Scrappy Happy Quilts by Starfishy

We Found Snow!

2012-01-16T01:21:00.000-05:00

My son just loves snow; yes winter is cold, but there is fun to be had! Except this winter it has just been cold. And gray. No snow. We have spent our time at the ice skating rink and swimming pool, and have gone to the movies some, but a kid should have snow in the winter too. So this Saturday we took a day trip bus outside of the city of Graz to a small mountain region nearby. Yup, we found snow! It was really fun because one of his friend's was able to come too, plus her Mom and her 2 little sisters. So, there were 6 of us total. Plus all our "stuff". I always seem to be lugging around extra "stuff" with me, but it all comes in so handy! As soon as we got there I said to my son - your snow pants are in the bag under the bus. He jumped out with the other kids before me and proceeded to get entirely covered in snow within 3 minutes. Yes, his pants and socks were soaking wet! In the first 3 minutes! Good thing I had my "stuff" because I had dry clothes for him to change into and then quick, quick - get those snow pants on! DH has an awful cold so couldn't come, but he packed ham sandwiches, oranges, ice tea, hot chocolate, plain bread and peanut butter and we had chocolate bars!

Almenland. It was supposed to take us about an hour to get there, but it was really snowing on the way up. The bus crawled up all the hairpin turns with stunning drop-offs (no guard rails). Then we had to stop and the driver put snow chains on the tires - that took time too. The trip took us 2 1/2 hours, but once we got there, the weather was absolutely perfect! Beautiful! Ahhhh.

There are lots of things to do here - cross country skiing, downhill skiing, ice skating (except the lake wasn't really frozen), a big indoor pool, carriage rides. We came to go sledding and brought lots of different slides with us, plus rented one for $2.50. No charge to use the hill - but it is a bit of a walk UP there Phew! But the walk was worth the fun!

Really, we had the hill to ourselves except for later in the afternoon when some other people came, but by then the weather had closed in and we headed to a small restaurant for a hot meal before the bus was scheduled to leave at 5 pm!

Here we are! After I took this photo I pulled a sled with one of the little ones because it was a bit of a distance to the restaurant. It was the perfect time to take a little break.

When we got out of the restaurant, the weather had cleared and my son wanted to have a few final runs before boarding the bus. He had a wonderful day! I am so happy that I was able to give him at least 1 day of snow fun this winter!

Fun Baby Booties to Knit!

2012-01-13T14:06:00.001-05:00

These baby booties were so quick and fun to knit! I got the pattern here: http://ullenteventyr.blogspot.com/2008/11/babysokker-igjen-og-igjen.html
Scroll down for the English version. I made the small size and there is a small error - at the decrease for the footsole you need to knit 33 before turning (not 31). I would assume you would need to knit 35 (not 33) for the large size. Still, it is a small issue and you really don't notice. The pattern says you can use straight needles but that was difficult at the heel/foot part so I added some DPN's into the mix. Size 2. This is a great pattern for left-over sock yarn because it really only used a little tiny bit of yarn! I grafted the heel and then ladder stitched up the back - next time around I think I will just knit it in the round. I know a few people with babies due and these are a fun, quick, easy gift to pair with a baby blanket. Ummm - make that a store bought (gasp) blanket. I am opting for quick and easy projects these days!

Speaking of babies - here is a photo of a very funny baby seat/windshield combination I saw the other day while walking the streets of Graz. I almost always have my little camera in my coat pocket because I never know what I will see.

Graz is a beautiful city...

The December Crafts

2012-01-02T08:04:00.000-05:00

I had dreams of crocheting a "blizzard" of snowflakes this year. No matter that I had no idea on how to make a snowflake - I have access to You Tube! So, here are the 3 I did make - out of "regular" weight yarn with a "regular" sized crochet hook. Can't tell you the exact size because my son needed the hook for some school project so I ended up sending it to school with him and it hasn't come home yet! I figure if I do 3 a year for the rest of my life - some day I will have a "blizzard"! And please don't ask my why the 1st one looks so different, I really do think that I used the same video for all 3. I think so anyway - I honestly can't remember anymore!

Always on the look-out for fun "kid friendly" crafts, I stumbled across a little template for a Christmas tree garland at www.attic24.typepad.com - go visit! What a wonderful blog! I enlarged 1/2 of our trees so we had some variety. We decorated our trees with glitter, sequins and various do-dads from a sort-ov craft store in the area. I got card-stock weight green paper for the trees - we used a pizza box to trace our initial template onto.

Here is what ONE of our garlands looks like. We made 3 altogether; one for the front door, one for over the tv (this one) and one over another entry way door. I like them. I would say it was a successful kids craft project! When my son's friends came over they would go over to the craft table and make their own tree out of the blank green trees we had over there.

I mustered up the nerve to invite my son's best friend AND her little sisters (who are terrors!) over one night to make cookies. DH and I made the dough ahead of time. 2 colors of dough make great spiral cookies (sorry - didn't get a photo of one). I like the taste of spirals. The kids had fun making all sorts of designs, including faces. Of course, we made lots of "traditional" cookies too. We "decorated" said cookies with a thin frosting and sprinkles. Actually, the cookie decorating party is sort-ov a family tradition for me, so I have a good idea of how to "run" it. It is good to be "fast". That butter dough cookie gets soft fast so you have to keep it in the fridge and bring it out in little balls. Gingerbread dough is very durable! If the kids are rolling out their own dough (of course!) they each need their own rolling pin. Also, we roll out between TWO sheets of baking paper which prevents all that sticking. My niece did one better than me this year and pre-baked TONS of cookies for her party so they could get right to the decorating part - but the kids also had the opportunity to roll out their dough. What you do is ask each parent to bring some dough if you have a BIG group (with baking temperatures/times). I just made my own dough this year because it was a small group. Good thing too because my grumpy neighbor downstairs was knocking on my door at 7:30 PM (on a Friday night, no less) to complain about the noise. I guess I spoil him with how quiet we usually are!

Any my son and I managed to cut out 2 paper snowflakes before he lost interest and meandered off to do something else. Still, 2 is 2, and I did forget how fun they were so make. I think maybe next year I might make more!

Our tree this year with all our presents! My son likes the chocolate umbrellas that we put on the tree. No lights - people in Austria usually put candles on their trees, but paranoid me, I don't like that idea!
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Well, I am not Martha Stuart, that is for sure. But we have had a fun December. I try my hardest to create fun memories for my son. You can see - presents don't play a main role of Christmas in my family (although one of my sisters did send my son a present which did not arrive in time to be under the tree for the photo). We tend to concentrate on special meals, baking and crafts for Christmas. And of course, the MAIN present was my airplane ticket to Austria so we all could be together for Christmas this year.
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Got to run - we are headed out to the swimming pool now! Time to get motivated and create new memories. Life goes so fast!
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Happy New Year to everyone!

December Lights

2011-12-26T06:06:00.000-05:00

In December, I really enjoy the lights. Here are some photos that I took this month around Graz, Austria. Yes, a very merry Christmas, I am together with my son and DH this year!

This is one of our favorite shop windows - filled with beautiful glass ornaments.

The little shops that set up in the town square for December.

This is a little "train" that you can take along the decorated streets to see the lights. We do this early December before it gets too crowded! That is my son and DH walking along it - we are on our way UP a hill to the ice skating rink.

I am always a little sad when all the lights come down and then we just have long, cold winter days where it gets dark early. This December was fairly warm so we went out for after dark walks to see the lights a fair bit. It was really nice!

Christmas Socks

2011-12-15T12:51:00.000-05:00

Really, I have very little time for crafting right now. Earlier this year I made ONE sock with this yarn. I packed that one sock and the remaining yarn and hoped that I would be able to knit a second sock by Christmas. Mission accomplished. This pair of socks is for my mother-in-law, a very talented knitter in her day, but she no longer knits because it bothers her shoulder. I know she will appreciate them! Oh - and now I just looked at my photo and see that you can only see 1 sock, but there are really 2 - they are stacked on top of each other!
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The yarn is Lana Gatto Tollegno (made in Italy). It is 80% wool and 20% cashmere. It was on clearance at a LYS in the baby section. So soft! I am not sure though - I cast on using size 2 needles and only 52 stitches - that is what I always use for myself because I have thin legs. Now I am thinking that I should have cast on 60 for my MIL. Ah well, it is K2, P2 for the rib and then I did K3, P1 all the way down to the toe - I think it has enough stretch. If not, she can always give them back to me and I will knit her another pair.
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One great thing about being in Austria - the stores (even the grocery stores!), often have wonderful sock yarn. It won't be hard for me to find yarn to start a second pair, if needed. However, I doubt that I will find wool/cashmere blend. OK - fingers crossed that these will have a wide enough cuff for her.

2nd Week of Advent

2011-12-05T06:27:00.000-05:00

I think we have an especially pretty Advent wreath this year. Last night was the 2nd Sunday of Advent so we got to light the 2nd candle.
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And today is the Eve of St. Nicholas's feast. I have my son's little bag all ready for when he gets back home from school. It is filled with the traditional treats of peanuts, oranges and chocolates. Usually people put figs in there too, but he does not eat those so I didn't buy any.

See that smaller chocolate in the front - it is a devilish figure known as Krampus that comes with St. Nicholas. Good and evil - they are a pair, you know? If you are a good child you get the treats, if you are bad, you get hit by Krampus with his switch. He is a very scary figure with big horns, wears animal skins and is usually dripping with blood. Last week was the Krampus parade.

The parade goes on and on with so many different Krampuses, all making tons of noise, some pulling fire pits, some lighting off fireworks and smoke bombs. Scary stuff! But the children stoically endure the Krampus parade to see their beloved St. Nicholas...

And that is my take on St. Nicholas Day and Krampus from Austria!

Checking In

2011-11-24T18:18:00.000-05:00

I can not even begin to tell you how busy life has been lately, but I am coming up for a bit of air tonight to post a few recent photos. Guess where I am? Austria! Yes, re-united with my sweet boy and DH once again, at least for the time being. Look at this huge door! Many of the old buildings have these huge doors. I am pretty tall, but feel tiny when I have to reach up over my shoulder to reach the door handle! Ha - that must what it feels like all the time to little kids.

A floor tile on a stair landing in an old building. This mosaic was on each level and there were quite a few!

On Sunday my friend was in a concert - she plays the violin. She got us tickets and this is a photo of where the concert was before it started. It was very nice.
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I know it is Thanksgiving in the US so I won't even post the Christmas lights photos, but they are coming in another post soon! We did not cook a Thanksgiving dinner, but I am very thankful that my little family is once again together. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, I think it is a good day to at least stop and be thankful for what you have.

My Hanging Baskets

2011-08-14T18:18:00.001-04:00

I have lots of hanging baskets and they all are different. I keep thinking they have hit their peak, take photos and then they get prettier. So, here are some photos I took a few weeks ago.
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Hard to believe I brought all these plants home - little, itty bitty things the end of May.

I got them all planted in my baskets and had to keep them in the back kitchen patio until the last week of June. I had to bring them in EVERY night. June was just plain rainy and cold, it was 8C most days.

It wasn't until the 1st week of July that I hung them out front, facing the Bay of Fundy winds and left them out overnight. Here is a photo of them from July 4. I have geraniums and upright petunias in the middle that are now full and bushy! I also like to put begonias in my baskets - they add alot of greenery!
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Well, I just wanted to say - that I really enjoy my hanging flower baskets and they are worth the effort. I have been right out straight, busy this summer. B-U-S-Y! Enjoying having my family though and making extra time to squeeze it all in.
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Here are some photos from my summer album.

Low tide

Day fishing off the dock.

Mackerel - good eating! The kids can catch 5-6 at a time with their mackerel jigs when the fish are running! These were caught by another boy on the dock - he shared some with my son who then shared his with 2 of our neighbors. Plenty to share and share!

Got to share with the eagle who has a bum foot and can't fish for himself.

Night fishing off the dock.
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I have tons more photos, but will leave it at that for those of you who can't handle tons of photos all at once. Let's just say - I have a son that loves to fish! We are having a good summer!

Re-United At Last!

2011-07-27T10:26:00.000-04:00

Finally, finally, finally! I've got my sweet boy back in my arms!

Friday I made the long trek up all up through New Brunswick to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Now, I like New Brunswick just fine - but Nova Scotia - not so much. First of all - look at the traffic. As soon as you cross into Nova Scotia (and you have to pay a $4 toll to get in and out) there is traffic. And hot. By golly - it was hot. 31C. Along the Bay of Fundy - we have nature's biggest air conditioner - for example it is 17C today and I am wearing a fleece jacket. I left home at 8:45 am and made it to the airport at 5:15 pm. Because the 2 flights into Halifax was $1000 cheaper than New Brunswick - so I drove. Because the flights were expensive enough without adding another $1000.

I arrived right on time - but their flight was delayed 2 hours. So, I had to wait a little bit more. Just a little bit more.

And finally, DH and School Boy come out of the gate! Yeah!!! And look here - look how tall my 8 year old boy is getting - and I am 5'8" myself. So, he is tall! Then I turned around and drove us back into New Brunswick because the hotels are 2X more expensive in Nova Scotia. We got up the next morning at 3 am to finish our trip.

Someone is very happy to be almost back home!

My tired traveler. Once he woke up - he has been talking and chattering away non-stop. Oh yes, I am absolutely thrilled to have my family back together again at long last!

The Young Eagle

2011-07-20T09:40:00.000-04:00

Down at the pier there is a young eagle. He doesn't appear to have any parents and the fishermen have been throwing him fish. One of my friends saw him trying to land in a tree and said he sort-ov crash lands and hugs the tree.

Here he is on top of a weir driver. That is a good place for him. He also likes to sit on the back of the fishermen's pick-up trucks and will hop along the bed railings. Unfortunately, he also will sit "shiny" cars - and if he sees his reflection he scratches and pecks the car and does a fair amount of damage.

Here is a photo of a weir driver in use, just in case you are curious.
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We all think this is a young bald eagle.

A New Hat For School

2011-07-17T08:56:00.002-04:00

I am out of sock yarn. I do have a few skeins on order, but in the meantime, I can't knit socks - my very favorite, quick and easy, no thinking required project. But a hat is always fun to make. Talk about quick - I had this done in a few hours! It is Paton's Chunky (75% acrylic/25% wool). Cast on 64 stitches on size 6 mm needles, knit 7", start decreasing in sets of 8 (k6, k2tog) 1st row, K 1 row, then the next row I think was in sets of 6, K 1 row, then 4... etc. 4" i'cord to make a hanging loop for the hook at school. Yes, it is for my son. Don't you just love the hanging loop - I got up to the tippy top and I thought - why not?
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I started the 1st stripe after 10 rows - next time around I think I will start at around row 15 so it doesn't get lost in the brim. But then again - once you have it on - it does seem to stretch out a bit so I think it is fine.
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Don't ask me why I am in the mood to knit a wool hat on the hottest day of summer. Oh - I know why, knitting gives me an excuse to sit down and put my feet up! Here is a photo of the hat on an adult head (mine!). I hope it is long enough to cover my son's ears. Anyway, I like it and I think he will too. Maybe I will cast on another - but after 10 rows I will add 5 rows of k2, p2 rib and then start the decreasing after knitting 7.5 - 8" - that should be long enough to cover MY ears! Yeah, I think I will try that.

Edited to add: Here is a very good tutorial for a very similar hat if you are having a hard time figuring it out... it seems like it would be a little big circumference wise - I cast on fewer stitches and used a smaller needle, but the idea is about the same. And don't bind off if you want the i-cord - just keep knitting that! But I like the idea of a pom pom too!
http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2005/06/easy_rollbrim_k_1.php

June Wrap-Up

2011-07-01T18:02:00.000-04:00

Seems to me like the seasons fly bye. I've been busy all of June, so very busy. But - I usually have my camera with me and have snapped some photos along the way that I will share. First, my lupine field. It is just the empty back field - in the spring I have it cut down with a big mower deck on the tractor and then let the lupines come and go before mowing again. I am contemplating putting in fruit bushes back here. Those thornless blackberries, raspberries, elderberry... Wouldn't that be lovely? I am sure the deer and birds would just love them too!

June is also the month when fiddleheads show up in the grocery store. Front and center here. Fiddlehead quiche, fiddlehead soup, just plain fiddleheads. Mmmmm. A neighbor caught me snapping this photo and thought I was funny!

This bush is popular with the bees! I am not much of a gardener, but I do try to plant bushes and perennials where-ever I live. This one was supposed to be a mini (like the one next to it), but obviously it isn't so next year maybe I will move it out of this planter and put it in the front of the house.

For sure I always plant peonies because they remind me of my Nana. Here is one of the 1st ones of the season, which I promptly picked and brought over to my neighbor.

