[Spirit Deer]

I think marmots are more in the mountain west. We don't have them here, I don't think.

 

[dcompton]

While I was fighting the garden war I missed a lot of posts!

M - I like the stitch on the scarf. I sometimes used a similar one for lapghans but with more dc in the repeats. I think it’s what I used for the one and only time I used a boucle yarn. Like some of you have said with other yarns, I just had to guess where to put the hook.

SD - the stew looks good. I need to do some cooking this week. I’m running out of freezer meals. I’m not very enthusiastic about it though. I also need to get groceries, but I’m waiting for a more attractive ad. I haven’t gotten any since before Christmas.

CH - I could use a chocolate elephant. I’m getting pretty frazzled with the garden. I did get the temple finished, finally, but the easy clouds weren’t. I don’t know why I was having so much trouble. I took one out twice, ending the evening with one done instead of the two I started with, so four to do today. Sigh. There was also much redoing on the temple roof backstitching. However there was one huge win. When I finished stitching the border around the center, the two ends lined up! Go me!

 

[ressa]

Love your work Martha. Beautiful!
My granny square project is still coming along. Three more squares to go. It is going to be 5x6 squares at the moment. I'll see how it looks when sewn together. I have been finishing up and sewing 2 rows together as I go. So working on the last section.
Found a partially completed baby blanket while cleaning. I think I put it aside when I overworked my wrist/arm a few years ago and had to wear a splint for a while. Neighbor needs a baby blanket for a family member and this one would be perfect IF I can finish it! That will be my next project anyway.
Spirit Deer, I am amazed at how much you manage to accomplish! My hubby is not a natural mr. fixit and neither am I. I would love to be able to take on the projects you do!
Hikr00 your santa coat looks awesome!
You know, I actually got Stella because I had been sewing for my niece's min pin and enjoyed it so much. They said Stella was two but later found out she was several years older than that. I wonder if the clothes worked like those thunder vests and made them feel more secure?
Gotta get back to work now.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Sunny and windy today. Should hit 65F before noon. T-shirt weather. I hope to run a couple of quick errands and get back home to sew.

Voting is now open for the completed pig quilts. Votes only cost $1 and you can buy as many as you like. Of course, it's a fund raiser, not a contest of skill.

Now that Meeko is eating better DH has gotten her to come into the kitchen in the morning and eat from a bowl next to Black Kitty without having an incident. That's a huge step forward for her.

Ressa, the baby blanket sounds like a great find, just in time. I'm sure you'll have it finished soon.

DC, I'm sure you'll get into the swing of things with that pattern soon enough.

SD, the stew recipe looks like a good hearty winter meal, and perfect for a crockpot or IP. Hope your reno continues to go smoothly.

 

[marthamfi]

It is stew weather isn't it. sounds yummy but for some reason years ago stew meat got $$$ here so rather buy roasts etc on sale then pay more for stew meat. it may be the same meat who knows. Glad Meeko is getting used to the house more. grumpy pants is not liking me changing the schedule being up earlier. have to stop to scratch ears. Don't know why the site asks if you want thumbnails but then posts big pics.

Thanks it is a basic scarf fussy to start mindless after. need to switch up my blankets though. only so much granny squares. I did do a ripple one that I started messed up so now out of sight lol that turtle blanket sand sea and you make turtles to put on. was big years ago.

Forgot Hikr..aunt was mil older sister..who wasn't happy about it but not in a position to help..that 5 grown adults one a nurse didn't take care of her better. grown grandkids..always had time to stop and grandma make me breakfast but when she got worse you know..same story w lots of people. no obit or funeral either. so not a lot of sympathy. She was a wonderful cook and baker. She loved it.

Under the heading do I need it no...won the auction of hand powered sewing machine. basically just under $50. from a dept store that was big up here for decades. last one went for a lot more money. the person had a few machines. I have a freebie but doesn't work. Will tell dh that is free therapy for my arm lol pickup sat.

 

[renmerc446]

Martha: sorry about your aunt.

Looks like everyone has been busy. I finished the blue partial skein yesterday. It wasn't that big so not much of a stripe but at least it's no longer in the stash. :lol: Started the off-white 1lb skein. Glad that won't be going back into the stash either. I have another blue 1 lb skein that I think will be used in this stash-gan.

The apartment complex is going to be install fire extinguishers into the apartments. I don't know if it's due to the fire a couple of years ago or just new management. On one hand, having a fire extinguisher in the house is a good thing. On the other, I just wonder about the timing of the insistence for them now. Especially since they never insisted on them in all the years I've lived in the complex.

 

[Spirit Deer]

Sorry for the continuing aggravation, D.

Ressa, so far mostly what we've done is destroy things. Not much skill required, and if we didn't do it, they would, high priced labor for grunt work. Eventually we'll get to the fun stuff though.

Good news about Meeko.

Love the old machine, Martha. What a find!

