Livin' La Needle Loca

....and I am > this < close to finishing two(!) projects! Baroque hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ]: I only need to bind off the top and bury the ends. Yay! St. Charles (needlepoint): I need to do the string art, which should take less than an hour! Double Yay!  After those two projects are done, I really need to get serious about starting the weaving project. Or the next mermaid. Or... WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Baroque Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Knitted the last decrease row. Ready to bind-off! Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Figured out exactly where I am and printed a shortened version of the current chart. Ready to go! Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Received the embroidered label for the back. While prepping the backing fabric, I realized that  waves pattern would run in the wrong direction if I piece it in my usual manner and I didn't have enough fabric to piece it in the right direction. Rats! I ordered different backing fabric that wil...

...and the weekend report. Friday was our wedding anniversary--so sorry, no post! Saturday was the first Spin-In of the year. I didn't need to make anything to take as I had plenty of leftover biscotti and cookies to share. It felt good to spin again! On Sunday, the Husband and I drove to Half Moon Bay to have brunch at one of our favorite restaurants: Miramar Beach Restaurant. We got there early because the traffic tends to be really bad on the weekends. That gave us a chance to walk along the bluffs and take some photos. The brunch was yummy and we enjoyed spending some relaxed time together. When we got back, I did my grocery run and spent a few hours in the studio. I finished all the stitching for St. Charles! The last thing to do is the string art. I attempted to do some of it last night, but the charts were not very clear as to the exact positioning of the starting point. I frogged what I had done because it didn't quite look like the project photo. Unfortuna...

...already! Not much to add to yesterday's post. I'm just trying to keep myself motivated to pare down the WIPs list. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Baroque Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Knitting the body of the hat. Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Pulled out 2 rows where I found an error. Everything is back on the needles and I have to figure out exactly where I am in the project. St. Charles (needlepoint)  Still stitching the cross area. In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wrap (weaving) Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing)  Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint) Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just...

...and the weekend report. I completely missed the Eye Candy post on Friday. Part of the issue has been that I am not very motivated to take photos when it's windy and rainy, and there are very few blooming things around. I spent my Friday afternoon and Saturday sorting and organizing my bead and sequin collection. The storage system I was using did not work well for the beads - they spilled over into each other, mixing the colors up. I started the collection before my daughter was born (almost 41 years ago!!). If I was just starting now, I would have researched organization methods and picked something else! I found that all of my silver beads and sequins had tarnished, as well as many of my other metallic beads and sequins. There is really no coming back from that, so I dumped them. The only saving grace is that they weren't very expensive when I bought them (read: cheap). Over the course of 1.5 days, I managed to sort through the various colors of beads and place them ...

...and it's a rainy one. I managed to get a marginal photo of St. Charles: It's been raining on and off for a few days. I never quite manage to take the WIP photos when the light is good. I need to invest in a lighting set-up for the studio so I can take better WIP photos. I did manage to locate the project bag that contains Mother of Dragons shawl [ Ravelry ] project. I've printed out the new charts and just need to figure out where I left off. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Baroque Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Knitting the body of the hat. St. Charles (needlepoint)  Stitching the cross area. In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wrap (weaving) Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing)  Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]; Valley of the Heart's Deligh...

...and the weekend report, such as it is. I've been fighting off the Husband's cold for two weeks. He caught a particularly bad one and it just wont go away. So far, I've managed to avoid it, but I have had some pretty bad sinus headaches for the last few days. I'm not sure whether that's how the cold is manifesting in my body, or if it's just my normal reaction to the constant weather changes. I finally got all of the Christmas boxes out of the living room and put away in the storage cabinet.  The headaches prevented me from really digging into my craft projects. Instead I concentrated on St. Charles (needlepoint). It's really coming along and I feel like the end is in sight. I tried taking a photo of it, but it was too late in the afternoon and the lighting was marginal. I'll try again in morning light. I photographed the last two Phat Fiber boxes that I ordered. I haven't processed the photos, so there's nothing to show yet. The weeken...

...and I'm so ready for the weekend. This morning, I noticed that the tangerines on our tree are nearly ripe: And the paperwhite narcissus are blooming in the front yard: Up this weekend: Finish putting away the Christmas stuff. It's all packed, but I need to rearrange things in our storage cabinet so it all fits. My MIL's quilt is still on hold. I received my embroidered label order, but I had to order another one. The quality of the label was great, but the name was spelled wrong. Not their fault, mine. I was in a rush to order it and somehow left off a letter. At least the labels don't cost much and I can use phone number portion on something else. January is usually the month I try to finish as many things as I can. What's in rotation now won't get done by the end of the month, but I can sure make a dent in them. In particular, I want to work on St. Charles (needlepoint) and get that closer to done. I also need to resurrect the Mother of Dr...

...the first time since I started the blog in 2006. The blog's 13th birthday was January 5th. To be fair, that was a Saturday and I don't blog on the weekends. However, the date did escape me until last night. Oops. I posted about the same number of times in 2018 as I did in 2017. That's good, but I missed several Eye Candy Friday posts - some because I ran out of time and some because I didn't have any photos to post. I like posting about my projects and posting photos. I have no plans of stopping the blog any time soon. 2018 was a rough year for our family and extended family. Because it's personal, I don't always blog about it. And some things are still on-going. So if I disappear for a few days, it's because we're dealing with some family issue. Thanks for reading!

