Rest In Peace, Margaret.

If any of you are Detroit Red Wings Fans, you may have at one time or another seen The Knitting Lady in the stands....at least that is what I always called her. Well, The Knitting Lady was named Margaret, and the television announcer just reported that Margaret passed away.
Seeing Margaret there, knitting away, always made me smile.
I'll miss her.

19 Degrees Fahrenheit

Baby! It's Cold Outside!

My girls are driving on snow and ice encrusted freeways to get to East Lansing, and I'm trying to keep myself occupied in an effort to keep my mind off all the terrible things that could happen between here and there. There are cars in the ditches and medians and the going is slow, but they are checking in from time to time to let us know that they are ok.

So.....I thought I'd work on something to keep my mind off all that.

I started off with my Christmas Presence charm squares. I turned a pack or two of them into 1/2 square triangles sometime last year and then put them away. Pulled those out and started playing around with them.....

And decided that I'm still not that fond of them and I'm going to put them away again.

Then I read an email from Nancy, and she mentioned looking forward to starting a new prorject and I thought that sounded like a great idea...until I pulled out a mound of future projects and found this one underneath them all:

And I decided that I would rather finish this one and send it off to the quilter before I start on anything else. I discovered that I have 5 blocks finished, with 4 in various stages of preparation. I'm pleased to say that I still like this one, and I'm looking forward to working on it again. All I need to do now is pack up all those other WIP's so that they don't distract me and get to work.

Hope you Michigan chicks are warm and safely ensconced in your sewing rooms....and for those of you in warmer climates....you should thank your lucky stars that you are not here!

It Just Keeps Comming!

We're getting quite a bit more than an inch an hour here. It took me 40 minutes to clear the driveway and by the time I got to the end of it there was more than an inch of new snow waiting for me at the top!
The predictions are for 6 to 10 inches before this is over. Thank goodness it's light and fluffy.

Oops! I Did It Again

You know, it wasn't all that long ago that The Spouse complimented me on the patience I was showing with my knitting. The compliment came after I knitted 2 right gloves from my nifty green wool from Skeins on Main....gloves that I started in August. When I discovered my error I was bummed, but I frogged that 2nd right and got to work on it again. Of course, other projects interrupted the finishing of that glove, but last night I sat down with the intention to finish it and post it on the blog this morning. Well, I didn't finish it last night, but when I got up this morning I picked it up and noticed something. I did it again. I knitted a 2nd right hand. Again. I shit you not.

So here is proof of my stupidity.

Recognition for Faye!

This is my friend Faye's quilt that she entered in a contest at AQS. She's a winner!!! Not only did she get alot of nifty prizes for her fantastic work, but her quilt will be hanging at Paducah this spring. Congratulations, Faye!

Another gift completed!

Here's a quick post. Just showing you another finished Christmas gift. Really, really working hard on this hand made Christmas plan!

Also, I should take this opportunity to show my pile of gifts from The Quilty Chick's Christmas Get-Together. Such beautiful things! I feel spoiled!

That's all for now, chicks. Hope to be back soon with more!!!

The Armada Christmas Parade

I'm a little late sharing this with you chicks. Here are some photos of the Armada Christmas Parade. It's a perfect snap shot of small-town life....complete with carroling middle school students, a tree donated by a local family, decorated by the school children, with Jesus being mentioned more than once or twice. Here are some photos I took with my frozen stiff fingers:

. Thanks you to Faye and Mike for braving the cold and snowy roads to hang out with us for a couple of hours!

A Quilty Chicks Get Together

Today The Material Girls, aka The Quilty Chicks, had their Christmas Get-Together which was hosted by Nancy. Nancy has been under the weather lately, but still managed to have her home beautifully decorated and was able to make us some delightful olive burgers.

Our fourth member Vicki couldn't be with us due to her move to The Sunshine State, and we hope she was enjoying her day as much as we were.

This sideways photo is of a hawaiian block that Faye needle-turned & hand quilted, and is giving to her friend for Christmas. The photo doesn't do it justice. She does beautiful work.

