Livin' La Needle Loca

...it's a really busy week. I'm still not 100% and there is so much to do at work. Tomorrow is packing day; Friday is moving day. I hope that we get things together enough that I don't have to work on Saturday! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Burying threads for the quilted motifs. Then machine quilt anything that I missed. Getting close to the end! In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wrap (weaving) Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 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) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint)

...and the month shows no signs of getting back to normal, whatever that is. I spent my entire weekend (including half a day on Friday) on the couch, sick with the cold I caught on Thursday. That limited what I could do on Saturday.  While I was still camped on the couch, I was able to work on burying the threads for my MIL's quilt. I took a lot of breaks, but still got a good chunk done. On Sunday, I was feeling a little better, but I let the Husband do the grocery run. I just wasn't up to dealing with people. Dinner was homemade chicken soup with noodles...yum! I didn't work on anything else. It was kind of a lost weekend. Our office is moving at the end of the week. It's just down the hall to a smaller suite. I'm not sure how much I'll have to work over the weekend to make sure we're up and running for Monday. Sigh. .

...and my weekend starts in about an hour, thank goodness. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a cold. All I want to do is go home and crash on the couch! Things are blooming in the backyard! We have Spanish bluebells: White and yellow irises Purple irises Nasturtiums (they are all over the place) purple salvia and apricot blossoms! Up this weekend: If I can't knock this cold out, it might be a whole lot of nothing. Right now, I'm not motivated to do anything except sleep. That may change as the weekend progresses. I have a lot of threads to bury in the Seaside Dreams quilt, so I might get up enough energy to work on that. .

...and I completely missed WIP-it Wednesday yesterday. Well, there wasn't much to report anyway. I do have a Finished Object to share. While I was at my moms, I finished a hat. This is the Cupcake Beanie (formerly Hat) [ Ravelry ]: and another view: Specs: Started 2/3/19 Finished 3/9/19 Yarn: Lion Brand Cupcake DK in Forest Path Pattern: none I have plenty of yarn left over to make another hat. At the moment, I'm not very motivated to knit. We'll see what happens over the weekend. .

...sort of. I feel like I've been in a foreign country for months instead of being at my mom's for a week. We're dealing with our loss as best as can be expected. He was my middle brother and my mother's rock. I'm playing catch-up at work. Everyone here did a great job covering for me, so it's not too bad. Eventually, I will get back into the swing of things and will start taking photos again. .

...we lost a brother over the weekend. All things are on hold while we deal with the loss. #cancersucks

...with a couple of photos to show some of the quilting for Seaside Dreams. So, I mentioned that I was stitching around each of the fish in the center panel. Go look at a photo of the quilt top ...I'll wait. :) Here are some of the fish I've quilted: and a couple more: While they are not perfect, they do highlight the shape and colors of the fish. My big problem is what to do about the seaweed and shell emblems (not sure what to call them) that are behind the fish in the panel. I'm still trying to work that out. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished one row of the pattern Cupcake Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still knitting the ribbing. Seaside Dreams quilt for MIL (quilting) Still quilting the center panel. In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wrap (weaving) Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing)  Loo...

...and the weekend report. I spent most of my craft time machine quilting Seaside Dreams. Stitching all of the fish and shells in the center panel is very fiddly and tiring. I'm getting closer to finishing the panel. I need to decide how much of the background to quilt. If I don't do the background there will be large areas without quilting, which might cause the batting to shift during washing. I finished plying Dragon Scales handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close up: Specs: Merino-Tencel (4 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks Started 1/26/19 Finished 3/2/19 162 yds. chain-ply; 13 WPI I finished knitting the Earth and Sky Hat [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 2/21/19 Finished 3/3/19 Pattern: Loosely based on Slouchy Beehive Hat by Flora Cheung Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Multis in Earth and Sky I'm not completely happy with the hat. The yarn pooled oddly, did not feel soft, and was splitty. It's OK, but I won't use that yarn again. I spent an ino...

...Stitches West month = more stash and fewer FOs. Finished: 2/3 St. Charles (needlepoint) Books: Whispering Rock, Robyn Carr The Life She Wants, Robyn Carr What We Find, Robyn Carr Connections in Death, JD Robb Wildflower Heart, Grace Greene Girls of Glass, Brianna Labuskes Magnolia Inn, Carolyn Brown A New Hope, Robyn Carr Redwood Bend, Robyn Carr In Pieces, Sally Field Dirty Blonde, Lisa Scottoline  Shelter Mountain, Robyn Carr Promise Canyon, Robyn Carr The Family Gathering, Robyn Carr Maze Witch, Shannon Mayer Started: 2/3 Cupcake Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 2/21 Earth and Sky Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wrap (weaving)  Works In Progress: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Dragon Scales handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing)  Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Seaside Dreams (quilting) Va...

...as I started to gather the February recap info, I realized that I hadn't done a January recap. Oops! Let's do that one first, shall we? Finished: 1/31 Baroque Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Books: How to Live an Undead Lie, Hailey Edwards Winter in Paradise, Elin Hilderbrand The Forgotten Hours, Katrin Schumann The Wanderer, Robyn Carr Midnight Sacrifice, Melinda Leigh The Rumor, Elin Hilderbrand The Wanderer, Robyn Carr The Hero, Robyn Carr The Chance, Robyn Carr The Promise, Robyn Carr The Homecoming, Robyn Carr One Wish, Robyn Carr Of Blood and Bones, Nora Roberts Started: 1/21 Dragon Scales handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Shimmering Advancing Point Twill Wrap (weaving)  Works In Progress: Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing)  Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Seaside Dreams (quilting) St. Charles (needlepoint) Va...

....and it's March! Wasn't Christmas just a couple of weeks ago? Things are starting to bloom in the garden. And some of them are being killed by the pouring rain that keeps happening. One of our cool new succulents bit the dust in the last week and others are drowning. The crocuses are surviving OK: and another view: And the pink hyacinths are happy: and another view: The echeveria derenbergii has set a flower cluster and they are opening one after the other: Up this weekend:  Work on my mother-in-law's quilt. I'd like to get it done because I have so many other things that are crying for attention (including our 17.5-year-old cat!). I don't think that I can finish the machine quilting this weekend. It's not hard to do, but wrestling with the quilt takes a lot out of my shoulders. I will swap off with the Dragon Scales handspun [ Ravelry ] that I'm in the middle of plying. I can feel the start-itis coming on...too many beaut...