Design Challenge

Judy recently issued a design challenge. I had such fun playing with the Arkansas Crossroads block!

I started with blue, my favorite color:

I decided to try an offcenter design, soemthing a little different:

Then, I rotated the blocks and came up with tic-tact-toe. Since it also looks like hugs-n-kisses (XOXO) I changed the color scheme to pink:Finally, I decided to play with a scrappy color scheme. I put the blocks on point and added a piano key border. There is a thin inner border so the main design "floats."

I love how the variations emerge when you rotate the blocks. It's like the many layouts of log cabins, such fun to play with! You lose some of that with sashing, which is why none of these designs use sashing.

Primary SOCKtoberfest Project

I bought this SOCKtoberfest yarn from Scout last year, and I finally cast on with it! I am using plain black for the heels and toes. I decided on plain stockinette stitches because A) it's faster, so they might be done in time for Halloween, and 2) I want to enjoy the colors in the yarn! So far, it's knitting up with small varigation, not really even enough to call stripes.

And, it started as a true MONSTER project, perfect for Halloween! Totally my fault, because I was rushing to get the skein wound into balls before we left for church yesterday morning. B was busy with Baby K, and it turned into a nasty tangle. I fought with it for a bit, then decided to do the dasterdly deed and cut off the first cake. Then I realized a stray loop got caught around the base of my yarn winder. *&%#$!!!! I had to cut that too. Then I started over. hahahaha. It was even MORE of a tangled mess! It took me 3 HOURS yesterday afternoon to hand-wind and untangle the yarn. But, now I'm on my way with simple knitting.

Here's the little angel, fresh from her first solid night's sleep. Yes, we were over-indulgent parents and got up at 2am every night to feed her - until 3 days ago, when I finally put my foot down. I told B. he was NOT ALLOWED to get out of bed no matter what. The first two nights I had to sit with her for a while when she woke up and cried, but last night she slept for 8 hours uninterrupted. YAY!

1st SOCKtoberfest Finish

Presenting my Firebirds...

They were the June installment of the Rockin Sock Club. I added the picot edge, and my new Sketchers shoes, which I bought especially to show off handknit socks. They do rather well, don't ya think?

Next up...Socktoberfest yarn!!!

Into the black hole

I got my Ravelry invitation! I am "andimc13" if you want to add me as a friend. I joined the Arizona Knitters and Socks that Rawk groups so far.

For the non-knitters out there, Ravelry is a brilliant online community database site, where I can upload photos and details of my yarn stash, works-in-progress, UFOs, needles, books, etc. Projects are cross-referenced by pattern and yarn, so you can get inspiration for that yarn you love but have no idea what to use it for, and see how patterns are working up for all the other knitters in the universe. Basically, it's a "myspace" for knitters!

For the quilters, it seems like Ricky Tims is trying to create a similar community with his Quilt Show forum. Has anyone joined? I thought about subscribing to the online broadcast, but haven't had time so far. Please let me know if you have watched and what you think of it.

Piecing Playtime

I finished my whitework quilt - woo-hoo! The binding is attached and just needs to be stitched down. Next up is a customer quilt that has a deadline of October 23rd...luckily there are some school holidays coming up when Baby K will be at daycare. Since I'm paying for the time, she can go play and I'll quilt for a few hours.

Before I put my little machine away for a while, I decided to piece a few blocks. I was exploring Bonnie's free patterns a while back, and the Boxy Stars caught my eye. They go together very quickly with 2.5 inch strips.

I didn't sew the blue block together, because I think I'd rather have all the sections use different fabric. I will be controlling the color combos, though...I have a hard time with totally scrappy designs.

It's SOCKtober!

Here sits Solstice Slip #2, my first goal for the month of SOCKtober:

I measured SS#1, and I really got tired fast, LOL - only 3.25 inches of the leg before I start the picot edge!

I actually got a halfway decent picture of the whitework quilt I'm working on. This is the center medallion design. There are radiating lines and more feathers for an outer border. A little more stippling and then it gets a rinse to erase the blue marker.

Fianlly, here is Baby K, enthralled with a leftover beach toy. I think the original intent was to shape sand castles, but she likes putting Legos in it and basically carrying it around. She can get up in her rocker all by herself, then she looks over and grins when I tell her to sit in the chair properly. Typical mom fear of her tumbling over and getting a nasty bump!

In review

Well, I think that I am finally back to normal after being sick for most of September! It took 2 rounds of antibiotics to kick the bug that Baby K brought home from daycare.

Regular photos don't show her off anymore...at 13 months she babbles all the time and is hardly ever still! Grandpa taught her to High-Five, and she does a full-face blink when you wink at her. Time to get a videocamera - suggestions welcome!

