Livin' La Needle Loca

...updating what's in the current rotation. WIPs in Rotation : 1. The Sky is Purple and Full of Stars (Southern Skies) shawl [ Ravelry ] - 75% complete. I have completed 10 of 58 edging repeats and I've done half of #11. 2. Mediterranean Mermaid by Mirabilia (cross stitch) - It doesn't look like much right now, but I'm please with it so far. I found an error and had to rip out and rework one are. It wasn't too bad and I'm back on track. 3. Bunnies and Duckies and Bears, Oh My! quilt (quilting) - I pieced the top, sandwiched it, and started the machine quilting. I had a small setback when I realized the the panel was cut in such a way that it was not the same width as the pink and green block row. I ended up replacing the yellow and white polka dot sashing with white and pink polka dot fabric. A little more work than I wanted to do, but it works OK and meant that I could use the block rows with very little modification. 4. Bulb by Shepherd...

...because I'm feeling scattered today. Loved the rain we had on Saturday as it gave me a perfect excuse to stay at home and craft.   Seriously need to mop my floors after that rain. And vacuuming would be good, too.   Made a great dinner on Sunday. Chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, basil and chicken stock in the crock pot for 6-7 hours and then served over polenta. Yummy!   Completely ignored the shawl after Tuesday's Craft Coffee knitting.   Finished reading 4 books in the last 8 days, mostly because of #4 above.   Made excellent progress on the baby quilt because of #4 above. It looks like I'll get it finished by the time I need to give it away. Target: 13 days   Also made decent progress on the Mediterranean Mermaid and Bulb cross stitch projects, mostly because of #4 above.   Yes, I'm bored with shawl knitting.   So ready to weave something!   And so this won't be a picture-less post, habaneros in the ga...

...and I'm so ready for a weekend! The garden is winding down. The Husband is taking down the protection cages he created to keep the birds away from the tomatoes. We still have a few flowers blooming, but they'll probably be gone soon. The hydrangea has turned pale pink: We have a few pink mums blooming in the courtyard: The feijoa are starting to ripen: as are the pomegranates: Up this weekend: I need to sew the top for the next baby quilt. If I can get that done quickly, I want to sandwich it and get it ready for machine quilting. It's doable as long as I don't get too distracted by another project! The shawl, the mermaid, and spinning are all candidates for distraction. I need to make more progress on the shawl edging. I want to stitch more on the mermaid. I have some pink singles that are crying out to be plied. Weekends are never long enough... .

...and a new project start. I'm slowly working my way through the Southern Skies shawl. I have completed 9 of 58 edging pattern repeats.  I'm getting just a little bored with the shawl and really want to be done with it!  It's gorgeous, but I get bored easily (as we all know). I am getting more pleasure working on the Mediterranean Mermaid cross stitch piece. It's another long term project, but at least I ca work on different colors when I get bored with one. I actually picked up Anasazi over the weekend and stitched a bit on it. When I got to the instructions on stitching French knots in a multi-color (5 different DMC colors) progression in basket weave style in the four small corner sections, I stopped. Ugh! Just too fussy for me! I think I'll use a variegated floss (or maybe a metallic) to fill those areas and move on. Yesterday I mailed the What Do You See in the Sea? quilt to its new home. I can't wait to hear if they love it! :) At Spin-In o...

...and I'm rapidly running out of pictures to take. The garden is producing chile peppers like a champ right now, but they all look pretty much the same.  The Husband is trying his hand at chile-infused oils and vinegars, so maybe I'll get some pictures of those over the weekend. Today I have the last of the birthday pictures. A co-worker gave me a lovely autumn bouquet. Here is one of the chrysanthemums: and another: The lilies took a few days to open, but they were worth the wait. Here is the inside of one: Up this weekend: Spin-In on Saturday! Yay!! It seems like forever since I've spun anything. I have an idea of what I will take as a munchie and it might not involve any baking. My fabric order arrived today, so I can get started on the next baby quilt. The pattern is cute, but a little fussy. When that quilt is done, I might take a break from quilting for a few weeks. In addition to my regular chores and errands, I need to mail the completed quilt ...

