Design Wall Monday

Years ago, the little boy who is now Teenage Son saw this fabric on a shop hop and urged me to buy some and make him a quilt. I bought 2/3 of a yard. It was as far as I felt I could stretch the budget that day, or maybe that was the pattern repeat. I also bought some textured solids from Joanns. 

Time passed and I don't know what the original plan was. I'm sure it was pretty vague. Now there's a new plan -- 

The piano key border will go down both sides and I'll do some sort of pieced blocks in the corners. And, because I've never done a flange before, I decided to give that a try.

New plan is that this will be a good quilt to do some intricate freemotion quilting on. 'Cause why not make the too-good-to-cut fabric into a too-good-to-quilt top?

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

The Undertaker's Daughter

I enjoy reading memoirs, getting a glimpse into someone else's life. The Undertaker's Daughter caught my interest when I saw the description, which compared it to Six Feet Under.

Here's the cover copy:

What if the place you called “home” happened to be a funeral home? Kate Mayfield explores what it meant to be the daughter of a small-town undertaker in this fascinating memoir evocative of Six Feet Under and The Help, with a hint of Mary Roach’s Stiff.

The first time I touched a dead person, I was too short to reach into the casket, so my father picked me up and I leaned in for that first, empty, cold touch. It was thrilling, because it was an unthinkable act.

After Kate Mayfield was born, she was taken directly to a funeral home. Her father was an undertaker, and for thirteen years the family resided in a place nearly synonymous with death. A place where the living and the dead entered their house like a vapor. The place where Kate would spend the entirety of her childhood. In a memoir that reads like a Harper Lee novel, Mayfield draws the reader into a world of Southern mystique and ghosts.

Kate’s father set up shop in a small town where he was one of two white morticians during the turbulent 1960s. Jubilee, Kentucky, was a segregated, god-fearing community where no one kept secrets—except the ones they were buried with. By opening a funeral home, Kate’s father also opened the door to family feuds, fetishes, and victims of accidents, murder, and suicide. The family saw it all. They also saw the quiet ruin of Kate’s father, who hid alcoholism and infidelity behind a cool, charismatic exterior. As Mayfield grows from trusting child to rebellious teen, she begins to find the enforced hush of the funeral home oppressive, and longs for the day she can escape the confines of her small town.

In The Undertaker’s Daughter, Kate has written a triumph of a memoir. This vivid and stranger-than-fiction true story ultimately teaches us how living in a house of death can prepare one for life.

Kate is unlike anyone I've ever met or read about. As a  young child, she was afraid to use her grandfather's outhouse at night, longing to return to the her parents' house, the funeral parlor. She had her own Miss Havisham, a local businesswoman who dresses only in red and opens her mansion to only a rare few.

I've got to admit, this book had me in tears, especially when the author's father responded to a call from a young mother, alone and in labor, who'd called the funeral home because the hospital refused to send an ambulance out the icy road she lived on.

Although the book tells the stories of countless funerals, it doesn't dwell on the icky details. Similarly, the author shares intimate details of her childhood without making me feel like I know more than I should. I absolutely recommend this one!

Disclosure -- the publisher provided me with an ARC.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {1/16/15}

I love this little quilt that Kathy from A Quilting Chick linked up last week. Just look at the pretty colors -- and those spurs!

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

Banded Gecko Socks

That picture is a Sonoran Alligator Lizard, but Banded Gecko sounds catchier an they've got the same kind of stripes. There just wasn't a picture in the book to compare my socks to. 

I knew I'd seen a reptile somewhere that looked like these stripes!

These aren't my favorite socks, but I'll wear them. The yarn (in case anyone wants sock that look like a southwestern lizard) is Patons Kroy Socks, colorway Buckthorn Stripes. I've used a lot of this yarn over the past few months and loved it, but my second skein of this one was splitty. No idea why -- it was new from the store, so there weren't any storage or age issues.

I'm linking up to Yarn Along and Patchwork Times. For more finishes, check out  Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, and Freedom Fridays.

