We're off!

It's getting late here and we need to leave for the airport at 4am. It's thundering and lightening like crazy. I hope it clears up before we leave.

I didn't want to post without a picture so here is a picture of my Cody. He's actually backing up in this picture - he's afraid of the red light on the camera! Yes, he's a wienie!

See you in a week!

ETA: It's now Sunday morning at 3:30 am. I've been awake for an hour due to the horrible thunderstorms we're having. Guess I'll get up and pack an umbrella.

Slow Going & A First!

Not much knitting or quilting has been going on this week. We're ramping up for vacation and that entails doing those things that need to be done. C and J will be taking care of the pups and we'll check in with them daily. Even when we board the pups, we call frequently to check on them.

I have picked up the stitches and am working on the ribbing for Ava's sweater. Can I say that I hate picking up stitches? I never seem to get the correct number or it looks a little wonky. As you can see from the pic below, the ribbing is done in a solid color yarn. The collar will be as well.

A while back, I decided to make a table runner (actually 3 of them) from the scraps from my first quilt. It's actual a pattern specific to using what you cut off from your blocks. It's from Terri Atkinson's book Happy Hour (you know, two for the price of one!). I laid out my backing on the garage floor and used 505 to create my quilt sandwich. I have to say I'm going to have to find somewhere else to do this. I did not like all the bending over and there was a bit of stickiness left on the concrete. I'd love to hear where other quilters do their spray basting.

Then it was on to my first free motion quilting on something other than a 14" block of muslin! I can't tell you how much anxiety I had. There are most definitely some bad spots here where I got a bit angular/pointy instead of the nice flowing curves of stippling. I certainly expected that. It was, however, easier than I thought to get good coverage of the project with the quilting. I have dubbed this project "Only a Mother Would Love" because let's face it, it's not great. So when I'm done, I'll ship it off to Mom who will treasure it! The binding is about 4/5 done on one side.

Lessons Learned:
1. I need to BREATHE!
2. It's ok to stop the needle in needle down position and just think for a minute
3. Look ahead.
4. Relax!
5. Really take seriously those blogs that say have a glass of wine first!

Ouch!

I'm still reeling from yesterday's vet visit for the pups annual well visit. They needed several shots (ones they get every 3 years) and blood work. Plus Cody needed his liver level tested as it's been a couple of years and we need to make sure he's doing ok. They both need their teeth cleaned ($300 to $400). That on top of yesterday's $713 really hurts. That included their heart work medication, FrontLine, and antibiotics for their teeth cleaning. As you can tell, they also need to be groomed. So I skipped the $6 yard Moda fabric sale at my LQS.

Not much crafting going on here. This week I worked on filing taxes for us and the kids. I also had my last class of the quilting class I'm taking. The last class was mostly discussion of layout options, etc and fabric requirements. Saturday I had WW and got my hair cut and colored and did a bit of shopping for our trip. I also stopped by the yarn shop during the Kids Club. It's nice to see young kids excited and inspired to knit. I've picked up my socks that I'm knitting 2 at a time and I've gotten through the heel, heel turn, and picked up stitches on one side on one and am working on the heel on the other one. I'd wanted to get through this part before flying out next week. We'll see.

We leave one week from today for Arizona. I'm excited that I'll be seeing a part of the country I've never seen before. Let's hope I survive two takeoffs and two landings to get there. I hate to fly so this is going to be a real challenge.

Mystery Solved!

The mystery of why my Dresden Plate block didn't work out has been solved. As I shared in my prior post, I felt like my seam allowance was too scant. Not so. I'm almost embarrassed to say what the problem was....I had too many pieces! Monday when I came home from work (almost on time) I sat down at the dining room table and decided to try and figure out what was going on. It's rare that I sew during the week but it was nice to get off work at a decent time and G was cooking dinner. So I took all my picked out pieces and started lining them up and then it dawned on me that I had too many! After that, it came together pretty easily. Go figure!

Lesson Learned: Counting is not over rated!

Here is the Friendship block I ended up working on late Sunday night. I was worried about this one with all the points coming together. Even though the centermost seam is off a bit, I'm still pretty happy with the way this came out. There were a LOT of places that my piecing could have gone really wrong.

Here's an update on my Sweater Sampler. I did my first placket (is that what it's called?). Not a great picture but you get the idea. The button hole and the piece that goes over it.

We also knit a sweater pocket. More like the pouch you have in a pullover hoodie. I enjoyed it and it's much easier than I anticipated. You can't see the short rows - they were much easier than my first experience (which was my own fault because first time around I used a dark yarn in fingering weight) and I think I could tackle these again. I never thought I'd say that!

I'm starting to get a little excited about our trip to Arizona at the end of the month. Can you believe I've never been out west? We're hoping to do a little hiking and will be spending most of the time with G's brother and his family. I'm already thinking about what knitting projects to take with me and fretting over getting my Addi's through security checks. Gotta get my knitting bag cleaned out and organized too! Next vacation (in June) is to my parents cabin in the mountains and we're driving. G doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to take my sewing machine then!

Quilt Police?

I'm not feeling like sitting at the sewing machine this weekend. I'm learning that when I'm not "into it" that it's not a good time to sew. So I just sewed the prep work for one of the blocks for my class this week, cut out a couple of things and walked away. The Quilting Class Police are not going to come and carry me off to the pokey, are they?

Frankly, I feel more like knitting so I'm going to spend a couple of hours this afternoon /evening knitting in front of the tv watching a movie or maybe reading.

Here is where I'm at on Ava's sweater. She lives in Texas with my brother and had her tonsils taken out on Monday. Since she's so little (she's just 2) and was refusing to drink or eat anything they ended up keeping her in the hospital for 2 days. My brother is sick himself - just this side of pneumonia - and my other niece has strep throat. It's a good thing my sister in law is well! I sure wish we lived closer so I could help. Instead, I knit and think of them all.

Here's a picture of my Sweater Workshop Sweater Sampler. I love the nice crisp line at the color changes. Easy to do - unless you don't know what to do! The key is to knit the first row after the color change and then go into your ribbing. I did it here (twice) and the knit row does not interfere in the ribbing at all.

Here is the status of my Dresden Plate block from my prior post. I picked it out while watching Dancing with the Stars this past week. I'm ok with the current status but when I'm feeling it, I'll put it back together. Or at least give it my best effort.

Since I'm not really sewing this weekend, here are a couple of blocks that I worked on last weekend. Grandmothers Flower Garden - which was appliqued. I thought I'd hate applique and never saw myself doing it. This is fusible applique and it wasn't bad at all and I can easily see myself doing it. It's also sparked an interest in learning the other methods.

This is the Road to California. Flying Geese is a technique I've learned in this class. Also enjoyable.

I should have pressed these blocks before taking pictures of them. They were rolled up in the bag I take to class. But I'm not feeling like using the iron. So I'm not. Hope you've had an enjoyable weekend!

Edited to Add: It's after 7pm here and 84 degrees. I think Spring is already over! Time to turn on the air conditioner!