cozy days

When I was younger and the older folk would say things about how quickly time passes, I thought they were nutso.  ha.  My how age and perspective changes those thoughts!  This week flew by.  The summer flew by.  I understand phrases like "trying to stay in the moment".  But, dang, how easy it is to get caught up in the rush of the day to day.

So!  Last weekend I made the quilt top for my giant vintage sheet star quilt.  Yesterday I quilted that bad boy up!!  I did larger free motion than I usually do because I just wanted this done.  Originally I was going to do some sort of straight lines but then that sounded like I would have to use to much brain power and the meandering squiggles of stippling just felt easy.

So I'm sharing this picture because I think it's important to see the mistakes and learn from them!  I got the whole thing done, flipped it over and found this mess.  Now, it's not terrible, no.  Compared to my early quilting is is nothing.  But, I was out of spray basting and just used safety pins.  And I used a vintage sheet for the backing and those cotton/poly blends can be squirrelly! Basically I didn't pay as much attention as I could have.

But guess who cares?  NO ONE!  ha!  Cuz this is a couch quilt to (try) keep Rocky furs off the cushions.

I used another sheet for the binding, a fun hot pink.

And, here it is in use: 

Rocky's rumpus just kills me, he's so cute!  I like to tell him that I wish he could just relax sometimes.  Like, take a chill pill or something!  

Ok.  In other news and happenings this week.  I finally ordered this book and got it Thursday: 

I've been reading the author's blog for awhile now, Can you stay for dinner?, and I really like her writing.  She's super descriptive and conversational.  Basically she was very overweight growing up, alcoholic father, absent overworking mother, brother escaping, explosive at times family dynamic.  I forget what age, maybe 20, she lost 135lbs and so far has kept it off.  So, she's very honest about her family life - puts it out there.  It's also clear she loves her family.  She's just telling it like it was from her perspective and how that affected her.

  

 I also finally finished the July (!!!) frame for my Storytime Sampler.  Oh man I'm so behind!  This one is the Lady of Shalott.  So the only reason I even know about this poem is because in Anne of Green Gables she recites the poem and gets in a boat to float down the river to act it out.  I only made two modifications from the pattern.  One is that I gave her a somber expression instead of a smile.  The other is that after reading the poem it says she is wearing a pearl crown, so I added little french knots to look like pearls.

Also, I've been knitting away on my Duchess shawl.  I am just about to start the last eyelet section, then there is one last garter section and the border to go.  I moved it up to my longer circular needles.  This yarn is so squishy and pretty.  I think once it's blocked, it will suit the pattern better as you'll be able to see the eyelet sections more clearly.

Today is overcast and was rainy this morning so I'm being lazy and cozy.  I have a chili in the crock pot.  I soaked the beans last night thinking it sounded good and then when I woke up to rain I was like perfect!  

garland

I had one of those moments yesterday (Saturday) that I just suddenly had to make something!  Like stop whatever you're doing and make it kind of thing.  I picked out some bright prints that mesh well together and then made a little template, and then stitched up these little flags for a banner.  Then! felt like I needed a crochet border.  I found a clever tutorial online from a google search where she did a back stitch along the edge and then used that as an anchor to crochet onto the fabric.  I actually almost just left the back stitching because even just that is cute.

This was my first idea of yarn, buuuuuuuuut it's like so thin that I had a hard time keeping hold of it and also would have to crochet a million stitches so I abandoned it for a thicker yarn.  Which, apparently I'm a little Goldilocks about it because it's just too thick.  In lieu of buying more yarn (!) I'm dealing with it.  Next time though.

Here is what I ended up with, I do like the way it looks.  It's very cheery, yes?

Today I sat in the back yard and Rocky napped next to me.  It's a ruff life.  Seriously though.

 And!  made these delicious kabobs for dinner.  O.M.G. so good.  I marinated the chicken in a mesquite mix that is a little bit spicy and a lotta bit yummy :)

In other news, book news.  I finished the last book in the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare called Clockwork Princess.  I had been listening to the series on CD while sewing, knitting and stitching.  I really liked it.  It was kind of like a prequel to the Mortal Instrument series by the same author that I had started but the next book wasn't available at the library.  So it's set in the 1800's England, it's fantasy that includes otherworldly creatures, warlocks, magic.  I don't want to give too much of the story away but I will say that there is a love triangle situation and then ending was pretty satisfying.  I still cried a ton but really the author worked everyone's story out.  

I have to say I can't really handle love stories.  I mean, I can and I can't.  I feeeeel like romance stories set up huge expectations that just don't happen in real life.  Well. At least to me they don't.  And, we all know as a widow I really miss my love and wish I still had it.  ugggggg. so that was part of what made me cry at the end of that story.  But!  good story and characters and all that.

And, I popped into the library today and they had the rest of the books on CD in the other series so I snapped them up :)

Hey, have a fantab week!

I have to say I'm really digging these socks!  Two at a time on one needle is fiddly, yes, but I feel like I'm making faster progress than I would doing just one sock.  Or, maybe I'm just really liking knitting right now?