Weekly Stash Report

Thank you for the prayers. I've told Grandma how many of my friends are praying for her, and I think it brings her comfort. If anyone has tips for dealing with muscle spasms and could send me a private email or leave a comment on this post, I'd really appreciate it. The hospice nurse says we're trying everything, but I keep hoping we can come up with some better tricks.

Hubby has been to the orthopedist and doesn't need surgery. This is the same doctor who fixed his ankle last spring and he doesn't know what the urgent care radiologist was talking about. That's such good news! Now we're waiting for another xray later this month and hoping he can get back to work soon.

The winner of the Feta Attraction giveaway is Kiki W, who wrote:
 Looks like a great cozy mystery. Can't wait to read it. 

Some gorgeous solid yardage came home with me this week. It wasn't a planned purchase, but the price was right and the colors will be perfect for some projects I'm hoping to start once my life shifts back towards normal. The sewing machine of my dreams found its way to me by a very roundabout route that took a dozen years or so. The Banded Gecko Socks are done... I'll tell you about all of that when I have the time and energy to write the posts.

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 0 yards
Added this Week: 34 yards
Added Year to Date: 34 yards
Net Added for 2014: 34 yards

Yarn Used this Week:  400 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 400 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Added for 2014: 400 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {1/9/15}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{Yarn Along} More Stockinette

I still haven't found a chunk of quiet time to pick out a sock pattern an figure out the chart so that I can cast on. This is the time for more mindless sock knitting, because that's easy to squeeze in if you keep your project close.

See that half finished sock on top? Everything from the second light stripe to the needles was knit on Monday -- during Quinn's speech therapy appointment, while waiting for take out Chinese food, while watching The Incredible Doctor Pol on Netflix with Hubby. Stockinette adds up fast. A few more days, and I'll be able to cast on with some prettier yarn. I'm looking forward to that!

My latest read is Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace by Ayelet Waldman. She's the author of the Mommy-Track mysteries that I enjoyed so much a while back. I hadn't realized that she had written other books and grabbed this one from the library as soon as I found out about it. It's not your usual book of Mommy essays, filled with the expected chapters about dirty diapers and sleepless nights.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times.



 

What do You do With Leftovers?

I try, not always succesfully, to cut only as many pieces as I need for a particular quilt. If I'm working with squares, I don't fuss. Whatever is left over can go in the box for another quilt down the road. But if I'm cutting a shape or size that I'm not likely to use again, I'm more careful.

With Little Letters, I was making up the pieced borders in my head and had no idea how many pieces I'd actually wind up using. I wound up with a little pile of nine-patch bits. It was hardly any fabric at all, and even I could have  tossed it out without feeling a pang of guilt. 

But my mind doesn't work that way. I sewed them together and within the hour, I had a new mug rug. 

Sure, I could have tossed those bits. But it feels a lot better to make something cute with them!

What do you do with your leftovers? Toss them, or make them into something.....or save them for "someday?"

For more finishes, check out  Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,  , and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home  Sew Can She 

A New Project for the New Year

Quite a few years ago, I fell in love with a spool quilt and started setting aside fabrics for it. They were all tiny dots, or tiny things that were close to dots. I don't know why I never made more than four blocks.

Then, a few years later, Bonnie Hunter posted her Spoolin' Around Leader/Ender Challenge. I was still making Cheddar Bowties, but I pulled out my original spools. In my memory, they were a reasonable size, not these huge 6 1/2" blocks. I told myself that I needed to finish my bowties before I started playing with spools and tucked it back away.

But now that quilt is done and I'm ready to start some new projects. I'm so much happier with the 3 1/2" blocks I started making yesterday!

Just look at the difference between these blocks. If I'd finished the original quilt it would probably be in the back of a closet, because the more quilts I make, the tinier I like my pieces. Maybe I can find that bag with the original fabrics and add those to the mix, but I'm not gong to make myself crazy looking for them. 

This post is linked to Judy at Patchwork Times.

A Clean Slate and Big Plans

I had plans. I was going to make it through the holiday season, pack away the ornaments, and start on some new projects. I was in the mood for a challenge.  2015 was going to be a better year. 