This is Coonie - my ever wild, stray cat. 3 years and he still hisses at me in the morning when I feed him, but I think that just may be his way of talking. He is a fighter and if I give him milk I can get close enough to put neo-sporn on his wounds. Because of my travel schedule I would never get a pet, but this one found me and I couldn't really let him starve, now could I? I actually pay someone to come feed him all winter. This summer he is scheduled for a trip to the vet for his needles and to be fixed and hopefully that will put an end to some of his fights. Then again - we had that scheduled for last summer too but they only take ferral cats 1 day a month and you have to be able to CATCH the CAT to get him here. Humph!

Lobster season is over in Canada. All the traps had to be out of the water by last night. All week long the pier has been a parade of one pick-up truck after another loaded like this hauling the traps home. I call it the lobster trap parade. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of traps all stacked along the pier. I watched one boat come in and they told me they had 1200 pounds of lobster on that run.

NOT much going on in the way of sewing, but last night I did manage to make 1 little block. The directions are on Bonnie's blog at www.quiltville.blogspot.com - click on June 2011 and you will find it. Been too busy with work, renovations, plants. etc. And waiting and waiting and waiting to see my DH and son again. The schools in Austria sure don't give much of a summer vacation - he is still in school!!! But they will be coming along soon enough and that will be one happy day!

Still wool-sock weather

2011-06-28T21:54:00.001-04:00

I don't always blog about the socks I am knitting - here are some of the pairs I knit over the winter. The bottom ones (purple) my friend knit for me. All of these are my favorite socks. I also knit 2 pairs for my son, 1 pair for my DH, 1 pair for a gift this coming Christmas and I currently am working on a brown pair as another gift.
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Happy Feet yarn - so warm, soft, cushiony! I highly recommend it! That is the dark pair on the top left. The cuff has a fancier than usual twisted stitch and I ribbed K2, P2 down to the toe.
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Kroy yarn - well, it is Kroy. I have always thought Kroy was the best until I tried Happy Feet. Kroy feels a bit more like you are wearing wool socks. You feel it - but just a tiny bit. Kroy socks are the blue/teal stripped ones and the autumn-y, subtle stripped ones. My favorite rib - K3, P1. Works up much faster than K2, P2. Again, I ribbed down to the toe.
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The solid brown pair I think is Reynolds yarn. Love, love this yarn, so nice to work with! Except the skeins run a bit on the small size hence the shorter leg on this pair. What was I thinking when I started K1, P1 and kept that up for the entire sock - ribbing down to the toe, I have no idea!
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The purple pair that my friend knit for me as a gift - Opal yarn. I really think Opal is the itchiest out of all these pairs, but it is a nice warm pair of socks. My friend ribs just the top and then switches to a knit stitch all the way around.
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So here it is almost July 1 and I am STILL wearing wool socks most days. Yes, the temperature has been staying in the mid-50's. Brrrr. Just TRY growing tomato plants in this weather. Well, that is my excuse and I am sticking with it! Only just yesterday did it start to warm up. And today it is even warmer so I have on my summer socks. Can I dare hope that the coming days are going to be warmer than the weather we have been having? Well, in anycase, I think I am pretty well prepared in the warm sock department!

Quilt Group Day

2011-06-14T14:25:00.001-04:00

I really enjoy my quilt group and try to get to the Thursday morning meetings, as my schedule allows. This past Thursday alot of members were working on making squares for our new group quilt. It is just a 6" square sliced in 1/2 diagonally and the narrow strip is a 1 1/2" strip. We are alternating light and dark center strips to get that lattice effect. I really like this one! We are making this quilt to raffle to help support our quilting group. We donate money to the church where we meet to help pay the utilities, etc. There are other expenses as well. Last year we made a 9 patch and made over $300 on the tickets. Next year will be our bi-annual quilt show and that always helps raise funds too.
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I didn't sew. I brought my knitting and am working on another pair of socks. It is more like a quilt, knitting, handwork group. It doesn't really matter what you are working on - the thing that we like is getting together to visit. We have snack and coffee after a while too. There are some mighty good cooks in our group!
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I have to share this recent finish of a fellow quilter! There are another 2-3 rows you can't see, but this should give you an idea. These blocks were sewn by the quilter's sister many, many years ago. This is all hand appliqued and hand quilted - as so many quilts in my area still are. Beautiful! And this is a lucky quilt because a few weeks ago where it was in the basement sewing area - the sump pump failed during a heavy rain storm. The basement was flooded. We were all worried about this quilt - down in that flooded basement still on the frame. But look - it was not damaged. Phew!

Maple Leaf Logs Quilt

2011-06-04T08:51:00.001-04:00

It is hard to believe that I started this quilt the end of November, 2009. I was in Austria and my husband had just come home from the hospital after having a 6.6 pound cancerous tumor removed. It seems like a lifetime ago. DH continues to be in good health and life continues to be busy, and this quilt top got put by the wayside.
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I stopped working on it in Austria because I wanted 1 more row of blocks for extra length... and all my fabric was in Canada. I really like my toes to be covered! So, it got packed up and moved back here with me last summer, but I arrived at the height of my busy season and hit the ground running. I had thought for sure that I would be able to work on them in the fall, but you may remember I had a flood in my house and the fall was spent doing renovation work. Ah, incidentally - these blocks are laid out on my new maple floor! And then it was heading into winter and I was on the Cape.
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But it is a rainy day in early June now - can't scrape paint, work on the windows or in the garden. So, I got it all out last night and proceeded to start making a big mess! I guess that is how a quilt will eventually get finished - a little bit at a time. But - I am on a mission to get wrapped up so I can get re-organized.
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Sewing takes up so much room! Unlike my small little knitting bag that always seems to have a pair of socks on the go tucked in there. I have knit quiet a few pairs of socks over the past winter... here is the latest pair that just came off the needles - 100% pure merino wool and oh, so soft! The skein is a bit on the short side so I buy 3 - 2 in the main color, one for the stripes and the toes once the main color runs out. These are my very favorite method K2, P2 for 2" and then switch to K3, P1 - rib all the way down to the toe. The K3, P1 works up waaaay faster than K2, P2 all the way. Trust me!

Spring Arrives Fast!

2011-06-02T18:30:00.000-04:00

Spring is such a busy time of year for me! I am so busy doing, doing, doing that I just don't have time to sit down and write about everything. But - I've been taking photos. Every chance I get I run outside and snap some photos of the flowers growing like crazy, the birds, the renovations that always seem to go hand-in-hand with Spring. I love Spring! Busy, busy - that is me. The other day I sat down at my desk and just thought I would put my head down on my arms for a few moments to rest my eyes - and when I woke up I had huge crease marks all across my forehead! No telling how long I was snoozing away.

A large flock of goldfinches entertained me for about 2 weeks before they moved onward in their northern migration. They sure are bright this time of year!

And everything is growing so fast! My rhubarb plant on May 3:

And my rhubarb plant on May 30:

I have all my flower baskets planted - as soon as they are a bit more established I will move them to the front veranda. Oops - messy photo, but hey, at least I am trying!

My new hosta bed - this is a shaded weedy patch that I have neglected for the past few years, but this spring I moved a bunch of hostas over here and have now added some impatiens and salvia. Way over to the far right is oregeno, thyme and some kale. The front ends of either side have small bushes. I think this new bed is going to be a huge improvement!

Speaking of improvements... my new decking on the veranda (whooo-hoo!). Yes, the very same veranda the hanging baskets will be moved over to.

And a new roof over my bedroom!

Plus my business is up and running for another season and that keeps me hopping. I never complain about that though - you never can complain about business and I would welcome more! I can sleep all winter, right? Yup - it is a busy time of year around here!

The Curious Fox

2011-04-10T22:59:00.001-04:00

It is beautiful, spring-like weather here, which means we are burning brush. One of my sister's was burning brush today, I stopped by and stayed all day. Later, another sister asked me how the brush burning went. Huh? I didn't know how she knew - but she knew because she knew the other sister was burning today and she just knows that I can't stay away from a burning brush pile. Well, can you blame me? That sister of mine moves an entire party down to the brush pile - picnic, coolers, even s'mores fixings. The dogs even have their own water cooler and bowl! Well, that smoke does make you thirsty. Here is a photo of our party after the pile was pretty much burned out and we were winding down for the afternoon.

And just in the woods there - off to the left there was a fox for a while - watching us. Curious fox! My nephew's keen eye spotted it... look how perfectly it blends in to where it is standing.

My sister took this photo of me so I can send it to my son and DH.

And when we were all done burning, the 2 of us pulled this tub over to the fire and flipped it on top of it. I have the funniest photo of my sister pulling it! I am sure we will laugh at it for years to come. My nephew dug up the dirt and covered all the air holes. We use this tub all the time and I never realized what it was until I asked my sister today - it is an old oil tank cut in 1/2. Sometimes we pile stuff in it. Other times we have our fires in it. Today we used it as a cover for the fire. Leave it to my Dad to save everything! Who knew an old oil tank could be so useful!

Yup, brush burning is one of my favorite outdoor parties! Oh - and I almost forgot - while we were doing that I was cutting lengths of bamboo for a solitary bee habitat project I am making. I will keep you posted...

McCall's 6297 - A Fun Market Bag

2011-04-04T01:09:00.000-04:00

Remember Wednesday night is Craft Night? Well, I have been working away on this market bag. There is still one thing left to do - I do not like to use cardboard for the bottom of my bags so I have to get a piece of that needlework plastic stuff for the bottom.
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So, basically done. There are several things I don't like about the design, but it is done and that makes me happy. Well, except the bottom of the water bottle pockets are driving me crazy because they have about 2" openings on the bottom - just big enough for your car keys to fall out of or something like that. So, I am going to whip stitch those openings shut. Better safe than sorry.

And a photo of the pattern. I have the next bag over cut out and all interfaced - ready to start on this Wednesday at Craft Night. I don't think it will take as long as this one did - those 4 outside pockets took extra time! I am just playing around with small projects. Those 99 cent - $1.99 dollar pattern sales at Joanne's inspires me to buy patterns I would never dream of paying full price for! This one was originally $18.95, so a good bargain at $1.99. It is a good, solid bag and I will probably make some more - with a few modifications. You get to know what you like in your own bags, but for the 1st time around I like to follow the pattern.

Sunday Morning Waffle Recipe

2011-03-30T23:09:00.000-04:00

One Sunday afternoon when I was hanging out with one of my sisters... she decided to make waffles. So, we made waffles that afternoon. I marveled at how good they were and the 2 of us ate the entire batch... and it has sort-ov become our Sunday thing. I love Sunday waffles!

Here is: Sister's Sunday Waffles Recipe

1 1/4 cup flour
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients together.

In separate bowl mix the following wet ingredients:

1 egg
1 1/3 cup milk
3 TBS oil

Mix wet & dry altogether until lumps are gone, but don't overmix. You can make waffles or pancakes with this mix.

If you put left-over batter in the fridge it will thicken up, but you can just add more milk to thin it out again - it will be fine for an extra day.

I hope you make some Sunday waffles of your own and enjoy this recipe as much as my sister & I do!

My Geek Girl Day

2011-03-23T08:36:00.001-04:00

This past weekend I was the lucky recipient of a scholarship to Geek Girl Cape Cod - their website is here.
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On arrival I was given a schedule that was jammed packed with different classes I could just walk into the classroom, sit down and learn! The only problem with the schedule is that there were several different classes I was so interested in - all at the same time! Good news though - some of the classes repeated later in the day. But sometimes the repeat was during a different class I wanted to take. Oh, the decisions! I had to be decisive and once I made up my mind what class to be in - I paid attention to that instructor. I gave it my all. And I did not wonder what was going on in the other class, was it better, would I learn more over there. By doing this, I was able to really enjoy my day.
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A great area to check out - was the "help desk" center. Ummm - see that photo in my header? That would be the "help desk". Just one aisle - there were more. Each area had signs up telling you what the helpful persons area of expertise was - Blogging, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Constant Contact, PC Troubles - just to name a few. Loved it! I was able to talk with a person about setting up a Facebook Page for my business. There were some issues I was confused about - because a business page is different than a personal account. Questions answered and I now have a business Facebook Page. Many, many people were volunteers, all working to make a technology difference in our lives!
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Then I wandered over to the Constant Contact table and learned so much. Really! This is todays way of marketing (keeping in touch and maintaining relationships with your customer base) and if you have a business, this is all stuff that is good to know. And if you are "old" in this super hip cyber age (like me - I am 40 and feel ancient), these classes and help desks are invaluable to get you updated! My sister sent her very first Constant Contact e-mail out yesterday for her business and got immediate results! So now I am busy compiling my database for Constant Contact.

Lunch was provided! So nice not to have go out and find lunch when you were hungry - just wander over to the eating area! An assortment of sandwiches, popchips (haven't tried them - 20 chips/120 calories/4 grams of fat - a healthy alternative to regular chips), bottled water and mini cupcakes. Perfect!
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So, it has been a busy week for me here - working away on things I learned. Trying to apply this technology while it is all fresh in my mind and building on it - stepping stones.
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Don't fight technology. My Nana used to always say "Change is Progress" - and she died before we were even faxing. This is a lady who drove her 2 kids to the World's Fair in 1939 in her Model T Ford from Massachusetts to New York. My Dad is still talking about that trip and about all the wonderful new "technology" that was unveiled there! All this technology is common place (like color photography and air conditioning) or very outdated at this point in time. But that generation learned it and gave it to us. And we built on it. Stepping stones.

A Geek Girl Ticket!

2011-03-21T16:10:00.000-04:00

Geek Girl was on Cape Cod this weekend and you can see their website here.
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I really wanted to go! I mean really, did you look at the schedule of all the 1 hour courses you could take? E-mail Marketing, Blogging, Photo Editing, Website Design, Twitter, Facebook - and that is just for starters. The tip of the iceburg! But, alas, I did not have the funds to go. I just knew I could benefit so much from attending, but a budget is a budget and right now I am on a strict budget. But, did I mention how much I really wanted to go??? So, I called them and asked if maybe they had some scholarship money available. Well, yes they did. I was given the link for the scholarship application, filled out all my information, hit SEND, and kept my fingers crossed that I would be one of the lucky recipients. And I was!!!

I will be blogging this week about my Geek Girl Boot Camp experience, so stay tuned! I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to attend!!! Thank you Geek Girl and Sponsors!

A Large Print Quilt

2011-03-19T07:16:00.000-04:00

My niece is making this quilt and I was helping her square it up and put the borders on yesterday. It looks a bit uneven in this photo, but it really isn't. We measure the border through the middle and then move it out to the end to bring in any uneven-ness. Because of the pattern it did want to "grow" a bit at the edges, but we fixed that. It is a BIG quilt - covers her king sized bed.

A close-up of her fabrics.

She got the basis for her pattern out of this magazine - there is a wall hanging in here that she "grew". I think it is a great pattern to feature a large scale print.
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We got the borders entirely attached yesterday and now she is on to making a pieced back for the backing. Isn't it pretty!

Simplicity 2471

2011-03-17T21:47:00.000-04:00

Are these not adorable? Last week Simplicity patterns were $1.99 at Jo-anne's Fabrics so I picked up this pattern. My niece-in-law is having a baby and I think that a pair of booties with matching flannel receiving blankets will be a great gift. The blue pair has solid blue soles, the pink pair has solid green soles. Soooo cute!
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I have to say - I did go ahead and buy the 1/4 yard cuts for these (as stated in the instructions) but you can make MANY pairs with that. You do need the 1/4 yard for the width, but say you want to make several pairs - you do not need to buy 1/4 yard for each pair! I did because I wanted to make both pink and blue. Now that the booties are done, I have to go back to the store to get 1 yard cuts of matching flannel for the receiving blankets. I don't know about other Moms, but let me tell you, I loved the little flannel blankets when my son was a baby.
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I am over the moon happy with these! What a perfect new baby gift! Even though I am a fairly experienced sewer, the instructions on these had me stumped. Lucky me - I had my expert sister standing over my shoulder explaining it all. Because honestly, I would have been lost without her help. But now that I've done it on these pairs, I know following pairs will be much easier.
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Not an "instant" gift, that is for sure. We try to get together on Wednesday nights for "craft night". Last week I did a little bit on one project, a little bit on another... and cut out the pattern pieces for the booties. Then on Sunday I was at another sister's and while she read me the newspaper I cut out the fabric. I just LOVE that - having someone read me the paper while I work on a project! And we visited. AND, she made me home-made waffles. Yum. Tuesday night my sister invited me over to visit/sew for a bit, so I brought my machine over and started some of the 1st steps. And then last night brought us back to Wednesday again and I finished them! I am so happy with them!

Irish Hiking Scarf Finished!

