There is so much you can do with that one!

I must admit I cheated a little bit, and copied the fish from another participant... I may still add another row. You can see where there are fish started "tessellating" with the other row. I wanted to work the next row with purple pearl, but I didn't have purple #8, only #12, and it wouldn't match. I will look for some purple and add a row if I can find some.

On the right side, you can see a little "picket fence" buttonhole stitch by the flower/eyelet. I do like how that turned out... it is just a couple of stitches of sparkly thread.

The other feather stitch motif is very delicate. It is a combination of feather stitch and french knots that looks like a vine with roses on it.

There is a little more room in the middle for another variation... I would love to do a simple back and forth stitch with a wider fiber... like a silk ribbon. I'm afraid I am going to have to go on an expedition into my stash room. If I don't come back by tomorrow, send help!

Pincushion Parade

2012-01-19T08:05:00.004-06:00

The blogger at Love Laugh Quilt is hosting a Pincushion Parade this week, and invited people to share their pincushions and link back to her blog posting here. Pincushions are small, easy to finish, and just the right size to try out a new technique or two... I have quite a few. Two of my treasures are from friends; the turquoise emery is from Moonsilk Stitches (my Christmas present this year) and the silk with bullion stitches is from Paula, a blog buddy in Australia.

In this set, we have a felt pincushion on a crystal pedestal. It was a summer guild project a couple of years ago. I still like how it turned out. The pink circle is my temari pincushion: the base of it is a CD. This is the one that sits on the arm of my chair all the time. The Hope pincushion commemorates surviving breast cancer. I cannot remember exactly, but I think I won the kit at guild, and then stitched it.

The blackwork pincushion here I submitted as one of my additional techniques for my juried application to join a guild, so it is certainly over 25 years old. (The guild no longer juries applications.) [The purple circles are from an applique UFO which is almost that old as well.] The strawberry emery was from a very complete kit, which included everything to finish the project, including the emery! The flower on the left side is from a felted pincushion. There is no sewing in this one at all, I just started with a ball of fluff and ended up with this. This was one of my technique experiments, and was a lot of fun.

The three little guys on the right were an experiment as well. I was planning on giving pincushions to friends at Christmas, but was not happy enough with any of these to give them as gifts. There's a snowman, a crown, and a rabbit in a top hat. The ideas are cute enough, but they did not turn out as cute as I would have liked.

I hope you enjoyed the parade!

TAST week 2

2012-01-16T08:04:00.002-06:00

The TAST stitch for this past week was the Buttonhole Stitch. I did 4 little samples, one even on top and bottom with a pearl cotton, 2 threads between stitches; one with the legs stepping up and down with a silk floss; one with the header undulating, with another silk floss; and a buttonhole eyelet with pearl cotton #8.

I think I have to do one more sample, just to balance out what I have here... one horizontal line of stitching sort of wrapping around or framing the eyelet. The challenge will be picking the right color. I am trying to let the fly stitches guide the color selection.

I looked through my metallic/silk drawer, and found a couple of appropriate threads, and through my pearl cotton #8 drawer, and found a couple more. I should be set for threads now.

I really enjoyed working these stitches, and I'm excited to see what the next stitch is. I'm also working on the header, working on pricking my pattern so I can use the powdered charcoal to transfer the lines to the linen. I will try to take pictures of the process. There will be room at the top for the date and some initials too.

TAST week 1

2012-01-11T08:37:00.002-06:00

I finally got my sampler set up, and the stitching done for the first week of TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday). You can read all about it here.

These are the colors I pulled from my silk box. The skein on the left is my inspiration; all the colors are being picked to coordinate with that skein. It is Waterlilies (silk floss) in the Tahiti colorway. I still want to look at my Pearl #8 drawer to see what colors I can find there.

Here are more colors:

The challenge is weekly, continuing for a year, so I think there will be opportunity to use most of these colors.

I finally found a piece of material, got the basting in, and did the first week stitch: Fly stitch. You can see that I left some room for a header/title. I didn't do too much exploring on the stitch this week, mostly because I was already behind, but I have some good ideas for the stitch for this week: stay tuned!

Saturday in the City

2012-01-10T15:42:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday, DH and I decided to go into the city. I wanted some origami paper; DD1 had given me a globe origami book because the pictures reminded her of temari, but each globe takes at least 30 sheets or origami paper, and I had given mine away when I taught a girl's club several years ago. So I need some paper.

(Luckily, DD1 was free on Saturday too, so she came out and bummed around town with us. It was wonderful to spend the day with her!)

This is a little shop in her neighborhood. We didn't go in, but I wanted to. I love the sign in the window "Stuff for Sale Here." I also got a kick out of the mat on the sidewalk with the doggie sleeping on it. I could tell it was his regular spot. Maybe next time we are in the area... there is a very nice candy store next door that carries "no sugar added" chocolates that DH can eat, so we will be back.

I thought we could go to Togouri Mercantile, where I got most of my Japanese temari books for the origami paper. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were closed for inventory! I was pretty bummed. That's the second time in a row that my plans in Chicago were a "no-go" because I didn't call ahead.

We managed to find something to do, though. We ended up going to the Container Store, and Whole Foods. At the container store, I finally found a small case for knitting accessories. I had bought something at a grocery store with no dividers (big enough to hold knitting needles), and something at a hardware store (big enough to hold crochet hooks) but both of those were really too big to put in a knitting bag. The one I got on Saturday has a space for a small scissors, enough room for crochet hooks, and I can even squeeze a couple of DPN (double point needles) in in case of an emergency. I knew if I kept looking, I would eventually find the exact thing I needed.

Whole Foods is always fun too. I have been buying hand made soap there. It is not cheap, but the bar we are using now has lasted for 6 months, and I love the smell. It is a small indulgence. I also bought some beans and lentils to make soup.

For supper we ended up in "little Vietnam" at the Tank Noodle Restaurant. DD1 and C had taken me there on Mother's day this year, and I wanted DH to experience it as well. As the name of the restaurant says, most of the dishes are huge bowls of soup, with noodles and other flavors. I ordered dumplings, DH had meat-balls, and DD1 had a curry flavored soup. I couldn't finish mine, but I did eat all the dumplings and all the chicken. It was yummy!

I did finish another hat and a pair of mitts for DD2:

Don't you love all the different buttons?

I have been plugging away at the wrap for DD1, and I am over 1/2 way with the knitting, but most of the time this week I have been reading Dorothy Sayers mystery novels. I got all but 1 for my Nook (and all but one of those was free!!!): Unnatural Death, The Unpleasantness at Bellona Club, Murder Must Advertise, Whose Body, Strong Poison, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon. I am still missing Have His Carcass. I really like these mysteries, and I tend to re-read them. I finished one at midnight last night, and will read Busman's Honeymoon today.

My favorite author (Diana Gabaldon) posted a review yesterday of her favorite author; I couldn't find the first book in that series for the Nook, so I bought a used paperback copy, just to see if I like it. I can't wait until it gets here... a new series is always so exciting!

Textile Warehouse

2012-01-06T11:31:00.002-06:00

The Groupon Coupon for Textile Warehouse is available! You can find the link here. I got mine!

Let me know if you want to ride together.

The winter that was not

2012-01-05T10:25:00.002-06:00

I have had a couple of quiet days, the kids went back home, DH went back to work, and Jake and I have been hanging out. DD2 requested a hat and a pair of the Betty's Button Mitts, the hat is done except for stitching the flower on, the left mitt is done except for adding the buttons, and the right mitt is 1/2 way crocheted. Next will be the fun of picking out buttons from my Textile Warehouse stash. I did have an unhappy surprise last night with the yarn I was using... I came to a knot in the yarn and then the next section of yarn had only 2 plies rather than 3. I cut off the offending portion, and wound it into a little ball; there are at least 10 to 20 yards of the 2 ply stuff. (!?) I have another skein of the same thread for a different project, so I will checking out the quality of that skein too. I really like the yarn, but I will not be using it if it seems to be poor quality.

Not a lot of progress yet on DD1's wrap, or C's smocked outfit, but both items are still on the front burner. I am leaving as soon as this is posted to buy a new Ott-light. Mine seems to have given up the ghost. I thought at first it was just the bulb, but the bulb from DH's light didn't work in mine either. You cannot blame the light for giving up, it has been used 8 to 16 hours a day for (maybe) ten years? I can't be without my light; fortunately it seems to be on sale today.

The 1st through 4th Days of Christmas

2011-12-29T20:26:00.002-06:00

Sorry to have been missing in action. DH is home on vacation, DD2 and P & C are here, so there is not a lot of extra time. We are enjoying everyone's company, though.

P did not have a wonderful Christmas day. He had a touch of something, and spent the day with a bucket within reach... we ended up taking him to the emergency room on Christmas night before his stomach settled down. He did manage a couple of smiles the night before when he opened his presents, but didn't feel well enough to enjoy playing with them until the 26th. He is back to normal now!

I did not get either of the presents done that I was working on before Christmas. DD1 had found a wrap on Etsy that she fell in love with, and sent me the link, (about 10 days before Christmas!). I managed to find a kit for this, and had a few pipe dreams that I would be able to finish it... but here we are a week later, and I am still not even 1/2 way. It is turning out lovely though, and she was thrilled that I had found the exact colors.

The other project is a smocked outfit for C... not a dress (a smocked dress would not be her style at all!) but a Princess Jasmine outfit. That too is far from being done, but I was able to finally get all the pleating done, after fighting with my pleater. After a personal lesson from my friend Carol, I got the pleater to work, and I have about 1/2 the smocking done.

The summer before last I had smocked the front of a dress for C, but had never finished the rest of the project, and then she grew so much that I would not be able to use the finished embroidery for a dress for her. I had showed her the smocking, and she remembered it! Every couple of months she would ask if I had finished the dress. Again, Carol to the rescue! She suggested taking the finished smocking, and making a pillow out of it.

C loves it! (Do you recognize the trim I got from the Textile Warehouse?) My last image of her on Christmas night was her hugging the pillow on her way to bed (warms the cockles of a grandma's heart).

Another of her presents was a cooking kit with a mixing spoon, tiny cupcake pans, an apron, a cupcake stand, etc., so of course we had to use it.

There was enough batter to make some big cupcakes too, and you can see they were good!

We tried to go to the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday... big mistake. There were NO parking spots anywhere in the region, and the thought of all those people together in one place was giving me fits. DH thinks I should have known better than to even try! I am going to call next week to see if they are going to be just as busy then too... we might try again.

P.S.

2011-12-22T10:40:00.002-06:00

Hello, just a note. I meant to mention yesterday that when we were at the Textile Warehouse, the check-out person mentioned they were planning to offer another Groupon Coupon opportunity in January! I am planning to keep an eye out for that, and would be happy to organize an expedition for anyone who takes advantage of that (or who would just like to explore textiles in Chicago).

Week in Review

2011-12-21T13:13:00.002-06:00

I'm sorry it has been so long since I posted. I am working all out on a couple of Christmas presents, and I know that one will not get done, and the other is iffy too. So I have been "working my fingers to the bone" (and enjoying it) but a lot of other stuff is getting left behind, like blogging, and reading other blogs.

A week ago Monday Karen and I went to the Textile Warehouse in Chicago. I had a "Groupon" coupon that was about to expire, and Karen agreed to ride with me. What an adventure! The warehouse is 3 floors packed with fabric: after five, silks, upholstery, curtain, suitings, and that was just on the main floor. Upstairs were mostly home decorating fabrics, nicely displayed in some of the rooms, but just stacked on each other in other rooms. In the basement (the 3rd floor) there were racks and racks of full bolts of lining, and satins, and a few double knit, and etc. Karen and I were wondering how long some of the items had been there!

In one of the rooms on the main floor they had stacks of trims, at not outrageous prices. I picked up a couple that coordinated with each other, and I am thinking of a bag.

This trim reminded me so much of the fringe around the bottom of our sofa in the late 50s and early 60s (except for the color... the sofa was what you might call a bright mauve).

One of the most exciting discoveries we made was in the button department. One of the staff assured us that the buttons were only a couple of cents each, so I started looking for 5/8ths buttons for the button mitts that I made for presents this past year. We got a little carried away:

When I went to check out we had to get these priced by a different person from the cutting table. The gentleman counted out 100, and still had 1 and 1/2 times as much in the box. He calculated I had 250 buttons in all, and gave me a price of (wait for it) $19!!!! I was jumping for joy! That is enough for more than a dozen pairs of mitts. They are very cool buttons too.

A week ago yesterday we had our party for Coffee Break Bible study. We went to Brenda's house to see her decorations... they were amazing. This is her husband's Christmas Harley Davidson Village display. His mom used to give him an item each year.

Brenda collects the little plastic, inexpensive, nativities. Each one by itself looks tacky (I have a couple myself, and I love them), but together they make a very nice display.

This is her main creche with all the characters. It would be fun to look at all these, but we couldn't take the time... there was too much to look at.

She had about a dozen Christmas trees decorated, and every room was beautiful and interesting. Thank you Brenda for sharing your home with us!

Then this past Saturday we went to the Denver and the Mile High Orchestra Christmas concert. (This is actually quite a good picture, compared to my usual concert pictures, don't you think?) There were two trumpets, a trombone, and 2 saxophones, a guitar, a very good bass player, and a drummer.

I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had known what type of music to expect. A Christmas concert to me usually means traditional carols. This was very jazzy, with quite a bit of "White Christmas" and "Here comes Santa Claus" songs. DH, and the rest of the group we were with enjoyed it a lot, and I did too, once I got over the disappointment of no carols.

We stopped for "coffee" afterwards, but we all ended up having a late supper. It was a lot of fun.

DH is on vacation this week, so we are enjoying our time together. I better run now though, I have presents to work on! (Pictures of the projects next week, I promise, even if they are not done!)

Sunday School Program

2011-12-16T14:18:00.004-06:00

This past Sunday evening we had our Sunday School program, and C participated. (She has grown out of the sheep costume, so she was a donkey, just like last year.) In this picture the shepherds are discussing politics before the angels appear... All the kids said their lines without stumbling or hesitating (or freezing) and the stories were interesting and relevant. It was a very nice program.

Here are the actors preparing for the show, "getting into character" (or goofing off a little bit). They are all such good kids!

Here's the whole group singing. (This was the most entertaining part, the sheep were jumping up and down off the step, and the whole audience was giggling at them. It was just the sheep, both the donkey and Mary were singing away, and the sheep were jiggling all over the place.)

I have one more current post, and then I will post the advent pages I finished in the last year while I am busy with Christmas stitching. I met my goal of stitching more than one this past year, but I will have to look up where I left off posting about them. See you soon!

Chicago, again

2011-12-14T12:08:00.003-06:00

On Saturday our guild field-trip was scheduled to go down-town to the same architectural tour I went on last summer. We saw most of the same things, but it was still a lot of fun.

Since it gets dark so quickly now, we started at the park. This is the first thing we saw when we emerged from the dungeons (relatively warm dungeons) of the train station. It was a beautiful sunny day, but cold!

We went to Park Grill (under the Bean, facing the ice rink) for lunch. This is our group. I had a brie salad that was delicious. You can see we are having a lot of fun.

The restaurant was very festive, and we were watching the skaters out of the window. I am disappointed in all my pictures, because you completely loose the effect of the skating: I should have taken a short video, and embedded it here. Every time I glanced toward the rink it grabbed my attention because skating is an unusual motion from what we are used to. The gliding is a lot of fun.

We didn't spend too long in the park because of the temperature, but we saw quite a bit because the trees do not have their leaves on. This is the Bean from an unusual angle. From here it looks more like an egg! The actual name is Cloud Gate; isn't the sky gorgeous?

The water in the Crown Fountain was turned off, of course, but the pictures are still active. We saw two different portraits during our walk in the park.

(I don't know if I would like to see my face 50 feet tall!)

We had to walk into the wind to get to the Palmer House and the Empire room, still just as lovely as ever. I didn't take any new pictures there. We were able to step into the building that formerly housed Peacock Jewelers. I think this ceiling is lovely.

I had never seen the Fields (Macy's) decorated windows for Christmas, so that was one of my goals. I really didn't know what to expect. It was a very festive atmosphere, with people streaming down the side walk. The theme of the windows was "Make-A-Wish" and I felt it was pretty commercial; I don't know if that is how it always is. The windows themselves were very pretty.

These are above the section of sidewalk where the windows are. I kind of wished they were playing some trumpet Christmas music.

We didn't spend too much time in Macy's. The perfume department was a little overpowering for people with allergies. But the Civic center did not disappoint.

(I wonder if anyone would mind if you took rubbings of these?) Several of us were commenting on what fun it would be to use these as an inspiration for embroideries. There are plenty more pictures in my Flickr account.

