Livin' La Needle Loca

...and the cold is still lingering. The only thing with any significant progress is the Costa del Mar shawl [ Ravelry ]. I am on Section 7, a mesh panel. Only the garter border after that and the cast-off! *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on row 219 of 233 Finishing work Stuffed all the fobs and pillow. Working on the mat board pieces. Works In Progress: 4-shaft weaving sampler Arachne handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Needlepoint pottery picture Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 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.

...do you remember the line in Father of the Bride II (the Steve Martin version) where the assistant says, "I caught a cold from your house..."? Or (if you're old like me), the commercial with the jingle "A summer cold is a different animal..."? Yeah, it's summer and I caught a cold from my office. The AC is way too high in this building and, yet again, I have no control over the thermostat. So I freeze all afternoon. All colds are icky, but a summer cold is challenging. Usually, I just want to burrow under the blankets and ride the cold out. In the summer heat, that's the last thing you want to do. Anyway, the cold hit on Thursday, so I was out of it on Friday and most of the weekend. Sorry for the lack of Eye Candy Friday. My brain was foggy, the nose drippy, and just ooky overall. So, no photos and I did very little craft-wise, other than a little knitting and doing a small amount of finishing work. I did finish two books, though. I'm fe...

...client work took precedence on this week, so blogging had to wait until now. A quick weekend report: I made chocolate chip cupcakes to take to Spin-In. I started a new handspun using a Mosaic Moon top that I bought at Stitches West this year. I did not re-warp the loom, but at least I started winding the warp. I made good progress on the finishing work. I stuffed all of the pillows and scissor fobs. I cut the mat board for 75% of the pieces that need it. I picked the next counted canvaswork - St. Charles, another piece from Susan Portra. I knit a few rows on Costa del Mar [ Ravelry ]. *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still working on section 6 Finishing work Stuffed all the pillow and fobs; working on the mat board pieces 4-shaft weaving sampler Started winding the new warp to replace the previous one Works In Progress: Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My...

...and summer plants are starting to bloom. The yellow kangaroo paw plant is back: The foxgloves are starting up: We have some dahlias: And (a big surprise for us) we have about 6 nectarines on the tree: We're completely surprised that the squirrels haven't made off with the fruit yet.! Up this weekend: Spin-In on Saturday! I haven't spun in so long...it will be nice to get back into it, especially since Tour de Fleece starts on July 2nd. Between Spin-In and my regular weekend chores, I need to wind the new warp for my loom and at least get close to rewarping it. Whether I continue with my original plan, or do a completely new project remains to be seen. I figure I can make progress on the finishing work while I'm deciding what to do about the warp. Guess I should start thinking what my Tour de Fleece goal will be. Hmmm... .

...yeah, I didn't think you'd go for that. I totally missed WIP-it Wednesday. I was a little distracted at work, reorganizing my workspace.I finally ordered the partitions to separate my area from the rest of the office and they arrived yesterday. There was a small amount of assembly and they are now in place. Unfortunately, they have a "new" odor, which we hope goes away soon. Now that I have a complete cubicle, I can pull things out of drawers and shelves that have been hibernating since we moved. For example, I have some small stuffed animals that I keep in my office. I couldn't have them out while the whole world could see my entire work area. Now that my area is not visible, I can personalize things. I started yesterday and finished up today. I still have some things to hang on the partition walls and I need to hang my white board. So 4.5 months after we moved and I'm finally getting my cubicle together. *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del ...

...and the weekend report. I spent most of my weekend at the sewing machine.  I sewed the stitched pieces to their backing fabric. Originally, I was going to make pillows of everything that wasn't a scissor fob. However, once I started sewing things together, I realized that I simply did not have room for that many little pillows. Instead, I decided to insert mat board into some of the stitched pieces to give them some body and to allow me to stack them. I can hand them if I want by attaching a ribbon hanger. For the pieces destined to be a flat item, I sewed only 3 sides of each piece and turned them. After they are pressed, I will cut a piece of mat board to fit and then slip stitch the open end.  I'm still making pillows out of a few pieces. Because of my new plan, I definitely needed more mat board. Since I also needed fiberfill, I ended up at Michael's. In addition to a bag of fiberfill and two pieces of acid-free mat board, I bought a two pack of foam core. I...

...just a couple of more hours before I can head home. As the garden switches over to summer mode, there are fewer flowers to photograph. The Verbascum chaixii is blooming again: We have some yellow pansies in one of our containers: We still have berries: and the sweet pea bush continues to bloom: Up this weekend: My replacement yarn still hasn't arrives, so no weaving this weekend. It's just as well. Now I can concentrate on completing the finishing work I started last weekend. I will need to make a run to Aaron Brothers or Michael's. I need more acid-free mat board that I plan to use as stabilizer for some of the smaller stitched pieces. I know I can find it at Aaron Brothers, but I might not have enough fiberfill for the pillows. I need to check my stash. If I do need it, then it's off to Michael's to get the mat board and fiberfill. Since I've completely ignored my knitting this week, I should spend a couple of hours on the shawl...

...finally! Finished: 5/30 Friendship Star (needlepoint)  5/30 Appliance covers (sewing) 5/22 Quilt hanger for The Hawaiian Shirt Off Your Back quilt Books: Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire 15th Affair, James Patterson Like That Endless Cambria Sky, Linda Seed The Obsession, Nora Roberts Storm, Skye Knizley Killing Land, Laken Cane Started: 5/29 Appliance covers (sewing) Works In Progress: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) 4-shaft weaving sampler UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 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.

...what happened to the rest of the week? Here's a quick recap of the weekend and the week so far, followed by a WIPs list. Since I didn't receive my replacement yarn, I didn't do any weaving.   I haven't done any spinning in too long.   I haven't done any knitting since Sunday.   I found a cache of small needlepoint canvases (4x4 inches, I think). They are all of Southwestern pottery, one per canvas. I had already finished one and started another. I hadn't touched them in years. I'm out of one of the wool colors, so I started another that didn't use the missing color. No photos yet. Here's the finished one: I've read one book and I'm halfway through another.   I spent the majority of my time doing finishing work. Typically, I save up a few pieces of needlework (read: 3 or 4) and do all of the finishing work at once. This time I put off the finishing work way too long. I had accumulated a lot of items that need finishing. I pre...

...why is it that short work weeks always seem longer than regular weeks? This weeks eye candy is all over the board.  I've been testing the camera on my new iPhone to the quality of its photos. This photo of Tica turned out really well: On the other hand, the sky photos that I took this morning weren't worth keeping. This hibiscus photo is OK: The Husband's tomato plants are starting to produce baby tomatoes: And I had fresh apricots for breakfast: Up this weekend: No specific plans. I'm not going to attempt weaving on the big loom until I receive the yarn I ordered.  I saw a pattern on the WEBS site that looked interesting, called Santa Fe Summer Towels . The basic structure is twill and I liked the color combination. I ordered the unmercerized yarn it specified for the main color (a red), but they did not have the lighter color (yellow) available. I decided to just get a lighter shade of yellow, which I'd like better anyway. So I'll ju...

...and it's going to be a hot month. I have another finished object to show. Here are the appliance covers I made over the weekend: Specs: Started 5/29/16 Finished 5/30/16 Fabrics: Cote D'Azur Sea - Michael Miller - aqua, mocha and brown on white               Soleil - Michael Miller - aqua white flower on mocha Used a previous cover as a pattern. Machine quilted before assembly. *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished section 5; working on section 6 4-shaft weaving sampler We have hit the two (or more) steps backwards part of this project. Researching which yarn I can use to rewarp the loom and get this back on track. Works In Progress: Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pea...