The second picture is the little mower toy that she pushes around. She needs a little more confidence before she takes off on her own. Mom and Dad think that is just fine...we know that she will be getting into everything even more when she starts walking!

Fiber update...I have been quilting a bit, but it's not photogenic. Whitework! Our longarm guild challenge this year is wholecloth. I took a class from Karen McTavish last March, and I started quilting it last week. My tension is off a bit on the back, which is a bummer, but I will enter it in the challenge anyway. At this point, the goal is to get it done!

Socks...I just turned the heel on the second Solstice Slip sock that I started in July. It took three tries before I finally measured the foot and got it the right length. I blame the sinus infection. I have big plans for Socktoberfest...stay tuned!

And now I will weigh in on the hot water-cooler topic...the new TV season!

Monday - "How I met your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men" Start the week off with a laugh. These are consistently funny, clever shows.

Tuesday - movie night. I haven't gotten into anything on Tuesdays, which is fine because my quilt group meets that night.

Wednesday - thank goodness for DVRs! I have choir practice, so I tape "Kid Nation," "Private Practice," and "Dirty Sexy Money." Kid Nation is better than I expected. I was hoping to find some application for my high school government class, but so far, it's just a typical reality/challenge show. Private Practice looks like it brings the same good drama from Grey's Anatomy to a new setting. Dirty Sexy Money fulfills the promise of the ads...over the top characters in a soap opera. I think it has potential!

Thursday - "Survivor: China" and "Grey's Anatomy." I'm late to the Survivor party...this is the first time I've watched more than 5 minutes of it! I can't believe how physical they get in the challenges. I'm not a big fan of the mud-wrestling, but it's fun to watch people try to build a functional team in the early stages of the game. Do I really even need to comment on Grey's??? Some interesting storylines...but saving a deer? Hello, call a vet!

Friday/Saturday - time to catch up on all the shows I taped during the week :-)

Sunday...looking forward to Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters! What have you been watching?

Saturday Sewing

Baby K has been taking nice long naps in the middle of the day...part of the daycare routine. It allows me to get some sewing done on the weekends, what a treat!

Does that even look comfortable?!? I love her little feet!

I was able to make three blocks for my guild's December raffle. A small group picks the fabric and pattern for everyone, then all the blocks are raffled off at the December Holiday Party. I wasn't thrilled with the pattern at first, but it is growing on me. The colors are great!

We have a built-in entertainment center around the fireplace. When Baby K started crawling, we got tired real quick of trying to keep her out of the DVDs and magazines in the cubbies. Now she has a little play space:

Deadlines

Baby K can play the recorder!

We have a longarm guild meeting next Saturday, and the charity quilt coordinator reminded us to bring quilts for a senior center that we support. I finished this "hugs and kisses" quilt last year, and it's been waiting for a binding.

I decided to do the whole thing by machine since I don't have time this week to hand stitch. So, I sewed the bingding to the back of the quilt with a straight stitch, then folded it over and used a zig-zag stitch on the front just inside the edge. Kind of fun, but my hands got really tired trying to push the quilt through the machine and keep the edge folded over properly!

You can see the difference...the backing is the green side.

I am thrilled that the Phoenix Mercury are in the WNBA Finals...game 3 of 5 is on Tuesday. We had a huge win on the road this weekend, and I'm looking for great things from these gals!!

Hospital Knitting

Last Friday, I was in the mood for some basic knitting. Little did I know this project would be perfect for the hospital waiting room! I started with a seed-stitch border, and the center design will be a four-patch of stockinette. You can see in the middle where I change from knits to purls. I'm aiming for about a 24" square baby blanket...we'll see if I have enough yarn! This is left over from the log cabin blanket I finished last fall. Since there is no real plan, if I run out of yarn the alternative is to rip it out and do something multi-colored.

I took my Rockin Socks along. I am almost to the heel of sock #2.

The sock was a big hit with the little girls who came to visit my brother's roommate. One of them was practically in my lap watching me knit! She even asked if I would make her some - oh my. I kindly explained that it would take too long. ;-)

And I came home to a new Rockin Sock kit:
The color is "Flower Power." This month the theme is "Summer of Love" - a throwback to 1967 hippies. Personally, I think of more yellow and orange with the turquoise and purple of that era, but whatever...the 2007 yarn is gorgeous!

Not really a vacation

I've spent the last two days at United Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota.

My brother was in this bike race (logo actually says "Grow a spine"):

when he crashed into a tree and broke his neck. Now, don't panic, that phrase brings to mind a horrible image, and in reality, he's doing fine. He had surgery to replace a disk and insert a plate to hold everything together, and he's sporting a fancy neck brace that will be his new fashion accessory for the next six weeks. His wife and I joked about knitting him a lacy collar to accessorize!

