Half a lifetime....

Half a lifetime ago, I was a young newlywed, living in my first apartment. Our cat, Lucky seemed lonely, so we'd been thinking of getting another kitty to keep her company. One day my DH called and said one of his coworkers had brought in a litter of kittens that needed homes.  After some discussion, he came home with this tiny little thing:



She wasn't very well socialized and spent most of her first night hiding behind the dryer shivering.  :-(  We got her into the second bedroom and she spent a lot of time under the bed.  She'd come out, but wouldn't let us get too close to her.

We couldn't agree on what to name her - I liked "Ripley", the DH wanted "Psycho".  We decided to pull a name out of a hat and got as far as writing the names on slips of paper one night before we had to leave for somewhere.  When we got home, she was chewing on one of the pieces of paper, and we decided she'd chosen her name.  Ripley it was (thank goodness!).

She slowly settled in, watching the wild life:

"I can see them, why can't I grab them?!"

 Mountain climbing:

Coffee table -> entertainment center -> air conditioner

Helping with my quilt projects:

"Looking good, Mama!"

And generally tearing up the place.  I don't know how many times I had to re-pot my spider plant, and I picked up one of the table lamps off the floor every night when I got home.  She did know how to kick back and relax, though.

Don't you just want to rub that tummy?

As the years passed, I got divorced, changed jobs and moved a couple of times.  Relationships came and went. We lost Lucky along the way, and added new furry family members.  But through it all, Ripley was there.  She mellowed a lot as she got older.  Back in they day, I had friends who would cat sit for me and never see her.  If you tried to pick up her up, you'd lose skin.  In the last few years, though, she became a regular lap kitty and would actually come and greet visitors, instead of hiding under the bed. 

Not completely antisocial

For a long time, she was my healthiest cat, even as old as she was.  She started getting recurring urinary tract infections about six months ago.  We suspected a tumor in her bladder, but couldn't actually see it. The vets told me there wasn't really much we could do about it anyway. She was too old for surgery and chemo doesn't work well on those kinds of tumors, especially in cats.  So we fought the good fight, giving her antibiotics to control the infections and generally trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

She was pretty happy, still eating, drinking, snuggling with me at night, etc. until a couple of days ago.  I took her to the vet yesterday and we were finally able to see the tumor, blocking her bladder.  We could have done things to give her a little more time, but it wouldn't have been quality time, so I decided it was time to let her go.  It  was so hard, but I think it was the right thing to do for her. I miss her already.  I hope she and Lucky are playing with catnip mice and napping together again somewhere.

This is the picture on the vet's calendar for March....

I love you, Ripley.

February is for Finishing

Really short post today.  Lots to do.

I almost finished this little quilt in time to be entered in the first contest but I still had some of the binding to stitch down.



It was a kit I bought at a NEORQC Getaway several years ago.  The fabrics are all batiks and the outer border is a very dark blue/black.  I happened to have a spool of thread with all the colors in it, so I used that to quilt it.  I didn't take a picture of the back.  It's a pinkish purple batik, but for some reason, they added some red/brown splashes on it.  It looks like it's been crumpled up in rust water.  But it came with the kit, and it's the back, so you won't see it much.

Before I get back to my finishing, I'd like to say that cats like grass.

They don't digest it very well, though. Ask me how I know.  Better yet, don't.

Finish in February

One of my knitting friends decided that February is for Finishing. I took a look at the list of of my projects on the right and decided that might not be a bad idea.  Especially since I have a Quilt Camp weekend coming up in a couple of weeks.  The idea is that we work on the projects we already have going and not start anything new. 

I already had plans for a couple of new Knit-Alongs, including starting a pair of Christmas socks at a Super Bowl party and a February Lady sweater on Leap Day. But despite wanting to cast on at least three more sweaters and a pair of socks, I'm not going to start any new projects (other than those two) during the month of February.  And after the Super Bowl, I'll put the new socks in timeout for the rest of the month.

I plan to concentrate on these knitting projects:


A Shalom sweater that I conveniently started last night, purple Stepping Stones socks for my mom, and a pair of plain socks in Destination Yarn's limited edition Vancouver Five Rings yarn.

I'm almost to the heel on the plain socks, so I'm pretty sure I can finish them this month, if I work on them regularly. 

The purple socks are pretty quick knits and I would like to get them done before Mom's birthday in April.  That's definitely doable, if not the end of February.

