WOW top finished

I am so stoked this top is finally finished. When I got home from Wednesday quilt group two weeks ago, I had laid out all the squares and staked and labeled the piles, i sewed the top together that night...didn't go to bed until about 3:30 a.m. but it was worth it. All the colored fabrics I hand dyed over the years. I am so happy with this top...now I just need to figure out how to quilt the darn thing. I do know I will be using either a wool or alpaca batting.
Still about a foot of snow all over the place but it is melting fast.

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see it is snowing pretty hard, its supposed to snow all day and night and again tomorrow. We probably have about 6" already! and it is very wet and heavy...the cave your roof in kind. Break branches off your trees kind.....when we were in Ohio, we had three days of 70 and it was lovely. All the trees are covered with blossoms and all the bulbs are up and flowering. i hope this doesn't hurt my daffodils...they are about 6" high now. the robins are freaking out cause all the ground is covered up and they cannot get to the worms and bugs they love to eat!

I am tired from all the driving around we did the last week. We left Dola about 8:30 a.m. and got back home at 6:30 p.m. with just stops to buy gas and hit the rest stops. No sightseeing on the way back up except a few pictures from the moving car.

I am going upstairs to rest and maybe work on my cardinal quilt. Shauna, Mark's best friend in high school (Tom) wife gave me a beautiful crocheted afghan and a pair of socks. Maybe I will give her the cardinal wall quilt since the cardinal is the state bird.

Felted Bags

This is a close up of my bag...it is 100% wool, I am learning that the alpaca felts much nicer. The gal who took the class with me, Deb, I think...she chose on skein of 100% wool and the other was 50% wool and 50% alpaca and it felted better than mine. I guess that I could re felt it, but I am just going to make a lining a nice big felted button. The icord was fun to make and went quickly.

Here we are pre felt process. When I get back from Ohio, I get to start on my afghan, am really excited about this project. Should take me a while and will learn more stuff doing it too. Hope I am not biting off more than I can chew. I am always up for a challenge. Speaking of challenges, I started another paper piece project...it was on the cover of Quilt Maker years ago, the cardinal wall hanging. My last bird was definitely easier than the first that is for sure. I am getting better at the paper piecing too. I find if I fold the sew line and trim a quarter of an inch, makes placement of the next fabric easier and no trimming again. Something else to work on when I get back from Ohio. Have a great week everybody!

BOM-paper piecing!

Well, I am not totally 100% happy with this one, some of the points get lost but paper piecing is not my best technique, so I think I did pretty good. In the background is what the finished quilt will look like. It is on the cover of Brenda Henning's book "Mariner's Compass Quilts~Reach for the Stars". If I could do it over, I would only purchase the CD which has the same info as the book but lets you print the blocks and stuff but not the half square triangles, there is another disc for that. I was not impressed with her directions on paper piecing but I do like the top. If you only buy the book you will need to have it spiraled from the TOP so you can use a copier.
I finished all the 12" WOW blocks. Taking to the sr. center to marrow and put some tables together, a sheet on top and lay them out. I cannot wait to see them all together and then i am going to sew like a maniac to get it done. The thought of going back to the 6" ones kind of freaks me out but I wan to finish that top too.
I go to my knitting class to marrow. We just have a little bit to do to finish the bag before we felt it. I have to put the rubber bands on the other scarf I finished today and will felt that also tomorrow. Kool huh.
We are supposed to leave for our little road trip to Ohio Tuesday morning, so I will miss a Wednesday and a whole week without any knitting. Kind of bums me out thinking about it but when I get back I get to start on a really kool afghan. I am taking the pattern with me, just in case we come across a really kool yarn shop.
The weather has been cold and nasty. So windy, makes it seem colder than it is. The wind feels absolutely artic. Just goes right thru your clothes. The snow is almost all melted in the yard. But the ground is still frozen solid. The daffodils are coming up in the front yard around the choke cherry tree. Going to have to put stakes where there are after they fade cause we really need to spread them out this next fall. The two lilac bushes are getting buds, so they made it thru the winter...end of season on super sale from wall mart so wasn't sure they would make it. This will be the first time they blossom. Better get back upstairs.

April Fools.....NOT!

trying to show how much it snowed last night.

yesterday morning the front yard was pretty much snow free and the little spruce was completely visible.

the snow plow was by this a.m. we have almost 6" already and it is still snowing! oh well, off to quilt group. my knitting class was canceled this a.m. cause she had to take care of her sick grandson. i will finish up my bag next week. i am one third done with another scarf and am waiting for two more skiens of yarn to arrive from ewen. maybe i will photo my two works in progress tomarrow.

Scarf "before" being felted

Okay, so here it is...after I took this photo we went into MaryLynn's and felted it. I made the baubles too big...now I am going to go back, retie each one smaller and the re felt just the bottom areas. I really like the way the alpaca felted so I do not want to change the main section of the scarf. I am now working on a bag using two colors at the same time on curved needles, boy, are they weird at first but I like them. I stayed up Wednesday night and knitted the 22" I needed for the bag. While we were up in Ewen yesterday, I bought some very pretty yarn...70% wool and 30% soy...sure hope it felts well. It s Patons SWS (soy wool stripes) the color is "natural plum"...will be part of another bag I have in mind....yikes!!!! now I am buying wool and alpaca and different yarns and needles and.....Yikes!!! is all I can say. I am pretty beat, was Mark's sister in laws 49th birthday, we went up to Ewen but they partied hard. Sheri, Richard and Mark left for the bar at 1230 and didn't get home until 5 a.m. ... they went to one of Sheri's friends they met at the bar, sooooooooooooo glad I didn't go with them because I wouldn't have been a very happy camper. Needless to say, Mark feels like dodo today.... big smile. He is up in bed. I am going to take a shower and read a book I bought on different surface design techniques. My dye group wants another class but something different. Oh well, I am a bit pooped out myself but I don't drink, so I am just tired.

Progress in the kitchen

This is how the cupboards where(are), the windows were painted shut, this is only one that opens after much scraping. The counter top was from the fifties and the floor, was, well, horrific with a seam in the center that was volcanoing, a real trip factor!

This is a totally new addition, the drawers were where the counter top attaches to the other one. I love these black hinges and handles, we put theses in the house in Kauai. The floor looks like sandstone, beautiful.

This is the new sink and counter top with sanded and repainted cabinets and drawers. Notice the three hinges on the larger doors. These are real hardwood cabs and are heavy and two hinges just don't cut it. They didn't fit properly, so Mark cut them 1/4"

It is hard to tell, but the kitchen is painted a very pretty pale yellow. You can tell it is not white due to white stove and vent. I am so happy with what Mark has done so far. He attacks one side at a time. He has to smooth the walls out with drywall mud before he can really get going. He still has the uppers to deal with. I am lovin' my new kitchen.

We didn't really change that much but that additional counter top and new floor and fixing those old doors makes such a difference. Plus he replaced the door from kitchen to back porch which lets alot more light into the kitchen.

Almost on my last skein on scarf. When I went to class MaryLynn had made one this past week and felted it and it turned out really really nice. I cannot wait to get mine felted. I plan to have it all knitted by Wednesday and then we will felt it at her place. Better get back to work upstairs. I am cutting out more pieces for my black and hand dyed WOW plus I try and do a bit of knitting everyday.