stitches and tulips

red, white and blue quilt. sneak peek.

First quilt for my boy!  Since these photos I've pieced the backing, basted it, quilted it and I'm half way through the binding. I've been so drawn to red, white and blue lately, especially this combination of bright reds, robin's egg and bright blues, whites, and creams.  So cute.

 

While I was working on it last weekend a neighbor knocked on our door with a little present for Huck.  I have no problem with clothes for dogs.  But I didn't even realize they made clothes his size.  I *probably* would never actually buy this for him myself.  But it was so satisfying and hilarious to see him in it.  

 
He didn't protest. He just tried to eat it which is his reaction to most things he doesn't understand.  I did lots of "no biting!" and "only licks!" which eventually moved him into obsessive sniffing instead.  Sean's favorite part is that there are pockets and they actually open.  He put a treat in one and zipped it up.   And then we were back to square one him trying to eat the jacket. Our fault.

those aren't two pillows!!

My family loves slap happy, funny movies and usually the most inappropriate lines stick with us.  Remember Planes, Trains, and Automobiles when Steve Martin and John Candy find themselves stranded in a hotel room with one bed?  My mom (hi mom) will bust out with "Those aren't two pillooows!" every so often.  So, naturally, I thought of that line the entire time I made this.

 

I love the granny square and I've been wanting to do this for awhile. Especially after being inspired by this, this, and many others.

Huck likes it too. 

 There's more pillow making happening this weekend, all as part of the redecorating plan, so stay tuned.  Happy Friday!!

out with the old

Not much crafting going on over here.  We painted the entire weekend last weekend and after several coats of primer, several coats of paint, once color change, and 4 trips to the hardware store...we were beat.

Sean really truly did the heaviest lifting.  He covered much more gorund than me and never cursed me once for having the brilliant idea to re-paint our entire upstairs.  Actually, we both really love it now and it it so much brighter and happier.  Our walls were chocolate brown before - beauitiful, but daaark.  (I'll post some before photos later.)

So, I have lots of curtain and pillow plans to execute and post about - but in the meantime....our new living, dining, kitchen area.  (It's a light gray all over and a light mossy green on the stairs in the first one.)

Huck likes it too.

japanese crochet quilt, finished!

Peek-a-boo.  It's a red letter day at stitches and tulips because the japanese crochet quilt is finished.  Finished!  Fini!  Finito! Done.

Voila.

I love it so.  It turned out the size of a lap blanket, which makes me happy because I had no idea when I started how big, or small, it would be.  I held my breath part way through when it looked like it was possible I'd have a japanese crocheted shawl or an enormous japanese crocheted scarf.  But, no.  It turned out to be just enough to curl up on the couch with or to fold and display at the end of the bed.

And, it's warm.  Too warm for summer.  This is fine because it'll be ready to go once the fall comes. Usually I find myself starting winter projects during the winter and summer projects during the summer which is backwards, if you think about it, because these things can take awhile (seriously hundreds of hours in this case) and the season you intended it for passes before you can finish.  

 

I also did something a little obsessive.  I calculated the number of stitches it took.  Twenty-two thousand and fifty.  22,050 glorious stitches that Huck and I can cuddle up together under.

BUT. Huck has a special attraction to this blanket (I think he senses how special it is to me) and I'm terrified of leaving him alone with it because we all know how that goes.  His affection for this blanket is funny because I can tell he just wants to pounce on it and love it up, but he's a little scared.  He approaches it like he knows not to get too close.  He'll jump on the couch to sit with me while I work on it and he'll tentatively glance at it out of the corner of his eye with out fully looking at it straight on, kind of how he approaches the cats. Sometimes he'll sneak a little lick and then I give a firm "no" and he turns away from it, too shy to look back.  Little monster.  It'll have to be supervised cuddling.

I think it's my favorite thing I've ever made.

fabric cuffs and fireworks

I got a little patriotic today.

Huckleberry can't wait for the fireworks.  Happy 4th of July tomorrow! 

back for more

Yes, this is a delivery box from Fabric.com.  Joy!  What a way to start the weekend.  

And, a perfect reason to get back here.  It's amazing what a new job (which requires a new schedule because you can't take an hour and a half for lunch to work out in a new job where your presence is actually taken seriously so you have to go before or after work, requiring the dog park and dinner schedules to be adjusted and well...) can do to derail things for a bit.

I took photos many times in the past three weeks with the intention of coming back - and here's a picture of Steve The Cat trying to eat my peonies last weekend to prove it.  

Lo, I never made it and the world didn't end.  

Now.  Fabric.  I'm going to make my first quilt and I ordered some Amy Butler goodness for a beginner quilt pattern from one of my favorite books.  Isn't it lovely? (Apologies for the artificial light in these photos.  I hate artificial light in photos but it's raining here and I couldn't wait until tomorrow.)  

I can't wait to get started on it.  I also signed up for a sewing class today. Between the quilt and the skirt (designated project for the class), I should gain a little confidence in the sewing skills arena over the next couple weeks.

In the meantime, I've finished all the little crochet circles for my japanese crochet quilt.  One hundred and five of them. A lot of work, but man are they gorgeous.  Now I have to weave in all the little ends and start crocheting them together. Photos soon.

Enjoy your friday night.  I'll be cuddling with Huck and weaving in the loose ends on one hundred and five crocheted circles while watching Lost.

kisses.

whirlwind

The past three weeks.