A couple of hours  after I wrote yesterday's post, my husband fell and broke his toe. The urgent care doctor sent us home with two of his toes taped together and one of those awful printed sets of instructions that doesn't really answer any of your questions. Half an hour later, he called back to tell my husband that a radiologist had looked at the Xrays, the break extended into the foot, something about loose bone fragments, something about surgery, and that he needs to see the orthopedist as soon as possible. So we're holding our breath until Monday, when we'll find out when he can even get an appointment. And holding out until the pharmacy opens at 10 am, because by the time we left urgent care, they were  closed. 

I think I do need a challenge to distract myself a bit.

Not sure if these patterns are more than I can handle right now, but sometimes focusing on patterns and techniques can really help. If I turn out to be over my head, I an just unravel it and start over. 

But first I've got to settle on a pattern. 

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Added for 2014: 0 yards

Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 0 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Added for 2014: 0 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Please Pray for my Grandmother

My eighty-eight year old Grandma is in her last days. I wasn't going to say anything here on my blog, because I don't feel like it's my story to tell, but late last night I decided that I've been being stupid.

I've got wonderful online friends who I know would pray for her if I just asked. So I'm asking.

I know she can't be with us for much longer. Her kidneys and heart are failing. She's home now, with her dog and her husband of sixty-eight years.  I'm praying for them both, and that Grandma will have moments of clear thinking, because there are still things that she wants to get done, And I'm praying that when she does leave us, it's peacefully.

New Knitting Needles!

I was so thrilled to get these for Christmas!

I already owned two full sets of the Harmony 6" dpns, but I've been coveting a set of Sunstruck, which is a paler version of the same needles. Dark yarns don't show up well on the Harmony needles. 

See the difference? It's even more noticeable in my knitting corner in the dead of night. 

 I've been making do with a couple of sets I bought at the LYS when Judy did her Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge a couple of years ago,but those aren't not nearly as nice to work with. The points aren't as sharp and the needles themselves aren't as smooth.

Sometimes it's hard to decide whether to keep making do with what you've got on hand or go out and get something that will work better. I'm so glad my mom made the decision for me and bought me these for Christmas!

{Guest Post} Susannah Hardy, author of Feta Attraction

Looking for this week's Let's Make Baby Quilts linky party? Just click here!

Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to read Feta Attraction in time for today's post, but I'm looking forward to it.

Georgie Nikolopatos manages the Bonaparte House, a Greek restaurant and historic landmark in beautiful upstate New York rumored to possess ghosts and hidden treasure. But when her husband disappears and her main competitor is found dead, it’s up to Georgie to solve a big fat Greek murder.

With her husband, Spiro, inexplicably gone for days, Georgie has her hands full running the restaurant and dealing with the crew of the TV show Ghost Squad, called in by Spiro to inspect the house for haunting. So when she has a chance to take a boating excursion on the St. Lawrence River with her friend Keith Morgan, she jumps on it. But their idyll is quickly ruined when they discover the body of rival restaurant owner Domenic “Big Dom” DiTomasso floating in the water.

When the police start asking questions, it doesn’t help that Spiro can’t be found—and with Georgie on their suspect list, it’s up to her to find her missing husband and find out who killed Big Dom before someone else’s order is up.

Today I've got Susannah Hardy here to  share her thoughts about cozy mysteries. Be sure to read down to the bottom for the giveaway -- she's offered to give a $10 gift certificate to either Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts to one of my readers.

Hi, Michelle! Thanks for having me here today to talk about my debut mystery novel, FETA ATTRACTION, book 1 of the Greek to Me Mysteries.

So why are cozy mysteries so popular, and why do they matter?

For one thing, the reader always knows more or less what he or she is going to get—or not get—in a cozy mystery. One can always count on there being an engaging heroine (sometimes a hero, but overwhelmingly cozy sleuths are women), a victim, and a complex mystery with lots of suspects who each have their own reasons for wanting the victim dead, all set in a community the reader comes to know and love. Cozies generally come in series, so we get to revisit the characters (at least, the ones who don’t end up dead or incarcerated!) and the community more than once. I just love it when a new book in a favorite series comes out, so I can catch up with old friends and see what’s happening in a place I’ve come to know. Not that I’d necessarily want to live there—strangers often end up dying, LOL!

