Meet the Newest!

Here is a pic or two of our newest family members, Ricky & Lucy. I had several ideas for names for the "twins" but I was vetoed on all accounts--merino & cashmere, methyl & ethyl, and knit & purl. So Ricky & Lucy, it is. After all, if I want help cleaning the litter box, I have to keep the troops somewhat happy.





They have been alternating between being cuddly and cute and driving us batty. Sounds just like kids to me!! We send two off to college and now take in two lil' kitties. ha ha ha. And boy do they love yarn! And they are no snobs either. Love every color and fiber content. Well, it is more fun if it's moving though! Lucy has even been on Ravelry already!





I started a shawl this past week and left a long tail at the provisional cast on as directed. The kitties got ahold of it and my 7-inch tail is now only about 3 inches long! I guess I will have to add an extra piece of yarn in to do the grafting at the end--only about 4 stitches or so. Here is a progress pic. It is very colorful. I'd love to have it done for Easter, but I'm not sure I can do it. Funny thing is the rows keep getting longer!! LOL I have less than a week so we'll see if I can do it. I have ordered some longer needles as these are getting too short. They are only 24 inches. I have 40 inch ones coming in a day or two.



Happy Stitches!
Wasie

Christmas Update

I have been most remiss in posting lately so I will try to update quickly.

In November, I made a slew of pillowcases for the church bazaar. They were fun and fast! I think I will try to do some more for next year. All of them sold plus I did one extra.

Pillowcases for the church bazaar

For the 9-patchers, we swapped our usual nine patch blocks. The theme was anything goes. I used Christmas fabrics again since I had them out. We did Christmas fabrics plus white tone-on-tone in November. I figured that would get us lots of Christmas nine patches for a Christmas quilt. Plus we all made a large 12 1/2"  block in a Christmas theme for each other. Mine was a pieced star. I thought I would never choose! I changed my mind about 20 times. I finally had to go with something that I thought I could get done!! We also made little ornaments for each other. I used the extra triangle squares from my block to make pinwheels and sewed a gold tassel on the bottom and a gold cord on the top and a pearl bead in the center. It was too bad I put the bead in the center, though. It covered up my piecing--it actually came out right!! LOL! If I wasn't going to put the bead there it would've been atrocious! 

12 1/2" Christmas block for the 9-patchers swap

Then here in early January, I just finished this cute mini tote bag for a special lil' gal whose birthday is this month! It is sooo cute. I think I should start making these for the bazaar next November right now!!

Mini Charmer tote bag

I started a Christmas table runner, but it didn't quite make it. It is almost finished and I should probably finish it so it would be ready for next year!! I am also nearly finished with my third pair of socks!! I bought some sock blockers with my Christmas money so I am excited to use them after I finish this pair. Here is a preview. This way you can compare them with the photo of them after they are blocked!!

Lucy Neatby's "Simply Splendid Socks" pattern-Lang Jawoll Aktion yarn

Happy Crafting,

Wasie

8-D

Socks #2 — All Through!

Whoo Hooo! I finished my second pair of socks today! And none too soon either as everyone is wanting a pair! Well, everyone meaning in my family... They are the only ones brave enough to wear something I made! ha ha. I suppose they figure it's safe; they can always hide it in a shoe if they need to!! ;o/ Here are two pics.

I think they look a little washed out. They are pastel, but the camera flash is making them even lighter then they should be.

I have the utter joy of being on fall break today and tomorrow so I am off work two extra days!! That's how I had time to finish my toes. And I went to the doctor for a little check up. They did a bone scan to check on my bone density. I have been taking boniva or fossamax and tons of calcium, 1200 mg a day for years. Well, I confess that I did not pass my test with flying colors! Yikes. I am supposed to make sure that I do "weight-bearing" exercise now a minimum of 3 times per week. This is truly supposed to help. Sigh... I will get out my daughters' swim weights and start with those. I can always use some more upper body strength anyhow!

Tomorow I am going to do more fun things and try to get some stash pictures posted on Ravelry. I also have a wip I wanted to put on there too.

Have a great fall!

Wasie

:o)

Special Delivery!

I received the "Butterfly Blooms" quilt back from the quilter on Thursday! My DH went and picked it up for me—thank goodness! Then I worked Thursday and Friday evening at sewing on the binding and hand stitching it to the back. I had considered doing the entire thing with a sewing machine, but I just like the hand stitched look so much better. The one thing I didn't like though was sewing black with black thread! Yuck. It is so hard to see. (Or is that age creeping up on me? Naw....) 

However, I worked and pricked my lil' fingers to the bone and managed to get it finished!! :o) We even were able to get packed too! And bright and early Saturday morning we were off to Nacogdoches. The quilt looks great on her bed! And they have their beds raised off the floor about 4 feet so they can put things under them. She has her refrigerator and dresser under hers. So when you come into the room her bed just brightens it up. Here's the photos!

For those of you who were asking: the fabrics are all those Andover dimples fabrics! Every one of them--even the backing. They blend so nicely. I just love 'em! There are sooooo many colors!! And the pattern is from Cozy Quilt Shop. It's one of their Strip Club Patterns.

I think I would like to make her a throw pillow or two to match with the flower block on it to dress up her bed. Purple is THE color at SFA so I'll be sure and use a lot of purple in it!

Here is Jess on her bed in her dorm! She at least makes her bed! Well, it was made when we came!! So all we had to do was throw the quilt on top! Parents weekend was lots of fun. We were able to spend time with her and meet some of her friends. Oh and mom even helped with some chemistry homework! How about that!! Meanwhile dad did some computer updates on her laptop. So we kept him busy too.

Now I have to finish binding another quilt I received back from the quilter about a month ago for the other daughter! She is feeling a touch left out... I think she misses her sister.