...trying to get back on track with my long-standing WIPs before I start one of the queued items. Before anything, I needed to finish packing away the Christmas decorations. I'm almost there. I need to put the Star Trek tree back in its box and put the last 3 boxes away. With the exception of our spare folding table, all of the furniture is back in pre-holiday position. I managed to get a quick and dirty photo of the quilt top I finished over the weekend. Because my own quilt's blocks are on the quilt wall, I can't hang it up to take a photo. I'll try to get a better photo later in the week. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Baroque Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Knitting the body of the hat Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Waiting for an embroidered label to arrive before I can sandwich it. St. Charles (needlepoint)  Brought this back into rotation; completed section 13. Next up: stitching the center cross area. In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross sti...

...a lot of spinning and a lot of reading. I did a lot less knitting than the previous year because Halos of Hope ceased operation and I didn't knit charity hats for most of the year. Finished: Christmas Baking, etc. Fruitcakes: 18 mini-loaves Pumpkin bread: 10 mini-loaves Cookies: 694 Biscotti: 333 Amaretto Nuts: 3 lbs Grand Marnier Nuts: 3 lbs. Chile-Lime Nuts: 3 lbs Chocolate Bark: 6 lbs Macadamia-Lime Fudge: 1 lb Knitting 2/22 Ravellenic Hat (knitting) 9/21 Stormy Weather hat (knitting) 11/3 Chloe's Catnip Mousie (knitting) 12/26 Charred Teal Shawl (knitting Needlework 4/8 Christmas 9-patch pillow (cross stitch) 5/28 Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) 10/6 Love You Punkin (cross stitch) Quilting, Sewing, Finishing 1/6 All That Glitters quilt 3/3 Finishing work: Seaside Pin Poke 3/18 Finishing work: 2 Pine Mountain pillow tops and 7 needlepoint flats 6/16 Mola Head Scarf (sewing) 10/7 Ornament finishing work x 3 (s...

...a lot of baking and reading, a little crafting, and not enough vacation. Finished: 12/22 Christmas Baking Fruitcakes: 18 mini-loaves Pumpkin bread: 10 mini-loaves Cookies: 694 Biscotti: 333 Amaretto Nuts: 3 lbs Grand Marnier Nuts: 3 lbs. Chile-Lime Nuts: 3 lbs Chocolate Bark: 6 lbs Macadamia-Lime Fudge: 1 lb 12/26 Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Books: Hunt for Magic, Linsey Hall Cottage by the Sea, Debbie Macomber When We Found Home, Susan Mallery Midnight Exposure, Melinda Leigh The Identicals, Elin Hilderbrand What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman Twisted Truth, Melinda Leigh After Anna, Lisa Scottoline  Feared, Lisa Scottoline Christmas Cake Murder, Joanne Fluke Hour of Need, Melinda Leigh One Perfect Lie, Lisa Scottoline Minutes to Kill, Melinda Leigh Seconds to Live, Melinda Leigh Started: 12/29 Seaside Dreams quilt, formerly Sand and Sea (quilting) Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wr...

...the last 2018 finish and the first 2019 finish. The last thing I finished in 2018 was the Charred Teal Shawl [ Ravelry ]. and a detail shot: Specs: Started 5/6/17 Finished 12/26/18 Pattern: Gray Area by Casapinka Yarn: Beyond Mini Set in Teals and Beyond in Charred, both from Invictus Yarns The first finish of 2019 was Under the Sea handspun [ Ravelry ] and the close-up: Specs: Started 11/16/18 Finished 1/5/19 Merino-Bamboo-Silk (4.0 oz) from Huckleberry Knits 167.5 yds.; 13 WPI Unfortunately, those are the only photos I took. The weather was dark and rainy, so the rest of the photos will have to wait. .

...and I managed to take a couple of photos this morning, but just barely! This is the purple top verbena that we planted in October. It seems to like it by our front door. The sweet pea shrub in our front yard is still going strong. It sets flowers all year long. Up this weekend: Catch up on my photo backlog, weather permitting. We're supposed to get rain this weekend. That might put photos on hold unless I can figure out how to light the objects properly. Outside light is always preferable. I keep forgetting add a handspun-in-process to the WIPs list. I started Under the Sea [ Ravelry ] in November. I finished the singles over the weekend and it's ready to ply. That's about it. My MIL's quilt is on hold until I receive the embroidered patch. Maybe I'll work on the arrangement of my quilt's squares.

...but in all fairness, it was my last day of vacation and I was trying to get as much done as I could! Unfortunately, that didn't include taking photos of anything. I hope to take a bunch of photos this weekend. I have a finished object (Charred Teal Shawl [ Ravelry ]), two Phat Fiber boxes, and the quilt WIP on the photo list. Yesterday, I finished the quilt top using fabrics from the stash! I did go out and buy some border fabric, but I was not happy with it once I got it home. Back to the stash and I found something that would work only if I added another narrow border between the existing border and the new one. The tough part is trying to make sure that the length of this puppy is correct. The husband measured her bed and I think I got it right. It might be a bit wide so I may lop off an inch of border on each side. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Sea and shells quilt for MIL (quilting) Finished the top; waiting for an embroidered label to arrive before I can sandwich it....

...we wish you peace and prosperity in the coming year. As for us, we're happy that 2018 is in our rear view mirror. We look forward to a more positive year. Sunrise this morning: