Sean sings the abc's and a quilt block

Here is the other quilt block I finished. I need to re-figure out how I updated my virtul design wall with my done blocks. Maybe tomorrow.

And here's Sean doing his ABC's. He is So funny now! Enjoy and have a great day.

A very news-worthy day...

I got a note from the Editor of the crochet mag and she likes my design. Yay! However, she would like to push it to the Spring issue instead of the Winter issue, and I'm ok with that. It does mean that I need to re-create it to be Springy. I see some yarn shopping in my future!!

So, I take that as not No but Maybe. And I'm ok with that!

Lots of pictures, none of yarn.

This weekend went really well. We had fun and I got a lot done. Let's review:

I started and finished a Dear Jane block. My first that was paper pieced. It's B4. I also just finished B1 at lunch but it is pictureless for now.









I also took some pics of sprouts... the tall ones are corn and the short ones are cukes. I took some of the carrots, broccoli, cilantro and chives but they are almost too small to actually see in the pics. Maybe in a few days.











We went Strawberry picking on Saturday. We had a really nice time and came home with 2 of those big blue bowls full plus 2 big onions for the low low price of $5.


















And after strawberry picking and cleaning and cleaning and cutting and cutting and storing... we went to Mamaw and Papaw's house. What'd we do?

Jake did this:












And Sean did this:











I got some video and will try to get it on youtube later on. I had my doc visit this morning, just an annual but we had some long discussions about the next couple weeks. We found a lump but he thinks its a cyst. Sono and mamo for that on Thurs morning. My lady issues need to get resolved now so sono for that also on Thurs and surgery consult next Tuesday. I'm praying everything will be ok and if not that I will be strong enough to face my fears.

Jake has SATs this week and I am hoping that he'll do a good job. He did really well on the practice test so hopefully that means he's ready.

That's it for me for now. Have a great day.

a sock picture

Here are some pictures of my sock mid-lunch knitting. This is an all-over then an "up close" of the cables.












I have knit another inch or so on it since this pic, and I've almost reached the point where I'll add the ribbing. I am thinking of a big 2" ribbing, since I think it'll help make them stay up pretty good.

I didn't have a chance to work on the quilt last night, instead I watched Castle from dvr during Mr. O's speach. Tonight is 2 hours of Idol so I doubt I'll do it then either, unless I can do dinner quick and have a little time to sew then have the 2 Idol hours to hand stitch it down in the back which I figure will take 4.3 years to finish. We'll see how it turns out.

No sprouts in the garden yet but I'll be sure to take some pics when there are.

working on it

I was home sick yesterday with the blahs, so tired and sore and generally feeling icky. I have not gotten most of the sock done, I have about 3 inches to go and I like it. I dread the second sock, because this isnt an easy one, but I like it anyway. Hopefully I'll not have another singleton. However, I could wear them together... one blue and white and the other pink and purple. Think anyone would notice?

I also got the quilting done on my brothers quilt. BOY do I suck at that! It is not even remotly even in any way. I have the first side of border pinned on, I'll try to work on that while I'm busy ignoring the president.

In gardening news, I got it planted. I do still need to get another tomato so that I can have a pair... we need 2 to tango. All of the seeds that I planted had already sprouted in my little windowsill greenhouse. I used 2 boxes(corn & cukes) that are 3x1ft plus 2 round pots 9-11 inches (tomato & chives / cilantro) and a bigger round pot that is like 2ft across (broccoli / carrot). The carrots and cukes are smaller sizes - pickling cukes and some fancy name for midget carrots so hopefully they wont get too crowded. When the corn gets 6-9 inches tall I'll have to move them to the ground, but I have a little time before that happens.

Lets see... sock, quilt, garden, ok. Still nothing from the mag, but hopefully soon! I'll try to show off my sock tomorrow.

It's really all for you

My wonderful husband found this bit of awesomeness somewhere on the internets and shared it with me. Because I heart you all, I will share with you... because there is nothing that knitters and crocheters love more than sheep!




As for my own progress, I have about finished turning the heel, so working backwards, the heel flap should be next. I'll try to take a pic of it on... since I can do that with toe up socks... to show you. I have a luncheon today so I probably wont get any knitting done then.

This weekend I'll be planting my garden out back. Hopefully I wont kill it before I get some veggies!

Fingers crossed

I actually finished up the Purse-Onality and took it's pics and sent it off to the mag editor. I really like how it came out and hopefully she will too. In may I'll submit Sweet Summertime then I'll see if something else strikes my fancy. But for now, wish me luck!

