orphan yarns and persimmons

yesterday I was back in one of my favorite little yarn stores

the original plan was for us to go to the alpaca holiday festival, but somehow we got that all confused (yes, it is this weekend, but the flyer I saw said Nov 18 & 19, but it is actually on Saturday and Sunday -- the 19th and 20th -- go figure!)

anyway the yarn store had a basket full of "Orphan yarn" -- I'm hoping there is enough of that great black and white to make a hat for my Etsy store -- and the rainbow yarn will make very attractive mittens!

on the way back from that excursion, we stopped off at our local Sunflower market to pick up the pre-ordered capon that will be Thanksgiving dinner

and found these too

right now they are very firm -- sort of like an unripe plum

I've put them in an aluminum tray on the counter where for the next week or 10 days they will slowly ripen to the point that I can cut an "X" in the top and squeeze the pulp out like toothpaste to make us one of the winter treats that we had every year in California -- persimmon bars! yummy!!

I'll have to make sure some of them go into the freezer to be taken to my daughter

just a little sneak peek at the blue flannel yardage I
"created" from the scrap pile in my stash

I will not reveal what I've now finished creating out of this until after Christmas, but I thought it would be fun to show off the fabric

(and for those of you who do dressmaking, no, I did not use my serger to put the pieces together -- I stitched the pieces together and flat felled the seams to reinforce them)

it's been fun playing with these fabrics and remembering who I made the original items for

and Mammy would be proud of this "re purposing"

work continues on the bead piece

here is a close up of one of the side portions of the piece that shows the little "x" marks that are areas that I plan to leave as cut out areas -- when the piece is finished those will be open areas, giving the piece a sort of lace like look

I hope

it is going very well now that I've finally figured out where I'm heading!





the hat is growing

last night I finished the ribbing and started into the crown of the hat which is just row after row of knitting around

the DH said he could tell when I reached that point -- the knitting shifted into "auto pilot"

since this is the 8th of these hats I've made in 2 years, uh, yeah, it's definitely auto pilot!


today I hope to finish the other "patchwork flannel" project and do some rearranging in the family room as well as working on a couple of new drawings for two new quilt projects -- things are hoppin'!

about that deadline

as you may recall, I started this piece originally because I want to enter it in a challenge for one of the beading groups I belong to

then I got side tracked because I was having an issue with the bigger glass pieces popping off the backing -- which has now been solved

but now I'm much closer to the entry deadline than I'm comfortable with -- the deadline to get it finished and entered is Dec 9, and while that is 3 weeks away, there will be some days over the Thanksgiving holiday that I won't be able to work on it (tiny seed beads and very small children -- ie Mr Cute -- are not a good combination!)

so last night I spent more time working on this than I have been (actually used up my quilting time too) -- and I'll be doing this for the next few days to try to get this close to finished before it must be put aside for a few days

the sewing machine is whirring again -- I actually have at least 5 more sewing machine projects to finish before Christmas, so I need to keep doing a little every day there -- the creation of flannel yardage is complete now, and the items cut out, so good progress is being made there

progress on the second green hat

looking very good -- and this one appears to be much better in the size department



today we're making a little trip up the way to visit the Llamas Holiday Boutique -- and yes, the llamas will actually be on site -- very cool! then to the store to pick up the pre-ordered capon for next Thursday's dinner

time to get to it

the end of canning season

here we are a week before Thanksgiving and I can say that the gardening and canning season is now officially over

yesterday we put up tomato sauce out of the very last of the tomatoes that we gleaned off the plants before the frost came

there will be some very good pasta sauce out of these jars!

we still have 5 pumpkins, a small Hubbard squash and some butternut squash just hanging out until we decide to use them

this is the time of the year when I'm really happy we did all that work all summer



three of the four panels are all finished

this project is definitely giving me that "did I do that?" feeling

today I hope to start on the fall panel







I didn't have to rip out the hat after all

it fit the DH perfectly, so he'll be getting a hat and here is the beginning of the next one -- made the smaller size so it will fit the son in law

by the time I get all of these finished I'll be able to knit these in my sleep



today we have errands to run, then it's back to work on those Christmas projects!

progress - and finished (or not)

well, at least this piece is now going well

the fill work is slowly creeping up around the butterflies and before long I'll be working my way up the sides -- at which point it will seem to go really quickly!

looking good!