Today was a bright sunny day, I got all my laundry done - win!  So I ventured out to the craft house and did some sewing.  I finished listening to Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy on audiobook.  It was an abridged version but still an enjoyable listen (read?).  

I made a little bit of progress on my Rainy Day quilt.  I rearranged the squares a bit, trying to break up some of the colors.  I added in the new fabrics I bought over at the coast and in Chico for my birthday.  I'm liking the way it's turning out.

I finally finished listening to the last book called Inheritance in the Inheritance Cycle books, by Christopher Paolini.  I had read Eragon when it first came out and then listened to the audiobooks of the last two.  I have to say I hated, hated the ending.  Hated.  I mean, I get it, not every book has to have a happy ending.  But dang dude!  It was a stark disappointment.  And in the way that I didn't see any possibility of something better eventually happening.  The circumstances sucked and after everything he put into these characters it seems like a waste.  I did enjoy the boy up to the end, and I kept hoping maybe there'd be a last second change, or an epilogue where he'd change his mind or something. Nope.  

In other news, I don't want to jinx anything but I think I found a food that Joey can keep down!  So, my boy 

has been sick.  We're pretty sure he has lymphoma.  I took him to the vet and they did an aspiration of his very swollen lymph nodes and it showed lymphocytes.  Friday they did a biopsy, which a whole lymph node was removed and we'll know in a week or so what we're dealing with.  In the middle of all this he hasn't wanted to eat.  And when I can trick him into eating he just gets sick.  But!  I searched every bag of food at Grange and Petco and found a food that he's not allergic to!  And he likes it!  And so far so good on keeping it down!  He had a serious case of the toots last night but I don't even care.

Knitting influences

I bought this book a couple weeks ago and I've been enjoying reading it.  It's a collection of knitters who tell a little story of how they started knitting and who specifically inspired them in their creativity.  They also share a pattern that is inspired by that person.  I've enjoyed it for a number of reasons.  In the introduction is this paragraph that really rings true for me, in more avenues than just knitting:

"Throughout our knitting world, there lurks the refrain 'it's not your grandmother's knitting,' meant to imply that our grandmothers were unsophisticated knitters, had outmoded ideas, lacked style, or were otherwise dowdy or uncool.  This sentiment deprives us from really seeing knitting through our grandmothers' eyes and understanding what they loved about it.  It discounts our grandparents' skill - in many cases developed over an entire lifetime - and also their style, individuality, and grace.  I hope this book will convince you - or just remind you - that the knitting we do is our grandmothers' knitting.  Not only are the knits, purls, cables, and eyelets the same stitches our grandmothers made, but also the unique 'knitters hand' that comes through in each of our works is influenced in some part by the people we grew up with."

I love that.  I love thinking of someone learning to knit from their grandmother and then passing it along to their own children or grandchildren.  There's something cozy to me about that.

Naturally, I've been thinking about why I learned to knit and wondering who inspired me.  I didn't grow up watching anyone knit or crochet.  Quilt and sew, yes!  That is a no-brainer - my Mom - so it's kind of in my blood.  There was no way I wasn't going to sew, make dolls, and eventually quilt.  But knit?  It's more vague.  This is going to sound so silly, but! there was a book I read when I was quite younger, a young adult romance even, where the main character's best friend knitted.  I don't even remember the name of the book or the character's names or anything else except that the knitting she did made an impression.  In one part of the book she knitted up a sweater for her friend in a ridiculous amount of time, like one day or something?  I remember thinking at the time how cool that was.  Now that I do knit I know it's unrealistic.

Around the time I did actually learn to knit it was all over the trash mags and stuff that Julia Roberts would knit on movie sets.  And I remember thinking that it must be something that people actually do.  That was like 1998-9 time frame.  While Scott was in Korea I thought I'd learn how to crochet first.  I figured that one hook would be easier to manage than two needles.  I bought a book and set to it.  I didn't get it.  I kind of got it but it was hard to pick out what I was supposed to be stitching into.  After he got back from Korea I bought a book, "I can't believe I'm Knitting" and that made sense!  The stitches all contained and easy to see on the needle.  I can't really pinpoint when I started knitting for reals, like had to have a project going in addition to sewing.  I'm so glad I stuck with it though!  I'm so grateful to those who came before me and figured out the stitches and wrote books and patterns and shared their knowledge!

What about you?  When did you first start knitting and who inspired you?

knitting and weekend update

I started a knitted fox.  And then ripped it back at least 4 times!  First off I haven't done intarsia before which is knitting with multiple colors.  I thought I needed to carry the colors across, so the first time that's what I did and I pulled it nice and tight thinking that would be great!  Then got to the end and the nose was folded in on itself!  Riiiiiip.  Did that twice.  Rip.  Then I was off on my count. Rip.  Then, I finallllly watched a youtube tutorial, thought I had it - didn't.  Rip.  Watched a different youtube and realized what I was doing wrong, got about half way and realized I was on the compete wrong color anyway!  Grrrr.  About here I was starting to think, who needs a knitted fox anyway?  But I stuck with it.  Here's a view from the inside.  

