Busy busy busy

I'm still here, just very busy!

There's a LOT going on here, and I'll post about in a few differnt postings. First up, here are our "creep cakes" we made for Halloween:


I couldn't find my cake-decorating tips, so I was stuck using a knife to try to swirl the color I wanted where I wanted it. The kids and I had fun making these. My favorite is the zombie (third row down, second from left) with the brown jelly-bean teeth.

We finally broke down and bought a "Bag A Nut" device for picking up pecans, and I'm thrilled with how well it works! We haven't had to rake this year, and it's been a lot faster so far to pick them up.


The other huge project we've got going right now is remodeling the back bedroom, and here's a picture of the progress as of yesterday afternoon:

I can't WAIT to get rid of that green color!! It'd be one thing if our decorating scheme went along with it, but it really really doesn't. It's incredibly dark and I find it hard to live with. Yay for beige!

In kid news, Gillian lost her first top tooth and in addition to having a really cute smile, now she's got a bit of a lisp, too. The other top front one is loose, so it could get really intersting once it comes out, too!


What a couple of hams!

I've got a lot more to talk about and a lot more pictures to show, but not tonight--I still have to get the guild newsletter out and finish my swatches for the workshop coming up this weekend with Joan Schrouder.

Happy knitting, and hopefully more posting tomorrow.

Still here....I think

It's been incredibly insane around here. Good insane, but crazy nonetheless.

My parents were here for a little over a week, and now the real work begins--I have to clear out the sewing room for the quilting machine. That doesn't sound too bad, but that entails clearing out this room completely so that we can replace the floor and shift the closet to the adjacent wall. It's amazing how much stuff I've managed to cram into this room in the last three years.

So, yes, I'm still here, and hopefully I'll at least download the pictures from my camera and post a few of them in the next few days.

If I don't end up posting before Wednesday, have a happy, safe Halloween!

Still here, just cleaning and quilting

I've been having such a good time piecing the blocks for my current quilt project! As of this evening I'm 3/4 of the way finished with the top.

Here's how it looked about three and a half weeks ago:

And here's how it looks now:


I'm roughly three-quarters of the way finished! The picture above is a sideways view, and it'll have a border all the way around it in a dark brown/black fabric. The blue Post-It note (in the bottom left of the picture) will be the top left corner of the quilt. It's 13 blocks across and 16 blocks down. It's going to be a very large queen, but that's the size we use on our bed so it's a good thing. Ever since we got a pillowtop mattress the smaller queen-size quilts I have just aren't quite big enough to cover the sides of the mattress. What, moi, picky?

I'm really pushing and trying to get this finished quickly because my parents (who are bringing my quilting machine) will be here on Tuesday! I'm so excited! I'd hoped to have this finished before they got here, with some insane idea that I could quilt it while they're here. I'm not really sure why I want to do such an insane thing, but the idea stuck in my head and there it is.

I might actually manage to have the top finished before they get here but there's no way I'll manage to get the back done, too. I also have a back to finish for my Checkerboard Chains quilt top, but that, too, is going to have to wait. Maybe I can strongarm my mom into helping me piece the backs (insert evil laugh here)....

I've never been able to be terribly realistic with my project planning, but then if you've been reading my blog for very long you already know that.

The other insane thing that we've got going (that's "the royal we" at this point) is that I'm trying to get things moved out of my incredibly messy yet somehow organized-to-me computer/craft/beading/sewing/quilting/scrapbooking sewing room so that we can move the closet to a different wall, strip the popcorn off the ceiling, paint the walls, and put in laminate flooring so that this room can become my "quilt studio" with the big quilting machine in it.

I'm so overwhelmed by all the crap I've accumulated.

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Thank you so much Opal, Andrea, Romi, Louisa, Dipsy, ClaireEJ, and Marti for the compliments on my Mom's Swallowtail Shawl! I'm not sure she's checked my blog lately (they've been busy getting ready to come here for a visit) so I'm looking forward to showing her the post and wonderful comments.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Look What My Mom Did!

I'm so proud of my Mom. This is her very first lace project:


This is the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits Fall 2006. She used KnitPicks Bare yarn and dyed it a darker ecru color.

I''m so proud! We had a few phone consultations (they live in Idaho, I live in Oklahoma) but they were few and far between. I can't wait to see it in person!

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I'm excited because my parents are coming for a visit in about a week and a half. Of course that means I've got to shovel out this room, but is desperately needs it and I need a deadline to actually get it done. :-)

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Yesterday was my wonderful, awesome husband's birthday, and the kids were totally mystified that he didn't want a party, or a card, or--gasp--no presents, just a cake and a nice dinner with us. The three of us sang happy birthday to him, and despite Ryan claiming he didn't know the words (he's 3), he sang just as loudly as the rest of us. It was SO cute!

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I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Spring Thing Shawl blocked

It's pretty pathetic when it takes me longer to get something blocked than it did to make the item!

Here's my finished--and blocked--Spring Things Shawl!



The color is off slightly--the yarn has a bit warmer green tone to it.

The yarn is Jaggerspun's Zephyr lace weight, in the color Basil. I used way less than one 2-ounce ball. I didn't think it was going to block out as big as it did, and I'm pretty happy with the size. It looked tiny when I bound off, which is probably part of the reason I didn't block it immediately.

I haven't worn it yet as it's been either too warm or too rainy, but I'll definitely bring it to guild on Monday evening.

Speaking of K.N.I.T. Guild, I should be working on the newsletter that has to go out A.S.A.P. instead of my blog. :-)

Thanks SO MUCH for all of the wonderful comments on my sweepstakes ribbons!