Round in Bend…

Dave headed home after the 4th of July and we met up with friends Kristin and Sarah the next week, we really enjoy their company and their great kids.

Thursday we met up with Sarah and kids and did a Dye Along at a ranch outside of Bend. The host, Pam, used to have a shop in Sisters called Baarbaara’s Wild and Wooly, now she has a shop in her ranch with many many tempting things! I bought some yarn from wool sheared from her own and her neighbor’s sheeps!

We had great fun dying our sock yarn! I used chemical dyes, but the girls were able to do their own sock yarn (to be knitted by mommy later) using Koolaid dyes! Thanks Pam for hosting a wonderful morning!!

We went to the Picnic in the Park the Friday before the Sister’s Quilt Show, Alex Anderson was the host and buddy Ricky Tims was there as well. We saw many gorgeous quilts while sitting out in the park with our knitting projects! The kids had a ball playing in the playground with Sarah and Kristin’s kids too, might have fit a little visit in to the Stitching Post as well!

Click to see more photos from Sisters Show...

The  Sister’s Quilt Show was the next day, and of course that day was amazing with many gorgeous quilts!

I haven’t visited some of my favorite shops here in Bend yet, BJ’s and Sew Many Quilts, just pacing myself!! Could it be I have too much already, just don’t need much more? NAAAAAH…

I have finished the first Monkey sock and am working down the leg of the second one, making progress…Here is a photo of the current one in progress, the other finished one is hiding somewhere!

But I am also learning a lot doing my newest project. Selbuvotter gloves, Annemor 18, they are progressing nicely, thanks to good advice and lots of questions to my friend Sarah…

I have also started piecing together my drunkard’s path quilt, but showing you a row of 10 blocks doesn’t sound too exciting to me, so I’ll skip the photo!!

I have probably been doing too much in the heat and the sun and my MS is getting angry with me, so I have to learn to slow down in this heat. It is all a learning curve to me but I am still enjoying the activities and the girls are having fun, river floating trips, swimming pools, festivals, parks…it all makes for a memorable summer! Hope yours is going well!

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On the Road…

We have had an amazing road trip in the last week through California into Oregon, visiting Disneyland, Hollywood, Big Sur, Monterey, San Francisco, Napa Valley and the Redwoods then into Oregon and a visit to Crater Lake…Here is a collage of some of our photos…

I threw in some sock progress photos from Venice Beach, Monterey, Alcatraz and the Redwoods, lol The first monkey sock is progressing nicely, not much more till it is done…

I also found several knitting and quilt shops along the way, of course!! The first one is in Cambria California just before we headed to Big Sur, Ball & Skein & More, where I bought a great crochet kit for a market bag, some cool crochet hooks, and a skein of super soft alpaca wool sheared locally from two alpacas called Polaris and Pablo!

The next day we were at Monterey where I visited the quilt shop Back Porch Fabrics and had a wonderful visit to Monarch Knitting, where I bought yarn, needles and a book to learn how to do patterned Scandinavian gloves, Selbuvotter.

My lovely husband spotted the Fat Quail Quilt Shop in Laytonville where I might have picked up a few Japanese taupe fat quarters… Here is the photo of fabrics I got at Back Porch Fabrics, Fat Quail, and also at the Purple Pincushion  quilt shop I spotted in our last road trip stop, Grants Pass Oregon!! Some taupes, and some sampler fabrics, and a few other bits…

I also happened to decide that I really needed a Jim Shore nativity set for Christmas when I was at Purple Pincushion! I didn’t have one at home and had been meaning to get one and there really isn’t a more perfect one for a quilter!!

I finished all my drunkards path quilt blocks while flying over to the States and have that top and the Dear Jane throw to hand piece together the next few weeks we are visiting, though I might look out for a yard sale sewing machine again this time… I doubt I’ll have such luck as to find a three dollar Singer Featherweight again this time though.

Hope to show a finished sock and some quilting progress next week. I’ll update after the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!

 

I’m Going to Disneyland!

Where am I going? I am going to Disneyland!!  And then Dave and the girls and I are doing a road trip that will take us to Hollywood, Big Sur, Monterey, San Francisco, Yosemite, Napa and the Giant Redwoods, if we can fit that all in about 2 weeks! We’ll end up in Bend Oregon where my parents live for the 4th of July.

So sorry that it has been over two months, so sorry that my blog hasn’t been in my priorities for a while now…that needs to change again, I miss the community!! The girls are always keeping me busy, but I keep on with my projects and I am sure I can make the time once a week or every two weeks if I just do it!

