bunch'o stuff

I am so pleased with myself. I finished sewing a little baby something tonite. It's a surprise so all you get is this little peek.


Lemme tell you that it's darling!


I promised P-la that I would type up the pattern for the flower motif in my previous post. So here it is:

Hook: 4mm/G
Yarn: DK weight
Finished size: approx 5" across
Yardage: ???
Gauge: ???

Rnd 1: ch6, join with slst to form a loop
Rnd 2: ch3, 11 dc in loop

Petal
Rnd 1: ch12, slst into first ch to form a loop.
Do not turn. Continue working in a counter-clockwise manner.
Rnd 2: sc, hdc, 8 dc, ch2, 8 dc, hdc, sc, (slst into next dc) twice

Repeat Petal (rnds 1 & 2) 5 more times. Break yarn.

To join the flowers together, work up to the ch2 on Rnd 2 of the Petal. Ch1. Take the hook out and insert it into the ch2 gap on a previous flower and then into the working loop. Ch1 and continue with the rest of the round to complete the petal.

I went to the pet store to pick up some food for Phoebe and they had these cool scratchy things so I impulsively bought one. It was in the house 5 mins and Ricky was already scratching at it. Phoebe is ignoring it so I sprinkled a little catnip and Ricky zoomed over and entered into a drugged stupor.


Ricky is enjoying walks with his new harness. On the weekend, he was so busy looking around that he didn't turn into our front walk like he usually does. He kept going down the sidewalk and when we got to our neighbour's driveway, he turned right, took 5 steps, and stopped. Ricky was looking around trying to figure out where he was. I could hear the gears grinding in his little head. I had to pick him up and put him back on the sidewalk facing our house. I coaxed him with my foot to get him moving but when we got to our walkway, he turned onto it and it was smooth sailing all the way to the front door.

I took Ricky out again tonite. A van came down the street and scared him silly. At first, he backed up and then he ran across the lawn - towing me behind him. For an 11lb cat, he is incredibly strong. He ran all the way to the front door and then pawed at it until I opened it. What a chicken!

so lost...

Assorted columbines from my garden this morning: Black Barlow (top row, 2 rightmost), Nora Barlow (bottom left corner), McKana's Giant (bottom row center), all others are unknown.

I'm referring to my knitting mojo. Nothing interests me - not socks, not lace, nothing. This is bad because my stash isn't getting smaller by itself.

I'll distract you with some quilting. Here is another group project:


Almost 3 years ago, our quilting group did a block swap. The theme was houses. Some of us took that literally and others (like myself) were a little more liberal with the idea. I told myself last month that if I had to move the stack of house blocks again, I really needed to sit down and put the quilt together. So that's what I did Sat & Sun. It still needs quilting but at least, I don't have to move the stack of blocks again. BTW, the border/sashing fabric are little white ducks on a blue background cuz we call ourselves QHuackers.

The lovely weather has me wanting to spruce up the joint. We installed the bookcase in the living room last week and then I decided to retire my almost 20 yo dishes. I knew that I didn't want the full sets - just dinner plates, side plates, and bowls. We eventually settled on something from Ikea (love that place!). Of course, I need all new dining table linens to match and I'm going to make them myself (any excuse to go fabric shopping ;). You really need to click on the image to see the subtle print on some of the fabrics.


I hope that's enough fabric for 10 placemats and two table runners (one short and one long). I can't decide which fabric to use for the borders - the batik on the far left or the small print on the far right.

snow - a 4 letter word

You'd think after all the snow in Dec & Jan that Mother Nature would've run out. Not so... It snowed almost all day while I was visiting my Dad yesterday. We just got a light dusting but there was way more snow where he lives. I passed two serious accidents on the bridge on my way home yesterday evening. It was a long drive but the roads improved the closer to home I got.

Since this is a knitting blog, I should talk about knitting, eh? I am working on a secret project that can't be blogged about. I wanted to join a sock KAL but I seem to have *ahem* run out of dpns. Hmmm... I wonder how that happened. Anyways, I've been trying to finish up things. Yesterday, I cast on and spent all day knitting the second Twinkle sock. This pattern is still kicking my butt. If I forget a yo one more time, I'll stick a dpn in my eye. Oh - I'm seriously thinking about going to the Sock Summit in Aug. Is anyone else going?

