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!

Very Brief Report

Just a quick note to my two dear blog-greedy Ls up north... it is nearly 6am and I am still sewing. Just be a little more patient. Today is the day!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a nice Easter Sunday and enjoyed your celebrations. We had our usual family dinner, with a lovely ham and all the fixin's. Everyone waddled out the door around 10pm. We had a late dinner so that nephew Seth could join us after work.

We tweaked our traditions a bit this year. Alex and I have been doing baskets for each other for 29 years. And cleaning up green kitty burps for days afterward every year. So I suggested not doing baskets this year and using our little collection of glass baskets instead. After all, they just sit on the sideboard getting dusty all the time. Better we should use them! Alex grumbled a bit but went along with it.

But when I said I didn't feel like coloring eggs this year poor old traditional Alex positively balked. Seventy year old Scots are verra gude at balking! He went right out and bought more eggs and a coloring kit. A new kind that uses liquid coloring and little sponges and makes a very colorful mess. He did a lovely job and I was very proud of him. A new tradition is born!

The Easter Bunny did us proud with all the empty glass baskets, for they were all filled with goodies this morning. Have a look!



This is one end of the table...



and this is the other.



This is a fun dish we use every year.



These are Alex's beautiful Easter eggs in a lovely Fenton glass dish he found at our annual Peddler's Faire.



This is a better look at the first 3 glass baskets. The one on the right has little silver roses where the handle attaches to the basket and the roses are signed. This is the first glass basket Alex gave me and it came from Macys years ago.

The middle basket is Fenton "Hobnail" and was found at Peddler's Faire.

The left basket is another from Peddler's Faire. I think it is Fenton but not positive. It is filled with what is now known as "hiding" eggs, which is what I grew up with and they get harder to find every year. My Mom is particularly fond of them too and, just before she went home, I spied her stashing a few in her pockets while everyone else was heading for the front door. I nearly died trying not to laugh! I would love to sneak into her house one Easter and hide eggs all over the place for her to find, like when I was a kid. She would love it!



This is a better look at the other 3 baskets. The one on the right is Fenton and a match for the dish with the painted eggs.

The one on the left is a little "cut" crystal (actually molded but very pretty) basket from... you guessed it, the Peddler's Faire.

And the green one in the middle is my favorite, another signed original from Macys. Last year the handle was broken off at the edge of the basket on both sides by felons (feline) unknown. Hooray for super glue!



This tall slender one arrived one Christmas, filled with cashews but not for long. *grin* Santa's helper confided that it might have come from a local collectibles shop. I don't remember if it is signed.

Well, that was a full day and night! I'm off to bed. Nighty night!

Next round robin

Been awfully busy with design deadlines and a few other things. But I just got the next round robin and thought you might like to see it. For the first time I had several ideas right away, well... with the generous help of someone with a PC and a copy of EQ. And my husband, and my SIL and nephew. :o) Anyway, I know just what I am going to do. Here's the before.



And here's how the after will (hopefully) look like.



I like the balance of it.

Now I have to go to bed early because there is a sudden family luncheon at my house tomorrow and everyone will be here before I am usually out of bed. So nighty night!

RR #2 is on the way!

Finally finished my part on round robin #2 and am ready to pack it up and send it on to the next person. I was moving like molasses yesterday and just couldn't get the last frame border on before I fell into bed. And the sky was already getting light! Anyway, here it is.



The last person who worked on it and sent it to me said she thought it needed "calming down". Well, I don't know how much I calmed it down but I definitely lightened and brightened it. Those Spring/Easter colors were just calling me. And if it's too much or too little, then I hope my little gifts of love in the corners make up for it.

Now I have to get started on a slipper! Until next time, y'all be good! :o)

Almost but not quite!

Well, dear reader(s), I have 3 of the 4 wide borders done on the round robin so no picture yet. First thing tomorrow will finish the last wide border, then add a thin frame border. Then I will take a picture to post tomorrow night. Promise!

Been playing musical money with my accounts. The Fed refund is supposed to deposit tomorrow so I am praying.

Lois, hope you had a wonderful day playing tourist in Vancouver. I would have loved to be with you. It has been so long since I was there I bet I would hardly recognize the place anymore.

That's all for tonight. I am off to my cozy bed as the rain beats down yet again. Nighty night!

Time is flying!

Miss me? Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Finished the crochet project and the pattern is now in review by the publisher. Started working on another pattern project, knitted this time. A shrug in Schaefer's Elaine in the color called "Snoopy's Crayons". I love this stuff! Here's a little peek at one sleeve in progress.



I hear a lot of knitters fussing about "pooling", where the color in a hand painted yarn will begin to make pools of color instead of stripes. Well, I like it! It's fascinating to see how the color changes with only a few stitches decreased.. This is also going to be submitted for publication, in a knitting magazine this time. Wonder what they will say about the pooling? Maybe make me knit another one with yarn that won't pool? Fine with me. I want to keep this one anyway. Can anyone recommend a thick & thin bulky multicolor yarn that can't pool?

Took a short break from knitting to get this next round robin done. Have to mail it on Friday. Finally decided I was going to do a wide border of several pastels. It's going to be a checkerboard type border. But the corners will add a little gift of love. :o)



That was my first try at paper piecing! It was a 6" block but I shrank it down to a 3" block. I love to do itty bitty things. Just my personal craziness. Well, one of them anyway. I've made so many miniature quilts compared to how many full sized I've made. They're just so fast and fun! I have a gazillion quilts in my head I'd like to make but will never live long enough. Making them in miniature gets some of that out of my system. Anyway, these little gift wrapped hearts will go in the corners of the Sunbonnet Sue round robin. I'll post a picture of it before I mail it.