Other things you can count on in a cozy? You won’t find any gratuitous sex or violence. Sure, the basis of the story is a murder, but it happens off-stage. Death is sometimes accidental (perhaps victim and killer are arguing and it becomes physical, and the victim falls and hits his head), or deliberate, but the killing is not done in an excessive way. No multiple gunshots or stab wounds, and the killer isn’t hopped up on drugs or mentally ill. Nor will you find that the ultimate solution to the mystery involves anything other than the clues the reader has been given throughout the story—no surprising Mafia connections or drug cartels popping in at the last minute. No, the reasons for a murder are always personal—to someone. And romance? If there is one, it develops slowly, over several books.

There is a comfort in this kind of story. Aside from the familiarity of the setting and characters and the fun of trying to figure out what happened along with the amateur sleuth, a cozy mystery offers the absolute promise of justice.  Killers do not get away, they get what’s coming to them, and the community is safe again (at least until the next book). Our real-life world doesn’t always offer cut-and-dried, no-shades-of-gray justice.

That’s why we need cozies—to remind us that fairness and right can prevail, and we don’t need to see a lot of blood and gore to understand that. And that’s why I’ll keep reading them—and writing them.

It’s been a pleasure to be here today!

Links:

Amazon
Facebook 
Twitter

Bio:

Susannah Hardy thinks she has the best job in the world: making up stories and inventing recipes to go along with them. A native of northern New York, where she attended St. Lawrence University, Susannah now lives in Connecticut with her husband, teenage son, and Elvira the Wonder Cat.

For a chance to win a $10 gift card to Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks (winner's choice), leave a comment on this post before 11:59pm January 8 2015. I'll use the random number generator to pick a winner and Susannah will send you your prize.

Let's Make Baby Quilts in 2015!

I love making baby quilts. They're instant gratification. They're great for using scraps and playing with new blocks or color schemes. In 2013, I started the Let's Make Baby Quilts linky party, hoping to motivate other quilters to join me in making and donating baby quilts. The quilts can be for donation, or for your own baby, or for a relative or friend's baby....I'm just trying to encourage other quilters to have fun making little quilts.

So far, the tutorials are Benny, Priscilla, Peter, Colleena, Laura, Sadie, Carrie, Buzz, Helen, Christopher, Sam,  Marilyn, and Butterfly.

On Fridays I host a linky party where you can link to what you've finished, or what you're working on, or what you've got planned. There's a Let's Make Baby Quilts Facebook page,  and a Pinterest board where I add whatever cute baby quilt tutorials I stumble upon.

2014 was a rough year for me and mine and I only managed a handful of baby quilts and two new tutorials. But things are looking better. Care to join me in 2015?

<center> <a href="http://mychellem.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Let's Make Baby Quilts!" src="http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/s578/romantictangle/Collages1_zpsd9df24b7.jpg"/></a></center>

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

2014 Year End Totals

2014 was not our best year. My husband was in a head on collision with a drunk driver and the aftermath of that dictated most of our decisions and activities for the year. Things have finally started to settle down over the past two months, so I'm hopeful for 2015. 

As far as my knitting and quilting goes, it was my year for endless socks -- seventeen pairs total. One pair, the Mock Croc Socks, had some texture to it. The rest were just plain mindless knitting.  (I've also had the year of the scrappy baby quilt, the year I made more quilts than I knew what do to with, and the year of knitting big flat things that didn't have to fit anyone.)

I needed mindless projects to soothe my frazzled nerves and those socks definitely fit the bill. Even after I was thoroughly sick of them, I'd find myself casting on another pair, then another, then another...