2011-03-14T16:51:00.000-04:00

Ta-da! I love this pattern and have made 2 of these scarfs now. This is called Irish Hiking Scarf and the pattern is from Hello yarn. The link for the pattern is here.
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The yarn I used for this one was Patons Classic Wool (100% pure wool) and I used almost 2 skeins (a few rows short of 2 full skeins). Each skein is 205m/223 yds at 100 g/3.5 oz. It was $7.69 each skein at AC Moore - I bought 1 skein using a 50% off coupon, knit that up and wanted more - by then I had another coupon 50% off coupon for 1 item. So - $7.69 for the entire scarf instead of just over $15! Considering how many hours it took me to knit - I would say that is cheap entertainment! I really like how well the pattern shows up with this yarn.
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I knit and knit and knit and yesterday when I was over visiting my 13 year old niece told me that she thought it was plenty long enough and I should end it! So I did. Here I am - holding the scarf which goes up over my head in 1 hand and her little dog Hope in the other. This scarf is a gift for one of my niece's.

Hope got a bath while I was over visiting yesterday...

Oh - and my sister made home-made waffles with blueberries. Yum! I am going over again next Sunday and we are going to make more! They were soooo good. Stay tuned because I have to get that recipe from her. Mmmm mmmm good, I tell you!

Not to leave the other dogs out - here is a photo I took when I was out walking Sophie and Sadie. Hope can't run off-leash - a hawk would make her into a quick snack! As we head into Spring migration I have been seeing more and more hawks soaring up overhead.

Don't they look happy with their matching tennis balls?

Garden Dreaming on a Snowy Day

2011-02-27T21:23:00.001-05:00

Just a cold, snowy day here. That wet kind of snow that goes from snow to rain to snow and the dampness just creeps into your bones. What better to do than to visit with a sister and dream over garden catalogs and books. Henry Fields and Gardens Alive is what we had today. Better Homes & Gardens Complete Guide to Gardening is a great resource! It tells you things the seed catalog doesn't (I wanted to know how far apart to plant raspberry bushes). My sister loves Baker's Dozen and has several of these books. And - a new favorite of mine - her copy of Birdscaping Your Garden. A fascinating read about what to plant to attract birds. Love this book! And will be taking some of the suggested plants into consideration this spring.

The dogs played on the floor (Sadie is the Labrador Retriever, Sophie is the Miniature Australian Shepherd. Despite the awful weather we still brought them out for a walk.

My sister made an amazing Sky High Apple Pie. I knit on my socks but didn't take a photo. When they are finished I will post about them.

Last night my truck hit 70,000 miles. I have had it for almost 6 years now and bought it used. Still looks and runs like new! Got to love working from home and NOT having a commute! I really like it - a Chevy Silverado 4X4 and has never given me a bit of trouble other than normal maintenance issues. I pay attention to when the oil needs to be changed. And - I did put 4 new tires on this month so I should be good for another 65,000 miles! The thing that gets me - everytime I bring it in for service the dealership trys to sell me a NEW truck. Ummm, no thanks - mine is practically new! Well - just take one for a test drive, they urge me. No! That just drives me nuts!

But speaking of driving around -has anyone ever seen one of these road signs? I have NO IDEA what it means! Maybe I should just print this out and bring it into the police station and ask them - do you think that they will know?

My niece slept over this week. She has a little dog (a Chihuahua) named Hope who goes wherever she does. So when bags were started to get packed up and placed near the door - Hope jumped right into a bag (she already has her sweater on to go outside). She is such a character!

We got these flowers over 2 weeks ago for a birthday celebration. They are in a cold bay window and still look fresh and vibrant.

And here is a parting shot of beautiful Cape Cod in the winter.

Design Wall Monday on Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

I don't have a whole lot of time for sewing right now, but I did get accomplished this week what I wanted to - I got all the sashings on my quilt. I need a name for this quilt! Any suggestions???
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I have fabric for the border which is a medium/large orange/brown floral - so now I am thinking I should get a small bit of matching orange-y fabric for a narrow inner border - maybe 1.5". My outer borders are almost always cut 6.5" because that is how wide my ruler is. Fine science, I know!
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Just 2 "craft nights" at my sister's and look how much I am getting done! Our little group is growing a bit and others are joining in the fun as they hear about it. We can't meet this Wednesday night, but are trying to figure out our schedules to another night this week so we all can continue on with our projects in the company of each other.
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And today is Valentine's Day. The media sure has hyped up this day. Seems like the presents get more and more expensive. We don't really do presents in our family - we like to have a special meal at home though and tonight I will cook something up extra special. We have something to really celebrate this week...
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Here is a photo of a greatest present ever - my sister is up and walking!!! She has a long ways to go, but this is huge! We are all so excited.

I still have one sister in the hospital and will go up to see her today.
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I hope you all have a good day and that you and your loved ones are enjoying good health. Forget about all that advertising and make it a special day for yourself and your family! Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

An old-fashioned feeling quilt

2011-02-07T21:18:00.000-05:00

I started this quilt in Austria and then had to bring it back with me, unfinished. Why? Because for some reason I miscalculated the yardage I would need and was short - get this - 10 2.5" squares of that light cream fabric and 1 strip 2.5" X 10.5" of the dark brown for a sashing strip. Lucky me - I still had a bit of that fabric in Canada. Which I brought back to the USA with me last week from my little trip up there. This is a well traveled project and it is amazing that I have been able to keep track of it at all! Tonight I cut out the missing pieces and I have it set aside for Wednesday night sewing night at one of my sister's. Finally I will be able to sew that last row of blocks onto the top and move onto the borders! I love this pattern - it is just a block that I like and then I sashed it so no pattern. I think it has such a nice old-fashioned homey kind of feeling. Sunny Lanes is also slated to be worked on this Wednesday night.
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The other day I was visiting one of my sisters at the hospital she has been at this month. Three of my sister's have had surgeries this winter so it has been a busy time for me helping them out. The good news is that everyone is doing fine, it is just that sometimes healing takes a little time. In the lobby they had this very nice arrangement of flowers. Pretty! I love how these colors work together.

Pom-Pom Scarf

2011-02-06T23:46:00.000-05:00

I bought a skein of Red Heart's new Pomp-a-doodle yarn on a whim. The pattern for this scarf was on the inside of the label and 1 night of knitting away - I have a cute scarf to add to my Christmas gift collection. The way the yarn is constructed, there is enough string to knit 2 stitches and then there is a pom pom that you have to gently tug through the stitch. It all lines up nicely except the cast on/cast off edge (which doesn't look badly - it just doesn't line up perfectly).

You can buy the yarn at Herrschner's for $4.99 and it comes in a good selection of colors (I used 1 skein for this scarf). This color is called Berries and Cream. Here is the link to Herrschner's website that will bring you right to this particular "yarn". It is extremely soft!

Sunny Lanes

2011-02-04T08:14:00.000-05:00

The other night one of my sisters & I had a sewing night. I brought my tote of projects and finally decided that I would work on "Sunny Lanes". I made these blocks up last year just piecing different width strips together into long rows, cutting each row into 4 squares and then sewing them into blocks. So now I have the blocks pinned together - ready to sew into rows. Progress is progress I guess, even if it is slow going. Now I have to gather up my sewing stuff - my machine is at one sister's house and the cords are here. But I do think that sometime this week I will get it sewn together and it will then be ready for borders.

This photo shows the colors a little bit better.

My sister made up this top for another sister. She is an excellent seamstress, has a serger and can make just about anything in snap. She also made this little red stripped shirt which she gave to me for my son.

She has an entire roll of this fabric. I am going to make matching shorts next week during our sewing night date and then he will have a nice pair of summer PJ's.
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She also was working on a small doll dress. The ruffler attachment on her sewing machine made quick work of gathering the fabric. And, I reviewed another quilting project to see where I left off. Hummm. Figured that all out and took better notes and repackaged the project so next time I will have a better idea of where I left off. Oh the math of quilting.

That big pink bag there is my knitting bag. So I had more projects to pick from, but since she has such a nice big space to spread out all over - the sewing took center stage. But the knitting bag made an appearance last night while I was watching a bit of TV.
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Anyway, I think Sunny Lanes is a nice, cheery Spring type of quilt.

Sophie's Dog Car Seat

2011-02-02T07:29:00.000-05:00

Poor Sophie - so little and slippery leather seats in the car. She slides all over the place and sometimes will even fall off the seat. Time for a ride? She would shake and quiver and not be happy at all. Well, my sister found this (huge) dog car seat and stuck it in her back seat. Now Sophie can sit up to see outside the window and has a nice slip-resistant spot to ride - plus it is very cushy. In this photo it is not strapped in the correct way - this ride was just a quick test drive to see if she would actually stay in the thing. Well guess what? She likes it! After a bit she figured out she wasn't going to be sliding all over the place and she settled down. She likes looking out the window. And then she went to sleep. Success! I thought it was a funny purchase but it didn't take long to convince me otherwise.
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Sophie's last photo seems to get alot of blog traffic. My sister has always had full sized Australian Shepherds. Sophie is a Miniature Australian Shepherd. She is a real sweetheart. I have been to dog training with her and she is ever so smart and eager to please. But don't let her small size fool you - she is happiest with alot of exercise! She is also never alone - she goes to work with my sister. You can read about the breed here.

The Hidden Quilt

2011-02-01T11:32:00.000-05:00

I was very lucky to be a houseguest at my friends' house this past trip too. They had a sweet bedroom all fixed up for me on my arrival. Oh, and the cooking! First night I was treated to lobster chowder. One meal was fiddlehead quiche. We had meatloaf. And a special going away dinner - salted pollack simmered in water and served with fried pork rind in broth. Sounds not so good, but believe me, it is a favorite dinner of mine. With turnips, boiled potatoes, salad, bread & butter. Yum.

Do you just love this beautiful quilt on the bed? Hand quilted too! I call it "The Hidden Quilt" because this is what the bed was made up like:

While I was there - a visitor came every day to the bird feeder.

Maybe, just maybe I will be motivated to look at some of my quilting projects. I did stop at Marden's on the way back into the USA and purchased some border fabric for my sampler blocks that I made last winter. So maybe - we will see...

Quick Trip North

2011-01-31T22:01:00.001-05:00

I went on a quick business trip to Canada this past week. This photo was taken from the hotel room at The Delta in Fredericton, NB. I brought my son to Fredericton this past summer and it is a delightful place when it is warm outside. This trip - well, a bit cold to my liking:

Do you see that? -20C (that would be -4F) during the DAY. Brrr. Love that little temperature thing on my mirror. I had to warm my truck up for a good 10 minutes before driving.

Nice in snug in the beautiful hotel room. Didn't even have to go outside - ate at their restaurant.

A shot from my travels along the shore. So very cold that the ocean vapors are very thick! Brrrr. Did I already say that?

Photo above taken at a red light somewhere in Maine.

And along the way - when I just need a stop-over hotel - I stay at my favorite road trip stop - Motel 6 - their bedspreads say Motel 6. Don't you love it? Very basic, but clean hotel rooms and the rooms aren't frigid when you check in - got to love that when it is so cold outside. Just remember to bring your hair dryer inside because they don't have them in the rooms. I always get a kick out of that, but since I know about it - I pack accordingly. Helps to be flexible when you travel.

And now I am back. Phew. Long drive in not always the best of winter weather.

Canada on the left side of the river/USA on the right. Right here - the time zone line. Waiting in line to cross. Well, at least it is scenic. And out the passenger side window:

Canada on the right, USA on the left.

Winter Fun of Burning Brush

2011-01-17T07:09:00.000-05:00

After a storm everyone rushes out to the beach to check the waves.
One thing about the winter storms - the wind blows lots of dead limbs down. Which means brush clean-up! My sister and I love to burn brush and my Dad's yard is perfect for when we are bored and looking for a little something to do. Two weeks ago recorded wind gusts were 80 mph so you can imagine that we had some brush down. The dogs Sadie and Sophie are always up for an adventure too.

This is a favorite brush burning bin, but as you can see - it was full of ice water. Hummm. Dad's yard is full of everything you can imagine so a little poking around and we have a barrel with a hole in the bottom. We got the brush burning pretty good in that barrel but it would smolder so then we took a huge stick and propped it up on some rocks - that hole in the bottom came in handy and kept the fire burning very hot. We burned lots of brush - lots!

Can you see Dad's tire collection over to the right? Every so often my brother hires someone to come take them all to the dump - this is expensive because you have to pay per tire, but Dad goes right back to collecting them. Well you never know when a tire will come in handy like when you want to build a trailer or something.

Here is the picnic table. Dad's treasures. About every 10 years or so my brother has a scrap metal person come and we pile all the old cars and trucks and misc. stuff up and he takes them away. I have photos of piles of stuff way up over my head from one year. It makes a clean slate for Dad to start all over again. See that train track - it is from Dad's 2' guage train. He gave 2 engines and lots of cars and tracks to a museum, but he still has some of the stuff. My nephew cleared off some of the track and set up a comfy chair that he found in the shop on one of the cars. When I was a kid Dad would run the train up and down a long track. One of those engines was so loud it would shake the entire neighborhood!

And when we were all done burning, look what I found to put smoother our fire. Perfect.

Dad's yard is actually very beautiful in the summer when it is all filled in with greenery and singing birds. All my life we have had fun "playing" in the yard and we are still at it.

The Year Santa Was Late

2011-01-09T20:34:00.000-05:00

I couldn't go to Austria this year for Christmas. So, the first week of December I packed up my presents and sent them off - delivery expected within 5 days. Well guess what? The box of SANTA presents just got there on Friday, January 7th. The other box I sent was received AFTER Christmas. I like to split up my boxes in case one is late, gets lost or held up in customs - but both boxes? I was feeling badly that the boxes of presents didn't arrive by Christmas, but I found out -I did not need to worry. My son had a very good Christmas despite the present delays!
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His sweet little heart, he was full of happiness and excitement on Christmas day. He had carefully set the Christmas table for dinner for 2 (he and DH) and was pleased to see all our traditional holiday dishes set out. We always emphasize special meals for holidays. He sent me a photo of the table.
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As far as presents, his aunt had given him a microscope that he was over the moon about and DH gave him a train car for his track. And one of his friends had left a present for him. DH had gotten a present from Christkind for him as well, plus Christkind gave him some clothes that I had sent ahead earlier as presents. He asked me about my Christmas and wanted to make sure I was going to have a good meal and some presents. And he was happy. We never told him that presents were lost in the mail. As far as he was concerned, he thought Christmas was over and was very happy with what he had received.
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Eventually a box did arrive and the excitement of presents started all over again. He was so surprised that I had sent presents, silly boy! And happy to see that DH had some little gifts in there too. Because he is like that - so concerned for everyone. I don't really send anything expensive because sometimes packages do get lost. But I did send 3 pairs of hand knit socks and if you knew how slowly I knit - you would be worried too! I also sent 2 tins of Christmas cookies which were a big hit (yup, we love our holiday foods), decorative window clings, Christmas decorations and a few little toys, etc. Everything has to be fairly small because of the cost of shipping.
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And then finally on Friday that all important (missing) Santa box did arrive. Yes, I put insurance on my packages, but that isn't the point. Santa should be able to find a 7 year old on Christmas Eve. My sisters all said that this would surely be the year that he would stop believing in Santa Claus. You can imagine how awful this all made me feel, but my son is so happy and cheerful and it just never seemed to phase him that Santa never showed up - the news was full of the awful storms and airport delays and I guess he just figured Santa couldn't get through in that weather. I don't know exactly what he thought because he never said. But then yesterday when I talked with him on the phone (we Skype) he told me he was "exploding with joy!" The box finally was there! And so he thinks he is a lucky because he had THREE Christmases! I guess that is one way of looking at it. I am just happy that everything finally got there. And I could just give my son a very big hug for having such a sweet spirit. He doesn't know it, but he made a difficult time much easier on me.
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In Austria the children do not have Santa Claus. They have a Christ Angel named Christkind that comes in the early evening Christmas Eve into the decorated room (which has to be empty when Christkind comes). No one knows what she looks like so it is not a very commercialized figure, but I thought this weather vane of an angel was very beautiful, so that is the photo for this post.

Sadie's Cone

2010-12-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Remember my jogging buddy Sadie? It is too cold now for me to be outside much because it bothers my athsma and all the bad weather bothers Sadie too. Poor Sadie - since the arrival of snow and ice and SALT - she licks and licks and licks her paws and gets them all split and sore. She has a mighty limp going on right now. The only way to get her to leave her paws alone is to put on the cone. Doesn't she look like an angel dog with her halo?

She is such a sweet dog and just loves it when I come over - here she is trying her hardest to get in close to say hi - except that cone thing hurts when she bangs it into your leg. Ouch!

Here is her "little sister" Sophie. Sophie is a mini Australian Shepherd. My sister has always had labs and full sized A. Shepherds and Sophie is the 1st mini. She is ever so soft and energetic. And she loves to steal anything you put down - last time I was over she stole my sneaker before it was completely off my foot! Last night I held on to them as I took them off and put them in the closet - but believe me - she was standing right there at the ready.

Their very beautiful Christmas tree!

While we visited I worked on my sock. Almost done, but I am thinking I need to rip back a bit and start the toe decrease further up? I don't know what happened here because usually I knit until I am a few rows above where my big toe starts and then start decreasing and get a perfect fit. This time - well, I still have 2 toes sticking out. No problem, I thought I would just add a few more rows but this is needing more and already my sock is starting to have a chimney. Hummm. Any ideas?

Concert of... Boots

2010-12-23T09:32:00.000-05:00

One of my nephews is in a school choir - they go to school EARLY to practice. They just had their series of holiday concerts. I didn't go to the night time one at school, but they had another performance at the local senior center during the afternoon that I went to. It was a full house, I tell you and very well received. Here are some photos of the great art work that the school had on exhibit in the hall. Fun, right?
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What struck me as very funny, as the kids were lining up and trying to get into position - how many were wearing Ugg boots. I think my feet would be too hot if I wore boots all day as shoes, but it is the very "in" style statement in this area! There are 17 kids in the choir and here you can see 5 pairs of Uggs! I wonder how many more kids they would have if practice was after school instead of in the wee hours of morning before school! Based on the size of the class, 17 is a very strong turnout.

It was a great concert - the kids all worked hard and put lots of spirit into their performance! It was so nice that they were able to be bused over to the Senior Center to give this extra performance.

A Writing Exercise

2010-12-18T23:53:00.000-05:00

Do you like to write? I like to write. And every once in awhile I actually put my mind into it and have a little fun.
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A couple of weeks ago I went to a little writing group with my sister (she goes weekly). We were given 5 prompts to pick from and then 20 minutes to free write. Afterward we got to read what we wrote and the group would discuss what they LIKED about the piece (this exercise re-enforces the strong points/phrases in your story). The variety of writing was great - poetry, prose, stories - lots of things to make you think.
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Want to try? Just pick one of the prompts below, set the timer for 20 minutes and write - incorporating your prompt somewhere in what you write. If you need a few extra minutes - take them, but really the idea is to wrap up your writing time in "about" 20 minutes. I have never done a Mr. Linky post before but if I can figure it out I will do another blog post and put a Mr. Linky spot on it for sharing.
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Here are the prompts we were given:
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1. Something seemed different
2. Some things you will never forget
3. It's all you could expect
4. I can't remember
5. It's too soon to tell
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And here is what I wrote (I couldn't pick just 1 prompt so then went ahead and tried to use all 5 within the 20 minute writing time). Just remember -this is the unedited version of what I wrote free-hand with pen and paper that day. It needs some tidying up, especially with the verb tenses, etc., but it has potential - somewhere along the line. Who knows? I keep my writing in a 3 ring binder. Really messy pieces I type and print out (believe me - I scribble all over my paper!). But more often than not - I just stick the scribbled paper in my binder. Well, we all have good intentions, right? And only 24 hours in each day. But anyway - on to the writing exercise:
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Long and mournful, the foghorn's call beckoned. The sound slowly wrapping around the scrubby pine trees, drifting down the steep rocks and floating out to sea on the dense fog. From the top of the cliff Nettie stopped her careful descent down the slippery slope and paused to listen. Something seemed different. The foghorn brought a new memory. The sound came again and wrapped around Nettie's heart slowly nudging her memory. Secrets long held only in the darkest part of her nightly slumber - just a whisper of something that happened in the far distant past.
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The combination of the fog, the foghorn, standing high on the cliff - all were pricking her subconcious. "I can't remember", she uttered. But she was lying to herself. She did remember that frightful night so long ago. "I can't remember", the words were sad and thick in her throat. She stood and looked down at the fog and listened to the crashing of the waves below. It's all you could expect on a night like this. The nothingness but this place here and now. She listened waiting for the foghorn's call again. Rooted in her spot up so high from the tragedy that haunted her. This nighttime misery she endured time and time again. Because the foghorn had a story to tell. And slowly Nettie would remember bits and pieces. A mind will shut down, close off memories, but some things you will never forget. The memory is there - behind a locked door. She wanted the foghorn to finish the story. So she waited and waited because the pieces of her past were floating around and around in her head waiting to be put together. Could she will her unconscious mind to reveal her true past to herself? It was too soon to tell. But she knew this. The foghorn held the key to the locked door.
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OK - so that is what I wrote. Now it is your turn!

Making a Few Small Christmas Presents

2010-12-14T16:39:00.000-05:00

I finally set-up my sewing machine for an afternoon on the dining room table. After cutting a bunch of squares I set my sister to work sewing them together. And we made this cute little doll quilt for one of my niece's. It isn't finished in this photo - I need to get a piece of flannel for the back and will tie the intersecting seams with purple embroidery floss. And you need a matching pillow for a doll quilt, right? Except I didn't have enough of those fabrics (I used 2 fat quarters) to make a pillow so I used muslin for the center and bordered it with the print fabric - dark purple on one side, light purple on the other. I think it is cute!
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And since I was on a roll, I continued right on and made a few lavender sachets. You can't see too well in this photo, but I did use a decorative stitch along the outside edge. They are always a fun little gift to tuck into a small gift bag with a bit of tissue paper.

Christmas Tree Season

2010-12-13T00:31:00.000-05:00

You can count on me to love any Christmas tree. I have had all sorts of fake ones - hand made ones too, even a white one that my Mom declared looked like a toilet bowl brush. And real ones - some years we have had really interesting real trees. Once my Dad brought home a one sided real one - Mom said "no way". So Dad went back out into the woods and found the twin and we tied the 2 together - the tree was pretty rounded at the bottom and then the top branched out - we had a 2 top tree that year! And just the other day one of my sister's and I were remember Nana & Grandpa's old silver tree that had a colored disc that went around and around and turned the tree red, blue, gold and green. Funny!
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Above - one of my sister's real trees (I have lots of sisters so don't even try to keep them all straight!). I have clearer photos, but I sort-ov liked the blurry light effect. Even though that means you don't get to see all their great ornaments that her daughter did an excellent job of getting just so on that tree. We got it this past weekend from a really fun tree lot. They had lots of trees staked to the ground so you could see how they looked. Nice trees!

They had nice wreaths.

But the very best part of all - they had a bon-fire set up with s'mores fixings (the good stuff - Hershey's chocolate!), hot apple cider and hot chocolate. No extra charge! This is their 1st year selling trees and I would say that everyone will come back again next year. Who can say no to a new tradition involving s'mores and Christmas trees!

Oh - and a very friendly black lab - but I forgot to take his photo.

Here is a photo of the tree where I am right now - someone lent it to us and the decorations. I think it looks pretty at night with the lights on. My sister (a different one) is going to draw an angel and we are going to make a cone to tape it onto for the topper. If you have an extra tree in the basement or garage - maybe someone in your community would like it. I am happy that someone had an extra for us.

Last weekend we went to my nephew & his familys house. We decorated that tree and had a nice family dinner. Don't ask me what my crazy camera did for this photo, but here you go.

In Austria, my husband's sister uses real candles and glass ornaments. The tree doesn't get set up until Christmas Eve and comes down before New Years. It is a real tree but shaped differently than what I am used to with big spaces between the branches to allow for those candles.

I always like my own ornaments - when I am where they are at Christmas! We have lots of apples, beads, crochet snowflakes, angels, musical instruments, birds, little wrapped presents and a great assortment of ornaments - even one that I painted when I was 3 years old... last time I had it all set up was 2 years ago (photo below). I guess next year I should pack the ornaments and ship them over to Austria (they are in Canada and I am in the US so that plan won't work for this year). Because my sweet little boy and husband are over there with no ornaments of their own this year - someone is lending them ornaments though and DH plans on getting a small tree this week.

And they do have an Advent wreath (here's a photo from last year) and my collection of rhinestone trees.

And a box of presents from Santa are enroute - winging their way across the ocean even as I type this. At least if I don't make it over there Santa will. After all - Santa rides for free in that magical sleigh of his. Airline tickets are so expensive over the holidays this year that we are juggling plans and trying to make things work without blowing our budget. But at the very least, you can always count on a tree making things look festive.

Finished My Socks!

2010-12-09T20:27:00.000-05:00

Ta-Da! Finished. The other night one of my sister's was here visiting and she wove in all the hanging yarns for me while we chatted. Isn't that great company? I don't like weaving ends.
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I have cast on a new pair - this pair won't have such long cuffs. Do you ever get to this stage and stop and wonder if you should make your start of a sock into a glove? I think this pattern would be very pretty for gloves, but maybe in a solid color.

Knitting is more portable than sewing with a machine, so that is what I am going with these days. I do have a few small sewing projects I would like to get to, and maybe, maybe I will get around to it some time this week? Maybe not. I am busy. And when I am not busy - I try to get outside to enjoy my beautiful Cape Cod. Yes, it is cold, but oh so lovely.

One of these days I might be able to sit down and catch my breath enough to tell you a few good stories, but in the meantime enjoy my photos! As the saying goes - a picture is worth a thousand words.

Fat Quarter Vase

2010-12-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

The other day someone brought my sister these beautiful flowers! We did not have a vase in the house that was heavy enough to support their weight, but small enough to keep the stems together. We ended up cutting the top off an Ocean Spray cranberry juice container. I wrapped a fat quarter around the bottle and tied it into place with a ribbon. I just love our new vase! Easy to change the fabric to match the season or your flowers too! Give it a try!

Borrow a Dog for an Exercise Buddy!

2010-11-25T01:06:00.001-05:00

I would love to have a dog, but you all know - with my travel schedule it just is not possible. But I am from a family of dog lovers, most everyone in my family has one - and believe me, I can borrow a dog! Why didn't I think of this before? So, meet my new jogging buddy Sadie. She is a member of one of my sister's households and seeing that she is a lab - she is always up for a nice little trot.
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OK, so she could use some help with her leash manners. She actually tripped me today and I fell, skinning my knuckles. No major injury thankfully, but now I have added a few knots to her leash so I can easily guide her back over to my right side. But it really isn't her fault - I think she just doesn't know any better. She is a trotter - my sister says she pulls wicked on that leash, and I guess she does if you want to just go for a walk. Like a horse who doesn't want to walk going back to the stable! But a trot seems like a good pace for her and she is happy enough to trot along side of me.
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Of course, as soon as I try to take her photo, she pulls out into the lead. I have to gently remind her that we are "partners". And she seems to be understanding the concept a little bit more. Don't ask me why, but a long time ago when I had a Rotty - she totally understood Partners but Heel just didn't sink into her thick head. So, partners it is!

I am so happy to have her with me. I don't like jogging on the trail all by my lonesome - because I am afraid of coyotees. Seriously! Even though I know that running into a pack of coyotees in the middle of the afternoon is a long shot - I hear them yipping all night sometimes. They make me nervous. Not sure she would be much of a protector, but I feel better having her along. So, it is good for the 2 of us. Trust me - you won't find a more willing and happy jogging partner than an active breed of dog. A lab fits the bill perfectly!
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I have doctors orders to exercise 3-4 times a week if I can because I have asthma. Exercise is important for lung capacity so that when I am having a bad day - I still have some breathing room in my lungs. The doctor told me that the best Rx she could write was exercise (but I do have medicine back-ups!). I take that seriously and usually I will try to do a 5K at my fast walk/trot pace a few times a week. I built up to 5K over a period of time. I do a "mellow" Pilates or yoga video a few times a week too. I have a few tapes - they all cost about $5 each (a bargain!) and I rotate them around. Bad air quality means indoor exercise (you can check your area on weatherbug. And cold air is the worse thing ever for my breathing so that means indoors too if it is very cold. But if I get lazy or my schedule gets jammed up and I skip exercise altogether, after a few days I really do feel my lungs shutting down a little bit and I start to get short of breath just from something simple like going up the stairs.
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So, if your Dr. suggests exercise, I highly recommend that you try your best to make it part of your daily schedule! Sometimes I have a monthly gym membership and then I will do alot of walking on the treadmill. But I've got to say - it is much more fun with a dog! If you don't have one, try borrowing one! I like watching our shadows as we make our way along the trail - no cars allowed!

The Gift of Food

2010-11-20T11:46:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I was at my sister-in-laws house - she is a great decorator and this is a photo of what she had on display just coming in the door. Just thought I would share!
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Today's post is about the gift of food. One of my sister's is recovering from a major surgery - right now I am staying with her and helping out. When you are sick, you need a full time secretary to keep track of everything, let me tell you. Nurse visits, doctors appointments, medication schedules, etc. And I am happy enough cleaning and cooking, keeping her company and knitting on my socks when things are quiet. Her husband is back at work full time and if I wasn't here she would be alone all day. And she needs help. There are just no two ways around it. It has been good for both of us to hang out together - it has been a long time since we could do that!
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If you know someone who is sick, please consider the gift of food to bring over to the household. Really. My sister has been home now for about 3 weeks and we have been really lucky to have a steady supply of food gifts. Beef stew (yum!), coffee cake, carrot bread, banana bread, turnip soup, winter stew, chicken soup, lentil soup, cookies, muffins, homemade jelly - it has all been eaten. One weekend my nephew and his wife came and she brought an entire hot cooked meal with her - ribs, potatoes, soup, salad. Another day she sent over chicken and baked beans, macaroni and cheese. This week company came for dinner - and they brought the entree of pasta casserole and we fixed the salad. Don't get me wrong, I am cooking plenty, but sometimes it is nice to just open the fridge and have a selection of things all prepared, just waiting to be heated up.
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And my nephew's wife - she has the best recipe for baked beans - I have to get that recipe so I can add it to my list of food to gift to other when needed. Or potlucks! I don't know though - she makes a great macaroni and cheese too. I would say it is almost a toss up!

An October Project

2010-11-18T00:26:00.000-05:00

October was supposed to be a restful month for me and coming off a long, busy summer I was looking forward to it. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans! First off, the end of Sept. some house guests clogged the toilet and then left it running (and left the house - city people?). By the time it was discovered - the upstairs and downstairs flooring had to be replaced, the bathroom vanity and the ceiling. This involved 3 trips to the hardware store, which is 3 hours away (6 hours round trip). I had to unload 40 boxes of hardwood flooring by myself - now that was an accomplishment! My house was a construction zone for the month. Besides the fact that you never totally make out with insurance companies, so I was upset about the additional unbudgeted expense, sigh.
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The living room is long and skinny and after many different furniture arrangements, we have it divided up into a reading/knitting/visiting corner with the TV & TV couch on the other side. This photo was taken shortly after the flooring was replaced and I haven't been able to clutter up my corner yet! On the other side of the long couch is the dining room table and that leads into the kitchen. I have had these futon couches for about 15 years now - love them, especially the little sofa one - it has a matching foot rest that you can use to make a bed if needed, but we use the foot rest with the bigger couch. The little one is much more comfortable than the big one for sitting on and my son loves the big one for sprawling all over - the perfect pair. Easy to take the covers off and wash too!
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Well, at least my house will look neat and tidy when I return in the Spring. Because... once again I am on the road - actually I left Canada before the end of October so it was a big rush to get my house put back together so I could be out the door by my deadline. And the whole time that construction was going on, I was trying to finalize my financial figures for the quarter, pack my office, pack my stuff and close down the business.

It was the first time I have ever made this road trip without my son. It went really fast - I didn't have to stop at every rest area, I could play the radio on whatever station I wanted and I could even blast the A/C when I got tired. But I still missed him alot. In a few days we will have been apart for 3 months and I still don't know when I will be going to Austria. Thank goodness for Skype to help keep us all connected!

One Lonely Sock

2010-11-16T00:29:00.000-05:00

Ta-Da! One sock! The 2nd one should go much faster because for this one I had to make lots of changes along the way compared to my friends written instructions (which she wrote out by looking at another sock - she just knits with no pattern). I've written down all my notes. And then after I knit the 2nd sock for this one, I am going to knit another pair using these directions, with more changes! I guess that is how one goes about getting a perfect sock pattern for themselves.
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This sock is a bit wide for me, but seeing that it is done - I won't be changing it. But the next pair - well, I think it will have to be a good 10 stitches narrower through the foot. See the 2 side-by-side? You can see that mine is a bit wide but not overly so.
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I have to learn how my friend makes such a perfect rounded toe - even though I grafted my stitches I still have the slightly squared look. I did some internet searching and came up with the suggestion to slip the outside stitches over each other with a crochet hook before grafting and that will help get roundness. Any other tips? But really, look at her perfect toes. And the decrease stitches fall centered where mine seem to be at the top of the foot. Hummm.

And look how that sock looks on my feet! Oh so comfy! I think part of why I love the red sock so much is the Kroy yarn, but I have to say - I am wearing my blue sock right now and the Regia yarn I used, although thin is very warm! Warmer than the Kroy (red sock) which is on my other foot. Any other favorite sock yarns out there?

And how are the rest of you doing with Judy's knit-along?

