Thankful

I am really glad that I have met some very nice people (knitters) online in the past few years.  They have been so kind and supportive with their comments to me on FB and Ravelry and here on my blog while I've been going through hard times.  I am very thankful for that.  Helps a lot.  Kind of sad they are more supportive than some family, but it is what it is, I guess.  I'll take what I can get.  So thank you.

Easter Eve

Easter Eve, what my daughter likes to call today.  LOL.
Saw this idea on Pinterest and had to try it out.  Deviled egg chicks.  So cute!  (and yummy!)

 

Finished these socks a few days ago.  Still LOVIN' this yarn! 

Eye Candy

Got this yarn from here.  I LOVE it!  So, so pretty!  have it all ready to be knit into a pair of socks...as soon as I get the time!

Ouch! Life Sucks!

Renting a room is working out okay so far.  Been spending the nights when Tim is gone to work at Molera house because dogs are too cold and loud to be in backyard and too destructive to be in the garage.  Spoiled little mongrels!  lol.
My lower back went out as I tried to pick up Caleb a few days ago.  Could hardly walk for a couple of days.  Still trying to recuperate.  Totally sucks.  I must be gettin old.  Fuck!  Went to a chiropractor for the first time.  A waste of $105.  And he wanted me to come back a couple more times so he could get more money!  Fuck that!
House going into foreclosure, but Tim is trying to get a short sale.  Life sucks right now.  So fuckin stressed.  Trying to avoid cold sores constantly.  Hope I don't get cancer,...or maybe I do.
Anyways,  at least my career is stable and keeping me busy.  Being at a deposition is my therapy, listening to other peoples' problems.
Was talking to my hairdresser/roommate the other day and told her I was sad to be losing our first house we owned and she said you can't look at it that way.  I never owned it.  It's owned by the government/bank.  A house is just a house.  Made me feel a little better, but, still, I will miss it.
Life sucks.  That's all I have to say.

More Changes

Well, I've moved out of my duplex I had moved into back in October.  My hairdresser is wanting to rent out a room in her house.  So it's good timing she happened to tell me about it when I went to get my hair done last weekend.  Went to go look at it.  It's a nice, big house.  I just hope it all works out because I don't want to have to find another hairdresser.  It's hard to find somone that does highlights how I like it.  lol. 
Anyways, moving in this weekend.  We'll see how it goes!

A Good Day

Worked all day, then came home to happy kids.  Makes me so happy when they are getting along.  Music to my ears!  Finished the shawlette and blocked it.  Just need to take a pic and post it.  Cast on these socks today.  Feels good to be knitting socks again. 

Back To Blogging

Wow!  I can't believe I haven't blogged since last August.  Well, actually, I can.  My life has been a complete mess and I lost interest in crafting altogether.  Just recently, I've been starting to get my interest back again...in knitting, that is.  I haven't felt like doing any sewing or embroidery yet, but maybe soon.  I would like to keep a journal and thought I would use this blog for that, even if it's not craft-related, just life-related. 

A knitting project I started a couple days ago and have been hooked on knitting is this Holden Shawlette.  I'm already binding off and it has a picot edge bindoff.  It's a little time-consuming, but it's a new bindoff to me.  So it feels good to learn something new that's knitting-related. 

I'm glad to be getting my knitting life back in order.  Now let's see if I can get the rest of my life back in order.  One day at a time.

Practice, Tribute and More

So here's what I've been working on.  It's all been embroidery lately.

This is shading practice:

This is my first of many Alice In Wonderland embroidery pics.  I'm getting all the designs from UrbanThreads.com.  So here's the Chesire Cat:

 

Here's a printed fabric embroidery that I started before I found out about this August Stitch-Along on Feeling Stitchy.  So I guess I'm stitching along with the rest of them:

And the last one is a design I found on Urban Threads' website.  I wanted to embroider this because just last week we got bad news that my husband's good friend was murdered (stabbed).  We just went to his funeral this past Thursday.  It's been really shocking and sad.  So I embroidered this as a tribute to him:

 

I'm not sure I have the motivation to finish the shaded flower or this cross with roses, but I'm for sure going to finish the other two. 

So that's it. 

