Fabric Buying Frenzy

The sewing bug bit me again, so I'm back in the sewing mood. I bought some new fabrics:

Bathtub duckies, monkeys, and popcorn boxes. Those are all cotton flannels. The Easter bunnies are a cotton. I'm going to make a project bag with that one, it would make a cute container for Easter goodies when that time rolls around again. With the popcorn boxes flannel I made jammie pants! I altered the pattern and made it shorter, into a capri/pedal pusher length. Very comfy!

I think they're perfect to wear while watching a movie!

I also made a project bag out of a cotton flannel with purses on it. So cute! I just love this fabric.

I think I'll keep this one for me!

I was going through my stash and found some Christmas cottons I had. They would make great little gift bags. I don't have a lot of yardage on those to make much else. They were leftover from something else. And my cat is still sick. I'm supposed to be making her food now, she's on a bland diet. So I pulled out my cat food cookbook. Haven't made anything yet, I'm still following the recipes the vet gave me. She won't eat the stuff I'm making, she's used to cat food, not people food. I made chicken and rice. I feel like I'm feeding her Chinese food.

There is a small amount of knitting going on. A kitty cat dishcloth, pretty in pink!

It's so muggy today, can't stand it, don't feel like doing much. I think I'll turn on the AC and cut out another pair of short jammie pants. They sew up very quickly.

Yard work

Beautiful outside today! One of those days where you had to be outside. I got some work done in the yard. I refreshed all the mulch in the front, it's clean and tidy looking. Can't wait to get some more flowers out there and have lots of color. It felt good to be outside, but my muscles are crying, not loudly, but I know they are there.

That's my little house!

I finally got the apron done. This was a lot more work than I thought it would be. But I really like it!

And here's the back:

No knitting going on at the moment. I finished the dishcloth made of Cottontots. It's so soft. I'm deciding what to make next. I think I may be able to get back into the knitting groove, my hand has been OK.

I also made one more project bag:

And that's about it. My four day weekend is flying by. I wish the work week went this fast.

I Can See for Miles and Miles

It was time again for the old eye exam. I'm never going to pass it, lol! So I ended up getting new glasses, and they have bling! I got the Transition lenses too. I can go out in the sun without going blind, yay! Of course it's cloudy and gray today so I can't try them out in the sun yet.

I've been doing very little knitting. My hand is doing much better. I started another one of those little kitties because I just HAVE to be knitting something. I'm just doing a little at a time. I went to CVS and got myself a hand brace glove thingy to help with the pain. It's nice and snug. I hope this helps!

I will try the glove out tonight while watching Grey's Anatomy. Another new one on tonight. Very exciting to me!

I got some more project bags done. I just can't stop making them. They're a fun easy little project, and each one is so cute. So then I buy more fabric and make more and on and on and on.

Tomorrow is Friday. I am so glad! And a new yarn store is opening in the area, I will definitely be going there this weekend. I'm so excited! AND out of the blue the other day my boss gave me a nice fat bonus. Yarn and fabric money! It doesn't get much better than this.

I'm off to the couch to knit while wearing my new little glove.

Almost done!

I have one more repeat on the shawl! Hip hip hooray! I'm so close to the end I can almost taste it. After that repeat, there are four rows of garter stitch and then I can weave in the ends. I'll be so glad to be done with this. There is a new episode of Grey's Anatomy on tonight, I'll be on the couch knitting while I watch it. I know I won't finish tonight, but I'll get close. So exciting!

I bought some calico fabric to make my sister a little project bag. Then I'm going to get some more fabric to make my other sister a bag too. Once this shawl is done, I'm going to sew up a storm for a few days! So many family members want my little bags. Can't wait to get started!

Balloons

Four more repeats. Four, count them, four more to go and this shawl will be done. I can't tell you how sick of it I am. This is the biggest project I've ever knit. I need to make a dishcloth or something real small next.

I bought some more fabric, fat quarters to be exact. So vibrant and pretty!

And with all the funeral activities lately I knew I would be seeing one of my other aunts. She makes beautiful quilts. Very talented. She also inspired me in the crafting aspect of my life and makes me little gifts sometimes. So I made a little project bag for her from the fat quarters and gave it to her today at the funeral. She loved it!

Balloon Send Off

Today was the funeral for Aunt Roz. It was just very, very sad. But also so very nice to see relatives. Some I haven't seen in a long time. After the service at the church we all went outside and there was a big bouquet of helium balloons. Lots of them. My cousin passed out as many as she could before she ran out. I got one. At the count of three we all released them into the sky for Aunt Roz. It was so touching watching all those colorful balloons float away to heaven. What a moment. We watched as long as we could see them. We were all smiling and crying at the same time knowing she would have really loved seeing something like that.

April Snowshowers Bring May Flowers?

It's snowing. Sunday, April 13, and it's snowing. I just might have to bake cookies, lol! I switched my closet around yesterday, got out my spring/summer work clothes and put away the winter work clothes, sweaters, etc. Hmmmmm. I went to the thrift store too and found some new (to me) tops and did a way fun shopping spree at Kohl's! I haven't bought brand new clothes in ages. It was fun!

I've been knitting on the shawl I'm making for my Mom for Mother's Day. It's coming along, slowly. The pattern calls for 18 repeats. I have 7 repeats done, but I may have to go up to 20. It takes me two hours to do one repeat, so this is pretty slow going. But it's turning out nice. See . . .

I did get a little bit of sewing in lately. I finished a couple more project bags. I love each one. It's hard to part with them.

I mailed that little purple kitty that I knitted to my daughter and she LOVES it! A lot of her friends want one too. Don't know if I'll have time to make them any as she only has about 3 1/2 more weeks of school and this shawl comes first. Maybe I should grow some more arms so I can knit all the stuff I want to and still have time left over to sew.

