Monday, April 21, 2014

New Beginnings

This week has been crazy! Besides trips to eye doctor, dentist and Apple store for a new iPad, I made a trip to Shepherd's Bush and Needlepoint Joint in Ogden with friends from Common Threads. 
Shepherd's Bush has an entry way full of projects.
The store itself is also full. One of the two women on the job there helped me figure out how to convert my poodle project pattern (say that three items fast) to the colors I wanted to use. I plan on making one black poodle and one brown one, facing each other, instead of the single apricot poodle in the design.

At Needlepoint Joint, I picked up some beads for the bolos on my Yei figures and some buttons for the latest Baby Surprise Jacket for BS2, due in August.

We had breakfast at the Spring Chicken in Morgan and lunch after shopping at the Union Grill at the train station in Ogden. It was Peggy and the four Jays: Julie, Jean, Joanie and Janet. Delightful day!

Common Threads met on Thursday. Julie brought her embroidery:
It was from a mystery embroidery class she took.
Margareth had finished her sweater and brought it to show.
I didn't finish any UFOs this week, unless you count adding he beads to the Yei Figures Bag (designed by Nicky Epstein). I went to Joanie's after Silver Sneakers on Friday. We went through her beads and selected some to use. She wouldn't take any money for the beads. She still has three Yei figures to finish, but now she has the beads picked out to use.
She had a nice selection, including some turquoise beads, so they made a nice necklace for each of the figures. I sewed them on on Saturday.

Soren's I-spy quilt is ready to go to Julie for quilting. I made a run down to Sandy, to Quilts, Etc., on Thursday afternoon to get backing and binding fabric for it. I found a nice farm landscape to use. The motifs are big, so I got extra fabric to match up the motifs.
The arrow shows the vertical seam where I pieced the backing. The yellow check is the binding fabric.

The new Baby Surprise Jacket is progressing.
As you can see, it moves along very fast.
It will be done soon. In case this is the first time you're reading about this project, I'm using two Crazy Zauberballs in fingering weight (kleiner Fuchs colorway), held together. I got the idea from one I had seen last summer in Knit on Pearl in Jackson, Wyoming. (It pays to stop in at yarn, quilt and other craft shops on your travels. You never know what you'll find!)
My old iPad and I said goodbye to each other on Wednesday, when it was erased and put in the mail to DD and her family. It's soul now resides in my new iPad Air. It has been a great four years. (Today would have been our fourth anniversary.) Now I'm looking forward to a few years with the new one, while my old friend entertains my grandkids.

What's on my needles: BSJ for BS2, Soren's little brother, moving along.

What's on my loom: Waffle scarf, another inch done.

What's on my Featherweight: Waiting for Delectable Pathways to be ready to put together.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished another novel by Georgette Heyer, Regency Buck, from Audible. Now I'm listening to Lightning by Dean Koontz, also from Audible. Still watching "Stranded Colorwork, Basics and Beyond" from Craftsy.

What's my app of the week: USPS Mobile, great for tracking packages, like my old iPad.

What's in my wine glass: Woodbridge Zinfandel 2012. Very nice!

What's my tip of the week: Precise cutting is the key to precise piecing. Instead of lining up your fabric with the lines on the cutting mat, line it up with the ruler, using an extra ruler for cutting. Be careful not to let the ruler slip while cutting. If you have two folds in your fabric, make sure they are even, and use the center fold as your guide for the ruler. A spray starch or sizing is good for making the fabric lie flat after pressing.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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