Ach, me old bones!

Well... we went to Austin this past weekend for the Texas Woodworking Festival.  There weren't as many people there this year, but that was okay.  We still had a good time.  I noticed that my back didn't hurt as much as it had in past years, so hats off to Alex the Physical Therapist!  I am getting help with a hip/glute/back issue.  

On the way home, we stopped at a woodworking store and while we were wandering around Jeff shifted some wood and a board fell on my foot.  It hurt a lot, and there was swelling.  It hurt to walk later.  After getting home and icing it, the swelling went down and while it's uncomfortable to walk, it doesn't hurt as much.  I had Alex look at it this morning and he said wait a couple of days and see if it gets better.  I'm sensitive in one of the areas that would indicate a fracture.  I had told Smallest about the accident and she made me promise to get it looked at because I always make her go to the doctor about her issues.  So, hopefully not broken, just bruised.

I started having trouble with seeing cross stitch several years ago, and I highly recommend a pair of 0.5x reading glasses.  Magical.  I could send you some?

You are making good progress!  And it's fun to see the flower cross stitch again.  It could become a pillow and go live with Mom and Dad for sure.

I did some car knitting and finished the first of four socks that will all be the same.  They will be presents for Middle and Smallest.  I also swatched for the vest for Smallest.  I blocked it when we got home and have started on the ribbing.  The week before I ironed the fabric for the quilt.  I picked up some extra fabric at our nearby quilt store.  Hopefully I can get the cutting done this weekend.  Jeff had his computer stuff set up at home for a while, but he's moved it up to Middle's room so perhaps I can keep the sewing machine set up for a while.

I need to unravel your sweater and get started on Version II.  I am not putting out a call to Jeff's girls for knit presents this year, so once I finish the vest and the socks I should be able to get busy with Sweaterfest.  We'll see!

Here's the ribbing for the vest.  Wild and exciting.  I think it will go quickly.  

Margie

Sew slow

Oof, where did 6 weeks go?

Congrats on your adventures and your completed projects!! I successfully guessed which pattern Smallest would like best, lol. Sorry about all the time you wasted on the bad sweater pattern. :(

I have made progress on three projects since I last posted. 

1. The quilt is coming together - I have one block of 8 horizontal strips, one block of 4, one block of 2, and three more pairs waiting to be sewn up. 

2. The green of the peacock has grown, though only slightly. The stitches are so small that I have to work on it without my glasses on / with my face up close like an old person. It's ridiculous, I know. But also, it means that it's not a good project if I'm in any moving vehicle on the off chance I poke a needle in my eye.

3. I've come back to the flowers cross-stitch; the last post I can find that shows a picture is this one from Dec 2023. Between then and August 24, I did a bit of work on the leaves in the bottom left (see first photo), and through today I've finished that block, added a second color blue to the top right flowers, and am more than halfway done with the leaves of the middle right yellow flowers (see second photo). I still don't know who I am making this for, humph. Maybe Mom would like a little garden since she can't grow her own anymore?

I aspire to finish the pinwheels this weekend, and then I will talk to a long-arm person to make sure that I'm preparing the quilt sandwich correctly. 

I also want to cut out the white hexagons this month, as I have a big trip coming up in October that will be perfect for sewing.

I also need to regroup on my projects list, as I think I only have 3 completed so far and I was aiming for 25. Hmm...

Yay for sewing!

- Catherine

No More Kids!

Well, it has happened!  We are all alone at home.  I had a nice drive to Vermont with The Boy.  It was long, but entertaining.

When we got to Massachusetts, we were driving along the Pike and I was thinking about how fun it was to visit you in Amherst, and then I realized that a friend from grad school is there now.  It was close to dinnertime, so we called her and met up with her and her son for dinner there.  Very fun, and great to be out of the car for real food!

Me and my friend Tina (not college roommate Tina)

The move-in on Thursday went well, I got talked at a lot by school people.  It was helpful.  I stayed with my Rice/S&B friend Laura M. who lives about an hour away from The Boy in Peterborough, New Hampshire.  It was so fun to see her (and her husband), and see her house in the midst of kitchen renovation, and talk and talk and talk!  She also has a very sweet dog (also a Lucy!).

Lucy was a stray dog in Aruba!

I came back late on Saturday and I think for the first time in many, many flights there were no small children on my flights!  What is this magic?!

I did go to Green Mountain Spinnery while I was there, and they do think there is a market for Icelandic sheep wool, but they can't process it.  I bought yarn for a sweater.

I did work on your sweater while we were driving, and I have some bad news.  Below, behold the sweater:

Check out the width on that puppy.  The sweater it's on top of is a boxy cut sweater that is baggy on me.  It is 25 inches across, so 50 inches around.  I think it is Too Large (and this is also before blocking!).  I'm going to look for a better pattern that won't require heavy modification, or see if I can use a book of patterns that I have to create our own.  So sorry!

The yarn for Smallest's vest came in.  It's a surprisingly small amount of yarn, so hopefully it's all correct!

