It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…

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….me wearing a cape I made for Anya’s class.

This weekend I made seven capes. Most of them don’t look like this one. Well, none of them look like this one. One of them looks kind of like this one but with zebra stripes. The rest are velvety, and I can’t wear them because I don’t have the neck of a 3-4-5-year old, and Anya refused to model one for me, and so I have no picture. And now for a fair-crafting update.

137 | Needlework | Quilt | Wall Hanging: Completed

I feel like a real quilter now. The pattern I chose was called “Amish Unknown” and was from Quilts from America’s Heartland: Step-By-Step Directions for 35 Traditional Quilts, which I found at the library. I love the library. If you recall, I had a bit of a rocky start. Yeah, I am pretty sure the measurements in the book were wrong. Here’s a picture of the size called for in the book (left) and what it really should have been (right). (I forgot to mark the mistake in the book before I returned it. Arg.)

After I ranted and whined for a while about having to cut down those squares, the block went together pretty quickly. I stalled for a week or two, though, on the binding. My goal was to finish this weekend, but yesterday I realized I was almost out of thread. So, I took a nap. But when I woke up the thread fairy had not appeared, and I learned the fabric store in town closed in 32 minutes. I threw Anya and Andy in the car and flew! I thought all was lost when a fancy car from one of the funeral homes in town pulled out in front of us on the road-with-few-passing-zones. Luckily, they were done with the funeral and on their way home and I guess ready for a beer because they drove pretty fast. We pulled into the parking lot of the fabric store with three minutes to spare. One of the workers was walking out the door, and I began to panic. I grabbed my money, ignored Andy and Anya, and dashed to the store door, which was mercifully still open. I walked in, and the lights were dim, and all the other employees were standing in the entry way with their coats on and their purses on their arms. Uh oh.

But, when I held up my nearly-empty spool and declared a thread emergency, one of the women calmly escorted me to the thread display, picked out what I needed, gave it to me, and ushered me towards the checkout, where another woman rang up my purchase with a smile and turned off the cash register, and then they all gathered behind me and herded me out of the shop before I could be distracted by shiny objects. I was so excited and full of glee, I flung my thread-holding hand up into the air as I skipped to the car. The spool flew from my fingers and bounced off the parking lot surface and rollllllllllllled under the car down the hill towards the huge drop off to the street below. Time went in slow motion as I yelled, “My threeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!” Then I realized there was a wall there and the thread didn’t go so far and it would all be O.K.

Anyhow. After that I felt I must do the binding immediately. Otherwise all the drama was pointless. It took me three episodes of Monarch of the Glen and several furry helpers to do the hand stitching on the back, but now it is done! (I can’t believe they killed off Hector!!!)

Now, without further ado….


Missing the warm February days

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Someone from school posted recently that she missed the warm days of February. Me too.

84 | Horticulture | Cut Flowers | Dahlia: sprouting
85 | Horticulture | Cut Flowers | Gladioli: sprouting
94 | Horticulture | Cut Flowers | Calla Lily: planted

133 | Needlework | Clothing | Tote bag or Handbag: Completed

I bought the pattern for this bag around Christmas of 2010. At the same time, I bought some fabric and thread and bias tape. I started work on the project fairly soon after my purchases, but when my fabric ended up being too short of the pattern, I tucked everything away in despair. Stupid fabric being too short. I’m not really sure what qualifies something as a tote bag, but I am going to say this grocery-type bag is something you can tote things in, so good enough. This bag really stumped me several times, starting with the pocket on the front (which you can’t really see in this photo). I learned about top stitching, and I did a lost of basting (without a turkey), and I sewed bias tape around a corner (tucking in the fullness). The bag took me a really long time to make, but I think now that I know how to make it I could make another one a lot quicker. Don’t know if I want to make another one, though.

139 | Needlework | Quilt | Misc: Completed

I wanted something simple for my first venture into quilting. When I saw the Ziggity Mug Rug, I knew this was the piece for me. I’m not quite sure what a mug rug is. I thought at first it was a fancy coaster, but it’s really big in a rectangular sort of way. The best I can figure, you put your mug on it and have room left over for a pile of cookies. For my mug rug, I poked through the bag of scraps from my yo-yo adventure last fall and found almost enough teeny pieces. I cut the last two pieces from some other fabric I found in my fabric stash. (I hesitate to call it a stash. It’s more like a handful of handkerchiefs crammed in between yarn bins.) The fabric colors and patterns don’t go together all nice and cute…part of that is because I accidentally sewed a few pieces together differently than I had meticulously planned. The binding is pretty messy, and I wonder if the washable marker I used to mark the points will indeed wash out. Still, the points match! THE POINTS MATCH! I am in awe.


Hiking adventure

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Today Anya and I went hiking for four hours or so. We went to the Bottom Creek Gorge nature preserve (about 10-15 minutes from the house). It has three trails, and we walked two of them and saw the second highest waterfall in Virginia! Apparently on the trail we didn’t go on there are the remains of some cabins for folks who used to live up there, and we met someone at the waterfall viewing area whose “father’s people came from there.” We’ll have to go back and bring Cabol with us next time.

