Frozen!

No, not the movie. My life.

Friday was a pretty day, so the pups and I did a hike on the firebreak road. I tried to get a photo of them running and finally settled for a video.

I've never put a video in my blog before. Hope it works.

Common Threads met at Karan's on Thursday. It snowed, and Georgette picked me up, so DH could stay in bed. He was clearing the drive when she brought me back.

There were just the three of us. Karan had finished this little wall quilt and had it on the wall already.

I worked on my reboot of the Coastal Skies. This is the third pattern I've used, and I think, as the saying goes, "third time's the charm." 

It's a fairly easy pattern. The first st is always slipped. The RS has YOs at the beginning and end of the two halves. The WS is just K all the stitches after the first slipped stitch. Almost mindless, so a good project for chit-chat. I decided to put a brightly colored marker at the beginning of the RS row, so I would remember which row I was on.

It snowed again Saturday. I finished Mandy's snow pants just in time for the snow.

The pants are a free cut-and-paste pattern from cataddict's project page. It's designed for American Girl dolls, but it worked OK for Mandy. They're a little baggy, but warmer that way, right? I skipped the short rows across the derrière as Mandy doesn't have much there.

It goes well with Mandy's Stavanger Cardigan. At least two people are planning on making this project, including a lady in New Zealand who wants to use the pattern to teach steeking to a friend.

A straight/A-line skirt has been designed by Lilli & Fleur Couture, and I did a practice test of the pattern.

My friend Andrea, who is the designer for the company, hopes to have the patterns ready soon. This one is slated to be a freebie. She will publish the skirt pattern with a link to my twinset pattern. I'll publish the twinset pattern with a link to the skirt pattern.

The packing is moving along slowly. Here's a small box almost filled with yardage and fat quarters.

I added more before DH taped it shut. It's a book box, the size chosen because it was going to hold only fabric. I have another pile of stuff to take to Savers. They even take old single socks and worn-out clothes. Things like that that they can't sell get ground up to make insulation.

Here's Miss Daphne's birthday doll, ready to ship to Wisconsin, although her birthday isn't until the middle of May. I'm trying to move out of the house as much stuff I don't need to get into before the move, so she's on her way, due to be delivered today. 

Included in the box: undies, PJs, rain coat and boots, sneakers, sweater, two T-shirts, leggings, slacks, sandals, shorts and capris with tops, and two dresses. The birthday is in May, but I want to be sure the doll is there in time. Katie 2015 will be sooooo glad to get out of her restraints, but at least she can admire her wardrobe while she travels. (I wonder if I should have put her glasses on her; the wardrobe is so close.) I've had her for about 10 months. She's a Götz Happy Kidz Katie from 2015, like my Mandy.

What's on my needles: Finally the Coastal Skies Shawl, using the Knockout Round pattern.

What's on my Featherweight: Easter dresses.

What's in my hoop: Spring Flowers appliqué quilt. Making progress.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is packed away.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Listening to Miss Tonks Turns to Crime by M. C. Beaton. Now listening to Russian Roulette by David Corn and Michael Isikoff. On my Kindle app is Miss Braithwait’s Secret by G. G. Vandagriff.

What's in my wine glass: Ha! Guinness for a change, and it's in a beer glass instead of a wine glass.

What's my tip of the week: I've mentioned dealing with onion peel before, but here's an addition. As I said, cut the onion in half from stem to stern, then trim the stem end and the stern end (actually, the end where new growth comes out). If the onion skin won't just pop off on its own, remove one thick layer, turn it inside out, and the skin should pop off. Slap the layer back on and start chopping.

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 or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Quilts and Other Fiber Adventures

Vintage Stitchers met at Rebecca’s on Thursday. Marilyn had made this sailboat quilt.

The back shows the quilting.

Brenda was making some towels for a friend who has Portugese Water Dogs.

She was also working on a kitty quilt using machine applique and embroidery.

Janet had made this great little project bag during the Stitching Society Group at Davidene’s.