the leaves on the summer tree panel are going well -- I hope to have those finished either tonight or tomorrow


and my studio time yesterday I was creating flannel yardage -- over the 10 years we've been in this house I've made a lot of things out of flannel, and I always save the pieces that are bigger than 6 inches square (the stash of flannel from before this house got donated before we moved here) -- anyway, I've been putting pieces together and now I have enough put together to make another pair of pj pants -- which I hope to get finished in the next couple of days -- YEAH!

and then there is this

it looks like a finished object

but it's really not

because it's too big for the intended recipient

which means I'll probably be frogging the whole thing and starting over -- either fewer stitches or smaller needles -- or both

bummer!


today we're going to turn the last of the garden tomatoes into tomato sauce -- yummy -- messy -- but yummy

time to get to it!

we interrupt the project reports

for this Mr Cute photo

my daughter sent me this last week -- he is 11 months old today, and already he looks very much like a little boy, not a baby

here he is in his long sleeved shirt and his blue jeans playing on the floor --

what a cutie!!


can you believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving?!

I have a lot of work to get done ---

must.work.faster!

slogging continues

spent some time working on the three projects that are in the works right now

the beading on this is moving right along now, and there has been no repeat of the problem of the pieces popping off the background

apparently the glue does have a "shelf life" and the old tube had exceeded it





you'll notice that there are still a lot of pins in the leaves toward the bottom of the tree

I got a little carried away with the cut and pin process and just didn't get all of them stitched down

this is looking really good








and the ribbing is finished!

which means that the hat is rolling right along




time to get to that laundry!

a new department in the store

I've been listing my bead work on my Etsy store for quite a while now

this week I've started listing some of the very cool silver work that the DH creates

this piece, for example, is a hand formed fine silver (.999 silver) open work heart with a small yellow sapphire (natural stone) set in it

really neat, one of a kind piece, and because it was made a while back when the price of the raw materials were a lot less expensive, the price is nice too

we're hoping some of these pieces will be Christmas presents for someone somewhere

remember this?

seems the solution for my problem was just to use a new tube of glue

I've now removed the "bezels" around the flower and the big glass leaves and have gone back to filling the background

and I'm much happier with the way this looks now

now I just need to move it along to get it finished by the deadline for the challenge that I originally started it for

and then of course it will go in the store



tree leaf-ing continues

this is really good activity to do while watching musical specials on PBS

which is what I was doing last night

cut, pin, stitch, repeat

there will be at least twice as many leaves as this when I'm finished -- maybe even more

slogging along






seems the slog along is an ongoing thing

I've got about a third of the ribbing done on this project

and it is also a good thing to work on while listening to music

k, p, p, repeat

and we go around in circles ('til we're very, very dizzy!)

looking good though

summer tree and new stuff on the sticks

since I had finished the spring panel, last night I started working on the summer one

I'm using the same technique to do the leaves, but there will be a lot more leaves and they are darker green on this panel

looking good



I finished another Christmas project yesterday that also can not be revealed until after it has been given to its designated recipient -- check back here after Christmas!






and a new Christmas project on the sticks!

a hat for my son in law

I wanted to use the same yarn I used for the sweater I just finished for his son, but there just wasn't enough left over to do that

this green will have to do


the last couple of days I've spent a lot of hours taking photos and tweeking photos to load up a lot of new stuff on the Etsy store -- glad to have that part done, now it's on to the loading parts

time to get to it

thinking about spring

the panel is ready to be quilted!

I really like the way this one came out

now it's on to the summer panel




I did some other sewing yesterday, but I can't show you that item until after Christmas



we worked in the front yard yesterday -- trying to get the heavy layer of leaves up off the lawn so the grass will survive the winter -- many, many trips with the garden cart full of leaves hauled from the front yard to the garden area (where the layer of leaves killing weeds is a good thing), then running the lawn mower one last time before winter -- this morning my legs and my back are telling me I did too much

maybe today I'll take it easy

FINALLY off the sticks

finished knitting the hood last night

whoot! whoot!

still have to stitch up the under arm seams and the top of the hood

and weave in all the ends

and do the loops and buttons

but having this off the sticks means I can put something else on (and yes, I know, I could have more than one thing on sticks at a time, but I find this approach works better for me -- just sayin' that finishing stuff is important in the grand scheme of things here)


and this is done

I stitched the last of the binding yesterday afternoon

ta da!

which means one more thing crossed of the Christmas To Do list -- a very good thing


and I can take it for show and tell at tonight's quilt guild meeting too







the tree has begun to flower!

