Busy Busy Bee

That is exactly what I have been over the last couple of weeks.

I have discovered that who needs a TV in the sewing room when you have access to Books on CD! Only 1 channel comes on the TV anyway. Although I do have a new 'homemade' antenna that works great, but I have to figure out a way to mount it somehow. I'll discuss that another time.

So far, I have listened to 3-4 books on CD while sewing my little heart out. My poor machine doesn't know what hit it.

I mentioned in a previous entry that I had stayed up until almost 4am one night sewing while listening to "The Keepsake" by Tess Gerriston. Well I have since finished: "Terminal Freeze" by Lincoln Child, "Silent Thunder" by Iris & Roy Johansen, "Dead Silence" by Randy Wayne ... (crap forgot his last name). And I just started "Deep Storm" by Lincoln Child on the basement CD player and "The Artic Event" by James Cobb in the car CD player. OK, I admit that I do occasionally read more than 1 book at a time, but the reason I have 2 books on CD going right now is that I was just too lazy last night to go out to the car for the 'current' book.

OK, so while listening to all of these very interesting books, I've been doing some serious sewing.


This quilt started out as a charity quilt project. It was only the striped center. Then I got the wise idea that it needed something, maybe a border or 2. Well non-sewers might not realize this but 'good' fabric is not cheap. I spent too much on the borders and binding (little bit of strip fabric peaking on the bottom right corner) that I don't like giving it to charity. I'm thinking of giving it as a gift to an un-named relative at this point. Don't want to blow the surprise ya know. I have other stuff at home that I can use for a charity project.

Then, while shopping for the border fabric, I saw a pattern for an apron. I've been wanting one, but haven't found one I want to either buy or make yet. This pattern was called "Four Corners Apron." Sorry don't know who it was by, because I didn't actually buy it. I looked at it, thought hmm that's just a big old square set on point. I can do that. So I went home fiddle around with some paper and wallah. I have made 2 so far and have 1 cut out. I have fabric for several others picked out also. Can you guess what everyone's getting for Christmas this year?!?




In between the quilt and the apron, I made this tote bag.

I bought the pattern and a charm pack at the Topeka Quilt Show. It went together very well, however I have discovered that I really do not care for the charm packs. Even though they say each square of fabric is 5 inches, it is NOT. I had to supply several of my own squares for the inside pockets as I was a few short and there was a noticeable difference in the sizes. I did like how the pattern used fusible fleece to stiffen the bag.

I like it so much in fact that I decided to make myself a purse using it. My friend Kathy got a Vera Bradley purse as a gift. The style was exactly what I had been looking for, but I'm sorry Vera's prices are just a bit out of my price rang. Especially for a purse that I will be be 'using' and not just admiring. Anyway, I made this purse patterned after Kathy's purse. It hangs across the body and sits on the hip.


I love knitting, but I really love the instant gratification of sewing. I never could have knitted all of these projects in 2 weeks.

I just have to pass this one along.

I recently received this forwarded email and I just had to share it with everyone. It is hilarious! I just love it!

Recently, in a large English city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tanned woman appeared in the window of a gym.

It said: "THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life; they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins, stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore they don't have kids either. Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me; I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a coffee with my friends. With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, "Good gosh, look how smart I am!"

Arggh!

Another month has almost passed since I blogged. This is beginning to be a re-occurring problem. Several really great things have happened over the last 'almost' month, and at the time, I think "This will make a really great blog entry", but when it comes to actually doing it I've been failing miserably.

Things of note:
1. I went the the Shipshewanna and Topeka Quilt Shows at the end of June. Road down with several other quilty friends. Bought several discount quilt books at the Topeka show and a nice charm pack w/tote pattern (not discounted sadly). I recognized several quilts hanging at the ShipShe Quilt Show. Congratulations to Michelle S. for winning 2nd place with her quilt. I saw Marrianne Fons, of Fons and Porter, while I was walking around the show. She had given a talk the day before. I tried to kinear (sp?) a photo of her, but only got the back of her as she was walking away. I personnally wouldn't want a photo of my backside posted all over the net, so I will refrain from doing that to someone else. I thought about stopping her and asking to have my photo taken with her, but thought 'No, don't bother her while she's enjoying some time alone.'

2. Spent the 4th with Family. My Aunt Hattie came up from Kentucky for a visit. Honestly, that is her name. Although I didn't know it until I was in my mid-20's, because the whole time she was going by her middle name. The first time I heard someone talking about Hattie moving to Kentuck, I was totally lost. I mean I knew Aunt Marie was moving, but who was Hattie? Was she moving near Aunt Marie? Were they going to travel down together? Imagine my surprise when I discovered that half of my Mom's sisters had all been going by their middle names and I never knew this.

3. Stayed up unitl 4 am one night sewing and listening to a book on CD (The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen). I was so hooked by the story that I actually had to find more sewing to do just so I had an excuse to stay up listening to it.

4. Finally met someone with my same last name that I wasn't related too. You're gonna think this is stupid, but I'm 30+ year old and my whole life, people have been asking me "Do you know so-and-so Moon, are you related to so-and-so Moon?" The answer has always been no, but I couldn't help think "if all these other people know a Moon, why have I never met one?" Honestly as many times as I get asked you would think there were more Moon's than you could shake a stick at running around in the world. But this month I met one!!! She came to my quilt guild meeting. No, I'm not related to her either. Her husbands family is from ID or IA originally. I hope I didn't scare her. I was so excited to finally meet another Moon. Ok it's the small things that keep me happy.

OK, gotta go, but I'll fill you in more later.

I'd like you to meet....