I’ve posted some more pictures.

According to the trail map we went about 3.5 miles, ranging from 2200-2600′ elevations. Anya did incredibly well, leading the way for most of the trip to the falls and part of the way back, at least until we started to run out of energy. I was impressed at her rock climbing abilities, since I have all the agility of a wounded rhino.


But the book can’t be wrong!

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ARG! So I picked a quilting pattern from a library book. The pattern is called “Amish Unknown.” Great name. Anyhow, it’s a quilt, but I am just gonna do one block and frame it up or whatever you call that and make it my needlework | quilted | wall hanging. So, I’m grooving right along and get all my pieces cut for the block and start sewing together stuff, and there’s these 5 checker board square piece thingies made of four smaller squares and I followed the instructions and double-triple-quadruple checked, but the last time I was in math class, if you put together four 3.5″ squares into a bigger square, the bigger square is NOT gonna be 3.5″, too. Unless there is some secret space warping quilting secret. GARG. I had Andy look at the directions, too, but it was like I was back in high school asking my Dad for math help and he had to read the WHOLE book to help me with one little question that had absolutely nothing to do with anything else in the book. Quit looking at the triangles! I am not talking about the triangles! This has nothing to do with the triangles, dammit!

So I put everything away and went to watch “Fairly Odd Parents.”

Tomorrow everything will magically make sense, or I will find a red pen and fix the bloody book.


Wowsie Daisy!

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Amusing things the kid has said lately. Can you figure out what she meant?

1. “Daddy, would you go get my weasel out of the car?”

2. “I got a casket today!”

I pulled out my rotary cutter, iron, and sewing machine a week or two ago to start on the quilted items for the fair. (Should I mention it took me a week to find the iron?) Anya was immediately intrigued by everything. Letting her use the rotary cutter was out of the question, especially after I sliced my finger. But, I remember helping my Mom iron when I was a kid, so that seemed something okay to try. (I was in charge of my Dad’s handkerchiefs!) We do have an ironing board, but it’s buried in the closet behind a few hundred pounds of scrapbook stuff and a dozen shoes (some matched, some not). Who needs an ironing board, really, when you have stone counter tops? I laid out a hand towel with a cloth napkin on top. Worked quite well. After I had the iron heated up, the kid pushed a chair over against the counter and demanded a turn.

She is, I think, a better ironer than I am now that she’s had about as much practice as I’ve had in my entire life. She only ironed in a few wrinkles and nothing got burned (fingers or fabric). Yay! If anyone in the house needs a shirt straightened out, I know who I am asking to do the job.

I also remember my Mom showing me how to use her sewing machine, so if this story ends in a trip to the ER it’s all her fault! (Don’t worry; it doesn’t.) I found some scrap pieces of fabric and talked Anya through all the parts of the machine. Everything was set up and ready to go when we realized Anya and Miss Piggy have something in common (other than being awesome singers). Neither one can reach the pedal. Miss Piggy wears super shoes to reach. Anya ran off and came back with her step stool from the bathroom. Perhaps not as glamorous as 12inch heels, but it worked just the same. She was a bit startled by the zoooooom of the machine, but she got used to it pretty quickly and sewed several scrap pieces together.

That’s my girl!


Quick Fair Update

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1 Garden Produce Fresh Fruit Apples: Tree is blooming!
2 Garden Produce Fresh Fruit Misc. Fruit: Raspberries are looking good
6 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Beans, String: Seeds purchased
7 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Beets: Seeds purchased
8 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Broccoli: Seeds purchased
9 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Cabbage: Seeds purchased
10 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Carrots: Seeds purchased and some planted
11 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Gourds: Seeds purchased
12 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Cucumbers: Seeds purchased
14 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Onions: Planted
16 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Potatoes: Planted
17 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Squash, Yellow Summer: Seeds purchased
18 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Squash, Zucchini: Seeds purchased
20 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Misc. Veg: Garlic going strong
80 Horticulture Plants Cactus: Been poking along for a few months
81 Horticulture Plants Foliage House Plant: Spider plant at school is a-okay
82 Horticulture Plants Misc. Potted House Plant: Succulents looking good
84 Horticulture Cut Flowers Dahlia: planted
85 Horticulture Cut Flowers Gladioli: planted
87 Horticulture Cut Flowers Marigold: Seeds purchased
89 Horticulture Cut Flowers Zinnia: Seeds purchased
93 Horticulture Cut Flowers Day Lily: Tons growing outside…will any be blooming in September? I don’t know.
94 Horticulture Cut Flowers Calla Lily: Bulbs purchased
95 Horticulture Cut Flowers Misc. Lily: Tons growing outside…will any be blooming in September? I don’t know.
96 Horticulture Cut Flowers Rose: Several plants outside…will any be blooming in September? I don’t know.

104 | Needlework | Crochet | Infant’s Set: Almost done…just have to finish the hat

139 | Needlework | Quilt | Misc: Mug Rug – In progress

143 | Craft | Handicraft | Misc: Quilled Raspberries – Completed

152 | Craft | Homecraft | Decorative Painting: Completed