Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...been out of commission for a few days. Since my last post, my sore throat turned into a full-blown head cold. It's been pretty nasty. At least my COVID tests came out negative and I don't have to deal with that! I've been camped out in my bedroom or on the living room couch. Not a lot of crafts happened, but I did get my Stitches West homework done. Yay! The weather has been rainy on anf off. I managed to caprute this phot of the daffodils that are starting to bloom in our backyard. I'm not sure how blogging is going to go while I'm at Stitches West later in the week. It couldn't be any worse than normal!

 ...yes, it's been a while.  The remodel is kicking our @$$es and there hasn't been a lot of crafts time. This post is my attempt at trying to catch-up. I'm hoping that I can get back to regular posting (Ha!). So in not particular order, here's what happened in the last month. Master bathroom is complete and in use. Guest bathroom is complete and in use. My kitchen is done and mostly organized. Demo of the old floor in the living room and loft is complete.  Loft build-out is complete New flooring installed in our living room. Living room and loft painting is nearly completed.  Oh, and throw in a visit to mom in there! We're hoping that the living room and loft work by the remodeling company will be finished by the end of Friday. There is some window repair that is scheduled for the living room, which menas that we can't quite call the living room done yet. They still have to paint and replace the floors in the 3 bedro...

 ...I've been MIA while I had a longer-than-expected visit with my mother. As I've mentioned before, I don't get a lot of crafting done while I am with mom. This time, I did absolutely no crafts. The days were filled with continuing to whittle down ancient paperwork, getting her income taxes together for the tax preparer, taking mom to 4 (!) medical appointments, and just keeping her company. Mom's dementia continues to progress, so i need to repeat the same information several times. I'm glad I was there to give my Tia R. some relief. (She takes care of my mom when I'm not there.)  And while I was there, the plumbing in the laundry area decided to cause problems. I was able to clean up the overflow and get a plumber in before I left. Whew! I didn't take any photos. I didn't do anything directly for myself, except enjoy my mom's lucid times. They are getting fewer and fewer. Sigh...

 ...a little of this, a lot of that. Spinning is mostly on the back burner, but there is a little progress. I started spinning a pencil roving that has been in my stash forever. It's called Violets and it's pretty to look at. :) My attention is mostly focused on Lilith, my latest Mirabilia mermaid. I made a counting error in the tail fin and had to pull out a large section of stitches. I've restitched it, but I am a little worried that I might run our of the overdyed silk thread that the project uses. Time will tell. I'm working on stuff for mom in between craft projects. I've been successful some some items and the rest are progressing slowly.

 ...yeah, Monday posts don't seem to be happening yet. I'm still playing with the new camera. I'm not pleased with the way this one focuses (or doesn't focus) with low light. I'm still learning about it, though, so it could just be that I haven't set something correctly. I am putting the coffee quilt aside for now. I was not into machine quilting the coffee cup motifs. It simply wasn't enjoyable. Since I had already done the block and binding machine quilting, I went ahead and attached the binding. The quilt is on a time-out until I'm ready for those coffee cups again. I practiced a little free-motion quilting. I keep trying to do it, but it's not that enjoyable. However, getting a handle on it might make my machine quilting a little easier. I have prepped the sewing machine for the Day of the Dead quilt. It's more in line with what I want to work on right now. The Dreaming Frida cross stitch piece is coming along nicely. I'm really enjoying ...

 ...I've been a little stressed lately for assorted reasons.  I'm trying to get back to an even keel, but I'm letting a few things fall on the floor for now. I need to get back to taking photos, to walking, and to spending time looking up instead of inward. To that end, I treated myself to a new point-and-shoot camera for my birthday. As with all new cameras, I need a little practice finding how to use this one's features. It's a start.

 ...man, where does the time go? Today, I'm prepping for the arrival of a new refrigerator. While I loved our old fridge, I was starting to have issues. First, the water connector in the fridge developed a leak. A replacement part didn't fix it, so we haven't been able to use the ice maker for almost a year now. Next, one of the latches on the French doors broke, so it no longer latched properly. The door wouldn't be open enough to set off the fridge's alarm, but open enough where we lost some items in the door. The third strike, was last week. It started throwing error codes about the freezer fan. The fridge is working, but it was the last straw. We had been holding off buying a new one, figuring that we would buy new appliances when we remodel the kitchen down the road. Welp, we need it now. I made sure to pick one that would go with my vision of the new kitchen so we don't have to replace it again. I've been working steadily on the Beach Roses mini. I...