 You can see where the colors change you sort of loop one color around the other.  At each start point of the next color you have another length (or bobbin, or ball of yarn) to pull from so you're not twisting the yarn all up.  

And here you can see how the fox face is shaping up.  It's quite a bit smaller than I thought it would be, a lot smaller than my bunnies have been.  So, will be rethinking how I do the eyes because my regular safety eyes are huge on it!

So, last weekend I drove down to Chico, where my Mom and bestie live.  The weekend before was my Mom's birthday and Jeannette and her family were having a huge family even at their Catholic church (baptisms, confirmations for all of them, first communion) on the night before Easter so I thought it would be a good time to visit.  I would say this may have been the best visit in a long time.  My Mom and I had a great, low key visit - the best kind.  The weather was absolutely perfect and we got to sit out in her back yard and enjoy it together.  We hit up Goodwill and I found a TON of great books.  Even a couple skirts and pants!

And then, I went to Easter Vigil.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had been told it would be 3 hours so honestly I was thinking 8:30-11:30 pm was a looooong time sitting in a church!  But, it was great!  Everyone was very welcoming.  There was a lot going on, no time to be bored at all!  And, watching Jeannette and her family takes these steps together, as a family, was so great!  And the singing!  These ladies and men who sang had voices of angels.  Yes, at midnight I was feeling tired, but it was so worth it!

Sunday Mom and had our normal delicious breakfast at Italian Cottage.  And then we went to Barnes and Noble and picked out magazines and found a comfy spot.  I found two totally awesome British versions of knitting magazines, Mom treated me to one cuz those suckers are expensive!  The one I bought was $16!  But, they don't have it in Klamath so it was worth it.

It was hard to leave but I was missing my puppies!  And there's a time limit on when I could pick them up so I had to jet.  It was a great visit though.

Oh and P.S. remember how last post I was thinking spring had sprung?  Well, in true Klamath fashion it snowed this week!  And it's cold again!  But, the farmers need the water so I won't complain.  (too much)

jam

So last weekend when I went to the store I noticed that strawberries were on sale and I bought a basket of them and enjoyed them. And then the wheels started turning in my head and I realized that I have rhubarb in the freezer! You guessed it, I decided I needed to make some strawberry rhubarb jam. It's funny because I usually associated canning things with summer/early fall and never think to can things at other times in the year. Usually my jam has turned out really runny so it's more like a syrup with chunks in it. Still delicious but not great on a peanut butter sandwich! This time I used a little more pectin (like 1/2 tbsp more) and cooked it for longer. I think it set up better this time. I still had the froth as per usual. It's super chunky and I think it's going to be delicious! In the craft house I am working on a table topper in the trip around the world pattern. I just finished the piecing and will work on quilting it a bit today maybe. I am also knitting up a new rabbit.  Maybe, maybe after this knitting project I might try my hand at socks.  I'm still pretty intimidated by socks but feel that I should give them a go!

I have to say that I haven't been reading as much as I was hoping I would. But. I have been listening to books on cd while in the craft house so I'm counting those books as reads on my list. I just finished listening to Eragon by Christopher Paolini and am now on the second book in that series called Eldest. I had read all of the books in the series before as they came out but it's nice to hear them. There are parts that I had forgotten.

fall inspiration

I haven't done any swaps for quite awhile and thought I'd get back into it and signed up for a fat quarter swap. I'm glad I did because one of my partners sent me a whole half yard of a fun fall print! Lucky me :) This week I also rec'd the fall issue of my quilting magazine that 3 squares I wanted to try: Peace and plenty, windblown and big dipper.  I felt like I had no other choice than to make the squares and then once I had they looked like they needed to be a table runner!  Perfect because then it gave me the chance to use my new darning foot for my old machine and free motion quilt!  I like the way it turned out and it was nice to finish a project pretty quickly. I know I've said it before but those little blocks, each one was 6" finished, are such a pain! Too fussy.  But, I like the way it turned out, the tree triangles are from the fabric that was sent in the swap.
Yesterday I went to the book sale that the library has on the weekends and scored some books on CD.  Hubs likes to listen to them so I try and pick them up when I can.  I had not ever gotten anything for myself because I usually prefer music while I'm sewing.  But, I picked up a book by Lauren Weisberger called Chasing Harry Winston and put that on while I was sewing.  I liked it!  I found myself pausing every so often just to listen which is funny because I usually only pause when I'm stuck for inspiration!  I'm about halfway through, and I'd say it's a good read (listen).  She is the same author that wrote The Devil Wears Prada, which I also liked.
Okay, lets talk about something random.  Have you ever found yourself dreaming, daydreaming, fantasizing about doing something and picturing yourself doing something but then never actually doing it?  I would say that I'm a big dreamer.  There are lots of things that I conjure up in my imagination. One is that I dream of being a runner.  But, even though I've had vivid dreams of my feet pounding the pavement I don't ever actually do it.  There are lots of reasons I don't, the biggest reason being that I'm embarassed.  I know I am my own worst enemy.  So, I'm going to try and break out of this, I'm going to start super small and see what happens.  Is there anything you dream of doing - even something mundane - but hold yourself back from doing?  I say, do it!  Start small so you don't get overwhelmed and then just see what happens.  Nothing illegal though, because frankly I don't want to be anyone's inspiration for that - lol :)