...I finished the What Do You See in the Sea? quilt! Here's the first look: Specs: Started 6/23/13; Completed 9/10/13; Under the Sea kit from The Granary, with slight modifications to layout and borders. On to the WIPs: I've changed what's  in the rotation. I got tired of feeling twitchy about Anasazi and rotated it out for now. After completing a couple of cross stitch pieces, I added a mermaid to the rotation. I have a couple of Halloween cross stitch pieces to add to the rotation, but I'm waiting for some supplies. WIPs in Rotation : The Sky is Purple and Full of Stars (Southern Skies) shawl [ Ravelry ] - I'm 72% done. I have completed 6 of 58 edging repeats. It's a looooooong haul Mediterranean Mermaid by Mirabilia (cross stitch) Bunnies and Duckies and Bears, Oh My! quilt - I’ve selected the fabrics and sent an order for one more yard of coordinating fabric. It’s for my great-niece who will greet the world in December. Waiting to be r...

Registration opened today at 7am Pacific time. And you know I was right there, ready and waiting for it to go live! My weaving friend and I signed up for the ETC workshop called "Playing with Pick Up!"  ETC workshops are two-days long and we are looking forward to learning all we can from our favorite weaving teacher, Deborah Jarchow. We had a wonderful dinner with the Daughter on Saturday. We walked around Jack London Square for a bit before heading to the restaurant. She is quite fortunate to have a wonderful view from her apartment of the Bay Bridge--at night the lights are gorgeous! On Sunday, we walked the entire Mountain View Art and Wine Festival. As usual, we did not buy anything.  It was very hot and crowded. We were very happy to get into an air conditioned car for the drive home! I finished the machine quilting of the first baby quilt, sewed on the binding and added the label. I'm not in the process of burying all the loose threads. I should be able to ...

...for a short week, it sure was long! My pictures this week are from our quick trip to Santa Maria to attend a funeral. I didn't say anything last week for a number of reasons. Suffice it to say that my mother is a widow again. The sunrise on Saturday was pretty awesome: She received a beautiful arrangement of flowers in deep colors: The Husband's chile peppers are producing like crazy. Orange chiles: And red ones: During the drive to and from my Mom's, I managed to finish a WIP. This is Lamb by Shepherds Bush: Specs: Started 9/2004? (I bought it in 8/2004--this is my best guess); Finished 8/31/2013; Shepherd's Bush Monthly Musing; No chart variations. Up this weekend: My birthday was earlier in the week, but we're celebrating it on Saturday. We're going to dinner with the Daughter and I'm really looking forward to it. On Sunday, we'll go to the Mountain View Art and Wine festival. This is my favorite of all the...

...and we're keeping it short because it's my birthday. I just popped in to show you the latest WIP in rotation: This doesn't look like much, but it is Mediterranean Mermaid by Mirabilia (it's number 102 on this site ). Back soon! .

...August is always a slight let-down after all of the spinning in July. And this August has been a little on the scattered side. Finished: 8/15 Happy Pumpkin Fob by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch)  8/31 Lamb by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch) Books: Dreamfever , Karen Marie Moning Faefever , Karen Marie Moning Bloodfever , Karen Marie Moning Darkfever , Karen Marie Moning Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison Kiss of Venom, Jennifer Estep My Happy Days in Hollywood, Gary Marshall Star Kissed, Lizzy Ford Biting Bad, Chloe Neill Magic Rises, Ilona Andrews Face the Fire, Nora Roberts Heaven and Earth, Nora Roberts Started: none Worked on: Anasazi by Susan Portra (needlepoint) The Night is Purple and Full of Stars (Southern Skies) shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] What Do You See in the Sea? quilt (quilting) Works In Progress, did not work on: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Halloween Phat Fiber samples (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Mediterranean Mermaid by...