I/we were on the road a lot last week. I spent a lot of Monday with the dishwasher repair men (no it is not working) and Tuesday was away looking for matching vinyl to repair the new furniture (see Sherlock’s story below). I can’t seem to remember what all kept me from the studio Wed – Fri except that I have spent a great deal of time at the sink. I had forgotten how much I don’t like washing dishes and have completely forgotten the “dish washing rules” my mother pounded into my head. Saturday DH and I went looking for a footstool that would allow our doxies to get up and down from the couch without taking that great giant leap (bad for doxie backs). We spent all day and decided on this one: 
DH found it but we thought it was a little expensive until we trekked through many other stores and saw lots of stools and all for more money. So, back to Hobby Lobby and home she came. Doesn’t se fit in with our eclectic quilts motif?
Sunday afternoon I finally got into the studio and started on this, my last BOM for the year. It is from Denise who seems to have high expectations for us.
This is the layout for this block. Please note that it takes 6 sheets of paper. That’s because it is an 18” block! Not only that but she expects us to make two of them by March 15th. The making is not the hard part, it is the drawing, choosing all those different fabrics, and figuring out the best background fabric for the whole quilt. Of course I could have done some of that before she released Block(s) 1 on Saturday but I didn’t.
So this is how far I got. Doesn’t look like much, does it? Well, it isn’t but mostly that is because I didn’t read the directions and only drew and cut fusible for one of the two blocks. So today I get to do it all over again. The good part is that I made a mistake and didn’t realize that one of the hats is reversed so when I do the second set of hats I can do two reversed ones and all will be right. Then it is on to the fabric hunt.
While we were in Pensacola we did our usual stop at the book store where they had 2014 calendars for $3. We found this one that was perfect for Sherlock. He has eaten into clothes, both old and new, two quilts and a throw, and the new furniture that we had not had for even 24 hours. He now is not left out with the other dogs when we go away, even to the studio, but must be crated. I have never crated a dog but this has become a necessity. And it is hard for us because he is a very loving dog.
However, he does not really like being left in the cage and has been able to push the door open to escape. So DH put a cement block against the door and look what happened. We now have Sherlock/Rudolph the Red Nosed Doxie. Needless to say we will be putting something with a smoother surface against the door next time. 
It appears that our winter weather has finally returned to normal and we may even be seeing the beginnings of spring. This is our front yard with leafless trees and the sun just beginning to make it’s way in. This week I need to cut back the gardenia bush that was hit hard by the ice but I think is still living. This will be the second time Winter has tried to kill that bush but it will live to bloom another day.
We have family in NH and MD that are still getting snow but everywhere else things appear to be improving. I hope that winter is beginning to break where you are living and that you have a great week. Gari
My design wall shows that I am currently working on BOMs. I have all the appliqueing done on all of the completed blocks, not an easy feat. The blocks, again, went on the wall so that I can check out what fabrics I have used and then I can choose what I will use for the new ones, again 3 on a limb.
I began working on my BOMs with the new letters. I have to tell you that all those little curlicues were not easy to cut out but here they are, ready to go when the rest of the blocks are done.
So I got busy on the B is for basket. I have to admit that I have never made a basket block so I had to really read the directions carefully.
But I had no problem with the handle: I can do applique easy peasy.
And here we are, the basket is ready for applique. But that will have to wait until tomorrow.
I have been working on mug rugs recently. This is a free block from FatCatPatterns and an easy one for this purpose. He is done and ready for quilting.
And I got the applique done on the “no more coffee” mug rug. I think this is the look I have when I go to the pot and find that DH has taken the last of the coffee and didn’t refill the pot.
I even have two more coffee MGs ready to do the applique and I have drawn two more. These are going to be my “need to do some stitching” items. And they make me laugh every time I look at them so they are relaxing to work on.
Here, in the Deep South, we have finally gotten some nice weather. Today I was able to sit on the deck, with the sun shining and the temp at 72F, and knit. And we are supposed to have 60 – 70F weather for at least the next week and I am cheering!
I hope everyone who reads this has a great week. My plan is to sew, knit, sew, knit, and sew some more. Gari
I am currently knitting two sets of toe up socks but these are the only ones I am showing. I am currently two rows into the heel increases and they are going well. Everyday I am amazed at how much I am enjoying knitting and learning new things.
This, however, is not me learning but it is going to be “me” teaching. I have been asked to substitute teach the third of three lessons on “How to Knit Socks.” This is the class that I took in July-August that got me into this sock marathon. So what you see here is a little bit of the foot and most of the toe of a sock. I am supposed to show how to decrease the toe and then do the Kitchener closing. I sat in on some of the first two lessons, just to see how the two students have been doing, and I don’t think they will be far enough along to actually begin knitting the toe so I thought I would come with a visual aid along with a handout of my own making. The class is tomorrow morning and I am both excited and really nervous. It isn’t easy to teach something you have so recently learned but I am going to give it a go.
I will be starting a new hat this week. I have to make a new one for DH because the one I gave him for Christmas seems to have gotten to Sherlock, our sweet but destructive doxie, and that was that. I wouldn’t hustle to get a new one made but it has been really cold and he is bald so he needs a hat. And it has pleased me to see it on his head, I have to admit.
And now I will get off this computer, pick up my needles and knit a while. Gari
Dropping in to say hello. Along with everyone in the East, we had snow days almost all last week. Actually, we had freezing rain and sleet.
Or, as DH put it, I had him 24/7 for 6 days, expectantly. We were ice bound for 4 days and had no water for 2 days but we had heat and food, TV and sewing, so all was well.
During the forced confinement DH and I put the TreadClimber together. Above you see the new shoes I bought just for this. My plan was to begin slowly, only 10 min a day for the first week and then work my way up to 30 min three days a week. Monday I began my new exercise experiment. Funny thing: the first time I got on the TC I only walked on it for 2 1/2 min. Tuesday I was up to 4 1/2 min and this morning I got all the way up to 5 1/2 min. This may not seem like much but remember I am 71 and way out of shape so I reviewed my plan and decided to begin at 2 1/2 min and work my way up to 10. So far the plan is working. 
I wanted to show the knitted hat I made last month and seemed unable to remember to get a picture of it. I didn’t use a pattern but loved the yarn I had bought in MD in Sept and needed to see it made into something.
And with all the cold and ice and everything, this little had has sure come in handy. I am thinking that maybe I will be making one of those slouch hats I have been seeing online.
My studio does not have central heat so I directed my space heaters to the sewing area and spent a lot of time appliqueing owls. I had really gotten behind that part of this BOM. This is the last of the owls that I had completed and it got me caught up. However, on Feb 1 a new block came out it it, again, has 3 owls on it. I hope to get to it later this week.
Saturday I suggested to DH that we start looking at a sectional to replace our two recliners that were literally falling apart. I thought a sectional would be better in that it would provide puppy space so we would all be comfortable. Interestingly DH was on board and we began our search. While looking we decided that instead of a sectional we could use a couch and loveseat and accomplish the same thing. We found this set that has 4 loungers and they are electric, no more pulling on a lever. This picture shows all four dogs fast asleep (one is under the brown log cabin quilt). And there is still room for the 2 humans. It has really made evening TV viewing and computering much more comfortable.
Tomorrow in mug rug day with the hope of BOMs on Friday. Gotta keep moving or I will fall behind, again. 
Besides, I keep warmer when I am moving. And this winter I have needed to move as much as I can.
Have a great week, Gari
I am pretending to be Judy today and stating that nothing has changed on my design wall since my last post. I have all the first three blocks for the Alphabet BOM completed and am ready to sew the sashing on. This will be done before the next blocks come out on Feb 1.
And just to show that I have started on to catch up on the old BOMs, here is a new fish. I was kind of surprised that the face fabric makes her look like she is smiling. Since I am getting to the end of this FatCatPatterns BOM, I am beginning to think of how I want to set them and even a little about the quilting.
I wanted to show a close-up of the orange fabric. It is embroidered batik and I think it adds a lot to the texture of the fins. I am going to put fray-check on the cut-off areas of the embroidery because I think it will ravel with washing. I used a similar fabric on a quilted jacket and it has worn well so I was pleased to find a use for at least a little part of this fabric, too.
This is how far I had gotten on my first toe-up socks when I decided that I had been so busy trying to learn the M1L and M1R increase that I didn’t pay attention to the pattern about how many stitches I needed on each needle. I love this yarn but the socks are going to be too small. So I took the advice of several knitters and unraveled them. I will be restarting them later this week.
Meanwhile I had sent for a selection of new needles and wanted to try them so I decided to start a new pair of toe-up socks. This time I paid close attention to not only the increase technique, which was much easier now, but how many stitches I had.
I also worked very hard to have the yarn coming out of each yarn ball with the same colors. Look, so far the stripes match. I don’t really care if they are perfectly matched but I would like them to be close. The toes are finished so now it is on to the instep and then I get to learn a new heel. The fun never stops here.
Speaking of fun, our granddaughter and her son moved from AL to NC this weekend. The family here is struggling to begin the adjustment of having the 5 year old, who has been the center of attention his whole life, living 700 miles away. But we are also hoping that this is a beginning to a wonderful new life for them.
And now it is time for me to get ready to hunker down for the snow and ice that is about to descend on us tomorrow. I am doing laundry today as well as getting a little sewing room setup in the house so I don’t have to go outside for anything except to provide relief for the dogs.
Hope everyone has a great, and warm, week. See ya later: Gari
However it will be going down to below freezing by the end of the week so this hat will be put to good use. 
And I got a little further along with the new BOM, From Heat to Toe. These are all six of the hats that go on the first two blocks. Now I really do need to figure out the background fabric.