This is a horrendous photo of a darling little love cover, a tiny quilt made by Faye for one of her chairities.
And here is Nancy's grandaughter Kaitlyns quilt. Either a very bad camera or a bad photographer failed to capture the darling loopy quilting on the back, done by Karen the Quilter.
This is for Nancy's other granddaughter Samantha. Again Karen did some darling quilting, and that together with Nancy's eye for color and pattern made for a very pretty quilt .

Lastly, there is Peters Summer Quilt. This one has the most awesome backing!

Here are the chicks showing off their new gloves, and there is also a pic that I couldn't post before now of the make up bags I made them:

And here is Faye and I with our gorgeous paper stacks and fat quarters.

We had such a nice afternoon. Thanks to both of you, Nancy and Faye, for the lovely gifts and company.

An Emily Update

The boss needed his favorite yogurt with honey...and the cafe in the building is out of it. So the New Emily is heading to the deli to get him some.
Good Job, Emily!

In crafting news, I'm still working on projects that I cannot post, as well as working to patch the woobie of the the youngest child....
I'm heading out to the farm this afternoon to do a little pre-parade cleaning, and take stock of the kitchen to see what I need for the post-parade warm-up and snack. I might just take some knitting with me, start a fire and sit in the leather recliner (thanks to Dan, again) and knit away while the snow falls.......

Meet the New Emily

You chicks have seen The Devil Wears Prada, right? Ann Hathaway's character gets the job at the magazine, and Meryl Streep's character always calls her Emily. Emily...the girl who had the job before Ann H.'s character....

Well, guess what? D is the New Emily at her job with The Famous Handbag Company. She is reponsible for getting the boss's tea from Starbucks in the morning on her way in to work. One of her assignments today was to pick up the boss's perscriptions from Duane Reed, a drugstore as common on the streets of NYC as Starbucks is......and she was to take a cab to his building and leave them with his doorman, after which she could take the cab home, paid for on the company card.

Real life and fiction.....not so far apart, are they?

Sunday Afternoon

I decided that instead of surfing other blogs while I wait to take D to the airport that I would add to my own blog.

Just thought I'd share photos of 2 finished projects:

I got the Maison de Noel quilt back from Karen the Quilter. I'm really happy with what she did with it. It's like 2 quilts in one.

I'm glad to have this one ready to bind, especially since I really enjoy working on that. Since we are expecting a somewhat significant snowfall, it will be nice to have it to work on while I sit by the window......

I also have this to show: Another pair of fingerless gloves complete.

I have 2 more pair waiting to be stitched up, and I found another pattern on Purl that I'm looking forward to trying.

Thats all I have for now. It's time to head out to the airport. LaGuardia is already showing a 1 hour delay for D's flight...I just hope it wont be too much longer. I hate the idea of her sitting at that airport alone!

See Ya again soon!

A Sunny Sunday Afternoon

This is what I was up to today. Had a few free minutes (2 hours, actually) so I made these 2 bags from one of my favorite Lazy Girl patterns. They will be gifts for someone this Christmas...I won't say who, just in case that person should read this. I really enjoyed working on them, even though I'm still working with my old machine. I haven't heard from the repair shop yet, and although it's only been a week I think I'll give them a call and see if they can tell me how much longer I'll have to wait for it. I'm really starting to miss it!

Long Time...No Post

Here it is, Thursday, and I don't have alot to show after so many day's absence. My Crafty Wednesday got cancelled (on account of regular old, daily life stuff) and I thought I'd be able to make up for that today, but I've failed at that.

I can show you this: The blue wool wristers that are supposed to be a Christmas gift for The Spouse but will mostly end up on his hands by this weekend (he likes em").

I can also show you these. After I finished up the wristers I pulled out the yo yo's that I got obsessed with this summer and made a few more. As I started working on them I realized that I was growing a bit tired of them, again. So back into the box they go. I'm thinking that they are more of a summer project.

The Cosmetology student did this updo on her practice head (I'm sure they have a name for them, but I have no idea what it is).

There was a competition, and Miss N won 2nd place for her updo.

The prize was a pedicure. Now that's a great prize. Great Job Miss N!

That's all I have for now. thinking it's time for a nap.

You chicks have a productive, crafty day!

A Sunday Evening Post

I know that it was a blustery day today, but I thought those dark blue-grey skys were gorgeous! They really stood out against the pale straw color of the corn out at the farm.

And speaking of the corn out at the farm----look at what was waiting for us as we pulled up the driveway!

Yep..........it's Harvest Time. We've been wondering when Farmer C was going to show up and start taking the corn down. We were afraid we might miss it.

This is what it looked like before it was cut:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

And this is what it looked like after.

The machine that does the work is huge and more than just a little noisy. After it cuts the corn the farmer unloads it into his truck and it looks something like this:

And then, just before he drives away it looks something like this....

Yea, I know. Agriculture is just about as exciting a spectator sport as there will ever be. Sorry you couldn't have been there to witness it for yourselves.

So while the corn was being harvested I worked on some blue wool wristers that are destined to be a Christmas gift. I found the pattern on Knitty.com, and it's been super easy to work up. I have some grey wool that I'll be making another pair with when these are done. Here is a peek at them: These are nice and long, and very warm. I think that they will keep their recipient very warm and cozy!

I didn't have a chance to get to the sewing machine yet today, but the night is still young. Of course, most of what I'm sewing is for Christmas so I cant do very much sharing there right now. Maybe tomorow I'll find something to work on that I can share.

I guess I can show these pics from last weeks NYC Trip. First is The daughter and her dad in fron of Artichokes...and AWESOME pizza place. Yes, I know that the pics are sideways. I'm technologically imparedand my photo software says I cant edit them the way I want to. Please... just deal with it. Next is a pic of The Spouse and I in our daughters apartment. There is enough room to open the oven all the way, but I'm not sure that there was much more space than that. Imagine, if you will what it would be like to make Thanksgiving dinner in a kitchen of this size......She's going to be doing just that this year. Hopefully she will have pics to share. It should be an interesting experience. Did I mention that she has no kitchen table?

That's all from me for tonight girls. The knitting, sewing and quilting isn't going to knit, sew and quilt itself.

Talk to you later!

S

A Blustery Fall Saturday

Started out the day in a bit of a cleaning frenzy. After inhaling a toxic cloud that I created with ammonia and soft scrub (don't try this at home!) I've decided to quilt with the cleaning and move on to more pleasurable (and safer) pursuits.

Thought I'd start out by showing you chicks what I have on the needles..or what will be on them in the near future.

I think I by show'll begin by showing you this: Yep. It's Purl.

Went there with The Child who Resides in NYC last week. The Spouse was such a good sport. He even went into the store and petted some of the yarn. Then he sat on the bench outside. One thing that really struck me about this store, besides it's awesome inventory, is that is wasn't even as large as my kitchen. It was really something to see. Very small, packed with people, and everyone very friendly and helpful. I bought this:

Manos del Uraguay kettle dyed wool, in a dusty plum/violet color. The pattern I bought is a vest-like shrug. I am looking forward to casting on with this and getting to work on it. I think it will be just the ticket to keep my warm this winter.

This is something I have been working on for a little while...I think I cast on the first time in East Tawas at The Harbor Star. I've knitted, ripped, re-knitted and discovered at one point that I had made 2 right hands and ripped again. I got the yarn at Skeins on Main in Rochester, Mi. I've made a few changes in the pattern to make the cuff longer.

Lastly, I picked up some chunky Misty Alpaca to make a gift with...it is the softest, dreamiest yarn I have ever fondled. Here's a peek at it: I know you want to touch it.......and you can. If you are the lucky recipient. If you are not, I got mine at Crafty Lady Trio in Macomb, Mi. They have more.

You chicks have a great day. Hope you are getting alot done and having fun doing it. TTYL!

So it's a cold and crappy day here. Rain. Chill. The kind of day I need to stay home and do what I do on days like this. I bake. So I made 4 mini loaves of pumpkin bread with cranberries and walnuts. One loaf is headed to NYC to the hungry, under-employed child. One will go to E. Lansing to the starving student. One will go to the neighbor who always shares her baking with me. And one loaf will stay right here at home. I highly doubt it will last through the night.

Ok. Here it is. I'm doing it. I'm blogging. I said I was going to. Of course, I said that a long, long time ago. But if you know me, you know that's how I roll.