Livin' La Needle Loca

...the Stitches West post yesterday took too long. I postponed the WIPs until today. :) Several things got a little play in the last week, but Stitches West consumed most of my time. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] I really hated how big the holes were. Since I was only on row 7 of the pattern, I went ahead and pulled out everything back to the garter stitch border. I restarted the pattern, placing the stitch markers in a different location (read: not after a YO) Cupcake Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still knitting the ribbing. Dragon Scales handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Started plying. Earth and Sky hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Started at Stitches West as an easy project. Halfway through the hat. Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Working on the machine quilting of the motifs. All of the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting is done. In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wrap (weaving) Works ...

...yeah, I disappeared for a few days. It was a little crazy at work on Monday and Tuesday while I caught up on things that happened while I was out for Stitches. So here's a recap of what happened since my last post. Stitches West, Thursday: It was a very busy day. Because it was going to be a late night (ending around 9:30pm), I got to the convention center early so I could park as close to the building as possible. I didn't really want to walk in a dark parking lot late at night. My class wasn't until 1:30, so I chatted with people, knitted on a charity hat, and had my lunch. Class was only 90 minutes long. I learned a lot about lace edgings from JC Briar. Market opened at 5pm and for the first time ever, I did not line up to go inside. I waited until 5:15 - by then there was no line. I headed straight for Greenwood Fiberworks and bought fiber. My next stops were knitbaahpurl for a t-shirt, and Bar-Maids for hand and feet creams. I checked out Crafty Flutterby...

...and it's Stitches West week!! While I am nowhere near ready for it, but I am so looking forward to it! I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons working on the Seaside Dreams quilt. For the second time, I had issues with the bobbin thread. Somehow, at the end of one bobbin the threads got completely tangled in the bobbin. Fortunately, I hadn't gotten very far, so it was easy to pull out. I finished all of the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting and added wavy stitching to the leafy borders. I quilted all 4 feature corners and quilted the scallop and Triton shells in one of the panels borders. I opted not to go to Spin-In as there simply wasn't enough time to do everything I needed to do. I got a massive headache on Sunday and stopped crafting early. I took a couple of Excedrin and rested for a couple of hours. The Husband and I devoted Monday to cleaning up the loft. We have ignored it for far too long. The goal was to make enough floor space to put the air bed with...

...we gotten a lot of rain in the last few weeks. So much that we are no longer in a drought, or close to not being in a drought, depending on who you listen to. What this means is that it's difficult to find a window when you can take photos. This morning, we had a break in the storms right before I left for work. I quickly took some photos before it started again. Forgive some of the lighting...it was the best I could do! We have a lone daffodil blooming in the yard: The plum blossoms are going crazy again: and we have a variety of pansies/violas growing containers outside my kitchen window. This red one is interesting: Up this weekend: There is a Spin-In planned for tomorrow, but I'm not sure whether I'll have time for it. My sister and brother are coming the last Tuesday of the month and I need to put some serious work into getting the loft cleaned up so there's room for the air bed. Given that I'll be occupied with Stitches West from Thursday...

...and trying to make progress - any progress - on a shawl WIP. Remember this project? I put the Canto de Sirena shawl [ Ravelry ] on a time-out in 2016. At the time, I was having issues with the yarn-overs slipping to the incorrect side of the stitch markers and having to re-do rows. However, after having so many problems with the Mother of Dragons shawl [ Ravelry ], I was ready to revisit this project. I worked on it a bit over the weekend and then took it to Craft Coffee last night. So far, so good. The only issue I have is that the yarn-overs are making very large open areas in the pattern and they don't look attractive. I'm working on row 7 of the pattern, so I might just pull out the 6.5 rows of the pattern knitting and start the pattern again. The focus will be on making better-sized openings. I might also consider putting the markers in a different position (maybe after the K2tog/P2tog in the pattern) to help manage the pattern. Mother of Dragons shawl [ Rave...