Things are going pretty well…I had to postpone my foot operation because I would have had to cancel our US travel plans, the doctor didn’t give me the full picture about the recovery time for it! I have orthotics to keep the pain away and will pace myself at Disney to be sure! I just had my MS six monthly appointment with the neurologist, and besides the bit of numbness in my right toes, and lack of graceful balance (not horrible, but not great either) the doctor thinks I am doing well, which is great! I have lost 32.5 lbs since February, and though I plan on gaining a few back in the next few weeks, I will be going to Weight Watchers with my mom in the 5 weeks we are staying with my parents in Oregon…

There has been some crafting going on:

I finished a simple squares quilt for our guest room. Eventually it will have matching roman blinds on the windows… I just did an allover meander and will NEVER put a big quilt through my machine again, ouch, my arm muscles hurt wrestling that through!

These are some knitted cotton scrubbies for a fundraiser for a local school…

Some baby vests for little Ruby…

I am also working away on my Dear Jane lap quilt with blocks that Kate and I have swapped…I have prepared all the setting triangles and muslin squares to make the quilt top and hope to hand piece that while in the States… I also have a small drunkards path wallhanging to piece together…only a few blocks left and then can piece the top which will be 30 inches square…

I’ve also started a knitting project for my travels, some Monkey socks for my mom!

I hope to update again soon with some highlights from our road trip, I hope to go to one or two quilting and knitting shops on the road, and get some car knitting done…car sewing…not quite as easy, and often painful on twisty roads, lol!!

I hope to update next in two weeks, not two months, cross your fingers for me!!

 

Hello Strangers…

I have continued working on lots of projects since February, so this might get a bit picture heavy, as usual! I also had a lovely 2 nights away to Rome for my 40th birthday celebration (where I knit a sock at all the big sights to give my gimpy foot a rest and for fun!) and got some lovely gifts I’d love to show as well…

Here is a project I am so glad finally have finished, it is years in the making, my felted knitting bag! Here is the size prefelting:

Pattern: Constant Companion

Here is the finished product:

I have also been working a lot on some hand piecing projects: my usual, Dear Jane blocks, to finish up the blocks for a lap quilt;

a drunkard’s path, made from fabrics and template that Barbara gave me as a lovely present when mom was diagnosed with breast cancer; it is really starting to look nice now! This is from a beautiful quilt we both admired on Supergoof.

and another block that Barbara gave me of an 8 pointed star pattern using Japanese taupes, on it’s own the block isn’t exciting, till you realize the lovely star pattern made when you put four blocks together!

I have some of these all in my handbag along with my sewing tin so I can pull something out when I have a few minutes and stitch away. I also keep my sock knitting in the bag…it is amazing what this smallish bag can hold!

I have started a pair of the very familiar by now Broadripple socks I have made several times for Katy. I used Cascade Fixation yarn, which is cotton and elastic as she is allergic to wool, poor girl! I am making this pair for myself, as I love the colors and I had to buy some spare yarn when making Katy’s and had enough leftover for a pair for me. Here is the first sock…

Dave and I had a great trip to Rome for my 40th birthday celebration. It was amazing, we walked everywhere, and had great food as well! Like I said before I took along the sock and the hand piecing in my handbag. Wasn’t as easy to hand piece around Rome, but the sock was dead handy to take out when we were resting in the sun!

Here is the progress at the Colosseum…

A little later in the afternoon at the Spanish Steps… (yes I am strange…I can’t help myself!)

Heading towards evening at the Trevi Fountain…

A sock tour of Rome…

And here is a collage of a few photos around the city…

My birthday celebrations lasted for weeks and included a little party with my patchwork group, who instead of giving me a voucher for more fabric (I might have a little more than I need, just a little…they mentioned something about “bringing coal to Newcastle?”) they gave me this beautiful fabric art done by local artist Lynn Kenny.

Katy gave me this lovely tree themed quilt, knowing my admiration of the tree as a graphic and as a symbol…she did it for an exhibit a few years back, but gifted it on to me, isn’t it gorgeous?

I also got some gorgeous perfumes and some jewelry from friends and a beautiful Nicholas Mosse pottery bowl…I was very much spoiled this year!

