Livin' La Needle Loca

...and I don't have much. This rogue sweet pea bush showed up in our front yard: This was taken just after the small rainstorm we had earlier in the week. And that's all I have... Up this weekend: Other than giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters tomorrow, we have nothing specific planned. I do need to make sure that I have enough candy. Since one of our neighbors started having a haunted house, the number of kids who come to our door has increased significantly. I think we've seen the last of the 2 trick-or-treater Halloweens. I ended up frogging the Canto de Sirena shawl [ Ravelry ] that I started last weekend. I wasn't happy with the way it looked. Since I wasn't that far into it, I decided to frog now rather than waiting until I completed the first pattern repeat. I'd like to make a bit more progress on the shawl over the weekend. Now that I have the fabric for my next sewing project, I'll to get the pieces cut out and start working on ...

...with a first look at the new project. This is Canto de Sirena shawl (Siren Song) [ Ravelry ]: I am using a Marine Silk fingering in Star Sapphire from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The color is more purple than blue, which is fine with me! I'm not very far as each row is 362 stitches. I'm a little concerned that the yarn overs are making large open areas, but I'm going to keep going until I have the first pattern repeat. The repeat is 16 rows long so that should give me a good idea of how it will look. WIP Roll Call: Worked on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the linen stitch section, about 8 inches into it. Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] On row 7 Sail (cross stitch) Working on the letter "S" Works In Progress, did not work on: Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Empress handspun [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Going Snow Globa...

...and the weekend report.  I went to a local fabric store ( The Granary ) to look for the fabric I needed. I'm hapy to report that I found a fabric in the correct color of red that I can use for my sewing project! I also found a gold that will work for a small amount of applique that I need for the same project. Score!! I felt so good about finding the fabric, that I visited my local yarn store ( Purlescence Yarns ).  They were having a Cascade 220 sale I and was looking for a yarn to use as warp for a weaving project. I found a yarn that I can use, some Greenwood Fiberworks fiber that had to come home with me, and some gorgeous gray cotton for weaving.  While I was at Purlescence, I talked to them about my spinning wheel problems. They recommended that I bring my wheel to the shop for repair if I didn't want to do it myself. That sounds like the best idea because they know about wheels. I'm too afraid that I will do something wrong and wreck my baby! I worked on th...

...here are a few photos from Pacific International Quilt Festival. There were some pretty cool quilts. There were several Day of the Dead quilts A Frida Kahlo inspired quilt (Frida and the Butterflies): An exhibition of Beatles-inspired quilts (In My Life): A gorgeous dragon quilt that won 2nd place in the Innovative category of the World Quilt XIX competition: An my favorite this year was the Best Wall Quilt winner (Song of the Sea): I also enjoyed the quilted sculpture exhibit by Susan Else. This was my favorite: In the Finished Object category, here is a photo of the hat I finished last weekend. This is Blue No-Noro Hat [Ravelry], modeled by the lovely Blanca: Specs: Started 8/15/2015 Finished 10/18/2015 Pattern: Noro spiral one-skein hat by Manuèle Ducret Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Solids in medium blue For Halos of Hope Up this weekend:  Nothing special planned. We arre both still recovering from colds, so we need to catch up on some s...

...and not much has changed since last week. I've been processing my photos from the Pacific International Quilt Festival, so not a lot of crafting activity for the last couple of days.  If you are interested in looking at the photos, you'll find them in my 2015 PIQF album on Flickr. I still haven't processed the photos of the hat. WIP Roll Call: Worked on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Figured out where I left off. I have a long way to go with the linen stitch section. Sail (cross stitch) Finished most of the letter "I" and I have quite a bit done on the letter "L" Works In Progress, did not work on: Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Empress handspun [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Going Snow Global quilt (quilting) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)\ Tuscon Twilight (needlepoint...

...it's been an interesting few days since I last posted. The Husband's cold caught up with me Wednesday night.  I ended up missing work on Thursday and Friday.  Our house guest arrived Wednesday night in the midst all of this coughing and cold stuff. I hope he didn't catch it! I was feeling better by Friday night and actually did some knitting. The Daughter came for a quick visit on Friday. She was going to her high school's homecoming game with a friend. Her HS is just a block away. It was a brief visit, but it's just as well because we didn't want her to catch our colds. Because I was sick, there was no Eye Candy Friday last week. On Saturday, I felt good enough to brave the crowds at Pacific International Quilt Festival. In addition to looking at the beautiful quilts, I wanted to check out the Christmas fabric. I have a request for a project and I had hoped to find something that would work. No such luck. I spent a couple of hours taking photos of my...

...this will be brief. I'm fighting off the Husband's cold and my mind is a little muddled. WIP Roll Call: Worked on: Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  No-Noro Hat for Halos of Hope (knitting) Sail (cross stitch) Works In Progress, did not work on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Going Snow Global quilt (quilting) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)\ Tuscon Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: A peacock or mermaid quilt for me.

