Livin' La Needle Loca

...is finally finished! Specs: Completed 3/17/2025 Row 1: Dreaming Cleo, Underwater City, Witchy Dreams Row 2: Winged Dreams, Tulip Time mini; Pearl Orchid mini, Crystal Heart mini, Jasmine Mix, and Collector's Heart

 ...in which I celebrate my birthday a little early. First, a look at our garden path on a cloudy August morning. My birthday is coming up and I've been wanting to get a new sewing machine for a while. I love my Pfaff 7550, but it's getting kind of old. I bought it in 1997, exactly 27 years ago today. It is a great machine and used to interface with my Mac so I could design my own stitches. That capability went away within a few years. My biggest concern is that the computer is going to give out and there probably won't be any replacements for it. Pfaff was purchased by Singer and I doubt that they'll support a 1997 machine. My favorite Pfaff feature is the Integrated Dual Transportation (IDT)--built-in dual feed and I wanted to stick with Pfaff because of it. I found a dealer who could service my Pfaff and also sells Pfaffs. I had a couple of models in mind. I was a little disheartened when the dealer told me about the declining quality ...

...and I'm looking forward to a new year. This last year was very difficult. My mother's decline followed by her passing in July really impacted how I handled my day-to-day and reduced my attention to my crafts. In what's becoming an annual tradition, I tried blasting out one more project for the year. This is Mom's Turquoise Handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 12/31/2023 Falkland (4.1 oz) from the Yarn Wench in Navajo Turquoise Plied  with Rayon thread in Turquoise and 10/2 Mercerized cotton in Blue Turquoise beads from Mom’s collection 54.2 yds 3 ply, Super-Bulky weight Mom had a bunch of beads in her jewelry collection that were intended to be used in craft projects. I restrung them on thread and incorporated them into this art yarn. Also here are the additional projects that I completed as Christmas Gifts. This is Navy Bankhead Hat [ Ravelry ] that I made for The Husband: Specs: Started ...

 ...Happy May! I saw some cool pillow covers on a home furnishings site, but didn't want to pay $60 for the cover and pillow insert.  I bought some velvet upholstery fabric that was on sale at Joann plus an invisible zipper. I had one remaining pillow insert from an Amazon order, and I had some cream canvas fabric in my stash that I've have for about 10 years.  It took me a bit to figure out how to get the pillow front the same size as the the back. The invisible zipper was still a pain to install, but it was the right zipper to use with the orange velvet. The pillow is a little smaller than I wanted because the velvet had no give. At any rate, I like the way it turned out! And it cost me less than $19.00 for the whole thing. Specs: Cream and orange pillow Started 4/29/2023 Finished 4/30/2023 Based on a pillow cover seen at West Elm Cream canvas fabric from stash Orange velvet upholstery fabric  I've been working on a simple cardi...

 ....it's been a while. Sigh. I just never get to any craft stuff when I'm at my mom's. There are just too many things to do while I'm there. Before I left, I made a quick pin cushion. I wanted a pin cushion that I could use to separate different sizes of needles. I saw a couple of videos about the process of sewing a pin cushion with separations. I pulled some scraps from my stash and some pearl cotton. This was easy and fast to make and gives me the separation that I needed: Specs: Polka Dot Pin Cushion Started and finished 1/16/2022 No pattern I also assembled the Pocket Pet - cat (knitting) [ Ravelry ]. It's supposed to be a cat, but it doesn't look like one. Hmmm. No photos yet. I also started the next Mirabilia mermaid, Lilith of Labrador. This represents about 3 hours of work: WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Bankhead Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still working on the body. Lilith of Labrado...

 ...(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.

...I'm just amazed that I even know what day it is. In honor of getting my second Moderna shot today, I made two new masks for myself. Specs: Completed 3/14/2021 Pattern: Crisis Mask Cover distributed by Masks Now I got my shot this morning and I'm waiting to see what kind of side-effects show up. The Husband gets his shot this afternoon. We'll be very relieved to get that done. Now if I could only convince my mother to get one!

...and an F.O. After finishing the advent calendar ornament conversion, I decided that the calendar needed a sheep ornament.  Specs: Started and finished 12/7/2020 Beads and sequins applied to white felt; stuffed with fiberfill WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Illusion hexagons [ Ravelry ] Finished another hexagon. Picked the next colors Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the 3rd increase set, about 6.5 inches long Christmas ABC's ornament 2011 (cross stitch) Started 12/3/2020 Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: By the Sea needle roll (cross stitch) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Malachite (needlepoint)  Marionberry Shawl [ Ravelry] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) Waiting for Finishing: Deco Royale (quilting) Earth's Delight ornament (cross stitch) Finishing work ...

...not what I expected to finish, but I'm happy nonetheless. I finished converting my old Christmas beaded motifs into Advent Calendar ornaments. Specs: Beaded motifs mid-70s. Finished 12/5/2020 Backed with felt and stuffed with fiberfill I'm working away on another Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament and trying to compile a wish list so the Husband knows what to order for my gift. I'm [im]patiently waiting for the Daughter to tell me what she wants. Christmas is going to be so weird this year. We won't be able to share our Christmas Even cioppino dinner with the Daughter or open gifts with her on Christmas day. It certainly wont be the first Christmas without her as she was in Costa Rica one year and there might have been at least one other Christmas we might have missed.  I feel blessed that we've been with her for 40-ish Christmases, so I'm not complaining too much.