Sock Knit Along Progress

2010-11-08T09:13:00.001-05:00

This is my little knitting helper - one of my sister's dogs! She loves to sit on my lap and watch me knit - and I let her do that after we had a serious discussion about NOT stealing my ball of yarn, LOL. If you look closely at the photo you can see I am wearing my friends red sock - just as a pattern reference, you know? The yarn I am using is Regia - I am not sure I really like it all that much because it is not as soft as Kroy. I need to find some Kroy for the next pair! Or is it Croy? I think it is Kroy and let me tell you - it is a favorite sock yarn with my friends in Canada.
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These are winter socks so have a longer leg. I am down to the heel split, but have lost my 4th needle - I think I left it another sister's house! So - hopefully in the next few days I will be able to get my lost needle and get back to knitting.

How about the rest of you? Socks on the needle? Oh - and yes, I was going to try the 2 pairs at once method, but first I have to get that 1 ball of yarn divided into 2 and sometimes it is the simpliest of things that seem so difficult at times, so I am happy to stick with my dpn's for this pair!

Meet my Tractors, Part I of a Long Story

2010-11-04T11:53:00.000-04:00

I have a sort-ov long story about the history of my tractors. So, this is 1 segment of the story and then another day I will add another segment because otherwise I think you will be sitting here forever reading about my tractor saga.
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Exhibit A: The big Kabota tractor. It has everything - post hole digger, front end loader, mower deck, york rake, brush hog and rotatiller. I was originally talked into the purchase of this thing by my husband over 10 years ago because he needed a riding lawn mower. Take it from me - never fall for the line - "oh, you don't need to go look at it, Honey - they deliver!" Because this one was too big for the lawn that needed to be mowed. None-the-less we are well prepared should we ever buy some huge spread somewhere, maybe have a few hundred head of cattle or something? - obviously it would have to be something bigger than our current property. Well, my Dad likes "yard ornaments", I guess my husband does too. Except Dad's tractors are really old fashioned and have character. Got to remember to do a post just in honor of Dad's tractors. This one is just ugly, but I suppose functional.

Enter Exhibit B: The "small" Kabota, minus the jumbo grass collector bags that attach to the back. This one is bigger than your average riding lawn mower. Actually, it would come in very handy if we ever happen to own - say - a 19 hole golf course some day. Again - I fell for the line of having the mower delivered. It does do a hum-dinger of a job mowing - but it needs some sort of service. Which means I have to either buy a new flatbed trailer (I sold mine because I got tired of driving around all sorts of BIG things for many miles through 2 different countries), or borrow one to get it to the service center. But I do know some mechanically inclined people who may be able to fix it for me in the spring. In the meantime, since I am not there and it will be snowing, I am not too worried about it.
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Not tractors, but part of my whole mowing the lawn story:
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Not pictured: Exhibit C: The self-propelled Sears lawn mower - the kind you push around. Because even though we have 2 tractors, we needed something much smaller to get into the smaller spots. First time someone else mowed the lawn for us they ran over a bunch of rocks and ruined the blade thing underneath. We have tried to mail order the replacement part, but Sears doesn't mail order parts. We have been to Sears, but they didn't have that part the day we were there. You have to understand, it takes us 6 hours round trip to get to Sears so we don't go so often.
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Not pictured: Exhibit D: My very own, very old electric lawn mower. I won't give this thing up for anything because is always works like a charm, will practically mow through a forest, is light weight, you can push it either way... it is an oldie so is very tiny - I can pick it up with one hand and bang it up and down if the mower part gets stuck and it is instantly unclogged. It has a beautiful, long, GREEN electric cord (green for grass - get it?). Except my husband stole my cord this summer to plug in a very important freezer and I just never got around to buying a different cord for the freezer and who is stupid enough to unplug a freezer in the summer to mow a lawn? Not me, because that would be the 1 day that the sky falls down on me and I would forget to go plug it back in.
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So, there you have it - 4 different "lawn mowers" to pick from at any given time, except the big tractor is too big to be called a mower, right? You would think that it would be an easy enough task to get the lawn mowed every so often, but not so! You will have to stay tuned for the next segment of this story.
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Oh - and by the way - that small Kabota tractor photo - yours truly had just mowed that small patch of back yard - I also have a very huge meadow but that is so grown up I have to figure out how to use all those handy-dandy attachments on the bigger tractor in the spring. I am sure that will be a story all of it's own.

Sock Knit Along

2010-10-29T17:33:00.000-04:00

I am soooo ready for a rest. Well, finally things are settling down for me - I have lots of stories to tell over the winter, let me tell you! But for now I can kick back for a bit with my feet up. And I am prepared - I have my stuff for Judy's Sock Knit-Along which starts November 1st. Here is the link for the knit-along - LINK
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I have never knit 2 socks at a time, but I am willing to give it a try. So, here are my supplies. I got one needle at 16" for the front of the socks and a 24" needle for the back of the sock. The lady at the shop said it would be easier to keep track of with 2 different sized needles. OK.

Do you just love the afghan on the bed? It is at my sister's house - a friend of hers made it this summer for her guest bed - a queen sized bed!

Refooting a Sock

2010-10-27T00:07:00.000-04:00

Here are 2 socks that my friend's Mom knit for her - she wore out the foot on the left sock so her Mom "refooted" the sock - as you can see - she didn't have enough of any 1 color to refoot so she made do with what she did have. That is the way it is where I live - nothing is wasted. Do you refoot your socks? You just cut off the bottom part leaving extra room to pull back the yarn so you can pick up the stitches and refoot.
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Most everyone around here knits socks, mittens, etc. and you know knitters when we get together - love to show our current project to each other. Well, her Mom showed me the current sock she was knitting in this pattern and I really wanted to try the pattern. Except... well her Mom has been knitting this pattern ever since she was a little girl but there is no written pattern - my friend and her Mom just knit from memory. Have any of you ever seen this type of pattern?
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Yesterday my friend and I were traveling together and she brought these 2 socks and some notebook paper so we could write down the patterns. She would look at the sock and then write down what to do. And not only that - she is lending me these 2 socks to refer to if I get stuck - she has an entire drawer full of them since both she and her Mom knit them. And then Mom refoots them when the foot part gets worn out. Yup, I would say she has a drawer full. So, these 2 lovely socks are mine for the winter - she probably knew what she was doing when she didn't give me a matching pair, LOL! That red pair is knit out of the most wonderful, softest wool ever - I think they would be on my feet constantly if I had 2 of them. Oh right - I will have 2 of them once I knit up my own pair!
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You can just see the corner of my friends sweater sleeve - she knit that sweater over 14 years ago and it looks brand new to me. Last time we were together my friend grafted my sock ends, well yesterday she taught me how to do it and we fixed my son's socks that I showed last post with pointy toes! Plus she had some hunter mitts (fingerless gloves with a pull over mitt) that she let me graft as well so the method would stick in my head. For some strange reason I think that the order of grafting a sock is similar to hooking up jumper cables to a car. Well, whatever works to help you remember, I suppose.
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This week was the end of bow season and the start of gun season for deer. You allowed 1 deer for each weapon. My friend's husband was lucky enough to get 1 on the last day of bow and then 1 on the 1st day of gun. I forget what the doe weighed, but the buck is 80lbs. If you disagree with hunting, consider this - if people around here are thrifty enough to take the time to refoot a sock, well then, you better believe they are happy when they have 2 deer in the freezer before deer season is over. Bow season here was very poor this year and I know that the people who did not get a deer during bow are very anxious to at least get a deer during gun. I know lots of places don't let you put out apples for deer, but here you can and even with the apples out the bow season was 75% less than last year. I am hoping that all my friends get their deer this fall.

Sometimes I think we live in a society that is all too eager to throw something out and buy new rather than fixing a small part that is broken. It is nice to live where I do, with people that appreciate the value in the small things in life and are happy to take the time to teach you how to do it too if you are interested.

Knitting Some Socks

2010-10-24T21:07:00.000-04:00

Socks

Can't get this photo to rotate, but here is a photo of some socks I've made up. The stripped ones are from my very favorite pattern - Briggs Little Fine Socks - they are ribbed right down to the tip of the toe so do take some time to make up. Also - this pattern has a "reinforced" heel that wears extremely well. But - they have a pointy toe, which is fine for toddler's, but not bigger feet. I have some waiting time tomorrow for appointments so I will unpick the toes, pull them back to 10 stitches and graft them together. I am not even sure when I made these - I found them in the bottom of my knitting basket the other day when I was rummaging around for something.

The 2nd pair - well, I don't really have a pattern. Cast on 52, k2, p2 for 2"", knit around for 6", blah, blah, blah. But obviously, I forgot the blah, blah, blah part because the toes are a bit different from each other (1 still needs to be grafted). I made the 1st sock in Austria this spring and the 2nd sock over the past 3 days - it went fast once I actually sat down and finished it - I have a big incentive because I need my needles for another project.

I always make socks for my son, but never for myself. But tomorrow I am starting a pair for myself, I am so excited. My friend's Mom showed me her knee socks and it is a pattern I have never seen before. When I asked about the pattern - well - they had never seen it written down before but have been making this type of sock for years (my friend has a drawer full and is lending me a pair of hers to use to look at for the pattern).

It has been busy around here - I have tons of things going on believe me, and hopefully soon I will get a chance to blog about some of them, but for right now I am right out straight. I had to put all my sewing away - no time for a sewing mess right now (that is a good thing about knitting socks - small, mess free and portable). I had hoped to make many Christmas gifts this year, but I think that my pre-sewing Christmas time has come to an end so I will have to call this year good. At least I did get a few cute things made up.

Sewing Fleece Hats and Mittens for Presents

2010-10-16T19:19:00.002-04:00

Here is a new pattern I tried out today - McCall's 4985. I like it -so am hoping it fits the little great-nephew it is for. NOT sure about the mittens, although they are cute. I just don't think they will stay on with the wide cuff so I might add a bit of elastic to the inside. I think the hat sizes run a bit small and the mittens a bit large! So, adjust accordingly - I actually e-mailed a niece for her son's head measurements for a different hat I am making for him - always handy to have measurements in hand, although I know that is not always possible.

This is my son's standard hat - not sure what is up this year because I have that bubble up top, but I may be able to fix that yet. It is actually a combination of several different patterns, redrawn, retraced, redone - so really I can't even refer you to a pattern for this one because it is really my own pattern at this point. But he likes these hats and they keep his ears and back of neck warm. He likes a matching neck warmer. I blogged about how to make the neck warmers in 2007 here Neck Warmer - just click on that blue link and you will see the post. I am hoping to make 2 more sets for older cousin's of his.

And for a baby in the family! OK - he is just learning to walk so not an infant anymore. I have to add tassles to the tops and also velcro to the bottom tabs. This is a pattern I made up for my son when he was younger and he loved this hat! But looking at McCall's 4985 you can come up with something very similar using those pieces as a basis - just extend the ear flaps to come down under the chin - also I cut my hat band straight across the back of the neck for extra coverage. I still have to make matching mittens - 1 side maroon the other side yellow. I will be making the tried and true mittens I have made so many times for my own son - not warm enough for snow play but just perfect for cold days at the playground, getting into a cold car, etc. I blogged about that mitten pattern in 2006 here -Mitten Post . They are sooo easy to make with no set in thumb and perfect for the little ones. I just zig zag a thin elastic to the inside to help them stay on. *Edited to add - on my newer mitten pattern version I have made the thumb point up a bit more and added a bit of a thumb gusset - photos for another post!
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So that is what I got sewn today! All these projects were made with scraps from all the pants I have made my son - so I am busting scrap stash at the same time! Took the day off from paperwork, my carpenter is off on weekends and my season is winding down so I actually had the day off. It was nice to just putter around and play with my Christmas list a bit - there are 20 kids in my family under the age of 12 and I do hope to be able to make a little something for each and every one of them this year. A big undertaking, I know, but at least I am working on it! The weather up the Eastern Seaside has been windy & rainy so this was a nice project for today.
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I enjoyed a nice tea out with my next door neighbor - lots of yummy desserts and I picked a few small bites to try out. Always nice to get out and have a change of scenery. Better than staying home and missing my Mom whose birthday is today - she lost her battle with cancer in 1999. But it does make me happy to be making things for the younger kids and remembering how very much my Mom loved all children. Half the town called her Nana!

Scrappy Quilt Blocks

2010-10-11T06:55:00.000-04:00

Do you ever make piles and piles of scrappy quilt blocks and then forget where you were going with the project? Usually I write my thoughts, notes, design ideas down on a piece of paper... color in my design idea even - and include it in the box with the project. Not this time! Just a few vague notes about having to make X more segments, blocks, etc. Hummm. So, I laid them out like this - doesn't look right. Well, you have to start somewhere in the figuring out process!

Maybe I was thinking they should go something like this? If I were making this layout for a bed though I would have the dark lines running up and down. But I know that wasn't what I was thinking either. Still, it is very cool and maybe I will use this idea at a later date - just wondering if I set them zig zaggy if the lines will create an interesting pattern - must try that thought out before I sew these ones together!

The layout above looks great - actually I will make a quilt just like this layout, but instead of cutting that background fabric into squares, it would be much faster/cleaner looking to cut sashing rectangles with 4 patch cornerstones. Click to enlarge the photo and you will see what I am talking about. So, knowing me - this was not my original plan for these blocks either. But I do like it!

Maybe I was thinking something along these lines? Thin sashing in between each block with a scrappy square corner stone? Or maybe my plan was to set it with an alternate block? I can't remember! But I have plenty of that pink background left, so I know my original plan called for using more of it! I think I will do the sashing/corner stone idea. This week I made 2 more of these blocks and have been playing with the layout. Not a whole lot of progress, but at least I am thinking about it!

I Like My Bird Feeders

2010-10-08T19:21:00.001-04:00

I like my birdfeeders. Every spring and fall I hang them out (plenty of berries for the birds in the summer, but after and before their long migrations - I like to treat them to sun flower seeds. And, as you can see - they enjoy it! This round feeder is fun. It is interesting that when the food runs down too low for the top feeder to reach the food anymore - the purple finches will feed each other - the finch on the bottom will get out a seed and feed it to the finch on the top. It is almost like they are kissing and one of these days I hope to get a good photo of it... but they are so fast!

I only have 2 feeders, but they attract 100s of birds a few times a day. Literally. Because we are along a major bird migration route. I can sit right outside on the bench and they are so close to me. Goldfinch, purple finch, chickadee, nuthatch (ah, but he is a fast little bird and I haven't been able to get a photo of him yet)... then along come the big blue jays and scare all the little birds away. They take turns though.

I have busy days, but I always have a few minutes every day to sit outside and watch the birds. I feed the birds on 1 porch and the stray cats on another. But the funny thing is - the crows love to steal the cat food. They hop closer and closer to it and look at you out of their "side eyes" - almost saying - they are invisible and you can't see them! They crack me up! It is a small price to pay for daily enjoyment and entertainment. It is a stressful world that we live in - it is good to find happiness in some simple things!

6 Pointed Star Quilt Progress

2010-10-04T06:35:00.002-04:00

I started this top last summer, I think? I had already pieced 5 star segments before putting it away, but somehow I lost 1 small strip of fabric that was needed to complete the final star segment. So, this week week I re-made the strip and got the star all put together. On Thursday I have quilting group and hopefully I will get the raw edges basted down and then I will baste the entire star onto a pieced backing. Because I can't think of any other way to do it! To make the entire quilt rectangle - I will add an extra top and bottom decorative border made up of left-over diamonds.

Here is a photo of the little project box I am working out of - plenty of diamonds to make those extra borders! And you can see how I drew out my color scheme and the ruler I used. The notes at the top of the paper tell me how many diamonds in each color to cut. I know you can strip piece this all together, but I have tried that before and my angle just wasn't exactly perfect and my star didn't connect together the correct way. So for me, it worked better to cut each individual diamond and now I have a star that fits together correctly and lays flat. When you think about it though - it really isn't that many pieces to cut. Sometimes I think quilter's are getting lazy with our love affair for rotary cutters and alot of beautiful patterns are no longer being made.

I am probably a little bit too busy right now to sew, but you know, it is my stress reliever and I have had a busy few weeks. Just in the past week... 1) House guests overflowed the upstairs flush and my downstairs living room had a waterfall coming out of the ceiling (insurance adjuster has already been here, carpenter starts tomorrow, but I still have a deductible and new flooring needs to be picked out). 2) I had to bring my sewing machine (which got wet) to the nearest dealer to see if it is fixable - 4 hours away. I had to leave it there so that means I now have to go back to get it at some point in time. 3) My car was side-swiped when parked in a parking lot so I have had to get that to the body shop. 4) I accidentally got my thumb bruised when a rat trap went off when I was trying to move it over a bit - fortunately it didn't snap on my thumb - that probably would have broken it - but when it flipped up it still got me somehow. Ouch. The good news is that I got the critter though - it was a red squirrel - which are very destructive and chew wires. No critters allowed in my kitchen! Oh - in case you are wondering what to bait the traps with - both rats and squirrels love gum drops - you can really wedge them onto the trap so there is no chance of them being able to steal the bait and get away!