...and the weekend report. My goal for the weekend was to make significant progress on machine-quilting Seaside Dreams. Right off the bat, there were issues. When I had to replace the backing fabric, it didn't occur to me that the thread I bought for the back wouldn't work - it was too dark. After going through my thread stash, it was clear that I did not have anything that would work. I had to buy thread. I wasn't in the mood to go to the quilt store in the rain, so I spent Friday afternoon finishing the singles for the Dragon Scales handspun ( Ravelry ) that I started at January's Spin-In. It is now ready to ply. Saturday morning, I went to the quilt store and chose some thread for the backing, plus some supplementary threads for some of the front motifs. I also found a cute coffee panel that will make a nice lap quilt. (Oops!) I wound three bobbins and started quilting around the center panel. I had to switch threads a couple of times because of the panel'...

...and it's going to be another rainy weekend. I suppose I shouldn't complain. I'd rather have ample rainfall so we can avoid drought conditions later in the year. Last night's clouds were gorgeous: The Husband is still planting things in the courtyard. He has replanted the purple lupine in a cobalt blue container and will leave it in the courtyard as i requested. He'll more than likely move the other lupine to the backyard. He's pretty much completed the birdbath container garden: He's also adding two tall containers in an area by the bedroom sliders. When we removed the old plants from this area, it was several inches lower than the cement. He built a flat surface for the containers using tiles and bricks that raise the planters to the same height as the cement. He's planted this one: and is in the process of planting the second. The second container will have a String of Pearls succulent that will eventually spill over: Up th...

...and another look at the quilt in process. This is Seaside Dreams, just before I started pin-basting that resulted in the wrinkled baking. I swear, it was smooth before I started pinning! I'm about ready to put Mother of Dragons back on hiatus. I swear, every time I pick it up I make a mistake! It's definitely not a shawl I can work on during our Craft Coffee sessions. The current chart is repeated three times in a row. I got the first repeat done correctly, but blew the second repeat, twice! I love the yarn, so maybe I should just frog the whole thing and use it for something else. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Cupcake Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Started over the weekend; knitting the ribbing. Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Made a mistake on the second chart repeat on the first row I attempted. Need to rethink this project. Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Prepped the backing and sandwiched the quilt on the living room rug - ended up with wr...

...and the weekend report. I took photos of the Baroque Hat [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 9/30/18 Finished 1/31/19 Pattern: Loosely based on  Slouchy Beehive Hat by Flora Cheung Yarn: Loops and Threads Soft and Shiny Ombres in Baroque I finally finished St. Charles! Specs:  Started 7/31/16 Finished 2/3/19 St. Charles design by Susan Portra I need to frame it, but that means a trip to the store to see if I can find a frame that matches the other completed needlepoint pieces. On Friday afternoon, I pieced the backing fabric for my mother-in-law's quilt. It took longer than expected because I had to match some horizontal lines. On Saturday, The Husband helped me move furniture in the living room to make space for the quilt sandwich. I vacuumed the area rug twice before laying out the backing fabric. I then placed the batting down and smoothed it out. Then came the top. It took quite a bit to get it smooth on the top and I did a gentle press to remove some...

...Happy February! First up, the eye candy. The Husband knows I love lupines because they remind me of my childhood when we lived on a ranch. The ranch had fields of purple lupines and California poppies in the spring. Lupines always remind me of happy times. First he bought me some yellow and pink lupines on our anniversary: Close-up: When I asked if there were any purple ones, he said the nursery didn't have any. A couple of days later he found some purple ones: Close-up: He is also revamping the plantings in the courtyard, so I have something interesting to look at through my studio windows. He saw a cool idea to plant a succulent garden in a birdbath and I encouraged him to repurpose ours for the courtyard. He found this pretty little succulent (echeveria derenbergii) for the birdbath: As my final finish for January, I bound off the Baroque Hat [ Ravelry ] and buried the ends. I'll get a photo this weekend. Up this weekend: Work on my mother-i...