Livin' La Needle Loca

...I totally missed WIP-it Wednesday. At least I took one WIP off the list. I finally finished processing the vacation photos! Hooray! Now I can process the photos I've taken since then, and maybe take photos of the newly finished object. I've been trying to find the candied fruit for my fruitcakes locally. I did find some at a market this morning, but they are imported from Italy and they cost almost 3 times as much. I ordered it from Amazon today. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Christmas 9-patch Pillow (cross stitch) Working on row 2, square 2 Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)  This tail is still taking forever... Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Phat Fiber box, Indian Wedding (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart...

...and December is almost here! Thanksgiving dinner at The Daughter's went off without a hitch. On Wednesday, the drive to her house took a little over an hour, which is quite good considering it was a work day for many people. I only forgot one ingredient and she had a suitable substitute. While I cooked, she ran some errands and bought the last minutes items we needed for the dinner, I made the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, the pumpkin pie, and the cranberry cake. I prepped the yam and apple casserole for baking the next day. On Thursday, she set the tables and I got the turkey into the oven. One of the guests was charged with appetizers, so we didn't need to worry about that. Another guest brought a vegetable and The Daughter prepped a second one and the salad. There were 12 for dinner - the Husband's parents; The Daughter's aunt and uncle and their family, and one of The Daughter's friends. It was a great group of people and we all enjoyed our time toget...

...pretend I'm posting this on a break during my cooking marathon. ;-) WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished tinking/frogging the error; reinserted the needles and just waiting for my brain to be ready to figure out where in the pattern repeats to start. Christmas 9-patch Pillow (cross stitch) Finished the center square; working on row 3, squares 2 and 3. Spice Market handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Finished spinning the singles; ready for plying. Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)  This tail is still taking forever... Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Phat Fiber box, Indian Wedding (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: All That Glitters Christmas quilt (qu...

...and the marathon run to Turkey Day is in progress. I'm at the "making lists of lists" stage, both for Thanksgiving and for Open Enrollment at work. I'm going to try winding up the open enrollment stuff today before I leave for the holiday. Tomorrow will be full-on cooking for Thursday Mr. Turkey should be defrosted by now (I hope!).  I made the dry brine on Sunday, so the flavors should be well blended by now. I made the cranberry sauce on Sunday, too. Tomorrow before I leave for The Daughter's, I'll get Mr. Turkey cleaned up and into the dry brine. Tonight, I'll get the perishables at the grocery store...that should be a blast as there are lots of people who do the same thing. Yay? I need to pack-up whatever I need that The Daughter doesn't have to prepare the food. Tomorrow is cooking day. Besides getting the turkey into the dry brine, I need to make the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, the gravy, the yam casserole, and bake two desserts. ...

...and I'm still processing photos from the Arizona trip! We spent 2 days at the Grand Canyon and I took a ton of photos. I've shown you one of a sunset, here's one of the canyon: Day 3 was Walnut Canyon, the Wupatki Pueblo, and the Sunset Crater area. I've already uploaded photos from the canyon and pueblo. Here are a couple from the Sunset Crater area. and another: Day 4, we toured Meteor Crater: and visited Slide Rock on the way to Sedona: Up this weekend: Buy what I can ahead of time for Thanksgiving. The 2 most important things are to get Mr. Turkey, start defrosting him, and make the cranberry sauce. I need to start packing up the items to take to the Daughter's, like my favorite knives, the turkey platter, etc. And continue to make my lists of lists! .

...sorry, still no updated photo of the mermaid. However, I do have photos of two finished objects. First, the Confetti hat [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 10/1/17 Finished 10/28/17 Charity knitting No pattern Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Multis / Prints in Monet And the Crocus handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 9/9/17 Finished 11/3/17 Merino-silk top (4oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 249.4 yes, chain-ply; 12 WPI WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Found and error and I'm in the process of tinking back to the place I went wrong. Sigh. Christmas 9-patch Pillow (cross stitch) Working on portions of 3 squares Spice Market handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] About 75% done with the singles. Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)  This tail is taking forever... Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl...

...some personal issues have taken precedence the last few days. Nothing catastrophic, we just needed to focus on ourselves for a bit. Fortunately, crafts can help you mellow out when you need to. The Daughter and I touched based about the things we need to do for Thanksgiving dinner and how many people will be there for the meal. You guys, it's next week !!  I updated my T-Day lists. I need to make the full-on grocery list now that I know what we're going to cook. I actually bought a few of the non-food items when I went grocery shopping on Sunday. My plan is to buy Mr. Turkey on Friday and start defrosting it in the refrigerator. It needs to be completely defrosted by Wednesday morning. I continued to spin on the merino-silk that I started at Spin-In on the 4th. I worked on the Mermaid when my knees needed a break from spinning. I also worked on the small cross stitch piece that I keep in the living room. Photo processing continues. I have finished Day 2 of the Grand C...

...I need to mark my calendar or something. I have no excuses. Sigh. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still plugging away on Section 3, contrasting color #2. Spice Market handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Started at Spin-in; about $30 done with the singles. Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)  Still working on her tail; almost to the point where all the stitching is horizontal. Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Christmas 9-patch Pillow (cross stitch) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Phat Fiber box, Indian Wedding (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting) Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) Canto de Sirena shawl ...

...and the weekend report. I finished plying the Crocus handspun [ Ravelry ] on Friday. I then treated my wheel to a little TLC in preparation for Spin-In on Saturday. Spin-In was fun! I baked some 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies as my contribution. I started spinning Spice Market [ Ravelry ], a Glitter roving from Greenwood Fiberworks.  Between laundry and chores, I stitched a bit more on Mermaid of the Pearls. Her tail is taking forever to do. I am stitching with 5 shades of green and a bit of white to complete this portion of her tail. Boy, am I bored with stitching green! I didn't do any work on the attic windows quilt. It's been pretty chilly in the evenings, so I turned the furnace back on for the winter.  And I realized that it's now cool enough for me to sandwich the All That Glitters Christmas quilt in the UFO pile. The machine quilting will go pretty quickly, so I should add this to my list of things to do. Because our house is poorly insulated (and woul...

...in which few crafts were completed, but quality vacation time occurred. Finished: 10/7 Camera inserts for my backpack (sewing) 10/28 Confetti hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Books: Indulgence in Death, JD Robb Treachery in Death, JD Robb New York to Dallas, JD Robb Celebrity in Death, JD Robb Delusion in Death, JD Robb Bianca: The Silk Merchant's Daughters, Bertrice Small Calculated in Death, JD Robb Thankless in Death, JD Robb Concealed in Death, JD Robb Festive in Death, JD Robb Obsession in Death, JD Robb Devoted in Death, JD Robb Started: Nothing Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Christmas 9-patch Pillow (cross stitch) Crocus handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)   Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Phat Fiber box, Indian Wedding (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravel...

...how the heck did that happen? And how the heck is it Wednesday already? I still haven't gotten back into the swing of blogging. Unfortunately, the times I usually think about blogging is early in the morning or very late at night. [Sigh]. I hope to get back into some semblance or regular blogging soon. The other thing that I haven't done much of is take photos. I'm still processing the vacation photos and have not been able to think about taking new ones yet. I did actually finish something, though. I finished the Confetti hat [ Ravelry ] on Saturday. Originally, it was for Halos of Hope, but with them stopping activity in a couple of months, I'll need to find some other place to donate hats. No photos yet, because (see above). I tried very hard to finish the current spin, but it will have to wait until Friday when I have more time. I need to clear the wheel for Spin-In on Saturday! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Cut 2 m...