And through all of that - I still have had a full work load. So, I think a little sewing was in order to calm my nerves, don't you think? And now I am seeing stars! Or at least 1 big star.

*Edited to add: Thankfully I do have a 2nd sewing machine!

I Made Some PJ's - Simplicity 4388

2010-09-19T17:03:00.000-04:00

In June we were having a PJ crises - the pattern I have used for my son since he was 2 years old (Simplicity 8493) only goes up to size 6. Well, I found a new pattern - very similar. It is Simplicity 4388. I have to say though - I wasn't impressed that they tell you to use bias tape instead of cutting yokes. My son doesn't like any "itchy" fabric, which is why I usually make his clothes. Not sure that bias tape would pass his itch test. Really - once I bought him a t-shirt and the neck band was sewn on with that plastic thread that looks like fishing line. Well, he broke out in an awful rash that looked like a rope burn right around his neck. That went over really well at school until I pin-pointed that the rash was from his shirt! Anyway - the yoke issue was easy enough to fix - I drafted my own yoke by retracing the main pattern pieces in the shape of the yoke I was after... see...

And this is what it looks like all sewn in and finished. I edge finish the rough edge with my serger and then stitch it all down so it still lays nice and flat after many, many washes.

My son isn't allowed to wear camouflaged fabrics as a rule. You have to understand - we live part of the year where people hunt alot and he is inside/outside like a yo yo. Bright colors are much safer. But, for PJ's - I don't mind. He picked this nice soft flannel and then added the bright buttons. I had to smile.
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Not sure when I found the time to make these, but one day I didn't have any lunch reservations and took over the kitchen counter to trace the pattern and cut them out. That is one way to get things done - do under a time crunch - because I did have dinner reservations! For me, I find that once I get something cut out it is easy enough to work on it a few minutes here and there at my machine.

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We are apart right now and I miss him an awful lot - he left 4 weeks ago. But School Boy's have to go to school and I am still working... in a different country. Other than the 5 nights he went to camp this summer, we have never been apart. DH went back with him - he is an excellent father and is taking good care of him. Besides, DH needed a rest and has to go through a series of DRs appointments to make sure his cancer is still gone. So the decision was made. It makes it easier for me that he is happy and that he can breathe where he is now -allergies are hard on him in North America. He was ready to leave when he did and didn't even fuss about leaving me behind; he is only 7 but would rather breathe than be with Momma! Sometimes we take very simple things for granted (like breathing) unless it is a simple thing that we can't do. We talk all the time for free on Skype - and the day after he arrived he was most excited about his ease of breathing. He is happy to be back with his friends and has even learned how to ride a bike! Thank goodness I wasn't there to see that - Nervous Nellie that I am, just as well he learned while I wasn't there to make him nervous - one nervous person in the family is enough. Anyway - this pair of PJ's will be off in the post for him tomorrow.
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Thank you for all your comments and private e-mails about my Spam issues. Seems like it is a common problem in Blogland and I have taken your suggestions and reset some of my settings and have not received any more Spam, so maybe it is working? One can hope. Because I really do enjoy Blogging. As a matter of fact, this is my 501st post!

I Miss Blogging, I Just Hate Spam Comments

2010-09-08T18:49:00.000-04:00

My son took this photo of a deer on the roadside this summer. I think he is a very good photographer! He just loves nature and being outside.

I've gotten alot of e-mails asking if everything is ok. I know - so unusual for me not to blog in a very long time. Because you all know, I la-la-love to blog. BUT I've been getting alot of Spam comments - all in Chinese. I don't like it, not one bit. So, I took some time off from Blogging. I changed my blog settings that I have to approve comments. I still get the Spam and on alot of old posts too. But it appears that the comments are all the same and are probably automatically generated. I am not sure how they get past Blogger though. If anyone else gets this type of Spam I would be interested to hear about it. In anycase, I won't be posting any close-up photos of my cutest boy in the whole wide world son anymore, but the far away action shots and side profile shots really capture his personality right now just fine.

Anyway - summer is super busy for me. Usually I am up at 5:30 and I will work until 10 or 10:30 with the afternoon "off". Off meaning - time to spend with my son, so while it is "off" time - we usually run the errands together and go do something fun and I don't get any rest! I rest in the winter - you just have to deal with it when you have seasonal work.

One thing I do - I cook alot of these guys - this is all part of ONE order.

I work alot, but do try to make sure my son has a "summer". We went camping for I think 9 nights this year - 2 nights here, 2 nights there kind of thing. We did end up buying a screen tent to go over the picnic table just to keep the night dampness off the table area. Please be impressed that I can set this thing up all by myself! Not a chance of it fitting back into the bag it came with, but hopefully I will get a chance to make a big bag for it out of some heavy-duty fabric I have.

And I love, love, love my new camp stove from LL Bean. Every year I buy myself a birthday present and this year it was a camp stove (a little late, but I waited). We can stop at picnic stops and make hot tea and cheeseburgers for lunch now! I like to toast my bagel on the grill part in the morning. I think this photo was taken the 1st time we used it - now I line the bottom with foil for easy clean up.

He went away to camp for 5 days which he liked some parts of it and not others, but overall I think it was ok for him to go. It was his very first time to sleep away from home and it probably was harder on me than him. And we went and visited friends for a few days - we did all sorts of fun things those days - it was the best part of my summe - kayaking (he had the best time paddling around the river),

boat ride, splitting kindling with a real ax (just teach the kids to keep their feet well back from where the ax may fall - in this photo you can see that he has his feet in the correct place),

planing cedar planks (here he is measuring the board to make sure it is the right size - don't you love his safety helmet/visor? He is also wearing ear plugs),

fixing a deck, cooking out, just relaxing with friends and talking and laughing... and he fell in love with a 4 lb pom they were doggy sitting. Here is the best photo of have of her all by her pretty little self. Our friends also have 2 huskys. We hooked them up to the dog sled but they weren't interested in pulling it through the grass, LOL!

So, that is a snapshot of part of our summer. Busy, busy.

Almost Mid-July

2010-07-10T20:46:00.001-04:00

We had a vendor at our quilt show this year and we all had lots of fun oohing and aahing over her large selection of beautiful batiks. It was hard to pick, but I finally decided on the 7 shown below and made the table runner above using 6 of them. I have plenty left over to make at least 1 more if I switch the fabric around a bit. And there should be scraps for the scrap bin too! I am not sure exactly when I will get around to quilting it - probably after I get some batting, I would say. All in all - a very quick and easy project thanks to the excellent instructions in the book Clever Quarters.

My son and I did get away for our mini 1 night getaway. Really, it was just a test to see if he could help me set up the big tent and he did a great job! So, now we can plan a longer camping trip and go in style. I really like this tent because when I wake up early in the morning I can just sneak out to the little screened in area and read - my chair stays nice and dry in there. When my sister-in-law saw my tent set up a few years ago - she got the same one, because she likes to camp with her 2 BIG dogs - the dogs like the screen tent area too! Keeps the bugs away anyway. It is the LL Bean King Pine tent in case you are wondering - just ignore the fact that I have the rain cover on backwards, OK? It is supposed to go the other way, but by the time I got it on that way - I wasn't going to change it.

We could pick our own site (the place was pretty empty!) and I picked right in the middle of the RV's, but with no electric - nice, big, flat, grassy. Well, I wanted room to spread out and figure the thing out. Plus - there is a paved loop that goes around and from this site I could see the entire loop while my son rode his bike around and around. Next time I will pick a site at the top of the loop that backs up to the woods, but for this trip, I really liked the site. Besides - it was super close to the restrooms and water spiket.

One thing I did do before taking the tent down - I got out my JUMBO Sharpie marker from my truck and labeled the rain cover and tent - FRONT/BACK. Should make things a bit easier next time around. But believe me, if I can set up this tent - anyone can! Just ask one of my sisters who was seriously doubting that the 2 of us could get it up this year. Yeah, I think she just wanted to borrow it (grin!).

Even more amazing than the fact that we got the tent set-up - I was actually able to start a campfire. If you put a little bit of melted parafin wax and dryer lint in some old cardboard egg cartons - you have an excellent fire starter (1 egg "cube" per fire should do the trick). Don't forget to pack newspaper! We buy our wood/kindling on site - there is a big campaign not to transport firewood so as not to transport bugs that destroy forests. Sounds reasonable to me. So, we had our campfire and made our s'mores and had a good time! Here are a few photos from our walk right before we started our campfire:

We walked along the beach in 1 direction and then crossed over the little bit of land and walked back along the pond. Once that fog rolls in it is very cold, but I was prepared with double layers of fleece and extra warm sleeping gear. Yes, it was alot of work to actually get out the door and GO and then we only had 1 night so setting up/taking down was a bit of a hassle (but I packed light) but you know, once I was there, I really did relax. The 2 of us had a good time. Even if you only have a little bit of time, just pick something close to home and go! It is almost mid-July now (how did that happen?) and before you know it - summer will be over.

And on the homefront, tonight in the kitchen I have a new batch of sourdough starter going and a batch of foccicia bread starter going too - we have some fresh baked bread on the horizon - waiting for the starter to ripen is always the hardest part, but once it is started you can just keep adding to it and keep going from there. I really should have started it the 1st day I got back but I've been right out straight busy! We've been making home-made tortillas though - my son is very good at rolling them out for me and he usually likes what he helps make -so I've been able to fill them with slightly spicy pork or chicken with cheese and sourcream and he has been eating it - amazing since he eats hardly any meat at all! Guess we will keep making the tortillas too then. A little extra protein is always good for growing kids.

Catching Up

2010-07-04T16:30:00.000-04:00

It's always fun to see my quilts hanging in a show. These 2 quilts were in my guild's recent show - I wasn't even here for "turn-in" day and someone else came to pick which ones to show and even sewed the hanging sleeves on them for me. When I asked my husband which ones where going to be in the show - his answer was - get this - "2 different multi-colored ones". Great clue! Ha, ha. Anyway, it was a fun show - I think there were 33 large quilts and many smaller quilts and needlework/knitting/etc. items as well. The fun thing about our show is that many, many quilts are hand-quilted (not mine, but it is nice to still see hand-quilted quilts!). It is a big fund-raiser for my guild and I think they had a very good turnout. That is a good thing because it helps pay the heating bill during those long, cold winter months. Top quilt is a pattern by Gayle Bong (in the book Save the Scraps) and the 2nd quilt is just a wonky-log cabin style quilt with novelty prints cut into heart shapes and appliqued in the centers (no pattern) - I've blogged about both quilts somewhere on my blog!

I am always saying - I have 1001 things to blog about, but I never seem to get around to posting everything and then new stuff happens and the cycle starts all over again! Well, as the saying goes - a photo says a thousand words, so maybe a few photos will save me alot of typing!

This is an old "traveling post office" that was in display in Austria right before we left. It serviced rural areas. I thought it was neat. I just love "stumbling" upon unique displays and always take the time to see what it is all about.

Looking out the plane window! It was a long, long trip, but thankfully we made all our connections just fine. Except - I totally forgot about having extra US cash on me for a bus ticket and only had enough US currency for 1 adult and 1/2 a child. Oops! It is a bus that collects the fare (which is not cheap, trust me) while you are ON the bus - so no chance of using your debit card. Well, guess what? The bus people decided that my son could ride for free - didn't even charge me the 1/2 fare I did have on hand. I was so relieved, because I really didn't want to get off the bus, go find an ATM machine and then have to wait for another bus at the very tail end of an already long trip. So, it all ended well - human decency does live on.

And now - we are most definately out of the city. Way out. After an all-too-short visit with my family.

Just to give you an idea... we are 2 1/2 hours to the nearest Wal-Mart. In North American terms - that qualifies as being "way out".

I've been working like crazy, but tomorrow there is a break in the schedule so we are getting out all our camping gear (plus a quick trip to the store for the all important s'mores fixings) and my son and I are going camping for the night - very close to home but it will all seem like a big adventure to him and it means - no major traveling for me. What is not to like about that plan?

Slow Shakespear Progress

2010-06-28T15:14:00.000-04:00

June 1 seems like such a very long time ago... that is when I posted that I was going to once again make a favorite quilt pattern of mine; Shakespear in the Park, by Judy Martin. So, how is it going?

Well, I decided I needed more colors than my original selection. I've always made this pattern in just 2 colors, but I think I am going to like this multi-colored version too. Then I decided I better just use 1 background fabric to help tie it all together. Good thinking - because it is much faster to cut just 1 fabric instead of 100s of different fabrics. So, I cut out all the background fabric pieces. And then... well, I was a bit stuck so I had to trace/color my plan.

The first plan I really colored in, but I changed my mind about some of the color placement so made a 2nd plan but much rougher. Anyway - here are the 2 plans side by side. Handy to have something to refer to when making those Snail's Trails.

And that is as far as I've gotten and now I won't touch it for several months. My son and I are on our traveling rounds now - we left Austria, have been to Cape Cod and now are in Canada. We couldn't leave until he had his all-important 7th birthday party and sadly, he was very ill on that day - spent it in the hospital. But he recovered and had his party and 2 days later - off we went. Yes, I took him out of school a little early, but school goes all the way until July 9th over there - doesn't seem right to still be in school the beginning of July.

Shakespear will have to wait a few months. So - if you are thinking of making a Shakespear - you have time to catch up with me! Actually, I brought the pattern with me - you all know I still want to make it in pinks & browns, right?

Stranded... For a Bit

2010-06-13T14:56:00.000-04:00

Well, can't blame me for trying. The weather has been brutally hot - our home was 35C inside (that would be 95F) and that seemed cool compared to outside. When the phone rang with an invitation to come visit - even though that meant I would have to figure out the trains all by myself... of course, I said yes! Besides the fact that we had to cancel 2 family visits for various reasons. So, I packed the suitcase, the little cooler with snacks, water bottles, the computer (the modern day photo album)... and my son and I headed out the door. We made it there just fine. Had a great visit with my brother/sister-in-law and Omi. Boy are they ever thrilled at how well my son speaks German in such a short period of time, especially Omi - it is hard for grandparents when their grandchildren don't speak "their" language. And then headed home the next day - at the little train station we departed from there isn't an office - just a machine that you enter your information, put money into - and out spits a ticket. Usually I double check direcitons with the ticket agent, but that wasn't an option this time around. So - off we go - and got off at the SAME train station we switched trains at going - our ticket even said the exact same stations, just in reverse order. But, oops! We were supposed to stay on the train. Even in different languages I am very good at reading schedules, but this particular train had NO schedules on board. And it didn't even have anyone working on the train, that I could see. Usually someone comes along to check your ticket and you can ask just to double check, but some of the trains use the "honor" system and every once in a great while someone will board and check everyone's ticket - you better have one or there is a big fine! So I just read the ticket and really thought we had to get off. Well, no harm done - we had a chance to call DH on Skype and chat for a bit while sitting outside in the nice, cool mountain air and enjoy a mere 1 hour delay, enjoying our little picnic from our cooler bag. Never leave home without snacks and water!

I've got 2 things to note: First off - if you are going to get off at the wrong train station , it is much, much better to get off at a central point of transfer with many trains coming and going instead of a little tiny train station. We got off at a central point of transfer, which is why I really thought I was correct to get off. The other thing - it helps to have a destination to a large city. Because many trains by-pass all the small stops anyway. So, double check - got off at a big station and headed to a big station. The good news - with that winning formula we only had to wait 1 hour for another train - and the 2nd train was much more comfortable than the 1st train, so I was happy enough to spend the last leg of our trip (1 hour) in a comfy seat.

The other thing - always good to have some spare change on hand - because the 1st train didn't have bathrooms - we decided we better use them at the train station before getting on the next train (the 2nd train did have bathrooms though). And guess what - you have to pay 50 cents to get the doors to open. I put my 50 cents in and the doors - did NOT open. Nothing we did would open those doors. Well, along comes another person - puts 50 cents in and the doors open - and stay open for a bit of time so my son and I went right in after her. Boy was she giving me dirty looks, but really - I didn't want to pay 50 cents twice!

So, all's well that ends well, I guess is the saying. Of course I have one hundred and one other things to blog about, but thought I would at least write about our little weekend adventure in getting home! And even better - it has cooled off since we were away and the weather forecast is supposed to be livable this coming week - great news indeed because a special someone is having a 7th birthday party this week - an outdoor one at the park. So, a good weather forcast is happy news indeed!

The PJ crises

2010-06-09T16:27:00.000-04:00

Here is a little photo collage of 7 different pairs of PJ's I've made through the years for my son - I am sure I have more photos, but on a different computer. Look - there is even a photo from when he still slept in a sleep sack bag (which I also made). I've always used the same pattern - Simplicity 8493, just tracing out a bigger size each time he grew. I even made the robe 2X. PJ pattern I have to say - in the smaller sizes the pants needed to be trimmed down so they would hit his waist instead of armpit but that wasn't an issue with the larger sizes so I am not sure if it was something that I did wrong while sewing with a toddler underfoot or if it was just the pattern. He loves, loves, loves his PJ's - always so fun to go to the store and pick out new novelty flannel for the next pair. I made some pairs from Joanne's flannel and after about a month the shoulder and crotch seams shredded. Shredded I tell you! So, I spend not that much more and buy a good quality flannel that is going to hold up to almost daily wear. Generally he has 2-3 pairs at a time that fit and 1 pair that is slightly too short (I like to have a back-up in case he is sick, you know?)
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But we have an issue with the PJ's right now. First off - I JUST made him his "pirate" PJ's this winter (bottom middle photo). Actually, I started them in Canada so I could do all the main seams on my serger. While I was on Cape Cod I bought the buttons and elastic. And then brought the project over here to Austria to finish. International sewing - you have to be organized! He really likes the extra soft elastic that I bought. But he has grown and needs new PJ's - ASAP as could be. Except 1 problem, well 2 really. First off, novelty flannel is not to be had in Austria that I can find. So I figure - OK, I will order it off the internet, have it shipped to my sister and will pick it up at her house in a few weeks when I am there. I don't have my pattern here so I look it up on-line and, and, and.... it only goes up to size 6. And with his long legs -surely he has to be in a size 7 now. Gasp! What? No, don't tell me! Surely Simplicity has a 2nd envelope with the next group of sizes up? Nope. Since it is just one size I can easily just add the length to the legs/arms and be good for the next few pairs, but any bigger than that and I will have to start redrafting. For the pants - I will just wait until Simplicity has a $1 sale and get PJ pants pattern that is his size because sooner or later you can't just keep adding length to the legs - the entire crotch curve needs to change!
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The closest pattern is Simplicity 2823. #2823 It still has the same style shirt with plenty of ease across the front created by the deep placket (I think that is the right word) created when you fold the fabric to add the buttons. Except it has a V-neck instead of the rounded neck. Who wants V-neck when it is cold out? The kid hardly keeps a blanket on so a V-neck is out. I guess I could just redraft the neck part to match what he has always liked. But here is the 2nd issue - it isn't cold in Austria right now! Really! We turned the heat OFF in March and all this past week it has been in the low 30's - expected to hit 34 on Saturday (that is just over 100F). So, I need to make him a few pairs out of seersucker! Who knew? It is still 10C (50F) in the mornings in Canada. He is used to cold weather. Then again - flannel is a good thing because when we do get back to Canada - I just know that he is going to freeze!
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And with the warmer weather - he is complaining about his t-shirts. Complaining, I tell you. He says they are hot. Yes, they are hot - I tell him they are made out of jersey and jersey is hot. Shoot, anything is hot when you are walking down the street and you know it is over 100 degrees out! We cross the street to walk on the shady side. So I tell him "You need to wear a nice cotton shirting fabric, seersucker or linen to have a cooler shirt". So he wants some. And he wants me to make them. He has such complete faith in me. So, I have to find a new "favorite" pattern for a simple shirt. Any recommendations? Why is it that the stores only have t-shirts for boys anyway? It is too hot for t-shirts!
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So that is part of my summer sewing mission - solving this PJ pattern issue, finding a shirt pattern that is acceptable, plus getting started on all his winter pants. I just love sewing for my son because right now - he loves everything I make for him.

Shakespeare In The Park... X4

2010-06-01T03:07:00.000-04:00

OK - here is a photo of 2 of my Shakespeares (purple is #2 and blue is #3)... the 1st one I made - well it looks alot like the blue one, but the photo isn't as clear and besides - that photo is on another computer. So, just imagine 3 ok? And now... I am cutting out my 4th Shakespeare. Pattern by Judy Martin, by the way.

Here are my fabrics. I had a plan for these fabrics, but the ruler I need isn't here. And honestly, this is probably enough fabric for 2-3 quilts. So, I'm cutting into it and whatever is left over can be used for my original plan. This quilt won't have as much contrast as my others, but with careful cutting, I think the pattern will work.

Here's what I do... Use the fabrics with the MOST contrast (the darkest and lightest) for the biggest pieces and usually the smallest pieces. I especially like the snails trail pattern to show up so I try to make sure I use strong contrast for those big outside triangle pieces.The medium contrast colors - you usually can get away with for the medium pieces. By the 3rd quilt I learned to use a little bit of zinger fabrics - they are fun for the smaller pieces. I used some ugly fabrics for the small pieces too - the ugliness gets lost in the design and that fabric is out of my stash and somehow transformed into a beautiful quilt!

OK - here we go! To stay organized I label a bunch of freezer bags A-K and line them all up. As I cut - I put the pieces in the correct bag. To get a good variety from each fabric without cutting it all up, I start with a bigger size piece (you don't need as many large pieces as small pieces), cut the big piece and then move on down to a smaller piece and cut those with what is left-over from the strip after cutting the big piece. Usually you can cut a few different sized pieces from 1 strip.

I use the pattern in my Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Jan/Feb 2001 (No. 329), but never fear - if you don't have this issue the pattern is also in one of Judy Martin's books. It is not a hard pattern to make, trust me! It just takes a bit of time to cut out and yes, some of the pieces are small, but it all goes together perfectly and if you save the big parts of the snails trails for last... well toward the end you will think that this quilt just flew together! Because those snail trails go together fairly quickly. Just cut it all out and then chain piece away.

So, that's what I am working on. I am interested to see how these fabrics will work out. Not shown is white - I can always use white fabric if I have to... as the saying goes... nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Meet Mabel, She's My Supermatic Sewing Machine

2010-05-29T15:12:00.002-04:00

I've sewn on many, many sewing machines. Many! I've had top of the line and clunkers. But this girl, she is an old workhorse and is a dream for quilt piecing. Meet Mabel. She is my Supermatic Elna sewing machine.

She came with my apartment. The old owner died and her son didn't care for her so left her behind... lucky me! Lucky Mabel. Because a sewing machine needs to be loved, you know? The old owner loved her, I am sure... she even left behind the original receipt (which my husband threw away???!!! - oh you wanted "THAT"). But no matter... Now, I forget the exact date, but I do have a postcard that says her Elna is due for service and it is dated May 27, 1966.

Here is a photo of the brochure for this brand new, top of the line sewing machine from back then... it is actually a brochure for 4 different models - a basic, a zig zag (oh, wow!), an automatic (which did have a fair amount of stitch selections) and the Supermatic (mine, oh joy!).

You can see the price written on the cover for the Supermatic was 7770 Schillings, which for the sake of VERY easy math would be about $770 US$ - in 1966. And if you run that through a relative value converter - this machine would be just over $5,000 (in 2009 - the on-line calculator doesn't go up to 2010). I just love the relative value calculator because I can't tell you how many times I hear people say... I remember when X cost YZ or something like that - well run that amount through a relative value calculator and you might find that things cost way more in those "good old days" than today. SOME things, not all things... I am just saying. Because I don't know anyone who would plunk down over $5K for this very basic (by today's standard) sewing machine. OK, so I would never pay $5K for a sewing machine anyway, but don't tell Mabel! She has lots of good points!

Here you can see that she has cams for the decorative stitches. But, even more important and exciting for me... do you see those 3 little red dots (they are really holes) on the top and 2 on the bottom? Those are oiling holes. Mabel likes oil. Every day! And she is easy to oil - just put one drop in each of those top holes before sewing and you are good to go. The bottom holes don't go through oil as quickly as the top. And when you open the bobbin case - there are 2 more red dots for oiling. Brilliant, I tell you! I have sewn on so many machines where you have to unscrew the entire bottom to even think about starting the oiling process.

Now I know you aren't supposed to oil the new, computerized machines, but that does make me wonder exactly how they do work? Oh - maybe that is why you are supposed to pay $85 per year for an "annual" service - more often if you actually sew on the thing. Because Mabel - well, if I go away for a year or so (she is my European machine), well - she just won't budge - not even a tiny bit, until she has a good oiling! To make it easier to get the oil in the exact correct spot - I have this handy, dandy metal oil tip... it cost 5 Euro and so far has been the only "servicing" she has needed. Plus, Mabel is not picky about thread. She will sew on ANY thread. No problems. Every time I change the bobbin I just run a little brush around the inside of the bobbin casing, add a drop of oil in 2 spots down there and she is good to go!

Here is a sampling of her stitches - I didn't do these - the old owner did. For the life I me, I can not figure out how to do button holes on this machine, but you can see by the sample that it is possible. For JUST buttonholes, I have a borrowed machine that I use. The borrowed machine doesn't sew nearly as smoothly, but it is so much less frustrating for buttonholes, so there you go.

The foot pedal is great - nice and big! There is a ledge at the heel to keep your foot in place and this thing does not slide around on the floor.

She came in this cabinet which is very handy. That is my thread catcher on the left there - I got it from the Dollar Store in Canada and put it in my suitcase! The machine can drop down into the cabinet if you want to use it as a table top (I don't, but I do put the machine down when I go away for long periods of time. The knee hole flips down so you do have a bigger area to put the foot pedal away.

A view of my sewing corner. Even though we live in a multi-level apartment building, yes, we do have a stove in our apartment - it was the law to have alternative sources of heat after WWII when the place was built. Which is why old European apartment buildings have a ton of chimneys on the roof! So, that is our coal stove should we ever loose power, which is highly unlikely. We have basement storage and there is coal down there. I am allergic to dust so we only have throw rugs and I don't usually keep things under the table. We have a seperate dining table so I get that table all to myself! No sewing projects today because my son is borrowing my outlet strip for his train transformer. Hummm. Oh - and there is that 2nd borrowed machine - I have to put button holes on a PJ top for my son.

The inside of Mabel's cabinet was full of various odds & ends... and this one is just precious! Look! The old owner must have sewn alot to have a bodice pattern piece custom made! It is very well made too with very small wooden pegs holding the pieces together and everything well smoothed and rounded. Now, sometimes I will cut favorite patterns from those vinyl tableclothes you can get for a few dollars on clearance (like my son's PJs), but I have never seen a pattern piece custom made from wood!

So, that is a peek into my sewing corner. I know that making a sewing machine purchase is a big investment. They weren't cheap in 1966 either. Actually, I think they were even more expensive. But the good thing about an older machine (or at least a basic model) is that you don't have to go running to the shop every other month for service. I have a very fancy Janome (2 actually) and on the big one - tempermental! And that big Janome - only is happy with expensive thread. And I never even knew that SOME spools of Gutterman thread was made in Mexico until that Janome totally rejected new thread I had purchased - took me awhile to figure that one out, but every spool made in Mexico - that picky machine spit out! I'm just saying... if you are willing to pay that much money for a sewing machine... it should work. And it should work for many, many years. Like Mabel. She is a good machine!

After reading this post- I had to come back to add (because I didn't add my point, duh!) ... sometimes the brochures look so enticing for those new, expensive machines. And that seems to be all that the sales people want to sell too. But a new, basic machine (but don't skimp on quality - Mabel is certainly basic by todays standards, but she is very well made!) might work better. And if you can find an older used machine (sometimes, like Mabel - they are even free) you probably will get many years of good use out of it.

Homework Blocks

2010-05-21T10:39:00.000-04:00

Well, I went ahead and made more blocks to equal 15 and it looked a bit long and skinny. So, I kept going and now there are 20 sampler blocks. I suppose I could make more, but really - that red plaid is down to the very last dregs. Once the sashing/borders are added, I am sure it will be just the right size! This is as far as this project can go until I get back to where I left my 12.5" ruler to square up all the blocks before adding the sashing.

The red and green fabrics and a few of the other snips of fabric? Scraps from my bars quilt which I made in 2006! Plus I used 2 fabrics my sister sent to me this winter - I just love putting bits and pieces, adding memories to each quilt. That is why I love scrap quilts so much!

Most of my quilt in progress photos are taken on the floor and you get that angle when taking photos. Well, today I took a photo of each individual block and created a Picasa collage - I think it came out pretty good... other than the fact that I cut off some of my points in the photos!

I tried to do some plainer blocks, but it wasn't long before I went right back to a zillion triangles or small pieces. And stars are just my favorite. But still, there seems to be a good amount of variety in these blocks so I am happy.

I usually sketch out the block/cutting measurements/colors I want to use on a scrap of paper or in a little notebook and bring that over to my cutting mat when cutting fabrics.

And with triangles - well, sometimes you get those "bonus" triangles. I sew those too... can't seem to help myself. The little blocks my son usually takes for quilts for his Lego men! Eventually these bits and pieces will find their way into a quilt of their own!

It occured to me last night - my son has about 1 hour of homework per night. While he does homework I have been sewing - on call for help if needed. Seeing that he is in first grade... if I sew 1 hour every day he has homework - I sure would have a pile of quilts by the time he graduates! So, I named this post Homework Blocks! It is something to think about anyway.

Of course, we are as busy as usual and there are a thousand and one things that I could blog about but like everyone else - I only have so many hours in the day and my computer time is up!

Slowly Making Blocks

2010-05-13T08:09:00.000-04:00

I started making this set of blocks earlier in the winter and ended up tucking them away in the closet for another day. I haven't felt like sewing much this winter... call it the aftershock of my husband having cancer, but once he came home from the hospital - sewing got pushed to the wayside. Oh sure, I've made some clothes, my Disapearing Nine Patch in Feb., am teaching my friend to sew... but truthfully, I haven't had much interest. It has taken me awhile to pinpoint exactly why I haven't been sewing much lately, but really, I do think that my husband being so ill is the cause. Thankfully he is fine now, so it is time for me to pull it together and get back on daily talking terms with Mabel (she is my sewing machine).
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I started these blocks... probably in January. I think January because right around the new year I joined the Friday Block Party (http://www.fridayblockparty.blogspot.com/) and did a few blocks. Every Friday a new block is posted, you make the block, post a photo of it and share what you liked/didn't like about it. It is actually a fun way to make a sampler because you don't end up spending hours agonizing about which block of the many 1000s of quilt blocks out there you want to make next. Not all weeks have 12" blocks - there is variety in sizes so at this point I think I will just pick and choose the blocks I am going to make. Some I made from the Friday group and others I just picked out to make... got up to 6 blocks and stopped.
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Well, this week I managed to make another 3 blocks from the Friday group and have a 4th one cut out. I am aiming for 15 blocks for this particular quilt so 6 more are needed. Sampler quilts are slow going - you can't just go cutting out an entire quilt in one session and then sit at your machine and chain piece away... but I am enjoying it. The successful completion of each individual block seems like a big accomplishment (sewing wise) to me these days. It is raining here today so no chance of going to the park - maybe I will get that other block I have all cut out done today... my son is happily occupied with his Legos so I guess I better get to it!
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One of my favorite blocks so far - a variation of Joseph's Delight, but really, I like them all.

He Has New Wheels

2010-05-09T04:14:00.000-04:00

For the kids around here, a "Rollie" is a favorite mode of transportation, even more so than a bicycle, especially for the daily commute to school. We are only a 20 minute walk away, but one of his friends is 40. Just TRY telling a kid from the US to walk 40 minutes to school - I don't think it would go over really well! One thing about having to walk to school though - the kids never have a snow day due to road conditions!

He was rollerblading to school sometimes, but the Rollie is just so easy to hop on and go! Except that means I have to walk 2X as fast to try to keep up with him. Phew! I wonder if they make a Momma sized Rollie, LOL.

Anyway he tried out a friend's Rollie at the park one day and loved it (until he fell on his knees). When he tried it out - he was wearing a helmet because the kids had traded Rollerblades/Rollie. When we got him his own Rollie, we went to the park so he could practice and he wore knee pads. Wobble, wobble, wobble - it takes a bit of getting used to. And a helmet - but in this photo he was trying to get away with not wearing it. Busted! It wasn't long before he was ready to handle the busy sidewalks...

Fortunately, his friend has to wear a helmet too. For awhile there I was a mean Momma for making him wear one - NO ONE else wears one to Rollie - biking yes, roller blading, yes - but not Rollie. Well, then he had a gigantic crash, landed on his head, scratched his helmet, had a headache... he thinks the helmet is good to wear now.

Isn't it nice that as modern parents - the helmet we have to worry about is a bike helmet - not a helmet for battle.

Here he is in front of a display of children's armor - if you lower the display downward so the waist level matches his - you can see that these kids were about the same size as my son. I imagine these helmets were way more uncomfortable than the cushy padded bike helmets of today too. Whatever are our kids complaining about anyway? Personally, I think there is no excuse not to be wearing a helmet. That goes for children AND adults - we have to set the good example and protect our noggins too!

A Spring Ball Preview

2010-04-17T16:11:00.000-04:00

We were here today. Want to see the inside?

It is the University of Graz. The inauguration for this building was 1895 - and it is lovely. This room is 25 meters X 14 and the ceilings are 12 meters high. Big room! We were there as part of the sound check for a ball that they are having there tonight. Want to see the some of the decorations? I thought so.