Oh Jane

You know how it is when you see a movie, read a book, or some sort of art or media or song or whatever just catches you and holds you and sticks? I knew I loved Jane Eyre from the movies. I didn't realize exactly how much until I read the book. I want to crawl into the book and live there. The cadence is wonderful. I came across this line and it really captures, for me, why I love it: "This was very pleasant; there is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow-creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort." This quote comes about after coming home to the first place where she's felt love and acceptance. I think that many of us have grown up in homes where we are loved, at least somewhat. Imagine not feeling like anyone loved you ever and you were a burden to their very existence in life. That was Jane's reality until she came to this home. There, she was an addition to their comfort, not a detraction. I love that. I love rooting for a character and being truly pleased that finally she gets to feel loved. I think that all of us, even grumpy people who may not want to admit it, want to know that we are loved and that even our presence is a comfort. Like, just walking into a room will make someone else happy and content. I'm still mulling this story, these characters, the countryside......love it all. In case you haven't noticed, I'd totally recommend reading this book!

bunny cuteness

I finished this knitted bunny a few weeks, possibly a month ago?  His name is Max.  I brought him home from work so I could take a couple pics for the ol' blog and where did I find him?  In a tree!  LOL I guess the kitchen was too boring :) I foung the pattern on Ravelry, it was for fuzzy mitten lamb and I just modified the ears.  Okay, and now I have something shocking to tell you - I bought a pdf pattern!  I know, I know.  I have reiterated several times that I'm too cheap to buy one, but this bunny really needed a sweater!  I had seen on this blog, Flutterby Patch some really cute bunnies and as usual tucked it away in my conciousness.  After knitting up this bun I bought this pattern and it was worth it!  Really easy to follow directions and perfect dimensions for Max.  I will eventually make a female companion for him :)
I had a surprise package waiting for me on the porch when I got home, from Mom so I knew it would be something fun.  It was heavy so I was thinking book?  Opened it and was so happy to find this picture:
It is one of my favorites, ever! Love it. I put it right up on the wall. There were also, indeed, books: And fun fabric: Love it. Today I am enjoying the nice weather, have repotted a couple plants and finished Jane Eyre this morning. Oh how I lvoe that book! I ordered myself a copy because I can't imagine that I won't want to read it several hundred more times!

puttery

So, again with a post sans pictures.  Sorry.  I don't have any finishes to show!  I am kind of chilling out right now :)  and what that means is that I made a dress this morning and have been knitting otherwise.  And reading.  I bought a couple of adirondack chairs last summer and I put one on the deck which is in the sun and the other in the grass under one of the trees in the back yard and I've been rotating which one I sit in and I'm either knitting or reading. 
I'm reading Jane Eyre right now and it's perfect.  Since I've seen so many versions of the movie I can really savor the book because I already know what's going to happen.  And, I just love the pace of the book.  I think since it was written so long ago, and the language is a little archaic at times, the pace is different.  And Jane.  Jane obsesses over things, or at least just really thinks about things so much.  I can so relate to that.
Oh, I almost forgot!  I bought some squash plants last weekend!  They have been living in the kitchen because our weather is frigid!  We had frost warnings at least 2-3 times this week.  So, today was overcast but a little warmish so I put them in bigger pots and put them out in the sun.  My Mom gave me an heirloom tomato plant when I went to visit last and I had such high hopes for that little plant.  Um.  but we almost had snow the week before last (or last week?) and it succumbed to the chill because someone isn't good at remembering to cover plants when it's cold.  I'm blaming Joey.  That dog has such a terrible memory!

slowly spring

Last Saturday was the annual sale at the local quilt store.  I just had to go, natch.  I told my Mom that I don't know what I was expecting -  a marching band and banners or something?  I was a little disappointed.  I know I was expecting everything to be on sale, and I'm not sure where I even got that idea because they never said ahead of time what the sale was.  Anyhoo, I didn't leave empty handed.  They had bolts on sale for 60% if you could find one with a red star stamp on the top.  I found a couple that I thought would mix in with stuff well, it was a 1 yard minimum on those so I'm set if I need orange or yellow :)

Everything else was a half yard minimum that day so I picked a couple other prints that I really love, and the Christmas is a fat quarter that was precut. I'm not allowed to start anything new yet, but when I do I'm sure these prints will be part of it!
The one thing I did make last week, which I didn't get a picture of for some reason (!) was a mug rug that I mailed off with my embroidery for the Wild Olive Stitch Swap. Here's Rocky, who likes to hang out under my sewing table whilst I'm in the craft house. Sorry about the mess, but bits of fabric and whatnot just find their way onto the floor somehow :) I'm pretty sure I'm not alone there!
And, do you want to see what the first day of Spring looked like here? LOL you're going to love it:

You can see Rocky running along the fence behind the chair :) The day before was clear, cold, but clear. Then there was all this snow over night! And, then by the end of the day ALL of it had melted off! You just never know around here what you'll wake up to!
In other news, I finished the 3rd book in the Hunger Games series called Mockingjay. It was really good, as were the other 2 in the series. I liked how it ended although there was one relationship that didn't quite have the closure I would have expected even though it did make sense. I was hoping that she would end up with who she ended up with, so that was nice :) Tomorrow Jan and I are going to see the movie! I'm really hoping it's good. I'm wondering how they are going to do certain scenes! I think that's part of the fun of reading a book before the movie, you know how you picture things in your head and then to see someone else's interpretation....
I am going to start quilting the granny squares quilt today, it's all pinned up in a quilt sandwich waiting for me! What is everyone else up to this weekend??

end cap of the weekend

George has been such a turd today!  She is so jealous of this quilt, oh man!  I had all the squares laid out on the craft house floor and everytime I'd turn my back she was attacking them and messing them all up.  And, even though it's frigid out, she wants to have the door open so she can sit and look out whilst I'm sewing.  So, I shut the door, she then attacks the quilt.  Then, jumps up on the table and tries to get the thread as I'm sewing.  So, to finish the top I had to put her in the main house....she didn't appreciate that.  So, as I was taking pictures she was still trying to "get" the quilt.  She does crack me up, though :)
So, here's the finshed top.  The end result will look pretty much the same since I am not going to add any borders.  It's just the perfect size for a throw to snuggle on the couch with.Yesterday Jan called up and wanted to know if I'd like to go antiquing with her and I did. We checked out one places that full of beautiful stuff but way out of my price range. But, oh what would it be like to have endless cash??? My house would be full of stuff from that place! Only drawback was that it smelled highly of cat pee. Ugh. I can only imagine what that place smells like in summer.....see, the lady who owns it has the middle floor as her house and I'm pretty sure that's where the odour was coming from. But anyways, then we went to another place that is like a consignment place where people have booths and sell all kinds of stuff. I scored this bag of safety eyes for like $3 something. So cool. They're bigger than for what I would use for an amigurumi but perfect for monsters, grin.
Oh, and I'm totally kicking myself in the rear end!  I mentioned to Jan when we started what I was looking for was an elf on the shelf because I was too cheap to shell out 35doll hairs for a new one.  And, then she goes "I wish I'd have known that I had a ton of them in my Grandma's Christmas stuff that you didn't want to go through".  BAH!  I clearly remember her asking me and me telling her "nah, I have tons of Christmas stuff."  BAH, double bah.  Huh.  all I can console myself with is the thought that at the time I might not have been interested in the elf on the shelf thing because I didn't really notice those until this year right before Christmas.

I finished up another Percy Jackson book by Rick Riordan called "The Son of Neptune."  Once again a very entertaining and great book.  This is the second book in a series, I can't wait for the next one!  I read this book really slowly so I wouldn't just tear through it and then be disappointed that I was done already.  So, now I'm looking for something else to read.

So, the big news is I will be starting a new job.  It's a tricky subject because I like the job I have.  I like the doctors I work with, I like all my coworkers and I wasn't wanting a new job.  But the doctors announced on Jan 2nd that they are moving and shutting the office....and really I am so lucky to have a job to go to.  I was thinking this morning about how I won't have the extra cash anymore from cleaning the office...but how exhausted I was and probably never would have given it up on my own, but God knew I needed to take it easy.  There are a lot of really positive things about this new job that I'm looking forward to.  I'll be able to ride my bike to work (for reals because there's no giant hill!), it's a great group of doctors and people to work with, nice benefits, I'll be able to join back in on book club which went by the wayside since I was cleaning, and I can be hostess to bible study rotation again.  This next two weeks is going to be sad, saying goodbye to patients that I've gotten so attached to, and the doctors, and my coworkers.

pumpkin-y catch up

Holy cow!  Sorry I haven't blogged in forever.  I haven't had two minutes to just be blogging for awhile, just been busy.  K, so the first project I finished up the Sunday before last.  I like the way it turned out, I just made my own pattern for tumblers with paper.  I will say that I don't really like using paper as a pattern because if you happen to be cutting repeated pieces and maybe you don't get the cutting ruler completely over the paper you can slowly trim it down until some of the pieces are not uniform.  I had that happen but still like the way it turned out.  Sorry this picture is so blurry!  But you get the idea.  I had the "ghastly ghoulies" fabric in the gray colorway from last year.  I kept thinking I'd make a runner with it but nothing looked right.  This last time I was at the LQS I bought some of the orange colorway and it all started to come together.

