Road Trip

 

I really thought I might be able to take it easy for a couple of days after my babysitting adventure but The Mister had other plans. He'd been working with our plumbing contractor on the master bath re-do while I was away and was anxious to head out to an Annapolis showroom yesterday to order what we needed. While we are waiting the 30 days it will take for it to get here, we've got a bathroom to demolish right down to the floor boards that have to be replaced from the leak. I don't mind tearing things out but I hate putting stuff back so I'm VERY happy I convinced The Mister to let someone else do it this time. 

Since it was just a matter of filling out the paperwork and paying the bill, Pup and I went along for the ride. We expected to sit in the car and knit but the people at the showroom wanted Pup to come in so we both got a nice tour of some absolutely breathtaking (and completely unaffordable) bathroom fixtures. One can dream.

Our Valentine's Day lunch consisted of picking up Chipotle's and some ice cream on the way home. There was enough left over that I didn't have to worry about dinner which was a good thing because at that point I was pretty much done for the day. 

Happy Heart Day

 

Before I took off on my big babysitting adventure I made a few Valentines to send out to the Grands with a few dollars inside. 

 

This is a stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn that I have used before. I hope it wasn't last year and if it was I hope none of the Grands remember. 

I got home yesterday afternoon and was happy to see that, in spite of the rain and the 50 degree temperatures, we still had plenty of snow to enjoy for at least a couple more days. I do like a white Valentine's Day. I've given up on Christmas. 

Snowday

 

The only crafty thing I packed when I headed up to Daughter's on Monday were these socks. With two little ones to keep track of I figured I wouldn't get time for much of anything but I did finish one toe. 

We did a lot of this.

And a lot of that.

A lot of this.

And of course, that.

Back at home The Mister was dealing with this. We got around 2-3 inches where I was up in northern Maryland. Down south we got clobbered again-and I wasn't there to see it. Darn. Now it's all turned to rain but I really don't care. When I get home today I'm not getting off the couch until Monday.

Changing Direction

 

In case you've been wondering what ever happened to that scarf I was weaving, the answer is...NOTHING. I don't like anything about it so it's going to get a makeover as soon as I get home. Right now I'm on a babysitting gig at Daughter's. I should be home tomorrow. Right before I left on Monday some new yarn for it showed up. It's still not what I want color wise but it's a start. Why is everything I need ALWAYS out of stock?

The latest towel has been sitting here waiting to be finished and I finally got around to it on Sunday. It got snipped and hemmed and thrown in the wash.

It's going to need a couple more washes to settle down but all things considered it's not too bad. It's big. A few more inches and it could have been a scarf too. 

And....look what I'm missing out on while I'm up at Daughter's. The Mister sent me this photo late last night. We're getting snow up here too but nothing like this. I hope I can get home tomorrow.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

My elastic order arrived so Swedish Folk Cushion finally got it's February grime catcher and a bit of the bottom border stitched. 

I usually look forward to stitching borders but I can already tell the border on Christmas Cactus is going to be a real pain. It's got too many color switches. I started it but only got a few inches before my brain cried uncle. 

I've got 11 of the Patchwork of the Crosses appliqued down. The one on the bottom right is still in progress. 

Dear Jane's pieces are all ready to be assembled but it's a bit of a puzzle. This one is called Battlefield and those HSTs are supposed to represent opposing armies so I've got to the color placement right. This may take a while. 

Huh?

 

A giant Amazon truck came down my driveway on Friday to bring me this. It's my Missouri Star order of Kaffe Fassett material to back the Crazy Quilt and a charm pack to start another. Since when does Amazon deliver packages for other sites? I'm trying to break my Amazon habit for many reasons and this did NOT make me happy. Their trucks tear up my yard and their delivery people toss my stuff everywhere but where I can find it. 

I'm over it.

I suppose I should just be happy the fabric got here because I got to spend yesterday wrestling with the darn stuff. 

It didn't go down without a fight. It took me four long hours. As beautiful as that Kaffe Fassett fabric is, it has that new fangled texture that doesn't hold its shape very well. It's got beautiful drape and is light as feather but it was a bear to keep straight as I went along. It's going to take a lot of work to keep it from puckering on the back. I sure miss that old quilting calico that was so stiff it could stand up by itself. I did read that you really should starch your backing but I have no idea how to go about that. I don't even know what starch is. 

Before I got started on that quilting misadventure I threw down a big towel and used the newly cleared table to give Pup that much needed haircut. 

Much better. We could have gone shorter but she was at the point of hysterics so we stopped here. We'll finish the job another day and get those toenails while we're at it. 

Christmas In February

 

Last month, after watching a tutorial on making Barbie dresses, I ordered a box of sewing stuff, as recommended, from Temu last month. My first order ever and now, I guess, my last.

It was doing icky things outside yesterday so were stuck inside all day and I decided to play with it and some dress patterns I had downloaded. My goal was to figure how to line the dresses because I hate the way the facings look when you just tack them down. The first thing I learned was to NOT use the machine part of the sewing machine but to just hand crank those tiny seams. I could get a nice straight and very close seam that way without the machine eating it up. 

I don't know if I have introduced Vanessa. She's going to be my designated dress form and here she is in my latest creation. She's not an actual Barbie but is Barbie sized. Every time I buy an actual Barbie to play with I love her so much that I end up putting her on display instead. Vanessa hopefully will cure that habit. 

Speaking of Barbies on display, look who showed up in the mail yesterday. She was a gift from Valerie. She had mentioned a while back that she had a holiday Barbie that needed re-homing and of course I volunteered. She's a vintage 1992 Holiday Edition and she's about as sparkly as any Barbie could be. I was gobsmacked when I opened the box. She's now in good company with my other holiday Barbies. I've got quite a gang.

And...she didn't arrive empty handed. The box was crammed full of trims and laces that will keep me busy for ages. Now I just need to master the art of those tiny dresses. Every one so far has turned out to be a bit of a horror but I'm learning so much from each attempt.