Spring Break

Taking a brief blogging break.  I will be working on this.....

and getting the garden ready for planting.  Have a wonderful Easter holiday!

Lynne xx

A ride on the crazy train

Things have been crazy around here!  My husband is traveling quite a bit, so I am holding down the fort.  So far this week, we have had to repair two cars, the washing machine, dryer, and water softener system. Also tried to watch the Blue Ray version of the Hobbit last night, but the DVD player is not working.  Damn.  If anything else breaks down I'm just going to shoot it dead.
 My son has started the baseball season for his high school team, so there are lots of practices, games and washing of uniforms (you know, in the broken washing machine).  He is also senior class treasurer, and in Leadership, and because they are heading towards graduation, there are a million events, meetings, and frequent demonstrations of my mad skillz with a checkbook.  I am really looking forward to Spring break.   Also a few weeks back I was put on some high blood pressure medication that made me sick as a dog, so I kicked them (the pills, not the dogs) to the curb and put my estrogen patch back on and everything evened out and calmed down.  Good.  Calm is good.  I need more calm, so hold the caffeine and pass the yoga, the crochet hook, and hormone replacement therapy.
You still with me?
 I've been wanting to make a white cotton blanket for a while now, so I started one out of Hobby Lobby I Love this Cotton in a blanket stitch.  I'm really surprised at how soft this yarn is!   So far 3 balls down, 8 to go.  It works up pretty quickly.  Also very soothing.  Same stitch over and over, no ends to weave in, except to change to a new ball.  Mindless.  Meditative.  Calm.  No crazy in sight.
I also made a Jelly Roll Race quilt, just to try it out (fun!) and I'm quilting it now.  More on this later. 
Despite all the above, this weekend is promising to be a good one.  Hope yours is too!
Cheers!


"All shall be well.  And all shall be well.
And all manner of things shall be well "

 Julian of Norwich
14th century English nun/mystic/hermit

Twitterpated

You know that part in the movie Bambi, when all the animals start acting goofy because it's Spring, and the owl (I think) says they are all twitterpated?  That's me right now.
I want to clean up the garden, make a sunny lemon yellow quilt, hang bunting on the back porch, crochet a cotton blanket, plant hollyhocks and zinnias, and sip iced tea.  I'm in love with Spring.
 It's truly amazing what happens when the sun comes out.
  Unfortunately all I got done last week was a pot holder.  Oh, and I sewed some of my yo yo puffs together.  I really like this project.
My husband cut all the grass around the property yesterday, and it has stirred up the wildlife.  Our little kitty has graduated to adulthood by dropping off a half dead vole on the back porch.  Um. Thanks kitty.  The robins, scrub jays and mockingbirds are competing for nesting material, and the snails have come out of nowhere looking for the basil I usually plant. They like to leave me the stems.   
I'm not sure how much I'm going to get done this week, but the weather is glorious and my head is full of ideas. What a great combo.

Transition table runner

 

Here in California, we are smack in the middle of two seasons.  The weather is warm and springlike one minute, and then windy and raining the next.  In the morning the furnace is running full blast, and in the afternoon, the windows are open, and you can hear the neighbors cutting their lawn.
  I made a simple table runner to take me from chilly winter to the warmth of spring.  The brown gingham reminds me of the dark, bare, branches of the trees.  Yet, the tiny flowers on the calico are so springlike.  I made one pink block to represent the first little bloom pushing up from the dirt.  The binding is the color of new grass.
It's going to rain this week, even though it's warm today and the air smells like sunshine.  The breeze is stirring the blossoms from the pear tree, and they are fluttering across the yard and into the pool.  It looks so pretty.
 I want to do something with that yarn.  I love those colors, but I'm just drifting along like the pear blossoms, trying to figure out where I'll land, what new project to start.  I've been looking on Pinterest and Ravelry and blogs and blogs and blogs.  Everyone is so talented and inspiring and full of great ideas!  I need a moment to let it all sink in.  A glass of wine wouldn't hurt either.
Here's to a very creative week!!!!!