The sweater is short-sleeved and knit in bulky yarn, so it should go quickly and be a nice change from socks.

I plan to take these quilting projects with me to quilt camp:


The pile on the left is enough blue/green/purple scrap quilt parts to make at least one bed-sized quilt, if not two.  On the right is a small blue/black and bright batik quilt. And of course, there's the neverending Dear Jane quilt.

The only one of these projects I actually think I can finish is the batik quilt top, but I hope to get at least a couple of Dear Jane blocks done and get all of the scrap units sewn, if not squared up.





Meanwhile, I've finished a couple of things.  I was asked to make a sketch pad case and this is what I came up with:

Closed - the ties might need to be shortened a bit

Imagine a sketch book on the right.

I layered the brown fabric over a piece of stiff interfacing that was cut to size and stitched the elastic across it.  I marked the elastic at 1" intervals, but sewed them 3/4" apart, so it would hold the pencils without distorting the case.  The mesh pocket was a bit of a challenge.  I stuck the mesh onto a piece of water soluble stabilizer to keep it from stretching and sewed in the zipper.  Then I drew a rectangle the size I wanted on a piece of tear-away stabilizer (thank goodness for my machine embroidery supplies).  I stitched the mesh to that, with little side puckers to make it roomier.  Then I added pieces of hem tape along the sides to cover the mesh.  Once that was done, I got rid of the stabilizers and stitched it to the inside case.  I double-folded some strips of the brown fabric for the ties and pinned them to the sides.  Then I layered another piece of fabric and interfacing on top of the inner piece and sewed most of the way around, leaving an opening at the bottom to turn it right side out.  Once it was trimmed and turned right side out, I hand stitched the opening closed, and sewed the two lines to mark the spine.  The interfacing was a little wavy from being folded, so I ironed it a bit, then laid it out flat and weighed it down for a few days.  It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it.  I hope the recipient is.

I also finished my gold mystery socks.

They're pretty comfy

I love the beads in the center of the cables on top

 

And I started another pair of socks.  These are a knit-along,too, but they won't be getting much attention for a while.



In other news, Max has a thing for the alpaca/acrylic blend yarn I'm using for my Shalom Sweater.

"Mmmm..... alpaca......"

I bought an alpaca's worth of yarn from my favorite farm's Fiber CSA.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to keep it locked up.

Miss me?

Did you notice I was gone?  I won't make excuses for the absence - I've been a lazy blogger. I have been crafting, though.

Ethan's Star pattern, from Quiltmaker magazine

First up, I made this quilt for my friend Dawn who's expecting twins any day now.  Jenny, standing behind Dawn, is holding the matching burp cloths that I didn't get a picture of. They're cloth diapers with fabric that matches the quilts sewn down the center.

Wait, did I say quilts, plural?  Well, of course.  Two babies, two quilts.  My friend Michelle made this one.

We found out later that she was going to have monkeys in the babies' room

I think it's upside down, but whatever....

Next, I made this little shrug to go with a dress I bought, but I didn't get a picture the one time I wore them together.  So I took it to the farm and had Andrea take a picture for me.











At the beginning of December, there was a Christmas party with the knitters.  My friend Pretty Knitty Jewelry is a better blogger than I am, so you can check out her blog post about the party here. She and I are the ones with matching socks in the big sock picture.  She couldn't show you the stocking stuffers in her post, but I can.

Lots of wonderful goodies!

Ooooo, shiny!

I made these as my stocking stuffers. They're etched glass ornaments stuffed with wool roving mixed with a little angelina fiber for sparkle. I used six different snowflake stencils for the etching and made several different colors.  I tried to match the color to the recipient and these were the ones I had left over.

A crappy picture in general, but you can see the snowflake.

I whipped up about a dozen of these little pocket pack tissue holders for the doctors and staff at the vet's office.  They all had different dog and cat fabrics, all from my stash.

These two are mine.

There has been knitting, of course.  After I finished the Christmas socks, I cast on these:

Plain sock in Destination Yarn's in Vancouver 2010 Five Rings

When I finished these...

Spring Fern Socks in Knit Picks Stroll Tonals, Springtime

...I started these for my Mom.  Not much to show, yet, I know. But they should go pretty fast. I hope.

Stepping Stones in Sensations Bamboo and Ewe

Falling Leaves in Knit Picks Stroll Tonals in Foliage

Earlier today, I went to the farm again and cast  on these as a new knit-along with my friends, Julie and Ann. I had to rip mine out because I didn't knitting the first couple of rounds tight enough.  I plan to start over as soon as I post this.