This was the end of the day, and from the Civic Center we got a very nice view of Millennium Park: Pritzker Pavilion, the Bean (Cloud Gate), and the roof of the new addition to the Art Institute.

The nice part was, we didn't even have to go outside to get back to the train. We were all quite grateful for the comfortable, warm train back home.

More pictures at Marj's blog here, and the HEG blog, here.

Christmas Party and presents

2011-12-12T15:13:00.003-06:00

I have been admonished (by my mom) that I am falling behind on my blogging. She is right, I am almost a week behind on what is going on.

Our EGA guild has a Christmas party on the first Tuesday of December every year; we go to the same place, we have the same menu, we play the same games, and every year it is what kicks off the Christmas season for me. Before I went to the party, I had very little Christmas spirit, when I got back, I was in the mood to shop, and I got most of my shopping done in the next couple of days.

Good friends exchange gifts at the party, and I got some lovely things:

From Marj I got this turquoise emery with my initial.

From Jamee I got this lovely Brazilian embroidery picture:

And from Betti I got this ornament that expresses my feelings about the holiday perfectly:

My secret stitcher gave me a basket with all kinds of presents: these Christmas towels

and all kinds of goodies: lotion, ornament patterns, a family history book, a candle, a snowman plate, a temari stand, and some winter kleenex.

I gave my friends fingerless mitts, Steampunk style. These were a lot of fun to make. So far I have given away 5 pairs, and kept one pair for myself. I also gave my secret stitcher a pair of the mitts, a pair of scissors, and a temari ball.

The food is an Italian buffet with salads, pastas, and pizza; with an ice cream sundae buffet for dessert. I had a wonderful time, and came home in a good mood.

The other thing that helped with my Christmas spirit last week was a dusting of snow. I'm not loving our cold, though.

Test Stitching

2011-12-08T13:05:00.002-06:00

Last year, Debi from Temari Train... of Thought asked for someone to test her instructions for a couple of temari patterns she was working on. I jumped at the chance, and she sent the instructions for this pattern. It was so much fun to stitch!

The biggest problem is that I was asked not to share it until the pattern had been published. For a while it was going to be in a book, but plans have changed, and Debi is publishing these on her blog. Today she talked about this one, so now I can finally show mine. (This picture was taken in July last year.)

This makes me feel like picking up my temari needle and getting to work, but I have Christmas stitching to work on. Hopefully the feeling will not have left by the time I get done with my projects.

Knitting progress

2011-12-06T15:23:00.002-06:00

I taught myself to knit entrelac from a book I got out of the library. I made this little kerchief in entrelac, so I didn't have to do any triangles until the final edge. I like how the colors worked on this, and I have enough yarn to make another one like this.

I have a tub o' flowers, getting ready for the hydrangea purse.

The worst thing about the flowers is that when you get done knitting, you have 8 (!) tails to sew in. The knitting is fun, but threading your needle 8 times in a row for each flower gets a little tedious.

I have 28 flowers done, only 17 to go!

Double Knitting

2011-12-02T14:36:00.003-06:00

I finished my double knit scarf, and I am very happy with it. I was thinking I was going to give it to someone for a Christmas present, but I put it on over my coat to check the length, that that was it. I fell in love with it, and decided it was not going to go anywhere.

The end (on the right) is finished with the kitchener stitch. It is supposed to mimic stockinette stitch by sewing. Mine did not turn out quite right, it looks like garter stitch, but I think I know what I did wrong. No one will notice, though, from farther than 3 feet away.

I don't have enough yarn left over to make the bubble scarf, but I did find something nice to do with it... stay tuned!

Completed Project--bathrobes

2011-11-28T10:46:00.002-06:00

Who wouldn't love to sew for these two sweeties? I bought the peace sign fleece for C several months ago. When I bought it, the clerk mentioned that it would make a mountain of flooshies (lint) when I cut it; I kept thinking about that, and putting off starting on the project. Once I cut into it, it only took a couple of hours to finish the whole thing; her's was done before Thanksgiving. The plain tan fabric on P's robe is what I bought to line the bass cover. I had so much left over I thought I could get his whole bathrobe out of what I had left; but it was in too many odd shaped pieces, so I picked up the puppy paw-print fleece so I could cut out the bigger pieces I needed. I still have a pile of both types of fabric... I may have to make a couple of floor pillows. (They had to put off leaving for home for a few minutes on Sunday so I could finish the belt on P's robe.)

I had made bathrobes for the whole family when P was about 4 years old... P's and daddy's were Da Bears; and momma's was pink. C was too small for a bathrobe, so that is why her's was a priority. P grew out of his some time ago, but momma still wears hers.

C lost a tooth on Saturday night, and the Tooth Fairy came... inflation sure has hit hard since I was loosing teeth!

We took them home yesterday after a stay of 5 days. The house sure does seem quiet!

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-25T19:03:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving day was wonderful!

Our menu was:

Turkey

gravy

Stuffing,

pecan pie

rutabegas (and this ended my responsibility)

Mac and cheese

green bean casserole

cranberry bread pudding

biscuits

candied sweet potatoes

black-eyed peas

2 pumpkin pies, (one with and one without added sugar)

corn casserole (C's homework found out this was the favorite)

Mashed potatoes with and without horseradish

deviled eggs

eggnog (also known as "snowman juice")

I was going to take pictures of the food, but the turkey took an extra hour to cook and we couldn't wait to dig in. I cannot seem to get that right. This year it was an hour late, last year was an hour early, and the year before that it was late too... and the gravy was lumpy. But P summed it up best:

It may not be perfect, but it is Awesome!

Here is the cook "C" and DD1 modeling her new hat:

(I knit that scarf several years ago.)

Thank you J & C for the most relaxing Thanksgiving day I have had in years. As I said last night C, you can come and cook any time you want to! You are one of the things I am thankful for.

Cute Christmas ornaments

2011-11-23T10:21:00.002-06:00

In my Homewood Guild we had a snowflake ornament workshop in October, and I finished 3 ornaments yesterday. I like how they turned out.

The first one is stitched with needlepoint wool. I like the soft look of it. The center one was stitched with Pearl #5, and it looks very chunky. The right hand one was stitched with "Goldrush" metallic. It was a little thick for this use as well.

Here are the reverse sides, with 3 different designs. I just made them up as I went along.

We had a lot of fun during the meeting with these ornaments.

I am excited that Sharon Boggins from Pintangle is going to be running "Take A Stitch Tuesday" (TAST) again next year. Each Tuesday she will post an embroidery stitch and instructions on her blog, and then everyone participating can work on that stitch and variations, and post their results to share. She did it several years ago, and I did not have the time to participate then. Now, since I do have the time, I think I am going to join in. I am tentatively planning on a band sampler.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I am so grateful for family, and for my grandkids (and my home, and good food, and DH... ). The family is all going to be here tomorrow, so it should be a lot of fun. I hope I remember to take pictures.

Knitting

2011-11-22T13:50:00.001-06:00

Here is the second one of my Hydrangea blossom. I was pleased with how it felted, until I compared it with the first flower. They are different brands of yarn, so the pink is quite a bit fuzzier, and is still not as small as the first one. It should be felted again, and will turn out fine.

It is going to be a little confusing to keep track of all the flowers for this project. There are 3 different sizes of flowers, and 5 different colors. The pattern calls for 5, 2, 2, 2, and 2 flowers from the different colors, in the different sizes. That gives a total of 39 flowers, with 15 of them being the same color. I am thinking of doing 3 in each color, in each size. That gives 45 flowers in all. They go very quick... less than an hour per flower for the knitting. Then of course you have to sew in all the ends. Here you can see the whole process. The center top is a finished flower after the ends are sewn in, before it is felted, and to the right you see two finished flowers, before the ends are stitched in. Here also you can see 3 of the 5 colors.

I have a knitting dilemma. I have knit a complete repeat of the color in my variegated yarn for my paintbox scarf. The pattern calls for 30 boxes; I have 26. (It is 57 inches long.) I keep hoping someone will tell me "Oh, 57 inches is plenty long enough for a scarf!" I was hoping to get 2 scarves out of these yarns: I have another double-knit pattern called bubbles that calls for the same yarn. If I keep going with my paintbox pattern I don't think I will have enough yarn to do the second scarf. I can make the second scarf a little narrower, so I might not need quite as much yardage to get a good length. So that is the only reason the paintbox scarf is not done.

I am getting closer and closer to finishing my lacy shawl. The biggest challenge for that is finding a big enough place to do the blocking once I bind off. I think I have been working on this for at least 5 months. I think I am going to miss it when it is done. I do have a plan for that time slot as soon as it is finished.

Monday, Monday...

2011-11-14T13:18:00.002-06:00

Nothing big to share today, but a bunch of little things.

DD1 came and spent the day on Saturday, helping me clean to get ready for Thanksgiving. I am Very thankful for her help, and the kitchen looks great! I got a good start on the dining room today too, so things are progressing. DD1's SO "C" (got that?) is going to do most of the cooking for Thanksgiving, so we want to have a clear field of operations for him.

Once the dining room was cleared out, I was able to look at the fleece I had left over from the bass cover. I was planning on making a bathrobe for P with the remnants from that because he has grown out of the bathrobe I made him several years ago. I think I have enough square inches of fleece to make the pattern (although he is a lot taller than I thought), but I cannot get the pieces out without too many seams, so I will have to buy some more material. Now I have the fleece out for C's bathrobe, so the next step there is to pin down the pattern and cut it out.

Here are two test flowers for my hydrangea purse:

These are both the same pattern, with the same size of yarn. The top one is felted, the bottom one, it turns out, is acrylic, which didn't do anything when I tried to felt it. It took about 3 minutes to felt the top little flower, and I was able to do it in my hands, just scrubbing it together, so that is going to be a fun way to do the felting. One down, 26 to go! LOL (The background is one of the fleece remnants.)

When I got the mail in, this had arrived:

I have bunches and bunches of sock yarn, and no plans (or even ideas) for what to do with it. (I don't wear traditional socks.) The contents of the book list Hats and Caps, Mitts, Gloves, and Cuffs, Socks, Scarves and Neck Warmers, Shawls, shrugs, Knits for kids and Doll clothes, Bags and purses, Wearables, and For the home. That should keep me busy for a while!

I stitched a couple of snowflakes for guild tonight, but I still have to put those together.

Here's my buddy, trying to be good, sort of.

His name is Jake. I am being much too active today for his routine, which calls for a 6 hour nap around now. In the picture he is asking for a cuddle without being too obvious about it.

All I have left on the hat for DD1 is the brim, so that is coming along nicely as well. I better get busy!

Stitching Bloggers Question (SBQ)

2011-11-09T13:25:00.004-06:00

This question was on a blog I read, she will be publishing a question for every month.

OK - here is the November SBQ:

What's your favorite color of thread? Pick just one. Why do you like it?

I have been thinking about this question a lot. First I thought I would pick a variegated floss. My favorite was a turquoise base with bright yellow, coral, and blues... but then I read the question again, and I can only pick one color... not one floss.

I think if I could only have one, it would have to be red. I always feel a deep satisfaction when I finish a piece with red.

I have to make a list of projects, so I can get them done.

crochet hat for DD1

hydrangea bag

lacy scarf

paintbox scarf

2 bathrobes

C-pap pads (done)

c-pap chin strap

Christmas presents (crochet done...)

Holland Springtime Mandala

SAL temari

exchange temari

12 season flower temari

That should keep me out of trouble for a while... don't you think?! I better get busy.

I have decided not to work any longer on the toothbrush rug. It is not going to fit in the location I had planned for it (the door catches on it when it opens and closes!) :-( I will use the rest of my strips for dining room chair pads.

Fiber Festival

2011-11-07T09:42:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful time on Friday! The traffic was not fun, but the trip itself, even so, was worth it. The Botanic Gardens are such a beautiful setting! The courtyard of the building the show was in has bonzai trees on display. I thought this one was so beautiful with the fall colors!

Inside this was one of the hallways with displays. Later we were chatting with one of the hostesses, and she commented on how the beauty of the setting enhances the quilts too.

We did get a chance to do quite a bit of shopping. Each of the three guilds represented had an area that had things to buy from their specialty. I was totally captured by the beauty of a hand dyed silk shawl. I tried it on, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I took it off and put it back on the rack. It was a gorgeous, flowing aqua, and the artist showed me a new way to tie knots in the corners to make a sort of a shrug.

I didn't buy it.

The quilts were the most interesting to look at. I love the colors in this leaf quilt, and the different sorts of leaves, several different species of oaks, and ginkgo and maple leaves. This was a big quilt.

The best way to look at the woven stuff was to look at what was for sale. They had some beautiful things too. The weaving guild had the best participation opportunity. They were teaching weaving on small drinking straw looms.

I started a bracelet, and I will show you when I get it finished. They had tubs of donated yarn for people to choose colors from... Karen and I had fun picking out different theme colors and textures.

When we were done looking at the show we took a couple of minutes to walk around in the gardens. There is beauty around every corner and such different things to look at. We walked to the Japanese garden. Here is the group we were with:

Karen, Elizabeth, and Cathy. You can see that it was chilly in the breeze, but in the sheltered areas it was lovely.

This is a longer view of the Japanese Garden.

Here is a vista across one of the waterways. If you enlarge the picture, you can see a heron stalking along the hillside.

This is from the Waterfall garden. Here too, every couple of steps brought you to another view of a waterfall, each one different, and each one lovely. I took tons of pictures.

Going home was an adventure... it took 2 hours, and we thought we were lucky it didn't take longer. Our GPS ("Susie") took us through the highways and byways on the way home, but we made it!

It was a lovely day.

Knitty outings

2011-11-04T08:07:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, the knitting group I belong to went out for Brunch to a tea room in Crown Point. The food was very good:

and we had a wonderful time together, but the whole experience was a little disappointing, because the service was... grumpy. We did not feel welcomed at the shop. There are pictures on the flickr site, if you are interested. I didn't post them here, because none of them is very flattering. We were having too much fun.

The rest of the day was very relaxing though, and I got a lot of progress made on the second of the two baby blankets I am trimming for this weekend. I think I may be able to finish them by tomorrow!

One blue trimmed one, one pink trimmed one. The blue one is done, the pink one is 3/4 done.

There would be no question about finishing it today, except that I am going on another outing. Several guild members are going to the Fine Art of Fiber show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Four of us are driving up to the gardens, and plan to spend the afternoon immersed in the fiber arts. I am really looking forward to it! Pictures next time.

Halloween Reflections

2011-10-31T10:20:00.002-05:00

I did not go Trick or Treating when I was a child. We "celebrated" Reformation day, which always seemed kind of a jip, because there usually was no candy involved. Other than that, I really didn't mind too much. Now, it seems that even grown-ups play Halloween. We went to what was for us kind of an upscale restaurant, and all the staff was dressed up in costumes. We didn't pay too much attention until our waiter came to take our order:

(I asked permission to take a picture, and he struck a pose, but my camera was too slow, and I missed it!) There were others that I didn't get pictures of: Roy Orbison (complete with a large acoustic guitar), a ballerina, a pirate, a red-neck (the costume was so good, we were glad he was not our waiter), a 1800s "gentleman," and a cup of jo. It was entertaining.

Our food was good. DH had the steak and shrimp:

I had the paella:

I ordered it because the paella we had down town this summer was not the dish I was familiar with... neither was this. This was closer, but the sausage was so spicy I could not eat very much. I did pack most of this and bring it home. I will eat the seafood; that was delicious.

I do know a couple more people who like to dress up for Halloween:

P is Darth Vader... check out the eyes! C is a "Spanish Princess" (also known as a flamenco dancer). She is very proud that she has high heels, and is planning on continuing to wear them after the holiday.

I better go get busy. DH wants me to make a pad for his CPAP machine. I promised DD2 that I would make two baby blankets by the weekend. And I owe C a home-made bathrobe for her birthday (which was two weeks ago) (bad grandma!). So what I have I been doing this morning? Knitting!

Talk to you later!

Odds and Ends

2011-10-28T08:07:00.002-05:00

Well, I had hoped to have a little finish to show you today, but it didn't happen. So here is my work in progress. This is the "Paintbox Scarf" that I mentioned a little while back, and this is my progress on it so far. I am really enjoying knitting this. It is not so complicated that I have to have complete silence when I am working on it, but it is involved enough so that it is not boring. I am enjoying the color changes. By the time I get tired of one color, another one starts appearing. I must say, though, I am not crazy about the mustard yellow. (It will change soon enough.)

This is the other side... don't pay any attention to the edges on the purple section. That is where I started, but the edges are getting better and better as I go along.

