Big Needle Wednesday

 I've got two more petals on the dishcloth and it's a done deal. I really like this Dishie. It's stiff enough to be useful but it also has some spring in it. Knitting with it is not a slog.

 The Bosc Pear shawl that I am knitting with my wonky handspun has another repeat done.

 There are 14 more rows on the Follow and Lead scarf but you can't tell. This is the black hole of knitting. That's Malabrigo lace btw.

 I am shaping the top of the wonky handspun Northern Lights hat but I have a dilemma. That's a provisional cast on at the bottom. I need to block it before I knit a liner to see if it's worth the trouble but I don't want to felt those live stitches. I think I am going to have to put it on a cable first.  That's going to be an adventure.

The socks are progressing slowly. Everyone is past the heel now. From left to right, that's Hawthorne in the Jade Island colorway, Lang's Jawoll, and Wandering Cat's Barn Cat in the Laguna colorway. I knit socks while I watch mindless TV but at the moment I am bingeing Mindhunter on Netflix and that is anything but mindless.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 Miss Wisdom is done!

 Up next in September (all ready?) are two Miss Friendships and a pot of flowers.

The best thing I can say about the crewel adventure is that I got it kitted up in a plastic box so it's more user friendly. Nothing kills a project for me quicker than having to dig it out to work on it.

Another struggle I had with it this week was finding something to stretch in on. My regular embroidery hoops didn't do the job with the slick linen. I had an old knock off Q Snap that I got from Micheal's that I hated for cross stitch but it works great with this project when I stick in in my floor stand. You need both hands with this stuff and apparently more stitching talent than I possess but ugly as it is I am enjoying it so it's not all bad.

And.....I found one more of Erica Wilson's Beatrix Potter crewel kits to add to my collection. I need to get over this obsession soon. I really don't need another thing to work on.

Under the Big Top

Daughter and I had words over going to see Cirque du Soleil's new show Volta. First it was the weather. I am used to seeing shows in the fall or early spring. The idea of being in a big plastic tent in August was not my idea of a good time. The heat index yesterday was over 100. Ugh.

Then it was the theme. I like the big, splashy, exotic shows like Dralion, Quidam and Corteo. 

 This show is about street sports. Kid stuff. I thought it was going to be a big yawn. When we walked in it wasn't promising. It was a bleak, bare stage. Thank goodness it was cool inside the tent. I was ready to go home if it hadn't been.

I couldn't take photos during the show but I can tell you I was sad when I saw all the performers coming out for their final bow.

 There was a reason they got a big standing O. As usual, Cirque du Soleil knocked it out of the park. If you have grandkids and Volta comes to town-take'em and go. It's that darn good. And for all you young at heart grandmas out there, I can tell you the cast of incredible young men is very easy on the eyes. Hubba, hubba y'all.

Emi

 The Mister and I are off to see Volta with Daughter and SIL at Tyson's today but I think Daughter would rather stay home.

 If you remember she just lost her kitty to cancer a few weeks ago and has been heart broken. Her way of dealing with it has been keeping herself crazy busy so she bought the Cirque tickets and planned lots of weekend getaways. Then...a few days ago she saw this little critter on a friend's Facebook page. It was a stray that a friend of her friend had found and she needed a home. It's the image of the kitty she lost.

 Her sweet husband went and picked up the kitten while she was at work on Friday. Even though it had been with the foster family for five weeks it had never been to the vets so she held her breath (and kept it quarantined) until it got a clean bill of health which it did yesterday morning.

So now she's got a new kitty she calls Emi, which means Little Blessing in Japanese. And lucky me, I've got two long kitty sitting events coming up with her at the end of the month. Oh, joy. I am happy for Daughter but my kitty allergies are going to get a workout for sure. I'm going to have to pack the Benadryl.

Pride Goeth Before the Fall

 I was celebrating the finish of my machine quilting sampler by doing a happy dance. This is the back. THE BACK. If you don't machine quilt you will think I am crazy but all of you who do know what I mean.

The front is easy. It's what's going on underneath that matters and lots of times it isn't pretty. This time it was. Each stitch was perfect. No puckers, no eyelashes, no skipped stitches, no nothing. I was over the moon happy.

So happy that I decided to go ahead and get started on the Dresden. I was on a roll with some simple stippling around the Dresdens until.....

 I turned it over to find-a mess. Eyelashes and ugly stitches all over the place. What on earth?

I spent an hour or so picking it all out and then made some little sandwiches to practice on. This time I'll check the tension, change the needle and slow down a bit. I sure got knocked off my cloud. This machine quilting thing is so much harder than it looks. Argh....

Friday Felines: Watercolor Edition

 I got a new kitty stamp.

It's a big one. 

 All those cute kitties come on one big sheet so you get a whole page of kitties. I found it on Amazon and I think it was only about $6 which is dirt cheap for stamps especially one this big.

I printed them out on watercolor paper and painted them.

And then I printed them out again and used my Zig watercolor markers and had even more mindless fun.

Then I got out the shiny metallic watercolors and made some sparkly kitties.

Finally I used the alcohol markers on them. I'm not sure how to make this into a card or even an art journal page but I'm sure I'll think of something. For now I'm just going to have fun making kitties.

Rainbow Kitty

Rainbow Kitty is coming alive. He/she is finally getting a face.

 It's come at a cost. My wrist has been rubbed raw.

Under the material the hooks on my frame can inflict some terrible damage before you know it. I've had to cover the spot I'm working on with a thick cotton dishcloth to protect my ouchie.

My nice little bundle of strips is getting mighty slim. I hope I have enough to finish.

Uh oh. I forgot to do the tail. It pays to take it off the frame and look at it from time to time. It helps to know where you're going.