Here's the back view, George jumped into the picture as I was taking it!  Silly cat :)
Last weekend I went down to visit with Mom.  I drove down Friday afternoon, it was a beautiful day and drive.  It was like driving back in time to Summer!  I left home and 50 degree weather and drove into upper 90's!  I found a couple of pairs of cute boots and we ate at my favorite cheap americanized mexican place La Comida, and it was fab. 

Saturday we found a bunch of yard sales, we trolled around for awhile before I realized I might not live without coffee.  We stopped at a Starbucks, which had the most amazing ever pumpkin spice muffins!!!  So. good.  Okay, and I also learned a little life lesson.  You know how sometimes you'll hear people raving about something and you think, hmmm that sounds just okay but then you think maybe they all know something I don't?  Go with your gut on that.  Maybe tons of people like something and it's just gross.  Case in point: salted caramel latte.  GROSS.  I thought, sounds interesting and I've heard people just raving all about it.  It tasted like drinking a pretzel.  Because they put that super coarse salt on it.  After you get past the salt it's fine but that doesn't happen until about halfway down.  I say go with pumpkin spice for a seasonal "want to try".  Just sayin. 

The big fun for me was going to the pumpkin patch.  Which is a funny story because I have been driving down to Chico from here for at least 8-9-10 years or however long I've lived here.  And in between Red Bluff and Chico there has been a sign that looked like it should be a pumpkin patch, "Pumpkinland".  So, when Mom and I were thinking we'd go to a pumpkin patch I immediately thought of that place and it'd be perfect.  We drove all the way out there and it's really called "Pumpkinland Chocolate Factory"!  Whoops!  It smelled divine in there!  Luckily there was a fruit stand up the road with a little pumpkin patchy area and we had fun picking out the perfect pumpkins.  I should mention that we had been driving with the windows down, so my hair is pretty scary.

Here were the winning pumpkins on my porch the night I got home.  Sorry the picture is so dark.  I also picked a bigger oranger pumpkin that is in my kitchen.  I also picked up some of those miniature pumpkins that were super cute, a couple of orange ones, a couple white with greenish stripes and a white one.  I brought those in to work and put them on the front desk where Vikkie and I sit.  It's funny because the patients are just fascinated by the white and the striped ones!  They are so curious where I could have found such exotic pumpkins.  The funny thing is that I think I've seen similar ones at the plain old grocery store!  Oh, well.  I'm glad it brings them joy and awe.

I totally scored at the library book sale!  I got two walmart sized bags of books on tape for the hubs!  .50 cents each!  Super score.  Mom also found a whole bunch of Beverly Lewis books that I hadn't read yet, so I've got lots of reading to do!
Okay, so that was last weekend, what's up for this weekend?  I might, might be starting a new quilt.  I don't remember the name of the magazine I just bought, but it had a really interesting looking quilt on the cover.  It's scrappy but also structured.  Mom gave me a huge bag of fabric scraps that she scored at a sale and the lady couldn't give them to her fast enough for .50 cents!  I've sorted through the bags, and I think it will fit the bill for the quilt on the cover.  The other fun thing about the scrap bags is that there are tons of pieces of leftover binding!  So, I might even be able to eke out the binding for the quilt with those.  We'll see, it might not be quite enough or the right colors.
I started a new book last, which means I am currently reading 3 books.  Um, more accurately I have started 3 books and really just hooked into one.  It's the last book in a series from Beverly Lewis called The Mercy.  I have been waiting for it to come out, then on the wait list at the library so I was eager to start it.  I have, of course, already read the ending and it is satisfying :)  I'm pretty sure I'll finish it before the weekend is over, her books are easy reads and I always want to keep reading.  Like just one more chapter, then I finish that one and then I'm like, just one more chapter! 
Next weekend is the scrapbook retreat!  That will be fun :)  What is everyone else up to???

catch up

I know, I've been absent a bit here.  I've had a bit of a funk.  A melancholy mood, if you will.  No big whoop, it just happens sometimes.  I can't say that I'm completely done with yet, either.....but at least I've gotten back to a couple of projects. 

So, let's see, was it last weekend that I went to a scrapbooking thing?  I think it was, it was the 20th.  But I didn't scrapbook!  I took along a project instead.  Because I still want to chat with the ladybirds but didn't feel like scrapbooking.  I saw on another blog where she took some fabric and covered some clothespins.  While I was visiting my Mom I snapped up some clothespins at one of the yard sales we visited on the cheap.

 I measured the width of the pins and then rotary cut my fabric, it really didn't take too long at all.  They're the dash right after the 1/2 inch.  So, I used all scraps from my scrap basket, some vintage sheets, some just regular fabric.  Then, modpodged the pins and stuck the fabric to it.  I didn't do a sealing layer yet because the one that I did do I didn't love because the modpodge I have is matte and it's kinda rough feeling. 