I was given a box full of yarn, all of it wool! There are at least 1/2 a dozen cones like the green (all in guy colors), a couple of cones of boucle, several spools of the white, in 2 and in 3 ply, and 2 spools like the mohair on the left. I have plans for that one!

Any suggestions for what to do with them? They are not soft and cuddly. I think they were originally for weaving. If I cannot think of projects, they will be very gratefully used to wrap temari.

Thank you Lore (and Jane)!

Dorky new hat

2011-10-25T08:28:00.002-05:00

I was reading blogs, and found a pattern for a hat made with bulky yarn on the Purl Soho website, and since I happened to have a lump of bulky yarn sitting on my footstool, I decided to make it. As usual, I was running out of yarn, but ended up with about 24 inches of the blue left over at the end. (The green is from my floor doily.)

I am having issues with my gauge... this hat turned out way too big for me. It fits DH, but he says it looks dorky. It is Very Warm, so if you need a warm hat, and don't mind looking (a little) dorky, let me know, and it is yours. If no one chimes in, it will go to a charity.

Who knows, if this is a cold winter, I may make this again with new yarn and smaller needles, because I like it!

Temari SAL, Anne W

2011-10-21T08:40:00.002-05:00

I finished this temari this week, and I really like it. It was a stitch-a-long (SAL) through Talk Temari lead by Anne. Thank you Anne!, it was a very fun stitch.

I didn't follow the color recommendations exactly, because I thought it would look nice in flower garden colors, with the obi being the flowers, and all the other stitching being the greenery. There is a little metallic on it, but even in person it is hard to see.

Check out the pole!

You can see a guild project I am working on here.

Cozy shawl

2011-10-19T11:41:00.002-05:00

I recently subscribed to Interweave Knit, and Interweave Crochet. I always like those magazines when I scan them at the store, so I was interested to see what the new patterns would look like (plus, I got quite a good deal).

There was a shawl in bulky yarn, knit in a lace pattern in the first issue of Knit that I received. With the recommended yarn, it was going to be pretty expensive, just for fun, but JoAnn had a pencil roving that looked like it might substitute. Of course, I didn't stop to knit a swatch, because my yardage was going to be close, and of course, once I started knitting I decided that by following the pattern I was going to get a shawl that was too small. First of all, I knew I was going to have to buy another skein of yarn. I stopped in at a different JoAnn's, and found the yarn, but in a different dye lot. I decided to take a chance, and pick it up... if it was too different I would be able to return it. (It was fine, I can't tell the difference with the other 2 skeins I had.)

Then I decided to add in extra rows in the middle section, repeating the 2 offset rows of leaves one more time. Of course, without a pattern for guidance, you can see here that it did not turn out perfectly symmetrical:

But when I am wearing it, I don't think anyone will be able to tell.

Isn't it pretty? It is the perfect size, too, to drape over my shoulders when I am sitting in my stitchy chair. I picked the color to go with jeans. It only took a couple of days to knit, even with all my uncertainty.

When I finished it DH admired it, and said "I thought knitting big things took a long time. Didn't you just start that?" (He pays attention!) I didn't think it was going to go quite that quickly, but the people from knitting group all said "With that bulky yarn, it didn't take too long, did it?"

So I started a project I picked up this summer, with double knitting, called Paintbox Scarf. That is going to take a while. (Click the link to see a picture.) My yarn started with the violet, and I am moving into purple! It is really fun to watch the colors change.

Busy Friday

2011-10-17T12:04:00.003-05:00

My Friday was very busy, but I only got a couple of pictures, that really didn't have anything to do with the day.

In the morning I was so wound up about the day, that I was not successful in completing my shawl knitting. I ran into a mistake in the first row and did not take the time to fix it. I left my knitting knowing I would have to tink (knit backwards) before I could go forwards again. (You will be happy to know that I picked the shawl up again this morning, and it only took about 5 minutes to get back on track. I was working on the pattern change-over, the hardest row, but I could take out all my incorrect work, because that is also the row where I put in my life-line.)

After that fiasco, I worked in our church pantry, packing bags for Saturday. We serve 130 families a week in the village our church is in. Some of the bags were a little light. Most of the food we give comes from the Chicago Food Depository, and even their inventory is low. If you have a chance to support your local pantry, or even a regional food depository, please do! It is a very rewarding service to the community. Working at the pantry is fun. The company is good, and we always tell new volunteers that it saves them money as well: you get a very good work-out without needing a gym membership.

I had to leave the pantry just a little early to join Barb, Karen, and Helen on a field trip for the Homewood Embroiderer's Guild. I had to apologize for arriving at our meeting spot late, but we were soon on the road to La Porte, Indiana, to visit House of Stitches. It is a very well stocked local needlework shop (LNS) except it is an hour away for us. We had a lovely time visiting on the way, and a lot of fun shopping once we got there. I had an order of fibers waiting for me, and I knew I would be over my budget the minute I walked in the door, so I was not able to do too much shopping, but it was still fun looking at everything, and catching up on some of the seasonal magazines that I like to look at, but not necessarily buy.

When we were done there, from the parking lot we espied a chocolate shop across the way... well, we could not let that pass by. We went there and each got some very nice chocolate. I got 3 pieces of dark chocolate, and it was delicious.

After that, we headed to Michigan City, looking for a place to have lunch the whole way. We didn't find a place until we reached our next destination, and then parked next to Maxine's. It was a very nice place... good service, and good food. We brought our own good company. After lunch (and a chocolate) we walked down the block to Threadbender's Quilt Shop. It seems to be quite a new shop. There was a good selection of fabrics, but there were no nooks and crannies in the shop to explore.

From the quilt shop we went to the Lubeznik Center for the Arts. The main gallery was off limits because they were installing a new show, but they allowed us to peek through the door. The portion of the show called "String Theory" (check out the link) looked very interesting, and was going to be interpreted in a couple of days in dance (!). The gallery upstairs had an interesting installation of artwork using re-purposed textiles: several fish used old quilts, a grandmother's flower garden, a wool crazy quilt, and one other.

After that we went home. I would have loved to have stopped in the outlet mall in Michigan City... we were almost in the parking lot, but I had to get home for the cherry on top of the day.

DH and I, and a friend, went to the choral concert put on by Chorus Angelorum in Gary, Indiana. It was a free concert, but I think it is one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Choral music is my favorite, and the centerpiece of the evening was A German Requiem by Brahms. It was wonderful! During a couple of the sections I had goose-bumps, during another I had tears in my eyes, it was so moving. It was sung in German... we had to follow the program very closely, but we all enjoyed it immensely.

Completed Project

2011-10-13T13:15:00.002-05:00

I promised pictures of the upright bass, and of the cover when I finished it. Here is DH playing and talking at the same time. (He's so talented!)

Here is the bass in all its uncovered glory:

And here is the cover. I wanted it to blend into the background, so I made it as plain as possible. It does need a couple more stitches, where I got my seam allowance a little too narrow, but I am very happy with how it turned out. The outer layer is cotton duck... which is why it looks a little wrinkled, and the inner layer is a tan fleece, to protect the instrument. It is much easier to slip on and off than the gig bag, which takes two people.

On my way to an appointment yesterday I passed Tomorrow's Heirlooms, a very nice needlework shop in the Chicago area, that I have not been to in years. I decided to stop there on my way back, just to see if anything would grab me, not thinking that I would find too much... maybe just a gift for my secret stitcher. Well, I should have known better.

They had balls of DMC #5 pearl cotton! Drawers of them! DMC stopped selling #5 on balls several years ago, and now we have to depend on skeins. Each skein has less thread than a ball, and the skeins tangle. I went a little nuts. Still, I got less than 1/2 the colors she still had in stock, even though I wanted one of each.

When the shopkeeper saw me loading up on these, she asked "Do you make temari?" Umm, yeah! You need long threads for stitching temari, and these are fantastic.

If you would like me to pick some up for you, let me know! The shop is not too far from DD2's house, so I will be back there.

A beginning Stitcher

2011-10-12T15:33:00.002-05:00

I have time each Sunday morning to stitch on my Advent Calendar. It has been several months now that C has been referring to it as "our" sampler. I usually let her pick what I will stitch on next, and she can follow along on the pattern what I am stitching.

This past Sunday she plopped down on my lap, and took over (most of) the stitching. We had an area to fill in, so it was straight stitching. She would take each stitch on the top, and pull the thread through on both the top and the bottom stitches. She stuck with it for almost an hour!

In the car today I was stitching on a different project, and she was very curious about it. She studied the pattern and approved of it: "It has lots of pretty colors!"

I think I will have someone to eventually take over my stash! I'm so happy!

Beautiful Autumn Day in Michigan

2011-10-11T13:43:00.003-05:00

We (DH, DD1 & her SO, DD2, P & C, and me, all in one car) took off bright and early on Saturday morning to spend the day in Michigan. The sky was perfectly clear, the sun was bright, and the colors were awesome! I took many, many pictures of the trees, but I am only sharing two. They were all out the window of the car, so may seem a little blurry. It was gorgeous!

We had our annual family get-together, unfortunately without my baby sister, who had thrown her back out earlier in the week. Missed you, Val!

Everyone else was there, and we had a very nice time. Since it was such a nice day, we sat on the veranda of the center where we had our meal: chile con carne con pan de maiz, (chili with corn bread, a favorite when growing up). There was a kids playground, corn-hole beanbags, shuffleboard, croquet, and just sitting and visiting in the lovely breeze. My SIL was very wise and picked up battle tops for all the kids. They were all able to interact, and break the ice by playing that together, a great success! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of this part of the day. I was having too much fun visiting and finishing this:

I think it turned out great! and mom likes it. This is not the handle the instructions called for, it is just an inexpensive set I got from JoAnn's , but I think it fits the mood. All I had to do was stitch the loops down that hold the handle, and add the zipper. The zipper is a little uneven, but it works. Now I just have to finish the green bag!

Later on in the afternoon, I had the chance to go to the open house for my uncle John's 90th birthday celebration, and visit with 3 aunts, and see three cousins I have not seen in years and years. From left to right, this is mom, Aunt Jo, Uncle John, Aunt Flossie, and Aunt Sylvia.

(You can really tell they are related, can't you! LOL)

On Friday morning, I had another finish as well. DD2 had requested a hat with a brim. I found a couple of free patterns, and she picked this one, and requested the colors to match both her winter coats. The band is crocheted sideways in a ribbing stitch, with the crown and the brim added to the edge of that. The pattern in the crown is very subtle, but really pretty. I was very, very pleased when I finished stitching that.

The little flower turned out cute too.

I would not mind stitching this hat again one bit! It was a lot of fun.

Day off from school: MSI!

2011-10-10T14:58:00.002-05:00

Last summer, when we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, the only way we got the kids to agree to leave, was to promise them we would go back on their first day off of school. That fell on last Friday, and we were true to our word. (Since we have a membership this year, we can go back all we want to!)

We started the day by spending some time in the "Idea Factory," a hands-on room for kids with all sorts of things to play and experiment with. There is a river with balls floating on it; you can send the balls "up-river" through a pneumatic tube, and splash them; you can spray water and work propellers, and see how river locks work, and play with pulleys, and scales, and gears, and conveyor belts, and refraction, and it was fun!

Then we went and checked out Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle. That is one of my favorite things, and I always try to at least walk around the room, even if I don't stay for the whole audio explanation.

After that we went to the show on the digestive system. C helped make the presentation on the small intestine. It's 22 feet long!

There was a new OmniMax show, so we got (free!) tickets for that: a train trip across the Canadian Rockies. Here are DD2, and C & P waiting for the show to start.

C requested this picture. I love the expressions!

We had a quick, good lunch, and then kept on going. We checked out the hatching chicks:

We had our fingerprints taken, and discovered that P, DD2, and I all have arched finger prints; only 5% of the population has that pattern. C has whorls and loops; those are also the more rare patterns.

P got to calculate the flight path of an airplane from Chicago to Buffalo. He stuck with it, and flew the shortest route!

One of the exhibits P wanted to visit was the You! exhibit, all about the body. Here are P & C filling the wall with their shadow outlines. Both of them got to walk on the "hamster wheel" and discovered that it takes quite a bit of effort.

We also went down another long hallway with one exhibit after another: Networld, the earth revealed (different satellite pictures of the earth, projected on a globe, very beautiful), the whisper gallery, and a whole area on imaging which was also a lot of fun.

Next week, a new Dr. Seuss exhibit is opening, and during the holidays there is an exhibit on all the different Christmas trees from around the world. We will be back!

The Bags are felted!

2011-10-06T07:54:00.002-05:00

I was hoping to get to felting the bags yesterday, but it didn't happen, so I jumped right on it this morning. I usually do my felting in the washing machine, running a small, hot load, and flipping through the agitation cycle 3 or 4 times (without rinsing, saving the hot water) until things are felted to my satisfaction. The instructions for these bags suggested felting in the dryer. (?) I had never tried that, or even heard of it, but I'll try anything once.

It worked great! I ran the bags through one wash cycle, pulled them out dripping, and put them in the dryer for 10 (!) minutes. They came out like this:

They were still dripping, but the smaller one was nicely felted. The larger one could probably have gone a little longer, but I think it is fine:

I didn't get a picture of the green one in its unfelted floppiness. Even after felting it is pretty big. I tried to include enough information so you can see the difference in size. The blue/white one covers 2 boards, edging over into a 3rd board, the green one completely covers 3 boards, overflowing on to the fourth. I have to measure them now, so I can pick up the zippers, and I hope they are dry enough by Saturday to take to Michigan.

Do you like the color of the green one? I am pretty pleased by how the 4 different greens blended. I tried to do a gradation, and then I worried the colors were too different and wouldn't blend, but I think it is nice.

It was a race (again!) to finish before the yarn ran out. I skimped on a couple of the zipper facing rows, and ended up with a very small ball of the lightest green left, just enough to stitch down the facings and strap loops.

Today I hope to finish the cover for the bass. Wish me luck!

Doily

2011-10-03T10:52:00.002-05:00

I love making doilies... but they do not fit into my lifestyle. DH will tell you that any horizontal surface is an invitation for clutter, so even if I had places to put doilies, they would get covered by stuff. So I was thrilled when I saw a floor doily on the internet some time ago. I immediately got out some of my old crochet books (The pattern I picked came from a magazine issued in 1991! I knew it would come in handy.).

This went so fast it was almost scary, and it turned out too big for the place I was going to put it. The color was for my bathroom, but I do not have this much floor space in my bathroom.

It will probably go on the floor in my bedroom, (on the old shag carpet) along with the braided rug vrom my grandma and a felted/embroidered rug I got from ebay from India.

I have to get going. I have a big project to do this week. DH bought an upright bass, and it needs a cover so we can store it at church. As "seamstress for the band" I accept this challenge!

New Necklace

2011-09-30T07:42:00.002-05:00

I finished my kumihimo necklace last night, including the assembly! It was a great deal of fun to braid, and I think I only missed one bead. Quite a few of the beads wanted to hide in the center of the braid, but I managed to tease them out, there is just one place there should have been a bead and there isn't...

To add the clasp, you crazy glue the findings on to the end of the braid. I dry fit the ends into the cups, and they fit (barely), but I hadn't realized how difficult it would be to do the same thing with the crazy glue oozing out. I just about glued my finger to the necklace! I still have to do a little trimming (that part is strategically hidden in the picture below) but it is DONE!

There are 12 strands of a chenille yarn and 4 strands of metallic thread with beads. I have another very similar kit (the colors are just a bit different) so you should be seeing that one soon too.

I had hoped to be able to show you my floor doily. I bought 3 skeins of a chunky yarn, and crocheted them up in an afternoon, but needed a little more for the border. So I bought another skein on Wednesday and added that yesterday. I had so much left from that skein that I decided to go for another round on the doily, and only got 1/2 way around, so now I need to buy another skein. I promise this is the last one, though! I think it will turn out pretty cool.

Autumn Pouch

2011-09-27T08:22:00.002-05:00

I started this pouch before the black and white one, but didn't finish it until yesterday. (Please forgive the extra little thread around the top. I am trying to train the petals to droop down. If it does not work I will have to put in a little invisible stitch to keep them folded down.) I like the colors of this pouch, but not the fabric. It is supposed to be a silk fabric, but the store I was in didn't carry silk, so I found this shiny substitute. It looks nice, but doesn't handle nearly as nice, and doesn't feel as nice either.

I love the tassel! C helped me pick out the beads (I may have shown the tassel earlier), but it looks really rich. The kumihimo braids turned out very rich too.

The leaves are appliqued by machine, with just a straight stitch.