Some of the dining areas were sectioned off with dividers of flowers.

And a photo of my son as we were on our way out. The building is just really amazing - and big!

The sound check went well and we had fun - a little preview of the events for tonight including a good sampling of the music and watching the dancers practice. The worker bees were scurring around doing last-minute flowers, etc. Short and sweet and perfect for a 6 year old! Not only that - we got to see it all in the daytime! The ball is from 8 pm to 2 am.
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I have a TON of blogging to catch up on, but thought this beautiful building deserved its own post. We are outside alot right now and my days just seem to evaporate in the sunshine!

Sewing Progress

2010-04-07T02:02:00.000-04:00

This is Burda 9641 in action. My son loves these shorts and I already have another pair cut out. I did the shorts version but put real pockets on the back instead of flaps. I hate flaps. These are comfy - elastic waist with fake fly, top and back pockets, plus you can add side cargo pockets too (which I did not!). My fabric raveled alot and I don't have my serger here, so I ended up flat feeling all the seams. But with a small size - it doesn't take all that long to do the extra work to make sure they stay together after multiple washings. My son is tall and thin - which is why I love Burda patterns so much - they fit him! And which is why he loves them too. Hard to get that boy to wear store bought. Anyway - my sister sent me this scrap of blue fabric and it wasn't enough to make a simple skirt for myself, but I was able to just squeek out the shorts by piecing the waistband instead of cutting it on the fold. Yes, it was that close! The fabric for his 2nd pair cost 2.90 Euro (marked down because there was less than a meter left), plus the elastic and I already have the thread.

Here are my skinny pants I've been working on! I got the pattern from a German magazine called Moden Diana. I don't read any German so I am happy that I've figured out the pattern this far. My very first fly front on a pair of pants for myself and thing is nice and flat! Right now I am in the process of adding the waistband and still have to do the hem - which is why I have them cuffed in the photo. The fabric is a sturdy light-weight fabric that will be ever so much cooler than jeans in hot weather. But it ravels so I had to flat fell and French seam and turn everything under. That is a little more work on my size than a pair of shorts for my son. I am so happy to have a pants pattern that fits me and that I like - I can't wait to try this pattern out in some stretch denim when I get my hands on some. In the meantime, I will make them again in another light-weight fabric. It takes 1.65 meter of fabric and this fabric was I think 3 Euro a meter, plus the zipper and matching thread. I have a jar of buttons so no need to buy one of those!

The top is Simplicity 3882. I don't think it looks like the pattern photo that much and look how it flares out on the bottom. The back is even lower than the front which would be ok for a layering piece, except the top back piece is cut a good 2-3" too wide so it puffs out. I will probably take it apart and trim that down. If I make the top again, I will add 2-3" to the top front and also raise the back so it is more like a tank top than whaever this thing is! It looks good enough under my favorite maroon top, so it isn't a total loss. Except - I really made it to go with this flared skirt - but look how BAD that combination looks!

Believe me, this is the better photo! Somehow the lines altogether make me look 2X wider than I am. So - the skirt will just have to be worn with a different top and the tank will have to be an underneath layering piece. The skirt is New Look 6900 - a gored skirt. The pattern ran so big I didn't even bother with the waist/zipper thing - I used a knit fabric so I just turned the top under and added a thin elastic. If I had used a woven fabric I would have been really annoyed because then I would have had to take it apart to fix the waist in order to get everything to fit. But with knits - you have some flexibility!

So, I've learned - flared tops should be paired with straight bottoms and flared skirts should be paired with a top that cinches in at the waist.

Here is a lamb decoration that my son made at school before Easter vacation - isn't it cute? Over here a lamb cake is very traditional at Easter time - raisins for the eyes and dusted with powdered sugar.

He also made this goose plant stick. We have to pay something like 10 Euros a semester to the school for craft supplies. It is so worth it because he has crafts every Monday and he makes some really fun things and he is always so proud of his little creations. I think it is sad that crafts has been taken out of many schools due to budget cuts. I really don't mind paying the extra 20 Euros a year to keep crafts in my son's classroom.

One more photo and then I have to run... this is from the hair dressing shop down the street from me and I really liked it so took a photo to remember for next year! They use the same big vase for every holiday - they just change what is inside of it. We have 2 big bunches of pussywillows that we hung our eggs on in our living room, but next year I want something like this in my front entry.

Just a busy Momma!

2010-03-30T12:36:00.000-04:00

Finally, after waiting all winter, the weather has turned nice! Which means we are outdoors alot! There are many beautiful parks and walks right here in the city. To say nothing of little fairy tale houses you may stumble upon!

Here is a photo from a slightly hazy day - but you can see that the city is ringed with mountains. I have heard that there are many trails out there that are just waiting for us to discover. Soon - we will pack a picnic and make a day of it.

Last week we were given tickets for a small circus in town - so we went. My son had never been to a circus before and we made it almost all the way through. He is VERY sensitive to noise and I didn't have any of those yellow ear plug things with me. We ended up moving our seats all the way up on to the back bleachers to get away from the speakers and that was tolerable. His favorite things - the clowns and horses. But really, he is happiest outside.

It is school vacation week here and my DH and I got him a pair of roller blades. After just 4 days on skates, he is doing really well! The wrist guards are a bit scratched up, but that is what they are for!

We go to the park every day. When you live in the city you can't just tell your child to go play outside. You must bring them to the park! Sometimes we go 2X a day. Today we were there for 4 hours. I am so happy that we got the skates because he really loves going up and the walkways! He is getting good at manuevering the city sidewalks and even wore them when we popped into the grocery store today. After vacation he will probably skate to school - it is a 20 minute walk so that will give him good practice.

Sewing wise - I made up this top (Simplicity 2415). I am very annoyed because it looks nothing at all like the pattern photo. Look at that ease! Look at those sleeves! So, I've taken it apart and will re-draft it and re-sew it. The fabric is left-over from my homespun ocean waves quilt! Here's what it looked like before I took my seam ripper to it.

And this is what it was supposed to look like (the SHORT sleeved version!):

I've also made a tank top and a gored skirt - have to take photos though. And, I am making myself a pair of pants - I basted them and tried them on a few days ago and they are perfect! I am over the moon happy with them - just have to get interfacing and the zipper so I can do the zip and waistband. The pattern is from a German magazine called Moden Diana - I am so happy I was able to figure it out without being able to read the German instructions! I don't think I will ever buy a pair of pants again, honest. I hemmed some pants for my husband, but after seeing my pair he wants me to try to make him a pair too. And my son needs at least 3 pairs of summer pants too, so I guess I will be busy in the pants department for a bit.

Which reminds me - I pre-washed this fabric in February... I ALWAYS pre-wash my fabric. Usually it doesn't bleed and I wonder why I bother... but every once in awhile I get a bleeder. This one wins a prize for bleeding! A little vinegar in the water helps.

So - we are all doing fine - just really busy! All that fresh air makes me tired. Plus the birds are very excited that it is spring and they make a racket at 4 am. 4 am! Really! So - I am usually up at 5 am having my tea, which means I go to bed earlier - and that is usually when I try to update my blog. Not only that - the last few times I've tried to update, Blogger wouldn't let me add any photos. And what fun is a photo-less blog? Even if it just a bathtub full of blue water! LOL!

Signing off for now... but I will be back with more updates.... soon, hopefully!

Quick March Update

2010-03-13T09:01:00.000-05:00

My Ocean Waves is coming along - I am now up to adding the plain borders and then the pieced borders. All the fabrics are homespun - yikes! Lots of stretchy triangles but I am in the homestretch now.

I figured out a German sewing pattern! Yes, I did. It is from a pattern magazine called Moden Diana. Now, I don't know if I "followed" the directions because I couldn't understand them - but I think the dress turned out pretty good! It actually took me longer to find all the supplies to trace the pattern (I needed a pronged wheelie-thingy and I use gift wrap for paper). Here is a photo before I put the final hem in - it is now hemmed and I fixed that the back was slightly longer than the front. I tried the dress on to check the hem and then my son and I were playing with the self-timer. I love this photo of us - look how much he is growing!!!

Here is a little line-diagram of the dress so you can see the details. I did top-stitch all the seams - especially where the skirt joins the bodice to help hold it all down. I am getting ready for warmer weather!

I've gone with my son's class 2X for iceskating lessons. There are no school buses here so that involves walking 20 kids down the busy city sidewalks and waiting for the tram - getting them all on and off the tram, etc. The kids had alot of fun, but it was very hard on me being outside for so long - my lungs are still very sensive to cold air. Here they are (about 1/2 the group) - lined up for some sort of relay thing.

The kids all have rigid backpack/bookbags which are much different than the backpacks the kids use in North America. But the bags are bulky, especially on the crowded trams, so the kids also have very small snack backpacks or messenger bags for class outings. Oh, how my son really wanted this red plaid messenger bag featuring Felix the Bunny. So, this is his snack bag now. Just the right size for a few snacks and his water bottle. He has younger cousins we can pass it on down to when he outgrows the theme, but right now he is pleased as punch with this bag!

They didn't go this week because all week at school they had a special study of Africa and Friday they put on a concert/show for the parents. Lots of bongo drumming! My son really enjoyed the week which included food, dancing, singing and decorating t-shirts with wood blocks, plus all the stuff they learned. I thought it was a nice change of pace for the kids mid-winter.

We have also been to the opera house to see a special program that was being put on for children. We got a tour of opera house which was more like a 45 minute lecture and all the kids really had to suffer through it after losing interest in about 15 minutes. But, we did see some interesting stuff back-stage. The show we saw was 80 Days Around the World, which was good, but again - a bit long for the kids. All in all though it was a nice activity for a cold Saturday. I will have to go back another day to take photos of the outside, but here is a photo of the inside that I took during the tour.

So, I am trying to stay busy - but let me tell you - I am tired of winter! We had ONE nice day and I got all excited and washed up the winter coats and gear and had my DH carry the boots down to our storage area in the basement - and don't you know - it turned cold and snowed alot a few days later. The nerve!

Stone Church in Thal

2010-03-02T04:06:00.000-05:00

Those horses want the carrot - but there is an electrical fence there that they don't want to touch! Meet Rio (he is on the right). This is a cousin's new horse and on Sunday we went outside the city (Thal, a little town just outisde of Graz) and got to meet him. I found out that there is a bus that goes directly from downtown Graz out to a lake with walking trails in Thal, so I expect a return visit with a picnic some weekend when the weather is nicer. We also enjoyed a very nice family dinner out - at a very traditional Austrian food restaurant. I always order food that I can split with my son so we had frittan soup (crepes cut very thin in broth) and weinerschnitzel with rice. My DH and I split the salad which was huge and fileld with things like potato salad, sauerkrat with fennel seeds, cucumbers, tomatoes, shredded carrots, large beans similar to kidney beans all topped with salad. For dessert I had icecream with hazelnut "speghetti" and chocolate sauce. I am going to have to learn how to make that "speghetti" because it was a very interesting dessert garnish!

There is a very interesting church out there...

Right away, from the outside you know it is something unique! Take a closer look...

The outside is decorated with lots of stone mosiacs. And so is the inside!

Have you ever seen stone pews? Neither have I - so here are some photos.

Even the floors are all stones. And the back of the pews too.

All in all, it was a nice day! I am sure we will go visit Rio again someday. There are many horses at this stable so who knows - we might even go riding. I learned something new about my DH from my sister-in-law - he used to be an excellent rider when he was younger and had riding clothes to die for. Hummm. Who would have guessed? Maybe the horses - they seem to have knowing eyes!

Picking the fabric

2010-02-27T09:07:00.000-05:00

People often ask me how I pick a fabric for a quilt. First off, I have been stash busting for 4 years now, so I try to use what have first (but after 4 years - I am happy to say that my stash is fairly small now!). In the beginning of my stash busting I had to buy some red fabric and I made alot of log cabin quilts using light and dark strips to use up those late '80's calicos. I like those old calicos - they all play together very nicely and make beautiful quilts. Here are photos of 2 of my log cabins. I've used left-overs bits to make checkerboard borders. The left-over strips got made into quilts too - I just had to buy border fabric for the pastel one. And more than 1 baby quilt was generated from the left-over strips too!

But, along the way, I got caught up with buying some "crazy" fabric. Fortunately, I'm not a person who buys huge amounts at any one time - 1/2 a yard will go a long way for a scrap quilter. I had to come up with a way to use those crazies - my Octagon Flowers is one of those quilts. You just need a kalidoscope ruler to make these units. Very easy! I used a navy to help "frame" them and I love this fun quilt. I think it is a pattern that would work with so many different fabrics as long as you use yardage to cut the strips for this quilt because it isn't fat quarter friendly. Another "crazy" fabric quilt is my bargellos. I like both of them very much, but the large one (pattern by Bonnie Hunter) I am going to remove the outer border and replace it with a darker/more solid fabric. Like I said, I just like to "frame" those crazies in! That large bargello used lots of impulse fat quarter purchases (I used just the colors that reminded me of a big field of flowers)!

Can't decide? How about just picking 1 color to use. I've done this more than once! The smaller I cut the pieces, the more variety I use. As long as I feel the fabric "reads" the color I want - I use it. That green ocean waves quilt has some very interesting fabrics, but as a whole, it works. The blue quilt used LOTS of odd blues, let me tell you! The "white" is actually a small print that I had enough yardage on hand to use - so use it I did!

Odds and ends of scraps - make great coin style quilts or wonky log cabins. The coins I sort by color family. In the quilt below is a small anchor block I made that my son really wanted in this quilt, so there it is! The wonky log cabins - I just use anything (the centers are novelties cut into hearts and appliqued down). Again, you can see that I used a solid or solid-ish fabric to frame it all. I think I bound it in orange, but can't remember off the top of my head and don't have the photos here to refer to! Again - these quilts were made using scraps and I bought yardage for the sashing/borders.

But my very favorite way of sorting my fabrics is by season. Winter, Fall, Spring, Summer. Fall tends to be my favorite color scheme.

That 3rd Fall quilt - I started with the center fabric that I did have yardage of - and then picked the co-ordinating fall colored fabrics from my stash. There are some "uglies" in there, but when you put it altogether you don't notice them! This quilt is backed in flannel and one of our favorite couch snuggle quilts! I liked the pattern so much that I made it again - again in Fall colors (the pattern is by Gayle Bong). I am going to look for a nice Summer floral to use and will make it again. You all know me by now - if I really love a pattern, I will make it over and over again - which would explain why I've made 3 Shakespear in the Parks and will be making it again this coming year in.... browns and pinks!

As much as I like the Fall colors, I do use Summer colors too. Here is one...

I don't think you can go wrong with blue and yellow! I had a chunk of yellow to use so that was the starting point! The rest of the quilt - all scraps! Even the star points are made with different fabrics, but they all look similar. The borders - I bought after I made the top.

Very often, I will start with a color family and start making the blocks. Once the blocks are made then I will buy the sashing fabric and border fabrics. Because I like scrap quilts, a few fat quarters work really well for adding a new spark to my stash, without adding a ton of yardage. BUT - it is usually cheaper to buy yardage, so in that case I will buy 1/3 or 1/2 a yard of fabric. Think of the extra as "free". Generally, fabric that I NEED to buy is the background, sashing or border fabrics. I will buy 2 yards of a border, 3 if I want to use the same fabric for the binding. I don't mind piecing my borders. I usually make big quilts - if you make smaller quilts then maybe you don't need so much. I also don't mind having a little left-over - makes for a good scrap basket! Once everything is done or very close to being done - I buy the backing. I love a nice backing. Maybe one of these days I will piece a backing using scrap 10" squares - another great way to use up your stash.

Basically, when I get to a fabric store - I will only exactly what I need in of border/binding/sashing fabric (except I live so far from the store that I will buy an extra 1/4 to 1/3 yard of each just to be "safe") . I will have the blocks made so will know about what I'm looking for. Sometimes I can't find what I am looking for, in which case I just put my list away for another trip. If I want to start a new log cabin - I make sure I have red for the centers! Or - if I need a focus fabric for a new top I want to start - I look for that. Then I will buy a few new "sparks" of fabric for my collection. Just a few! Often times it is the impulse purchases that are the hardest to find a use for! And - if I am running low on background fabric - I get that. I mix and match my backgrounds alot so again - I don't buy a whole lot of any one yardage. If a top is finished - then I get the backing.

So - that is how I buy/use my fabrics and how I decide which fabrics to use together. The worst thing you can do is to be frozen by indecision. Just pick a pattern and go with it! You have to start somewhere and for me - that usually means making that first cut into a NEW fabric - scraps are ever so much easier for me to use, but in order to create scraps you have to first cut the new fabric for something!

Top photo - my son hugging his favorite quilts! He is such a quilt lover that I don't really give too many quilts away anymore - he gets more attached to each one of them than I do.