Trying Something New

You may remember me talking about how Alan's sister and brother in law bought Don's families farm in Louisiana a couple of years ago. Melinda absolutely loves to be outside digging in the dirt. This past summer she planted the most amazing gardens. She had all kinds of vegetables, flowers and cotton. That's right, COTTON. Did you know that it comes in a variety of colors? Who knew? Being the very kind and loving sister in law that she is, Melinda shared her cotton with Grace and me. She even pulled the seeds out of most of it. So nice. We have watched several videos and read numerous articles on exactly how to go about preparing this precious cotton for spinning. The pictures above show the process. The gist is that you put small amounts of cotton on a carder brush (dog brushes in our case) and then you "comb" the fiber with another brush several times to try and get the fibers all going in the same direction. Then you roll it up into what's call a rolag or puni and then you spin it from that. The cotton fibers are very short, so it's taking us a bit of practice to get the hang of it.  Hopefully when we are done we will have enough cotton yarn to make something special.
Sally

About Time

Hello old friend! I have not quilted since before Thanksgiving. All I can say is that I sew in our guest room and we have had a lot of company. That's probably an excuse to explain away my procrastination.

Today was another snow/ice day for me and I decided to make the most of it. 

I cooked

I knit

I cleaned (a little) 

I SEWED!

Finally, I pulled out all the necessities, the sewing machine, cutting board, ironing board etc...

Did I tell you that I killed another iron? That happened back in November. My wonderful red iron just quit working. Now I have a new blue one with a retractable cord.So fancy.

 I joined a Block of the Month club at my local quilt shop back in September.

 I did the blocks for September and October and obviously have not done the ones for 

November, December and January. 

 I just got the email saying that I can pick up the pattern and fabric for February. Yikes! I hate being so far behind. 

You are probably thinking that that's what I worked on today.

You would be wrong. 

I felt the need to ease back into sewing, so I started (and finished) something new. Crazy.

It's just a little 12 inch square, perfect for the center of my dining room table.

I've discovered 3 sewing tool that I can't imagine living without.

 This round cutting board on a lazy Susan also comes with a heat proof cover for ironing.

It's the perfect size and spins like a dream.

This super bright light that snaps on the back of my sewing machine. I really don't know how I sewed without it. Thanks Barb and Kandi for "making" me buy it.

 And finally this cool  binding tool from Fons & Porter. It has changed my life. Really.

I hope this sewing mojo is here to stay. There are so many things to finish and so many new projects to start.

Sally

Hello February

I was soooo ready to be done with January. Things were looking up.February was gonna be great. Trader Joe's has tulips and daffodils. Kroger has Valentine's Day candy. It was 60 degrees here on Saturday. You heard me right, 60 degrees. Then, we woke up this morning to our biggest snowfall of the winter. 4-6 inches of heavy wet snow. School was cancelled again, which meant that all of my clients cancelled as well. Another lovely stay at home snow day for me. I heard that the groundhog saw his shadow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he is a poor predictor of more winter weather to come.

I hope you had a nice weekend, weather wise and Super Bowl wise. I had a lovely weekend. My friend Jacqueline came to visit from Iowa. She loved the 60 degree heat wave. We were very busy doing fun things all weekend. So busy that I forgot to take any pictures. One thing we did do was make Salted Bourbon Caramels. . They turned out so yummy. We may have used a touch more Bourbon than the recipe called for. I'm just saying. I'm thinking they will make tasty treats for Valentine's Day

Hope your February has gotten off to a great start. 

There's only 28 days, so you know you have to make the most of it.

Sally

A GREAT Mail Day

The yarn that I had hoped would arrive on Friday came on Saturday. Such excitement let me tell you. I don't usually buy such large quantities of yarn all at once, but why pay for shipping if you don't have to? I know in the pictures the colors look very similar. It must just be the lighting. The last picture is the most accurate. The skinny one is for the shawl and the fat one is for the cardigan. Grace was kind enough to wind up several cakes of the Puffin for me so that I could get started on my sweater right away. One big problem that I hadn't counted on.... I apparently don't own the right size needles. Seriously, I have needles in every single size but the size I need. After I got over that little disappointment I spent the rest of the weekend just admiring my yarn. The yarn shop is on my way to work, so this afternoon I'll pick up some needles and be ready to start knitting tomorrow. Why is patience such a difficult skill for me to acquire?
Happy Monday!
Sally

Half Way There (so to speak)

Remember my "Journey" challenge? I'm planning to knit all 6 patterns from the book above during 2014. I'm happy to report that I've finished the first 3 and it's still January. Yahoo!. I have to admit that I started with the 3 smallest projects.  So far I've finished;
The Mitts

The Hat

 

And The Socks

Needless to say, I love them all. I've ordered the yarn for one of the sweaters and the shawl which I was hoping would arrive in the mail today. It didn't, so maybe tomorrow...Until then I'm happily spinning my Spring Dreaming fiber and totally ignore the weather forecast for more SNOW tonight.

Hope your weekend is off to a great start.

Sally

Today's Reality Check

This morning a big (for Louisville) winter storm blew in. Schools closed, my doctor's office called to reschedule my appointment and the nail salon that I go to has no electricity. Winter is definitely still here. The good news is that the sun is out now. The sky is a beautiful bright blue and the snow plows have been up and down our road several times.  The bad news is that it is absolutely freezing outside. It was 34 degrees when I woke up this morning and its 15 degrees now. I would like to go to the grocery store, but my car is covered in snow. Thank goodness I still have these sweet mini daffodils to look at. We might just have to have pancakes for dinner.
Sally

Feeling Exotic

I've been drinking a lot of this tea lately. I love Chai and this Trader Joe's blend is the best I've found in a tea bag form. It's spicy and with a touch of honey and a drop of half and half I'd call it almost perfect. Did I mention how adorable the box is. So colorful and cute. To go along with the tea we've been alternating between blackberry oatmeal bars and Trader Joe's slice and bake chocolate chip cookies. Don't you love it when you can bake just a couple and eat them warm and gooey right out of the oven. It's all about the simple things.
Sally