In mid-February, I finally rejoined Weight Watchers, and as of last week I have lost 22 lbs. I still have a lot left to lose, but I have made some good progress, and have been doing a lot of swimming that must be helping too…add to that the constant activities of two small girls and lack of energy for big quilting projects, and you have my excuse for not keep up very well with this blog. I will try to be better, but hope you don’t delete me out of your blog list even if my posts are sporadic…

I am lucky that my MS has been very much in the background at the moment. Unrelated to the MS, my left foot is finally going to be seen too…the arch has fallen and it has been more and more painful to walk on it the last few years. I tried to lump it in with the MS, but the neurologist insists that this is a totally separate bit of bad luck, having to do with mechanical damage…wear and tear and bad genetics causing the arch to fall, blah! I will be having an operation to remove the damaged tendon in my left foot, replacing it with another tendon in my foot, ewwww! I’ll be on crutches for six weeks.

So next week I will be bringing down some of my sewing room, as Dave and I are moving into the downstairs guest room to save me hopping up and down the stairs all the time (his idea, how thoughtful, kinda makes up for a few of those golf widow moments…maybe 2 of em…) My right foot won’t be in a cast, I can still press the pedal on the machine, lol! I will also prepare a bunch of hand piecing work to keep me out of mischief!

Until next time!

 

Heading off in a few hours…

We are going on holiday to Portugal for 10 days but wanted to show you the quilt I did for the wedding we are going to there…I still need to sew the binding on, but the wedding is a week and a bit away so should be fine!

I also got this beautiful pinkeep in time for the 4th of July holidays. Thank you so much Barbara for thinking of me.

We had a display at the local Brian Boru festival of all our quilts… My quilt has been going on tour!

And here is my latest knitting…some Fetching gloves and a Drop Stitch Scarf started with the beautiful Manos de Uruguay Silk Blend yarn that Weronica sent me. Thank you so much again, I love the color and the feel of this yarn!!

I’ve got the binding on the quilt, a freehand fan quilting project (my tree quilt wallhanging from last year!) and two knitting project for 10 days, think I won’t have any chance of running out of projects, especially since one is my second try at lace knitting a shawl…that will take ages!!

 

A Long Time Coming…

This post was a long time coming!! And so was this…

This gorgeous redwork cushion was for a swap whose receive by date was May 5th. I sent mine out a few days late, but the girl that was SUPPOSED to send to me dropped off the face of the earth and sent nothing. Luckily our intrepid leader Maree was able to organize that the girl that was supposed to send to this girl who dropped out without a word would send to me instead, otherwise I would have gotten nothing at all. Thank you so much Rebecca for the beautiful poppy cushion with the Keats quote and yummy chocolates, and thanks Maree for helping me out. I am very pleased with my new cushion and think it looks right at home on my red sofa with my patchwork cushions!!

This is the cushion I sent out to Paula at Coffee Time Stitches.

I am sorry it has taken me so long to do a post, I have actually been fine, MS wise, nearly a month now of injections with no issues really, just the odd sore area but no side effects really! I am hoping that with better eating and the injections I can keep the big symptoms of MS at bay for as long as possible. If I can shake my Diet Coke addiction, I know that will help too…I went cold turkey for a few days, but am back to one a day, an improvement from my usual routine of several cans a day…

The main reason I haven’t posted has just been the crazy pace of life with 2 busy kids and their friends, and a few fun nights myself, including dancing to 1am last Friday with some friends at a local fashion show event that had dancing afterwards…

I have not had a lot of finishes, but I did get my bunny quilt finished. I did a crosshatch grid and like the look of it, will do it again for applique…now if I can only master the rocking stitch with my hand quilting!

I have had some great mail lately, but let me start with the ones I am several weeks late in acknowledging.

Paula sent me this great stack of Civil War repros, just because… Thank you so much!!!!

Lise also sent a great package from Oz. Thank you for the great magazine and other goodies. The girls took most of the chocolate!! It really made my day to get these packages just because!

Vicki and I did a little swap. I sent over some shwe shwe from my collection that she admired, and she sent back these gorgeous hand dyes and cute potholders (which I use all the time by the way!).

Weronica sent another just because gift, so kind! Look at the great pattern and gorgeous yarn she sent. I already have plans for this yarn, I’ve started on some Fetching fingerless mitts with this gorgeous merino and silk blend yarn. Thank you again everyone!!

My friend here in Limerick, Nicola, who I met while I worked my few hours at the local quilt shop made me this amazing birthday present! It is a needlecase with an Angel Story(Hatched and Patched-Anni Downs) stitchery on it and some great cross-stitch. She did it all by hand and used Japanese taupes, my favorites!! I really have been spoiled by generous friends!

