Some quilty New Years thoughts.....

Happy New Year everyone! I'm so glad that I could spend the evening at home quietly with my stitching and my knitting. I am certainly no party animal but I am happy just the way I am (thank you Mr. Rogers.)

Well there has been lots of buzz on the blogs about plans for the new year. Now I don't do resolutions because I know I will not keep them, but I do like to think about what I'd like to hopefully, maybe, somehow, sort of, accomplish in the next 12 months. Nothing dramatic like losing 50 lbs or abstaining from buying fabric or yarn - God forbid! But I did come up with a list of projects I would like to play with.

In the quilting realm, I have a TON of Moda precuts that have been maturing and I believe have reached the proper aging to be sewn up. These quilts are on my list of ones I want to get to -

1. A larger size Paganini Schnibble done in Tweet Tweet by Keiki for Moda. I got the last of charms squares I need for this quilt today.

2. A larger size Bennington Schnibble done in Hoopla by Moda. Picked up 2 layer cakes to do this one, need to find the cute multi-color polka dot background fabric I've been saving for this one.

3. A larger size McGuffey Schnibble done in Wee Woodland by Keiki for Moda. Got all the fabric I need for this - I think.

Are we noticing a trend here? Oh you are sooo perceptive! LOL! Love Schnibbles big and small and Moda. Did you know you can go to Moda's site and see what is coming out in the next couple of months? Check here.

4. Finish up the Crazy Mom Quilts QAL I started this summer. This fits the bill for the monochromatic quilt challenge for January over at the Patchwork Times. Major butt kicking motivation, so this will move up the list and I'll post a WIP next week.

5. The scrappy butterfly quilt that all the cool ladies were doing last summer - here's a sample. I'm thinking all polka dot butterflies and a black Kona background. I found some wonderful black and white fabric for the bodies that has quilty words on it -- perfect!

6. In July, I want to start working on a Fall quilt. I have some Sandy Gervais "Fall Back in Time" and other fall-ish lines. If I start in July I hope to have it ready by October.

7., 8., and 9. In October, I want to return to the scene of the crime and work on my yellow Christmas quilt. Also in looking over my UFO's I found a lap size Christmas quilt of Sandy Gervais fabric and the blocks for a State Fair Schnibble done in Mary Engelbreit "Holly Jolly" collection. Wouldn't those be great additions to the 2011 Christmas holidays?

Wow - if I accomplish all of that I will be soooooo happy. But that doesn't include any knitting or cross stitch or crafty projects and I know that there will be some of them too. I'll talk about them tomorrow. I'm hoping to have a cross stitch finish to show. I was soooo close last night but I fell asleep with the needle in my hand.


Happy stitching -
carol fun

Gifts from the "quilty ladies".....

Last night I went out with the "quilty ladies" (my son's name for us) and a great time was had by all. It takes us forever to come up with a night we can all make it since everyone has their own family and work obligations we are a little late for Christmas and a bit early for New Years - oh well. We had a wonderful meal followed by cheesecake and our server was extra entertainment. He was waaayyy over the top with a particular dramatic flair. He mentioned he was a grad student and we all guessed Theater major but it turned out he's getting a masters degree in French History. Yes, we asked what you would do with such a degree and he answered get a Ph.D. -- yeah, that's all I could come up with too. Anyway the highlight of the evening was the presents and I was the recipient of some absolutely wonderful gifts -drumroll please --



First is this adorable fabric basket that Laurey made (we won't comment on the number of Dove chocolates that are already missing, ok?) I love the Christmas ribbon candy fabric and it has a fun black and white polka dot lining. Also isn't this little sewing machine pretty?



Next up is this cute gingerbread man mini quilt - sorry about the shadows, he doesn't have black circles under his eyes in real life. He's a great addtion to my ever expanding gingerbread man collection.



Then this haul is from Stephie. I love the zipper bag - I mean what's not to love? Polka dots and my name embroidered in yellow - perfect - she knows me soooo well. Inside was some sock yarn - again she knows my weaknesses - and then there is her homemade peppermint bark. This will NOT be shared with others in this household - they are not worthy - LOL! Ok, I'm selfish where peppermint bark is concerned.



