Press-n-Seal

This is my Press-n-Seal method of keeping quilt pieces organized while cutting a bazillion pieces in a house full of kitties. Each stack of pieces has a number on top of it on a piece of sticky note paper. Works good! Here is a close up of one of the groups.

Trim Painter

Got a couple of great pictures of the painter at work today. He is doing such a nice job!




He has been saving the front porch for last. Maybe tomorrow!

A little more progress

The contractor finally sent his brother-in-law and things are getting better. Still lots to do but he knows his stuff.

More progress

Here are some more progress pics of the house. Went out to have a look today while the trim painters were working. They don't speak much English and the contractor isn't here everyday so when I started seeing some problems it was a little frustrating. Seems the painters didn't really understand what "trim" means when it comes to old Victorian houses. So I got the contractor to come by and get it straightened out. Whew! This is their first Victorian! Maybe I understand a little better why it was so hard to find a painter in the first place.



The board that sticks out between the floor level and the basement (what's that called?) should be painted white. So should the corner boards that cover the ends of the siding. Don't know about more modern houses but on a Victorian anything that isn't siding is trim.



Sun porch is looking better and better. See all the trim that still needs painting?

We also pointed out nails that hadn't been punched and filled, open cracks between the base board and the siding that should have been caulked, places that never got scraped or sanded, etc...

Then the contractor explained that there is a "finishing" crew that takes care of all that stuff. Wish he had mentioned that before! He thinks it should be all done by the end of the week.That will be so exciting! Then Alex can get on with things he has been promising to do, like mending and painting all the screens, mending or replacing old window sashes. Of course I've been hearing these promises for years and years so... Ever hopeful, that's me!

Here in the studio I cast on to knit this.



The free pattern is here http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/60588.html?noImages=0

(Can anyone tell me how to make URLs into live links?)

I'm doing seed stitch instead of ribbing and I'm doing it all in one piece so there aren't any side seams to sew up. I also want to pick up and knit the sleeves from the top down for the same reason. And I want to do a shawl collar instead of the hood. So far I have 2-1/2 inches of seed stitch. That's miles and miles! And kinda of boring too. But the Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky (http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/itemid_5420155/yarn_display.aspx) feels wonderful!

Tomorrow I will set it aside and get back to the last round robin. Honest!!!

So much to share!

So much going on right now! The guys working on the house. Alex's 71st birthday. My slipper pattern for Fiber Trends and on and on.

Nobody responded about pictures of the house in progress so... Here's what has happened so far, starting with some "before" pics.



This is the side of the house with the enclosed sun porch. Pretty sad. You can see the dilapidated side steps that have never been safe to use.



The side of the living room. You see the living room window and most of a dining room window. Part of it is hidden by the enclosed sun porch.



Another view from the side of the living room. You can see the bay window poking out on the left. To help you feel the scale, those are 10 foot high windows and the ceilings are 14 feet. That horizontal line below the window is the floor line, with basement below.

Now for some progress pics.



The side steps are gone...



and new ones being built.



The back porch is gone...



and a new one is begun! The stairs are wider than before and the tiny little landing will be a nice little deck.



And the new decking on the front porch. Alex did that himself! All primed and everything.



And Rufus the overseer.

And now for some knitting!



Alex had been fussing about our beat up, worn out bathroom rugs. Guess what I made for his birthday? This is my version of Absorba from Mason*Dixon Knitting. As a quilter I just couldn't bring myself to do it all in one color. It is so thick and squishy! Alex loves it!



And another rug from the same book. Came out pretty good. I learned so much I want to do another Absorba when I can get some more of that double worsted Peaches and Creme.



And of course Merlin had to approve the new rugs.

And finally...



These are the new sample slippers for my Fiber Trends pattern. We decided to do a double sole so it would be softer. They came out real nice I think.

In the works now are the long suffering Round Robin, casting on for the Lion Brand Danbury Hooded Sweater Jacket (I am using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in what they call Emerald but to me is Forest Green), casting on socks for my doctor and trying to keep my hands off my experiment with the log cabin afghan from The Knitting Experience - Color. Between that and Mason*Dixon I am, for the first time in my life, enjoying garter stitch! Never liked the look of it in garments but now I have a useful place for it.

Well, that it for now my adoring fans. Hope that keeps you busy for a while! :o)

Time flies...

Hi all! Just had a whirlwind visit from my best buddy from British Colombia. After years of online visiting every night, we finally meet in person! She was traveling with her neighbor, Shirley.

Lois & Shirley left this afternoon. Half of yesterday and half of today. Such a short visit! :o/ We had a great time and could have spent days trying to cover everything. Yesterday they got here earlier than they had planned which was great. We spent the afternoon mostly doing show and tell and chattering, When Alex got home we had pizza and relaxed a bit before they went back to their motel for the night.

Today we started really early. We walked all the way down to the water, looking around in shops on the way. We had lunch at my favorite waterside restaurant. Lois and I split a crab and shrimp Louis and Shirley had a patty melt, and we all had a small bowl of wonderful clam chowder and fresh warm bread. It was wonderful!

Then we walked all the way back, looking at the scenery, reading the historical markers. We stopped at Mary's house (Alex's sister) for a quick hello then came home so Lois could check her email and they could use the restroom before they hit the road. We waved and waved until the car was out of sight. They didn't see me cry. :o)

Here are some pics.



This is Lois and me in my living room, getting ready to go out and walk around town.



Lois getting her Mac fix at my desk.



Lois and her traveling companion in front of my sister-in-law's house. Yes, the really is a house under all those morning glories. They help to keep the old place from falling down. They thought my house was a terrific museum. They just had to see Mary's house to see a real museum!

Lois gave me 3 bottles of her fabulous homemade blackberry cordial. Really YUM stuff! Alex and I had some after dinner. SO good!

In other news, we finally have a painting contract! Scaffolding should start going up in about a week. He's going to rebuild the back porch and the side steps too and there will be new decking on the front porch. I am so excited! I've waited for this for 20 years and was starting to think it would never happen. God Bless my Mom for this wonderful gift!!!

I took some before pictures of the house. Should I wait until the painting is all finished to post the "before" pics along with the "after" pics? What do you all think?

Brief note

I don't feel eloquent enough to express my feelings on this 9/11. Suffice it to say that my life was changed forever. But in no way comparable to those lives that were stolen by monsters not fit to walk the earth. Nor comparable to those lives that were ripped apart with loss. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

I have started to list things for sale on eBay. So far just books on lace, knitting, quilting and cooking. To come are more books, quilt magazine collections, vintage sewing machine parts and attachments and other things too numerous to list. Please have a look!

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZgmcsew

Thanks and God bless you all!

Finished curtain

Finished the curtain, and in record time, I think. It was nice to have it to work on when things have been overwhelming. It came out a little longer than I thought it would, and a little narrower. When finished I think this set will go in the living room. The windows on each side of our bay are narrower than all the rest. And I'll just move the rod up a little. What do you think?



Didn't get the job I had hoped for. Anybody out there a Kaiser member? Me too. My sympathies. Did you know they have a special plan for people like me who are flat out of income? It's called the Step plan and it lasts for 4 years. Each step lasts for one year. In Step 1 (depending on your level of income) Kaiser will subsidize 80% of the payment. Step 2 is 60% and so forth. That's a lifesaver for me. I've been applying for all sorts of senior/low income things. In 4 years I'll have my own social security. I hope things are much better by then. (Amen!)

Got to finish a scarf for my Mom's birthday (last Tuesday) and then get the round robin done. Then I'll start another curtain and some socks for my dear doctor who no longer needs chemo caps because his hair is growing back. Amen! And I am going to figure out how to do lace curtains on the knitting machine! Yes I am!!! And that holiday is coming. Lots to do!

I'm thinking of selling some things on eBay to help pay the bills. All kinds of books, knitting machines, vintage sewing machines and oodles of parts. Like I said, lots to do!