I got out one of the kumihimo kits I picked up at the Midwest Stitching Expo last month. The kit is very complete, with a new braiding disk, chenille fiber, and bobbins to keep the fibers under control. Each strand is more than twice as long as anything I have braided before, and having the fibers on bobbins is making a world of difference.

I don't know if you can see, but 4 of the 12 strands are metallic, with beads. It is forming a very pretty and interesting spiral; I hope to get better pictures of the braid itself when it is done. I am not as sure about the chenille, but I will be working with beads again! I do have another kit with both chenille and beads, so if I do something different, it will be after that.

Twirling Triangles

2011-09-23T07:59:00.002-05:00

I finished a temari this week, and it was very satisfying. I found a picture in the Kii temari book (page 14, number 7, if you want to look at the original). There was also a diagram, but that was not very helpful, I mostly followed the picture. It is a 32 face/facet temari. While I was stitching on it, it looked very much like a soccer ball, but adding the brown bands changed the look considerably. I am so glad I didn't stop stitching; I was very tempted to call it quits, but the bands really transformed it.

The pentagons and hexagons really needed to be stitched more densely, and with more rounds, and I may still go back and tack down the brown bands in the pentagon centers, the bands bend around those centers, and tend to want to migrate a little bit.

I didn't get a picture before I started the brown bands, but I took one during the stitching, just because things were changing so dramatically.

I think I will be stitching this one again, probably in different colors, just because I want to improve my stitching, and because it is so cool. (I might start with a smaller mari, and use pearl #8.) As you can see, this is quite a large mari. Bold and beautiful!

While I was stitching, I kept thinking of this variation, and that variation. I am hoping, right now, to do a series of 32 face/facet temaris, just to see what I can come up with.

MSI again

2011-09-22T08:13:00.002-05:00

I grabbed a free ride to the Museum of Science and Industry again yesterday (Thanks M!) and enjoyed myself a lot! I checked out a bunch of the exhibits I didn't get to last time:

Baby chicks:

11 AM:

2 PM:

By 3:30 there were 13 chicks hatched, but they were all still damp looking. The other incubator had the cute, fluffy, peeping ones.

I checked out the chemistry exhibits, and the You! exhibits about the body (quite good!) and the plumbing exhibit, and the energy exhibit, and of course the Fairy Castle, but I tried to make as many of the shows and demonstrations that I could fit in. I saw a demonstration/science project on the digestive system (so much fun I want to make sure to take P there next month... right up a 9-year-old boy's alley!); a balcony toss (throwing balls off the balcony... I wished they had talked about gravity instead of about elasticity); I caught the bang! demonstration again from the balcony; and there was a demonstration about chemistry bonds. Pretty difficult to explain in a 15 minute activity. While I was resting (knitting) waiting for another exhibit they demonstrated the Tesla Coil right overhead:

Pretty impressive! Then I went to a demonstration of a medical school teaching robot:

First we checked his vitals on a normal baseline, and then the demonstrator fiddled with the controls, and he showed all the signs of asthma, which we diagnosed with no trouble. Finally I went to a Brrr-day party (for H.G. Wells... he wasn't there) and we "played" with liquid nitrogen, frozen balloons, boiling liquid nitrogen that tooted party noisemakers, and ice cream that was made by mixing room temperature ice cream mix with liquid nitrogen. I just had so much fun!

Then I walked back to M's office, about a mile, on a lovely September afternoon, sunny and breezy. What a wonderful day!

The Knitting on the small purse is done

2011-09-19T10:50:00.002-05:00

I finished on Saturday, and took care of all the loose ends this morning. It was so much fun to knit! It was like a puzzle. When I read the instructions, I sort of understood what I was to do, but didn't see the point of it until I did it.

I was knitting fast, so I could finish before I ran out of yarn. There were just a couple of yards of cream left, and two little balls of blue. The pattern called for 500 yards, , I bought 660 yards, so at least it worked out.

This close-up shows some of the detail. You won't really be able to see the shaping until it is felted, and I want to wait to do that until my big bag is knit, so I can do both at the same time.

The pattern for the big bag calls for 1600 yards of yarn, and I bought 1760. I hope I have enough!

I used some of my left-over yarn to wrap maris. I really don't want a lot of little bits of yarn left over... I am glad I have a good way to use them.

I didn't start on the big bag yet, because I over-did it on Saturday. When I knit for too long, I think I stress the tendon that attaches to my shoulder blade, and I get a sharp pain. I didn't knit anything yesterday, and my back feels a lot better today. Maybe that's a hint to finish a temari?

Another Ruffle Scarf

2011-09-15T11:10:00.002-05:00

Here is another ruffled scarf. This is not a very good picture, but then sparkly yarns never show up good. The colors are brighter too.

For this scarf I cast on 8 stitches, and it is 48 inches long. The white/gray one I cast on 10 stitches, and it turned out about 40 inches long... but it was a different brand of yarn. I am working on another one in blues, and I was going to have 8 stitches in it, but it turned out to have 9 stitches. I thing I am going to "knit two together" and go down to 8 stitches though, because I do like the length to be a little longer.

Summer Projects

2011-09-14T14:12:00.002-05:00

On Monday night we had our Homewood Embroiderer's Guild Dinner meeting. We always have such a good time! I have been a member of the guild close to 20 years, and have known many of these stitchers for that long. We do not meet over the summer, so this is a chance to get caught up and see what everyone has been stitching. This year Marj, Marge and I are in charge of programs, so I have been working on that, and not able to show what I have been doing until the members get to see it.

The summer project this year was inspired by a playing card; my card was the 3 of diamonds. There are 3 red diamonds, 3 black diamonds, and 3 red crystal "diamonds" in the tassel at the bottom. A lot was done on the machine, but there is some kumihimo braid, and hand-made loops the braid goes through.

The material is silk, and the diamonds are velvet. It feels very rich to hold this in your hand. It is from a pattern by Jackie who blogs at Dog-Daisy Chains. I have been stressing over this project for most of the summer. I have another pouch almost done; an afternoon of work will finish it, so I hope to show that to you soon.

One of the classes we are planning for the coming year is this temari (representing the game "Hearts"). Our theme this year is "fun and games" so we have poker chips, hearts, Artist Trading Cards, and etc. I have made this temari before, but I still really like it, and I think it is a good introduction to a C8.

This project was originally going to be a book-mark, but since most of the time I don't read books but read from my Nook I decided to make a Nook pouch instead. The lining is quilted by machine; the extra fabric is from Moonsilk Stitches, and I think it adds just the right touch.

This is where the black-work pattern I talked about a couple of days ago was used.

Speaking of books, I finally finished the Diana Gabaldon series. I was shocked by how much I had forgotten of the last book. Several things surprised me all over again. I think it is going to be another year before the next book comes out, but at least there is a title: Written in my Own Heart's Blood. That's not necessarily the last one of the series yet, either! Oh My!

Museum Pictures

2011-09-14T12:35:00.002-05:00

Each year, when we do our Chicago outing, we get a souvenir picture from the attraction we are visiting. This year we got separated into two groups when we reached the picture area, so only some of the participants got in the picture: Back row: DD2, DD1SO, DD1, DH, front row: P & C.

(I am getting a real kick out of C: her expression looks like she really has been captured! LOL)

When we got home DD2 found this picture from 2005:

(There were more people in our group that year, but we had gotten separated as well. I think my folks and DD1 were there.)

P had a wonderful time at the museum that time: he and I spent a lot of time in the kids room where they had a river with waterworks and balls floating down stream. You could throw and pour and splash, and it was all very interesting. Everyone had fun this time as well, and P & C did not want to leave when it was supper time, because they had not seen everything. I don't think it is ever possible to see everything in one day, but we sure had fun trying.

Concert on Friday night

2011-09-13T11:37:00.002-05:00

Last Friday night we went to a concert in Chicago (at the Chicago theater) with good friends. DH and I picked up the tickets, but did not have to drive or do any of the additional planning. We had a wonderful time! We got to the area with plenty of time, enough time to enjoy a beverage at a restaurant across the street, and then crossed to the theater.

It was a rainy evening, but it just dampened the streets, not our spirits.

(Can you see the Joffry Ballet next door to the theater? You could see people practicing their dancing through the windows.)

The artist was Alison Krause and her band Union Station, with guest artist Jerry Douglas on the dobro. The music was amazing! out of this world. The band consisted of Alison on the fiddle, upright base, guitars and/or banjos and/or mandolin, and the dobro, with occasional help with keyboards and drums. It is Bluegrass, and I loved it! Much of the music was from the Brother, Where Art Thou? movie, and one of the singers was the singing voice of Clooney in the movie.

Here is a very overexposed cellphone picture. I forgot my camera at home!

You wouldn't think a solo on the dobro would be very interesting, but we were mesmerized for the entire intermission. The concert was 2 hours long, and it went by in a flash. I would definitely be interested in seeing Alison again.

Thank you, friends, for your company at the concert, and on the trip up and back. (DH is shopping for an upright base!)

Ruffle Scarf

2011-09-12T08:24:00.001-05:00

On Thursday, in my knitting group, I worked on my ruffle. It was really a nice project to work on in a group, because it was very slow knitting, but did not need a lot of concentration.

While I was knitting, I tried it on a couple of times, to make sure it was going to be long enough, and when people asked what I was going to do with it, I mentioned I had not decided. The general opinion was, though, that I should keep it for myself, because it matched my hair. What do you think?

The scarf does has more white than my hair does... but the colors are almost exact! Friends are the best mirrors.

Blackwork Pattern

2011-09-08T20:28:00.002-05:00

I just worked on a blackwork project, that I will share later. I wanted to talk about one of the patterns. I got the patterns I used from "The New Anchor Book of Blackwork." I was a little surprised, because the book suggested using back stitch instead of double running stitch. A Group Correspondence Course (GCC) for EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) that I had signed up for several years ago was strongly suggesting that your stitches should be reversible; this method is not reversible; in fact, it is almost the opposite.

This is the pattern after 2 (and a bit) of the 4 steps. It looked very disjointed to me, and I was not sure how it was going to turn out. I was feeling very insecure.

And here is the completed pattern. The pattern fit into the shape I was filling very well, and I like the finished result. But!

This is the back:

The pattern on the back is completely different! The front shows circles, the back shows crosses. (No one is going to see it, but still!) I still cannot get over how that happened.

I really love that stitching can still surprise me so much.

Busy, but still no pictures

2011-09-06T12:07:00.002-05:00

I have been stitching a little, in between the computer games, the Gabaldon series, and the knitting.

My lacy shawl is at least 20 inches long! I finished the first skein today. I had 3 skeins, but started getting nervous about the shawl being long enough last week, and I am very happy that I picked up a 4th skein. I finished my knitting allotment in 45 minutes this morning, including adding my "safety line." I wonder if my speed will continue to increase? If it does, I would like to make my daily allotment 8 rows instead of 4... but still just spend 1 hour or so.

I have 3 1/2 Christmas presents made; I should say I have the crocheting done on them, but still need to put on the buttons. I cannot wait to show you pictures for those, they are turning out so cute! Of course, that will not be until December.

I also am working on a temari, that I cannot show you until next Monday. When I am done with that I have to work on another project for next Monday, so there will still be no pictures. When that is done I should be able to get back to posting pictures. I have a pattern picked out for another temari.

If you are interested, here is a slide show for a temari competition in Japan. (You can mute the music if you want to, and pause on any slide, by hovering your mouse over the slide, and clicking on the appropriate button.) The final picture in the program amazes me... the temari must be 3 to 4 feet in diameter!

I have a commission!

2011-08-30T14:43:00.002-05:00

There is a little progress today! I wrapped and marked two mari yesterday! One c10, and one c8. I hadn't picked up a mari for weeks, but I can tell you it will take longer than I have been away to forget how to do winding and marking. It feels really good!

My mom liked the felted bags I pictured last time, and asked me to make one for her! So of course, I had to go to the yarn store. I also needed another skein of the alpaca yarn for my lacy shawl (they had one more skein, in the right color, and the right dye-lot! Woo-hoo!) I caved and bought the yarn for a felted bag for me too. I also have the crochet done for 1 1/2 Christmas presents, and I am knitting a ruffle.

I am still reading about Claire and Jamie. I just finished Fiery Cross. It took me forever! I figured out it was because there was an episode where Roger (Jamie & Claire's son-in-law) gets injured and goes into a depression, that really hits too close to home. I knew it was coming up, and I could only force myself to read a page or two a day until I got past it. Now I am reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes; hopefully that will go more quickly.

There are supposed to be a couple more warm days this week, and then I hope we can turn off the air for the rest of the season. I love having the windows open... it really helps you feel more connected to the neighborhood. Every morning, I hear kids playing outside just before it is time for school. I love it!

Talk to you later!

Fun, but not photogenic!

2011-08-26T20:14:00.002-05:00

This has been a good week, and I know I promised pictures, but even though this has been fun, it has not been very photogenic.

On Tuesday I had my private knitting class to learn how to "double knit."

Here's the swatch I made... a little uneven, and definite mistakes. The other side is pink squares with a gray frame. I have very cool yarn to make the real scarf with. It will be 3 squares wide, and nice and long. I actually have enough yarn to make 2 scarves. It is a very long variegation, so you will only have one repetition of the color range in the whole scarf. This is the pattern, but my colors are not exactly the same:

On Wednesday I went to see "The Help" with a friend. That was a wonderful movie! It was very interesting being in the theater with so many people who had read the book. Everyone reacted to the "foreshadowing" with oohs and ahhs. It was fun! The Skeeter's mom was the most different character from the book, and of course, everything was condensed and abbreviated. But it was very good.

On Thursday I went to knitting group and we had a fun time together. There is a wide range of knitting experience in the group, all the way from beginners to people who take classes continuously in new techniques. I think I am about in the middle. Several people make baby blankets, booties, and baby hats; others make dish-cloths and towels; a couple of people just made shrugs (that are very cool!). There are scarves, and afghans; lots and lots of ideas, plus good company.

Then during the afternoon and evening I went to Crown Point, checked out the rest of the antique stores (but didn't find any more buttons). Then I also picked up 11 pounds of rice hulls.

When I started making temari DH ordered 20 pounds of rice hulls for me. That was 3 or 4 years ago, and they are just running out now. The 11 pounds should last me at least a year, and I can use as many as I want to. I was kind of "saving" the hulls I had left, but now I don't have to save any more, I can use them up. I should take a couple of my favorite temari books for bed-time reading, and let my subconscious work on ideas for stitching... something has to get me out of this temari slump.

A friend had planned on going to the Stitches Midwest expo with me, today, but she didn't go because she wasn't feeling well. I was ambivalent about going by myself, but decided to go. There was a lot to look at, and I got lots of ideas; I just didn't buy any yarn. I did fall in love with a scarf/shawl. You could get it in silk for $135, or cashmere for $100, or tencil for $50... and I couldn't bring myself to get the tencil, the others were just too yummy. I think I would like to save up to get this one. Here's the picture:

But the colors are much nicer.

I bought a pattern for another felted bag, along with the handle hardware and rivets to put the hardware on... but then I priced the yarn: 8 (or 5) skeins at $9 each... out of the budget.

(this is the official picture of the bag, I love it!)

I also fell in love with a vest from Fibranatura, with a hood.

I probably could have afforded the yarn for this, but at this point I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed. Too many choices! I do have the pattern, so this will have to go on the "to do" list. I have never knit a sweater, and I am a little nervous about that too. This looks like it wouldn't be too difficult to get to fit right, and I really like the style.

I also bought a kit for kumihimo braids, with a book, and a set of knitting needles for $3, and I got several free patterns. It was a lot of fun!

Then on the way home I stopped in to see DD2. Tomorrow is her birthday, even though she says she is not going to have any more birthdays. (C cannot understand anyone not liking a birthday.) I got DD2 some birthday treats (birthday brownies) and some tulips. I got to pick C and P up from school, and it was wonderful to see their faces light up when they saw me. I also got to see their puppy Danny (twice the size as last time I saw him) and Po (the hamster).

Next week will not be as exciting, but maybe I can get some more done.

Well, I guess there was enough to look at, even though I did not take the pictures!

Busy week

2011-08-22T10:20:00.002-05:00

This is going to be a busy week, so of course, I will probably get a lot done, since I won't have all day, every day, to do things. I already got a good start this morning, with my knitting, 8 rows, and reading all my blogs and e-mail. I got a project done for HEG programs, started another, and am working on the write-up (with fellow members of the programs committee), and I am planning on getting to my autumn pouch so I can start another one. In one morning, it feels like I have accomplished more than all week last week!

