Birthday Yarn Along or Not.

Yup, it's my birthday today. I'm still 50 something. It will be a quiet day. Crafting in the morning. Lunch out with Hubby and Mom then tutoring in the afternoon and evening.

I saw this the other day and just had to post it!

Of course, right now I not crocheting or knitting. I am sewing seams though. The first sleeve is in! Woohoo! I finished it right after I took the picture.

 

I don't find this difficult to actually do, but I find it daunting just to start. I am really not sure why I feel this way because usually the anticipation is far worse than the doing.

This sleeve took just a few minutes to attach.

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along. What are you knitting/crocheting? What are you reading? Pop on over to her site to see what others are doing?

I just bought all the thread for Little House Needleworks' "Love". 

I decided I needed a quick stitch project to work on right now.
I am planning on making it into a little ornament that I can hang on a cabinet doorknob.

I am still reading The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. I don't know why but I just haven't been taking the time to sit down and read.
Thanks for stopping by!

Stitching up a Storm!

My cross-stitching has benefited from the fact that my carpel tunnel has acted up along with a tendon problem in my left hand (also known as trigger finger). Anti-inflammatory medicine and occupational therapy is in my future. Knitting and crocheting will have to be on hold for a while.

I have managed to stitch quite a lot of "Through the Woods" by Little House Needleworks. I will probably need to visit my local cross-stitch store to pick up another skein of the white color ... bamboo. I don't believe I have enough to finish.

I have also been working on "October Morn". Right now it is just boring black and brown. I really have to move on to another color.

I have been quilting the Peanuts' Christmas quilt  while watching the Olympics at night.

I just have one more side of the Christmas Lights pattern to quilt over the 2nd and 3rd borders. Next I have to remark the outer border and the quilt it. I am so annoyed that all the marking that I carefully measured has rubbed off despite the claim by the marking product that only washing would remove it. There is not a trace of the marking left. I am really not looking forward to doing that since the quilt is already sandwiched and marking will not be easy.

Joining Chrissie for Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what others are stitching up.

Thanks for stopping by!



Barn Jacket Knitting Done!

First I want to thank all my readers and new followers. I truly enjoy hearing from you and seeing what my fellow bloggers are doing.

I have finished knitting the collar of my Barn Jacket. All that is left is sewing on the sleeves and sewing up the side seams. I hope to get started on that today. I am so looking forward to finishing this. It has been a long road knitting my first cardigan.

 

Ten inches of snow fell last Thursday and I re-injured my left hand shoveling. I don't think I will be starting another knitting project for a while. I really need to find out I have done to my hand. 

I have plenty of cross-stitch and quilting to keep me busy right now although I use my left hand for both of these. I could probably crochet since that really only requires my right hand to be active. I really should get back to my Granny Square Roses.

This week I have been trying to complete some basic mending. I have four pairs of pants to shorten for myself. I am only 5'2" but petite lengths are just too short, so I buy average length pants and shorten them myself. Easy enough to do but tedious. I really wish misses pants had lengths like men's, although I always seem to have to adjust the length of my husband's pants also.


I'm also trying to adjust the size of a deep-pocket full-size fitted sheet for my mom because it is just way too big for her older style mattress. You just can't buy sheets anymore that are not deep-pocket style. There is actually an 8 inch difference in length from her older style sheets. She swears it is too wide also but that difference is only 2 inches. Again, not a difficult task but also somewhat tedious.

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along again this week. What are you knitting/crocheting? What are you reading? Pop on over to her site to see what others are crafting and reading.
I am still reading The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. I really enjoy the way she weaves a family's story by looking back and forth in time through the individual's memories and present life. There is always a mystery to be solved that has implications for several of the main characters. Quite interesting.

Hubby cleared the snow so we can contiune feeding the birds, and couple of squirrels, on our back deck. This is the view from our living room.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Valentine's WIPocalypse and Stitching Sunday

Happy Valentine's Day!

Joining Melissa for WIPocalypse today and Chrissie's Stitching Sunday.
For the first I need to tell you how many projects I like to have going on at once. I don't have a definitive number but definitely more than one. That being said, I rarely have more than one project per craft going at once. 

The Olympics have allowed me to make great progress on Little House Needleworks' "Through the Woods".

.

 I am concentrating on this one cross-stitch currently. I find that I need to work on and finish one cross-stitch at a time or all the cross-stitch gets put aside indefinitely. So of the two I currently have started, this is the one I am working on.

 This is also fitting considering the copious amounts of snow we are experiencing. Yesterday was hubby's birthday and we spent it shoveling and snow-blowing about ten inches of snow. I told him he got the gift of snow for his birthday and he asked me if we could return it because it was too big!

We are not going to be grilling any time soon...

or sitting on this bench.

Now, back to WIPocalypse.

