I Am Slowly Getting Ready for the Holidays

I have not had much time to craft, knit, sew or just do about anything. My hubby has been on vacation for 2 weeks. I did get a few things done but still do not have my tree up yet. My hubby did finish my conversion on my motorcycle. It is now a trike and I love it.

Here are some things I have made the last two weeks.

First I decorated a wreath. I was at Michaels and most of the Christmas decorations including the wreath were 1/2 off. Love that. It is simple I just about had a breakdown on making the bow. I watched videos and read instructions. Finally I just had a look at a bow that was already done. Seems to look ok now.



Here are my candles. I used my silver tray I purchased at the thrift store and tied snowman ribbon and clipped on the cute little birds from my Michael trip at $3.99 for the birds I just loved them. I got this idea from one of my Christmas Remembered Cross Stitch books.



Here are two little trees I made. I got the idea from Tales From An OC Cottage. She had made the cutest little trees and put them in teacups. I could not find teacups but I did find some white mugs that were on clearance. I used lace from my Mom's stash. Since none of my sisters sew I inherited all my Mom's sewing stuff. I still have one more tree to do. This one in pink for my bedroom.





I am going to try to finish my decorating this weekend. I am also looking for a white tree. I might make a little tree with San Diego Charger theme for my husband. I am sure he would love it. I will have more pictures when I get more Christmas things done.

The Day After Thanksgiving

I can't believe I finally did the Black Friday Sales. Years before I always worked. So being layed off I decided to venture out. I woke up about 5:10 and decided too early for me. I was finally out the door a little after 7:00. My first stop Joann Fabrics. Wow what a line around the cutting table. People were buying tons of fabric. I went for the dress form. I should look at my sale paper better. The sale for the dress form is tomorrow. I did buy one of the Joann Quilt Kits I had been admiring with my coupons. So I left happy.

Next stop WalMart. I bought nothing. I was hoping for a tv to use for my workout area but no luck. Next stop Ross which had no one there since they did not have a sale going on. They did open at 8:00. I found a sweater and some gift items for my boys.

Since I was in the area I thought I would try Best Buy. They had a TV but I was not sure of the brand so left without. Did stop at Border Bookstore. Again not busy which was nice for me. Probably not them. Last stop Petco then home. No one at Petco either. Guess that is not a big gift item place. Did get the dog food and some new treats for the dogs to try.

It was an ok day but I don't think I will do it again. Once was enough. I was home by 10:15.

My sweater did not get done by my deadline. Close but not done. I could not have worn the sweater anyway it was about 77 degrees. I have the button band left to do then I will be done. I am going to try to finish as soon as possible so I can start something new.

Progress On My Hoodie

I finished the right side today of Heather's Hoodie. I am so excited. The next step is blocking. This will be the first time blocking. I felt a little lost with no big knitting project tonight to work on. I ended up watching the Star Trek DVD. We saw the movie when it first came out so it was something I could watch without paying 100% attention to.

I did do some sewing. A few years ago I bought a Volks Super Dollfie doll from Japan. At the time you could not buy the doll in the US. They come to you with no clothes. My poor doll is finally dressed. I used some of my Mom's lace that she left me. It felt good using the lace. I did not use a pattern just a simple skirt and halter top.




I have an appointment with the VA Counselor next week. Keeping my fingers crossed that I get to go back to school for a new career path.

Dyed My First Yarn Today

I have been waiting and waiting for my order to arrive so I can try dyeing yarn. It finally came on Saturday. Today was he first day that I had a little time to try dyeing. Overall the process was not hard. I did not get my first try exactly the way I wanted but Hubby and the boys could tell what I was going for. I am going to knit my husband a pair of socks with the yarn. He is such a Charger Fan. I looked for yarn in the blue/gold combo and could not find it even on Etsy. Here are some pictures of the process. I used the Jacquad Acid Dyes. My biggest challenge was I did not want the colors to overlap at all and have green. There are a few spots I am not happy with but I think when I knit it up it will be ok.

Soaking the yarn blank with water and vinegar. The blank is a sock yarn from Knit Picks.



Painting the yarn. I used sponge brushes since I was trying to make sure the colors did not mix.



