Tiny Needle Tuesday

I did indeed get The Mister to gut his bathroom so I could paint it while he was at the doctor's yesterday. All I really had to say was that if I did it on Tuesday, when he was at home, I would expect him to help. He hates painting so that bathroom was empty in a flash...lol.

With all this bathroom stuff going on I haven't had much time to sit and stitch this week but I did get a  little flower pot and the letter b on the Village Quaker. 

On the Nautical Sampler I got most of one of the white clouds finished, a few more inches of rope and a few more of the letters outlined.

I did finish the bottom half of Llama Lump and packed it away with my other winter projects. 

Poor Cow Pile is just sitting here because I can't remember what fabric I used for all the rest of the critter piles. I want them to match so I've been ordering every fabric I can think of from all the places I usually order from but still haven't had a match. I got more coming today so I've got my fingers crossed.

And....while I was literally waiting for paint to dry in between coats yesterday I got three more little boxes stitched on the top of Patchwork Printemps. A stitch here and a stitch there is all I have time for these days but it does seem to add up.

Demolition Man

 

The Mister is being a baby about tearing out his bathroom. He's doing it one bit at a time which is driving me crazy. I was supposed to paint today while he was out getting medical stuff done but I'm not because he won't take out the toilet and the sink so I can get behind it. He's hemming and hawing about being inconvenienced by having to use the new downstairs bathroom for the duration. 

Remember this? I keep reminding him that I used that same bathroom for NINE MONTHS when we ripped my bathroom down to the studs a few years ago. This photo was taken in September of 2017.

This ta da moment didn't happen until May of 2018. I spent all those months hot footing it downstairs to the nasty old downstairs bathroom. As of last week that nasty old downstairs bathroom is all re-done, yet he still complains. Men. 

 

Oh, well...it gave me plenty of time to work on this yesterday and it's turned out to be a job that was bigger than I expected. I have had to do plenty of ripping out. 

I didn't realize that the seams were in such bad shape. When I get too close to some of them they pop open. I've had to pick out all that wonky stippling and hand sew the popped seams many, many times. 

I've learned the hard way to fix those seams before I even take it over to the Juki. Sometimes I have to rip whole seams out to tuck in material so I can get the material to lay flat enough to quilt. It was very pouffy in places. 

There are also a lot of raw edges to deal with. We didn't hem the edges of the fan or the hexies so I'm finally getting around to it- 25 years later.

Meeting a Deadline

 

My living area is once again a staging area but not for long. The Mister has been on a wait list for hip replacement and we got the call on Friday that it will be April 26. Unbelievably to me, who has been through several of these surgeries in years past with dear Daddio, it's now outpatient surgery with visiting nurses to get you through the recovery period. I have to have a home inspection to make sure everything is safe for the post-op so we've got to get a move on getting that bathroom finished and this house cleared out of remodeling junk. 

Thank goodness we are only doing a refresh on The Mister's bathroom. We are just replacing the old cabinetry and changing out the toilet for one of those chair height ones so it should be quick work after I get it painted which will be tomorrow. We are ripping it all out today. Over the next few weeks we have rounds of doctor's visits for tests and believe it or not they are already starting the process for his knee replacements. Due to insurance reasons he has to go through a lot of pre-surgery therapies to make sure surgery is the only solution for his knees. Jeesh...So it looks like I'm going to have to put my nurse hat back on and after what I went through with Dad for all those years, I'm not looking forward to it. 

And...if you remember, when Pup had her hip surgery last year, the Veterinary hospital at least kept her overnight for observation and pain control. They don't even do that for humans anymore? I'm still in shock over that. 

Field Trip

 

Our pick up order came in yesterday as expected so off we went on the long trek to Lowe's to get our stuff. Pup was not amused. We spent the day before driving back and forth for our grocery pickup because for some reason or other we discovered back at home that the wrong groceries were put in our car (!). We had to laugh because it was a very frazzled store manager who was filing in for our usual pick up ladies. It was the first time in three years that we had a mix up but you can bet we'll be checking the names on the bags before we drive away from now on. 

I was hoping to spend some time in the nursery section of Lowe's but the only thing there were pansies. Lots and lots of them. I guess it's really too early for anything else.

While we were there we visited the Pet Smart next door and stocked up on kibble. Since I discovered Chewy I haven't been in a Pet Smart in ages and it was nice to wander the aisles. They've got some mighty pricey pet food out there. I was in sticker shock.

I got a little knitting done on the way up and back. Musselburgh is a good travel knit-minus those super sharp points on the circular. You could put an eye out. 

Friday Fluff and Field Trips

 

All I have to show for this week from my little spinning corner are two bobbins of singles waiting to be plied. I do all my plying on the Ladybug because it has a built in Lazy Kate so they will have to wait their turn. 

They are two of the 2 ounce Corriedale braids I dyed for the Garter Squish. This is all I have left to spin. Since I still have a big bag of the the white fiber I'm thinking there may be more dyeing in my future. 

But......all of that fun stuff will have to wait because we are back at work tearing out the last remaining bathroom. We had one delivery of stuff we need for the re-do and are waiting for the rest of it to be delivered to the store for pick up which we hope will be today. Yay...yet another long boring field trip to Lowes for plumbing stuff. I'm hoping they at least have some interesting things in the nursery section. I've got planting fever.

Resolution Roundup

 

Let's see how well I did in the month of February with those four projects I have earmarked for completion in 2023. First up is Daddio's little squares quilt that I've been hand quilting for about 4 years now. I have only 18 more navy blue squares to go. All it will take is one good movie. 

I added six more Audun squares to the pile last month in my quest to get 100. I have 76 now. 

I am still on track with the Mini Advent Sweaters by completing #18. I haven't cast on #19 yet because I want a green one and I am still struggling with my green combination. I just may have ordered more green Palette.

And.....of course there is Rainbow Kitty who you've seen a lot of lately. I'm closing in on the last corner and I should be able to get that bottom bit done this month. I'm looking forward to adding the rainbow border.

I suppose I would have had more to show for February if I hadn't remodeled a bathroom and spent way too much time making placemats and hot pads. I always think this placemat thing is a fast and easy project-but it never is. 

March!

 

A new month, a new season and I've got something new to play with. Daughter sent me a Knit Picks gift certificate for Christmas and I turned it into a box of yarn.

The Felici's purpose is obvious but all the rest of the yarn is for this. It's Kelly's Ski Sweater and even though I swore I would NEVER make another Norwegian Style sweater again I love wearing my Lofoten sweater which is very similar to this one and also a Knit Picks design. 

I know what you're thinking. I already have THREE sweaters in progress. These two I don't consider sweaters but works of art. They are such a joy to work on that I don't really care if they ever get done. 

Riddari on the other hand is a sweater I want to wear but it's been a nightmare. I am just past the end of the dreaded ribbing for the FOURTH time and I'm afraid to go on. I just know it's going to flip again. There is one last resort that I've seen people try-knitting the pattern from the top down so you can rip that ribbing back as much as you like in order to get it to lie down. I'm not sure if I can wrap my head around it but I just may have to try.