Azkaban Reopened

What do you mean, I haven't written lately? Neither has Shakespeare. Um. Yeah. So there.

First order of business: I've finished Sheherezade. Now it is off my plate, the agenda, and the sidebar! Looking at it, I think it could have had another border, but... feh! It's done. And I like it.

Second in line: the Peeps Bedsocks are finished! Knitting on it was like eating popcorn: a few stitches and--before you know it--the bowl is empty! Aren't they cute? Slightly goofy, I know, but sweet in their special way. As always, there was some yarn left over so I decided to make mirror booties with what's left. I've read about, heard about, and thought about a new technique: knitting two socks at a time on one circular needle. So I gave it a shot. I like it. This way, the socks have a chance to be nearly identical.

Lastly, Playtime at Azkaban has returned. I wasn't completely satisfied with 'em. They kept falling down--not really desirable in a pair of socks. I determined that the cuff was done in a twisted rib and that's not very stretchy, albeit pretty. That needed to be re-knit. But--and it's a big BUT--you can't just unknit ribbing from the top if it was knit top-down. It requires... surgery. That's right. Cutting. Warning: The following pictures may be too explicit for some knitters. To prep, I used Jasmin's advice: slip a smaller guage needle into all the stitches in a row.Then take a deep breath and (I know it's scary) CUT a stitch. Just one. From that stitch, pull out the following stitches all around that row. The needles in place should keep your beautiful work from unravelling. Now that you've got your work stable, you can work on your project peacefully. (And I am!)

Injured Pride

My office chair broke just now! And you gotta know that when your chair breaks, it doesn't just fall over when you're out of the room: no, it dumps you out and suddenly you're not sitting where you thought you were sitting. No worries, though. I'm not hurt. I'm just applying a little ice to my... pride. And we have no lack of chairs in this house. But that was the only purple one. Phooey.I've been doing an online team workout program. It's called Blue and You. My team is Lime & Violet. With it, you check in each day you work out. With every day's worth of exercise, you are moved to another place in the USA, as though you are walking really fast. Today I'm in Beachwood, Ohio, near Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Color me well-travelled.Dream Dancer was getting a little monotonous so I pulled out In a Garden again. (I really don't understand those people who can work on just one project at a time.) I finished up the lemon tree, complete with backstitching to pick out the details. I like backstitching as I go. I get to appreciate the picture more. And if I really get moving, I can get Sheherezade done today. We'll see. And if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak. Anybody know what show I'm quoting there?

This was started right after our trip to New Zealand, possibly on the plane home. That was five yea--cough-cough!--some time ago. I pulled it out and stitched for, oh, probably half an hour. Then sewed down the ends on the sewing machine: less than ten minutes. And there was the blocking--wetting, ironing, pinning, and leaving it to dry--maybe five minutes. So, a maximum of 45 minutes and I can kick a project off the Way Too Many Projects sidebar. (This is where you cheer. That's okay. I'll wait.)
So I'll look at that list again and ask, "Is anybody else a quick finish?" Well, the Nine Batik Stars should be done in a few hours. I'm just sewing down the binding--I've done three corners already--and will have to make a label. The label always has my name, the city, the year, and the name of the quilt. It's art; it needs a name.
And I've finally found the name for this one. I was thinking desert (because of the sand color), jewels (because of the tones of the blocks), and night (because of the stars). This took me to the middle east, then to Arabia, then 1001 Arabian Nights. I thought about the stories of Sinbad, djinn, mysterious caves, harems, surprise twists and then I thought about the woman who told all these stories: Sheherezade. And that was it. That's the name. Sheherezade. Cool, huh? I'll change it in the sidebar.

While Tiny's away, we cleaned the carpets. That's right, we did. We didn't call a company. We didn't figet and fuss that someone wasn't rinsing it enough. We actually went to the store and picked up a Rug Doctor and did the work ourselves*. And rinsed it three times. Yeah, that means we didn't do the whole house, but still it's very nice. If soggy.

*By ourselves, I mean the Man of the Place ran the machine. I just moved furniture, mixed the solution, and poured it in. It makes too much noise for my tender little shell-like ears.

The Camera Doesn't Lie

Oh, sure it does! When you look at these pictures, you can't tell if the room is a mess or straight out of Better Homes and Gardens. In fact, you can't tell if my home is really in a hollow tree or an alien ship orbiting Earth and looking for signs of intelligent craftwork. But wait. That also applies to you. I don't know if you're even human or possibly some exotic mix of gorilla and butterfly. A gorillerfly. Butterilla? I gotta get my mind back.

I pinned these two quilts in preparation for actually quilting them.

Definition

Quilting, if you don't know, is the action of attaching a quilt top, fluffy stuff in the middle, and back together. Usually a sewing machine is used for this, but hand-quilting is highly respected. Also, there's something called a tied quilt. In this case the quilting is done with small bits of yarn, cording, thread, or very flexible pasta* that simply goes through the quilt and back up and is then tied. Many quilters will actually pay to have their quilt machine-quilted. This is referred to as credit card quilting. I have credit card quilted my three largest quilts as Molly, talented as she is, simply isn't big enough for some things.
Miss Running Water, my Dream Dancer, has made some progress. I believe that everything except her skirt and feet and some little background do-hickeys (that's a technical term) has been cross-stitched. Backstitching is still needed for almost the whole picture.
*Quilting with pasta is not recommended for quilts that you expect to ever wash as it is biodegradable and will disintegrate. Cooking with pasta, on the other hand, can go over quite well.

UFOs Spotted Circling Local Studio

We're getting ready for New Year's Eve here! Planning the menu, baking a cake, making little yummies for our dear friends and family. We do an open house and play games. It's fun! C'mon by!

Also, I have been going through and pulling out some of my UFOs. I thought I'd share a few pictures. BUT, just because I'm showing them to you does NOT mean I'm working on them. I thought that looking at them might inspire me. We'll see.

Nine Batik Stars

These blocks are lovely. I look forward to putting them together. I have more of the background color and I like this batik for a border.

Butterfly Garden Quilt Sampler

Barely started--I've probably only spent an hour on it--but likely to be very pretty.

Sleep, Baby, Sleep

I was planning to put this up in my daughter's nursury but, as she's fourteen, she probably wouldn't appreciate it now.

Crescent Dreams

This was a birth gift for a boy who is past toddler age. Again, probably not appropriate.

To Have and To Hold

It's not specific to anyone... yet. I don't remember having much fun sewing on it, so it may never get done.

New Love Blooms

This is our wedding sampler. We've only been married sixteen years, so it's still good. Right?