I have plans to start my veggie garden this weekend. I have asked my Mom and my friend Jen to come over for some good ole fashioned slave labor with the promise of sharing veggies! Fair, right? I thought so too. I am going to start some seeds to sprout today when I get home.

I haven't touched Kerry's quilt but I am at the heel turn of Brainless. Speaking of, I have pics to show off from the Hockey game.

I went with Travis, Jake and Butch (my father in-law). We had so much fun, even though we lost. I was suprised to see SO many more people rooting for Toronto than Tampa. It was sad really.














Security did not stop me or even look at me funny for my purse contents. I was not able to work on Brainless during actual play (BOY is hockey fast!) but during the halftime (or whatever they call it) and before the game started:












And Cheerleading on ice skates adds a WHOLE other level of difficulty, yes?










Well I'm out for now. Keep your fingers crossed and say your prayers... I'll be stalking my in-box.

Just a quick pic

On Saturday when I was helping Jen move we passed by this guy and I HAD to take a pic. It is a Beetle with the back end turned into a "truck" and it was towing a dune buggy. Scary stuff.


I am doing pretty ok on the Brainless sock, but I havent taken a pic of it yet. It's mostly brainless but I do keep getting myself mixed up on if I am on the front or back - I blame the circs instead of dpns. No worries, it's still cool.

I had indended to turn in the info for Purse-Onality by the 20th but I really don't have time to finish the pieces and do photos and the proposal in time. I'll be able to do it for the next one.

A good weekend

Hey there, hope you are well rested after this nice weekend. It really is starting to feel like Summer here and the ac is running almost non-stop. I'd open the doors more but the oak pollen is out to get us so we remain pent up all hermit-like. It does lead to some good crochet/knit/sew time though.

I gave my grandfather his socks and they fit him well. I teased my mom with her birthday socks because I forgot to take them out of my bag when I went over. I have also been doing well on the Brainless socks and have about 2/3 of the foot done. I have to say that I am nervous about the whole gusset/heel thing but I am looking forward to it. I think it's coming up soon.

I have not spent any real time with my brother's quilt this week and I am disappointed by that. I hope to work on it this week though. It is 8 days late right now and not NEAR done. I did look at Joanns for some fabric for the Convention quilt. I figured out how to show you my screen from EQ so you know my idea:












While we were at my Grandparent's house I took some video that I wanted to share. Sean had found my Grandfather's flashlight and was really enjoying himself playing with it. Off. On. Up. Down. Hey, Look at that thing on the ground, let me get it. Wait a minute, where's it going? I'm gonna chase it! It really was too funny.

Grandfather socks

Here are my grandfather's "Boot Socks". The turned out pretty well and I think he will be happy with them.

I also wanted to show off my SuperShow socks on the sock blockers:










That's it for me, have a great weekend!

Grandfather socks

I am on the toe of Pop Pop's socks. Let me just say that re-orientating the stitches when doing the 2 socks on 2 circs is a pain. I thought I had it figured out then NOPE, one of them was backwards. Oh well, it's better now. I have about 5 or 6 rows to go then I'll be done.

I did the hook & eye on the purse, and 3/4 of the handles (I ran out of big hook & eyes). I'll go tomorrow to get some more of them. I would like to make one more purse cover, I am thinking something black and/or sparkly, to go with a set of silver handles that I have for the bag. My goal is 1 bag (check), 2 sets of handles (check), and 2 covers (1 check).

Also, there is only 1 month to go until Easter and my glorious reuniting with Coke. Boy have I missed the caffeine and bubbles and Cokey wonderfulness. What, wonderfulness isn't a word? It is now.

Oh, oh oh, I got a package yesterday!! My Dad made me some sock blockers!!! They are perfect, and are now "wearing" Mom's SuperShow socks. I'll try to remember to take a pic tomorrow, k?

That's it for me, I'm gonna nurse a headache and get back to proofreading. Now that I think about it, I bet the proofreading caused the headache! Have a good one.

Another sock.

I accidentally cast on for another sock before finishing my grandfather's socks. See I had a doc appt yesterday and didn't want to bring the big bag into that so I needed a smaller project and right now I don't really have any. SO I cast on Brainless by Yarnissima (those not on Ravelry may not be able to see that). This pattern looks so cool, I love the cable and how the cable unravels to do the gusset and goes back together again for more cabling goodness. Also, this is my first toe up sock. I have almost finished the toe, and it looks pretty ok so far. And in my own defense, I AM almost done with his socks. I've got about 3 rounds to go before the toe decreases. So what, MAYBE 3 inches? Hopefully they'll be done so I can hand 'em over this weekend.