And my slipper pattern has been accepted and they want a sample quick! And the shrug pattern is on a deadline too. And a cabled bag pattern. Whew! I feel sorry for anyone who is bored being retired. Poor yes, but never bored.

Have you done your taxes yet? I did mine last week. Had no income to report except my little "profit sharing", which had 20% Fed tax taken out. So, a nice little return from the Feds, and pay a part of it to the State. But it sure will help since the nest egg is almost gone.

Let me see, what else has been keeping me busy? Finally signed up for unemployment. To h-e-double-hockey-sticks to the boss who swore he would fight unemployment, as he fired me, while I was in the hospital. I have to have a phone interview next month and tell the sad details all over again. Don't look forward to that at all. Probably have to explain again why I didn't get a lawyer when my workman's comp was denied. Lawyers are expensive! And how do you fight someone who has lots of money and lots of lawyers and no morals about lying and getting others to lie for him too? Oh, don't get me started!

Ok, I am calm now. 8*} About time to wind down and get to bed. Gonna finish that border on the round robin tomorrow and then back to knitting. Gotta get a sample slipper done, quick! Nighty night everyone! Love and hugs!

Sidetracked again!

Just when I thought I was free to knit again something else comes up. An invitation to submit a crochet design for a book. Can't pass that up. I need income! Can't show the design but you can peek at the sample.



That's all you get to see. Don't mean to tease. :o)

Haven't done this for so long that my crochet callus on my ring finger has to build up again. Can you say sore?

That's about it right now. Still watching my Olympic tapes and enjoying all of it so much. Storm after storm after storm has been coming through. We even had a rare tornado warning this afternoon in our county. Rain, hail, even snow down at sea level but none in my yard. Very rare for the California Bay Area. I love it!

Gotta do a couple more rows before bed. Seeya!

Always seem to be...

...trying to catch up! So let's see. Pieced 2 sets (24 blocks) of Origami Bow Ties in Civil War reproduction fabrics, sewn on my 1876 Singer New Family model 12. The old gal did quite a good job and I am proud of her. Not bad for 130 years old! Got the blocks all signed and mailed off my "squishy" today. In a couple of weeks I'll get back another squishy with 24 blocks from other exchange participants.




Got the next Round Robin to work on in the mail Saturday. It's so cute! I think the computer need a teensy little Mac Apple on it. And Miss Sunbonnet Sue needs some lace and ruffles. Not sure what I'm going to do for a border. The last person to work on it seems to think it needs "calming down". Hmmm...



Finally got around to mailing my granddaughter's ruffly wrist warmers to her. I'm starting to get used to going to the post office. It's close enough to be a quick trip that doesn't leave me super anxious to "just get home". Even Alex is a little impressed that I am going out to run little errands more often. Maybe there's hope for the old hermit after all! :o)

I am itching to get back to knitting! Got to do a couple of quick design submissions for a new crochet book first though. And I can't leave the Round Robin until the last minute this time. HAVE to mail it by the 31st! And the taxes are waiting to be done. It will be interesting this time, after my first year of retirement.

Well, time for bed. Nighty night!

Feelin' old

It's surprising how much 3 days of intensive piecing, after years of not making all those movements, can affect older muscles and bones. You hold your entire body differently when using a sewing machine. And rotary cutting layers of fabric on the dining room table? OY! My back, my hands... ow!

I woke up today wondering if I was coming down with the flu. Aching all over and moving like molasses in Winter. Getting physically older is a drag! No other symptoms though, just achy and tired, tired, tired!

So I had my cup of hot Ovaltine and took some Advil and went off to the post office to mail the Round Robin. Got a bright yellow box for it, the same yellow of the blooming Oxalis that is swallowing up my front yard. Also mailed another DVD to my cyber twin. (Hi Laura!) Came home and made breakfast and commenced to wade through the 300+ emails waiting for me since I hardly read any yesterday. Just finished the last one half an hour ago! Whew!

So I made it through the day with just a very short nap. Did 7 loads of laundry, read all my email and thought about all that I plan to do tomorrow. My desk is an incredible mess, as usual. Need to tidy up my fabrics, pay the bills (ugh), vacuum up the thread bunnies and maybe work in a lovely hot shower. My Mom had one of those new baths installed, the kind you walk into, shut the door and sit down. No more trying to struggle up out of a slippery tub. I'm going to try it out when she cruises off to Turkey this month.

Well, I should get to bed. It is storming again tonight so I should sleep good. See y'all later!

Round Robin #1

Tonight finished three intense days of measuring and cutting and piecing and sewing and pressing and snipping and remembering what it was like to do this all the time. Now it's time to pack it up and mail it on to the next Robin. The next one is already in the mail to me and I am definitely not going to procrastinate on this one! Here's a picture of what I added to the center square.



I chose colors out of Kelly's background fabric to use in the flying geese. She wants her block to end up on point so, at first I was trying to figure out what to do for corners to do what she wants. But I wasn't inspired so I'll let the next person figure out the corners. :o) The geese are all flying toward the point so I at least acknowledged Kelly's wish.

Next I need to sew a bunch of blocks using my 1890's hand cranked Singer sewing machine and Civil War reproduction fabrics. Have to get those in the mail by Saturday. Then a little break to finish the slipper patterns and then start contemplating the next Round Robin center.

I recorded ALL the Olympics because I didn't want to miss anything and I knew I wouldn't be able to catch it all "live". Tonight I watched the women's snowboarding. One of them is named Gretchen! How cool is that! Someone in the crowd was holding up a huge sign that said Gretchen USA. Love it!

Well, been a long day and I am ready to rest. Lots to do tomorrow! G'night all!