Ok, that's it for now. Back to MY kind of work. :o)

My "Happy" Project

Just for you Lois!



Been going through some stuff lately that's had me in the dumps. My house needs curtains so bad and I've wanted to try this pattern from Hass Designs for quite a while. So this is my happy project for when I am feeling the stress. So far I really like it. Except those big holes in the petals between the hearts. I'm already planning on redesigning. Wish I could figure out how to do this on the knitting machine. I know plain filet can be duplicated but it's those lacet stitches that make it so pretty. Haven't figured that out yet. Maybe sort of like a tuck stitch?

I know. I ought to be knitting. Just shows how down I am that I don't really want to.

That's all for now. Hoping for some good news soon. All prayers very appreciated!

Hugs y'all.

Finally a finished pair!

Hi Folks. Remember that pair of socks I was knitting for my husband's birthday last year? How I ran out of yarn before the second sock was finished and didn't know what kind it was? And how I pleaded with the knitting public to search their stashes? And how one lovely person actually had a leftover? Well I got all busy with the round robin quilts and the poor socks waited and waited, in their own special little bag, so patient. Ta da! Finally finished!



Gave them to Alex tonight and he was very pleased. I needed that.

So why am I knitting and not working on the round robin? Well, I got a copy of Virtual PC to run on my beloved Mac, but it came without an OS. ??? So I got a copy of Win98 but it isn't here yet. As soon as it is I will be able to run the EQ5 quilt design program to open the file from the last person to work on the RR I have right now. So I will have the right measurements and can design my border to fit just right.

The other reason I am knitting? I have been getting arthritis in my hands, mostly my thumbs. And despite everything I try, the only time my hands don't hurt is when I am knitting. After this last RR, the one with the bargello border, I was really hurting. I thought maybe resting my hands from any crafts for a while might help, but it didn't. I got all depressed about some things that are going on and picked up my knitting for some solace. My hands stopped hurting! It even lasts a while after I stop knitting. Whatever it is, I wish I could bottle it.

So why am I a blue robin? The one year unemployment claim that started in April only sent checks for 17 weeks. ??? I've reapplied and am praying. I've been looking for another job for 2 years almost. Know what it seems to take to get a job these days? Be young, be cute, have sexy clothes and no experience. I ain't young, I ain't cute, I walk with a cane, I ain't got any fancy clothes and I have 35 years of experience as a full charge bookkeeper.

I don't want to be a full charge anything anymore. Never got me anything but stress, more stress and a broken heart in more ways than one. Open heart surgery with 6 blissful months of no stress. Yes, stress does cause heart disease! I want a part time, sit-down job where I do something useful.

I don't need to earn a heck of a lot. Just enough to pay my exorbitantly high Kaiser dues every month and our bank loan. In 4 years I'll be able to get my Social Security and my Kaiser will cost one sixth what it does now! We will be able to see about a reverse mortgage. Alex and I both have to be retirement age since we are joint owners. And on and on...

I gotta knit some more. All prayers accepted!

Better late than never!

Hi folks! I meant to do this last night but my upgraded software wouldn't talk to my old camera. All fixed today so here ya go!

First, Here are some pics of what the kitties gave Alex on Father's Day. Alex loves it! He has had his morning tea in it everyday since he got it.





Isn't it cute? I want one with an orange tabby. It could say something like, "I'm just here to dispense catnip." or "I'm just here to be a lap." Are ya listening Hallmark?

I just received the last Round Robin quilt to work on. It's already queen sized! The originator says she doesn't care how big it gets so... hope she has a king size bed! Here's the pic that was sent to me before it arrived in the mail.



What you can't see is that there are lots of 3-D flowers, hummingbirds and butterflies, buttons, beads, rutching, flapping wings. Whew! This one is really gonna stretch me. Here are some close-ups of the details.





I'm thinking it needs some kitties outside the fence. Kitties gotta chase butterflies don't they? And we might need a mouse or 2 and maybe some more flowers. All on some pretty green backgrounds, I think. Any other ideas?

