TNT and a Resolution Update

 

There's not much going on with the Llama Lump. I've got to work my way through that mound they are standing on and it's a big fill section so it's slow going. 

I've spent more time this week with Dear Jane for a change. Those lattices won't sew themselves on-as much as I wish they would.

Since it's the last day of the month I thought I would see how I was doing with three of my New Year's Resolution projects. I did a little hand quilting on Dad's squares quilt in January but I still have part of one long side and one whole short side to go. 

I laid out my Audun blocks and finally got around to counting them. I added 8 more this month for a grand total of 70. I think I want 100 so I've got 30 more to go. 

I've got two whole corners finished on Rainbow Kitty which is an unexpected accomplishment. For the first time I am starting to believe that I just may actually finish him. If you could see the pile of these things that I have half finished you'd understand my surprise. What I am going to do with him after he's done-I have no idea. I've never got that far. 

Lost In Space

 

After cleaning and setting up my soap table yesterday morning I realized that I hadn't ordered everything I needed so it looks like soap week will have to be next week. I was disappointed but it was nice to have the whole table cleared. I have something big that needed attention. 

The fall batik quilt has been sitting here so long that it was dusty. I had to clean it up before I could use my chalk pounce on it to make out some quilting designs. I thought I might venture outside my usual squiggle and try something a bit fancier this time around. 

I've only worked up the nerve to try this once before and it didn't go so well. 

It's not turning out too bad this time but it's hard to wrap my head around how to get from place to place without having to  start and stop all the time which is a pain. It's going to take some experimenting.... 

....and the willingness to pick out a lot of ugly stitches. It's a good thing I don't mind doing it because it's a very big quilt with a lot of room for error. 

A Fresh Start

 

I've got a big box of fresh oils and butters to unpack. I even have a new container of lye. Now that my soap shelves are empty it's time to make some new stuff. 

I've got a shelf of brand new fragrances to try out too. I've sniffed them all and they are wonderful-very bright and sparkly. Let's hope they make good soap. The company I bought them from tests them in advance but you never know. Fragrances are always tricky.

As soon as I get the soap table cleared of all the sewing projects I'm about to finish I'll be back in business.  Hopefully that will be tomorrow.....

....if I can get around to sewing down the bindings on the back of the February placemats so they will be ready to put on the table on Wednesday. This winter is flying by. 

Of course I've already got some St Patrick's Day material sitting here waiting its turn to become placemats. It's the Three's A Charm collection from Connecting Threads and I've got a whole lot of it since they didn't have charm packs but I'm sure I'll think of something to do with the leftovers.

Lighting the Way

 

On our last grocery pickup The Mister and I took Pup for a walk in the county park across the street. It was deserted so for the first time since it was built we got a good look at the new playground they put in last year. Pets aren't allowed so we normally keep our distance and stay closer to the dog park but this time I got up close and noticed....

....a very interesting piece of playground equipment. I never realized that the slide was a replica of my mom's favorite light house. 

She used to love to take us down to spend the day at the local museum that it now is a part of. It was moved here from the its original spot at the mouth of the Putuxent river in 1978 and restored. It really is a beautiful thing to see if you are into lighthouses and my mom was really into lighthouses. 

She would have been so tickled to see this. Probably as tickled as I was. 

Friday Fluff

The yellow merino and the California Red that I just carded is filling the bobbins. 

Ditto for the green Corriedale that I just dyed.  I'm trying to spin every day. 

The scrappy hand spun socks are having their heel turned. These will be shorties because the last thing you want is for them to be higher than your soft under socks. Itchy ankles are no fun and these woolliest of woolly socks can really have a bite.

Speaking of socks....I had to go on a grocery pickup the other day and I had no travel projects on the needles. It was terrible so I took advantage of all this wet, rainy weather and had a lazy afternoon knit-a-thon and cast on THREE pairs. Now I'll have plenty to choose from the next time I have to pile in the car for a ride along. 

A Really Big Finish

 

Well look at that. The Sunflower quilt is finally finished. I'm kind of sad to see it finished because....

....now I have to go into the stash and find something new to work on and that means new directions to follow. I've got quilt kits galore thanks to Dad. Together we bought way too many. The first one I ever bought was this Zig Zag quilt kit and it's still sitting in the box. 

I'm thinking of starting this kit that has jelly rolls. I love jelly rolls. 

But I've also got this beauty from Angela Walters. The bonus here is that I can watch her make it on YouTube which reduces the chances I'll muck it up. 

And little Butter Churn been sitting in the sewing room next to the sewing machine for ages. This one's got a fall vibe to it so it'll keep. I think. It's awfully pretty and it will teach me something new. I've never done Flying Geese. 