Today I finally finished the back of the vintage sheet quilt I've been working on.  It just hasn't looked right.  I finished it and then I looked at it from a different angle and realized I liked that better except the sides were not long enough.  So, after some seam ripping and re-sewing I think it's done!  Now I can make a quilt sandwich :) 

In other news, I finished up a book last night, the 2nd in a series by Rick Riordan called The Throne of Fire.  I really liked it, v. entertaining and a quick read.  As with all of his books it's a great story, there are some laughs and I am looking forward to the next book in the series! 
I also finished a Beth Moore book, called Get out of that Pit, that I have been reading for-ever.  It hasn't taken a long time because it's not good, just a lot to sink in.  I think I am going to read it again from the beginning. 
Let's see, what else is new?  I can't believe summer is almost over!  It's gone by so quickly!!!  Tomorrow I am going to go rafting, so that should be fun.  I haven't been swimming or in any type of water (besides a shower) all summer!  Last year at this time, Mom and I were in Florida and swimming every single day.  Oh, yeah!  I found a new yarn store last night!!!  I saw a sign last week driving down the road, but couldn't see a store front.  Last night I was driving down the same road, and as luck would have it no one was in back of me so I could cruise by veerrrry slowly and I found it!  It was closed but the door was open so I peeked in and she let me check it out.  V. pretty stuff and might be a good place for a knitting club to form.  Hmmm, the wheels in my head are turning :)

lazy Saturday sewing

I finished the top of the lodge quilt today, yessss!  Oh man, I thought I might have wanted to throw it out the window the last couple of weekends!  I don't think I ever want to mess around with 18.5 inch blocks again.  nuh-uh. Unless I have a 18.5 square template thing like my 12.5 one.  Anyways.....some of the squares were just a smidge too small in some spots so I ended up sewing on extra pieces of fabric, because I did NOT want to cut them all smaller.  Sorry the pic is kind of blurry, but you get the idea. 

Now I'm thinking about what I'm going to do for the back, here's a pic of my brainstorming.  I might not go with the brown plaid flannel after all, not sure.  Originally, like years and years ago, I had bought that fabric to make the hubs a shirt because he's super tall and it's hard to find things to fit his long arms.  But, obviously since the fabric is still in my stash I have not gotten around to it.  I'm thinking I might do some giant flying geese in the middle where the blue is and maybe just do red on either side because I have lots of that red fabric.  Hmmm.

Yesterday Jan and I went to an estate sale, and came away with nada!  There was a lot of nice glassware but everything was kind of overpriced.  We trolled around to a find a couple of yard sales that were advertised on craigslist and the paper, but I think the weather must have gotten to them because no such sales could be found.  We did check out a new antique store, it was quite nice inside.  Jan found a couple of cute and good deals at this other place that is like on of those places people have booths selling stuff.  She's redoing her guest room in shabby chic.

In other news, I finished a book (in a day) last Sunday called The Judgement, by Beverly Lewis.  It is the second book in a series called the Rose Trilogy and it's her newest series.  I wasn't as impressed with the first book, but this one had more heart.  I really liked it and look forward to reading the last one when it comes out in September.  It was an easy read, and the characters seemed more personable this book.  I think I might know how things are going to end up, and frankly I'd be happy if it did :)

weekend update.

This will be sort of a short post today, I'm not feeling so fab.  A little nauseous and eewy.  But, I wanted to share what I've been working on lately. 
I finally conquered granny squares!  I'm glad I did because it's supposed to be the easiest thing to make crochet-wise and I wasn't quite getting it!  Bah.  I figured out my problem was that I hold the yarn too tightly.  I've mostly crocheted amigurumi dolls, and you want the stitches to be tight for those so that when you stuff them then the stuffing doesn't show through.  I relaxed my hands a bunch and voila!  I had signed up for a granny square swap on Swap-Bot.  It was a sender's choice for colors, my inspiration was an ad from a magazine for jewelry.  The different rings and earrings had peridot (green) and blue topaz together, and amethyst (purple) and rhodolite (dark pink) together.  I LOVE the combinations of gemstones so I thought it might translate well for granny squares :)

So, last Saturday, while I was finishing these squares up, Jan called to see if I'd want to troll around with her.  We went to a few yard sales - ones my Mom would call a "dog sale" - and one of them had this little gem:

Seriously, I was running across the lawn to grab it up!  It was marked $5 (which I thought was a great price) but I am super cheap frugal so I asked if she'd take $4 and she did!  Eeeek!  So excited!  It's out in the craft house.  I'm planning to make new clothes for my old dolls and get furniture and carpet for that bottom floor and set up house!
This is the quilt I'm currently working on:

I'm going to make more pine tree squares and then sash all the star, geese and pine tree blocks to match the size of the deer/bear paw blocks and then sew it all together.  I'm liking the way it's coming together.  Bonus is Hubs likes it too!  Well, that's not really fair because he likes everything I've made so far - but this is really his style, hunting and fishing.
I finished up the new Beverly Lewis book, The Thorn today.  It was pretty good, it's the first book of a trilogy and I'm wondering if I can figure out how it might go in the other books.  I noticed that her style in this book was just a teensy bit clipped compared to some of her others.  I still really liked it, just not quite as much as her previous ones.

