Valentine's Day early and late

Warning:  poor picture quality from phone

We celebrated Valentine's Day early since both of us would be out of town on the actual day in different states. So, Saturday before Valentine's we decided to go out to eat.  Old people that we have become, lunch out was sounding better and better so we wouldn't have to fight the heavy supper crowd of a normal Saturday night, not to mention that we knew we wouldn't be the only ones celebrating early.

So, off to Joe's Italian we went... on the way through the neighborhood we passed a house who's owners were emptying their basement either into a dumpster or at the road.  I had hubby turn around when I spotted this piece of old vintage Ethan Allen that was FREE:

A little cleanup, and I now have a storage table to sit by my wheel with fiber and extra bobbins inside :)

Joe's Italian was wonderful (as usual). We are lucky to have such a great restaurant less than 5 miles away. Service and food was magnifico! We both ordered specials that were not on the menu.... Hubby looks happy, no? (even with his mouth full of salad)

His entree (stuffed peppers) was documented, and I had the stuffed mushrooms:

The waiter recommended a bottle of wine which went perfectly.

It was the perfect Valentine's Day celebration!  We exchanged small gift bags at home... both contained similar items... I gave hubby chocolate strawberry truffles and some Valentine boxer shorts, he gave me dark chocolate with rasberry filling and a pair of flannel PJ pants. We know each other so well!!!

January Spin-In 2012

Spin-in was great!  Around 120 spinners in a room surrounded by fiber vendors.  Unfortunately, I neglected to bring my camera and had to make do with pictures from the iPad in a room that didn't have good lighting.  You will note the table with the ott lights - we came prepared!  Here's a picture of the wheels in our circle, less the few attendees that showed up late Thursday:

Quite a variety of wheels and spinners make for a great few days of spinning!

Way to start a long weekend...

Starting the long weekend watching last episodes of Bones, Grey's Anatomy and Big Bang Theory recorded on DVR while spinning 3rd bobbin of some Gale's Art BFL with a glass of wine all by a warm fire since it is 38 degrees outside :)

 

Whewwww!! On top of that, this is the first year our company has MLK day as a paid holiday!

Not your everyday gift bags

Who needs gift bags when you can make your own?  Not Christmas fabric, but nice anyway!

Swoon Two

Swoon

First block of nine - Fig Tree Butterscotch & Roses fabric:

I've completed a couple more FMQ blocks, but no pictures yet.  I've been working on a tiny little owl pillow for Peyton's sorority little sister. It has a definite homemade look... like it was made by someone who doesn't know how to sew!

Finished Quilt

I finally finished quilting all the Baptist Fans on the half-square triangle quilt.  This is a good lap size quilt (will measure later).  I took this photo with my phone before I left for Yazoo City this morning - will have to get hubby to help me later this week to take a full size photo!  First time quilting Baptist Fans. I like the crinkly look after washing and drying. Printed fabric (other than binding) is Daisy Chain by Amy Butler. The solid is medium gray Kona cotton.

Left the college kid to take care of animals while i'm gone for a few days.  Let's hope the house is still standing when I get home... i know there are friends coming over :)  I warned the neighbors and asked them to knock on the door if they see a party going on!



Adobe Terrible Customer Support

I ordered Adobe InDesign for the home computer for Peyton. I got the software Thursday, but that is my regular knit night, so it didn't get loaded until yesterday after work.  The software wouldn't load.  Evidently, it has been a problem for many because there are several "fixes" on the Adobe website for you to attempt, which I did.  It still wouldn't load. I called their technical support and held on the phone for 30 minutes only to be answered by an individual who I could hardly understand and they couldn't understand me.... I hate this!  This is a US company and should have people helping customers who speak good English.  After speaking to her for about 3 minutes, our call was disconnected.  I know it did not happen on my end of the line.  I call back.  I held for 2 hours.... 2 HOURS!!!!!!! While I was holding, I was able to "chat with an agent" online.  After answering the questions I had already answered, I was told I would have to talk to their technical support that they couldn't help me.  I informed them that I was on hold and had been on hold for over an hour (at that point) after getting disconnected from a 30 minute hold before and asked if there was another number I could call and speak to someone.  There wasn't.  When someone finally answered the phone and I told them who I was and my serial number, they disconnected me again.  This is poor customer service.  I know that the disconnect was NOT on my end... I had them on speaker phone so there was no way I mistakenly pushed a button to disconnect the call.  I called back and finally hung up at 10:00 which is 7:00 their time and closing time.  I worked on this from the time I got home from work yesterday until 10 last night.  They will be getting a letter from me.  I understand we're not one of their multi-license business customers, but hell, the little guys expect service too.

