Livin' La Needle Loca

...and just like that, the month is almost done. Today has been a stellar day, though. Let's get to the eye candy first. The hydrangeas are starting to bloom: There are some orange mums growing in the same container as one of our trees: And the alstroemeria is blooming in the front yard: So, on to today. PG&E was doing power work in our office building this afternoon, so I decided to take the afternoon off. By chance, my LYS was running a 25%-off sale on their in-stock Schacht looms. I've been saving for a Baby Wolf loom for over a year--I had about $1,300.00 saved so far. I had hoped to buy a used loom because they are quite expensive when new. With 25% off, a new loom suddenly became affordable. I went to the shop, hoping they had one of the two configurations I wanted--either a 4-now-4-later or an 8-shaft. They had an 8-shaft and I promptly bought it. Here's my new toy: I am so excited! I need to schedule a training session with the shop to le...

...this week has been a blur, mostly because I'm still trying to catch up on sleep that I missed on Saturday. Saturday, we drove to Sacramento to attend our niece's wedding celebration. We took the Husband's parents with us. We spent Saturday night in a hotel as they were not up to diving back home (2+ hours) in the same day and, frankly, I was happier that we didn't have to. (Photo of the clouds on the way to Sacramento.) The wedding celebration was great. It was good to see family member that we haven't seen in a while. Both sets of the bride's grandparents were able to attend, which made it very special. And the Daughter was able to be there, too! The lack of sleep came from the Husband's snoring and the various hotel lights and sounds. It was not a restful night for me. When we got home, I managed to get the laundry done and not much else. I was tired, but I can't nap during the day, so... I was so tried I couldn't sleep well on Su...

...and I am so ready for a weekend. It was raining too hard this morning to get photos of the new stuff in the garden. I'm still processing photos from our trip to the aquarium and Carmel. Here's another photo of the ocean: The Pride of Madeira was blooming along the coast road: Today during a lull in the rain, I managed to get a photo of the clouds: Up this weekend: We are going to our niece's wedding reception. One of the tops I ordered from Amazon works with my skirt, so I'm all set outfit-wise. Other than that, I have no plans. I need to pick up the studio and clean up the fabric and thread scraps. And I really need to do some general housework. We'll see what I actually have time for. .

...and yes, I did cruise right by Monday and Tuesday this week. My weekend was filled with my sewing project. Here's the fabric I used: It turned into a skirt (the paisley fabric) and a top (one of the teal fabrics). The skirt fits and is a good length for me. The top also fits, but I'm not completely happy with the way the fabric worked up. The skirt is soft and flowy. The top color is perfect, but it is a little stiff. I'm afraid to wash it without having a backup. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough yardage in my alternate fabric to make another top. At this point, I just need something for Saturday, so I ordered something from Amazon. I think the top that I made will work well for pants, so all is not lost. I didn't do much else on the weekend other than work on Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ]. I'm really enjoying this pattern. It's simple enough to knit while watching TV, but has enough variation so it doesn't get boring. I hope to ge...

...and it's going to be a busy weekend. We have a lot of tomato plants waiting to be planted: The flowering trumpet vines are going crazy: > The Spanish lavender in the front yard is very happy with all of the rain we're getting: And the pink roses have taken off. Unfortunately, it was too sunny to take really nice photos of them this morning, so here is one that I filtered so you can see the petals: Up this weekend: We need to finish our taxes! The Husband has the last pieces of information we need and then I get get them files and mail in our payment. I'm not sure whether he's up for doing that tonight, but I'd love to get them done. :) The rest of my weekend will be spent sewing an outfit to wear to our niece's wedding reception next week. Right, I said next week. Fortunately, it's just a longish skirt and a top, and completely doable as long as I don't get sidetracked. I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics last night and found a beau...

...and a first look at the new canvas work piece. This is Friendship Star: It uses a variety of pearl cottons, at least one of which is the overdyed thread you see in the photo. I love the projects in Laura's quilt series as they are mostly geometric and are quick to stitch. Once I've marked which side is the top, it's easy to pick up the pattern and figure out where you left off. I haven/t worked on anything since Monday, but I hope to do some knitting during the Face Off finale tonight. *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Friendship Star (needlepoint) Works In Progress: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ]  Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan...