We're getting a brand new yarn store in the area I live in! I'm so excited. I stalk it, I mean drive by it, at least once a week to check progress. Not open yet. I feel like I'm on that old commercial, I think it was for Mervyn's . . . "Open, open, open . . ."

Off the Beaten Path

It was a fairly nice day yesterday so I decided to go for a drive to somewhere I've never been. I went to a quilt shop in Wyandotte. I had never been there before and wanted to look at pretty quilt fabrics. They had lots of pretty fabric! It made me want to sit right down and quilt. I may take a quilt class in the future, probably not until fall. I bought these little pieces of fabric:

Such vibrant colors! I love them.

I also went to Joann and bought some DPNs. I needed some size ones for a project, five of them to be exact. I ended up buying this set of teeny tiny skinny needles, it has five of each size of 000,00,0 and 1. Oh lord are some of them skinny. They were $9.99 but I had a 40% off coupon, so I got them for about $6.00. Yay for coupons!

I finally finished the fingerless mittens I was making. I like them! It's so hard to get a picture of the beads in the yarn, I just can't get them to show up without totally blurring the picture. So this is the best I can do. You can see the glittery thread that also runs through the yarn.

I also went and saw my Mom yesterday. She's doing very well after that long ordeal with illness! I took some Finished Objects to show her, one being the first little Project Bag that I made. She loved it! I told her to keep it. She's so happy with that little bag. And that makes me happy! I'm so glad she's getting well again.

That's it for my weekend so far, it's been very relaxing. I hope you are having a great weekend too!

Spring Cleaning . . . Kind of

Remember our Moms and/or Grammas doing spring cleaning? The yearly ritual where they cleaned the house from top to bottom in the spring. Do people still do that? I've been on a cleaning frenzy lately, getting this house in order. I've neglected it for too long. Lots of dustballs and cat fur, and clutter. I've got a few more cleaning projects to do next week. Sometimes you don't realize how dirty something was until it's clean. Then you keep staring at it, it looks brand new! It all started with this:

I finally got a new little TV for my bedroom. It's perfect! I don't have to get up and whack the crap out of it every 15 seconds. A nice change of pace. My little piggybank has been getting fed, a little here, a little there. My yarn fund, lol!

At last I got the fingerless mitts done that I was working on. Forgot to take a pic, I'll post them next time. Then I started a new project last night. I need to frog it tonight and start over. I'm not saying what it is yet. Might have to frog it a few times, lol!

I did get a little bit of sewing done this week. I made this little bag for my grandson. He can keep his little treasures in it.

I'm hoping to sit at the sewing machine this weekend and also to get some knitting done. The house is clean enough for now. It smells good in here, like Pine-Sol and Lemon Pledge. I need to rest for a while. And no, I won't come clean your house when I'm done with mine, lol! Unless of course you offer thousands of dollars and lots of fabric and yarn and chocolate. I might consider it then.

A White Easter

Well damn, we got hit with ANOTHER snowstorm Friday night. The Never Ending Winter is back. The Never Ending Heating Bills continue. I'm so tired of all this snow and there's nothing I can do about it. Except bake cookies! For some reason I like to bake when it snows. But I cheated this time, I made the break-apart cookies. They are yummy!

I was in Joann on Friday buying this fabric when my daughter called and told me the snow had started.

I'm totally obsessed with sewing lately. I. Can't. Stop. So I finished up my shopping and came home and I made another project bag:

And here's the inside:

It's been a lot of fun sewing. And I feel like I've been spending quality time with my daughter who has been home for a little Easter break. She'll be on the computer and I'll be at the sewing machine which are in the same room, and we're together. I like it! But, today she goes back to school and the house will be quiet again.

I got the Japanese fabric I bought on Etsy. OMG, it's so cute! Hedgehogs!

I don't know what I'll make with it yet, but just HAD to have it.

I finished one of the fingerless mitts I was knitting with the sparkly beaded yarn. Hopefully I'll start the second one today and get it done soon so I can move onto the next project. I want to make my mom a shawl for Mother's Day, so I gotta get moving on that soon.

So today is Easter. It's just not a holiday I care about. I'm not religious and I just don't celebrate it in the religious way. I made our Easter dinner last night since Daughter has to leave today. I made corned beef, cheesy mashed potatoes, beans, rolls, and deviled eggs, and of course the cookies for dessert. It was a great feast!

Happy Easter!

Knitting and Sewing

I started another pair of fingerless mitts. I just love making these! They are a quick knit, my kind of project, and the end result is so cute. They come in handy too. I'm making a rather plain pair now since this yarn is so fancy. There's a glittery thread running through it and some beads. I can't get a good close-up picture of the beads without blurring it. You can kind of see how it sparkles.

With all those little beads occasionally mixed in, I keep thinking I'm coming across a knot when I'm knitting. It's taking some getting used to. The yarn is the Moda-Dea brand.

I couldn't stay out of Joann's. I bought some more fabric the other day. Cute calico.

So I sat down at the sewing machine last night and turned some of that calico into this:

A Project Bag! Here is a look at the inside:

It was fun to make! Now that I've made this one, I've got ideas on how to make the next one. Sometimes I just can't leave a pattern alone, gotta put my own touch on it. You can really get creative with these, mixing fabrics, trim, etc.

It's Good Friday and I've taken the day off work, yay me! My daughter is home again for the weekend, another break at school. We are going shopping! I'm going to look at TVs and see if I can find one for my bedroom and then I can finally lay that piece of junk that's in there now to rest. AND it is officially spring! But you wouldn't know that by the weather report, snow is predicted for later, ughhhhhh. Hopefully this will be the last of the snow for the season.