I decided to use the Copic marker to draw the little flowers in pink on the white fabric before I cut them out

this had the unexpected benefit of acting almost like a sealer on the fabric, so the edges didn't fray when I cut them out

and I like the pink beads in the center of each of the flowers too

lots more to stitch down, looking very good

progress -- our most important product

a little Christmas stitching

time at the sewing machine well spent yesterday

got these pj pants finished in record time -- despite having to piece the bottom 6 inches of the legs because the flannel shrunk so much

I'm really glad I had washed the fabric before I made the pants!

more sewing projects will continue today after the errands are done


the binding on the lap quilt is about 2/3 complete --- should be done today --- YIPPEE!!


and all of the leaves have been stitched onto the spring panel, so today I'll be starting to put on the flowers

in the process of getting the leaves done, I made a change in the plan to the flowers -- I had originally planned to use a little yellow bead in the center of each one, but as I've stitched and thought about what the spring trees look like, I've decided that a pale pink one is a better idea

this ability to change direction in mid-stream is one of the up sides to doing so much of this as hand work



my daughter sent me a text this morning with the needed information so I can finish up the hood on the sweater I'm knitting -- just at the right time -- if things go well, this evening I'll be binding that off and stitching the sweater together --- hmmm, this means I need to do something about finding some buttons!

time to get to it

projects current and future

the stitching of the spring leaves is moving right along

probably after today's leaf stitching I'll be ready to move on to putting on the flowers


the quilting on the lap quilt for my dad is all complete and the binding is being worked on

this one should definitely be finished in time for the quilt guild meeting on Thursday








paid a visit to my local quilt shop yesterday

and came home with the materials to start working on the 2012 Hoffman challenge

the challenge fabric is the floral there on the left

the fabric on the right and the ones at the bottom are some of the many coordinate fabrics

there are also 2 hanks of silk embroidery thread in the same purple/pink/green colorway as well as two spools of thread for doing quilting and applique work -- also in that same colorway

let the fiddling begin!




work on Christmas sewing is progressing too, and the hood of the Christmas hoodie is moving right along -- I'm just trying to figure out if its actually long enough

breakfast is calling!!

the seasons are flying by

I finished the snow on the winter panel

the stark contrast of the white against the dark "bark" of the tree looks pretty neat

this panel is now ready to be quilted, and when the quilting is finished I'll be attaching a single enameled leaf charm

so I've moved on to the spring panel -- cutting the little leaves and attaching them by stitching a line down the center like the vein in a leaf

once all the leaves are attached I'll be going back and adding flowers

this is moving along nicely


meantime, in the studio yesterday I did some quilting on the lap quilt -- the quilting is almost finished -- yippee!! then I can do the binding -- and I might be able to get that done by Thursday's quilt guild meeting

I have always enjoyed coloring, so having an excuse to pull out the big tin of colored pencils and color the sheet of little mice was great

I decided to make each little mouse slightly different, so there is a white mouse, a gray mouse, a brunette mouse and a red headed mouse

once I finished coloring, I scanned this sheet and tweaked with the graphics software and printed out enough sheets to do my cards -- now it's on to the cutting of the ovals around these -- real progress toward the cards

the local quilt store called and told me that the Hoffman Challenge 2012 fabric has arrived -- this is very exciting because I've already been fiddling with some ideas for the project -- I hope to get there this morning to get a piece of the fabric so I can start figuring out the scale of what I have in mind

laundry is calling -- time to get to it

something to roar about

heh, just because you haven't seen anything from the Africa series for a while doesn't mean I'm not working on it

it's really hard for me to believe this is the same stamp that I used for the first lion which was declared a failure

this one is awesome

and the painting of the foliage around him went well too

right now I'm working on design ideas on how to incorporate all of the animal pieces into one cohesive presentation -- this part goes slowly, and is something that actually gets worked on quite a lot in those fugue moments between sleeping and waking

yesterday was pretty productive, even though I have no other pictures to show you --

the snow on the branches in the winter panel is almost completed -- I still have one other thing to do to that panel after that then it will be complete (and speaking of that fugue moment, this morning's was all about how to do the spring panel of this series!)

actual machine quilting took place yesterday as well -- and once again I was really happy that I got the quilter's gloves when I took the class back in August -- having them makes the moving around of the quilt so much easier

adorable isn't it?! I really like the designs that come from House Mouse.

