Quilting and knitting, what else?

Sometimes no matter how much you accomplish, you feel as if you have accomplished nothing. That just really means that you have too many things to accomplish. I have been trying to finish some lap quilts for my great-nieces and great-nephews for Christmas. At this point, I am wondering what possessed me to do this. I am quilting these on my sewing machine (no hand quilting for me). These will be my learning quilts, but they will convey my love and hugs even if they are not perfect.
Two of the quilts are flannel. This one is for Parker. It is a simple quilt with bright colors. I adore flannel. I hope to make a flannel one for me after Christmas.
This one is Ty's. He is 3 and adores Thomas the Tank. That was good for me. It made it really simple to construct. It is flannel, too.
Here is another gift bag that I made. It will hold some luscious chocolate.
Here is my latest knitting obsession. It is a Lacy Leaf Yoked Cardigan. This one is a size small and made in TLC Cotton Plus. I love this yarn. It makes a great non-wool garment. It will be going home to live with Teresa Ingram.




I am making me one in Patons wool, in the color Cognac Heather. I hope to finish it this weekend. I am looking forward to the Thanksgiving weekend/holiday. I am almost giddy. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.
Last night, we had our Thanksgiving service at church and it always prepares my heart. It is an informal service, where our congregation has an opportunity to stand and say what God has done for them this year. It is a great affirmation of the goodness of God in the lives of others in our body.
It is nice and nippy here in AR, perfect weather for this time of year. The leaves are still changing on a few of the trees and the ground under the rest is littered with the ones that have already fallen, the air smells of woodburning fires at night. All that it needs to complete the perfectness is to have the smell of turkey and dressing in the air. Can you tell that I am feeling kind of sappy today?
Thankfuls--I have so many things to be thankful for this year. Poppy seems to be doing real well in his health, that is a great blessing considering that we nearly lost him in August. Ben is almost through another semester of college. What can I say, but that I have my Michael by my side.... I am so blessed.

Hand painting silk

Monday night, Cindy and I, got together for some silk painting. This was my first scarf, not so great!
This was my second attempt. I was pleased.
It just kept getting better.
We are going to place another order and try some more.
Here is what I have been working on. It is a cardigan with a leaf theme. Anyone surprised? I am enjoying making this. It has been trouble from the very start. I just kept running into problems, math problems, brain problems......I have ripped the equivalent of another whole sweater, but I have persevered. I love the design and the way I see it in my knitting-mind's-eye. I hope I am not disappointed. This is the edge of the sleeve. It will have the same lacy leaf motif on the yoke.

My Thankfuls--My Michael, Ben, my bible study group, Julie for her great teaching job, Kathie (my spiritual sister), my country, God's word.

Have you thanked a Veteran today?

Happy Veterans Day to my dad

Written by my Michael on Veterans Day 2008 in tribute to his dad.

My dad is a World War II vet. He served in Europe and was in the 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion. He was wounded in Haguenau when his tank destroyer took a hit from a German Tiger Tank 88mm. He was a gunner. Being in a seated position, a piece of the shrapnel entered his leg just above his knee and came out at his hip. He survived, spent some time in a hospital. He was awarded a purple heart. Eventually he came home to marry the girl he met here in Arkansas. He went to school on the GI Bill, got a vocational degree in woodworking and later went on to start his own business.

He is a shining example of what has become known as the greatest generation. As a child I heard talk about tank destroyers and Tiger tanks (he STILL has a great appreciation and respect for this formidable tank) and M-1 Garands. He tells of how he refused the M-1 carbine when it was offered to him, preferring to keep the Garand. That rifle always seemed larger than life to me and I remember the thrill when he bought one while I was a teenager. He showed me how to work the action, load the clip and not get what he called a "Garand Thumb."

Our little family recently went near Ft. Hood, Texas where Dad had trained for the tank destroyers. I had to stop. It was almost surreal to be able to call him and tell him I was there at Ft. Hood and looking at an M10 like the one from his days of service.

He still takes pride in his service and it seldom fails to bring a strong emotional response from him when someone notices his WWII Veteran hat and stops to thank him for his service.

I think many of you baby boomers will understand when I say that even though I am nearly 50 years old, I have always felt cared for and protected by this greatest generation. They have been my heroes and in many cases, my Presidents.

I also want to say that my gratitude and respect does indeed extend to all who have served and to those who are currently serving. This gratitude and respect continues to grow as I witness the life arc of a warrior who has served his nation.

Mike

"Seek Strike Destroy"

Motto of the Tank Destroyer Battalions"
My Thankfuls-- For our military, our country, our Veterans, autumn, church, family and friends.

Thankfulness and projects

I cannot believe that it is November. I am not ready for this month. It seems that August, Sept, and Oct just flew by.
I will try to think on the positive side of this month. I always try very hard to have an "attitude of gratitude", but I especially want to even more on this month. It is the month of our Thanksgiving celebration. I want to challenge everyone who reads this blog to post your thankfuls on here or just email me with your list or put your thankfuls on your blog. We are so blessed in this country and so often, we lose sight of that. So I am throwing down a challenge to every one to spend some time every day cultivating your "attitude of gratitude".
My weekend was hectic, but very satisfying. I spent Saturday morning with a group of young girls from our church youth group. Jennifer came up with this idea and I was excited to get the opportunity to help. I still had fabric that I needed to use for charity purposes, so we combined our stashes and bought fabric to supplement the color combos. Jennifer was so organized. We brought our sewing machines and were able to go right to work.
I came home and finished mine and took it to her on Sunday morning at church.
I got with it first thing this morning and finished the top to Katie's quilt.

Here is an origami gift bag that I made for a bag of chocolates. If you want to make some of these with Christmas fabric, go here for the directions. It shows a purse, but it is the same technique. I used an 18" square for mine.
My Thankfuls for today: Sunshine, Michael, one Christmas quilt down and 2 2/3 to go, for the color pink, for our country and God's hand on it, for friends.

First Two Squares and Shawl

This is my first two blocks for Katie's quilt.


This is the book that I am using. I highly recommend it. It uses a slightly origami style for the window block portion of the square.This is the pattern that I am using for Bailey's quilt. My color and fabric choices for her are very similar.
Here is my chenille shawl on my loom.
Off to do some more blocks for Katie's quilt.

Where did October go?

Yeesh! Where did October go? Life has become too fast paced for me. Honestly, I do not feel as if I have accomplished any one thing this month. I think it is because I have too many works in progress.
I pulled out my trusty, little book that I list all my completed project in. It says that I have completed two pairs of sock this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is all........................

In my defense I will say, I have a woven chenille shawl that I will take off the loom today, an Elizabeth Zimmerman Adult Surprise Jacket that is almost 85% finished, a Rambling Rows Cardigan that needs a few more rows on the sleeve for Zoe, two more socks that need mates, a few strips completed on Bailey's quilt for Christmas, and half of a remake of my Note of Lyra, using Raisin Knitpicks Gloss lace weight yarn.
November will be the recipient of these finished projects.
Today, I hope to get all the pieces cut out for Katie's quilt.Last weekend, I took a day trip back to SDC. I needed one more day to play with Donna at the Craftman's Festival. I spent the day playing with Donna's antique sock knitting machine. Last time I was up there with her, I got the desire to own one. They are definitely hard to find and very expensive. This time, I got to play on it. Here are some photos of the machine and my booboos.
Three socks tries later, my desire for one of these blasted machines is gone! It was a frustrating day. I will stick to my double pointed needles, thank you very much!
Off to work on Katie's quilt.

AND THE WINNER IS.....

Thursday, Denise called me about the drawing for the Traveling Shawl winner. The winner of the Traveling Shawl was chosen through use of the Random Generator.
Congratulations to Sherry DW of Northern Minnesota!
I can't wait for you to hear her story on our blog.
I almost feel as if these pictures are of our crowned beauty taking her walk down the runway after her year is over. I would not use the work bittersweet, because only the sweet part would be applicable. She is on her way to Sherry and I can’t wait for the Shawl to get to her. Here are some farewell pics….




I could not have done this without our 50 great Ravelry knitters, but especially without Denise. She was definitely the "wind beneath my wings"! Thank you Denise!

Computers and the death of one

Last Friday, little did I know that my computer was about to use up the last of it's 9 lives. I knew that it had been acting even weirder than usual. The screen had been flickering and the fan motor groaning louder for the last 2 days. I had been feverishly trying to get all the Traveling Shawl Journal entries put into a word doc for all our Traveling Shawl knitters. I finished Friday afternoon. When Ben came home, I had him put ALL my documents on my thumb drive, just in case. Boy, that was a blessing!
I knew she was dying a slow and agonizing death, but I was hoping for slower. In preparation for having to pay for a new computer (all my friends know how frugal I am), I had been trying to sell some of my unused craft thingies to help pay for most of it. Thankfully, I had sold my drum carder last week.
Michael and Ben had fun picking all the components for our new system. Michael's job was to keep Ben from putting together a system overloaded with things that we did not need and would not send Frugal Mom over the edge!
Here they are putting it together....
And here it is! The big flat screen takes up so much less space than the huge old one. I love it!It is so great to have my own GEEK SQUAD!

Update on the Shawl, life and fabric acquisitions

The Shawl arrived back in AR at a extremely busy time for me. I had 3 items that I had to get done in a very short amount of time….so, I put the Shawl in a lovely hand made basket and ignored it.
I finished my projects and when I went to work on the Shawl…imagine my surprise when I noticed it was kind of blue.

This Shawl had been to so many wonderful places and seen such fun with so many of our knitters, only to come home to being ignored. I knew that blue would not do!
I took her to Silver Dollar City. Here is my weaver friend, Donna, holding her.

Here I am getting in a few rows while there.

This week I took her back to her birth place. The place where her lovely smoky pink color of yarn came from. I called Glenn/knitngrin, to meet me. She was with me when I pick the yarn out for her.


She is now all finished and blocked. I blocked her with the lifelines in. I cannot tell you how hard it was to take out the lifelines. I will keep them at a memento, yes, I am a sentimental jerk.

You want to hear something weird? The bracelets, that were sent out for the Komen Race here in AR, are the exactly smoky shade of pink as the Shawl. Absolutely lovely!
The Shawl just returned from Leisure Arts having a photo session for an article.
The drawing will be held October 8, 2009. We will announce the winner of the drawing to own the shawl. Each $5 donation counts as an entry in the drawing, and there is still time to donate to Komen's Passionately Pink for the Cure and get entered into the drawing.
Check out our blog.
Now for the fabric acquisition part.....
I hope to make lap quilts for my great nieces and nephews. The funnest part of this is the acquiring of fabric. Here is photo of the fabric for BaileyFor KatieFor Ty
I still have to find the perfect theme fabric for Parker.
I hope I get these made in time. The ones for Parker and Ty will be easier, since I am using flannel for both of theirs, but the girls will be harder. You know how I adore making stuff for little girls! Here is my collection of batik fat quarters.
Fabric Acquisition is soooooooo much fun!

Warm feet....

Just a couple of photos. I am so ready for cooler weather. I did my sock wash in anticipation.
A cute pair of bootees for Mary Lou's soon to come grand-daughter.A crocheted shrug that I was working on. I use Lionbrand Cotton-ease. It is very easy to make and fairly quick.
I really want to be cleaning my loom room. It is a mess, again. Why is it that the urge to do something always hits you when you can't. I have this urge to take everything out of the room and start over, rearrange, de-clutter. I did pick up few things and put them away, but I never know when just reaching is going to cause my shoulder to scream with pain. I must be patient. Tomorrow, I see the ortho dr. I'm not very happy when I have to cut down on my knitting.