And these beauties were made by Linda -- crocheted potholders! These lovelies will NEVER touch a pot, I promise. Linda has some vintage ones in her kitchen and I've always admired them. It is so nice to have some for my very own.



And last but certainly not least is this gem - a polka dot chicken mug!! OMG!!! LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! Linda picked it up a while ago and saved it for me for Christmas. It warms my heart to know that my friends think of me when they see items like this. I think it proves that I have warped their minds too - LOL!

So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all my quilty lady friends! I don't know what I do without you in my life.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy News Years Eve - I'll be spending it the way I like it, quietly at home.

Happy stitching -
carol fun

The crazy middle-age woman's equivalent of.....

storing up nuts for the winter is buying sock yarn! I have been busy busy busy ordering sock yarn in the last 2 weeks. I'm not sure what has possessed me but I HAD to have more sock yarn (at this time, we will not speak of the 5 plastic containers of yarn in the storage room- they're the smallish sized containers and silence is golden) I ordered online from several places and then there was bargains on ebay and new stuff at Michaels, temptation at every turn and as Mae West said "I can resist anything but temptation."



This first skein is a Heritage 150 Paints by Cascade - such pretty colors, reminds me of the ocean.



And then these two skeins were bargains from ebay - Araucania. I've already wound the top skein and it is almost a finished shawl - hopefully it will be done by tomorrow and I'll take pictures. I don't have any clear plans for the purpley skein but I'm sure something will come to me.



And then there are these two balls of Opal sock yarn. I love Opal when the patterns makes thick and thin stripes and the repeat is really long. I may already have a pair of socks just like the right hand ball but that's okay, I found a cool stripey scarf pattern on Ravelry that it would be great for.



And then there is this Regia Galaxy Saturn. I've been wanting to try this line out. I'm hoping for a cool spaced dyed circly effect. Additionally my friend Cathy shared some cool hand dyed sock yarn she got off of etsy last week and we are planning another order because I NEED several of these gorgeous colorway.

But I have been productive too. This is my Holden shawlette.




The yarn is Pagewood Farms Denali in the Prism colorway. This was birthday present yarn from Cathy and Stephie - thank you guys! It is yummy.



The 8 hours it took me to do that picot bindoff was totally worth it. I love the lacy effect for the edging.

And this was started just about a week ago - another 22.5 Degree Shawlette. This is the fourth one of these I've done and I know I will do it again. Sooooo easy!


This yarn is some new stuff from Micheals called Loops & Threads. I think it is their brand. Very nice, the 10% cashmere makes it very soft and drapey.



I did the scalloped edging in some Knitpicks yarn that I hand dyed last summer. It was a great match.

So I am one very happy squirrel - strike that- crazy middle age woman surrounded by squishy woolly goodness. I could be happy staying home for weeks - too bad others in this house expect more from me than knitted accessories!

Happy stitching -
carol fun

Merry Merry Christmas

Hope you are having a very Merry Christmas!

I need to......

FOCUS! Honestly I'm just bouncing from one thing to another and I'm getting nothing done. I've meant to post since Sunday but I couldn't find my camera and then when I found it it needed new batteries. Anyway here is as late Sunday stitching offering...



This is my oldest son's stocking and being the first born I went all out on this one. I had such a wonderful time stitching this stocking and had it done for his first Christmas - good thing he was born in January and I had 11 months to finish it.


Back then combining perle cotton with wools was cutting edge - LOL! Oh how far we've come. I am pleased with how well all these stockings have "aged". My oldest son is 25 years old (How in the heck did that happen? I'm not any older, am I? -rhetorical question -just ignore me, I do all the time) I'm glad I picked classic designs and stuck with traditional colors - boy I was smart (again, just ignore my delusional thinking).

Now Christmas is just days away. My neighbor goes all out with the decorations and I love it but this year he added a countdown clock. Nothing wrong with that except it is off - by a day -and every time I leave the house or come home I see it and it gives me jolt. I'm pretty much done shopping for gifts unless something wonderful comes along for my youngest son - he's so hard to shop for. I need to go to the grocery to get the rest of the fixings for dinner- the turkey is thawing in the fridge. My Christmas quilt is still on the design wall and I really want to make a new Christmas table runner, but I have no focus or energy. Instead I've been putzing with these.....



simple vanilla socks. This is a Patons yarn I got at Hobby Lobby. Love the stripes, kinda a cross between a roll of lifesavers and a Hudson River blanket. And then there is another of those 22.5 Degree Shawlettes....