After I was done painting I wrapped the yarn all in plastic wrap and used the microwave to heat set the dye. (I found great tutorials through Ravelry.) Then after I let the yarn cool, I rinsed until the water ran clear. The blue did not bleed at all. The yellow did have some bleeding but a few rinses and the water ran clear. This picture is just after the rinse.



Here is the finished yarn. I am waiting for the yarn to dry.



Now I am ready for the next try. As far as knitting I finished the left side of my hoodie and started the right side. I am moving slowly and still want to finish before Thanksgiving. No sewing at all. My poor neglected Y2K quilt. Maybe this week I will have time to get some things done.

No More Yarn but more Fiber Related Fun

Ok I promised myself that I would not buy yarn this month. I have enough yarn but I did buy dye, a spindle and on the 31st of October some yarn to dye and some Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks. I think Ravelry is a bad influence because now I want to try spinning and dying yarn.

I did get some good things off Craigslist yesterday. I have more knitting needles. A cute plastic holder and 2 knitting books. The big purchase was a ball winder for $5.00. Well I just love the way my yarn looks in little cakes. I made 5 yesterday and it was so quick. I want to do more.

I have been knitting on my hoodie. The back is done and I am working on the right front. I am still enjoying the project. The Y2K quilt has another block sewed up. I just don't find myself taking the time to sew and I need to do that. I need the Thanksgiving Wall Hanging to replace the Halloween Wall Hanging I made.

My son visited his girlfriend in San Francisco. They went to Alcatraz. The GF crochets and is learning to knit. When my son showed me the pictures from Alcatraz I loved this one.

Lilly Ate My Place Marker

Does she look a little innocent. Well she is not. Lilly was happily chewing on something. I dropped a place marker and she was having at it. I took it away and realized that she had eaten a little piece. She seems fine but I really have to watch what I drop. Silly Dog.

I have 2 more inches on my Hoodie. Is it me or does it takes forever to knit the last few inches. I am going to finish tonight when I have knitting time.

Yesterday I went to the Veterans Adminstration Assessment for Vocational Rehabilitation. They do the little bubble tests to see what type of job fits you. Of course I know what I want to study and hopefully that will show in the tests. The person running the testing said it would take about one week for the results and then you would meet your counselor face to face. I am keeping my fingers crossed this works out. I love being home but if I want the fun vacations then I need to go back to work.

I worked on the Y2K quilt. I am getting close to the finish on that too. I do need to get some sewing done since did buy the fabric for my husband 2 shirts.

Sometimes You Do the Same Row Over and Over

Last night when I finally had a little time to knit on my Hoodie I did my first row of the night and for some reason it was off. So I went back and counted took out the row and started again. STILL OFF!! Darn what am I doing wrong. I went back and took out the row again and recounted. One of the stitch markers was off and I had dropped a stitch. I finished the row correctly and called it a night. Sometimes you don't get very much done in one evening of knitting. The good news I only have about 6 more inches of knitting and the back will be done. I cannot wait. I want to get the hoodie done so badly at the cost of all my other things I need to work on.

I did take apart 2 more blocks on the Y2K quilt. Almost done with the taking apart of the blocks. I did not get them sewn together. Maybe today I have no plans. I already did my workout and 2 of my boys are not home and hubby is working today. Should be a quiet day.

Here is a picture of my Halloween wallhanging. It is actually all done. I still need to do more decorating but the box of Halloween decorations is in the attic and I could not get into the attic without moving a cabinet. Guess I will need to do that soon or just forget about doing more Halloween decorating.

I Am Out of Control

Ok I admit that I have a little shopping problem this month. I stopped at the local yarn shop and bought yarn for my next sweater and some new sock yarn. I could have used some yarn from the stash I already had but I wanted a certain color. I purchased Berroca Lustra in a cream color. I can't wait to use the new yarn. I picked out Sweaterbabe's Flutter Sleeve pattern. I purchased the pattern as soon as I saw it on Ravelry. Of courese I have to finish Heather's Hoodie which I am working on. The knitting on the hoodie is going really quick. I am more than half way done on the back. Today I had 2 hours of knitting time in the car. Plus more time during the football game tonight. OK I admit I have not been working on my quilt. I did do the binding on my Halloween Wallhanging. Yeah. I am going to hang it up then I will get a picture. I also worked on my socks that are on the needles earlier this week. Progress is slow on those. I think I have been working on them on and off for several months.