Finally got Virtual PC and EQ5 on eBay for a very good deal. Can't wait to play with it and use it for designing instead of Photoshop.

I have 3 more boxes of yarn to wind too. Pictures will follow. My hands are aching to knit!. I have 2 pairs of socks to finish and my Snoopy's Crayons shrug. And I need to get started on my Mom's vest. It's a Japanese style vest from Folk Vests. I think I finally have the right yarn! (Yeah, right. :o)

That's all for now. Love and Hugs to y'all!

A little setback...

Hi y'all. There are more pictures and good stuff coming, honest. I had a good plan for catching up but I had a little accident that has set me back a little. Yesterday I lunged across our little bathroom to catch a falling bottle and mangled a muscle in my hip. Made my sciatic nerve mad too. So my war with the dust/thread bunnies had to wait a while. But not too long. At least today I could walk a little.

While my Roomba was scurrying around my room today I dragged the big vac with the long hose in here so I could sit in my chair and get those corners under my desk. Roomba doesn't do corners very well. Anyway, I would have waited to do this tomorrow but while I was having a nap after breakfast my computer shut itself down and wouldn't wake up. Seems the dust bunnies and the 104f temperature today overwhelmed it and the fact that the a/c was on along with a fan didn't help at all. So I just had to wage war with the hoard and rescue my computer. Vacuumed all around it then opened it up and vacuumed it inside. Not too bad but the poor heat sink was hot enough to roast marshmallows. So I aimed a fan at the heat sink for a while until it cooled down, crossed my fingers and turned it on. I was SO happy to hear that lovely Mac "bong"! Now I am keeping a fan on the space in the back so it doesn't happen again. Keeping a better handle on the dust/thread bunny herd would be a good thing too, ya think?

Haven't picked up my knitting yet. My right thumb, the one with the worst beginnings of arthritis, has started "clicking" for want of a better term. It's a weird sensation to say the least. Doesn't make it hurt any more than it did so for now it's just a strange thing. I WILL knit tomorrow!

Lastly, a dear friend's young daughter has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and is about to start treatment. Very scary. The round robin I was just working on is for her Mom. They are in my prayers. And another friend just went through two dental abcesses at the same time and is suffering the after effects in a very hard way. She is in my prayers too. All extra prayers are welcome!

Nighty night all!

Where have I been?

Hi all! This will just be a short entry, but it's a start on catching up. This is the round robin quilt top I have been slaving over. Mailed it to the last participant today. Tomorrow I hope to start getting my life back together!



My studio is a total disaster area! The dust bunnies are ganging up with the thread bunnies and are harassing the kitties! SO much to do tomorrow!!!

Happy Mom's Day and more

Hope all you Moms and GrandMoms and Great GrandMoms and Moms-to-be had a lovely day today. Mine was nice. But you see, it was my birthday too. I wasn't all that excited about this birthday and completely expected it to be all about Mother's Day. But it was definitely more all about surprises.

Woke up to a wonderful breakfast (I trained him well) presented with a large scrumptious rose from our front yard.



Yesterday an old, eccentric friend of the family had awakened us at dawn, bringing a box of birthday groceries. The older I get the more groceries the old dear brings. :o) And last week another old dear, a 93 year old schoolteacher who's garden Alex takes care of, sent a yummy lemon bundt cake and a sweet card. Um, no picture. The cake barely survived until Saturday. But the cake came in a beautiful hatbox!



After breakfast there appeared on the table a gorgeous bowl of my favorite sugar free pecan turtles. But the bowl! It is a hat, hand blown glass, white with pink in-the-glass decoration, a green hatband and a pink rose. Absolutely sublime addition to my glass collection.



The bowl is empty because I put all the turtles in a safe box and took the hat/bowl over to show my Mom.



Isn't that beautiful!? Oh, there was a bottle of Wisteria toilette water from Crabtree & Evelyn too.

