Livin' La Needle Loca

...and The Husband is back from his travels, so I guess vacation-time is officially over! Not much happening in the garden. There are lots of green tomatoes and ripening chile peppers. One of last year's dahlias decided to bloom again this year: Sorry, that's all I have photo-wise. With all the Tour de Fleece photos and updates I had to do, I'm sort of tired of taking photos. Hopefully that will pass quickly! Up this weekend: The Husband and I need to do a few things in my bathroom. The Husband left for vacation the day after the plumber fixed my shower and we need to take care of some leftover screws and patch some holes. I temporarily covered the holes and screws so no water would get behind the tiles, but it needs a more permanent solution. I also want to get a new shower head - we just put the old one back on so I had a functioning shower. On Sunday, I am going to the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles to hear Luana Rubin speak. She is fabric designer an...

...and it's back to work for me. And now that I'm back, my craft time at home is limited mostly to weekends again. The lighting at night isn't quite good enough for cross stitching the mermaid in the evenings. I try to work on some of my other projects, but I've been known to fall asleep in the middle of knitting a row! The quilt is coming along. I haven't cut the sashing pieces yet, but I have cut out more feature fabrics. Here's a quick look at them: As for the mermaid, I am working on the metallic sections of her upper tail and back fin. The metallic is slow stitching and a little frustrating because it's so thick. I've double-checked to make sure that I'm using the thickness called for by the pattern and the right fabric thread-count. It's just a P.I.T.A. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Tour de Fleece Spinning - done! Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Cut out a few more squares; purchased some appliques and buttons to use on ...

... and my Craftcation. Tour de Fleece, Day 21 Craftcation Day 7: Finished spinning Estrella [ Ravelry ]: and the close up: Specs: Started 7/20/17 Finished 7/21/17 Estrella Falkland (4.1 oz) and Estrella Firestar #5203 (2 oz), both from The Yarn Wench 81.9 yds.,  2-ply auto-plied with teal rayon thread, super bulky Tour de Fleece Days 20 and 21 Tour de Fleece, Day 22 Craftcation Day 8: I did a little shopping at Target, replacing the blender that died during my smoothy a few days earlier. Then I spun Rio Carnival [ Ravelry ]. I used a Falkland from The Yarn Wench in Flowerchild and plied it with Luna in Silver-Multi from Trendsetter Yarns. and the close up: Specs: Started and finished 7/22/17 Falkland (3.9 oz) in Flowerchild 1 from The Yarn Wench Plied with Luna (trendsetter yarns) in Silver Multi 80.1 yds, super bulky Tour de Fleece, Day 23 - Last Day Craftcation Day 9: My knees were giving me little trouble...22 days of spinning can do t...

...and a Tour de Fleece update. First, the eye candy. The sweet pea bush in our front yard is continuing to bloom: The tomatoes in the backyard are ripening: and the plumbago is peeking out through the tomato vines. Tour de Fleece, Day 19 Craftcation Day 5: The vacuum monster and I attacked the studio. We tamed the fiber bunnies that were gathering around the spinning wheel and found the rugs again! I spun Inner Fire [ Ravelry ], a Wild Card Bling Batt from the Yarn Wench: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/19/17 Wild Card Bling Batt (3.5 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 41 yards, plied with Ritratto Yarn in color 63; Super Bulky Tour de Fleece Day 19 Tour de Fleece, Day 20 Craftcation Day 6: I started the day with a wonderful yoga class, followed by a nonfat latte from Starbucks. I registered for a cast-ons and bind-offs class at Stitches West (Feb. 2018). I'm little bummed that they are not doing the opening day and teacher's lunche...

...and Tour de Fleece update. Tour de Fleece, Day 17 Craftcation Day 3: Today's cleaning chore was vacuuming the living room and straightening up. Then I was able to concentrate on the fun stuff! Technically, it was a rest day, but I went ahead and finished spinning the singles for Ember Indigo Silk. Then I moved on to the mermaid cross stitch. When I write it out it doesn't sound like much, but it filled my day! Tour de Fleece, Day 18 Craftcation Day 4: Before I went on vacation, I had ordered some fabric for my quilt. I expected it to arrive before my vacation, so I sent it to the office. Of course, it came after. Since I wanted to use it for the quilt, I dropped by the office to pick it up and then went to the grocery store to get more fruit. I spent the day plying Ember Indigo Silk [ Ravelry ]: and the close up: Specs: Started 7/15/17 Finished 7/18/17 Merino-Silk (3.8 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 236.4 yds., 14 WPI Tour de Fleece Days 15 through 18...

...and an overall update. Let's take this by Tour de Fleece days. Tour de Fleece, Day 12: Finished spinning the singles for Tidal [ Ravelry ]. Tour de Fleece, Day 13: Because my time was limited, I spun an art yarn using a Wild Card Bling Batt (4.1 oz.) from The Yarn Wench. I plied it with two threads, one gold and one copper. This is Kraken [Ravelry]: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/13/17 Wild Card Bling Batt (3.5 oz) from the Yarn Wench 57.7 yds plied with gold and copper metallic threads; Bulky Tour de Fleece, Day 14: Day 14 was also our last day of work before vacation. The Husband was leaving early Saturday morning, while I was going to start my Craftcation (AKA Staycation). However, my shower faucet decided to give up the ghost - it would not turn off! I had to shut off the water to the house to avoid wasting gallons of water. The Husband called a plumber and spent the day at home while the plumber fixed things. Not what The Husba...

...and the Tour de Fleece report. Tour de Fleece, Day 10: I took the rest day...I really needed it! Tour de Fleece, Day 11: I started spinning Tidal [ Ravelry ], another Falkland from The Yarn Wench. (Yes, I have a LOT of Falkland from The Yarn Wench. I haven't made a dent in it yet!) I'm going to finish as much of the singles as I can tonight so I can ply on Thursday. It will be pushing it, though - it's 4.2 ounces of fiber, which is a little more than normal. Worked On: Tour de Fleece Spinning, various Took a rest day Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Still working on the mid-section of  the tail Spring 9-Patch (cross stitch) Finished all of row 2, square 3; worked on row 3, square 2 Works In Progress, Did Not Work On: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting)  Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)  Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Phat Fiber box, In...