Sheldon. I finished knitting him at the ND retreat this weekend. He's a gift for Dawson. I liked him so much though that I'm going to make myself one.


and the Daylily Scarf.

Thanks Marci for the idea on the name.

PS. We had an awesome time at the ND retreat this last weekend. Thanks to Janet for all her work on gather such awesome goody bags and door prizes. And to Chris, Vicki and Elizabeth for organizing and planning the classes.

Sheldon's Going to Retreat

I finished knitting all of Sheldon's parts last night and started the assembly process. I stopped just short of doing the icord edging to attach the shell to the shell breastplate last night before heading to bed. I also realized, as I was assembling, that I knitted the breastplate out of the wrong yarn, but I figure Baby Dawson won't know the difference, so whatever.

I'm planning to have him done this week. I had planned to finish him last Sunday while at work, but as I was taking a steak out of the oven for my Sunday dinner, I hit the back of my hand against the oven door and burned it. Of course it was the right one and I'm right handed, so every time I curled my hand it throbbed. No knitting for me. :o( I have a mark on the back of my ring finger from the big knuckle down to the fist knuckle about 1/2 inch wide. Luckily I work right down the hall from the urgent care facility. One of the nurses kindly gave me a bit of silvadeen (sp?) burn cream. I applied that for 2 days and then it was fine. The area where it blistered still hurts just a little if I bump it, but otherwise, it feels fine. And more importantly, I can knit again.

This weekend my Frog Pond Knitting Group is having another Day Retreat. You may remember, that we had one back in January. Treking across the Notre Dame campus in the snow and cold was not fun, but we had a great time once we were inside and the layers were all pealed off. Elizabeth S. is going to be teaching a top down sweater. She has put so much time into designing the sweater. Since there were so many semi-newbie knitters interested, she decided not to do a raglan sleaves. I want to make one (baby sized) but I have so many other projects on the needles right now that I think I will just take notes and work on that later. For when Dawson is just a bit bigger and isn't growing out of things every couple of weeks.

Vicki may be doing a Ravelry demo. She emailed the group to find out if there was any interest, but no one replied back, so she was planning to nix it. I'm one of the guilty ones who didn't reply. However I honestly missed the email. I emailed her this morning and told her that a couple of people were still planning on bringing their laptops just in case. I hope we can still have it.

And of course we get to have that yummy Notre Dame Dining Hall food. I'm not being sarcastic when I say that either. Their food is so good and there is so many varieties that if you come away hungry, there is something seriously wrong with you.

Sewing and Knitting News

I mentioned a couple of entries ago that I had been working on a quilt pattern called "Oceans." Well, a funny thing happened while I was chain sewing triangles on to a bunch of squares. There were a LOT of pieces. As the chain got bigger and spilled over onto the floor, it would normally form a huge pile of fabric. However it was so weird, because it formed a circle and kept going around and around. I just had to take a picture.

It's that that hilarious?!?

I also sewed some knitting needle cases. One for my DPNs and one for stray Circular needles that I have.

The only problem with the DPN case, is that it is not big enough. After putting my metal needles in this, I realized I have a lot more bamboo or wooden ones that need a home too. So I need to make another one. Maybe I'll keep all the metal needles in one pouch and the bamboo ones in another? hmm...
My knitting pal Kelly, asked me about making the circular needle case. She saw one and drew me a picture. This is the prototype, because I want to put a flap on it like the DPN case, so that the needles don't fall out of the top. I was using scrap fabrics and while I really like the colors of the DPN case, this one is just a tad gaudy I think.

On the knitting front, I finished my ruffled scarf that I was designing. I need to block it yet. I want to get that done before my knitting retreat, so I can show it off. I made a few changes to the pattern (replaced some K2tog's with SSK's) and figured out how to create a chart from my notes. I plan on re-knitting it from some yarn I bought at Lorna's Laces in Chicago. I think the yarn I used for the original one (Caron Spa Bamboo) is more a DK/Worsted weight, so I'm going to have to adjust my needle size I think, which means doing one of those dreaded guage swatches. Yuck! I'll post a picture of the original one once I have it blocked.

I joined a KAL (knit-a-long) on Ravelry. We are not all doing the same pattern, but just something "babyish" except for those who have done a boatload of baby stuff already. They are doing whatever they want. We're pretty lax about it. Just so that we are all doing something 'together'. I'm knitting Sheldon the Turtle. He is so cute! I have his body, 2 legs and part of his shell done.

I wanna keep him! I wanna keep him! I wanna keep him! But I can't. He is being made for Baby Dawson, so I have give him away. But Dawson's only 6 weeks old he and won't knot the difference right? Right?? Oh OK, I'll give him to Dawson and make another one for myself.

Oh, I almost forgot! My Color Swap partner (Rebecca in NC) got her stuff, so I can now post a picture of the package I sent to her.

And here is the one I got from Susan in FL.

I just love the Alpaca neck warmer! I can't wait for fall/winter, so I can wear it. The Cookie A. Sock Innovation book is wonderful. There are so many that I want to make. The Twizzler's barely lasted long enough for me to take the picture. I had to pace myself on the Chocolate covered coffee beans though, because they pack a caffeine punch.

Poor Lonely Blog

Dear Blog,

I want you to know that I have not abandoned you. I know it may feel otherwise, but it is just not true. I keep getting great ideas about topics I could share with you, however I just never seem to follow through on it. I've noticed that I have been avoiding you ever since I linked you up with my facebook page. I've been feeling a little inhibited by the fact that so many more people have access to my thoughts. So it's not you, it's me.

Your's Truly,
Sandy