My week this week includes going to see "The Help" with a friend, getting a double knit individual class from a friend, and going to Stitches Chicago with a friend, besides the regular "seamstress/secretary for the band" for Praise Band on Monday night, Knitting group on Thursday, and Pantry on Friday.

I will try to get pictures!

vacation!

2011-08-20T23:03:00.002-05:00

Hello, DH has been on vacation this week, so I have been spending my time with him. (He's good company!) Last Tuesday he came along while I went antiquing! I need scads (technical term) of 5/8 inch shank buttons, with a vintage feel, and I thought it would be possible to find them at antique stores... I was right! Not all of them are shank buttons, but I think they will still work.

We are going for gothic, steampunk, and homespun... but not all at the same time.

(I wonder how those darning cottons got in the picture?)

When I got home I looked in my button jars, and found 40 there as well.

My lacy shawl is coming along. I find I have memorized the pattern! That makes it much easier to keep track of. This morning I knit for 2 hours, and got 12 rows done, so my speed is improving as well.

Day on the Town

2011-08-17T09:50:00.003-05:00

On Monday, our whole family went "out on the town"! We had a wonderful day. We gathered at the Museum of Science and Industry, and started out on our adventure. We were a large group (7 adults & 2 kids) so we did not stay together the whole time... there were too many interests, and too much to look at.

Opa wanted to look at the tractors. He drove tractors on the farm when he was in high school, and he still has a great interest in them. Here he is explaining things to P.

P was very interested in driving as well. Here he is "driving" the combine.

P & C had fun posing at all the costume cut-outs. Here they are as train engineers;

And as a race car driver (with 4 arms! LOL);

and as clowns. (This one was not a huge stretch, they kept us entertained all day.)

After the tractors, we went to look at the transportation area. Here are P & C posing with the engineer;

and my dad, after looking at the same engine.

P was so interested in everything he kept forgetting to keep close to at least one of the adults in the group. I walked behind him as he followed one of the trains on the train layout all the way around (from Chicago to Seattle and back!). He finally started checking to make sure someone was with him when he took off... but it took some convincing.

Here are DH and C (DD1's SO) standing in front of the train layout, looking at the plane.

The plane was the next place we went, then a live demonstration of fire, flashes, and explosions... fun! and then we went on to the Weather exhibit. I was a little disappointed in that area... the hype lead me to expect quite a bit more. P did get to launch a hot air balloon! See it go?!

Then it was lunch time. We ate in the cafeteria, and it was very good food.

After lunch it was on to the Space exhibit, and the Omnimax show "Tornado Alley." We were hoping to see the Smart House exhibit, especially DD1, who is in design, but we decided to put that off to another day, when she and I can go together.

After that we all went to the submarine exhibit, but I will talk more about that next time, I am still waiting on some pictures.

My parents (Oma & Opa) and I were wandering by ourselves for a little while. Here is my dad playing with his shadow. When you held your arms out, the colored shadows would interact with your shadow. If you held your arms up making a cup shape, the colors would fill it up, and overflow over the edges. I have no idea how they did that!

This gentleman had a selection of artifacts from the collection (of over 10,000 items) and was asking people to guess what they were, and explaining them. He had a candle mold, a ruffle iron, an oil lantern, a broom clamp, and a grinder on top of the table, and then he pulled this item out. I knew what it was immediately: a sewing machine!

He was impressed that I guessed so quickly!

There was just a lot of fun with so much to look at and do! Here are DD2 and P climbing the walls!

The kids and I didn't really want to leave, but the museum was closing and several members of the group were getting a little hungry. We departed for supper, and went to Merkat a la Planxa on Michigan Avenue. You would think we are sophisticated or something! It is a tapas and small plate restaurant, and was hard to change your expectations of ordering an entree and a bunch of extras. Here almost everything was extras, but very interesting! The kids got chicken fingers, and they loved it, and we ended up enjoying it a lot as well. We had some pork belly, and a dish of olives to share, and some French bread with fresh tomatoes and onion and garlic on it, and some pureed celeriac root, and chorizo, and prosciutto, and then we ordered a serving of paella. The menu said it served 4, but all of us enjoyed it. My folks were a little disappointed. They were expecting a traditional paella with saffron and seafood. This had a tomato base, with chicken and chorizo, but no seafood. It was good, but not what they were expecting.

When we left we walked through the lobby of the Blackstone Hotel. It was very beautiful and elegant! Oma & Opa waited there while we walked to pick up the car.

C & P were still going strong, but DD2 looks a little done, don't you think? C did fall asleep in the car on the way home.

We didn't get a picture of the whole group, but I do have a couple more pictures to share once we get them scanned into the computer.

It was so much fun! Plus, I got a membership to the museum (worth it for everything it already covered) and we can go back for free for the rest of the year! I want to see the chemistry loft, and the kids want to see the anatomy section, and I want to show C the chicks hatching, and there is a whole room for C & P to play in that we didn't even look at, and there was no time to look at the fairy castle...

Next time!

My grandkids are growing like weeds!

2011-08-15T08:21:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite t-shirts has the above saying on it, and it is so true! P recently had his 9th (!) birthday, and he is really turning into a young man. I am not sure if it was a birthday present, but he just got a puppy, a "blonde" golden retriever. Here they are together in the back yard. Danny was so busy that it was hard to get a good picture, if you check my flickr page you can see how many tries it took to get this one, and it is not the greatest.

P got a gift certificate to the Lego store from us for his birthday, and I think it was a great hit.

The store has a station where kids can create their own characters from available parts:

P created (from left to right) himself, C, and daddy. He also got several Ninjago characters, and was excited to find out that they were going to come out with superhero Lego guys in January and May of next year. I have a feeling we will be making another stop at the store around those dates!

I am really looking forward to today; my folks are in town, and we are having our annual Chicago outing day. We are planning on spending the day at the Museum of Science and Industry, and then going out for supper with everyone. I love museums! (and I love my family)! It doesn't get any better.

Reading and Camp Quality

2011-08-12T17:43:00.002-05:00

I am done with Drums of Autumn! It was so good I stayed up until 1:30 AM reading one morning, and then I couldn't fall asleep because the story was so exciting. I was going to leave the next book for a little later, but I could not resist, and started Fiery Cross.

This morning I helped out at our guild's workshop at Camp Quality, a camp for kids with cancer. The theme for the camp this year was cruising, so we prepared felt signal flags, and the kids could pick the letters they wanted to stitch. You can see an example here. The kids came and went as the mood struck, or as their schedules allowed. The pool was open, and they were doing some tree climbing with the help of ropes, so there was a lot to do. The Arts and Crafts room was amazing! Kids could come in there and do what they wanted, kits to make boats (cruising!) for the race later in the day, all the plastic cord you could use to make braided lanyards, and all kinds of games. Each camper has his or her own companion, in many cases a former camper, so there are many ages involved. Several current companions who were former campers came up to us and mentioned projects from years ago they had made, and enjoyed. It was a wonderful day.

After camp we went to lunch, and to a yarn shop I had never been to. I got supplies to make Christmas presents... so still no pictures!

Knitting and reading

2011-08-09T09:08:00.002-05:00

I am still plugging away at my lacy shawl. I measured this morning, and I am up to 6 inches! Even more exciting is that it only took 45 minutes to do my 4 rows... if I continue to improve I can maybe do 8 rows in the morning! I am really enjoying this knitting.

I am also enjoying my reading. I am done with Outlander (700 pages), Dragonfly in Amber (850 pages), and Voyager (980 pages), and now I am reading Drums of Autumn (1000 pages). I am not quite half-way through the series. Jamie and Claire have just arrived in North Carolina, where they eventually settle, and participate in the Revolutionary War. (There has not been a whole lot of stitching going on.)

HHG

2011-08-05T15:11:00.003-05:00

Debi at Temari Math just posted a wonderful tutorial on the HHG "one stroke" technique. I had the privilege of using her instructions last year, and made this temari. I like it a lot, even though it doesn't exactly match the one Debi made. The points/centers of the stars are not as wide as Debi's and you do not see the secondary designed that developed on her temari.

This color scheme reminds me of milk chocolate...

Yesterday was a very nice day!

2011-08-03T08:28:00.002-05:00

I started the day with my shawl knitting. Starting the day that way is really helping, setting up somewhat of a routine, and meeting a goal first thing in the day.

I had such a nice day yesterday, that I wanted to share it with you. We are having company. C & P are visiting their auntie in Colorado, so mama and Po are staying with us. Po is a black and white hamster (Panda coloring) and is named after the hero in Kung Foo Panda. He is a little shy of us, yet, but is getting used to all the hubbub.

So, having DD2 here, I took advantage, and we rode out to House of Stitches (and lunch at Arby's). This is what I got at House of Stitches:

It is for a Martina (Weber) Rosenberg mandala, called Herbularium, an herb garden, so I thought fabric the color of dirt would look nice. I just love these colors together. This is the same designer from Holland Springtime Mandala, and a couple of other pieces I have done.

I got a phone call to go out for lunch on Friday! And DD2 and I got some cleaning done.

After knitting, I put in an hour or two on HSM. These are the outlines of delft tiles, not too colorful, but very pretty.

Supper was easy and good, and then I went to guild, and had conversation with good friends. My secret stitcher gave me this packet of post-it notes which will be an amazing help while I am knitting.

Here you can see the blue arrow pointing to the point on my pattern where I have to start tomorrow. Knitting went well this morning too, and I finished my 4 rows in less than an hour, and put in the next rescue row.

I hope your day is as good.

Today I have to grocery shop, and stop at the farmer's market, and assist at a cooking class for kids. Not as much fun as yesterday, but maybe more useful.

Talk to you soon!

Monday morning

2011-08-01T08:56:00.002-05:00

This morning I started by sending DH off to work, turning off the TV, putting the dog to bed, Not turning on the computer, and picking up my lacy shawl knitting. It took me 1 hour to knit 4 rows (this thing is going to take forever!) but I was successful on those four rows. Here you can see my progress.

I have stitch markers between the motifs, and the white line is my rescue row; I stitched some pearl cotton on to my needles after the border and before I started my lace knitting, then if I mess up I only have to take it out to that point.

The lace pattern is 4 rows, repeated 3 times, then a different 4 rows, repeated 3 times. I finished the first 4 row repeat before I put it down this morning.

I also am going to give this gift tonight, so I will show it now:

It is a square piece of flannel with the corners rounded and a nice little edging. The green gingham pattern is printed, and you can hardly see the blue paint spatter design over that. We do not know if it is for a boy or a girl, but I thought this would work for either. The fabric color is neutral, the blue edging would work for a boy, with a little bit of laciness in case it is a girl. I enjoyed this project so much that I am making 2 more blankets for the daughter of a friend who is expecting twin girls... two pink blankets with more laciness, one with white lace, and one with pink.

Here is a picture of my kumihimo braid:

The first one has the ends trimmed, but the second one does not, yet. I am very pleased with how these turned out. Here is a close-up:

I used DMC floss without stripping out the threads, but 4 colors in 2 families. The colors inside the families were close enough that the over-all pattern shows up (the spiral) but the extra colors added a richness and complexity that I did not expect, but really love.

This should be a quiet week, hopefully I can get a lot done. We are planning a family outing in a couple of weeks so that will be something to look forward to as well.

Work In Progress (WIP)

2011-07-28T15:42:00.002-05:00

These are the beads for my flower pouch I am making from a pattern from Dog-Daisy Chains. I am not working on it very enthusiastically. I did make a kumihimo braid for one of the drawstrings, I still have to make a second one, and I have to add beads to the tips of the petals. I really like the way it is turning out.

I have been crocheting edges on a baby blanket, and I like the way that is turning out as well. I also just added a "rescue row" to my lacy shawl, and I am ready to start the pattern knitting with my good yarn. Wish me luck!

(I started reading Outlander again, the first of 7 books, each close to 1,000 pages, so I might not be around all that much until I finish. I have been missing Claire and Jamie.)

No pictures today

2011-07-25T11:32:00.002-05:00

I took a couple of pictures over the weekend, but the SD card is not speaking to the computer. On Saturday evening we went to a Windy City Thunderbolts baseball game, and it was a lot of fun. The tickets and the food were very reasonable, the company was excellent, and the home team won! The fireworks at the end were nice too, and made up a little bit for missing fireworks on the 4th.

I am working on several projects that I cannot show, and a couple more that really do not look like much yet. One of the in-progress pieces is a small pouch with some velvet embellishment. I am at the point now that it needs some bling. I asked C if she wanted to look for some beads with me, and she was half way up the stairs before I got out of my chair! She knew exactly where to look in the stash room for the jar I keep my extra beads in too. It was as much fun watching her as it was looking for the beads. The first couple of times I held a bead up to the pouch to see if it matched, and after that she held every bead up for matching. I think we need to get some paints for making a mess making colors, just so we can learn how colors work.

I started my lacy shawl (one of the projects that does not look like much). I was doing great on it, working seed stitch, until I said to myself "This is going good!" Then I got a mistake that has been messing me up, and that I still have to take out. That will teach me not to get cocky!

C also found her rainbow cross stitch project. She is very good at reading a pattern (she can follow along with my project) but is still working on figuring out where to put the needle into the material. She enjoys it, though, and sticks with it for quite a while when she stitches. DH has a picture on his phone that I am hoping to share soon.

Today is P's 9th birthday! Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Felted Bag

2011-07-21T11:45:00.002-05:00

Here is my finished felted bag. It is much better than in the last picture, but I am still not sure how useful it will be. Today is Thursday (right?, I have to check) and I felted this on Monday, and it is still not totally dry! I felted it in my washing machine, in a small load with a couple of towels, and I ran it through the wash cycle twice without draining the hot water.

Because of all the embellishment around the top edge of the bag, it is 1) very heavy; 2) still quite floppy, not staying open when you need it to. I love the way it looks, though.

Only one of the flowers deformed during the felting, I must not have caught the center when I stitched it down. A couple of stitches will fix this right up.

I started my lacy shawl the other day, working on the seed stitch border, but after several rows I pulled it out, because I could not tell if I was doing it right or not. So I used up the rest of my colorful cotton yarn and made a seed stitch dish cloth yesterday. This is it being inspected by Alli Cat. (You can see the rest of the cats in my Flickr account here.) I think I will be able to knit seed stitch in my thin black yarn now, but I need total silence to concentrate. It will have to be in the morning, after the dog goes to bed, and before the cats get up.

I will use the little left of this yarn to wrap a mari.

I hope you are staying cool! It is hot here...

Here goes nothing!

2011-07-18T16:58:00.002-05:00

The crochet on my bag is done, and it is (of course) HUGE! I think I could almost fit C inside of it. I am going to try the felting this afternoon... I hope it works, because this thing is not useful this way.

I like the colors, but, yikes!

Temari from last October

2011-07-15T07:44:00.003-05:00

I have things to write about, but I didn't have any pictures until the original of this temari was posted yesterday, which I am taking as permission to post my copy here. I really like this picture, as it shows the shine of the red metallic. It is nice to see this picture, since I gave the original away quite a while ago.

Parts are accumulating for my felted bag. I have read the instructions, and they say to assemble everything before felting. I have almost a dozen "roses" in rose, purple, off white, and aqua, but I am still lacking leaves and green tendrils; I think I will have to pick up some feltable green yarn today so I can keep going on this. I am trying to be good and finish this project before I start on one of the 2 new, and exciting, knitting projects I have planned (and all the supplies for). But you know how hard it is to be good...

Temari Stitch-Along (SAL)

2011-07-13T07:56:00.003-05:00

I am participating in a SAL on the Talk Temari group, and it is turning out great! Thank you so much for leading this J! This is what it looked like after completing step 2... very pretty, but I couldn't wait to see what would finish it. I had an idea...

and I was close, but not exactly right. The small center flowers/stars are so pretty, and just the right touch to add interest.

My 42 center marking is not as precise as I would have liked. Most of the hexagons are squashed in one dimension. On this marking, according to Debi, you can have your hexagons and pentagons similar sizes, and the hexagons will be squashed, or you can have regular hexagons and pentagons, but the pentagons will be smaller. Even thought the hexagons are squashed on this ball, I really like how it is turning out.

I am also starting to accumulate parts for my felted tote bag. These are the handles and 3 roses (that look a little like tea cups). I am not quite sure if these get assembled and then felted, or if you felt, then assemble. There is a ways to go yet on this one.

I don't think I can get a picture of the body yet. I can only think of one word to describe it so far, and it is in Spanish: flojo. It means limp and floppy, but I think it is very descriptive. I am so excited to see how this one turns out!

I am stopping today to pick up the yarn for my lacy shawl! I am excited and nervous about starting that project... I will be depending on life-lines so if I make a mistake in the lace pattern I will have a place to go back to where I know I was right (without having to take out everything). I will show pictures, when I get that far.