Then we packed up some groceries for Mom and a special loaf of whole wheat raisin cinnamon walnut bread I baked last night, a couple of my turtles, put the glass hat in my new hatbox and headed over to Mom's. She loved the hat and the hatbox, and said she would have some of the bread with a cup of coffee later. She gave me a card with $20 for a "fun" haircut. And my sister, who had visited from Oregon last weekend, left behind a sweet card with a couple of silly pens. She said they looked like they were wearing stripedy socks, a nod to my knitting.



Home again after doing some chores for Mom, we collapsed in front of a fan for a nap. Very hot today. After dark I was busy recording mysteries etc., Alex was about to start dinner, and his sister and our 2 nephews are at the door. This is the first time in 32 years she has actually gotten here ON my birthday! Usually it's a few days later (but just as fun). And oh boy, bearing goodies! One of her yummy, very chocolate cakes. Which we sat down and ate with the ice cream from the birthday groceries. Before dinner!!!



I had asked Mary if she would start lap swimming with me now and then. She gave me these beautiful beach towels. They are huge! Even bigger than the bath sheets we use in the bathroom. I can't wait to use them!



The nephews gave me the movie Narnia, which I have wanted very much to see. And a quirky "Half Baked" cookbook illustrated with wonderful cartoons by Charles Addams.



Much later we had a midnight steak dinner. Oh yes, and the cards. The black and white one on the right is a kitten sleeping in a hammock. So sweet!



So, a wonderful day, full of truly unexpected surprises. Boy! If this is what happens when I make light of turning 58, what's next year going to be like?

Must end this before the blog police get after me for so many pictures in one post. :o) Time to go nighty night. Love to all, and to all a good night!

Where have I been?

Hi Folks! It has been a very busy time around here since my last post. My Mom had another fall. This one assisted by a 4 year old neighbor who leaped off the stairs and into her arms for a hug. Wasn't very funny at the time but in hindsight someone should have been there yelling "timber!". Mom went over backwards like a felled tree and wrenched the living daylights out of her back. Took a couple of days to convince her that she needed to go to the ER. The fact that she couldn't move at all and was in immense pain might have had something to do with it.

So after a day and a night in the ER zonked out on morphine and muscle relaxants she was transferred to a convalescent hospital for a week or so. Last year's fall put her in a convalescent hospital that was about 15 minutes away. This time it was waaay out of town, about 40 minutes. So DH and I took turns going to see her everyday. Got her home and tucked in last Wednesday and she is getting better every day.

Then my younger sister decided she needed to come down from Oregon on the train and stay with Mom for a few days. I guess she needed to see for herself that Mom didn't really have one foot in the grave and was as well off as I and Mom had been telling her. That visit went well enough and we loaded her back on the train tonight. Now, hopefully, life will begin to get back to some semblance of order. (Knock on wood!)

I received the next round robin to work on. Not sure yet what I am going to do, but I have a couple of ideas. Here is what it looks like now.



And for L&L here are some pics of the sleeve of a new shrug I am working on. In the first pic I thought I'd be clever and put the cuff over my lamp to show the "lace" off better. Not real successful in my opinion.



Here's one of the sleeve "laid out" so to speak.



The lace swirls around the sleeve because all of the decreases are done exactly the same, all in one direction. And the colors swirl around and climb up the sleeve. Gradually, every 16 rows, I am replacing some of the lace with stockinette, until there is no lace left. I've just changed to a larger needle and will knit the last of the sleeve and the back in plain stockinette. The next 2 pics show the gradual changes.



If you look closely you can see the stockinette beginning to be introduced.



And here you can see the stockinette is almost solid at the top. After another 20 or so rows of plain stockinette I will start knitting back and forth for the back. Wonder what the colors will do?

So there you have it. Love to have some comments on the sleeve so far. I am off to bed now and a deep, healing sleep. "Sleep knits up the raveled sleeve of time..." Good old Shakespeare!

Round Robin 3 pics

Here are a couple of pics. The darker one shows the fabrics better. The one with the light shining through it is kind of pretty too. Enjoy!

I'm gonna dash off and show it to Mom. Then mail it on the way back. Then I'm gonna come home and crash!