I have been working on a felted bag called Constant Companion for a while, not hugely exciting knitting, but I am making progress. I would like to do a celtic knot on the pocket but have to figure out how to get a chart I can figure out how to knit! It is huge now but should felt up nicely.

I am also working on a wedding quilt for my BIL and SIL who are officially tying the knot in July. I have all the centers done now and am working on the insane amount of HSTs needed for the blocks, snore! Here is a little sample of the blocks… I am hoping to make more progress on this soon.

Now if you have made it to another of my long posts, here are a few pics of the girls. Aisling is always hard to get photos of with a smile, she hates getting them taken! But here are two good ones!

I need to get better about posting more often…my posts will be much shorter!!

 

First February Finishes

Say  that 5 times fast!!

I have been so busy lately, I barely know how to start… I have managed to do a few quick quilts since my last crafty update. Here is little quilt I did for Katy‘s birthday boy, I hear it came in a distant second to Karol Ann’s  totally cool dinosaur tshirt he got, but hey, who could compete with such cool shirts!  I have been trying to improve my freemotion quilting with my small wallhangings and so I have done small stippling on this and quilted some bamboo in the pandas hand 🙂 and Alex’s name…

I also decided to whip up a quick strippy scrappy valentines day quiltlet for my little quilt shelf…I am working on making my meandering much smaller when I do free motion, and I just love to quilt wavy lines, love the texture they give.

I also finished the quilt top for my cousin in St. Louis Missouri. The center block is a Missouri Puzzle chose for obvious reasons!! I used a photo she sent of the room she wants a quilt for and hope she likes it. Next time we get together I need to get her started quilting. She is a doctor and it might be a relaxing hobby after a long day?? Can anyone suggest a good St. Louis patchwork shop with beginning quilting classes, in case she is interested?

Aine has her first two loose teeth and so last weekend we made a Tooth Fairy Tin together. She designed the top and I used my Xyron 900 to turn it into a magnet to put on the tin!! We made a little pillow to put the tooth on, so now she is all ready for when the tooth fairy comes avisiting!

I have started on a pair of socks for a trade with Katy. I am making her another pair of cotton hand knit socks and she is doing a cute cross stitch sampler for me!

 

Making Progress

I have one finish for the week, but have mainly been making some good progress on the pink socks I had to rip back. Here is the sad state of affairs after I ripped it back to where the first mistake happened (forgot a cable stitch that I had done on the first sock and wanted them to match exactly) and here is where I am back to (well I am actually a bit further on now having turned the heel and started the gussets of the sock…)

I have also been working on hand quilting a Christmas wholecloth quilt that has been languishing in my UFO pile for ages…maybe that can be a finish for February, there is defiinitely too much left to finish this month! But…maybe I can manage to finish that sock??? Hmmmm…

This is my only finish to report lately, but am glad I finally got it done…it certainly isn’t precise and wonderful, but it works: my quirky little patchwork roman blind. I made with civil war repro fabric squares to match the Dear Jane and Apple Core quilts hanging in the hallway… Did I ever show you the quilt shelf I got? I am going to eventually try to make seasonal quilts to put there…maybe I should get a move on a Valentines one!!

I haven’t talked about this much, but am starting to get excited about it now, Anne Marie is hosting a Quilting Retreat this weekend!! I will be taking a weekend break from my weight loss programme most definitely and enjoy quilting, piecing, knitting, chatting and EATING!  I am also bringing some margaritas and other goodies to add to the party.  I imagine I will be bringing quite a lot of things with me, so will have to take some photos of everything packed into the car, projects, fabrics and goodies to share, a couple of air mattresses and duvets…maybe even a folding table for sewing machines to hang out on! I will bring along my Dear Jane and some other show and tell bits as well…better get packing!!

 

A winner…and a loser…

Without further ado, the random number generator picked the number 11 which means Tracey has won the lovely sewing caddy kit!! Hope you enjoy it!! I’ll get your address and try to send it out early this week.

The big loser this week: me!! Last week I was measuring my second pink Marilinda sock against the length of the first one and noticed a major problem…I forgot to do ALL of the cable stitches that are part of the pattern and were done on  the first sock. Don’t know how I skipped it completely…geesh… I will be ripping it back to the first pattern repeat… I think I am going to cry. I know it isn’t really easy to see, but when you look for it, it is obvious and I really want to fix it before I give the socks to my friend. Some friends think I should buy more of the pink yarn, but that would take weeks to order from the States and I don’t really want to do this pattern twice in a row in pink…so a frogging I will go!