In addition to the socks, I knit a few little stuffed things. Before this year, my track record for stuffed animals was horrible. I don't like sewing together lots of itty-bitty pieces, but the Monkey and Tardis Mouse and Egg to Alligator might have cured me of that. And Teenage Daughter's request for a Weasley Sweater in Slytherin colors reminded me that I can still knit sweaters, even if I do get the Intarsia letter upside down.

I finished fourteen new baby quilts...

I embroidered a lot of squares for what is going to become the Garden Party Quilt. It's not a finish, but it's a lot of progress, and searching Pinterest and Google for the craziest vintage patterns I could find was a great distraction.

Things have finally started feeling normal again over the past few weeks, so I pulled out and finished my Drab Postage Stamps and Cheddar Bowties. And two new projects -- Chocolate Covered Cherries and Little Letters.

{Yarn Along} The Accidental Alchemist

There are a lot of things I should be doing right now. Probably least important on the list is figuring out which reptile these socks are reminding me of. So far, my Google searches have  got it narrowed down to the Banded Gecko. The yarn (in case anyone wants sock that look like a Banded Gecko) is Patons Kroy Socks, colorway Buckthorn Stripes. 

I like quirky cozy mysteries and The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian definitely delivers! Newly arrived in Portland, Oregon, Zoe Faust  begins unpacking the crates of antiques she had shipped from her previous home in Paris and discovers something that definitely doesn't belong to her -- a walking, talking gargoyle who demands her help deciphering an old book. (And yes, that is a cooking whisk that Dorian is holding in the cover art.) Then the contractor she hired to repair her dilapidated new home is found dead on her porch.

I loved this one. The author weaves interesting details of Portland's history into the mystery and provides a convincing explanation for why the gargoyle exists and why he wound up on Zoe's doorstep.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times.



 
Disclosure - the publisher provided me with an ARC.

Little Letters

Alphabet samplers make me smile. A few years back, I got the idea to make one with free pieced letters. Sixteen letters into the project, I decided that I was in over my head and tucked it away. Looking back at that post, those blocks aren't as bad as I remember....maybe I should dig them out. 

I've got a whole bolt of this fabric, black flowers on dark grey that look solid from any distance at all. When I saw the posts for Little Letters over at Temecula Quilt Company, I knew I wanted to start it. There was a little bit of a wait before instructions for the first block were posted and I forgot. Then I remembered, made a few letters, got sidelined again. Then they posted X Y and Z all in one post and I got sewing. 

I wanted a pieced border for my quilt, something that would make it feel more like a stitched sampler... (And isn't it cool that this one is dated and I can tell when I made that project instead of trying to figure it out from old blog posts like I usually wind up doing?) 

Honestly, I think my favorite part of this tutorial series was the pictures of stencils and apples and rulers. The letters look nothing at all like those stencils, but I'm going to think of them every time I look at this quilt.

Maybe it's time to make some more of those itty bitty cake stands....or the 2" bowties....or Summer Spools.  There are a lot of really neat tutorials in the sidebar of  Temecula Quilt Copmany's blog.

For more finishes, check out  Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,  , and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

Low Volume Postage Stamps

It started out with a baby quilt.  I'd seen a lot of pictures of low volume quilts and had lots of odd fabrics in my stash that I thought would work. A lot of it it is "what was I thinking?" fabric from my early days of quilting, but it was absolutely perfect for this project.

Alex saw the two low volume baby quilts and wanted one for herself, so I cut more 2 1/2" squares (skipping the prints with diaper pins and baby bottles but leaving in the sock monkeys) and spent a couple of months adding to the  pile whenever I found a likely print. Now, as soon as I can find that gorgeous backing fabric I bought for it, she'll have her quilt!

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.

Christmas Yarn

It's way too tempting to ignore the after-Christmas mess and just sit here petting my new yarn. This stuff is gorgeous! And it feels just as nice as it looks.

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 52 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 102 3/4 yards
Net Added for 2014: 50 3/4 yards

Yarn Used this Week:  0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 7475 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 8919 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 11885 yards
Net Added for 2014: 4410 yards

There'll be another 1300+ yards of yarn used when I get the squid done. At this point, most of what's left is seams, so even if the project carries over into next year, I won't count the yarn used then.

Remember the list I posted last week? I'm down to the squid and Alex's low volume postage stamps. I'm expecting to get the squid done, but the quilt will probably wait til after the first of the year. If I wanted to pin-baste it right now, I'd have to invoke Eminent Domain and condemn a huge K'Nex structure that's taking over my usual spot.

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Mock Croc Socks

The yarn is Opal Krokodil. I've had this skein for years and been afraid to use it because my project might not do it justice. (This year, I've been knitting from stash and anything was fair game as long as I wasn't doing something completely stupid with it.) The pattern is Mock Croc Socks, a free download from Knitpicks. Cuff down, flap and gusset heel, stitch pattern with yarn overs in tricky places.... Not my favorite type of sock.

From the pictures I've seen on Ravelry, this stitch pattern pops a lot more with solid yarn. It gets lost in the crocodile pattern. But I didn't want to use this up on plain socks.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/26/14}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

Happy Holidays!

Bonnie at Quiltville is hosting a Happy Holiday linky party and invited the rest of us to share what we've been working on.  Over the past few weeks, I've been spending a little more time at my sewing machine and getting a LOT done....

Cheddar Bowties 

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Drab Postage Stamps

I've got a few more things I'm hoping to get done before the year is up. That giant squid only needs one more tentacle....and more seams than I want to think about right now...He probably won't be done by tomorrow. Not a bad thing, because I wouldn't want to wrap him.

Meet Jed!

The more baby quilts I make, the pickier I get about my backing choices. I don't need everything to be all matchy-matchy, but I'd like the combination to make some sort of sense. When baby quilts are in use, you're just as likely to see the back as the front.

I'll let the new mom who winds up with this quilt figure out which is which. The postage stamp side was definitely more work, but the puppy on the other side (Gingham Dog, a free pattern from Moda Lissa's blog) is awfully cute.

All of the 2 1/2" squares I used were extra from cutting out my Drab Postage Stamp quilt, so putting this together wasn't much work at all.

Vineyard Socks

This is Knitpicks Simple Stripes in Vineyard, more yarn from my "I'm hanging onto this because I might use that someday" yarn stash. I liked it when I bought it, but then I fell out of love with the whole self-striping sock yarn thing. Until my great sock knitting binge of 2014, I'd forgotten that it was even in my stash.

Now that the pair is done, I love the colors and the way they stripe and the way the finished socks fit.

I Made a List

Not a Christmas list....I probably should be keeping notes to myself when it comes to holiday plans, but that hasn't been happening. After last December, I'm just letting this season happen and being happy with how many things are options right now that weren't last year.

My list is of knitting and quilting projects that I'd like to get done while it's still 2014.

Squidpocalypse 
Mock Croc Socks
Little Letters 
Alex's Low Volume Postage Stamps

It's very possible. In fact, I already had one project finished and crossed off before I wrote this post.

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 4 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 52 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 102 3/4 yards
Net Added for 2014: 50 3/4 yards

Yarn Used this Week:  0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 7475 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 4210 yards
Net Used for 2014: 3265 yards

This post is linked  to Patchwork Times.

Just what I needed!

The last time we stayed at my parents' vacation place in Sisters, I was eyeballing a little tole painted crock on a kitchen shelf. Mom had painted it, obviously, but I didn't recognize it from my childhood. Hubby has been watching for old crocks at estate sales (and the ones we do find are always cracked or overpriced -- or both) so I've had them on the brain for a while. And I've had tole painting on the brain since I read Fatal Brushstroke a couple of months ago. 

I forgot about that little crock until I was over at Mom's house and she wanted me to take a look at something. It was destined for Goodwill...unless I wanted it....but I didn't have to take it...

That little crock from the Sisters house has a twin! 

Now it lives with me in my sewing corner and holds my rotary cutter and pens and long skinny stuff. What are the odds that there were two of them? (High, because Mom made a lot of duplicates for my grandmothers.) AND that she gave me one just after I noticed the other, which I've probably walked past every time I've been in that house.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! 12/19/14

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.