 ...and enjoying my alone time. Don't get me wrong, I love my Husband and enjoy being with him. It's just that when I'm on my own, I'm able to recharge my batteries without worrying that I'm ignoring him. I'm not totally alone because I have the cats. Yes, I'm one of those people who talks to their cats. LOL! Someone asked me whether I had any special plans for my days alone. My immediate answer was that I wanted to mop the floors and vacuum! Yes, I can do that when The Husband is home, but I get a certain amount of enjoyment from mopping the kitchen floor and having it stay clean for a few days. He does all of our gardening, so there is always a certain amount of dirt and leaves that follow him inside even though he takes his shoes off before coming in. I know, I'm weird. 😁 I haven't been spinning for a couple of months, so I decided to get back into it this week. Tour de Fleece is coming up at the end of the month...

 ...and the garden is thriving. I'm having trouble getting motivated to work on some of my long-standing projects. While I was at mom's, I was working on the cardigan and found an error that resulted in frogging about two inches of the collar. Sigh. As a result, I lost any motivation to work on it. I've been concentrating on Mermaid's Heart by Just Nan (cross stitch).  Because it's a smaller project, it's easy to see how much progress I've made. The tapestry is on hold until I decide whether to incorporate some recycled sari ribbon or only use handspun.   I really need to get back to spinning before Tour de Fleece rolls around!

...and I'm still on a high from Sunday's visit with The Daughter. We got to hug our daughter for the first time since February(?) of last year! We shared a meal and had a wonderful visit. I'm looking forward to getting to spending more time with her now hat we are all fully vaccinated. The Neil Diamond roses are slowly opening and they are beautiful. I've been working on the Deco Royale most days, except when my shoulders get too sore from wrestling the quilt through the sewing machine. When I'm not working on the quilt, I'm cycling through the Mermaid sampler, the Marionberry Shawl [ Ravelry ], and the Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ]. I haven't touched my tapestry project in several days. There's just not enough time in the day to do everything that I want.

 ...(not Tuesday as I previously listed...oops) and I'm in quilter heaven. I picked up my sewing machine on Saturday! Happy dance! I spent yesterday piecing the backing for 3 quilts, piecing some batting for the smallest quilt, and making binding for the mermaid quilt. A whole day at my sewing machine! Today, we'll move some furniture and I'll sandwich at least one of the quilts. I've been trying to knit a few rows on the Pure Comfort Cardigan [ Ravelry ] every day. I figure for the next couple of days or when the novelty of having my sewing machine wears off, I'll be working on quilts.

 ...just general randomness. The moon was full last night: The Husband and I are now fully immunized! Yesterday marked 2 weeks since we received our second COVID vaccinations. I'm looking forward to spending time with The Daughter!  I pressed the fabric for The Mermaid and the Sea. I then realized that I didn't have a set of scroll rods long enough for this piece. I ordered a longer set and am waiting for their delivery.  I finished the singles for the Earthen Hues handspun [ Ravelry ]. I may do the plying today just to get it finished.  I finally hit the center of the shawl collar for the Pure Comfort Cardigan [ Ravelry ]. Thank goodness! Hopefully, I'll have enough yarn to finish this collar. I started a tapestry piece. Using one of my reference books for guidance, I placed waste yarn and wove the header of the piece. I need to find a more comfortable position for the loom or my chair. It's very hard on the shoulders in my current set-up. ...

 ...a little of this and a little of that. I helped the Husband go through a bunch of stuff in our off-site storage unit. Some stuff was set-aside for donation and and some for disposal or recycle. In the middle of everything, I found two projects that I made several years ago before I started photographing completed items. I took photos before we placed them in the donation pile. This is the Tiger Kitten Latch Hook Rug: Specs: Completed: Mid-80s, best guess I made this for The Daughter's bedroom when she was in elementary school. I only made two latch hook rugs; this was the second. Another project was this Shells Pillow: Specs: Completed for Christmas 1984 Gift for my mother-in-law   I made 2 or 3 candlewicking projects and decided that I didn't enjoy that craft  as much as cross stitch and needlepoint. I've spent most of the week working on the Tucson Twilight needlepoint picture. I am so ready to be done with this project! Today...