Here are some Happy Blocks that I made up for some block swaps.

These are for Sept. The theme was 30 prints. The outside border had to be the 30s fabric! And the inside square had to be solid. BTW-I could not find pink, yellow or purple to match. I was solid challenged. And I just didn't want to do them all "cream"--ya know?

Then I co-hosted the October Happy Block Swap with Linda. Our theme was "Fun Food!" The center square had to be a fabric with a food that is fun to eat like a snack food, dessert, junk food, etc. You get the idea. The border fabrics could be anything that worked with it. BTW-I chose the theme... So I hope you enjoy it...

I have mexican food, BBQ, margaritas, and ice cream cones. Pretty fun, huh? I hope the gals who won, Barb & Gerda, enjoy their quilts!! I just might make one for myself!! LOL No calories!!

Happy Quilting,

Wasie

=D

Off to be quilted!

Jess dorm quilt top is finished and dropped off at the quilter's.  (Some day I'll have a long arm but that's another story...) I asked her to have it done pretty quickly so that I could get it back and bound in time for parent's weekend at SFA! I may be doing some handwork in the car on the trip down, but she'll get it! Here's some pics of it laid out on the queen-sized bed in the guest room. It certainly came out bright! ;oD

When it is all finished I'll get someone or a couple someones to hold it and we'll do a nice photo or two. I also want to get some of it on her bed in her dorm room and with her too! The top was totally put together using 2 1/2 inch strips.  It's a cozy quilt shop pattern called butterfly blooms. They have the best patterns! I always like them.

I am busy finishing up some Happy Blocks for the September and October swaps so I will post some photos when they are finished. But now I have to get to bed as 5:30 am comes pretty early! I have to get Michelle to the pool by 6 am to swim tomorrow morning.

Night, night.

Wasie

=)

Marmalade

Here are some pics and info about my cat Marmalade. You can see by looking at him how he got his name!
Here he is helping me organize patches for an "I spy" quilt.

He has some interesting napping positions!

"Now I'm comfortable!"

"Well, maybe this is better?"

"Hey, man, turn off the lights! Can't you see I'm sleeping here?"

He also sits outside the shower and waits for you to finish. Then goes in it, yes the shower, afterwards and licks the warm water up off the floor of the stall! He just loves water--well, to a point I'm sure. He hasn't taken a dip in our pool yet! But he plays in the water dish that he and the dog share. It is a little play pool for him! He'll play in the toilet too if you give him a chance. Yuck!

On that lovely note, I am going to change the topic. Thank goodness! And show you another project I did this summer, that I neglected to post when I made it! It's a table runner out of Kaffe Fassett fabrics that I did for a friend's daughter who got married this summer. In fact, the daughter is a friend of ours too. And so is the groom and his family! They all go to our church. They are a great young couple. We all just love 'em. They will be living in New Mexico!

Rose & Derek's Tablerunner

Buenos Nochos,
Wasie
:oD

2nd Socks!

No, they're not done yet...

I am doing too many things at once!! So I am knitting when I can--like waiting for my daughter at her flute lesson--stuff like that--and finishing up my older daughter's quilt for her dorm bed! Yikes! She informed me that she would leave for college EVEN IF IT WASN'T DONE! Now how about that! Curses! Foiled again! So now I am on a deadline... I just have a few blocks left and then I put the top together. I'll put a pic up of the top when it is done. I LUV IT! Picked up the backing fabric yesterday. I am glad that it is twin-sized since it is looking like I will have to machine quilt it myself on my sewing machine. So glad I had it tuned up!!

Well, I digress, back to the socks. I am making them out of Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Cotton. It's a bamboo/cotton/nylon mix color dreamy #0142 and is very soft. Needles are crystal palace US 2 dpns. My gauge was 7 st/in. I am just doing a 2x2 rib for the cuff and doing them basically like the last pair. I actually did try a pair in between these two but I messed up on the heel and ended up taking it all out--both socks. And I had done a fancier cuff--the rib was swirled. I decided it was too much for that yarn anyway--it was self-striping--and I don't think I cast on enough stitches. However, I think I figured out the whole heel business, what I had done wrong and all. (I couldn't get the stitches back on the needle to save the one sock, so I tore 'em both out. I live too far away from a yarn shop to just "pop in". It's a major drive down.) Anyhow new socks, new yarn, new beginning for socks #2. AND I have promised myself that if I am stuck that I WILL go down to the Woolie Ewe and ask Sue for help this time. So there. Here are the cuffs partway done.

Socks #2! Panda Cotton Dreamy

I have not been posting ANY of my quilting projects either so I will post at least one pic of one of them today. This is Peng's quilt. If you recall, Peng was our Chinese foreign exchange student last year. She left very early in June for China. She will return to the US in the fall for college, but not to Texas! :-( She is going to a school in Oregon. We are hoping to get to see her though at Christmas break.

Peng on the left; my oldest daughter Jess on the right.

Peng's Quilt is a quick and easy "Take 5" pattern by teachers-pet. If you need a pattern that you can do quickly this is it! I chose Peng's favorite colors and prints. Hopefully, she will enjoy using it at college.

Smile!

Wasie

8-D

My first socks!

This past May I took a beginning sock knitting class at the Woolie Ewe. It was so much fun! We had one class a week for 3 weeks and homework in between. The socks we made were just basic socks. I did a 2x2 rib for my cuffs and then just stockinette on the foot. The yarn I used was a great hand dyed merino wool from Peru: Hacho shade 301. I used double pointed needles US 5.

(They probably need to be blocked... Haven't really figured that out yet.)

A perfect fit! Warm & comfy!

Now I'm working on my second pair in between quilting projects!! I need to put up some photos of those too!

Have a great day!

Wasie