New Yarn(ish)

Thought I would try the Sheep(ish) yarn by Vickie Howell for Caron.  The colors are to die for and it was on sale at Joann's.  It has names like Red(ish), Teal(ish), Yellow(ish).  You get the idea. It's a 70% acrylic, 30% wool blend, that feels very soft.  I started crocheting with it and happened to be wearing black pants at the time.  Wow.  Little fibers everywhere.  Even my nose felt itchy.  If you have to rip out a mistake, those little fibers hook onto each other and you have to RIP it apart.  Enough said.  Did I say the colors were to die for?  And it's really soft?  Since I'm planning on making a granny blanket  inspired by this one,  I guess I'm in for the long haul.  Yarn bought.  Project started(ish). Go get some.

 And project finished.  This is a tumbler quilt that has been sitting in the closet waiting for the binding to be sewn on.  I barely got the last knot tied and daughter #2 whisked it off to her apartment.

 It was made using Pop Garden by Heather Bailey and a plastic template I cut in the tumbler shape.  This has been sitting around for so long, I don't remember where I got the pattern, and I don't know if the fabric is still available.  Who cares, it's finished.

I will end today's post with this thought.  See that bit of quilting up there?  It is almost done.  Almost.  I will blog about it later.  But notice the grannies on top?  Just getting started.  This "one project runs into another" is like chain smoking. (Only healthier I hope.  Maybe not.  If you could see the closet holding my fabric and yarn...)  But it's a happy process.  One that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning.  You eventually finish a project, start another, finish another.  Then someone takes it home to their apartment.  The circle of life.

Quilt Pattern re-do

I decided to organize and sort through all my quilt pattern books the other day.  This is just the paperbacks.  The hardcovers are on a shelf in the sewing room. While this stack won't put me on an episode of "Hoarders", I still feel a wee bit piggy when I look at it.

I have NOT made something out of all of these books, but I have enjoyed looking through each and every one of them.  So in order to combat some of the guilt which goes along with such a big stack, I decided to see what pattern could be made new again.  Some of these books are old, and my taste has changed over the years, but maybe with some of the new more modern fabrics. . . . .

Here is an old favorite.  The patterns are kind of country/primitive, the colors on the earthy side.  I made a wall hanging from this book with wool applique and patchwork.  I still hang it in my entrance way in the winter months.  It's packed away for the summer, or I'd show you a picture.  There is a small table runner, however, that I always wanted to make.  Here is a picture from the book.

Lots of brown. Don't want to go there any more, although I have a fondness for birds. Bring on the color!

Much better!

And the back. . .

 Used up some scraps too!  Patchwork, machine applique with a buttonhole stitch, and a tiny bit of embroidery on the crows legs.  A little bit of everything.  I feel better.  Don't throw those books away!

A Few Favorite Things

I miss Oprah. I know it's kinda weird. I didn't even watch it everyday, but once in a while at 4:00, I would start getting stuff ready for dinner and turn it on in the background.  What I did try to catch though was her Favorite Things show. Lots of cool goodies.  Everyone has their own favorite things right?  Something you got on sale, or given to you as a gift, or bought on vacation.  It doesn't even have to be expensive either.  So in honor of Oprah, how about sharing a few of your favorite things with other bloggers?  Like a favoritethingalong? Right.  I will start.......

I know. It's a cardboard box.  But it's not just any cardboard box.  It's an EMPTY cardboard box.  Because I ate everything that was in it.  This is my CSA box that I get every other week full of fresh organic fruits and vegetables from local farms in my area.  If your not familiar with how Consumer Sustained Agriculture works go to Local Harvest and check out their site.  It's like getting a present delivered to your front door (fun!) full of fresh food.  The produce so far has been amazing.  An example of what I got this week: Sweet yellow Gypsy peppers (they were sooo good),  strawberries, avocados, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, bok choy, cilantro, lettuce and a juicy melon. Good stuff.

Now something to go with all that food.  This bottle of Pinot was $3.99. That's right. $3.99. It was at Trader Joes and we bought it for my daughter's graduation party. And it was good. So good we went back and bought more.  It went really well with a big hunk of cheese I got at Costco, which is all gone and so is the wrapper otherwise I would be including it here as well. Moving on.

Two things here.  First the glass on the left.  That's not glass.  It's some kind of hard plastic, with a hard plastic straw.  Which means you can use it, wash it, and use it again.  I love this thing.  It goes with me in the car, out to the pool ( no broken glass to worry about!), and into the sewing room.  I accidentally knocked it over on my sewing table and only a little dribbled out through the straw. Phew.  You can get these everywhere.   I got mine at the grocery store.  The tea on the right is Passion flavor by TAZO.  I used to get this at Starbucks, but now I buy it by the tin and make my own at home.  There is no caffeine or sweetener in it, so do your own thing.  And you can re-use the cute little tin for stashing things!

Yes this is the beginning of a granny blanket made with Stylecraft special DK, using the pattern by the famous Lucy from Attic 24.  I finally started one.  And it's fun. And the yarn is great!  Thank you Lucy!  I looked all over the internet and my local yarn shops to find a DK weight yarn with lots of color choices and prices that compare with Stylecraft.  Nothing.  At least not in the U.S.  If you know of a local product, let me know.  However until then I'm getting this from Deramores.  They ship free to the U.S. and their prices are good and considering it is coming from across the pond, they are pretty quick too!
By the way, these are my own opinions and I have not received endorsements from any of the above mentioned products. Heck, I'm a new blogger, they don't even know I exist.
What are some of your favorite things?

Rain, rain go away!

We had rain here all last week, right up until Monday the 6th. Unheard of! The temps are usually in the 80's which we will finally hit today. So I've been told.  We will see. In the meantime while the rain was coming down and I couldn't get outside to do yard work, I began watching a mini series from BBC called Cranford.  I'm not a big t v watcher, but I love a good mini series.  Pillars of the Earth was awesome, and now Camelot is just concluding next week (although Camelot was a bit disappointing.  Love the cast.  The story line, not so much)  So far Cranford has pulled me right in to their lovely little English town and I am delighted.

 Making slow progress on my Nate's quilt. I'm only completing a couple blocks a day. I need 36 blocks so, its going to be awhile.

We are preparing for a graduation party here this weekend! Really busy planting flowers, cleaning up the patio and barbeque and shopping for food and decorations. Our middle daughter has graduated from UC Davis! Yay Renee! Also our nephew Andrew is graduating from UCLA.  Good luck Renee and Andrew. We are so proud of you!