 ...and I'm still bouncing from project to project. I started a new camel-silk top from Greenwood Fiber works. It's called Cappuccino [ Ravelry ]. I started a new quilt, using a coffee cup panel from Clothworks. (Yes, a second project around coffee!) I'm still plugging away on the collar of my cardigan. It's taking forever to knit this because it's a looooong collar and it's boring. The mermaid now has arms and a neck. I'm trying to stitch more of her hair before stitching her head. I received the 12th anniversary Phat Fiber sampler. I need to open it and photograph each component so I can post a collage. The Tucson Twilight needlepoint is looking good. I need finishing laying some long strands of metallic fiber before moving on to the next section of stitching. We're having a lot pf problems keeping Cassia and, to a lesser extent, Canela off of the counters. ...

...same stuff, different day. I'm still taking photos of sunrises. I'm still working on the mermaid and the sweater. I'm interspersing them with the Tucson Twilight needlepoint project and a couple of smaller cross stitch projects. I'm fighting start-itits. I want to start a tapestry project. And a new quilt. And...

 ...so many things in progress! I'm trying to pull together my year end recap. I'm having a little trouble settling on the best tool to use to combine 12 recaps into one big post. I think I used FrameMaker last year, which means firing up my Windows laptop. Guess I'll have to do that since my old version of Word isn't doing the job on my Mac Mini. I've managed to kick-start my rotation. So far this week, I've worked on the mermaid, the sweater, my needlepoint project, an old crewel project, and the By The Sea cross stitch sampler. One long-standing home project is fixing a broken drawer in my dresser. I finally fixed it this week. After fixing it, I went through everything stored in that dresser and got rid of items I no longer need. The cats continue to be challenging - their curiosity and relentlessness are amazing! They've been kicked out of my studio several times because they...

...after the holidays. We took our tree down this morning and took it to our storage unit. We did a quick rearrange of the furniture. We'll go with this arrangement for now just to get back into a something close to normal. I still need to wrap up the ornaments and other decorations. I'll work on them tonight while I watch TV. I finally gave into the urge to start something new. I began spinning Arizona-Seafoam, a BFL-Heathered top from Greenwood Fiberworks. It felt good to get back to spinning. I was happy to see a wonderful sunrise this morning before the rain started. Looking forward to more rain - we really need it!

 ...yeah, I'm behind in posting. It was hard getting into the spirit of things. Knowing that our Daughter was unable to visit was a serious bummer. However, we all agreed that it was for the best as we want to keep each other safe. We had a long FaceTime call with her, so that was good. We started our morning with coffee and holiday scones that I made from a King Arthur mix. We opened our gifts and watched the kittens play in the gift bags and tissue paper. Santa got them some catnip squirrels, which they thoroughly enjoyed. While the Husband went out for a walk, I read parts of the 2 new tapestry books he gave me. Im getting excited about warping my tapestry loom and trying some of the illustrated techniques. I'm working on both the mermaid and the sweater projects, both of which require a lot of time to finish. I'm trying hard not to start another small cross stitch projects, but I don't know if I'll be able to resist!

 ...and it will be a very different one. Because we are under a stay-at-home order, we won't be getting together with our family. We'll do FaceTime with our daughter and phone calls with other family members. Sigh. I'm keeping myself occupied with projects and will try to finish another cross stitch ornament by the end of the year. I walked to the post office this morning to mail my mom some cookies and to watch the Solstice sunrise. I love sunrises.

 ...that week went by fast! I totally forgot Eye Candy Friday. Oops!  I think I was just so happy to see clouds, blue sky, and the sun again after 10 days of smokey haze.   What I worked on this weekend: It's cool enough to work on my knitted cardigan project. I'm working on one of the sleeves I'm nearing the end of my secret project, but I need to do a little blocking before I can do the final step. I started a Halloween needleroll that has many more stitches than the small projects I've been working on. I hope to finish it in the next couple of days.  I started a new handspun. It's Autumn Flame [ Ravelry ], a Merino-Bamboo-Silk top from Greenwood Fiberworks.