Monthly Archives: February 2012

FNSI…not so much

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Well…the Friday Night Sew-In didn’t really happen here. I got roped into watching about a jillion episodes of Strawberry Shortcake with the Punk.  She was being especially clingy and wouldn’t let me move more than three inches away from her. Sick babies are no fun. I did try to knit a bit, but having a Punk on your lap makes knitting difficult.

In the end, I messed up the cowl I was working on, didn’t find the mistake until six rounds later, so I just frogged the whole damn mess and started over yesterday. My first couple of rows are curling though, so I may end up frogging again.

It has not been a productive week for me here at Chez Crazy. Even the stuff I have worked on has turned out all wrong. I think I’m just going to stop trying, work on cleaning the house, and forget about projects until everyone is totally better and I can work for more than two milliseconds without a project-borking interruption.

Curled Edge

The Cowl from Hell

See the curling? I am throwing a fit because I wasn’t paying close enough attention and did a project-borking stockinette stitch at the edge.  It’s most likely getting frogged. I need to decide soon…before I put any more time into it. If the cowl was for me, I’d probably just leave it as is, but it’s not, so I’m torn.

 

 

Swap box and Friday Night Sew-In

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Well, my partner (and new friend) for the Simply Notable “Make a Crafty New Friend” swap on Ravelry received her package today. I think I was just excited packaging everything up for her as she was to get it.

Swap Package

Lots of Goodies

There were a few skeins of Caron’s Spa yarn, an infinity scarf knit in Caron’s Spa in a taupe color, a set of four coasters made with Liz Scott’s Domestic Bliss for Moda, some crochet stitch markers I made when I couldn’t find any pretty ones to buy for her. She was hoping for bamboo crochet hooks, so I found some of those, a yarn/needle gauge, a few things for embroidery, the Doodle Stitching book (one of our favorites here), some note cards, a bag full of spiced pecans, and a dozen hand rolled truffles that I had a seriously hard time parting with despite being able to make more any time I feel like it.  She loved her package and I can finally stop being a bundle of nerves about it!

Now that that’s all wrapped up, I can start working on a couple other projects…perfect timing really, since tonight is this month’s Friday Night Sew-In hosted by Handmade by Heidi. There’s still time to sign up for tonight’s sew-in if you want to head over to Heidi’s and sign up. It’s fun, and you could win a prize for participating. And the rules…yeah, they’re super easy. Sign up, participate, and blog about it tomorrow. It’s that simple.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to be working on tonight. I want to work on something fun and for me…I had planned to make a blouse for myself tonight, but my material did not arrive in time. :( Sadness. Instead, I’ll either work on knitting one of about four scarves I owe people, a crocheted scarf, my February feathers FMQ challenge for Sew Cal Gal’s Free Motion Quilting Challenge, or maybe work on the blocks for the Craftsy BOM Course. I’m seriously behind on the Craftsy blocks because I’m not entirely certain I want to spend the time learning to make these blocks because I just don’t love them. I am probably going to attempt it anyway, because, as the ladies in my quilting club pointed out, even if they look horrible on their own, they may look really lovely once they’re all pieced together and you see the quilt top as a whole.

Anyway, feel free to pop over and sign up for the Craftsy BOM Course (free) or join in with the Friday Night Sew-In tonight.

I’ll be back tomorrow to update on what (if anything) I managed to accomplish this evening.

Have a fantastic weekend! :)

 

 

So much catching up to do

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I’m up late tonight trying to carve out a little peace for myself. I’ve had a busy day. You’d think cold, winter days would be a little slower than they have been lately. That just doesn’t happen here. Everyone gets sick at once with a flu that has them down with sore throats, runny noses, coughs, terrible headaches, and aches so bad they feel like they got steam rolled. Thankfully, I barely got a touch of whatever it is, but I’m still trying to get all my babies (including the biggest baby of them all–hubby) back to feeling 100%.

One of these days I’ll have a nice, slow, orderly life. And my laundry will be caught up. And pigs will fly.

Until then, I’ll just keep plugging along at the trillion and two projects I’ve got on my plate right now.

I finished up my swap package for the Simply Notable Crafty Friend Swap on Ravelry. It’s been so much fun getting to know my partner during the past month or so. I can’t wait till she receives her package because I’m dreadful at keeping gifts a secret. Once she receives her package, I’ll share pics of some of the goodies. :)

We bought a Kindle Fire this past week. Punky has been doing great (and even saying some new words) thanks to a couple of autism/non-verbal apps that are helping her learn to say new words. I’m thrilled about it. All the kids love  the Fire…and for half the price of the iPad, I can afford to get more than one if I really want.

Since we have this gorgeous new Kindle, of course, it needed a place to live during the few seconds someone isn’t using it.

I used a few squares from Hometown by Sweetwater (from the charm pack I won from Cherise at Sewingly Along), a little bit of Spring Buds in Mustard from the Echo line, and some linen look material from my stash. As a side note, NEVER think that quilting linen look material will turn out well or be an easy task. It won’t. It goes all wonky. Anyway, it turned out pretty well for winging it, plus it’s a cushy home to keep the Kindle from getting all scratched up.

Kindle Sleeve

Quilted Kindle Sleeve

 

Today I played chocolatier. I made some hand-rolled dark chocolate truffles. I coated some with white chocolate and rolled the others in cocoa powder (because that’s MY personal favorite). They were delicious. I had to try one  or two…fine, it was two and a half, but seriously, who is counting? 

Truffles

Dark chocolate truffles in cocoa powder

 

Truffles

Dark chocolate truffles with white chocolate shell

This ganache smells so delicious (especially when it’s warm from stirring in the cream) that I wish I could gulp down the entire bowl. It’s chocolate silk pie on crack.

 

Anyway, I’m about done in for the night. I’ll be back soon with some more fun projects…like the closet which is in the process of being turned into a mini sewing/craft room.  It’ll be a long-ish project that I work on as I feel like it, so don’t expect a totally grand finish until about 2020…or ever.