The other project I wanted to show is an amazingly easy method for using up scraps of fabric and batting to make a two sided quilt!! A lady in our Wednesday morning patchwork group showed me a vintage quilting book with the method in it, but I could make any sense of it!! She was working on it during our group and I saw how it was done and it is so simple, and what a cool way to use up my small wool batting pieces I can seem to throw away!

You basically start with any rectangular or square based block and build from the center. I decided I am doing a Civil War repro side and a neutral side on my quilt and will do scrappy wonky log cabin blocks. I started with a 2 1/2  inch square quilt sandwich, then added 1 1/2 inch strips (CW repros on its side right sides together, neutral scraps on its side right sides together and sewed down the right side of the center square (so that would be 4 fabrics and one batting scrap sewn on that seam)). I flipped the two 1 1/2 inch strips out so right sides showed and stuffed little strips of scrap batting in between the strips… I tacked down the right side of the new strips I added and then continued adding on log cabin strips in the same method. When I got to 8 1/2 inches I stopped and tacked down the edges of the block…I will use natural muslin sashing to sew blocks together eventually. This method lets you use up small strips and scraps and small batting scraps and pieces and quilts as you go…so cool…and a two sided quilt at the end too… I am thinking this will be a favorite method for using up scraps and general quilt making in the future, we shall see!!

If that makes no sense but you are interested in the concept, let me know if you want me to do a tutorial on the method…it is probably out there somewhere already, but this is the first time I’ve come across it and wanted to share!!

Well…I have been under the weather for days now, and am started to feel a bit better, so wanted to catch up on the blog before I fell asleep again!! Next week I hope to get some little gifties done for teachers and friends, and maybe a block or two for my new quilt. I miss crafting when I am under the weather!

 

Getting Behind With Things…

I need to find balance in my life again…it seems to move forward at the speed of light and I barely remember what happens from day to day.

We had a great trip to London and Paris. The kids had a blast in Disneyland even with their poor mom limping after them (I managed to swan dive into a Paris tree on the way to the Eiffel Tower…was looking ahead of me and twisted my ankle when it landed half on the pavers and half in the dirt where the lovely Parisian tree was growing near a cafe, graceful I tell ya…and what a lovely shade of black, purple and yellow my foot was for a while!)… The kids got autograph books and pens from their nice momma and proceeded to stalk any characters in their vicinity for autographs…we have minnie, daisy, snow white, donald, goofy, and Aine’s favorite, Robin Hood.  We really enjoyed our time with Katy and her family as well…the kids loved their London Halloween and just loved hanging out with their buddies! Moms and dads enjoyed time to read, play games, and mommas got to sew and knit (well I knit…) it was a lovely time…

Election Day was only a few days after we returned home and I stayed up till 5:30am Irish time watching the amazing returns come back. I actually burst into tears when they flashed the announcement that Barack Obama was the next president of the United States, who knew I would be so emotional. And then I cried again when the future First Family came out and when Obama gave his speech. It was a great night and I’m glad I stayed up to see it happen. 

I haven’t been producing a lot lately, we’ve had lots of playdates and activities, the normal pace of life here, and Aine has just had her 6th birthday party just yesterday which needed organizing as well…an Art Party for her and 10 friends (a SMALL party, woo hoo!) I had a local art teacher come and do some projects and face painting with them and it worked out really well…

My kids like chocolate cake, so I do a Betty Crocker special and then print out on photo paper whatever character/graphic they want that year to personalize it. When it is time to cut cake just lift off the paper and go…very inexpensive, personalized and easy! Love it!

I have managed to finish one pink sock and here is the current status of the second one…

Here are the slippers I knit for Aine at Katy’s house, slightly smaller and felty now…

I made this angel for someone…for Christmastime…

I am verrrrrrry slowly working on marking my ocean waves quilt with this celtic knot pattern in the muslin areas..
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I am also slowly doing freehand fans on my tree quilt…

So I am doing things, but nothing finished but the angel at the moment.

Tomorrow I start my diet yet again…I am tired of being the weight I am…maybe if I can find some balance to my days, more exercise, more sleep, less running around…a better rhythm to the days, that might help. Here’s hoping that I can do that…and find more time to QUILT too!!