Another One Bites the Dust

 Another of Daddio's quilts is a done deal. This is actually a Daddio hybrid. I bought the material and had him make me the Dresdens with it. His usual quilts were made from material he would pick out from our trips to Joann's. This was a collection from Connecting Threads.

 Speaking of Connecting Thread collections, my snowflake quilt is back in production.

 We took a trip to the thrift shop last week and got rid of all the remaining stuff from the bedroom that was cluttering up my work area. It's nice to have my cutting table back again.

I've got two blocks done which really means I have eight blocks done since each giant block is made up of four small ones. I love this pattern. It looks so complicated but it's so easy. I usually pack seasonal projects away when the season ends but this one may just get a pass. I want to see it finished.

Wooden Ducks

I picked up this Polwarth at the MDSW last year. I really liked the blue and orange together. 

 Now that it's spun it looks so different.

 It's not what I expected but I don't hate it.

 It's a bit on the energetic side. I was plying it to GOT and goodness, that show is intense. I'm lucky that's all that happened. It could have been so much worse.

Hopefully a soak and a good beating will tame it. It's going to be a cowl. I've even bought the pattern. After I cleaned out the stash closet I swore nothing else was going in the any of the THREE handspun bins. It's use it or lose it.

 Next up on the Ladybug is this superwash BFL.

I'm not wild about BFL but I seem to have an awful lot of it in my stash.  Since I'll be spinning this into the spring I thought these Mardi Gras colors would be just the thing for those end of winter blues. As much as I like snow I am so ready for warm and sunny.

I HATE When That Happens

 I was on my way to finishing another pair of socks when disaster struck. Can you see it?

 Right at the very red toe the yarn had been spliced. Kind of. It sort of fell apart. It wasn't even knotted. It didn't even follow the stripe colors. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

 This wasn't really cheap yarn either. It's not the most expensive but I expected better.

 Before the big boo boo I had liked the yarn so much I had even bought some more.

This were supposed to go in the gift basket but with that toe graft I guess they will have to be mine now. Darn. I hate when that happens.

Frozen 2

 Do you want to know how batty I am? I was in tears watching the just released trailer for Frozen 2. I am not even sure why. I liked the original but tears? Who knows? I was in a mood I suppose. After I pulled myself together I remembered my icy blue warp. I hadn't worked on it in ages.

 It was supposed to be my January towel but bedroom remodeling got in the way.

It's now on the loom. It wasn't easy. It took me a while to remember what went where. I think I've got it right. Time will tell.

Now on to my favorite part of the whole process. I love threading all the little heddles.

Soap Tales

I've been in a sorting mood lately. Every nook and cranny of the house has had it's day. Yesterday it was the little soap closet. You should have seen it before I neatened it up.

I have a bad habit of not wanting to give away or use the last bar of any batch.

 That means I have lots of one of a kind bars in my collection. Four boxes worth.

 I didn't throw any away but I did re-purpose them. I have a basket by the soap room door that holds the ones that The Mister can choose from and the ones I will use as hand soap. It got filled up.

 I never get to use any of those orphan bars because I am always making more. That means testing more. I can't get caught up. The first of the spring batches are having their six week cure as we speak. This is Waterlily and Bluebell. It has a lovely crisp scent.

 I am in love with Blue Agave Sugar. I made two batches and some fizzies with it. It smells like coconut.

This is Yuzu Cybilla.  Yuzu is a very exotic citrus scent. It's one of my favorites. I had to look up Cybilla to see what a Cybilla was. It's not an it. It's a she. She is a fragrance designer that works with Brambleberry. Who knew?

The last batch I cut was Grapefruit Lily which I think is my new favorite scent-that is until I made Moroccan Mint last night. At the moment my soap room smells like heaven.

My Vintage Valentine

 When I was cleaning out my bedroom closet I found a box of baby things that contained this old book of Valentines.

 Do you remember these books? Look at that price. You know this is old. It's not from my kid's time. It's from mine.

 Why I still have it, I have no idea but I'm glad I do.

 It brings back such memories. I can remember sitting on the living room floor with my sisters carefully cutting out all the pieces. Making the little envelopes was my favorite part. The directions on the flaps say paste. Do they even make paste anymore?

 How about these paper dolls?

 Remember all those little tabs you had to cut around? Good times.

 Speaking of Valentines, The Mister wandered down into the card room and made me this one.

 He used all my leftovers from the Valentines I sent this year. He had a bit of trouble with the interior sentiment but I think he pulled off a pretty good save.
Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Rainy Day Blues

It hasn't been exactly a winter wonderland here for the past two days. In fact, it's been a wash. We can't work out in the yard so what's the next best miserable thing we could spend the afternoon doing?

Taxes, of course. It was a two day slug fest with The Mister doing them over and over every which way but sideways. He usually gets a nice chunk of change but that didn't happen. It seems everyone is singing the tax day blues this year. If the federal song and dance wasn't bad enough you should have seen the state. Without being able to itemize on the federal he had to take the measly standard state deduction of only $2,250 which means he had to pay in. Ouch. It wasn't pretty. We opened a very expensive bottle of bourbon and had a drink. At 11 am.