A trip to sunny Los Angeles.  Girlfriends, botanical gardens, good food and wine, and sun.

Immediately followed by a trip to Chicago to see a recurrent pregnancy loss specialist that was both completely...

impossibly intimidating and...

hopeful.

That, immediately followed by starting a new job that will require me to learn everything about health care reform (?!) and then attending an all-day adoption seminar where we learned about all the complicated and exciting issues around adoption a child (happily, with twelve other couples going through the same process.) Sprinkled in between all of this - lots of plane rides, knitting more of the whisper cardigan, reading about teenage vampires, and continuing to work away on the adoption paperwork.

Yesterday my sister and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  

Lots of yarn.

And many (many!) cutie-pie animals who all contribute their goods to the world of yarn-making so that obsessives like me can knit and crochet.  Look at these guys.

Today is the first day with no agenda.  Phew.  Time to get back on track.  And...

 cuddle with my little Huckleberry.  

whisper of a whisper

The light isn't good this morning, but I wanted to show some pictures of my snail's pace progress on the whisper cardigan.  So, If I wanted to pretend that my progress wasn't as slow or that I'd been able to use those 20 hours super efficiently, I'd show you this and call it a day.  Can't really tell what you're looking at, can you?  Just some pretty grey lace.  (Ooooh, pretty, fuzzy, soft grey lace - it really is yummy.)

In reality, what you're looking at is about 1/3 of an elbow length sleeve.  Here's a better angle.

For those who don't obsess over yarn and aren't familiar with this uber-popular pattern, this is lace weight yarn.  To give you some perspective that means this is a really small swatch of my sleeve.  The yarn is like knitting with something slightly thicker than embroidery thread.  Those stitches are tiny tiny tiny.  Tiny.  Yes, I'm just getting back into knitting and still learning about gauge and garment construction.  But Still.

20 hours.  Twenty Hours.

Nothing can deter me though.  We have yet another road trip this weekend.  This time we'll be driving a much more tolerable distance (sans Huckleberry) to Virginia Beach for a friend's wedding.  This means about 8 hours total in the car - all during daylight (knitting) hours.  So watch for more progress.  Now that I have the gauge figured out and I'm feeling more confident with the yarn and the decreasing (even though I still don't understand how I was picking stitches up rather than letting them go) I think I'll get much more knitting-per-hour done.  

I'd love to have this ready by the time I go to Los Angeles later this month.  It's a lofty goal but I'm going for it.  Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

Oh, and in case you didn't know what the cutest little dog settling in for a road trip looks like - here.

This is about two hours in to our drive out of town last Friday.  He's never done this before and we're still not sure what inspired him.  He went back and forth the whole trip from the plain ol' back seat to this little perch behind the headrests.  It never got old or ceased to crack us up.  We'd chuckle looking back at him and he'd look at us like "What.  I fit here perfectly."  We joked that his little brain probably thought this was the longest. trip. to the. dog. park. Ever.

Wish me luck on the whisper.  Oh, and this weekend, I'll show some sneak peeks of the fabric I'm using for some redecorating.  (hooray!  redecorating!)

mobile, part deux

Several weeks ago, after joining elsie marley's mobile swap, I was so excited about the idea I went straight to work.  The mobile I had in my head was a delicate series of hanging fruits and flowers crocheted with impossibly tiny crochet hooks (1.4-1.65mm) Happily, some of my favorite colors were among my assigned partner's favorites so I had an abundance of crochet thread in neutral and earth tones ready to go for the little flowers, acorns, and pears that were to become her mobile. Stark white, beige and light blue for the flowers, taupe for the acorns, the lightest of butter yellows for the pears, and some midnight black thread for silhouette-like flowers.  It was going to be a miniature winter garden.

I was about a third of the way through this project when Huckleberry, our adorable monster of a dog who has a weird love affair with my yarn stash, ate every little flower and pear I had crocheted so far.  Heartbreak.  I had only myself to blame because I left him alone with the mobile "treats" well within his reach.  

I spent the next four nights completely dedicated to working on the winter garden mobile and got about half way through. Isn't this string of flowers so pretty? 

And, look at the little blossom on this one.  Come on.  So cute you could eat it, right?  

Having learned my lesson, I stashed the little morsels far out of Huckleberry's reach.  I somehow thought he'd never be able to reach them on the window sill. 

Why.  Why didn't I see that he could easily use the couch as as a stepladder.  They were tucked away in this little crocheted basket on the window sill and damn if my little monster didn't find them again.  

I came upstairs from my morning shower and found the blue basket at the top of the stairs empty, crumpled and wet with dog saliva.  Little Huck was sitting up straight with wide eyes on the couch, the tiniest bit of crochet thread hanging from his mouth.  Clear evidence of his morning snack - not a single flower, pear or acorn remained.

Much swearing and "crate as punishment" followed.  I was heart sick at losing so much work.  I didn't have it in me to give that little mobile another go.  I filed it away as a possible future project and promptly looked at my partner's Etsy store for inspiration.  Her stuff is great, no?  Whimsical and beautiful.  I decided to design the next mobile based on that.  

I have the first (and only) version of the second mobile almost done and when I'm not working on it I hide it on the window sill behind the television; my new dog-proof WIP storage spot.  I'll save it for another post.  It actually might even be more her style than the winter garden and I'm really pleased with it so far.

Huckleberry really had a thing for those little flowers.  I forgave the little monster because I really have a thing for him.