RIP Chris.  You will be missed.

Winning!

I totally forgot to post about my winning!  I posted a comment on this post a few months back and I won this cute handmade wallet!  I love it. 
I went onto the Moda Bake Shop website just now and saw my wallet and it reminded me that I haven't blogged about it.  So here I am, holding my wallet up to the picture on the website.  Isn't it cute?

I've been working on my embroidery.  I saw on some website (I can't remember which) to try embroidering on a printed fabric.  So that is what I've been embroidering on.

It's been fun trying out different embroidery stitches while doing this.

 

Bliss Quilt

I'm all done with the quilt from  "The Practical Guide To Patchwork" by Elizabeth Hartman!  In the book, the name of it is Little Leaves.  Since I made the leaf appliques all with Bliss by Moda charm squares, I think I'll call it my Bliss Quilt.  For the quilting, I just quilted a quarter inch on each side of the square seams.  I didn't want to take away from the appliqued leaves.

         And here's the back.  I just did the same as what the book suggested.

                                             Here's a close-up of the binding.

It now sits on the back of the couch in my craft room.   I think it adds a nice touch.

 
And, as you can see, Lady Liesl, once again, approves. :)

Here's what I've been knitting.  Nothing exciting.  Just some simple baby beanies that will be donated to a local hospital.  I like to knit these while I listen to my knitting and quilting podcasts.

Embroidery

This is what I've been doing.  I've taken up embroidery and I really like it!  I went to Google images and found this cute picture of yarn and knitting needles. I printed it out and traced it onto the fabric and embroidered it using a backstitch.

And then framed it.

Here's what my craft room is looking like.  It's a continuous work in project.

I stenciled the word onto the wall and that is fabric bunting above it.   

I really need to get going with my kaleidoscope quilt.  I still haven't finished cutting all the triangles yet and the QAL is over!  Yikes!  I'm going to make an attempt to finish by 8/5 so I can be entered into the drawing for free fat quarters. 

I'll post again today when my camera batteries are charged so I can post pics of Lady Liesl and stuff I've been knitting. 

New Craft Room!

I finished my In Color Order warm-cool quilt-along wall hanging!  It was quick to put together.  And now it's hanging on my wall.

I have been working on changing our guest bedroom, slash, office into a craft room.  I decided to paint the walls a turquoise blue, with red accents.  I have this adorable blog to blame for my new color obsession. 

I have always wanted a fancy chandelier and now I finally have one...in my new craft room!

 The color theme for my craft room is aqua/turquoise and red.  (BTW, is there a difference between aqua and turquoise?)   It still needs more work, but this is what I have done so far.

And here's Lady Liesl taking a nap on the couch of the craft room.

Isn't she adorable?

Froggie For Caleb

We went to Hanford (about a couple hours away from where we live ) last weekend and, on the way home, it was nighttime and we could hear the frogs croaking.  After we got home, my son, Caleb, was still curious about the frogs and wondered what they were doing.  Even the next day, he was still thinking about the frogs.  So, of course, being a knitter, I had to knit him a frog and this frog pattern has been in my favorites on ravelry for a long time.  So here's the froggie for Caleb.  Just finished it today.

As you can see, Caleb loves his new froggie!  He can't wait to go back to Hanford and catch a frog like his daddy promised him they would do!

As a side note, there's a Strawberry Fields by Moda charm pack giveaway over at stash resolution.  Go enter it for a chance to win it!

Another Quilt-Along

After seeing this quilt-along, I couldn't resist joining it.  I'm doing the mini quilt size, which is 20" x 20".  These are the fabrics I'm using.  16 cool color prints and 16 warm color prints.
I had to buy some fabric for this project since my stash is so scarce, but my local quilt shop has a bucket full of fat quarters for only $1 each! 

And these are my 64 squares total, 3.5 inches, ready to be pieced together.

 So exciting! I can't wait to see it all come together!

A Sight For Sore Eyes

     

Enough Said.

One-Hour Project

I saw the ladies from The DIY Dish video podcast make this pin cushion on their latest episode and it is super easy.  I just had to make one.  It took me just under an hour!  It's the first pin cushion I've ever made. 
                                          


                                                                       Here's one side

Here's the other side, with pins.