I am going to try to work on the Y2K quilt this week. I have just a few more blocks to take apart then I can finish it up.

Here is a picture of my hoodie in progress.

Wow a Street Named After Me!!

Ok so the street was not named after me but still a street with my name. My name is just uncommon. I know there is a singer out there with my name. My Mom actually named me after Tuesday Weld's character on the Dobie Gillis show. Some of you may not know Dobie Gillis because the show ran in the late 50s. I guess my Mom loved the name. It was not easy in school because no one else had the name and I really did not like that I was not a Janet or Kimberly or some other common name. Now I am ok with it because look at this... after 40 some years on the planet I found a street and a surf shop. The surf shop is in Laguna and they have shirts with the name Thalia Street Surf Shop so of course I had to have one. My dear husband discovered the surf shop when someone at his work had the Thalia t-shirt on. Hubby then insisted we need to visit. It was a fun Saturday drive and I loved the street sign.



I have not done much sewing. I have been knitting. I am working on the Heather Hoodie. My first try with cables. I don't know why I was so scared they are not bad. I have completed my first pattern from a chart too. I still have a long way to go to get it done. My wonderful 17 year old asked me how long it was going to take me to knit a sweater when it takes me forever to make a pair of socks. I would love to wear it at Thanksgiving so that is my goal. Now if I could just stop reading blogs and Ravelry.

Knitting Disaster and new Yarn

We are back from Las Vegas. I had a wonderful time and completed my scarf. I thought I needed to knit a cowl because the chin strap on my motorcycle helmet made my neck very sore. Well that was a disaster. I don't know what I did wrong. I am sure it was me because several people on Ravelry have used the pattern and had wonderful results. So I finished the cowl tonight and then unraveled the thing. So now I am searching for a cowl pattern that uses smaller needles. Pictures of my very sad knitting project.




I went to Nancy's Quilt in Las Vegas. Since we were on the motorcycle I did not have much room or much time. I picked Nancy's because she has yarn and fabric. I ended up with 4 skeins of Kogui. Such pretty colors. I purchased 3 patterns and some fat quarters. I just loved the shop. I only had a few minutes so next time I will go and spend some time browsing.

I have not had any progress on my Y2K quilt with vacation and all the things I have been doing around the house. Hopefully I will get back to that this weekend. Here are my items I purchased at Nancy's in Las Vegas.

A Very Long Wait at the VA

I took my 3 broken hearing aids to the Veterans Administration today. They have a walk in clinic for hearing aid repair. They open at 8:00. I arrived about 9:15. I brought my pink scarf I am knitting. I sat in the waiting room for 2 1/2 hours. I actually thought my fingers would fall off. After they finally called my name I went to another area and they took away the hearing aids to look at them. I knit more for about another 1/2 hour. I did a whole lot of knitting today. Then instead of sewing tonight I knit more. I would love to finish so I can start a new knitting project. There is just something wonderful about almost being done with a project. The expectation for a new project. The accomplishment of finishing a project. Just love it.

As far as my 3 broken hearing aids, one is never going to work again, one they repaired so I could use. Another hearing aid has to be sent in to be repaired. The good news is I have 2 hearing aids so I can hear better. The bad news is they are 2 different types of hearing aids. I am just glad that I will be able to hear in the next few days because my husband and I are headed to Vegas. It will be nice to take a mini vacation.

I will try to get more done on the Y2K quilt and the witches tomorrow.

More Halloween Embroidery

I have not used my Embroidery/Sewing machine for years but I am in love with it again. Today I made a cute witch block. I made a different witch block yesterday. I found them on Etsy. I thought of making some pot holders or even another Halloween Wallhanging. Not sure what I will do with them but they sew up really quick. I actually used fabric from one of my Moda Halloween charm packs for the witch today. I think I will do all five of the witches since they are so cute.

I quilted the Wallhanging with the tweets. It did not get the stipple quilting. Stipple is harder than it looks on the Youtube videos. I will need to practice that a few times before actually quilting something. I just need to add the binding which I will do this week.

I did a few more blocks on the Y2K quilt. I can't believe I am almost done with the blocks. Once I am done I will need to decide on the layout.