This is another big one so I think I'll wait on this one too. I'm not afraid of quilting big ones anymore since Sunflower wasn't bad after all but I really don't need another big quilt since I have no idea what I'm going to do with Sunflower. I need a room just to keep all the quilts I already have. 

Decisions, decisions....I need to stop going through the kit stash. They seem to be popping up everywhere. 

And.......have you seen this? It's the Seed Packet quilt kit. Kate from the Last Homely House was working on this in her last video and I had a terrible time convincing myself not to buy it. It's a sickness. Like collecting sock yarn. Speaking of which I need to go cast on some socks. The gift box is empty and the needles are bare. 

Wednesday WIPs and Woe

 

The last time you saw my Musselburgh hat it looked like this. 

Now it looks like this. It was huge. I mean HUGE. My gauge and stitch count were way off. It seems I didn't actually follow any of the directions at all. I may try again. I might not. Right now it's going to have to sit a while.

Then there is Riddari. It also went to the frog pond this week. I didn't follow any of its directions either. It has an unusual rolled hem which for some reason I ignored and jumped right in with regular ribbing which was wrong. Very wrong. That itty bitty ribbing that I thought the directions called for wasn't going to work no matter how much I wanted to believe it would. It just folded up on itself.  Ribbit. Ribbit. 

Some good news is that I did figure out that if I used the finger protectors I use for hand quilting I can knit without poking a hole in my finger. That's good because I have a lot of catching up to do. 

Happily #17 is behaving and will soon get its parts attached.....

....and Chestnut has finally caught up to Bon Amie so that I can start working on it again. I wanted them in the same place when it came to the arm steeking thing so I only have to figure out the directions once. Me and directions don't seem to be getting along at the moment so the less I have to deal with them the better. 
 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

I finished the right hand side of Patchwork Hiver last week and since winter has deserted us it's getting packed up until next year. It's hard to work up any winter mojo when it's March outside. The poor Christmas Quaker has also met the same fate. I just can't bring myself to work on it. 

I'm more in the mood to work on the flowers that are growing on the outside of the Village Quaker instead. 

The Llama Lump almost met the same fate when I started having to add the pine trees and the snowflakes. I'll keep it out in hope that February will act more like February but I've got my doubts. 

And.....someone asked me if I was still working on Rainbow Kitty and indeed I am. I was going full speed on it until I had to start packing up soap to ship. They share the same table space so now that all the soap is on its way to its new homes I can get him back out. I said that 2023 will be his year and I'm going to make sure it is. 

Love Me Do

 

 I may not have been able to do much with the small needles over the weekend but I had the sewing machine going full tilt yesterday morning. 

 I was chain piecing the tops of my February placemats using the Love Me Do fabric collection that arrived last week. 

It's the same old pattern I've been using for the past few months from a tutorial on YouTube.

Since these two tops came together without drama this time around I still have plenty of the collection left to make some hot pads that match. I would have had them done too except I came down with a major case of the blahs for the rest of the afternoon. Staying up until one to see SNL the night before and a dismal rainy day was all I needed to send me to the couch for an afternoon of doing absolutely nothing-unless you count staring out the window for hours while wondering whatever the heck happened to winter. 

Ouch

 

Have you ever knit a hole in your finger? I just did.

Riddari is to blame. I spent so much time fighting with that cast on and the first few rows that I managed to injure the top of my finger. I'm a continental knitter who has the bad habit of using the top of my finger to push on the left hand needle to slip the stitches over. Using a sharp metal needle can do a lot of damage without you realizing it. After putting on some antibiotic ointment and a bandaid I slipped on an old brace I had from the thumb in the car door adventure to remind myself not to use it for a while and to keep that darn bandaid in place. Finger tips are hard to bandage.  

That meant no knitting and no other needlework for a few days so what to do? Crochet. I worked on more squares for Audun. I admit to getting very twitchy about not knitting. Nothing else really seems to take its place.

Buyer Beware

 

I've been enjoying working on my puzzle after dinner every night. So much so that I broke down and bought myself one of those puzzle frame things that has a cover. It keeps the kitties off of it so pieces don't go missing but........

...look at that. I am all done and a piece IS missing. It's not the kitties fault or mine. I was extra, extra careful with this one because I had read in the reviews that this brand is notorious for having pieces missing. I thought that it couldn't happen to me so I bought the puzzle anyway and......

...bought this 1000 piece puzzle from the same company and......

....another 500 piece one that I'm planning to work on this summer. The brand is Galison and I really do love working on their Micheal Storring collection but grrrr....that missing piece thing is annoying. I have to say that I do have a Christmas puzzle from the collection that DOES have all its pieces. I emailed the customer service and they said they would send me out a new puzzle but that seemed excessive. I'll just deal with that missing piece.

On a happier note The Mister was working on this paint by number and I kept thinking I'd seen it before. I had. It's also a puzzle that I had bought. I sure hope it has all its pieces.