...and the weekend report.  We had a small group for Spin-In this month. I made some pumpkin mini-muffins to take and they turned out pretty well. The big bummer was that my spinning wheel is having issues again were it folds I could not get the bushing seated well enough to keep my wheel upright and functional. Fortunately, the hostess has a single treadle version of my wheel. I borrowed her wheel, moved my bobbin over, and worked on Calypso [ Ravelry ] .  I learned that I much prefer a double-treadle wheel--it's easier for me to keep the rhythm going. Also, I was a lot slower spinning on it because the stopping and starting added a lot of time to the process. At least, I was able to spin!   We did some housecleaning in preparation for our Wednesday and Thursday house guest. The Husband caught a bad cold and wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so we didn't get nearly as much done as we should have. I figure as long as the bathroom and the guest room (read: husband's offi...

...it's been a long week and I'm ready for an adult beverage. The garden is looking pretty sad right now. While we still have salvia and other flowers blooming, I have taken way too many pictures of them this year. Instead, you get this morning's sunrise: It's hard to see it in this size, but there is a little crescent of a moon in the upper right quadrant. Up this weekend: Tonight, we're going to make some individual pizzas for dinner. I stopped by Trader Joe's this morning to get the ingredients: frozen naan, pizza sauce, a 4-cheese blend, and some sliced pepperoni. Using naan as the based of the pizza makes things quick and easy. The Husband particularly likes the garlic naan, while I prefer the plain. On Saturday, it's time for Spin-In!  I'm making something pumpkin-based to take. It looks like it will be a small crew this time. I'm just happy to be spinning. I haven't touched my wheel since the last Spin-In, which means that...

...because Wednesday just disappeared on me! Spoiler Alert for this post : photos of the latest installment of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts sock club ahead. First the Finished Object. Here is Beyond Antares [ Ravelry ] as shown on my office model, Borg: and another view: Specs: Started 7/21/14 Finished 10/3/15 Pattern: Equatorial Nights by Audry Nicklin; Yarn: Dragonfly Fibers Pixie in Danaerys; 6/0 silver-lined crystal beads I'm still not happy with the blocking, but I'm not going to obsess about it any more. It's done. Moving on...here is the latest Rockin Sock Club installment. This is the package: and the yarn: I'm not in love with anything in this package. I'm tired of the stitch markers they've been including in each package--once was fine, but not every package. The yarn color combination is not me and the patterns are not calling my name. However, this yarn might make an interesting woven piece with the right warp, so some expe...

...no-photo version. I finished Beyond Antares [ Ravelry ]--yay! But I hate the way it blocked out--boo! Not sure what to do about it. The cowl definitely needs to be blocked, but the yarn is quite malleable and the edges are wavy and show where every pin was placed. Given that the piece is for me, I should just let it go and move on. When I get a minute, I'll take a photo and do a F.O. post. I found the floor in my studio! I folded and put away a lot of the fabric scraps and other fabric that managed to find its way into my studio. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the remaining Hawaiian shirt fabric as there is too much to toss. I found the kitchen floor, too! The Husband was gone for a few hours, which gave me a chance to sweep and mop the floors in the kitchen and both bathrooms. That was very satisfying. It would have been nice if I'd been able to vacuum the rugs too, but I didn't quite get there. I did a little work on the Sail cross stitch pro...

...Happy October! Today's eye candy is a combination of cut flowers and garden flowers. When I delivered the commissioned quilt, my client gave me a small bouquet of flowers. It's very cut, and perfect for my desk at work. I haven't had a bouquet that contains ornamental cabbage before. It's very cool: Our hibiscus bush is going strong: Our roses, on the other hand, are dying of thirst. They haven't bloomed in quite a while an a couple of the bushes look dead. That's why it is was a complete surprise when I saw that the pink rosebush had a few flowers this morning: Up this weekend: I need to take my sewing machine to the shop and have it tuned. It gets really hot after a couple of hours and I want to make sure that it's not dying on me. That would be sad as I love this machine! I need to catch up on some of the housework that was neglected while I was in quilting mode. In particular, my studio looks like it's been through a torn...

...I'm lagging on the reading front. Now that the commission is done, I might be able to pick up speed again. Finished: 9/7 Summer 9-Patch (cross stitch) 9/20 ...And Your Little Dog, Too doggie pillow (quilting and sewing) AKA Stealth Commission project #2  9/27 The Hawaiian Shirt Off Your Back quilt (quilting) AKA Stealth Commission project Books: Pale Queen Rising, AR Kahler Devoted in Death,  JD Robb Archangel's Enigma, Nalini Singh Dark Fae, Shannon Mayer Red-Rose Chain, Seanan McGuire Started: 9/6 Sail (cross stitch)  9/19 Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Worked on: Beyond Antares, aka Equatorial Nights (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Works In Progress, did not work on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ] No-Noro Hat for Halos of Hope (knitting) [ Ravelry ] UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Going Snow Global quilt (quilting) Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacoc...