Anticipation

 Yesterday I de-cluttered the house. Where all my sewing stuff used to be is now cluttered with Easter goodies.

 Where my sewing machines were is now filled with dinner ingredients.

 The island is covered in grandma's freshly washed glassware.

 New to the Easter collection is this can. I don't know what I am going to do with it but I wanted it.

 I found bunny tongs for egg dying. I think the Grands will get a kick out of them.

My newly scrubbed downstairs bathtub is filled with flowers keeping them away from the naughty kitties who would love to snack on them. We didn't make the deadline on the new bathroom but at least we will have some progress to show off.

AND......I have to thank Deborah from Wisconsin for this care package that came yesterday. Look at all that fun stuff! I have no idea how anyone eats those gorgeous chocolate hearts but I'm pretty sure I am going to find out. Thanks again, Deborah. It was so sweet of you to think of me.

Purple People Eater

 See that pin? That is not good. Not good at all.

 This is my second try at this particular weaving draft and I thought I had nailed it. It looks great but....

Once again the end threads keep snapping and having to be repaired. The T pin is what holds the new thread in place. At least this time I know why I am having the issue. The last time I blamed the yarn and switched it. Now I know the problem is me. I am weaving too tight causing the fabric to draw in too much which puts too much tension on the end threads. Since this is just a sample, I am going to go as far as my patience lets me before I throw in the towel once again. I ordered a doohickey that might help me on the next go round. We shall see.

All Thumbs

 I had to redo the thumb on this mitten at least three times the other night. I hate thumbs.

 And then there are the socks. I swear I am in the knitting twilight zone. I can't get past these gussets to save my life.

 I keep knitting and counting and getting nowhere. Am I in knitting hell? I probably deserve it but still...

I can usually find solace elsewhere when things go badly but Dear Jane is giving me fits too. Curved piecing is a real pain.

To top it all off I am in holiday mode which means piling up all the crafting stuff in an already cluttered corner of the craft room so Easter visitors won't think I am as crazy as I apparently am. If you think all this is bad, come back tomorrow. Just wait until I tell you what's going on with the loom. Oy.....

New Stuff

 I haven't bought much this month in the way of paper crafting but I did get these sweet little frame dies.

 I thought these dies cut squares but they are also frame dies. Oh, well. I guess you can't have enough frame dies.

 I picked up this stamp set from a vendor in China. I don't have a lot of natural type stamps. They are for art journaling if I ever get back to it.

 I had Easter cards to make for the Grands.

And I'm working on a pile of cards for the next giveaway. I love mass producing things. I must have been a factory worker in another life.

The best new thing came in this box.

Ta dah....a quilt kit from The Midnight Quilt Show! It was on sale. I had to have it although I have no time for it at the moment. I am still working my way through the tops that Daddio left behind. One day. Someday. Hopefully.

Safe and Sound

 I finished quilting Daddio's Serendipity quilt. It was a rush job. I needed to gift it on Friday and there's still so much to do after quilting.

 I finished the binding in a marathon effort. Hoover's trying hard to photobomb it. He almost made it.

 This one has a nice pieced back. Daddio loved cutting squares.

 We made this so long ago that I had no idea what he intended for the binding. I had to go stash diving for something that made sense.

 This was the scary part. I had to make sure it wasn't going to fall apart. The one I made for myself using this pattern fell apart in the wash. Those 1/8 inch seams don't take much of a beating.

Happily, it made it through the wash. Now it's folded neatly and put away. Daddio made this one for his little lady friend and she's getting a big surprise on Friday.

Squee......

The 2018 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival just announced via Twitter that they will be having some very special visitors in the livestock barn this year. They have a breeder who is bringing their Swiss Valais Blacknose. I don't think I could BE more excited.....

Out of Joint

I admit to being a bit miffed at the size of the crowd downtown yesterday.

Last year when I was in this sea of pink I took great pride in being a part of the biggest gathering in DC history. I guess if I had to lose that bragging right it was for a good cause. Those kids were amazing yesterday....

...as we were in 1969. That crowd was half of what these latest massive protests drew but was still pretty impressive since it was pretty much organized only by word of mouth. It took four years to get the change we wanted back then. Let's hope those kids don't have to wait that long.

Well, then again, maybe they won't have to.

Sew Sew Saturday

 Daddio's Serendipity quilt is getting the loop de loop treatment.

I was going to try something fancy and then I remembered that this is the top that had the issues with the seams coming apart since after fancy cutting the blocks you end up with only a 1/8 inch seam allowance. I loop de looped the heck out of all those little seams in hopes that they won't fray too badly. If they do, I am going to just call it a design element.

I also sorted out the paper pieces for the second row of the Dear Jane and finished the first, very strange, block. There are a lot of circular things happening in this row so it's going to be interesting.

I won't be sewing today though because I am going out to get the paint for the bathroom. We just may have a decent day for painting in the near future and I want to be ready if it ever gets here.

In Progress

I spent the day listening to giant plops of snow hit the roof. The trees wasted no time in getting rid of the heavy weight.  That spring snow sure came and went fast. I also found the courage to start weaving that overshot draft. It's a doozey.

 Peace is done. Now I am working on the little tree the sheep will be standing under some day.

There was plenty of sunshine so these old eyes also managed to finish up the last of the Row A blocks in the Dear Jane quilt. I am beyond amazed at myself for sticking with it so far.

Finally, I got to clean and wrap soap. Batch number 2 is ready to go. Two more batches to cure and I'll be ready for the last giveaway of the season. I'm thinking April 8th? Watch this space.

Snow Day

 This is what we expected to wake up to but we didn't. We had to wait a while for this to happen.

The snow didn't start around here until late yesterday morning and then it snowed like crazy all day. It's not good snow. It's wet and heavy. You don't want to be out in this stuff. You get soaked.

 We stayed in and put together my Ikea sink cabinet instead.

 It went off without a hitch. We are getting pretty good at this Ikea stuff.  We haven't actually put the cabinet in the bathroom yet because I still have to paint. We just wanted to get an idea of its size in order to do some wall repair where the old sink came out.

Later on I had time to finish plying the fiber on the Ladybug.

 Valerie gifted it to me. It's very pretty. I am pretty sure it is telling me it wants to be a shawl. I'm pretty sure it wants to be this one.

As a reward for finishing all that dreaded plying, I went through the fiber stash and decided on this beauty to spin next. It screams spring, right? I just wish Mother Nature was screaming it too.

Nothing to See Here

 The first day of spring was a bust.

 Last week I planted lots of pansies and this lone primrose in my pots in hopes of some sunshine and warmer weather.

Yesterday morning it was cold and wet.

 By afternoon it was all turning to ice.

 Poor pansies.

We are under a winter storm warning with snow expected to start falling on all this ice tonight.

I love snow but not in March.