I picked up this rubber stamp on a sale and I've been fiddling with Christmas card design ideas for a month or so

today I hope to have time to drag out the tin of colored pencils and add some color to this (and yes, there will be glitter!)

it's not too early to be doing this -- it takes time to make about 60 cards!

time to get moving

it's beginning to look like Christmas

a couple of years ago, my daughter asked me if I would do the script embroidery on the decorator Christmas socks she had made for her house -- and I was happy to do it for her


now that Mr Cute is here, there needs to be one more sock to add to the decor!

this is one of those times when I'm happy that I have a "stash" -- ie: I don't throw things away

may I present the completed third sock -- and yes, that is from the same fabric -- which is now generally unavailable -- all possible because I had kept the left overs from the first project

yup, the 3rd generation "pack rat" saves the day

yesterday afternoon, once the delivery men had brought my new refrigerator and hauled away the old one, we decided to go to visit a very neat place called Table Rock Llamas -- a relatively local shop that carries wonderful yarns, spinning and weaving equipment and supplies and they teach classes in all of those things as well hosting dye workshops -- I was looking for a skein of alpaca yarn to put with one I had already to work on another knitting project

I found what I was looking for and a whole lot more -- they host a lot of very affordable classes, one of which I will be taking soon as a refresher in spinning -- even more exciting is that they have drum carders that you can rent time on, so I will be taking the two Jacob Sheep fleece that I have in a box and getting them all carded up so they can more easily be spun or felted or whatever I decide to do with them --- yippee!!

today I'm hoping to get some more sewing projects cut out and ready for stitching

and then there is the preliminary work on the Christmas cards to do too

lots to do!!

a first time event

yesterday we made the trip to the Fountain library for the hanging

it went really well -- the whole hanging system worked equally well with the quilts that had the hanger rings and the ones that had sleeves with rods and wires

when these pieces are all rolled on their pool noodles and bagged up at home they don't look like much -- hanging all of them side by side gives me a better sense of just how much I have accomplished in the past 2 years --

at the last minute I decided not to take the Archangels piece because I was having problems getting a rod or slat to put in the sleeve that was actually sturdy enough to support it's weight -- which is probably a good thing -- I don't think there would have been room for it

I'll be admiring this picture for a while

the third charity quilt is complete

this was made out of scraps left over from the other two quilts

nice

so now the sewing machine will be taken off the table so I can cut out some more things and pin the quilt that needs to be quilted

slogging right along through those Christmas projects now





the leaves are all finished now too

sweet!

I'll be putting together a box to ship off either today or tomorrow


I hear that Mr Cute is in need of a new pair of mittens -- I'll be making those out of the yarn left from the hat I just made him -- and this year's mittens will actually have thumbs!

time to get moving -- the delivery man called -- the new 'fridge is on its way

a quilty good time!

the sewing machine has been humming

these two quilt tops for charity are all finished

I'm using the scraps from these two to make a third quilt top -- also for charity -- hopefully I'll be able to show that one to you tomorrow



the quilt top for my dad is all finished

as soon as the current round of stitching is finished (sometime either today or tomorrow) I'll be able to get this all put together in its "sandwich" to do the quilting

my plan is to machine quilt this using the newly gained skills from the class I took back in August

this will be the first one I've tried, and I'm a little nervous about it, but I think I can handle something very basic






the branches of all four trees are attached!

after I took this picture last night, I started putting snow on the branches of the winter tree -- right now I can look out my windows and see that, so I'm just going with the current model

things are still rolling off the knitting needles

I still need to do the leaves for these, but I'm really pleased with how they came out

the leaves shouldn't take too long, so I'll be back to the Christmas hoodie this evening -- I need to get that finished -- there are still at least 3 knitting projects in the cue after that -- always something coming next!

time to get rollin'

finished! and Mr. Cute rules

its done!

the knitting of this was fun and easy and the result is awesome

now that this is finished, I'm working on another small knitting project with this yarn that will go in the same box when I get the package all put together



my daughter sent me this picture of Mr Cute as the Winged Monkey for Halloween

heh, he's the cutest winged monkey ever!!

just look at that smile

and his daddy is pretty cute too

the DH had one complaint -- there were no pictures of the winged monkey with his mommy (who we hear was pretty gussied up for Halloween too)

the repair man (the same one that so efficiently repaired my dryer a couple of weeks ago) came yesterday to take a look at the refrigerator -- the verdict is that it is terminal and has to be replaced -- while I will like having a new one (and it should be much more energy efficient) I really didn't plan to do that this year -- oh well