seam allowances are important

Wow!  I feel like this weekend flew by!  Maybe it had something to do with the nice weather?  Who knows.  But, just so you know - almost every day last week there was snow at some point during the day.  And today it is 70 degrees!  Yessss! 
I did get some sewing done.  A gal that I used to work with had a birthday on Friday, and we were all going to get together for dinner or lunch.  But, that day turned out not to work, which actually worked out okay because I was only 75% done with this runner!  I thought about it the weekend before, but I was trying to finish up the quilt...so it didn't happen.  I decided to try this pattern from the Moda Bake Shop, called Choc-o-cherry turnover treat.  As it turns out (and you may know this) all the patterns on the MBS are pretty much made from their pre-cuts.  In this case, a turnover, which at the time I was cutting out my fabric I did not know what size the triangles were supposed to be. so I sorta guessed.  If you learn anything from me and my endeavors - it's this: maybe don't guess.  Oh, and make sure that your seams allowances are the same!  Two big foibles.  Well, maybe the seam allowance  thing is the biggie here.  I'm not consistent with mine, and in this particular project it was a BIG deal.  See, you start with the small middle square, sew, line it up and trim, then sew on the middle triangles, sew, line it up and trim...you get it.  Well, somewhere along the way each square would be slightly different......thus my ending squares were all a teensy bit different.  There were 3 that were small and so I ended up cutting down the bigger squares.  hmphf.  You may not be able to tell from the pic but my points realllly don't line up.  and some got whittled down to not even having points.  ugh.  But, I really liked the prints all together and was tres limited on some of them so couldn't just re-do them.  Which I would have if I'd had more of certain prints.  But.....that didn't happen.  Wow.  sorry that is such a long explanation there!  I really like the final product, though, even though it is far from perfect and normally I would hate that.

In other news, I finished up that book "The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan and I loved it!  Loved. It.  The story was really good the whole way through....no dull spots.  Good action.  The story was told alternately between 3 different characters and mixed in some from the previous series, Percy Jackson.  This book was quite larger, but didn't feel like I was reading forever.  The next book comes out this Fall, can't wait!

little project relief

Since I finished my "big" project I thought it would be fun to do a nice small project - instant gratification!  So, a gal I work with, Vikkie, received a Kindle last weekend for her anniversary present.  Of course, I asked if she'd like a pouch for it.  She said she'd like fairies, butterflies, or dragonflies.  I took in each of the fabrics falling into that catagory from my stash and she liked all of them!  The wheels started creaking in my head and this is what I came up with:

Back view:

I'll take it in on Monday for her, hopefully she'll like it!  I've been wanting to try out zig zags for awhile now.  I'm wondering if there is a way to cut down on the bulk in the intersection seams??  eh.  Anyhow, I like the way it turned out.  The little half square triangles turned out so teeny tiny that unfortunately only the really small prints are distinguishable.  Today, I am washing up fabric to start my hammock quilt.  I'm thinking: sunny, bright, and maybe pinwheels? 
SO I have a little confession.  I haven't been to church in well over a month.  I've just been so sleepy and wanting to make sure that I got Irma's quilt done.....but also a little bit avoiding people.  eeeek.  You might as well know that I am not much of a small talker.  Therefore, if there's a situation where I might need to awkwardly try and talk to people I avoid.  This past week I have felt a little convicted about avoiding church because of that.....therefore I'm going to make myself go tomorrow.  And what better day than Easter Sunday, right?  I might show up a teensy bit late since I also don't sing out loud.....LOL!
Hmmm, what else?  I also finished up a book - finally!  Geez.  So, Jan's daughter said if I liked the Percy Jackson series (which I did) then I'd like the Artemis Fowl series.  Yes, I am taking book advice from a 10 year old.  Anywhoo I borrowed the book from the library and just couldn't quite get into it.  I think I figured out this morning it could be because Artemis is the "bad" guy with very few moments of regret or conscience.  But, I did finish it and I'm glad!  Mostly a good storyline.  I'm relieved to have finished so I can start the book I've really been wanting to read but wouldn't let myself until I finished the first one I started: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan.  I like his writing style, very easy to read.  He's the author who wrote the Percy Jackson series and from the first few pages I think I'll like it.  I haven't read the ending yet, but I'm sure I will :)

purple binding finish

And so, the quilt is finito! For the binding I got super lucky that I had this purple floral in my stash. It's from a few years ago, leftover scraps from a scrub top that I made! I had just enough scraps to eke out the binding, phew! and good thing too because my purple fabrics were just all wrong...not enough of this, that one was too light, blah blah. You know how it is :)
So, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this rug since I first saw it!!!!  I've been thinking maybe, just maybe I'll have to learn how to make granny squares and make my own.  I have lots of bright colors in my stash and it would be fun to have a colorful rug under my sewing machine!
Another thing I was thinking this morning about is that I don't think I read quite enough.  I've got stacks of books that I just haven't had any interest in reading.  But also don't want to get rid of them till I've read em.  So I thought maybe I need to make myself read them and that way I can get rid of them in Jan's yard sale this Summer (if she has one).