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Eye Candy Friday...

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...and it's been a productive week. First the eye candy. The pomegranates are ripening: Dahlias are blooming: And the Mexican sunflower if brightening up a corner next to the house: In my on-going quest to organize the remodeled studio in a way that maximizes the available space, I tackled the laundry area this week. I started with a combination of large Sterilite storage drawers and black zippered bins from the Container store. I already had them, so they simply got moved into the remodeled studio. I filled them with supplies that I was keeping and stacked them in the corner of the laundry area. They worked, but I was not completely happy. Any time I needed something in a zippered bin, I had to pull it out of the stack, retrieve the item, and then stack things back up. Ok, but not great.  After I went down a few research rabbit holes, I decided to buy additional Sterilite drawers to use instead of the zippered bins. I could stack th...
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WIP-it Wednesday...

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...Happy Mexican Independence Day! ¡Viva Mexico! I've been craving oatmeal cookies, not the soft cookies that bakeries and grocery store sell, but the crisp ones we used to bake at home. This morning, I baked a batch using our recipe from the 60s. They are yummy! I finished all of the back stitching on Morgana. I wasn't happy how the Kreinik braid back-stitching looked around the mermaid, but I powered through to get it done. It me longer than usual to finish the back-stitching. Ugh! Next is the beading. I'm going to do more quilting first. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Herding Cats (quilting) Burying threads.  La Cat-trina quilt (quilting) Started quilting the motifs. Morgana (cross stitch) Back-stitching done. Pressed the iece and it's ready for beading. Starwoman (cross stitch) Working on the hair.  No Work This Week: California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]   Gypsy Rose Lee Hand...
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WIP-it Wednesday...

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...still quilting away. I'm on the last steps of the Herding Cats quilt. I finished machine quilting the blocks and the border. I added the binding and picked the fabric for the label. All that's left is burying all of the threads and adding the label. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Herding Cats (quilting) Finished quilting blocks and added binding.  Morgana (cross stitch) Finished the cross stitches. Working on the back-stitching. Room Divider/quilt wall. Tested the new clips; they will work. Need to do all of the panels. Starwoman (cross stitch) Still working on the face.  No Work This Week: California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]   Gypsy Rose Lee Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Illusion Cube Blanket (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   La Cat-trina quilt (quilting)   My Recipes (cooking)  Studio  Website (oth...
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August 2026 Recap...

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...in which daily crafting returned to normal. Finished: 8/2 Alphabet Afghan (cross stitch) 8/7 Dust covers for spinning wheels (sewing) 8/29 Road to Chaos quilt (quilting) Books: Brewing Crazy, Kim Richardson Ashes in the Falls. Elle Gray Fatal Deception, Elle Gray Gulfside Sunset, Rebecca Regnier Beach Shack Legacy. Cindy Nichols Hunted in the City, Elle Gray Sunset Dreams in Mermaid Bay, Sophie Kenna Heathermoor, Shannon Mayer Newport Harbor Lights, Cindy Nichols Small Favor and Big Rewards, Hope Callaghan The Ghost in the Pole Barn, Hailey Edwards Started: 8/7 Dust Covers for Spinning Wheels WIPs: California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Herding Cats quilt (quilting)  Illusion Cube Blanket (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   La Cat-trina quilt (quilting)   Morgana (cross stitch) My Recipes (cooking)  Road to Chaos (quilting)    Starwoman (c...
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WIP-it Wednesday...

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...Happy September! I finished a quilt! Burying the threads took a while, but I finally go them done. This is the Road to Chaos quilt. Specs: Started 2/10/2025 Top completed 6/11/2025 Finished 8/29/2026 Pattern: Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs with some modifications Fabric: Happy Hour March 2020 Fat Quarter pack from The Granary; Grunge Basics in Blue Steel from Moda WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Herding Cats (quilting) Switched to using invisible thread for the top and black thread for the bottom. I'm much happier with how it looks! Morgana (cross stitch) Finished the hair. Working on the final fin. Room Divider/quilt wall. Worked on how to attach the felt and ordered some clips.  Starwoman (cross stitch) Still working on the face.  Studio Cleaned up the fabric scrap container No Work This Week: California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]   Gypsy Rose Lee Handspun...
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WIPs on a Thursday...

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 ...yeah, my brain is still one day off of reality. The Husband is back from his week-long camping trip. While he was gone, I enjoyed uninterrupted crafting time (if you don't count the cats whining at me) and just being with myself for a while. Before he left, he'd bought some fruit, much more than I could eat by myself. There was a container of blueberries that turned into coffee cake. Yum! Other than that little baking task, I concentrated on quilting. The Road to Chaos quilt is now in the final burying thread stages. The quilting and binding is done. I need to make a label and finish with the threads before I can declare it "done." WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Herding Cats (quilting) Started quilting the block motifs. I'm not having fun with this yet. Morgana (cross stitch) Still working on the hair. It goes on for days... Road to Chaos (quilting) Finished quilting the squares and added binding. In the proces...
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Eye Candy Friday...

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 ...and I'm enjoying a little alone time.  The Husband is off on a camping trip, so the cats and I are hanging out in the studio. The garden hasn't changed much since last week, but we do have some pink hibiscus now. We've been noticing that with the summer heat, some of the rooms that are stuffy. We have to keep some of the rooms closed a lot of the time because of the cats. They love to go in and knock things off of the counter.  Canela likes to go into the bathrooms and "sing" because her voice echoes so nicely. The studio is closed up after 5:30 pm and doesn't open again until I open it in the morning.  I did an experiment in the studio. I researched diffusers and found a company that uses natural scents, based on essential oils. I'm scent sensitive to perfumes and other scents that are chemical-based, but natural scents don't bother me as much. I bought an ocean and sea salt scent and put it in the studio. I ...
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