Now I just need some sewing friends to make some for so I have an excuse to make more! ;)

My First Quilt-Along!

I've decided to join a quilt-along!  I've never done triangles before. So this will be a learning experience for me. I can't wait to get started!

A Quilt For Me

Here's a block for the next quilt I'm working on.  And...it's for me!

The pattern is from this beautiful book.

And when it's done, it will look like this.

I'm using a Bliss by Moda charm pack I already had.  The pattern said I could get 6 leaves from one charm square.  Well, I got 10 leaves from one charm square.  So all the front takes is one charm pack, plus 2 yards of fabric for the background.  Not bad! 

24 leaves are appliqued onto 16 12.5 in x 12.5 in squares.  The cutting out of the leaves went by surprisingly quick!  Now I'm just ironing them on and will get them stitched.  I'm enjoying every step of the process so far!  And it's for me!  That may be the best part about it! :)

My Fabric Hutch

I'm so excited I finally have a decent storage for my fabric stash, even though it is pretty scarce! 
I found this at a thrift store today.  Only $50!  Not bad, huh?  I guess this means I need to buy more fabric so I can fill it up!  :)

My First Pillow Cover!

I'm finally done with this pillow cover!  I started it when I was still working on the nine-patch quilt and had to put it aside for a while to finish the quilt by Mother's Day.  This took a lot of work!  There's another tutorial included in this one for a different version of it.  I will make it, but after a little break! :)  I'm really happy with how this one turned out and it adds some much needed color to my living room.
(The fabric is Kumari Garden by Dena Designs.  Love it!)

And here's the back of it.  I used the envelope style for the back.

Another Bag!

I made another one of these cute market totes, exactly the same as I made the one for my stepmom for Mother's Day.  This one is going to my sister.  Her birthday was on May 1st.  Better late than never! 
I love making this bag.  It's so quick and easy to make!  I hope she likes it!

                               Here's the inside of the bag.  It has a little pocket on the inside.

Mother's Day Gifts

I'm finally all done with the nine-patch quilt!  Overall, I'm happy with it.  Let's just say the washing and drying does wonders for camouflaging mistakes. 
It's been mailed and received by my mother-in-law and she loves it!   Yay!

                                
                                 Those are my kids' handprints appliqued on the back of the quilt.

And this is a bag I sewed for my stepmom.  She's already received it in the mail and loves it!

Happy Mother's Day!

Quilt Top Is Finished!!

I'm so excited to be done with the nine-patch quilt top!  It's taken me about a couple of months. Once the nine-patches were done, it's been going really fast!  I've started on the back, but I'm not quite done with it yet.  I'm doing the same back as the tutorial's.  It looks easy and simple.  I need to get this done before Mother's Day.  It's going to my mother-in-law.

Easter Treats

My kids and I made some Rice Krispie Treats for Easter tomorrow.  We started to do the egg-shaped ones, but that didn't work out so well.  So we just used a cookie cutter after it cooled and decorated them with M&Ms.  They are so cute and yummy!!

My quilt is coming along nicely.  I'm happy with it so far.  I have two more borders to add to it before I'm done with the top.  I'm a little nervous about quilting it because I don't have much experience with it and I have to use my little sewing machine to do it.  I'm going to try a meandering pattern for the quilting, which I've never done!  Wish me luck! :)

 

Nine-Patch Squares Done!

I've been using this tutorial to make this quilt.  I'm so happy to have all 24 nine-patch squares done!  The pattern says to lay out the squares to your liking and then, next, I will start the white sashing.  I'm so glad to start a new part of the quilt.  These squares were starting to get a little boring! :)

Beautiful Fabric!

I made my first online purchase of fabric at Swell Cloth on Etsy.  I got seven fat quarters of Dena Designs-Kumari Garden.  I am planning on using this fabric to make these cute pillow covers for my living room couch.  I love how they are folded so neatly and were packaged so nicely!  And I got them within three days!  That's great customer service!  I will definitely be ordering more from Swell Cloth in the future!

The white envelope-looking things is a white fabric that I have to cut and press first before I start to use the colored fabric.  I hope it turns out as good as it does in the picture!