In other news I have not worked on Kerry's quilt again but I did buy some quilt pins to help with the basting.

In other, other news I have finished the inside and 1 outside of my purse. I would really like to do another outside, plus do all the weaving in and hardware so that I can submit it next week. If I don't get it finished I can always wait for the May submission, no rush.

That's really it for me. Have a great day!

Show and tell

I was out of commission on Thursday and Friday being sick and caring for a sick kid - neither was fun and I am not really much better. I have a doc appt tomorrow and hopefully I'll find out whats up. Anywho, I did get some stuff accomplished and such.

First I wanted to show off my Thirty One skirt purse. This is the Julie Stripe and you can see my little silver B dangly thing. I love it!










Next up, Jake had his trophy day for baseball. This is him and trophy and him, trophy, coach and asst coach. I really think he enjoyed Baseball:
















Here are the boys playing the piano. They are so cute!




And finally, Kerry's quilt. Top and backing are done, and now it's time to quilt. I had a really cute stencil of a rope that I used on the sashing, and I did 1 rope (probably 10 inches or so) and realized that the backing was REALLY bunchy. I looked back at my quilting book and it said CLEARLY that you should baste first then quilt. Whoopsy. It took me 2 days to get the black thread and small stitches out of the black sashing. So, last night I started basting. I'll baste some more tonight and try the whole quilting thing again. I am so excited, but I am reminded by my calendar that Kerry's birthday was yesterday. Hopefully I'll have something to show the next few days or so.


























That's it for me, have a great day!

Fishing

Yesterday after school, Travis took Jake Fishing. Jake wore Daddy's hat for luck, but thankfully it didn't work since I certainly wasn't going to be cleaning fish. Travis took a pic for "us" to enjoy (he mentioned the blog by name).









As for the quilt, I have decided on light yellow crackle print for the cornerstones and the bottom arrangement. I will play with the borders once I have the rest of the top finished. Also, I didn't realize that the cornerstones would be so hard to put in, maybe I just haven't learned the trick. I could actually READ my copy of Quilting for Dummies, eh?

I am still on the gusset for my grandfather's socks, although I would be further if I had been paying attention when putting sock 1 back on the needles after knitting sock 2's heel turn and picked up the stitches for the gusset. Oh well, it's better now.

I have not dug out the suede yarn because I am lazy. It's MAYBE 2 feet from my bed, on my side even. Sad, sad state of affairs. I really want it done so that I can send the package to the mag instead of just pics becuase I think that if they play with it they will enjoy it more than just looking at pics.

Speaking of purses, I got my order in from Thirty One. I LOVE my skirt purse! Here's a pic of it And yes, that is a ziploc with a sock inside sticking out of the top!









In other news, today I started the Special K Challenge. So far so good, and by the way, Smart Balance fat free milk really does taste like 2%. Yay for small miracles.

That's it for now, have a great day!

Help me decide!

These are the 2 quilt layouts for Kerry's quilt. Please use your imagination a bit and pretend that the black goes all the way round each block. The backing will be mostly the chilis with some black to balance and make it fit.



















Also, please let me know if I should go with cornerstones or not and it they should be tan (like the inside border of the blocks around the chili's) or multi-colored (to match the oranges, yellows and greens of the chilis). Also any thoughts on borders? Tan? Multi-red? Your thoughts? Thanks!

Below is a little tablerunner from The Fat Quarter Shop to illustrate the cornerstones and sashing. The black on the table runner is the sashing and the little tan squares in between are the cornerstones.

Lots of finishing and some making progress.

I have FINISHED the owl's sweater by adding "eyes". My eyes are bluish pearly beads and they match wonderfully!










I love how it has turned out, even if I realized that I did my top cable wrong and they look more like snowmen than owls. Oh well. I still love it and I will be sure to do mom's right.

I have also finished making all the blocks (pieced and plain) for Kerry's quilt. I have added 1 side of sashing to all of them and I brought them today to lay out and try to figure out how I want to position the pieces. Also in the consideration phase is weather I want colorful corner stones or just surround the blocks in black sashing and no corner stones. Then come borders. I have enough (I think) of the pepper fabric for the whole back, or at least most of the back that when combined with black will be a whole back. I need to figure out the front first then I'll fiddle with the back. Once I have it all laid out this afternoon I'll show you another pic.

I have not made progress on the purse except that I bought handles and promptly forgot the suede at home that I was going to work on today at lunch. No worries, I have Pop Pop's socks and the SuperShow socks with me, and the quilt of course.

That's it for me, have a great Monday.