What a week and my Halloween Wall Hanging

I have been just been so busy all week. I had trauma today with my hearing aid. It was broken and I kept putting off getting it fixed. It worked but the case was cracked. Today it finally died. My good set that I am supposed to be using had one of the hearing aids broken. I thought at least I have one good one. Well that one does not work either. I have 1 good hearing aid out of 4. I will go to the Veterans Adminstration early next week to get this taken care of. Until then I won't be hearing very well at all.

I worked on my Y2K quilt. Today I sewed a block together and took another apart. I am slowly getting the quilt completed.

I wanted to do a Halloween Wallhanging. I have decided I need a wall hanging for each season/holiday for the entry way. So today I worked on the Halloween Wallhanging. I used my embroidery machine. I had not used it for way too long. I had to read the instruction manual to use it. Yes it had been that long. The I had to find the software for the embroidery. My software is version 4 and the new version 8 came out. Well my PE Design will not work with my laptop. It does not recognize the security device. The main reason is I do not have the same size hookup and I tried using a external hookup but still not working. Right now I was able to just use the embroidery machine to see the design.

Speaking of the design. I did not like the colors that I used. I should have used a dark gray and mine does not look that dark. So I don't have enough contrast. I have another Halloween Tweet design I purchased from Embroidery LIbrary so I may do a second wall hanging and use different colors. Here are pictures. It is not quilted yet. I am planning on trying the stiple quilting around the Tweets. I thought I should take a picture before I give the quilting on the machine a try.



Here is the embroidery design. Embroidery Libray has a tweet for all seasons and so many more like the first responders and the hairdresser. I think they have a bowling tweet too.

Where Are My Quilt Blocks???

This is a block of the month that I found today. I found this completed block and another block that does not have the applique on it. Where are the other completed blocks. I admit there are only 2 more completed but not sure where they are. I have the patterns so I can easily recreate the blocks. They don't use any special fabric like all matchy, matchy. This block of the month I found in my "craft closet". The craft closet needed to be gone through to put things in the sewing room and toss/donate. I also found a block of the month that I did not remember buying. I found some cute flannel with bowling shirts on it. I guess at some point very many years ago I was going to do something with that fabric. I also found the fabric for a quilt kit I purchased but no pattern. I am sure the pattern will turn up. There are still a few boxes to go through with more quilt things in them.

The Y2k quilt has more than half of the blocks done. 31 to be exact....but we have a problem. Two states are missing. I am going to finish what I have and hope the 2 missing states are in the bag of all the rest of the charms and international quilters' blocks. Keep your fingers crossed.

I have discovered the Disappearing 9 Patch. I was reading blogs last night and found this pattern and tutorial. I may do that next and then the applique quilt. At least I have the problem of trying to decide what to do next. I could spend hours going from blog to blog. Today I found some counted cross stitch blogs. It made me want to pick up counted cross stitch again.

Here are a few pictures of completed y2k blocks. If I ever learn how to post with my pictures where I want them I will be set... Oh that worked.

I love Quilt Shows

Today I went to the San Diego Quilt Show. I just love to look at all the quilts. It just gives me so many ideas. I always want to see the quilts that I have kits for completed and did not see any this time. I did dream about a new embroidery machine for about 15 minutes. Mine is fine except since I purchased mine in 2001 the hoops are twice as wide. Wow!! Of course, what is really sad it I don't really use my embroidery function that often. I do use the machine for quilting and making clothes. I do need to start using it again since I am still unemployed.

I did end up buying some fat quarters and half yard cuts in brown and blue. They were such a pretty shade and I could see a wall hanging. My son said it reminded him of Tiffany Blue. Yes son, and when you get older you can buy your Mom some Tiffany jewelry.

I purchased 3 quilt kits. One is Amy Butler fabric. I love her fabric and it was all packaged up ready to go. I bought a cute Christmas wall hanging kit. I love anything vintage looking and this looks like 50s fabric. I aso purchased a pink quilt kit.

So it was a wonderful day and now it is back to realty. I need to do dishes and think about what to make for dinner.

Pictures of the "new" sewing room

Here is my sewing desk. I bought this at the Salvation Army for $20.00. It is from Ikea. Yes I have the Ikea sewing room. My walls are painted blue. It is quite a change from the old family room that had the brown varnished wood strips. When we tried to remove the wood strips the wall came off too so I painted over the wood strips. There are 2 sewing machines under the desk. I will eventually get another table for the embroidery machine and the featherweight.