The great drapery debate has been settled! I made the mistake of buying fabric that is reversible. Of course, we didn't agree on which side is the "right" side. I put it to a vote amongst my quilting friends and here's the winner:


And you'll notice in the picture that I solved the "shortage" issue as well. I am going to sew a wide band at the bottom so that I don't need as much patterned fabric. So I stopped by the interior design place and bought drapery heading tape (the kind that automatically pleats) and a ton of blackout lining. Next week will be full of cutting huge pieces of fabric and making a general mess of my living and dining room. But it will be worth it, right?

working weekend

I sat down this weekend and focused on my "must do" list. I've got a bajillion things that are "in progress" and some have hard deadlines so I need to get those finished first. My first deadline is the bridal shower next weekend. I made a gift bag for the prezzie.


Can you guess what's inside?

The deadline for quilt show entries is next. So I sewed hanging sleeves onto 2 quilts and labelled a third. The week after the quilts are handed in, I need to submit my items for the quilt show's boutique. I wove in the ends on half a dozen washcloths and gave them a good press. I also sewed the handles onto a market bag. I've got another market bag and washcloth otn. I'd also like to make a few more cloths.

Right after the quilt show is the big wedding. I've almost finished the first half of the shrug that I want to wear (there is a slight chance that I'll run out of yarn before I'm done). And I have to get cracking on the wedding present!

And somewhere in there, I'm camping with my nieces and I promised them Pooh blankets and knitted Pooh washcloths. I've got one washcloth done but I haven't started the blankets yet. Sigh...

Of course, my garden needed some serious attention since I've been neglecting it for almost 2 weeks. I deadheaded my peonies, oriental poppies, and cranesbill geraniums. Plus I pruned my purple smoke bush, thyme, maple tree, and Grace Ward. I filled 5 garbage cans with yard waste! I gave my neighbour some rhubarb and I picked my first batch of raspberries. The berries were small and only so-so tasting. The second flush will be better.

The light was good this evening and Ricky was being oh-so-cute. Can you see his lip freckle?


I was trying to get a good shot of his face but he wanted to watch a birdie instead.


Ok, he's looking at me but what's he doing with his leg?

birthday week

Oy! The first week of July has got to be the busiest week of the year for me. You see, it's full of celebration. It's the Vancouver Jazz Festival and we usually go to a concert or two. This year, we bought tickets for Jesse Cook. It was awesome and you couldn't wipe the grin off hubby's face.

And it was Canada's birthday on July 1st. It's the last day of the jazz festival and there are free concerts all day at 4 venues on Granville Island. We go there every year - load up on baked goodies from the french bakery & Terra breads, buy a bag of Okanagan cherries, and park ourselves on the grass and listen to some great jazz and pig out. My bf joined us so that was an extra special treat.


Yes, I was KIPing at the concert. That's Jangophilia on stage and my blurry Lovely Lace Shrug in the foreground. I'm using allhemp6 and I'll be wearing this shrug to my bf's wedding.

And my little quilting group surprised me with a birthday cake and prezzies.


Notice the little duck candles? We call ourselves QHuackers (long story) so we're attracted to everything ducky.

And speaking of prezzies, I'm getting some STR! Gladys (my alleged co-blogger) gave me a gc to Blue Moon. At the top of my list is Korppi and Lucy but I'm still thinking about it. And my sister is buying me some STR, too.

I went fabric shopping again (with my birthday money). They were having a sale on patterns and I broke down and bought another Amy Butler pattern - the Sophia carry-all. I think I'll heavily modify the pattern to suit my tastes/skills - i.e. no piping. I am going to make this bag with quilted fabric and skip the interfacing for the side panels. Hopefully, the bag will be sturdy enough.

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends. Have a great weekend!

uptown handbag

Pattern: Uptown Handbag from Madison Bags by Amy Butler
Fabric: Floral Reign Style D827 by Hoffman Fabrics; buckram for interfacing
Notes: The pattern is confusing in certain areas so you must read carefully and make notes before cutting/sewing. It was my first time using buckram and it's incredibly stiff so it's hard to "flip right side out" on some of the smaller pieces like the handles (I can't imagine making this bag with the recommended Timtex). In those cases, I modified the construction to make it a little easier. I also had to switch to a jeans needle to get through all those layers. I used sew-in magnetic closures instead of velcro. Fairly easy to construct but the short handles make it a little tricky during final assembly.

I'm very happy with my new bag. I have more fabric and interfacing so I might make the Downtown purse with the long handle.

lovely long weekend

This morning's weather of thunder and heavy rain signals the end of a very nice long weekend. At least, there were 3 dry and sunny days.

I did very little knitting because I was too busy with other things. I've picked up my Rivendell socks again and I'm halfway to the heel. I also cast on a washcloth (I am horribly behind on those) plus the Auburn Camp Shirt. I've only got the hem done so I won't bore you with a picture.


These are commissioned knitting bags. I love the cow fabric. The medical themed fabric was particularly hard to find. And I bought a ton of the yarn balls fabric so that I can make more.

Hubby and I had a "date" day. We went to Granville Island and looked for a brunch place. We didn't find any so we loaded up on pastries from the french bakery and ate things like chocolate filled croissants. Then we shopped for a bit. Maiwa moved from their current location to a new place and they are selling yarn now. I picked up 2 skeins of Hempwol. The skeins are huge at 250yds each.


Not sure what I'll use these for but there's enough for a pretty large scarf or 2 hats. Maiwa also had several Zitron yarns and lots of Zitron roving.

I also poked my head into the Silk Tree and Fiber Arts studios. Both times, hubby was elsewhere (with my wallet) so I didn't buy anything. The Silk Tree had renovated and their space was very nice and spacious with lots of room for all those looms. They had this neat silk eyelash type yarn. Oh so soft! The Fiber Arts studio had lots of hand dyed yarn - bulky mohair, mohair boucle, and lots of fingering yarns, too.

After Granville Island, we went home for a little snooze and then headed out for dinner at a local greek restaurant. It was the first time I had salmon souvlaki. It was very good and the portions were huge. We were planning to go see the new Narnia movie afterwards. But as we finished dessert, we realized that we only had 10 mins before showtime. Yikes! We decided that we didn't want to spend 2 hours and 20 mins in horrible seats so we're going to see the movie tonite.

And here's Ricky sleeping in front of the largest open window he can find. He loves fresh air.


A new cat toy in the foreground... That toy travelled all the way upstairs and made it into our bedroom courtesy of Phoebe. That explains the middle of the night dance she did on my stomach. Oof!

a little bit of sewing

A few weeks ago, P-La sent me some wonderful fabric. So I sat down and and made a few project bags.


I used the skulls with knitting needles on one side and some pirate fabric from my stash on the other side. The fawn ones are for my sil. She gave me the fabric and asked me to make her a few bags. It's taken me this long to blog about them because I mailed the pirate ones to P-La (one for her and one for GGP) and she received them today.

I haven't been doing much knitting. I've been engrossed with my secret project which involves a lot of shopping. I found the perfect xxx but there wasn't enough so I began searching the internet for more. Luckily, I found what I was looking for on eBay - yay. Now that I have enough, I can start working on it.

Ricky (our blonde cat) has got me well trained. He's not a lap cat and he doesn't like to be held but he does like to nap with us. I crawled into bed for a little snooze and he jumped up shortly after I got settled. He snuffled around the edge of the quilt until he found a gap and crawled underneath. I was lying on my side and he walked behind my knees. I could feel him sniffing around. Then I felt his paw scratching at my bottom leg. I moved it a little. He scratched at my leg some more. I moved it so that it formed a large V with my upper leg. He crawled between my legs, curled up, and went to sleep. Is it wrong that I rearranged my legs to his liking? Or is it weird that I knew what he wanted?

pjs and leaves

No knitting today (lots of knitting yesterday night - I turned the heel on the Monkey sock) but lots of sewing. I finished up hubby's 'ski' pyjamas. Everything, and I mean everything in my sewing room is now covered in a fine layer of burgundy lint.


I finished up a jacket that I will never wear. The colours aren't me - I don't know why I bought that fabric. Oh well - I'm sure I'll find someone to take it off my hands.

I also tripped over a bag of leftover quilt batting one too many times so I hauled out all my batting leftovers and I'm donating it to the quilt guild recycling program.

Ricky's parked himself in the living room bay window ledge. He loves watching the leaves fall and he chases them. Last year, he was watching a storm blow the leaves around and he ran so fast that he smacked his head into the wall. Ricky's great cat TV.

"I'm waiting..." - Ricky

"Please fall down, pretty pleeeeeeeze" - Ricky