A few years ago, my husband was in a bad motorcycle accident, crushed his left knee, and spent 10 days in the hospital. I knew my sister-in-law would need some company so I flew up to sit in the hospital with her since my parents were out of town. Despite the surroundings, we had a nice visit and I got some knitting done! Photos will follow soon. Plus, I came home to the latest Rockin Sock Club package, yippee!

I'll end with this happy face:

Waiting...

Does this look like a sick child to you?


I didn't think so. But, she was running a low fever - just over the acceptable limit for daycare, so I got an unexpected day off on Monday. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I got to the parking lot and my car was dead. What's next?!?

Good news, though. My first Solstice Slip sock is done. It's the Firebird colorway for the Rockin Sock Club. Pooling on the foot: Side view...
And a detail shot of the pattern and my first-ever picot bind-off!

I kept the sock a little short because I got bored. Sad, huh? It's beautiful yarn and I think the picot edge is a fun detail. Maybe I need a basic pair of socks when I have such wonderful colors! I'm thinking of knitting a sundress for Baby K in this yarn too. I know I've said before that it reminds me of a summer popsicle!

Surprise - Fiber Content!

I have become a night-owl quilter. I went to the monthly Quilt In at Cotton Fields, which is the first time I've done any piecing since Quilt Camp in July! Quilt In is a marathon night of sewing, from 6pm to midnight. I got the rows put together and the final borders on Aurora Aura, which I started in a class with Karla Alexander.

I don't have backing for it, so it will languish in my longarm UFO pile for the near future.

I got to do some shopping with other people's money...of course that means that I don't get to keep any of it, oh darn! I chose some fabric from the "Urban Garden" line from Free Spirit to donate as a door prize for our state guild's fall meeting. My local chapter paid for it, I just did the shopping!

School is back in session. My husband teaches in the afternoon/evening, so my free time is taken up with Baby K. It seems like too much of a chore to drag out the sewing machine for an hour after she goes to bed, but I may go into withdrawal if I wait another month to do more quilting.

Last of the bunnies

Baby K is sooooo big! She turned one year old yesterday!

Excuse the vacant stare, the TV was on while I took the last bunch of bunny pictures.

Grandma hosted the birthday party...

Grandpa bought her a pony...

And she really enjoyed the cake!

What a cute kid!

Baby K is learning to blow kisses!

We stayed home this morning since the daycare center called me yesterday afternoon - she was running a fever and had become quite a snot factory. A few doses of baby Tylenol and a good night's sleep and all is well. I want her to be fresh and cheerful for her birthday party tomorrow, so we'll have another nap this morning then she'll go to Grandma's house for a bit while I go to school and make a few more copies of first day activities. One of my fellow teacher/moms reminded me to have a well-stocked emergency folder for future sick calls!

Baby K likes to climb. Here she is INSIDE her toy box.

TGIF and Happy back-to-school season!

Sticking to the schedule

Here is Baby K in her "big girl" forward-facing car seat. We hung the rings and a stuffed pig from the handle above the window and she obviously entertains herself.

I went ahead and took her to daycare today and came right back home to quilt. I wanted to get this charity quilt done for my guild meeting tonight:

The fabric is a toile-type print. I think my blue thread was too dark, but that's the lightest shade I had. And I didn't want to spend alot of time ripping out the squares I had done to see what cream would look like! More second guessing...maybe a more traditional pattern, such as a formal feather wreath, would have been better. Oh well, it's done now!

Here's a detail picture of my spiral flower:

Tomorrow the whole family has to get up and out of the house by 7am. Yikes! Luckily the diaper bag doesn't have to be quite as full when you're going to daycare...they supply diapers and food, so I just pack her teddy bear and a change of clothes.

B. is discovering the wonderful world of teaching...it's his first year, they want a complete syllabus, pre-test and lesson plans, and they've kept him busy with five straight days of meetings, plus a Saturday open house/BBQ at school. I've been very lucky with my school, the department is cohesive and I rarely have to make things up from scratch. For instance, I mentioned the changes to my curriculum...I'll get together with the other teachers for that course and we will "divide and conquer" to make the necessary changes to the unit plans and worksheets that we all use.

BTW, we get alot of comments that it is really early to go back to school. My response - I'd rather use the school's air conditioning than my own! Plus, we're done before Memorial Day in May, so it works out the same.

First Day Jitters

for Mommy, not Baby K! She enjoyed daycare as much as we thought she would, given her extroverted personality. What a little charmer.

She was tired when she got home, since she didn't take at nap. Too busy playing!

And in knitting news, I got bored with my socks and returned to plain garter stitch...

This is the last panel for my striped vest. I am about 30 rows from the end, then I can get busy seaming. I knit the ends in as I went along, so that is one less obstacle to a finished object :-)

Last Friday of Freedom

The Phoenix Mercury are #1 in the Western Conference! Woo-Hoo! It's been about 7 years since we've been in the playoffs and I'm looking forward to basketball in September. Way to go ladies!! This photo shows our starting line up, (from left) Diana Turasi, Penny Taylor and Cappie Pondexter. Here is Baby K with an early birthday present. We're trying to encourage the musical abilities, but so far she mainly uses the mallet as a chew toy!

I have a quilting dilemma. My local guild does a round robin for charity, and the quilt they gave me to work on has simple framed squares. I started to do a freehand Baptist fan type design (which I have done before) but the first two squares came out really wobbly. I hate to spend the time ripping out, but it's a pretty bad example of my work! I sketched out a spiral flower that I will use instead. Not really a dilemma since I have a solution I suppose!

Monday I am going to school to get my keys and start setting up my classroom. I got a message this week that the District Office has revamped my curriculum, so I'll have to spend some time comparing what I did last year with the new plan. Minor headache...I really wanted to be able to go in and make copies of the worksheets so I'm ready for the whole first unit, but it looks like another year of only being a day ahead of the kids!

Baby K Update

My mom was complaining that the blog didn't have enough pictures of the baby. Here you go, Mom!

Baby K has really started to cuddle with her stuffed animals. Her pink bear becomes a pillow at nap time... Baby K is really fussy about her clothes. We had to take this outfit off right after we took this picture because the spaghetti straps were annoying and she threw a hissy fit! Just another reason why I prefer a simple cotton onesie...

Recent efforts

I don't take pictures of customer quilts...too hard to get good shots of my quilting efforts! So that's why there have been no photos on the blog - I'm busy at the longarm! One of the recent quilts was the popular "Paperweights" pattern. I use six colors of thread:New Info: Paperweights is a pattern by Aardvark Quilts. That's the same designer as the bright orange wuilt I made in May...great stuff!

I finished the little bit of handwork on my 3-D "tucked and tweaked" sunflower. There are beads in the center. I could have added a few more, but I need room to add quilted details too.

This is the fat quarter of fabric for the 2008 IMQA challenge. I have some ideas for it, but right now it's just decoration on my design wall!

Memory Lane

Deb over at Red Shoe Ramblings posted these questions, which sent me back in time...

1. Did you ever join, or consider joining a sorority or fraternity?
If I had gone to a regular college, I probably would have tried. As it turns out, the Air Force is one big fraternity and whenever Academy grads get together you start comparing stories!

2. When you were ten years old, what was your favourite thing to spend money on?
At that age, I loved to ride my bike up to 7-Eleven, but it was across a major intersection, so we didn't make the trip very often. Slurpees and surgary candy - yum!

3. How many pairs of shoes, is too many pairs of shoes?
More than 10...I rotate among three or four pairs usually.

4. What food combination do you enjoy, that others might find somewhat odd?
Well, my favorite recipe is lasagna with spinach, and my husband detests cooked spinach, so I guess that qualifies. I think I'm fairly ordinary about food!

5. When is the last time you looked at a photograph of that special person in your life?
We just had professional portraits of Baby K done, and I have them laid out in the family room.

6. Think about your best friend in high school: how long has it been since you’ve seen him/her?
About five years...she invited me to her baby shower, and since then it's only been Christmas card photos!

7. Think of the last time you saw more than one of your high school classmates together at the same time: how did you happen to run into each other?
I flew to Texas for my friend's wedding, and I thought I recognized another classmate on the plane. I found him after we landed and he was visiting another friend in the same town. We had a few drinks and then went our separate ways.

8. How many of your teachers do you think you would love to visit in person after all the years since you graduated, just to talk about having them as a teacher and catch up: one or two, three to five, five to ten, or more than ten?
Only one...my sophomore English teacher! We would have this group activity where someone would come up with outlandish questions ("If you could go back in time, what period would you visit?") and we'd take turns answering. The walls were covered with quotes that the students picked out from our reading...lots of Thoreau! I loved that class...and now I'm a math teacher. Go figure!

9. What was the best lunch food your high school served?
I usually brought my lunch except for the one day per week when they set up a taco salad bar.

10. Did you participate in any extra-curricular activities in high school, like sports, band, etc? If so, how many?
Yep. I played flute and piccolo in band and I was a Varsity swimmer all four years.