We finally got ahead of the guys, so I was going to sew. Got my stuff all rearranged. Hauled out my machine. Where is the sewing machine mat? Okay, don't really need that, no problem. Where's the bed extension? Nope, oh, well. WHERE IS THE FOOT CONTROL? 🤬🤬🤬! Wait, is that the embroidery machine in my travel bag? Wwwhhhhhyyyyy? Gaaahhhh! So much for being able to spend a relaxing afternoon sewing. I can't work with just this. sigh

I packed it all up to take home so I can gather up the right stuff tonight, if I have the energy.

The guys are working on the bathroom and laundry right now, pulling old wire, so it's quiet except for them yelling at each other because R is in the attic. R usually has music blasting. At least he has a great playlist. I'm sitting in my rocker, resting my aching feet. It's been busy. They're getting a lot done again. They are almost done roughing in the main floor, then it's just the basement left. That should go quick with the ceiling all open and a lot of the walls, too.

 

[Spirit Deer]

Ren, it's posible there are new regulations taking effect that requires fire extinguishers. That sounds like a good thing. We will be keeping ours. 🙂

 

[dcompton]

I ordered the pattern yesterday. Quinto Acuto is too much to type. I’m calling it “arches.” I thought I had fabric for every conceivable pattern, but I was wrong. With a border it to has to be 28x28. I have fabric that long, but not that wide. So what else is new? The cut I have to buy to get that is 36x43. I ordered my favorite antique white. Most called that seem to be a cream, but this one is just a nice off white without the yellow. It’s the same one I’m using for the garden, but I’m going to do the arches on aida. Keeping it simple. I ordered it in 18 but came to my senses overnight and just had them change it to 16. I went with 18 for better coverage with the black, but I can always use 3 strands for that if I need to. I’m not sure when it will come. I had an email that the ice storm shut down their warehouse for several days and they’re still running behind. No rush. I have clouds to stitch and the rest of the garden.

Hikr - I had no choice with the sandals since I had to catch the plane. I didn’t think my friends would want to put me up until spring. I also didn’t think my job would be impressed with the excuse that my feet were cold. It was the opposite of flying home from Toronto for Christmas, stepping out in 65 degree sunny weather looking like I had just mushed in from the Yukon. 🤣

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Ren, could be insurance requirements or new laws.

DC, 28x28 seems really large for cross stitch. But then, for me anything over 3" is too large, lol!

SD, I've forgotten my foot pedal and other things, too. Sorry it ruined your chance to sew in the new house.

M, cute find. Hope you enjoy using it , or having it on display. I don't know what is up with stew meat either. Used to be from the parts nobody wanted, so it was cheap. Like chicken wings. Now wings are as expensive as chicken breast.

Ok, the 2nd set of 40 pairs of charms got sewn, and I'm about to iron everything and set it up to make 4-patches. I've also got 2 boxes of stuff left over from the sewing room clean out that I need to go through. Some should be donated, I've dragged it around and not used it for years. One of the boxes pre-dates my marriage, it's time to get rid of it.

 

[renmerc446]

It may be new insurance regulations, given that there was a really big fire in the complex a couple of years ago where a building was destroyed (there are multiple buildings in the complex). At least I don't have to make the arrangements to have them come in and install it. I just wonder where they're going to put it.

 

[hikr00]

Whistle Pigs! I cannot stop snickering over that name. I have a vague memory of hearing that in the past although it was ages ago and I’d totally forgotten about it. We named him Woodrow but now we will have to call him Woodrow Whistle Pig. We don’t have marmots here. I think we are too Far East for them.

Temps are back to normal - 30’s to 40’s. I can live with this (for now). I poked around in the small craft closet and cleaned out and reorganized another shelf. Small steps. I also did ten straight minutes on the recumbent bike. I don’t love exercising but I’m finding the bike isn’t so bad.

Marthamfi I’ll look for Lucy Worsley. Thanks for the recommendation. That looks like a really nice machine.

DC the garden war! I give you tons of credit for even attempting that piece. I’m so impressed with your project. So much work and so intricate. I cracked up laughing at the visual of you getting off the plane looking like you’d mushed in from the Yukon. Hahaha. When we last went to Florida it was similar in that we got on the plane with heavy coats and got off to 85 degrees lugging the heavy coats.

Ressa thank you! It was fun to make that Santa coat even if Dakota didn’t think it was the best. Lol. I love granny squares. I’ve got a couple of granny square afghans. One was made-by my paternal grandmother and the second one is a compilation of my daughter and my maternal grandmother. Nana had done the squares way back when. I don’t even know how old they are. When she passed in cleaning things out we came across the bag of squares and she’d written her last name on some type of cloth like sticker. Well, my daughter took them and matched the colors as close as she could and put them together to make the afghan. The best part for me was that she took the sticker and sewed it onto the afghan so I will always have Nana’s name in her handwriting on the afghan.

CH big progress for Meeko eating in the kitchen next to Little Black Kitty. Nice job on the patches. Sounds like good progress weeding out stuff to move or toss.

Renmerc446 we’ve got a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Dh insisted we needed one. I thought it was overkill until a butter spill on the floor of the oven caught fire and I needed it to put out the fire. I was never so happy to have that thing. I don’t know why I thought it was overkill. Cooking can go awry!

SD that’s so frustrating hauling your stuff over to the house only to find you didn’t have wheat you needed. Hope the next time goes better. I’m happy to hear the guys have a good playlist going at least!

 

[dlrcpa]

Finished another hat. I'll start combining yarns for some striped kids' hats to use up the remainders.

 

[Spirit Deer]

I remembered when I got home I put my little Brother machine in a rolling laptop case and the bigger Brother embroidery machine in my travel cases. So I checked to make sure everything was in the laptop case and it was, except the bed extension which won't fit in the case. I need to correct that because I will be keeping the laptop case for it. I also need to make some kind of bag for one of the new accessories for the shop vac, another good project at the house. I'm sure I'll add small accessories as I think of them, but I should have the basics now.

I think we've officially reached the stay-the-heck-out-of-their-way portion of the Great House Rewiring of 2023. Pretty much everything has been discussed, every wall or portion of wall has been removed, every measurement taken, etc. They don't need us for much anymore, till they move to working in the basement. They're expecting the inspector around noon, so until then we will be making ourselves scarce while still being close by in case of questions. So I'll sew, out of the way but within a few feet of the bathroom and laundry where they will be working, just in case.

Menards lost our pantry window. It wasn't on the truck and the replacement isn't expected till the end of the month now. See why we're not willing to wait till the last minute or a sale to acquire what we need? You know the old saying, a bird in the hand is worth ordering early and paying regular price. 11% off stacked on a sale price would have been nice though.

 

[dcompton]

Finally! The center is finished except for a tiny bit of backstitching! That finishes the first of 25 pattern pages! Well, virtually all of it. Some of the border around it falls on that page. It’s 5 rows wide and I just did the inner one. The next three rows of it have a lot of beading so I’m waiting on that. I’m sticking with my original plan of working a narrow strip up to the top to get the spacing and then start working all the way across from the top down, and do the beading as I go. Next up is one of the gates. Then at the top center I get to the first phoenix. That will be a big slow down. It’s done in the cross stitch equivalent of petit point, 4 stitches to the usual one. That’s when I will bitterly regret my decision to go with 32 count instead of 28. Lol. At least they’re done with bright colors. Happily finishing this wretched temple has energized me to carry on.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Another unseasonably warm day but I'd rather this than seasonal cold or rain. Woke up with a bad headache but it is mostly gone now. Too dry at night with the heat on.

Black Kitty gets her shot this afternoon, but I have errands to do before that so I may not get any sewing done.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Another unseasonably warm day but I'd rather this than seasonal cold or rain. Woke up with a bad headache but it is mostly gone now. Too dry at night with the heat on.

Black Kitty gets her shot this afternoon, but I have errands to do before that so I may not get any sewing done.

 

[ressa]

hikr00 loved hearing about your granny squares! I didn't have any relatives that did things like that. Not sure why I decided I wanted to learn to crochet but I did. Learned that and knitting (and other stuff) from books. I donate to the local literacy council now. Partly in memory of my favorite uncle.
My grandmother did give me her button tin full of old buttons. After she passed, my aunt went through her stuff looking for that button tin. She said her mother never let her play with the buttons and they fascinated her. At the time, I had no idea where I had stashed it so just kept my mouth shut and felt bad. My aunt has passed now and I came across the button tin. I keep it in a place of honor now to remember them both!
Finished crocheting the squares last night. Now on to cleanup and sewing rows together. Trying to decide how I want to border it. I like how a sc border looks on a lot of my dc scrap afghans. Not sure about this one and the picture I copied does not really show. Hoping to have enough yarn on hand to finish without buying more. I will get distracted by other pretty colors and blow my budget!
Grocery shopped just a little this morning. Picking meds up for my mom on the way to pick the grandkids up from school.
My mom has early afternoon appointments Wednesday and Thursday. If they won't clean her ear wax out at regular doctor I will have to make an appointment at the E.N.T. place. I don't mind except last time I took her there they almosted insisted on a hearing test for her even though I firmly said no. Mom has barely any hearing left and sitting through that test depresses her. No chance of an improvement.
And it is a beautiful day!

 

[Contrary Housewife]

I don't know of any relatives that knitted or crocheted, either. I almost learned knitting in high school from a friend's mother, but we moved after only a few lessons. Both of my grandmothers sewed, by necessity.

Got my errands done this morning. Miraculously there was no line at the PO. The vet's office just called. They said some of Meeko's tests came back and there is improvement, but one got stuck in the ice storm and is now too old, so I have to take her back tomorrow....

Meanwhile, I had enough time to iron my square blocks, and might trim them to size this evening.

 

[dcompton]

ressa - I liked to border my lapghans with reverse cross stitch, also called crab stitch. I had a hard time with it and gave up several times. Finally on one I just determined that I would master that stitch. It finally clicked and was easy. It makes a bumpy stitch that firms up the edge. It does take more yarn than sc. I just had to get the knack of handling the yarn. Very awkward at first and I was all thumbs. After the sc instead of doing the next one into the next stitch, you make it into the one behind, working backwards. It makes a really nice edge.

I have to say I’m pretty impressed with myself, even if I did have to give up on the roof. Upward and onward! Literally. 😄 I have a small section that’s just straight cross stitch. I’m looking forward to that.