Oh yeah, I have that quilt to make too!  We don't seem to be using the table for dinner any more, so maybe I can just set up the sewing machine there.  That would be excellent!

 

Margie

Catching up and dropping off (almost!)

Oh, you have been so good about posting!

So, since the post in June I have finished many things!

I was disappointed to find that I was needed for more things at both meetings than expected, so less progress than desired.  Alas.

You have done so much!  And I applaud Helper Cat for his excellent holding down of the quilt squares.  Good job, Nairo!  The peacock is cute and so tiny!  How goes the flair with the asymmetry?  I really like that quilt pattern with the colors you have chosen.

I finished the top for Smallest, but I think I didn't sew the buttons on?  No, no buttons, but she can sew those on.

I also finished the shawl I started.  I think I started it in April, after I finished those socks for Jeff.  That was very fun, the construction was different, it's knit tip to tip, so you have to increase one side all the time and decrease the other side.  It was clever.  Blocking is, again, magical.

I delivered the cowl and it was well received.  Yay!

I realized that I still have a top waiting to be finished, so I will take that and your sweater along with me tomorrow when The Boy and I leave for Vermont!  (Fun fact, his school is five miles away from Green Mountain Spinnery!  They make nice yarn, and they also process fleece for people.  I have had this idea about processing fleece from a herd of Icelandic sheep that live in Colorado.)  I am really excited for him re-starting the school process, and I'm excited to have no kids at home, and I'm really going to miss him a lot!

The drive will be about 28 hours, according to Google, and I need to make The Boy a better long distance driver, so he needs to do most of the driving, which means knitting for me!  And then there's the flight back home.

Once I'm back home, the baby quilt awaits me because the baby came waaaay early (due in Nov) so we've picked out fabrics and a variation of the goose chase pattern.  Cutting and piecing next!  Ginny has her paw on the border fabric, then next is some sashing, then the colors for the "geese" and the neutrals for the background of the geese.

Oh! I forgot, I saw a cute vest pattern that I thought Smallest would like.  She does, so I tested colors and the red and cream with the cream "v" pattern is the winner.  I need to order the yarn for that.  It should be quick.

I finished the book series.  I liked the series over all.  I wish it hadn't leaned so heavily into pairing everyone off and soulmate stuff, but ah well, it is a series for teens.  Now I'm finishing the Southern Reach series by Jeff Vandermeer.  Annihilation was the first in the series.  They're weird, but interesting.  I'm making progress on the Wheel of Time book I was stuck on.  It will be good to move on to the next one.  I'm also glad there's a glossary in the back reminding me who people are.

If you get bored, you can call us on the road Tuesday or Wednesday!  Here are bonus pictures for your amusement.

Margie

Pinwheels pieced!

The first pinwheels have been officially made! I've sewn 4 of the horizontal strips together (on left in the photo), and have two more sets of two that are ready to be sewn together (bottom right); the remaining 8 strips are waiting to be kicked off (pile top right).

I had ambitious plans to get all 20 rows put together this weekend, but I am behind on the work I get paid for, and then the other work I volunteer to do (but am still accountable for), so I cannot dedicate as much time as hoped to sewing. Alas! However, they do come together pretty fast; we'll see how many more I can get to.

I also had a lovely walk this morning, catching up with an old friend. While walking through the open space, I found myself going the opposite direction of a (small) herd of cattle (here's the second half). Two babies took a good look at me going by! They did not know what I was all about. :P

Next week I will be away from home, so hopefully I will make some progress on the peacock. I also need to make a plan for what project I will take with me on a big trip coming up - more than 2 weeks, including a fair amount of time on planes. We shall see!

- Catherine

Pushing on with the peacock

Mini-progress to report for this week - I've finished the two strips of quilt squares that I was working on last week (only 4 left), and I made some good progress on the peacock's flair during a business trip last week (see?). The mishap in the green border that I mentioned last time proved more challenging to address than I expected; hopefully it won't be too noticeable in the end.

Evil twin will be traveling himself this week, so hopefully I will fill the time with some crafting!

- Catherine

Pieces of pinwheels

Well, I did not make the pajama pants, or regroup on my next projects. Le sigh. Nor did I finish the quilt top, but I made a lot of progress! I finished all of the quilt blocks, and ironed them open, and laid them out to design how all of the pinwheels will interconnect. I think it will look great! See? The pattern definitely used lighter fabric for the entire gradient, so this one will be darker in general and maybe the gradient is not as obvious, but it's ok. You can also see helpful cat is helping. :P

Then I pinned all those individual squares together, and am nearly done sewing them into strips. See? Some of the last ones in progress are in the top photo; the completed strips are laid out on the bed below (the pattern is also there, for comparison). 300 seams overall, oof. Then I sew the strips together (15 big seams), easy! Ha ha.

Hopefully will get more time on this next weekend - will be a busy week of travel and singing and biking!

- Catherine