 ...and I have a couple of things to show. Earlier in the month, the Daughter requested that I create some masks for her Elf on the Shelf elves. She does a series of elf postings in her Instagram and Facebook accounts. Suffice it to say that she needed masks for her elves. I had an elf to use as a model, so... Specs: Started 11/11/2020 Finished 11/12/2020 Custom masks for Flexi Lexi and Logi the Yogi I had a lot of fun making these! I also made Christmas stockings for the kittens. We have always hung stockings for our cats, but usually they are store-bought. Because the Daughter's handwriting is better than mine, I have her write the cat's name on the stocking in glitter paint. This year, since we're not sure when we'll be able to get together with her, I decided to make the stockings myself. I took one of the commercial stockings and traced it. I pulled some felt out of the stash and sewed the stockings. I printed their names in ...

...I woke up with a headache. I decided to take a walk anyway, hoping that being outside would help the headache. While I loved the walk, the headache persists. 3 hours later and It still lingers. Today's mission is to finish the latest batch of masks. I want to mail them tomorrow. This batch is in two sizes because I don't know which size will fit the recipient best. I'm going to request that they donate the masks that don't fit to someone who could use them.  I'm continuing to work on the mermaid - I'm now rounding the curve on her tail. I'm swapping her out with the weaving in process, as I'd like to get that off the loom so I can work on something else. I'm not reading as much right now. I've been working on a complex 1000-piece puzzle in the evenings and my eyes are too tired to read before going to sleep! .

...a Tour de Fleece finish and some in progress. Tour de Fleece, 7/7: I spun Herbal [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Herbal handspun Started and finished 7/7/2020 Falkland (4.2 oz.) from The Yarn Wench Plied with an unidentified tape yarn in my stash 37.5 yds., Super bulky weight  = I haven't  spent a lot of time of many of my other WIPs, but I have been on a Halloween scissor fob, Ghosts Gather: I've spent a little time on the Day of the Dead quilt and I've made myself some more masks using a breathable mask pattern. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Day of the Dead quilt (quilting) Cut out additional feature fabric squares. Ghosts Gather Scissor Fob Working on the back of the fob. Breathable face masks 5th mask in progress Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: By the Sea need...

...I started this post yesterday on my iPad and couldn't finish it because it was too big a pain to link to my Flickr photos. Here are the photos of my finishing work. These items are all by Shepherd’s Bush. As Bethlehem Slept 2005 Christmas ornament Specs: Started 8/10/19 Finished 8/18/19 Assembled 6/11/2020 Pattern: Shepherd's Bush from the 2005 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue Love (Valentine) scissor fob Specs: Started 7/2004 Finished 6/1/14 Assembled 6/11/2020 Love scissor fob kit by Shepherd's Bush; Modifications: did not like the cutesie people in the original design; replaced with extra hearts. Violet pin cushion It started out as a needle roll, but I hated the fabric in the kit, so I made it into a pin cushion. Specs: Started 2/1/2007 Finished 6/9/2020 Assembled 6/11/2020 Needleroll kit from Shepherd’s Bush; hated it and decided to make it into a pin cushion Bee Joyful scissor fob Specs: Started ...

...with photos of the latest finished objects. I finished the Jamaica handspun [ Ravelry ] and the close-up: Specs: Started 4/27/2020 Finished 5/7/2020 Falkland (4.2 oz.) from the Yarn Wench 154.2 yds., 11 WPI This is the Black Grape handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 5/2/2020 Finished 5/8/2020 Falkland (4.0 oz.) from the Yarn Wench 118.75 yds., 8 WPI I also sewed more masks on Saturday 5/9/2020: I also finished the front side of the Bee Joyful scissor fob and baked a loaf of bread. On Sunday, The Daughter came over for Mother's Day. She drew this on our driveway and gave me a bouquet of flowers. We did the appropriate physical distancing and wore masks. I really miss hugging her! .

...it feels good to finish something! First the eye candy. Our Meyer lemon tree has lots of fruit and is busily setting blossoms for the next batch of fruit. Our climbing vines are blooming. This is plumbago: Bower vine: and lavender trumpet vine. More tulips have bloomed, too: Here's the Mermaid handspun  [ Ravelry ] that I finished earlier in the week. and the close-up: Specs: Started 4/9/2020 Completed 4/22/2020 BFL-Silk (4.7 oz.) by Wonderland Dyeworks 252 yds. 2-ply; 11 WPI I finished the Ocean Waves handspun [ Ravelry ] today. and the close-up: Specs: Started 4/2/2020 Completed 4/24/2020 Wool (225 grams) by Northern Lights 152.5 yds. chain-ply, 8 WPI I also finished the last batch of masks. I'm now out of elastic, so any other masks that I make will be with ties. I hope I don't need to make more any time soon - I'd rather work on my own stuff. .

...and it's been quite a month. I finished the Scarab handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 3/17/2020 Finished 3/27/2020 Falkland (4.1 oz) from the Yarn Wench 185.4 yds. chain-plied with beads, 10 WPI I started a new weaving project yesterday. I'm calling it Milky Way [ Ravelry ]. It uses the Destination Yarn Space collection minis and yarn that I bought at this year's Stitches West. I also went through my stash and found some complimentary sparkle yarns to use in the warp. I spent some time trying to sew a mask using a pattern from Masks Now and ran into a problem with the instructions. The pattern is for a mask that covers an existing N95 mask.  It took me a while to figure out that there were a couple of steps missing. Now I need to go back and try again to sew the mask. It was frustrating. At least I was making a mask for myself as a way to try out the pattern. I baked another loaf of sourdough bread, this one with olives. It was a...