Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...wow that week went by fast! I finished one small thing in since my last post. This is a Felt Llama, made from a kit that I purchased at Stitches West 2023. Specs: Started 6/5/2023 Finished 6/25/2023 Kit by Corinne Lapierre In elapsed time, it didn't take very long to complete. I could have finished it in one day, but I was working on other things in between. The Mermaids of the Deep Blue Sea cross stitch is coming along nicely. I have one more tail section to complete and then it will be time to work on the top part of the design. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Mermaids of the Deep Blue Sea (cross stitch) Finished one mermaid's tail; working on the other tail. Mid Century Deco quilt (quilting) Made some adjustments on how the metallic thread feeds into the sewing machine that reduced the number of times that the thread was breaking. Still had a few breaks, but easier to deal with. I finished the all the square s...

 ...hello, Summer! For Father's Day, The Husband and I took a field trip to Annie's Annuals ( https://www.anniesannuals.com/ ). I use their website a lot when I'm trying to identify plants and many of the things we buy at garden centers come from them.  I've been wanting to see it in person for a while and The Husband wanted to go again. We bought a bunch of new flowers for the garden. Afterwards, we went to The Daughter's for a Father's Day lunch. It was a perfect day! We now have Hot Raspberry buddleja Zebrina mallow Cafe au Lait dahlia Zion Copper Amethyst osteospermum and Arroyo Lupines.

 ...more crafting this week than last. I spent the majority of the week working on the mermaids.  I also started machine quilting the Mid Century Deco quilt. It's a little frustrating because the metallic thread I'm using in the silver portion of the block keeps breaking. It made me decide not to use metallic thread in the rest of the block because it would drive me crazy. No photos of it yet. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Mermaids of the Deep Blue Sea (cross stitch) Working on both mermaid tails. Mid Century Deco quilt (quilting) Started machine quilting No Work This Week: Illusion hexagons (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   Jellies Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Ocean Ripples Wrap (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Singularity Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   Sky Lanterns Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Valley of the Heart'...

 ...and the garden is wonderful! We have marigolds Blanket flowers Veronica Violas and the cilantro is flowering, too.

 ...so many things in progress, but not much traction. One of the things that I'm working on sporadically are Jellies socks [ Ravelry ]: Typically, I knit two socks at a time on two circulars. I'm finding these socks difficult to knit that way because of the three yarn-overs in the pattern fall at the division between the circulars. I'm trying to adjust things to avoid this, but I haven't been successful yet. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Jellies Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the second pattern repeat; had to move each sock to its own set of needles. Mermaids of the Deep Blue Sea (cross stitch) Working on both mermaid tails. No Work This Week: Illusion hexagons (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Mid Century Deco quilt (quilting) Ocean Ripples Wrap (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Singularity Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   Sky Lan...

 ...hooray!  I finished Good Day Sunshine yesterday. Specs: Started 1/30/2023 Top finished 2/11/2023 Completed 6/11/2023 Sun & Sea fabric line, designed by David Galchutt for QT Fabrics; Season of the Sun fabric line, designed by David Galchutt for Benartex There are some chalk marks that are not coming out by the usual means. I'll probably have to wash them out. That will be for another day.

 ... I've finished the machine quilting for Good Day Sunshine. I'm burying the threads before I bind the quilt.  Once I'm finished with this quilt, I can start machine quilting Mid Century Deco. In the meantime, I've donbe a little work on Mermaids of the Deep Blue and on the Jellies socks. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Good Day Sunshine quilt (quilting) Machine quilting complete; burying threads Jellies Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Started the second pattern repeat. I'm having trouble knitting two at a time on two circulars because of the yarn overs. They are at the end of a pattern repeat and always end up at the break between needles. Not the best place to happen. Mermaids of the Deep Blue Sea (cross stitch) Working on the tail section on the second mermaid. No Work This Week: Illusion hexagons (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Mid Cent...

 ...the two visits to mom this month severely impacted my craft time. I'm trying to stay on top of the recap, at least. Finished: 5/1 Pillow Embellishment (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 5/12 Mid Century Modern Painted Coasters (painting) Books: Targeted, Kendra Elliot Golden Hills, Jennifer Weiner The 23rd Midnight, James Patterson Witch’s Sorrow, Taylor Ashton White Hidden, Kendra Elliot Chilled, Kendra Elliot Buried, Kendra Elliot Alone, Kendra Elliot Known, Kendra Elliot Druids Storm, Taylor Ashton White Rogues Mercy, Taylor Ashton White Elemental's Curse, Taylor Ashton White Started: 5/1 Pillow Embellishment (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 5/3 Jellies Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 5/9 Mid Century Modern Painted Coasters (painting) Works In Progress: Good Day Sunshine quilt (quilting) Illusion hexagons (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Jellies Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Look Through My Wi...

 ...and a lot of catch up. Mom had an episode that required me to make an emergency visit. As a result, everything got sidelined for a few days. She's OK and I'm home now. I've been a little busy taking care of things remotely, which takes up about half of my time. Sigh. Our garden is recovering nicely. We have evening primroses Hen and chicks: Baby nectarines: and a new rose, a Marc Chagall: As part of my catch-up, here's the current WIP in progress: and the WIP roll call. I hope things stay settled for a bit so I can make progress on other projects as well. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Good Day Sunshine quilt (quilting) Machine quilting of center panel nearly complete; burying threads No Work This Week: Illusion hexagons (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Jellies Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Mermaids of the Deep Blue Sea (cross stitch) Mid Century Deco quilt (qu...