Just a few shelves with the Bergsbo open. I just love to look at the yarn. I need to knit faster and not buy anymore for a little while.

This is the Bergsbo from Ikea and yes it is full of YARN!! I am planning on moving the Bergsbo into another place and putting a desk here for my husband. Just disreagard the audio rack and box of trophys. They will all be finding a new home. My husband has promised to get rid of the audio rack

This is the expedit from Ikea. There are still boxes to go through which you can see in the picture. I used to have all this stored in plastic tubs. The boxes on top of the expedit hold some of my quilt kits. Yes there are a bunch of boxes not showing in the picture and I have more quilt kits. I just love quilt kits. My next project is a quilt kit. There are actually 3 shelves that hold more quilt kits on the Expedit. I have apparal fabrics and quilt fabircs. It was fun taking all this out of the tubs and seeing things that I forgot I had.

Well back to working on my Y2K quilt. I have 23 blocks completed and 3 more taken apart and ready to sew.

My Happy Place

I finally have my own sewing room. It has taken a long time to get here. My boys have their own rooms and no one has yet moved out. I am not trying to rush them. So I just usually sewed in the dining room. We never really used our family room. We all hang out in the living room. I decided that the family room would work my sewing/craft area. I painted the walls a pretty blue and bought storage at Ikea. I still have some work to do but I love it. I leave all my things I am working on and just come back when I have time. I left the love seat for seating but now that is going. I can't imagine anyone would want to be in the sewing room but me. Plus when I do hand sewing or knitting I just sit with the family in the Living room. Yes I have a happy place. Of course I still have more of those plastic tubs to go through. I now have about 8 empty ones. Wow that is a lot of fabric and yarn. Pictures to come later after I download them.

The Y2K quilt is progressing. I took apart more blocks and resewed them. I can't tell you how I love this project. My scarf is about half way done and I love the color. I spent time working on it at the DMV as #3 son took his permit test. Now I have to take the young man out driving. My poor nerves. At least I can come home to my happy place!!!

Pictures of the Y2K Charm Quilt in progress. I just love this whole concept. Have I said that before. Where was I in 2000 and missed this? Anyway the pink block is one of my favorite blocks. I just love pink. Could be because I am surrounded by 3 boys and a husband. The second picture is a redone block. The 3rd picture shows the bottom blocking using 1/4 inch seam allowance and on top the original quilters block. Huge difference. The last one is the 38 blocks that were already done and I am slowly taking apart. I love the colors. I would never have thought to use gray and I love that block. I also like the Hawaii block with all white backgrounds using cute fabrics. I can't wait to get this quilt done but the journey is just wonderful.

The EBay Quilt

I just pulled out a quilt kit I purchased off EBay. The quilt was an unfinished Y2K charm quilt. The quilters swapped 2 1/2 inch blocks. The blocks included 24 fabric blocks and one block with your name and state. Some blocks were from international quilters. Then you swapped and the quilter would put all the blocks together and would have a y2k quilt.

Someone was selling their huge lot on EBay and I won the auction several years ago. Now the trauma. Whoever had the quilt before did not use 1/4 inch seam allowances. So there are 38 blocks sewn together with up to 1/2 inch seam allowances. I say up to because they are all over the place with the seam allowance. Now I need to take apart 38 blocks. I can understand why they became frustrated. I have taken apart 3 blocks and put together 15 blocks that were never sewn together.

Anyway my task for the next few nights between knitting is to take those blocks apart. One other thing with the quilt is that instead of leaving the signature block with the 24 fabric blocks that was sent, the prior owner just tossed them all in a bag. So those need to be resorted for use.

I did win an auction for some 2000 fabric for the border from Ebay. I think I will border each block with the 2000 fabric and then do one large border with 2000 clock fabric. Both fabrics have 2000 on them.

What I have learned from this is don't expect the quilt from EBay to be perfect. I have never purchased a partially done quilt kit before from EBay. Would I do it again. Yes, most likely. It has been fun to see all the signatures and places the blocks came from. It has been really fun to look at the different fabrics.