 I do have many other projects in the works:

• knitting: Barn Jacket for me
• crocheting: Rose Granny Squares (may become an afghan)
• cross-stitch: printed cross-stitch "October Morning" by Dimensions
• quilting: hand quilting small Peanuts Christmas quilt
• quilting: need to bind queen-sized "Indigo Flying Geese" quilt
• quilting: bargello table runner

 So, I usually have many varied projects going on. Yes, I know, I have 3 quilt projects in progress right now, but that is unusual for me. I really have to finish one of the quilts soon. 

 

I will never be bored because there is always something different that I can work on. Usually though, I try to concentrate on one or two projects at a time until they are finished. "Through the Woods" and my Barn Jacket are the projects that are getting all the attention right now. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

Olympic Yarn Along

"Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? " Joining Ginny's Yarn Along again this week.

The Olympics are the perfect time to catch up on a bunch of crafting. I am quite proud of myself because I managed to pick up stitches and knit both the button and button-hole bands on my Barn Jacket. 

I thought the collar would be started for this post but yesterday was quite a busy day. Once the collar is finished, all that is left is to sew up the seams. I am actually looking forward to that because I can't wait to have wear this sweater. 
Oh, I have to find the right buttons too!

Hubby's hat is finished and it fits! I was so glad I could get back to it. 

He was out when I was snapping pics or I would have had him model it.
 

A trip to the doctor and some meds and my swollen hand is no more. No explanation for the problem, but it is resolved. I really hope it doesn't return but I will be concentrating more on cross-stitch for a while so I don't think I will aggravate it again.

Snow is predicated again for all day tomorrow. I guess I will hibernate, watch the Olympics, craft and maybe read. I am usually a very happy camper when it snows, especially when I have nowhere to be except home.

Speaking of reading, I am now reading The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton, a Christmas gift from my mom. I loved the first book of hers that I read: The Forgotten Garden and saw all the blog recommendations for this book. So far it is living up to my expectations. I have found another author to follow. Kate Morton weaves quite an intriguing story.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Olympic Stitching Sunday

I love watching the Olympics. I love the competition and watching sports I know I will never attempt. Ski-jumping? No way. I am way too afraid of heights but I love watching those athletes fly.

I also love the Olympics because it is a valid excuse to sit in front of the TV and stitch. 

 This is yesterday's progress on Little House Needleworks' "Through the Woods" pattern.

 Just the tree and a little bit of snow existed prior to my Olympic stitching. I expect to have much more finished by next Sunday. Of course, I am also knitting and crocheting while watching but I still believe there will be progress. I am really enjoying this pattern.

I'm joining Crissie Crafts for Stitching Sundays. Pop on over to her site to see what others are stitching.

 

The wildlife in my neighborhood, birds and squirrels, have been coming to our snow-cleared deck looking for food so we put out some bird-seed. 

 Now our deck is quite the popular dining spot right outside our living room. Alternative viewing during the commercials.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Snow and No Knitting

It is snowing here again with ice probable tonight and we are expecting anywhere from 3 to 30 inches over the weekend. To say that I am tired of snow shoveling is an understatement. This is what Monday's snow looked like.

 We got about 8 inches of heavy wet snow. I know, I know, there are an awful lot of you out there in the same boat but I can moan and groan if I want to.

I'm joining Ginny's Yarn Along. What are you knitting/crocheting? What are you reading? Pop on over to her site to see what others are doing. 

Unfortunately there is no progress on the knitting front this week. I still have to sew up the second pocket on my Barn Jacket before I pick up stitches for the button band. I keep putting this off. Not sure why.
 I haven't finished hubby's hat because for some reason my left hand is quite sore and swollen. I believe it has something to do with knitting his hat and maybe using the computer. The more I knitted, the more my hand hurt. Thus no knitting.

 I have returned to working on my cross-stitch. You can see the latest progress here.
 
 I am more than halfway done reading Starting Now by Debbie Macomber.
I find it quite different to read a book on Kindle. I don't see the book laying around, so I tend not to pick it up. Also, except for the percentage meter at the bottom of the page I really have little idea how much is left to read. I do like the fact that it discourages reading ahead though. Also, the pages seem to turn much more quickly obviously because there is only one page at a time.

Thanks for stopping by.



Joining WIPocalypse

Hi everyone, I am joining WIPocalypse for the first time today. I cross-stitch my own designs as well as patterns by others.

The Valentine's pillow you see in my header was my own design last year. I was very pleased with the finished pillow.

Currently, I am working on "Through the Woods" by Little House Needleworks.

 I just recently picked this up again and am excited about working on it.

I haven't made much progress yet. I hope to have this finished by next Christmas.

I am also working on this stamped cross-stitch that my mother started several years ago.

I had to frog it and start over. There really is no end date scheduled for this. I just pick it up when I feel like working on it.

I also have the following two patterns to work on at my leisure.

 I would like to start "Love" by Little House Needleworks soon as it should be a quick finish.

My most recent finish is one of my own designs "Winter Angel".

I have yet to determine how I will finish it, but my thought is to make it into a banner. I am in the process of designing an angel for each of the other seasons also. I will then have to stitch them up. I had better get a move on Spring.

Thanks for stopping by!