I found this yarn at Michael's and I think this must be their house brand. It is called Loops & Threads. It is 60% superwash merino, 30% nylon and 10% cashmere -- oooooohhhh... soft and only $5.99 for 229 yds and I had a coupon. I got it in a couple of colorways. I love sock yarn because it is so versatile. And then there has been this distraction.....



a new 3g Kindle - a gift from my boys. My oldest wanted me to play with it before Christmas day since he figures on the 25th tons of people will be trying to download books. I've downloaded a couple of free books and a couple I've purchased. So far I'm loving it as a reader, using it to check email and surf the web is a bit slow but that could be a function of the wireless at my house. Either way it is a winner - I'm really enjoying it.

Okay it is fairly obviously that I lack focus and my crafty ADHD probably isn't going to clear up any soon so that's the way it is going to be. Hope you are getting lots accomplished for your holiday celebrations.

Happy stitching -

carol fun

Here's why I had to have plastic snow......

Ta dah!!! Aren't these just tooooo stinking cute??? Adorable little cupcake ornaments!




I got the idea here by way of this great blog OnePrettyThing.




I had everything I needed to make these except the plastic snow, so it was killing me that one item was holding me up. They are more sparkly in real life but I didn't have great light today. Ok, I'm dating myself but as a child I remember little snowballs like this at Christmas time. They were vanilla ice cream rolled in coconut and there was a bit of cherry on top. They were frozen and as I remember came 4 to a box. I just loved them. They seemed so special and we only had them at Christmas time. They were frosty and elegant in my 8 year old mind. Does anyone else remember these?

I plan on giving these in a cute little bag to my quilty friends (sorry guys that I had to show them here first but since we aren't planning on doing a holiday dinner till after Christmas I couldn't wait that long - and don't worry I have another part to my gift that will be a surprise for you).

We had a very snowy day here, our second significant snow event of the season. Luckily I didn't have to go out in it. Hope you are nice and dry and warm where you are.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

A rant and some quilty content...

I had plans, big plans to sew today but instead I spent hours running around trying to by a bag of fake plastic snow, sometimes called buffalo snow. How hard could it be to get a bag of this? Plastic snow at Christmas, a slam dunk easy errand - ummmmmm......no, no it wasn't.

Michaels - nope, went to 2 different locations and they were both packed

Walmart - nope,but retail sales look good here too

Hobby Lobby - nope, but I did use the restroom

Meijers (a kinda Midwestern Walmart) - nope, but I did see some cute Shiny
Brite ornaments I might go back and pick up

Target - nope but did buy some cute food ornaments for our "food" Christmas tree - I need to take some pictures

Lowe's Hardware - nope and can you just feel the desperation here?

Hallmark - FINALLY SUCCESS! this Hallmark store sells a lot of Dept. 56 Christmas village stuff and I was told they sell plastic snow year round!

OMG - I just counted these up and realized I went to EIGHT different stores for one 7 ounce bag of plastic snow. Insanity or determination? I'm picking tenacious. Now this took from like noon till 4pm. I drove all over the place and the Hallmark shop was actually the store closest to my house! Why didn't I think of them first? By the time I got the plastic snow I was too tired to start the project and I only had a short time before I had to go back out and pick up my son - sheesh!


Here's a pic of my design wall with the Christmas charm squares....



I'm loving the yellow sashing and red corner stones. I envision a wide yellow border.This is a little over half the top, its going be 11 blocks by 11 rows.

Isn't this flamingo fabric cute? Its a Nancy Wolff.



And this is another Nancy Wolff - a polka dot Christmas tree, I like.



I spoke with Heather who won the Christmas charm squares and she was so excited. She a young mother with 2 small kids and is just beginning to build a stash and wishes she had more time to quilt - remember those days? Don't we all wish we had more time to quilt? Anyway I could tell she will have fun with these fabrics. Hope tomorrow holds more stitching time for all of us!

Happy stitching-
carol fun