While we were together, we took a picture of our last knit-along.  Look familiar?  That yarn is pretty popular this year, I guess.

Plain sock pattern, Wisdom Marathon North Pole yarn in Merry Merry

Well, that about wraps up my year.  I'm off to cast on those socks and drink a toast to the new year. Here's to a happy and healthy 2012.

Blue and Emma say....

Happy New Year!

Dyeing for a party

Yes, that has an 'e' in it.  The weekend before last some of my knitting friends got together for a yarn dyeing party.  With this group, that included good food, lots of laughs and some knitting thrown in.  I didn't take any pictures at the party, but here's what I came home with.


First up, a pre-knit, two-strand sock blank that started out a cream/natural color.  I dyed it using Easter egg dye (2 tablets each of orange, red and yellow).  I mixed the dye in a Pyrex dish, put the damp blank into the dye all at once and microwaved it to heat set it.  My original plan was to go back and add black stripes for some cool Halloween socks.  But I love the orange so much, I can't bring myself to add the black, in case I screw it up.

Before and after

Next I had a couple of balls of Red Heart's Heart and Sole sock yarn, also in a cream/natural colorway.  I was having trouble deciding what color to dye it, then Tina had some extra Jacquard Acid Dye in the Chestnut colorway mixed in a squirt bottle that she was just going to throw out. 



Rather than let it go to waste, I put the damp yarn in the dish, squeezed the dye on one side, turned it over and squirted the other side. Then I added some water and poked it around with my (gloved) fingers.  I added some extra in the places that looked light and nuked it to set the dye.  It looked kind of purple while I was dyeing it, and it still has some purple shades to it.


I hadn't intended to make Cleveland Browns colors, it just kind of worked out that way.

And in keeping with all the stores, just in time for Halloween - CHRISTMAS! socks.  A couple of my friends and I ordered this yarn and started the socks in February. Julie finished hers first, I'm second, and Ann's in the home stretch.  We'll all wear them for our holiday gathering this year.

They just scream CHRISTMAS!, don't they?

I've made progress on a couple of my other sock projects.

Mystery Socks by Antje Gillingham

Spring Fern by Susan Lutsky - These are farther along now.

And finally, I bought a hank of merino/angora (rabbit) yarn at a fiber event this summer.  Every time Max finds it in the sewing room, this happens.

"I think I'm in love"

Where to begin?

Okay, I've been MIA for quite a while now, so I'm not really sure where to start.  I guess I'll start with the house.  You saw the new chimney mortar back in August.  After that, the mason came back and built a step by the side door.

Now people won't feel like they're falling out of my house.  I just hope the plow guy doesn't destroy it this winter.  I'm thinking of getting some kind of pot or statue or something to put in front of it as a marker, but I have no idea what.  Thoughts?

Then I got a new, non-leaking roof on the house, along with new gutters.

The last house thing was some painting.

Wrought iron railings on the front porch.

Garage doors and trim.

My friend Beth did most of the garage painting.I just did the trim around the side windows and the 2nd coat of trim on and around the doors.
At the beginning of September, I got ready for quilt camp.  This crappy old pillowcase was the carrier for my sewing machine extension table for a loooong time. It also carried any long rulers I wanted to take to camp.

Sort of  functional but not very interesting.

So before camp this time around, I dove into the stash and made this:

The outside is a home dec remnant, and the lining (not shown) was a piece of fabric from my neighbor's garage sale - fill a grocery bag for a buck. I had to buy the blue strapping. In hindsight, I should either have had a longer piece of strapping, and/or put the straps closer together. It's a little awkward to carry the way it is.  But I wasn't about to take it back apart, since I use it maybe 3 times a year. The brown strip covers the seam in the strapping. 

I made it big enough to hold my 18" x 24" cutting mat and 20-1/2" square ruler

While I was at quilt camp, I worked on a couple of  quilt tops that I didn't take pictures of, as well as my Dear Jane.

BR-7

D-4

G-11

When I got back from camp, I took this stuff:

Comfy plush fabric, flannel and assorted ribbons and trims

and made three of these little tabbed baby blankets

Cute, isn't it?

Two of them have solid orange backs, but I had to piece one of them.

There has been knitting. Some of it is stealth knitting, but I don't have good pictures of any of it, yet, so more on that later.

The cats have been busy bird watching.

Some of them anyway.  Max was napping.

More later....