Birthday Week

Yes, I am still knitting.  And I seem to be fixated on these slippers so here is another completed pair.  And would you believe that I have three more pair in the works.  This is primarily because I haven't found a sweater pattern I want to knit so slippers it is, for now.

And I did find time to spend time with my sewing machine.  This is a fleece throw.  I love the size, 1 yard x the width of the yardage.  It is amazing how large this makes these throws.  And they are so easy to make.  I am hoping that I can find a couple more interesting fleece pieces to make a couple more throws.

Once again, this is Birthday Month.  I have been very good and haven't expected a gift a day, like I got last year.  But there have been a couple of gifts along the way and apparently we are ending the month with a BANG.  What we are seeing here is a ceramic measuring set sent to me by my sister, I think.  It seems that Amazon sends packages but there is nothing in the box to say who sent it to you.  Anyway, I thanked her for them so I'm sure she will take credit for them no matter what.

I do appreciate that they are marked for size so they are usable as well as decorative.

My daughter gave us an Initial Banner to hang outside.  She actually gave us 2 but the other one, a Christmas decoration, is already planted outside and I am too lazy to get up and go outside to get a picture.  Maybe later.

Our SIL found this tumbler and made sure that it came home to me.  I think these little owls are so cute and will be fun to drink with.

DH is so sweet and he knew that I wanted some Gnomes. Why?, you may ask.  Well a few weeks ago I had several trees cut down because they were crowing the house.  What we were left with was several short tree stumps; not enough money to have them ground down.  DH said he was going to paint them so he could see them when mowing around them.  I suggested we glue Gnomes on them to have something fun to look at.   

And I got more than the one, I have six.  They are marked for being outdoors and then there are a lot of precautions about bring them in for different weather situations.  Well, that's not going to happen.  So the plan is to poly them with a couple coats to protect them and then they will be on their own until next year.  I think it is going to look so cute.

This was quite unexpected.  Yes, I showed DH this and told him what others had said about this appliance, but I did not suggest we get one.  So imagine my surprise when I saw the box.  I think we will try French fries to see if it works as well as advertised.

And this was a BIG surprise.  I saw this cart advertised and showed DH because I now am having difficulty bringing groceries in from the car: too heavy and too much.  He poo-pooed me and we dropped the idea.  Well, I guess he had second thoughts.  It came in a really flat box but was completely assembled and DH got to use it first.    Those six wheels make steps so easy and it just glides over our rough ground.  I think we will need to affix a basket on it but even just this way it is it works.

Even Mother Nature has gifted me with this beautiful display.  The buds just popped the day after we brought them inside (brief 30s at night).  They really make me smile.

And that's it for me.  I have another doctor appointment tomorrow, seeking some pain management that does not include drugs.  I had to fill out several pages of admission paperwork, most of which dealt with drugs, past or future.  By the time I was done I had already formed a negative impression of the group of doctors which is not going to help me tomorrow.  Tonight I am going to have to pray for a change of attitude ....... darn.   Gari

Still Catching Up

On Saturday our youngest children became 45.  They were so cute. 

























But these were the pictures they posted of each other on Facebook.  I blame it on their spouses. 

This is what is on my Design Wall, my fish from Fat Cat Patterns.  I think I am up to date, or maybe there is one more, I’ll have to check.  I know there are 11 there but I did one twice, by accident, so it doesn’t count.  I guess I will need to go through my patterns to see which one didn’t get made. 















I thought I’d show how I draw my fusible pieces.  On the big piece, the outside line is the fish.  Inside that line are smaller pieces that go with this fish.  After I get it all drawn I cut about 1/4” inside that outside line and that leaves me all that inside fusible to use.  Usually I will also “window” the medium pieces but when I was doing this fish I was so eager to see it complete I forgot.  Tisk, tisk.






And here he is in all his glory.  When I first went fabric hunting, I was thinking of doing him in blue.  I pulled 7 different fabrics but they just did not want to be a fish.  About that time the darker purple started yelling from it’s shelf.  The other two chimed in and we had a purple chorus  and then a fish.







I finished these angora slippers and they are now on the blocking forms.  They are kind of funny looking (one at least) but it was an experiment.  The second one looks more like the picture on the pattern.  But I’ll bet they both will feel soft and warm.






And today I finally got back to this sock.  This is the one I had started, on bamboo needles, when one of my sweet puppies found it.  By the time she had played with it the yarn was in tangles and four of the needles were like broken matchsticks.  I put it all aside until last week when I spent 3 hours untangling the yarn and then today I began knitting it again.






I am, however, using new needles.  I found these steel needles recently and I really like them.  They are sturdy, of course, but they are not slick.  I only bought the one set but there may be others in my future.









Now I am going to get some sleep so I can get busy finishing up these projects and be ready for Bonnie’s mystery quilt later this month.

Have a great week,  Gari

Slowed Down but Still Moving

Isn’t he cute?  It took a while but I finally found a white fabric that doesn’t shadow the black wings.  He is all stuck together but is currently resting on wax paper, waiting for me to decide on a background fabric.








Somehow I seem to have let my owl BOM blocks (Fat Cat Patterns) fall by the wayside.  So this weekend I pulled out all the put together blocks, I am at least 2 months behind, and got this one appliqued.  I hope, by the beginning of November, to be ready to start putting the newer blocks together as well as appliqueing the ones I already have ready.  This will be a beautiful quilt, someday. 










I did do some quilting on my Halloween tablerunner.  I am using this as a learning tool for McTavishing but sometimes it is a little hard to see where I am going when I am quilting purple thread on purple fabric.  I am having some thread breakage problems but I think it is the thread and not the machine……I hope.






And I knitted.  This is the first slipper: it is made using alpaca wool, oh, so, very soft.   I already knew that reading and following a pattern would be difficult for me, I have never been able to do it in quilting.  So I think I pulled this apart at least 10 times before I could finish the heel/gusset.  This is very chunky yarn and some of the slip stitches became holes but they have been grafted shut and this slipper is done.




And the second one is started.  After reading how so many knitters complete one sock and then have difficulty getting the second one done, I decided that I must begin the second sock immediately on completion of the first.  So far this has been working. 





Several times this week I have had knitting buddies.  Here we are all three sitting on the deck swing where I have spent several happy mornings knitting.










While out on the deck I decided to update Fred so he could cheer for Auburn’s football game on Saturday.
















And it worked!!  With Saturday’s win they/we are ranked #11, pretty good from being completely out of the rankings.










So, now that all the excitement is over I will retreat back to my little studio and see if I can get a little more done this week.  DH came home from his weekend away and all last week dropped in so many times it seemed that I had installed a revolving door.  But I am so very lucky, he really likes being with me. 

I will be linking up with Patchwork Times and What a Hoot.

Have a great week,    Gari