Barbara inherited an old kit for this quilt designed by Anna for the original Whimsy Cottage.

She also made a 1600 quilt background for these flowers.

Rebecca and Barbara made these row-by-row quilt blocks that were part of a quilt shop hop project. The flowers are identical sets of precut pieces. The backgrounds are graduated fabrics cut apart and pieced back together.

Ellen has finished these hand-appliquéd house blocks from Home Sweet Home by Barb Adams and Alma Allen. (These blocks are from the book I got my mantle quilt from.)

Barbara had these fabrics for an Amish quilt for a long time. She repeated the same 16-patch block and used the leftover fabrics in the border and on the back.

Diane also did a repeat of one block for a completely different effect. This quilt has an antique look.

The backing fabric is a honeycomb with bees.

Carol had finished this sampler quilt, which she plans to drape over a chair.

Rebecca’s Pink Floyd has been quilted:

As well as the bunny.

Both are fused appliqué designs of Laura Heine. I spent the meeting hand-sewing the binding on Johan's I-spy quilt.

In other fiber news, my “So-not-my-palette” cardigan has grown by a couple of inches.

And the first bobbin of the “Waimea Rooster” singles is done for Tour de Fleece (TdF), with a start on the second.

I finished the hand-sewing for Johan’s I-spy quilt, and it's done.

The young man in question is in Mallorca with his parents, aunt and uncle, his brother and his cousin. Here he is shown here on the far left, sporting a new Spanish haircut, on his way to visit Ila Sa Dragonera, where there were lizards nowhere near the size of the Komodo Dragons we once saw, but still pretty cool. From left, Johan, Cousin Leo, Brother Soren and in the second row, Mom. (In the stern is an unidentified boat pilot.)

Of course, some of you are only reading this for an update on Dusty. We made it to Tuesday without mushroom incidents. Then he found the piece of mushroom I had thoughtlessly stupidly tossed back in the bushes on July 4th. It was dried up, but only half there. I couldn’t remember exactly how much of it was left from the incident the week before, so off to the vet’s office, where his stomach contents revealed no mushroom. That meant we didn't have to have him on a special diet for the next few days, because he hadn't ingested any toxins. I left the piece of mushroom with the vet, and she was going to see if she could identify it. She recommended that we get health insurance for Dusty, because she suspects he’s going to be a “very naughty boy.” Naughty, maybe, but stinkin' cute!

Now Dusty is only allowed in the backyard on his leash unless both human parents are present, one to throw the ball and one to guard the mushroom bush. This is speeding up his leash training. He and Rocky have been getting in some good play sessions, though, both with chasing the ball and pretend fighting.

Tuesday he gets his Parvo shot, and presumably can then begin taking actual walks on the street after it takes effect. In the meantime, nap times for the Little Dude and for me have been agonizingly short, as Rocky voices his concern every time a neighbor goes up and down the street in front of our house playing Pokémon GO. I’m afraid they are going to ask to come into my house soon!

GIPHY.C

What's on my needles: The “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” some progress made. Still hand-quilting my Delectable Pathways quilt.

What's on my Featherweight: Binding for Johan’s I-spy quilt is finished, and my machine put away…for now.

What's on my wheel: Still the Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu, continuing to spin for the Tour de Fleece, now on the second bobbin.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished A Study in Sable by Mercedes Lackey and now reading Thornwood House by Anna Romer, both from Audible. Still reading Remember This by Shae Buggs on the Kindle app on my iPad. 

What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw (aka Two-buck Chuck, or in this case, $2.99) Merlot, which is good and we have in good supply, thanks to our trip to Nevada.

What's my tip of the week: If you have a puppy who likes to chew (drawer pulls, slippers, etc.), get some Bitter Apple and spray it on anything you want to protect without having to watch all the time. Some pups don't care, but most won't chew because they don't like the taste. Fabric (like your jeans legs) may need more applications. If all else fails, order some chain mail from Amazon.com.

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.