Hang Ups…

Well yes we all have those… but…

What I mean is Hung Up… Finally!

My husband made a quilt rack for me last year… but I didn’t have it hung where I wanted it because I was afraid the little one would pull on the quilts and well… I was willing to be patient.

It’s hung on the wall a few inches out from the corner which allows the arms to extend against both walls… really dresses up that corner of the living room.  I might just have to have one for the bedrooms… but then I’d have to turn some of those ‘tops’ into quilts!

The other thing we got hung up was a mirror for the foyer that we bought last fall.

And yes that is a winter wool mittens picture hanging on the opposite wall… I guess since it’s actually starting to feel like spring I should put it away… LOL

Here is the other little (2.5” x 4.5”) punch needle project I finished recently.  It will be cute hanging in my kitchen… it is from Threads That Bind.  I will certainly order the larger (3” x 5.75”) one they have that has a “Ball” jar and some tomatoes.

 

Hope everyone has a Happy Hoppy Easter!

You’d Think…

You’d think that in this great age of technology it would be easy to find a contractor to do something.

In the past… pre-internet… I would go through the phone book – the yellow pages of said phone book – evaluate the ads and call several businesses to get estimates.

My problem is that there is no ‘single phone book’ anymore… in my cabinet I have one put out by Verizon for Lancaster County that also has a supplement book… there is another put out by Yellowbook for several of my local communities… yet another put out by one of the small baby bell phone companies… and a Lancaster County Business Directory made available each year from one of our local stores.  The stack in the top right corner are duplicates – all dated for 2013 (these will land in the recycle bin).

 

The real kicker is… they all have different businesses listed.  So you still have to look through them all.

I know you are thinking… just search the internet already!  That is all well and good… there are some businesses that come up in a search but most of these businesses don’t have web sites.  So all I’m getting is more phone numbers. 

And then when you do call people and leave messages… you never hear back from them?  What’s up with that?

Spring!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, haaaa, ha, ha…

Yeah… today is 20 degrees colder than yesterday and according to the weather folks all week the rest of the month will be below normal.

At least the sun is shining again today after being out most of the day yesterday too… nice to get that coating of snow melted off.

I finished off this little punch needle project last evening while watching TV.

 

It’s a pattern from Threads That Bind that I picked up last week at the Lancaster Quilt Show.  After checking out the web site I can honestly say I’ll be buying more of their patterns… they are soooo cute.

I had purchased the small canning jar – but I see that they have a larger one on their web site… so I may have to get that one as well.  I think they’d be sweet in my kitchen!

 

I also finished off the first of the felted clogs… I know - you look at this and figure there is no way that will ever fit.

 

It measures to 16”… looks like a slipper for a giant!

 

 

 

I have an appointment for my knee today and then I am desperate for some fruits and veggies… the refrigerator is empty… seriously… empty!  Actually I should pull all the drawers and shelves and wash them – it’s that empty.  As much as I hate shopping I like going to the place I buy organic fruits and veggies.  They have a stand at the Green Dragon farmers market on Friday but I’d rather go to the store they opened last year across town.

I’m out to enjoy some sunshine!

Lancaster Show 2013

You may remember I had mentioned that the AQS web site did not (still doesn’t) have future dates for a show in Lancaster.

Well - there were signs at this weekends show with the dates for next year and the buzz around the vendors was that a 3 year contract had been signed.  So… this is very good news!  Enough for me to renew my membership in AQS (sweet little applique scissors as a renewal bonus) and buy my discounted multi-day pass.

I may even have found my quilting MoJo… I certainly tried hard enough by spending money!

 

 

I picked up a few new dies for the Accuquilt Go I purchased last year.  I used it for one project and began planning others but needed different dies to accomplish some of what I wanted to do.  Problem solved this year… I think…

 

 

Then there were these sweet little boxes of 2” Civil War Repro squares!

I liked that I got a variety without having to buy a bunch of fabric… I know I probably could have just cut some out of what I already own… but what’s the fun in that?

 

 

They will be perfect for this 3 part stand and pattern to make mini quilts to put my show pins on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year I wanted to buy this pattern but it was out of stock.

This year I got it – the orange print is a Rayon Batik and the dark blue is a cotton batik.  I’d like to have them made to wear this summer.

Simple easy construction so I don’t think I can mess it up too much…

 

 

 

This Brilliant Bindings Tool is used to make these (and several other) patterns… as well as being a binding tool.  I especially liked the Toolin’ Around Pattern.   I’ll let ya know what I think about the tool and process once I get the project underway – the vendor was very pleasant and that’s always a plus!

 

 

I was VERY EXCITED to find this Hex and More Ruler!!  I have these 5” unfinished 9 patches from a swap at Southampton Quilts eons ago… I want to make a Jacks Chain quilt… but never could find a ruler to cut the pieces I needed and never got around to ordering a custom made one.  I think this one will do the trick… at last I can actually start planning this project.

 

 

A few patterns I thought were interesting…

 

 

 

 

 

Another pattern and a kit for some sweet wool mitten ornaments.

 

 

 

 

And then…

there were these…

Punch Needle Embroidery kits…

 

 

 

And another kit…

a mini needle…

 

 

 

 

And of course more supplies…

 

 

 

 

 

And what’s wrong with another kit and pattern?

 

 

 

There was a couple of fusible applique kits on sale I thought the grandkids might like… a few fat quarters, a scrap pack of fabric, and only one other hunk of fabric I got just because I liked it (and it was on sale).

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the yards and yards of “sand” I bought…

I went into one local store and found a sand fabric for my youngest grandsons quilt (another ocean/beach theme – he’ll be two this year so I think I need to get going on it).  And then when we went back over to the show I found an even better sand fabric print.  When I showed my husband I was a little bit hesitant to explain I had gotten 2 sand fabrics.  But when I told him I liked the second one better and got it too – he agreed it was a better ‘sand’ print.

I love it when he agrees!  I’ll remind him of this when he sees the credit card bill.

The best part of this show however is getting to see a bunch of quilty friends!  PA, NJ, CT, VA, NY, MI and KY were all represented this year!  We have a friend that comes in to work the APQS booth each year – Angela is an APQS dealer and a very talented Longarm quilter!  She has a link to a local news video she was interviewed in for the Lancaster Show – you should check it out – she’s very good.  Two of our virtual quilting friends had quilts hanging in the show this year… so it was wonderful to see them here for the experience – and their quilts were lovely.  I did not carry a camera with me so you’ll have to take my word for it.

Felted Easter Eggs

I wanted to add some pictures of the eggs I have finished up to this point.

I did have a few that didn’t felt well – not enough stuffing in them – so now I know a little more is better than a little less.  And I had one that the innards felted up but the shell apparently wasn’t a feltable wool… it was a leftover that I guessed wrong on.

Here is a batch right out of the washer… a little more round than egg shaped.  I ran them through the salad spinner to remove excess water as the washer was set for no spin.

Then I gently rolled them into more of an egg shape.

I put some of the white ones from the first batch into a pot of water with 1/2 cup vinegar and a packet of strawberry Kool-aid… and simmered for awhile.  When I was satisfied with the color saturation I pulled them out and ran them through the salad spinner.

I am surprised at how bright the color is… almost florescent!

I’m going to need to pick up some more Kool-aid… I hope to find a blue and lime green… I am still knitting – I have another 7 to stuff and still a lot of yarn to go.  I think from this point I’ll focus on the white wool so that I can dye them. 

I set these out on the porch in the sun for a while to dry some.

They are so stinking cute!

What’s On The Needles - March 8

Eggs… soon to be boiled eggs… well Easter Eggs… um… actually Felted Easter Eggs.

Edit: I forgot to add the pattern info – it’s a free pattern available via Ravelry – search for Felted Knit Eggs by Sara Hills.

I laid them out on a ruler to document sizes… most are consistently 3 inches tall… some are taller if I wasn’t paying attention to my knitting… LOL and you see that little yellow egg… well I’m not sure how it got to be the runt of the litter…

I ran out of the roving I was stuffing them with so I have a lot of flat eggs…

I wanted to test out how they would felt so I threw a few in a pot this morning and boiled them.

Then I took the yellow one out and with gloves on I rolled and squished it around and around – dropping in back in the water and fetching it out again to continue rolling.  I have to say I was a little concerned when the insides tightened up and left a floppy, flappy, soggy skin (shell) behind… kinda like our bodies when we loose weight… seriously it wasn’t pretty!  But the skin (shell) finally caught up and voila a little egg… after testing out hand rolling the yellow one I dropped it back into the pot for a picture.  You can see how much it shrunk down!

I poured the whole pot of water and eggs into the washer with a small load of towels set to high heat and NO SPIN.  And here is what I got… I did squeeze some of the water out and hand rolled them a bit to get that eggs shape.  One of them missed it’s pictures… he had hooked up with a piece of velcro in the washer and was a little misshapen – he went through the washer again and is looking better.  I plan to dye some of the white ones with Kool-aid so I’ll post again when I have more done.  These now measure between 2.25” and 2.5” tall.

These are quick and easy to knit – once you get the hang of it you can kind of mindlessly knit away.  And it’s rather forgiving… so that extra row here or there really won’t matter… eggs vary in size and shape don’t they?

Check out what others are knitting this week over at Judy’s Patchwork Times. 

What’s On The Needles March1

Well if I had taken this picture last night before I dropped a stitch… you would see 3 pattern rounds completed rather than this…

 

It’s a cotton linen blend - it does NOT stretch at all – so trying to pick up the stitch didn’t work (I tried)… it also didn’t help that the pattern includes a lot of YO and dropping said YO’s… so I just ripped it out… cast on and started again.

I will be more careful now.

I did finish this Storm Cloud Shawlette – Available via Ravelry – it was a very quick knit using a very pretty kid mohair with a bit of glitz in it.

It’s suppose to have a bit of a ruffle at the bottom edge – top picture is after blocking – bottom pic before blocking) but I think my decision to block that last little bit was a mistake… maybe I’ll dampen and scrunch up that edge and see what happens.  Anyway – it’s cute and quick and I think my daughter will enjoy it.  I only used about 40 g of the 100 g ball – so if she thinks it’s too small I could make another adding an additional section and she could give this one to my granddaughter… hmmm might do that anyway and then they could both have something cute and fancy when they dress up and go out.

Socks are only to the point of having finished the foot part… I’ll get back to them later this weekend.

Be sure to hop over to Judy’s Patchwork Times.  Check out what others are knitting this week.

Quilting?  Ha!  Now I have to clean up the yarn mess up there before I consider sewing… I don’t think those 2 bad habits hobbies can live in the same room.  I have a cute little dresser in the spare room that might make a good storage cabinet for yarn and needles – I do need to rearrange in there also.  I just stripped the bed and closed the door after my daughter and grandkids left… that baby bed makes me sad!

OK enough of that or I’ll get nothing done today… sniff…