G.I.T.S.

2011-07-12T07:46:00.003-05:00

My exchange partner received her temari, so now I can share it with you. I was having trouble deciding on a design for this exchange. My partner is such a good temari artist that I wanted to send something worthy (without being too obvious about it... ) and the indecision was paralysing. Finally, when I walked into a needlework shop, I came face to face with a wall of fibers, and I got inspired.

This is stitched with Vineyard Silks. I LOVE this fiber! It stitches like a dream, and there is just enough color difference on the kikus to add depth and interest to the flower.

I am so glad you liked it J!

The crocheted bag that will be felted, the Springtime Holland Mandala, the small autumn pouch, and the stitch-along temari are all coming along. I will try to share pictures tomorrow.

Some temari stitching

2011-07-08T12:58:00.003-05:00

Wednesday and Thursday I was stitching some temari. I will share the finished temari once my G.I.T.S. partner receives it; it went in the mail today. This is the marking for the Stitch-along on Talk Temari, a 42 face marking. The pins are marking the different color areas.

We just got the instructions for the next step, so I better get busy. See you!

Several little things

2011-07-06T08:44:00.003-05:00

My secret stitcher from my EGA guild sent me 3 skeins of pearl cotton in Red, white, and blue, and I thought I would make a patriotic temari. This was fun! Thank you!

I have been working on this dolly for a couple of weeks, and I finished her last night. Her name is Amy. This is from a pattern by Mimi Kirchner, posted at the Purl Bee a very nice blog with a lot of nice projects. Last fall when we went to the Renegade street fair, I was hoping to buy one of Mimi's dolls, but my budget didn't stretch quite that far, so I decided I would "eventually" make my own. The pattern was excellent to follow, and I really like the result, so much so, that I am having all kinds of ideas for another doll.

I love how her hair turned out, with the little pig-tails with bows. I do need to locate my fray-check to apply to some of the ric-rak. If you look closely, you can see some it is already fraying.

Keep an eye out for her... I have a feeling she is going to be getting into some adventures. She may even get a play date with Dolly!

I also made a couple of holders/organizers for the knitting needles I received from my grandma via my mom (along with mom's knitting needle stash). They were very nicely kept together in a purpose built canvas bag, and a tube that was a mother's day gift to mom over 40 years ago. (I will try to get a picture of that next time.) I don't remember if I made it or not. I want to say that I did, but I don't quite recall.

I saw pictures of the 3 organizers in a catalog, and I thought, "I can do that!" So I did. There are two organizers for straight needles, one for regular ones and one for double-pointed needles. There are two pockets for each size, longer and shorter. I was a little amazed by the number size 1, 0, and 0000 (!) size double pointed needles. I don't remember my mom ever knitting anything on needles like that. It must have been my grandma making socks or wool stockings.

Here you can see the double-point bundle rolled up. They fit wonderfully in the canvas bag, and now I know what needles I have, and I can find them without having to look at everything. I also made a hanging holder for cable needles. That holds them without tangling, and keeps track of them.

On Saturday DH and I drove to Sheep's Clothing in Valparaiso and picked up the knitting pattern book and yarn for the double knitting project I want to learn, but not the yarn for my lacy shawl yet. I did manage to knit 2 repeats of the lace pattern without messing up, so I am eager to start on that when the yarn gets here. Of course, that is knitting in the morning, with no TV, and no pets, and no other distractions. Hopefully I will get better, and will begin to be able to knit it with a little more distraction around, but I am going to be very careful.

I have some projects for today, so I better get going! Talk to you later.

Day in Chicago, part 5 of 5--Millenium Park

2011-07-01T14:46:00.003-05:00

We were nearing the end of our time in the city. We walked across Michigan Avenue, and came to this, the new wing of the Art Institute, with a bridge to Millenium Park. We were just in time to take the elevator up to the top of the bridge (the building closed at 5 PM) and we were able to walk across to the park.

The views are stunning from every direction! This is northwest, toward the Crown Fountain.

You can just catch a glimpse of the top of one of the pillars with the faces. You could probably see more in the winter, but I am not sure you would want to loiter on the bridge in the winter-time!

This is to the north east, the Lurie Gardens and the Pritzger Pavilion.

This is back to the south east, the artwork on the outside of the Art Institute. I am going to have to get back here to see what is inside.

And to the east, Lake Michigan! Have I mentioned what a beautiful day it was?

Here is another view of the Priztger Pavilion with the trellis over the great lawn holding the sound system and the lights. Under this garden and pavilion there are parking garages, the Harris Theater, and the train station!

Then of course we had to stop and enjoy gazing at the Bean. It got the name Bean because of its shape. The artist had not named it soon enough, so the people did. It's official name is Cloud Gate, and you can see why because the whole sky is reflected. I love the curvy buildings in this one.

This is the official portrait of our group. Don't we look styling? I think I should have dressed up a little more to match the rest of the group. You can also see the reflection of the wheel chair. We did not want it in the picture, but forgot that everything is reflected.

Tucked away in a corner there is a place to rent bikes (over 300 of them!) and a place to fix them, and to clean up after riding.

This is another bridge into the park from the northeast. Where the first bridge was straight as an arrow, this one curves back and forth, and you get the feeling of walking along the tree-tops. The view is not as fantastic, but the experience was still wonderful. We did not go all the way across, though. I for one was getting a little weary, and we were ready to start back home.

We got a glimpse of the taste, and we dodged a lot of the people that were heading in that direction, but no one was terribly disappointed not to go.

So that was our big day! I am so grateful I got to go with someone who knows what to share. A lot of the things we saw you could walk past for days and not even know they were there. I am not sorry I do not live in Chicago, but I do like being near enough to visit, explore, and see so many interesting things!

Day in Chicago, part 4 of 5--Palmer House

2011-07-01T08:42:00.004-05:00

One block south of Carsons is the former C.J. Peacock and the Palmer House. These doors used to be in a jewelry store next door. When that business closed, they moved the doors into the entry way of the Palmer House. Aren't they gorgeous? Can you imagine going through them to buy jewelry? Even if you could only afford a bangle, it would feel totally indulgent.

To get into the lobby of the Palmer house, you have to walk through the ground floor, to the back, and then take an escalator up into the lobby. It is a magnificent space! 3 stories high with a gorgeous ceiling. There were tons of people here, but it still felt quiet and refined.

Most of my pictures of the ceiling did not turn out great. The edges are all in the Della Robbia style, almost like 3-D wedgewood applied to the ceiling, but it was paint. There were 12 canvases (pictures) surrounded by all the "wedgewood" designs.

In the picture above you can almost see the name of the room on the north side of the lobby: The Empire Room. It has a flight of stairs leading up to it flanked by these beauties:

According to our guide, these bronze lamps were designed by Tiffany as well. We went up the stairs and peeked in the Empire Room. No one was up there, and we could gaze to our heart's content. This feels, to me, like the epitome of elegance. It used to be a night club, now they have conferences and (high end) banquets there. Could you imagine a wedding reception?

It made me feel like I was in a night-club in White Christmas, where Rosemary sings the torch song. One of the people in our party had gone to prom there! If I had a limo to get there and back, it might be fun to have a night out on the town like that, but most of the time I prefer my home, and my knitting.

Just to not go too far off topic, I wanted to let you know that I started crocheting a tote bag that will be felted. I got the shaping on the base done, and then I could do the straight stitching (no increases, no turning, no counting) on the train up and back.

Day in Chicago, part 3 of 5--State Street

2011-07-01T08:00:00.003-05:00

We came out of Fields (Macy's) on to State street (that great street! LOL). I was struck by the contrast of the ornate stone buildings with the shiny glass Trump Tower. As you can tell, we had a wonderful day, weather-wise. Not a cloud in the sky, and it was not even hot!, just comfortably warm.

Across the street from the Fields building is this "skyscraper" which was an early one in Chicago. The outside of it is terracotta. It is now a boutique motel with a very high end restaurant.

This is the Carson's building. I really love this ornamentation. The original plan was to have it in bronze! but that would have cost too much, so this is wrought iron.

Just beautiful!

There is great excitement, because Target is planning on opening a store in this space. That will make groceries available in this neighborhood, and will continue the tradition of department stores along State Street... at one time there were seven (!) department stores right along here.

Carsons and this building are at the center of the (Chicago) universe. The numbering zeros out at State and Madison. This brown building is very traditional Chicago architecture, with a 2 story space at the bottom for commerce, the large fixed glass and smaller side glass windows that can open, and the pediment at the top.

This is not strictly on State street, but it fits better here than anywhere else. This is the ceiling of the lobby of a smaller building next to the Palmer House. These tiles are Rookwood ceramics!

Day in Chicago, part 2 of 5, Marshall Fields building

2011-07-01T07:25:00.003-05:00

By now, on our big adventure, we were getting hungry, and were starting to have trouble concentrating on all the interesting things our guide was sharing with us. When asked for her recommendations, she suggested either the Subway next to the Cultural Center, or the Frango Cafe in the Marshall Fields building. Which would you pick?

(If you are from Chicago, you will know that the Marshall Field Building now houses the Macy Department store. Although the Macy people do not understand it, many Chicagoans still feel a strong sense of loss since Marshall Fields is gone, and resentment that Macy's has taken its place.)

Up on the 7th floor, there are several choices for eating, including the Walnut Room, which is a traditional place to eat at Christmas because of the 2 1/2 story Christmas tree. I was very happy to see the Walnut room, even without the tree.

Very elegant! We did not eat there, however, but in the Frango Cafe. I did not take a picture of it, even though it was picture worthy, with very modern design. The food was very good, and the company was wonderful!

Looking over the side after lunch I saw this composition of escalators. I like the kaleidoscope look of them.

After lunch we went to the 5th floor to look at the ceiling that Tiffany designed and oversaw the installation. My pictures really do not do it justice at all. The mosaic is pearlescent, which of course does not show up in pictures, and it really glows. The best view is from the lingerie department!

Detail:

Tiffany lamp. There were originally 4 of these. Two are still hanging, one was broken, and the last one mysteriously showed up in the Mays (Target) headquarters, the previous owners of Fields.

The store was added to 5 times, and I think it takes up a whole city block. Even though this looks like two buildings, it is all Fields building. The oldest building is from the 1890s, and the main building was in 1907.

There are more pictures here if you are interested. Stay tuned for State Street.

Day in Chicago, part 1 of 5--Chicago Cultural Center

2011-06-30T17:36:00.006-05:00

We had a wonderful day yesterday. One of the members in my yoga class is a docent for an architectual tour organization in Chicago. She offered to lead us on a tour, and we jumped at the chance. About half the class was able to go. She was a wonderful guide, and we had so much fun! It was planned to be about 2 hours... we were down town for about 4 hours.

I took almost 100 pictures! That is why I am going to split my conversation into 5 (!) posts.

We took the South Shore train. I had never been on the South Shore, so I was interested in that new experience. We were a group of 7, with one of us in a wheel chair because of a procedure. The trip was very easy.

We arrived on Randolf street and took the pedway to an elevator that brought us right into the Cultural Center. I had been in the building before, but I never "saw" it.

The building was built shortly after the 1893 World Fair, by some of the same people involved in that extravaganza. It was the home of the Chicago Public Library. The first room we went to was the GAR Hall. It originally held Civil War memorabilia and items.

The dome is gorgeous! I could not get a picture of the whole thing, because the center has been restored, and is a lot brighter than outer area. This first picture is the whole dome. The center is over-exposed.

This is the center area. I will have to look up the name of this stained glass artist... I did not take notes (I was too busy taking pictures!).

In the hall there are all the names of the battles of the Civil War engraved on green marble. (I am so ashamed to admit I don't even recognize most of them!)

I this area the mosaic floors were catching my attention. These are such lovely and interesting patterns!

Then we went over to Preston Bradley Hall. The radio station I often listen to sponsors lunch-time concerts in Preston Bradley Hall, and I never knew where it was. It used to be called the delivery room, because when you used the library you would request your book at a big desk, and a librarian would go fetch it from the closed stacks and it would be "delivered" to you from the corner.

This room is amazing! The ceiling was covered with mosaic. There are sayings about reading and wisdom in many languages spelled out in mosaic, in Latin, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Egyptian, Greek, and German.

The colors are just so lovely! In the archways there are names of authors. These are English authors. At the front door there were all the Greek and Roman authors, and then, by the steps were all the American authors.

On the stairs I was able to get a close-up of some of the mosaic work. Isn't this just lovely!

In this hall the dome is a Tiffany dome. This one has been completely restored, and is so beautiful. The symbols around the center are the zodiac symbols.

Our guide said that during the 1980's (known as the "decade of destruction") the City of Chicago wanted to demolish this building! The first Mrs. Daley was against that, and was successful in saving it.

Knitting and a day out

2011-06-29T08:11:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my 19th annual cancer check-up! It is amazing for a couple of reasons, first and foremost being that it is totally amazing to survive cancer for 19 years! Also, I can hardly believe that it has been 19 years... some days it feels like it just happaned yesterday. My oncologist doesn't even see me in person any more, except if I want to. She is too busy taking care of people who's care is more urgent. I nodded to her in the office, but the nurse practitioner did my exam. Everything is fine!

After that (which took longer than it should have, thanks to the new computer system!) we went out for lunch with a former boss of mine. We stopped in and saw his retirement community. He recently lost his wife, so it was nice to spend some time with him. (He is in his 90s, and still going strong.) He wanted to show off the view he sees every day during meal time. Isn't this gorgeous?

The whole city spread out. We had a gorgeous day as well. One of the residents takes care of the green house. I love these colors!

While we were waiting (and waiting) at the doctor's office, I finished this, a dishcloth from the never-ending cotton yarn skein. There will be more from this skein too!

Last Thursdsay, after our knitting outing I decided I should learn to knit lace, since I picked out yarn and a pattern for a lacy shawl. My Knitting for Dummies book had a pattern for a lace sampler, so I found a yarn, and tried it.

Talk about new vocabulary! and these are all acronyms. You have ssk, k2tog, yo, and one I am not quite sure of, p2tog-b. Those stand for slip, slip, knit; knit two together; yarn over; and I think the last one is purl two together in the back stitches... If you look closely at the sampler, you can see I missed a yarn-over in one of the sections, even though I think I did that section at least 3 times. I enjoyed it, though, and it helped a lot to see a little bit of what the different combinations of stitches looks like. I felt confident enough to try the pattern I picked out, but didn't get quite as far. Here is the first half of the pattern:

I messed up on row 16, so I quit, and I haven't had a chance to work on it again. This is not the type of knitting you do "on the train" or in a group. It needs a lot of concentration. Moonsilk Stitches gave me quite a bit of good advice on how to handle the knitting, including writing the pattern out one page per row (to avoid getting confused on what row you are stitching) and the use of rescue rows, lacing some thread through a row before knitting it so if you make a mistake you can back up to there without having to take out all your work. A third suggestion was to count your stitches after every row to make sure you are on course.

My swatch actually looks pretty good as far as I got (discounting the bubble-gum pink, of course. I picked up the pink from a "survivor" promotion, but the more I look at it, the less I like it. I may even end up using some of it for temari wrap, but for now it works for practicing my knitting.) I like the ridges that formed. The second half, where I messed up and quit, has a more leafy feel and I can't wait to see how that looks as well. I did mess up several times on the first half, but started over each time.

I love learning how to do new things! I think that is part of my problem. I enjoy the learning process, but once I have learned, I don't always enjoy the doing. That happened with learning crazy quilting. I enjoyed the on-line class I took, but I made such a mess picking out fabrics, threads, trims and embellishments that it took longer to clean up than it did to stitch! Something similar happened when I tried polymer clay... making the beads and things was fun, but I couldn't get the finish I was looking for. So far, cross stitch and temari are good with the doing/process.

I won't have time today, though. I have another outing planned to Chicago with my yoga class group (!). More pictures tomorrow! I hope I can post this, last time I had to use another computer to publish my post after writing it on this one. We shall see!

Midwest Fiber Fest

2011-06-27T11:20:00.006-05:00

I did knit on Thursday, after our outing, and completed a "lace sampler" from my Knitting for Dummies book, but I will show you that work tomorrow. On Friday, my friend Moonsilk Stitches and I went to the Midwest Fiber Festival along with a couple of hundred of our closest friends.

The festival was held at the Dupage County Fairgrounds, and it was a very nice venue. The building was air-conditioned, although with the weather on Friday, they were considering turning on the heat. Anyhow, there was room for demonstrations, for classroms, all the shops and for musicians. These gentlemen were sitting off to the side, playing their music, and most of the day there was a harpist perfuming the air with her music as well (sorry, no picture!).

The first thing I saw when we got through the door was this lady demonstrating spinning with a spindle. They had a couple of demonstration spindles set up for people to try, and I tried... without a whole lot of success, but with an urge to try more.

I was able to pick up a small spindle and some roving (and a book!) to try once I got home.

The shopping was a lot of fun. There were raw fleeces, and angora rabbits for sale, and for petting, and felt, and roving, and yarn, and combed tops, and some pottery, and some dyed fabric, and all of it was very interesting. The show was a very nice size as well; I got through most of the booths by lunch-time.

Lunch was outside... and I don't know if you can tell, but it was a little cool. I was wishing for a little more jacket than I had. The food was very good. There was a Polish food stand with perogis and blinzes, sausage and kabobs (which is what I had) and an Amish food stand with bbq pork and pulled pork, and etc. It was real food!

There was more real music too. This was acoustic, even though it was amplified afterwards. With my hearing the way it is, I was not able to listen to the lunch conversation because of the music... but I did enjoy it.

Yesterday I tried out my new spindle, and this is the result:

I spun this cop all by myself! I actually made thread! It is not done yet, I have to make this much again, and then join the two plies together. Then I have to put it into a skein, and then wash it before it becomes yarn you can work with. I have discovered this spindle is too small for the thickness of the yarn I made, but it worked! I don't know if I will have enough yarn to make anything from this. I did pick up some roving in a very nice denim color, and I have a plan to make a mobius scarf from that.

I am really enjoying learning something new! There is a whole bunch of new vocabulary to learn, and then the muscle memory with the hands so it keeps things interesting.

On our way home from the festival we shopped at Village Needleworks (I picked up some temari threads) and Whole Food. We just had a wonderful day!

Day on the town

2011-06-23T10:09:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful outing on Wednesday to Sheep's Clothing in Valparaiso. This was our group. We traveled in two cars. You can see that it was a nice sunny afternoon. It showered while we were in the shop, but I barely noticed, I was so busy shopping.

This is the result of some of my shopping, my skeins are being wound into yarn cakes. Don't you love the color?

I ended up planning 3 projects. This project is for a felted tote bag. The turquoise is the main color, but it has crocheted flowers, leaves, and tendrils all over the top.

I ordered some gorgeous yarn and a knitting book to make my black lacy shawl. I will have to do some practice swatches to learn the pattern before I start knitting with my good yarn. I hope I have not bitten off more than I can chew. I will share my swatching progress. My "Knitting for Dummies" book has a simple lace sampler, so I am thinking it would be a good plan to work that, just to be clear on the different stitches needed for knitting lace.

My third project is a double knit scarf, you can see the pattern here. This is a complex project too, so it might take a while. There is enough yarn for 2 scarves, and there are two patterns I like so that works out great. People in my knitting group know how to make this, so if I run into trouble I know where to get help. I have the yarn for the tote bag, so that will be the first one to start... or I could start the lace swatching.

(In the mean time, I have an urgent request to make a pom-pom humming bird. I will try to get progress pictures of that as well.)

I finished the SAL (Stitch-along) temari from 4 weeks ago this morning. This is a kiku stitch on a s16, alternating regular and modified stitches on the alternating petals. One side started light and went to the dark.

This side started dark and went to the light.

The stitching was so intense on this, there is not room for any obi stitching. I love this set of nile green; it is DMC 910, 911, 912, 913, and 954. There is a 909 (darker) in the series, but I am not sure it comes in a Pearl #5. I remember using this color as the main color in a baby sampler (years and years ago).

I am please with how this one turned out. Now to the next one on the list! I still have to complete my GITS exchange! I better get busy.

Two finished projects!

2011-06-21T09:06:00.002-05:00

I have two projects to share with you today. The first is a small stitched notebook cover that was a guild project for HEG, designed by my friend Moonsilk Stitches. The little dragonfly is made from memory thread, the little flowers are ribbon, and the whole thing is made out of felt. I didn't follow the directions very carefully, and ran out of thread to make the top and the bottom edging the same, but I like it a lot, all the same. I think it will be very useful in my purse.

I also finished my kitchen hand towel.

The skein of this thread I bought is huge, so you will see more projects as well. I am thinking dishcloths?

I have two outings planned for this week. Tomorrow I am going to a yarn shop with my knitting group! I decided on Sunday I would like a lacy black shawl to put over my shoulders in church... I have never knit lace, but there is no time like the present to get started. I was having fun today looking for lacy shawl patterns on line, and I found several I like, but I won't decide on one until I see what they have at the store.

On Friday I am going to the Midwest Fiber Festival, knitting, felting, spinning, etc. I am getting more and more excited about that. You know how much I like felt! I will try to get pictures and I will share my adventures with you!

Talk to you later!

Reading

2011-06-20T08:20:00.002-05:00

I have been reading a lot in the last couple of weeks. On my trip up to the University of Chicago, I picked up a collection of all the Father Brown stories by Chesterton. They are a little bit like the Sherlock Holmes stories, except that Father Brown uses psychological inductive reasoning instead of physical clues. I enjoyed the series a lot!

Then I had picked up a collection of the Anne of Green Gables stories, all the books in the set. It totalled 1434 pages on my Nook! I found the stories very interesting... I have read them several times before, but this time instead of identifying with Anne (like when I was a girl) I identified with Marilla. It gave a whole different flavor to the stories, and a lot of different insights. I must say, I enjoyed the stories a lot!

Then I read a couple of the Elm Creek Quilts books. There are at least 16 books in that series, but they do not come in a set. They are individually priced for my nook, at about the top limit I like to pay for electronic books. The first one was "Winding Ways Quilt" in paperback that Moonsilk Stitches loaned me. I enjoyed that one so much that I picked up "Aloha Quilts" for the nook, and read that in one evening. That one was even better!

Today I have been reading "Intrigues" by Mercedes Lackey. I read almost everything she writes, but only have one or two books of hers on my Nook. That would be another author I would like to have the complete collection of, but again, since they are newer books I cannot pick up a complete collection for just pennies, like I can for the older authors. I will just have to pick up one or two at a time. Hopefully some of the older books will be more discounted.

I have been reading "The Book Thief," and "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Help" but I am having trouble sticking to those. I do want to finish all three of them, but ever since I was young I have disliked too much suspense. I would hide behind a chair when a TV show got too exciting, and I HATE horror movies. In a hand-held book I can glance ahead a couple of pages to make sure everything is going to turn out okay, so I can keep going, but with the Nook, or an audio book, I haven't discovered how to do that. So the reading languishes until I can power through.

I have a couple of Debbie Macomber books (paperbacks) that people from knitting group are sharing in my "next" pile. Some of her stories are about knitters who solve mysteries... fun!

What are your favorite books and/or authors?

I will have pictures of some stitching tomorrow, I promise!

New Temari

2011-06-16T07:51:00.002-05:00

I finished this temari last night:

This temari has been the cause of my temari block. I was not following a pattern, or a picture in a book. I had an idea, and I worked it out... and I don't think it is particularly successful. To begin with, the marking did not turn out the way I had hoped. I wanted less marking on this one, but I didn't know how to get it. Plus the marking is not symetrical. The spaces are bigger around the centers of the 12 pentagons than towards the outside of the pentagons. That is why the temari sat for a couple of weeks after I was done with the marking, before I started stitching on it.

The colors are pastel/rainbow colors. A couple of the pinks are a little too strong, and so throw off the color balance... but again, I was not sure what was going to happen with this ball. Hind-sight is 20/20, but I am not too much of a prophet.

This picture concentrates on the colors that do balance, and it looks quite nice. DH has characterized it as a "lacy" temari, and I think that describes it well. Even though this was an experiment, I learned a lot from it, so from that respect, I think it was useful.

Hopefully now that it is done, my temari block will also be done, and I can get going on some of the other temari patterns that are patiently waiting for me to get to them.

GITS and stitching

2011-06-13T09:24:00.002-05:00

I got a lovely package in the mail last week! I had signed up for the most recent GITS (Great International Temari Swap) and my assigned partner was Joan. I got all excited when I found out, because she is a fantastic temari artist; my excitement was completely justified because look what was in the package! Isn't it beautiful?

It is a combination 8, with a combination of kiku and HHG stitching making beautiful big flowers all over. I love the color combination. and it shows Joan's creativity, combining traditional forms to make something original and fantastic. Thank you so much Joan!

I moved my scroll bars back to the "north to stitch some of the corner motifs between the "onion" scenes, and was just gob-smacked by how beautiful this is turning out:

I decided that the leaning lighthouse is due to my material being mounted imperfectly on the stretcher bars. You can see the same distortion on the corner I am stitching. The big parts in the next section of stitching are delft tiles: 8 tiles in all in 4 different patterns. After that comes a botanical sketch of a tulip, including the bulb, repeated in all four corners.

I love botanical sketches, and have stitched several in the past (pre blog, so I don't have the pictures to show you). I can tell you when they were stitched, though... 19 years ago, when I was going through chemo. Every once in a while, when I realize what a blessing I have received, of additional, healthy life, I just get overwhelmed. DDs were both in grade school when I went through my treatment, but I have received the blessing of seeing them grown, and getting to know my grandkids. God is good!

Progress, but no pictures

2011-06-09T09:29:00.002-05:00

I did get quite a bit done yesterday. I cleaned out the gutters before it got too hot. They hadn't been done in a while, so there were leaves from last autumn and maple helicopters from this spring. There was also somewhat of a swamp... Not Good! I am glad to have that job done.

I worked on Holland Springtime Mandala for quite a while. The second tulip meadow is done except for a couple of stray stitches and the grass at the bottom (plus the sky, but that is just a couple of minutes). I think I will go back toward the top and do the corner ornaments that fit up there (and I may go ahead and add the tulip meadow on top of the "northmost" scene as well). I really am enjoying this project.

I pulled out my sewing machine to stitch up a project for my HEG guild, and found the fabric I thought I had tossed, carefully stashed under the sewing machine cover. So I stitched that up as well. Pictures will come from one of these projects, as soon as there is something to see, but the other project will be under wraps until September.

I pulled out my supply of felt to start making a doll from a Mimi Kirchner pattern, and discovered that I have NO flesh colored felt. Now I have a goal for the day, and a reason to go to JoAnn Fabrics! I tell you, life is good! Hopefully this new doll will be friends with Moonsilk Stitches' Dolly, who went on several adventures last year. (Actually, it already two years ago!)

I also have to do some grocery shopping, so I will be braving the weather in a little while. Yesterday the temps were in the high 90s, and I hibernated in the air, but today they are struggling to reach 70... much better, in my opinion, if I don't melt in the rain.

Talk to you later!

I.G.A.D!

2011-06-07T07:28:00.003-05:00

I have been suffering from IGAD syndrome (I've Got All Day). I met for lunch yesterday with a friend who is in the same employment situation I am in, and we were comparing notes. Both of us were complaining that we are getting less done now that we are home all day than we used to get done when we were working 40 hours a week. I know that I am suffering from a lack of routine. One of my big problems is knowing what my routine should look like. I am not complaining too much though, it is a good problem to have.

I got the knitting done on my hobo bag. I have it mostly assembled, I just have to stitch the other handle on. I think I am really going to enjoy using this one.

I had to do some frog stitching (unstitching: ripit, ripit) on the sky. I had used the wrong color. I got one thread of the border started on this side.

On this side I got the sky stitched, most of the light house (doesn't it look a little tippy? Hopefully that is just an optical illusion.) the filling for the frame, and the greens from the tulip meadow. Next are the tulips themselves. That is fun, but there are only a couple of stitches of each of six shades of pink, so it is a little fiddly.

Blogger seems to be having issues today, I hope this will post. If you can't leave a comment, you could always e-mail me!

Not a lot of Stitching

2011-06-03T07:35:00.002-05:00

Hello, not a lot of stitching going on here. I have been trying to remember what I have been doing this week, and I cannot think of it! Tuesday is a blank. There was yoga class, and I think that was it.

Wednesday I goofed off a lot, and then I walked to the village Farmer's Market, and earned a new shopping bag. I picked up some tomatos, some rhubarb, a couple of things from the baker and a couple of pieces of cheese. That evening we had a salad with the tomatos and grated cheese in it. The cheese was amazing! 4-year old cheddar. I haven't even tasted the smoked gouda yet. Maybe I will have some for lunch today.

Thursday was a busy day. In the morning I went to my knitting group and started this:

It will become a hobo bag. This is cotton yarn, and it is stitching up amazingly fast. I got a huge ball, and there should be enough to make a couple of kitchen hand towels and maybe even a dish cloth or two.

There were lovely projects being made, and I would love to start all of them! Several people were making baby booties and bibs, 2 people were working on a very nice afghan pattern, nice and thick and cozy (and crocheted). Someone started a cute fuzzy scarf, and then started it over with different needles, and someone else is working on a very nice shrug. There was also a nice shawl that looked quite simple. So many ideas, so little time!

After knitting group my former workmates took me to lunch and gave me this:

It has a lovely inscription on it, and the globe rotates with solar power! (It just now got light enough for the rotation to begin again.) Thank you so much!

(I keep picturing one of my temari on it, rotating! I wonder if you can get the bases by themselves?)

Then, last night while I was cooking supper I chipped the rotating tray in the microwave, badly enough that it really needs to be replaced. DH found the part through Amazon, and it is winging it's way to us.

So as you can see, nothing earth shattering, but keeping busy. I have to leave now, to work in our church food pantry, another new experience. I am making slow progress on the Holland Springtime Mandala, but have been spending a lot of time on the computer. E-mail and blogs are a connection to all of you, and games are a big time waster!

I will talk to you later!

Butterflies!

2011-05-31T11:01:00.003-05:00

Several weeks ago, when we were out and about, we picked up a butterfly house for C (and some legos for P!). The house came with an order form, which involved some excruciating wait, but soon enough a package with 5 little worms arrived at C's house. The worms ate and ate, and soon became big worms, and then they attached themselves to the ceiling and went to sleep, emerging a couple of days later:

(Their feet tickle when they walk on you, so C likes to hold them on a stick.) You can tell from the expression that it was a very successful experiment.

The butterflies turned out to be painted ladies, and I was surprised. I have stitched a painted lady butterfly in my Flower Power. I wonder if C will recognize it when she comes?

This is my progress on Holland Springtime Mandala. As you can see, I have been goofing off, not getting this done.

I am enjoying the goofing off, though.

Big Day on Campus

2011-05-26T12:26:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a big day, and I am feeling the effects today. I rode down to the University of Chicago campus with my friend, and spend the day wandering around and exploring the campus.

It was very rainy to begin the day, and I felt very adventurous setting off with my umbrella and fording the waterways at every curb. My base was the law library on 60th street. First I walked about 3 blocks to the Oriental Institute. I visited Assyria...

Babylon and Egypt. Here are a couple of shots of beautiful things. Most of the time I was alone in the gallery with an attendant looking on. I really enjoyed the carved cylinder seals that were used to ratify agreements, and the changes in the writing styles over time, and the lesson/practice writing clays were very interesting.

What got me excited, though, was this:

A Needle! (and thread!) This case had several examples of textiles (mostly fragments) but also a large gorgeous piece of linen produced by the crown workshops. The piece was (they said) 5 meters long! I would have loved to run my hands over that!

Of course, with things from so long ago, you get the beads, but not the string, the game board, but not the game pieces or the instructions, the vessels and grinding stones to prepare food, but not the recipes. There was a child's linen tunic, but no everyday clothing.

I was interested to see the beads that had been collected. They would look at home in any contemporary bead shop, wouldn't they!

After the Oriental Institute, I walked across the street to the Seminary Coop Bookstore. That is an amazing place! The website claims to have over 10,000 titles, and I believe it. It is in the basement of the seminary building, and it is a labyrinth. They have lines painted on the floor, so you can find your way back to the front desk, and all the overhead pipes (plumbing, heating, ?) are wrapped so that if/when you hit your head, you won't hurt yourself. The desk areas were all in rooms about 5 to 6 feet tall. I don't think I could work there! One area had some steps down, and had a little more height.

Wandering around in there I saw tons of books I have heard about but never seen, and thousands I had never even imagined. I was tempted to buy this one, and that one, but the way my reading has been going lately, I feared I would never get through any of them.

After leaving the Seminary Coop bookstore, I walked across the quad to the Barnes and Noble bookstore (and the Starbucks!). Talk about ivyed halls! It was simply gorgeous, and even better, the rain had stopped.

I anjoyed looking at the flower-beds too: all purple flowers! This area and other parts of the campus are designated a botanical garden. It would be fun to explore that aspect someday too.

I sat in the coffee shop for an hour, nursing my latte and browsing the Nook bookstore; I picked up a couple more anthologies and read a David Baldacci short story while I sat there. My friend picked me up at lunch time, and we went to Calypso, one of her favorite restaurants, that is, unfortunately, being forced out of business because the building is being torn down. I can assure you, it will be a great loss! I just ate my left-overs from yesterday: angel hair pasta with mushrooms and chicken, and it was as delicious today as it was yesterday.

After that, I got dropped off at the Smart Art Gallery. It was interesting, but I was a little disappointed. There were some lovely things, but there was no organization to the art. A little here from one era, and a little there from another, with no thread connecting them. I do not know enough about art to be able to see the connections without a little more help than was offered.

From there I walked about 4 blocks back to the law library, past the Nuclear Energy sculpture, on the site of the "Manhattan Project" first atomic reaction.

This library is built on the location of the stadium where they built the first reactor. I love the justaposition of the modern building with the stone (ivory?) tower.

On my walk I had some beautiful weather! The sun was out and warm, and I was able to shed my rain-coat and sweater. I walked past the Searle Chemical Laboratory, and was siezed by a desire to go in and play in one of the labs. I don't really want to take another chemistry class (see the reading dilemma above) but it sure would be fun to do some experiments in the lab.

With the sun out I was able to get a nice picture of the law library. This is a zero depth fountain... it is really just a big puddle, set to show of the sculpture.

They allow wading!

I sat in a very comfortable, well-lit lounge and read and stitched until it was time to go home. My friend and I are talking about doing it again. I didn't get to the Rockefeller Chapel, and the Museum of Science and Industry is within reach as well.

Thank you for letting me ride along! I had a wonderful day!

Happy Monday

2011-05-23T08:17:00.002-05:00

I made a temari! It felt like forever since I had made one, in fact, it was a couple of weeks. This was practice for the najiri or interlocked tecnique that we visited on the ustream.tv class last week. The temari I was copying from a Japanese book had 24 squares, this one turns out to have 12 squares and 12 diamonds. I really like the colors, and I got a lot of practice, so this one is a success.

I really like the lines that form the squares on this one, made with 2 colors. I think the combination really gives it some depth.

I promised I would show the finished tulip meadow when I picked up Holland Springtime Mandala again, so here it is. I think it turned out wonderful! I think this is the motif that made me pick this project to stitch now.

As you can see, I could not keep my hands off it, and picked it up again last night. This is how far I got on the "west" onion. This one has a lighthouse, with less confetti stitching than the last section, so it may go faster.

DH and I decided to do some reorganizing in the house. We are going to move his music room to the basement, so there will be room for a group to get together to practice, but that will involve some building. It will also involve quite a bit of upheaval to get things reorganized. I am also planning on changing my stitching room as well. I have located a couple of areas of the house that would work better with shelves up, so I can move patterns and supplies to those locations.

This morning I went out in the yard and worked a while before the promised hot afternoon, and got a blister! I like gardens better on linen and silk!

update

2011-05-20T14:37:00.000-05:00

C is fine. Everything went well. She is not happy, but is home, sitting on momma's lap.

Progress on turtles, about as slow as they are

2011-05-20T10:50:00.002-05:00

I am making slow progress on the turtles. Here is a handful of parts to make the scissors weight. I was so afraid I was going to lose something because these parts were so small. I was keeping them in a baggie, just so they wouldn't get caught on anything.

It took a little pulling and I broke the thread once from stitching so tightly, but here is the smallest of the turtles. He is called a scissors weight because the cord allows you to connect him to your scissors to help keep track of them. He doesn't weigh very much though. I am wondering if I should have put a dime inside to make him a little more substantial.

I am very pleased, though, with how he turned out. Here he is with his big brother. They will be close, because the pocket on the bigger one is to hold the scissors the little one is attached to. Best friends!

I finally located the pattern I was looking for to finish March--Daffodil on my Monthly Flower sampler. It felt so good to stitch on a temari last night! I hadn't stitched on one for a couple of weeks! I finished wrapping another base last night and started najiri (interlocked) squares on a new one. I have to run to the grocery store now, but I hope to work on it this afternoon.

The sun is out! It is a beautiful day. I hope you have a good one.

(C is having oral surgery today. I heard from DD2, and things are going well, but we are concerned. Pray that everything will turn out.)

Flowery Goodness

2011-05-18T08:19:00.002-05:00

This weekend, when DD2, and P&C arrived, they were bringing gifts! I love the springy flowers they brought, and I love the thought and caring that went into their selection. DD2 is making baby steps toward getting stronger, as well, way to go sweetie! Thank you!

I finished stitching the "tulip meadow" on my Holland Springtime Mandala, but did not get a picture of it this morning, plus there are already plenty of pictures in this post. I will make sure to get an overall picture when I pick it up again, hopefully in a week or so. You can tell I am not too good at doing a rotation. For me it tends to be "out of sight, out of mind." That's one of the reasons my sewing/craft room is so messy. I can find everything, but I get afraid that if I organize and put away everything, I will forget I have it. Of course, right now I can hardly get into the room, so there must be a happy medium somewhere.

I didn't lose this sashiko stitching that I did a couple of months ago. I had picked up a pillow form for it, so yesterday I put it together. I am very pleased with how it turned out. It is a little plump pillow, but very cute! I think it took less than an hour to put together, but of course, the sewing machine was already out.

When that was done, I looked into my sewing basket, next to my stitching chair, and found it very organized! (I was surprised, like I said, out of sight, out of mind.) I had stashed my stitched turtle backs there, with the supplies I had purchased to finish them, and one of the next projects I want to start. I looked at the instructions to "finish" the turtles, and started to get overwhelmed and put them away, but then I said to myself, "what does the first paragraph say?"

Well, the first paragraph said to trim the embroidery, and cut out 2 lining pieces and two interfacing pieces. Well, I could do that, so I did. Then the next paragraph, and the next, and by the end of the evening, I had this!

top

bottom (the poor turtle has fallen, and cannot get up!)

Taking it one step at a time made the instructions very easy to follow, and I am quite pleased with this little fellow. Now to finish the other 3.

Our family always says "Off like a flock of wild turtles" when we leave to go somewhere, so this little flock is an appropriate image for us. I would like the shell to be a little more domed, but I think I know how to accomplish that with the next one. I am going to run out of the dyed thread it calls for, though. I will have to look for a substitute if I do run out, or pick some more up this weekend. It is Weeks Dye Works, color Juniper. I had ordered the coordinating felt (woven wool, felted) and the very turtly looking lining fabric, which you will see better on the needle-book turtle. This one has a little pocket under the shell to store things, probably a very short scissors would fit there perfectly.

When I was just getting going on the turtle yesterday afternoon, there was a knock on the door, and when I went to look there was a box on the front porch:

Beautiful roses, from a former co-worker, saying that she misses me! Aren't they beautiful! Thank you so much D!

Missing the people I worked with every day is the worst part of staying home, but the best part... Look at everything I got done yesterday! There are plans afoot for fun outings too. Mom, my 2 sisters and I live in 3 different states, but we are talking about getting together for a day. We shall have to see if we can work it out. Plus a day out with Moonsilk-stitches. I'm so excited!

Birthday present!

2011-05-17T09:20:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, my good friend who writes Moonsilk Stitches, gave me a belated birthday present last Monday. Isn't this amazing? She copied a picture from my blog, and then embroidered it on a dishtowel! (If you look toward the bottom of this post, you will see the picture she used.)

Receiving a gift like this makes me feel so special! She worked on it when she was on vacation, so she was even thinking about me then! Thank you so much!

This is too nice to use! But if I do not use it, I will not see it as often as I would like to. (Right now it is on the arm of my chair, where I can see it all day!)

Thank you for the gift, and thank you for being my friend.

Weekend

2011-05-16T08:44:00.002-05:00

I am sorry for being so scattered last week. I received a beautiful gift on Monday night that I haven't even taken pictures of yet, but Monday was the last day at my job, and I am still working at setting a new routine.

I am loving how the Holland Springtime Mandala is turning out. There are so many wonderful details in this piece. This is how far I got on Thursday:

I did not notice while I was stitching that the brown on the right side of the picture is piers for a bridge. The railings and lift mechanism of the bridge are done in long stitches that will be one of the last things I do on this project (probably even after the beads).

This is how far I got on Friday. All the picture stitching is done, and some weedy looking plants have sprouted along the top.

I love the lit windows in the little house, and how the light reflects (with metallic stitches) on the water outside. I also like the fat cattails. They look even better in person.

Once I reached this point, I had a distraction. On Saturday we were here:

It is outside of Cabela's in Indiana. But I wanted you to look at the posers at the base of the statue:

It was not a nice day, weather-wise, but we had a lot of fun, nevertheless. This was after breakfast, and we still had to make it to a couple more stores, but it was entertaining. We had to pick up a couple of birthday presents for DD1, which is always fun, and then we got to give them to her on Sunday, which is even more fun. So you can understand that I did not get as much stitching done as the previous couple of days.

The flowers on top don't quite look like tulips yet, but they have a little bit of color, and the onion frame is filled in as well.

As soon as I finish this section, I am going to put it down and do a couple of other things: a temari, or two, a little notebook cover that was a guild project last month, and I want to finish my Quaker turtles. I have all the supplies for that, but always felt I didn't have the time; now I've got nothing but time! I also bought some supplies for a flower pouch/purse, and I want to play with those, and that is leading me to some intriguing thoughts about my HEG summer project...

I will be back later today (or early tomorrow) with pictures of my wonderful belated birthday present!

Back to Holland Springtime Mandala

2011-05-12T07:44:00.000-05:00

I am back to being enthralled with this project. I put it down in February, before our vacation trip to Arizona, because I knew I would not have time to dedicate to it, and it was too bulky to take with us on the plane. I haven't picked it up before now, because I knew it would take all my stitching energy once I did, but now I have time to get back to it.

It is not quite confetti stitching. There are usually 4 to 6 stitches together rather than one or two, but it is still quite involved. You can just start to see that this has a house/building on it... but you cannot see what else is in the picture. You will have to wait for that!

I love stitching with the Needlepoint Inc. silks. They are smooth and soft, but not filament silk, so they do not get caught or snagged on skin that is not perfectly smooth.

I think I will take another picture tomorrow and post it, so you (and I) can see how much progress I make in one day. See you then!

Lovely Mother's Day and a surprise

2011-05-10T07:43:00.002-05:00

I had a very nice weekend. On Saturday I finished this project:

It was a lot of fun. I do enjoy stiching on felt. It is very forgiving. I think this turned out very nice. Now I have to find a place to display it where the pets will not fill it with fur. That should be interesting!

On Sunday I had a real treat. I rode into Chicago with friends for a concert of the Protege Philharmonic Orchestra. It is an orchestra for high-school kids who are interested in pursuing music in college and beyond. The concert was held at Navy Pier, and as we were walking up and down the hall we came upon the Stained Glass Museum. I did not have a chance to stop and take good pictures, but I got in a couple of snaps. This is a Tiffany window.

And another Tiffany:

All the windows were beautiful, but the Tiffany windows were in another category all-together. They just glowed! There were examples all the way from antique Church stained glass windows to clear glass in the shapes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright originally. I didn't have time to figure out how to get nice pictures, which is probably good for you. I would have taken pictures of all of them!

The music was lovely and I really enjoyed the concert. It was held in the Grand Ballroom at the tip of the pier. This is the inside of the dome.

It is a lovely room, but I was disappointed by the way they arranged the room. The orchestra was set up in front of the windows overlooking Lake Michigan. It was interesting to see the boats gliding past, but it was very difficult to see the musicians with the back-lighting. When I am at a live concert, I love to watch the musicians playing, and I found that this arrangement made it very difficult to see them. It made the concert a little less enjoyable than it could have been.

After the concert DD1 and her SO (significant other) picked me up, and treated me to a meal in a Vietnamese restaurant. It was the first time I had experienced Vietnamese food, and I hope it is not the last. We each had a large bowl of soup. Mine was so generous that DH also had my left-overs for his supper. The soup was filled with noodles, won-tons, vegetables, and bbq bacon (!). It was delicious, and the company was the best. Then they drove me home, back to the suburbs, and we were able to hang out for a while at home.

Thanks to everyone who made the day possible!

The surprise is that I am now at leisure; I am no longer employed. If you want to contact me, please do so at the e-mail address in my blogger profile. I am hoping to be able to tackle some of the larger projects on my "to-do" stitching list. There are plenty to choose from!

Stash!

2011-05-05T09:51:00.002-05:00

I mentioned yesterday I had received some stash. Mary Corbet of Needle'nThread blog reviewed this kit in a post a couple of weeks ago. I had already fallen in love with the project which had been printed in the EGA membership magazine, so I went ahead and ordered these threads. Then Mary gave away the kit she had reviewed!

I just love these colors!

I still need to get fabric for the project, and I am wondering if these threads would work for another set of patterns I have, smalls (needle book, pin cushion, scissors holder, etc.) in this style. The possibilities are endless!

Last night DH participated in our church's Talent Night. He and a group of friends formed a band, and played some wonderful music. Here he is on the drums, with the bass player.

I didn't get a good picture of the whole group in their concert garb. The whole evening was fun, and it is always fun to see how much talent there is in our church.

Things I am thankful for: Spring Trees

2011-05-03T10:45:00.001-05:00

Sorry to have been AWOL the past couple of days. There is not much stitching going on in my life. I did get some stash last week, so I will share that tomorrow, and I am doing some stitching on a penny rug (felt embroidery with pearl cotton #5). That is going so quickly, that I thought I would have a finished project to show you, but again, not a lot of stitching going on. I have a feeling it is a combination of getting over this cold/cough I have been fighting, and the totally gray weather we have been having. They promised sunshine today, but in this zip code we haven't seen it yet.

I am enjoying the unfurling of spring in this area. It started a couple of weeks ago, when the grass turned green, and then you noticed that the tree branches were not as stark as they had been a couple of days ago, just a little softening of the outlines of the branches. The next sign was the willow trees turning a bright yellow-green. Most of the year willows are sad and dull, but in the spring they lead the way. By now most of the trees are showing some growth, either their very plain flowers, or the seeds that will soon be littering the ground and filling the gutters on houses. Fruit trees are showing their very beautiful flowers, cherry trees, apple trees, and crab apple trees: pink, white, and more pink! I wish I had pictures to show you, but I am not a good enough photographer to catch the nuances, and they change every day!

I see sun!

Little Card Holder

2011-04-29T08:55:00.002-05:00

Last Friday I had the day off, and spent it cleaning and stitching. I was pleased with my progress on both counts. I made this little pouch to carry in my purse. I got some "Moo cards" to be able to share this blog with people who might be interested in temari, but they were getting messed up in my purse. Now they have their own little cute home.

I have been fighting off a cold this week. I haven't felt too bad, but I have had very little energy for stitching since Sunday. I read Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter, and enjoyed it very much. If you would like to read it, it is available for free at Project Gutenberg here. You can either read it on-line, or download a copy for your Nook or Kindle.

The story takes place in a historic spot in eastern Indiana, south of Ft. Wayne. It is interesting, because Grand Rapids, MI, and Chicago, IL are mentioned several times in the stories. There is a lot of natural history included in her stories, and even some ecological awareness! I think it would be an interesting place to visit. It is an Indiana Historical site.

I did pick up a needle last night, and added some markings to a multipole I am working on. I'm still not sure if it will work or not, I am kind of making it up as I go along. We shall see!

C10 Swirl

2011-04-26T09:43:00.004-05:00

I finally finished stitching this swirl. When I was planning it I didn't realize how much stitching it would take.

It looks better from a little farther away. The fans of thread almost look three dimentional.

I am very pleased I was able to figure out this pattern just from seeing a picture of a completed temari, and it turned out okay, with a lot of room for improvement. I think this is one of those projects where practice makes perfect.

Thanks, everyone for your kind wishes on our anniversary!

35 Years Ago (Yesterday)

2011-04-25T14:31:00.002-05:00

This is a picture of DH and me taken 35 years ago yesterday. It was the 70s, so of course everything was earth-tone! We had a very small wedding, no more than 50 people at the ceremony, and we only served cake and punch afterwards. The wedding did seem to take, though.

(Neither one of us looks like this any more!)

We had a lovely day yesterday, with both daughters home for dinner, and the grand-kids. I finally started getting caught up on my hug deficit. I had thought of kids and grand-kids when we got married, but never imagined how much love I would feel for (at the time) potential offspring. At one point this weekend there was a possibility that they would not have been able to make it to dinner; that would have ruined the whole anniversary celebration!

I love you Sweetie! Thanks for a wonderful life, and looking forward to many more years.