...such as it is. Finished: 3/13 Leaf Monthly Musing by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch) 3/20 Sweet Heat handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Falkland top (4.1 oz) from the Yarn Wench 234.5 yds. chain-plied; 13 WPI 3/29 Citrus Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  3/30 Mermaid's Tale wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Books: Midnight Marked, Chloe Neill The Queen's Poisoner, Jeff Wheeler Fire Touched, Patricia Briggs While the World Is Asleep, Petra Durst-Benning NYPD Red 4, James Patterson Started: 3/20 Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Works In Progress: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ]  Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: ...

...and the weekend report. I'm happy to report that the vacuum monster did his job on Saturday, finally!   With the mama birds nest (in the pot of chives) right outside the kitchen window, every time we do something in the sink, she gets scared and flies away, leaving her two eggs unprotected. We lowered the mini-blinds to make it less obvious when we were working at the sink. It worked for a while until the blinds decided that they didn't like being adjusted and all of the strings between the blades came apart! There was no recovering from that. Fortunately, we had to install two sets on the kitchen window because it's so wide. We moved the second set of blinds to replace the broken one.  On Sunday morning, I was headed into the kitchen to feed the cats and heard a crash that freaked out the cats. The second set of blinds broke in the exact same way.  I guess I'm not too surprised: they'd been up for a few years and they get the morning sun. The Husband has alr...

...and it's all over the place today. I still haven't finished processing the tulips photos. But here's another one from that shoot: On my way home, I saw these roses in front of the vet's building: In addition to the tulip photos, I need to process the photos from our Monterey Bay Aquarium trip. Here's a seahorse from the ¡Viva Baja! exhibit: A couple of weeks ago, a mama dove tried to nest on my bike. We move the nest to the backyard and covered the bike so she couldn't try again. Well, she found a new place to nest...the chive pot: The ranunculus flowers are still going strong: Up this weekend: Kind of boring, but we need to finish our taxes. We just need to calculate the home office expenses and see how bad the result is. I hate this time of the year! I really need to get the vacuum monster out...this time for sure! Craft-wise, I need to figure out what the next needlework project will be. I've already determined that I am ...

...and the first look at Costa Del Mar [ Ravelry ]. This is now my Craft Coffee project. I'll work on it at minimum on Mondays, maybe more if I can swing it. Now I really need to get serious about what to work on when I'm not knitting the shawl! *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Works In Progress, did not work on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ]  Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: A peacock or mermaid quilt for me.

...and a couple of finished objects. On Saturday, the Husband and I headed out early for the Monterey Aquarium. My goal was to get there at opening so we could see the Baja exhibit before it got too crowded. This was our first time going as members. Two big perks of being members are getting admitted earlier than non-members and having a separate entrance. We got in at 9:15 and were able to see the Baja exhibit right when it opened at 9:30. Yay! It was still busy because it's a new exhibit, but not as bad as it would have been if we hadn't gotten in early. We then went to the Tentacles exhibit, which wasn't open yet the last time we were there. We have an early lunch at the aquarium's cafe and then did the rest of the aquarium. By that time, my ankle was getting sore and it was very crowded. We drove to Carmel to go to the beach. We both got our hit of ocean breezes and waves. It was much needed! It was a wonderful day. I took hundreds of photos, so it will t...

...Happy April! A few photos from the garden coming up. I still have over 100 photos to process for the camera walk I did a week ago, but I've had very little time this week to do so. The garden is progressing nicely. The cherry tree is setting fruit: The ranunculus are going strong: There are a couple of new flowers. This is Sweet Kate, a variety of tradescantia: and this is tropical milkweed (asclepias curassavica): Up this weekend:  The Husband and I are going to the Monterey Aquarium. We don't know yet whether we are going Saturday or Sunday. It really doesn't matter to me as long as I get my dose of ocean! I;m taking my camera and hope to take many photos both inside and outside the aquarium. I need to pull the vacuum monster out and clean up the leaves that someone has tracked in from the garden ;-) I also need to take photos of the completed Mermaid's Tale wrap. It needs a quick press first. After that, I'll fit in whatever craft...