2 more FMQ Blocks

Are you sick of these?  I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog :)

Block 25 Cups & Saucers - this block has 33 pieces! It was easy enough to do, but took a lonnnng time:

Block 77 Seasons - I needed something simple after the 33 piece block:

More FMQ Blocks... will it ever end?

Two more blocks today - Block 81 Snowball Variation:

Block 85 Square Dance:

Hard to decide what's next

I have too many projects going... and I'm itching to start something new.  I'm going to try to wait, though it is hard :) Plugging right along on the Farmer's Wife Quilt (28 blocks done of 111), only 2 more rows of hand quilted baptist fans to go on the half-square-triangle quilt (binding already made), and the master bedroom quilt is at a stand still.  I've quilted 7 or 8 straight lines and not sure that I like it.  May take them out and hand quilt.  I need to decide soon since it got down in the mid 30's last night!  The problem is maneuvering the quilt through the Singer.  It is a P.I.A. but not enough so to purchase a big machine... I'm happy with my old singers.  One of these days I'll just get a large quilting frame and be done with trying to machine quilt.

I have a few sets of fat quarters from some beautiful fabric lines waiting.  These are my plans for them at the moment, though I may change my mind by the time I finally get to to the cutting stage:

1.  Butterscotch & Roses fat quarter bundle by Fig Tree - destined to be a Swoon quilt - I've already picked the fabrics from the bundle I'll use:

2. Flora fat quarter bundle by Lauren and Jessi Jung - destined to be a Dresden plate quilt:

3.  LouLouthi by Anna Marie Horner - destined to be a quilt, but can't decide which one.  I first thought a Swoon quilt after a saw one made with this fabric but couldn't readily decide which fabrics from the line to use.  Now I'm trying to decide between these - Spinning Stars Quilt (by the same designer) or one very much like it by Patricia Bravo called Bohemian Caravan.  Either way, I have plenty of fabric for front AND back since I bought extra of a couple of the prints.

I can dream big... that's a lot of quilting!  May take me years...

Three More FMQ Blocks

Block 15 Buzzards Roost

Block 20 Churn Dash

 

Block 63 Ozark Maple Leaf

Chevron Scarf

Finished after soooo long... not a great picture and looks much better in person, but here it is for the record:

 

Just ignore the flannel PJ pants it is sitting on... sending off to a knitting pal this week to brighten the day.



Back to two shoes

Had the ankle xrayed yesterday and am finally out of the air cast.  Nothing to get to excited about since i'm going to have to shop for some new shoes.  The foot is still so swollen that most of my current shoes are too tight to wear. The orthopedist said it will probably be swollen for at least a year!  In the meantime, i've been trying to walk normally... it really hurts and i'm still hobbling. Physical therapy starts next Wednesday.  Hopefully by then i'll be used to walking on it again.

Today i'm going to attempt to spin.  Going to a fiber friends house for a small spinning afternoon.  I think i'll take the Sonata this time since carrying the big SR 30" wheel down the steps to the garage will be too difficult... and hubby isn't home to help. I'd really rather take the big wheel...

I've baked some cookies and will be taking a bottle of wine ... Trying to decide on a knitting project to take just in case spinning proves to painful.  My current project bag I left at work yesterday.  Don't know why I even took it into the office because I didn't have time to take a lunch break!  Guess i'll just start another pair of socks :)

I have more blocks to show from the FWQ.

Block 80 Single Wedding Star:

and Block 56 Maple Leaf:

 

You'll see that I used a different fabric for the stem... the reason why is I sewed this block wrong the first time and had the stem the lighter color fabric with the other two pieces in the green.  It took me a minute to see the problem, so I ripped out that one square and decided to do the stem a little different.  I think it looks good this way!

Avoiding

I've been avoiding looking at all the 2011 Rhinebeck blog posts since there was no way I could attend with a broken ankle.... so, i've been looking at the popular quilting blogs and have been faced with all the reviews of the Sewing Summit.  I would love it if someone would marry the two and make a super duper fiber festival that included knitting, yarn, wool, fiber animals AND fabric and quilting!!!

2 More FWQ Blocks

Block #14 Butterfly at the Crossroads - this block has 29 pieces.  I deserve a glass of wine after sewing up this one!

Block #61 Northern Lights:

 

A Star is Born

a farmer's wife quilt star, that is!

Here are my first ever stars... not perfect, but i'm happy with them!

Block #60 Noon & Light:

Block #31 Evening Star (the light is pale blue but looks white in pic):

I also finished a knit... the Chevron Scarf that I started years ago, ripped out recently and started over.  No picture yet but will take one after blocking!

Dish Rag Tag

With Monday being a holiday (for the post office, not for me), the mail didn't run.  However, Tuesday I did receive the box with the yarn to knit the rag and to send on to the final destination.  When I got home from work, I knit the rag, packaged it up with the goodies being sent. The box was in pretty bad shape by the time I received.  There was so much tape on it I had a hard time opening without tearing it up! I wish I would have taken a picture of the box when I printed out the label before work the next day... I was out of clear packing tape and had to use duct tape.  Just like someone in Alabama, duct tape will fix anything :)  Here's the rag in the official DRT pattern I knit to send:

This was knit with the ball that Cindy sent to me in the box and I love the colors!  I think this type of wide stripe kitchen cotton fits this pattern perfectly! And here is one of the goodies I received from Cindy:

This yarn is soooooo yummy!  It is actually darker than it shows in the picture, the flash messed up the color somewhat.  The yarn is Lang Jawoll Magic Degrade... i've never seen this around here!  It is ooohhhh, sooooo soft!!!  I think it is destined to be a shawl!  I'd love the softness around my neck!

I'm off work today :)  Other than the weekly knit night tonight, i'm not sure what i'll do!  There are tooooo many options!  The least of which is to get this house somewhat organized...

Bat Wing

This is block 5 of the farmer's wife quilt, in the book that is, it is block 15 for me:

Went to dinner last night with friends to celebrate one of my knitting buds birthday. Good food and good company! Hopefully, tonight i'll have the dish rag tag package when I get home from work!!!  If so, I know what i'll be doing tonight instead of sewing!  Tracking says it will be delivered today, however, the last update says it is in Jacksonville, FL, and with the holiday yesterday, it may not make it today. Keep your fingers crossed!

Do not paper piece Block #83

I spent too many hours with the seam ripper today. A word of advice, if you are participating in the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along, do not try to paper piece block #83--Spider Web. It is a PAIN!!! Since I started out this way and was set on using this particular small piece of brown flowered fabric, I had to continue on and not start all over. I'm pleased with the result, just not so pleased with how long it took! The solid color fabric is a pale blue... looks white in this picture.

Also completed Block #2 Autumn Tints:

and Block #102 Whirlpool:

 

Now, i'm going to go back to the sewing machine and re-do block #4 Basket Weave since the first attempt was a major fail.

Edited to add two more blocks before bed:

Block #4 Basket Weave - redone and still not right, but it will have to do!

 

Block #109 Windows (the easiest so far):



New Quilt Top

I decided that at least one of my projects needed finishing before getting back on the Farmer's Wife Quilt, so I finished the top of the apples charm quilt.  These colors are so bright and cheery!  Not sure if it will be hand or machine quilted, but at least the top is finished!!  The binding will be the gray fabric with the tiny apples, and the back will be mostly Kona snow, with a vertical stripe of Kona Med Gray, one of the turquoise and another the same as the binding. The wind made for a bad picture taking day, but had to document:

 

Also got another block completed for the FWQ - Block 16, Calico Puzzle:

Someone made a comment about some of the paper piecing blocks needing to be print in mirror image.  I think this is one of them... either that or I sewed it wrong.  Doesn't matter, like it as it is!