It Wasn't All Good...

Vacation with my honey was great...but not everything about it was good. There was what is now being called "The Little House Neighborhood Disaster of 2009". I'll not give details - maybe later. The photo below tells it all.

I'm truly not sick about this. I have not, however, started stitching this again. I will. Probably soon. Just not right now. While I'm not sick about this, I'm also not ready to start this over again either right now. Yes, I need to start completely over.

After a couple of days I pulled out Quakers and Quilts. Looked at it. ...for a while. And then picked up the needle. No pictures as yet but hopefully soon.

Aren't these little balls of Valdani cute?

Relaxed and Refreshed!

G & I got back late last night from a few days in the Smoky Mountains. We had a great time...not as much hiking as we would have liked as the weather turned rainy. This is the third November that we've taken this trip. Here's some pics of the cabin we rented:

This is the best part and the main criteria of a place we stay - a fireplace in the bedroom. I get so cold and this really helps. This year was much warmer until the last couple of days when it was raining. Those days were spent reading, knitting, stitching and just hanging out with each other. It was nice to relax and recharge.

This shows why the Smoky Mountains are called the Smoky Mountains.

I just love evergreens!

This park is one of my favorite places to be!

I'm off today and tomorrow as well. C moved out while we were gone - it is time for him to have his own space. He's accomplished what he intended when he moved back 4 years ago. I'm going to use his room as a space of my own. I need to get paint picked out and the room ready for painting. Everything after that will move slowly with the holidays coming. I don't have a space plan for the room but am excited about moving out of the dining room! Ideas about space planning and organization will greatly be appreciated! In the meantime, I'm going to use the next two days to do what I call "piddle". To me that means doing a whole lot of the things I want to do sprinkled in with a little bit of what I have to do or should do. Gotta keep that relaxed and refreshed feeling as long as I can, right?!

Sometimes I Actually Finish Something!

Here's my finished project from my weekend class! It's small but it's DONE! I think I'm going to use it for my double pointed knitting needles. It would also be a good makeup case, notions bag, etc. It's very versatile. Make it a bit longer and you could store a curling iron in it. I find classes very rewarding and will continue to take them.

Here is a close up of the button I sewed on in seconds with my machine.

Progress on Little House Neighborhood has been slow. I did decide to stitch the fence in the window color but I'm still figuring out a darker color for the chimney. I really didn't want to show my progress as my linen is so wrinkled. I've not stitched on a frame yet. Pictures I've seen of projects on frames always show a crisp unwrinkled linen. The wrinkles make this look messy. If you stitch, do you use a frame? Do you find them easy to use? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

G & I will be taking a few days away for ourselves. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it. Work has been ramped up busy the past couple of months and we've both been busy. My knitting and stitching are ready to go as are several books (including trail books) and my hiking shoes. It's going to be a welcomed break from the hustle and bustle of our daily life! Can't wait!

A Bunch of Firsts

Saturday I had a "Quick Start" class at my Bernina dealer. The class is designed to show us some of the feet that come with the Bernina and what they do. Here's the class from my viewpoint. It was a 5.5 hour class and I did a lot of things for the very first time.

I used my walking foot with the guide for the first time.

I put in a zipper for the first time that didn't look like crap. It actually works too. Bonus!!!

I used a decorative stitch on my new machine for the first time.

Top stitching! Easier than it looks!

Buttonholes! This was in practice fabric. Pretty painless and I can get the same size over and over again without stress. My machine will actually sew on buttons too! In seconds!

Ok...buttonholes aren't my favorite. But I'll do them again and I'll use the skills I learned in this class over and over again. The best part of the class is that I actually ended up with a finished project. Yes, I finished something!!! Pictures coming later in the week when I have pics!

Picking Out Stitches

I unsew in quilting, tink back in knitting and now I'm picking out stitches in stitching. Why should I be surprised? :) When I stitched the fence, I realized there just was not enough contrast between the color of the house and the fence. The photo below shows the fence before I picked it out. I'm going to look for something darker or just use the whitish color that was used in windows. I'm really enjoying this project and stitch a bit every day. Like my other fiber interests, I find it very soothing - which is exactly what I need after a hectic day at work.

I saw a piece I fell in love with on a blog. Within 1 minute found an online shop that has the chart, fabric and thread pack that was dyed for the project. Email sent - took about 30 seconds. Plus a pin keep, base and the associated fabric and thread (of course). The retailer emailed me back and they have it all except the base which is on order from market. I thought "this is so easy". This is very unlike me! Someone. Stop. Me.

I need to go check my lottery tickets!