For Liam

My niece's little boy, Liam, will be celebrating his one year old birthday in the hospital.  He was admitted 2 weeks ago with pneumonia, and 2 ear infections.  Today he is having surgery to scrape the gunk out of the lining in his lungs (pleurisy).  We have been getting daily updates through Facebook, and I feel so sorry for the little guy, sitting there in his crib full of tubes and wires.  Hopefully, he will be coming home sometime next week.
 I made a simple little cotton blanket for him based on this pattern and used up the odd leftover balls of Cotton Ease.  I stitched a few prayers in with the yarn.  Get better soon little baby boy!!!

Now if you need a good unexpected laugh, go check this out.  It's very short, but if you're like me you will play it over and over and then shamelessly send it to everyone you know.  I happen to like Taylor Swift, but this was too funny. 
Have a great week!

Mermaid tea cozy

I'm getting near the end of my Heather Ross mermaid fabric.  There are only a few little scraps left.

 Yesterday, I stayed in my sewing room, drinking tea, sucking on cough drops and trying desperately to breathe through my nose.  I decided to sew a tea cozy to take my mind off my plugged sinuses.  I used the quilt as you go patchwork process again.  Love it.  It's like creating your own fabric.
 First I made two large rectangles of patchwork for front and back, fussy cutting a mermaid for each side. Then I cut out my tea cozy pattern, and sewed them together.  I lined it with a pink calico.

See that little button just above?  It's covering up a hole I made in my fabric as I was snipping all the little stray threads. Grrrr.  Oh well.
After the tea cozy was finished,  I still felt like poo, so I started a project I could work on laying down in bed.  Thanks to Jane Brocket and her book The Gentle Art of Stitching, I am now making one million yo-yos.  

I know this is going to turn into one of those projects where you start out all excited with dreams of sewing/ crocheting / knitting an amazingly huge Quilt/ Afghan/ Patio Cover or whatever, and you end up with a cushion.  Who cares.  I can do it laying down.

Waiting for breakfast

Here we are starting a whole new week.  February is flying by and March seems just around the corner.  Today is a holiday for most of us in the states, and so everyone here is home.  My husband is cooking sausages, and the kids are still in bed.  I'm taking pictures.

Another Claudia scarf is finished, this time out of a soft blue alpaca.  It measures 59x9 and was worked with a G hook (DK yarn).

Whenever I finish a project I usually know exactly what I want to work on next, but this time it's different.  I'm hovering between starting something new and working on all those half finished projects.  Nothing seems to be falling into place.  I either need a bit more fabric or a certain color thread, or I have to pick something apart to fix it first.  So I'm just playing.

Stacking blue fabrics for a blue and white quilt.

Laying out all the orphan blocks that I have saved over the years.  I'm thinking of a sampler quilt, but I don't quite know how I would tie it all together.

Found a little stitching project buried in with those blocks, which I might incorporate it into a mini quilt.  I seem to be drawn to them lately.

Okay I'm smelling sausages and onions from the kitchen now, mmmm!  Let me show you what I just bought.

A Presto percolator coffee maker!  Isn't it cool?  My parents used to have one like this when I was a kid.  I ordered it from Amazon (over 500, 5 star reviews!)  We have gone through so many drip style coffee makers, some expensive and some cheap.  They never last or seem to keep the coffee hot enough.   This one stays hot until you unplug it, and the coffee tastes really fresh.  Plus I love the little percolating noise it makes when it's brewing.  I wish it had the clear glass top though, so you could see the coffee bubbling up.  Anyway, I'm being told breakfast is ready and I need to top off my cup.  Time to put the camera and computer away.

Welcome to my new followers and Thank You again for leaving such nice, encouraging comments on my blog!  I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy whatever it is you're working on!