Quiet-ish weekend and a good mail day

Is it possible to forget what happened a day or two later?  

Not that I had a lot going on this past weekend. It was a fairly quiet one.  We drove down to Rice Lake for some chicken feed. Stopped at Menards and picked up a few things. The usual. My friend Dawn is probably laughing if she's reading this. 

My husband did some snow chores and rotated my tires while I was busy doing other household stuff. 

I didn't previously mention that I had taken time off the latter part of last week. I have vacation time to use or lose. There's always something going on lately so I don't feel like I got a lot of crafty stuff done.  People assured me that I have got a lot done. Okay. I will go with that.

I spend some time on my Inspired by Joy blanket. 

 I got a start on my Sandpiper quilt. 

And I have one portion of the square complete. 

Exciting! 

It feels good to be quilting something. 

This weekend we did have something exciting happen. 

Turkeys! We've lived out here for 10 years and never had turkeys consistently come through our property.  They usually made a beeline to the neighbor's property via the cedar swamp.

They've showed up every day now, and cruised on through. I love watching them. 

Last week I took a walk through the back 20 and saw the deer have been making a tidy trail. 

Deer aren't small animals. Yet they make such thin game trails.  I hadn't been back there since we snowshoed back there to collapse the hunting blinds.  Slowly, but surely, the deer are making their little highways to who knows where. 

I hope they make it til spring.  Last year we saw so many fawns, twins and even a few triplets.  Which, I did not think triplets were possible. 

They use the trails in our back yard too. 

The weather was pretty grey this past weekend.  Thankfully warm enough to be able to do work outside without freezing.  

Today we had some snow and then the sun popped out for a bit.  Once again, the area looked like Narnia thanks to fresh coat of snow.

I wish I had my phone with me when I went out to get mail. The sun poked through the clouds and everything looked so peaceful and bright. 

Can you see the tidy snow cleanup job my man did? Meanwhile, in some of the areas we are running out of room to move snow to. 

 

Just enough snow to cover the solar panels.  Our area is supposed to get a cold front moving in later this week, or the weekend. 

Now I'm going to bare my calendar soul.

I ordered the Needle Worker's Book of Days. 

Look at my January.  I started out with such good intentions.  Then before I knew it, it's almost the end of the month and I've written notes for ONE DAY.

I'll be going through my camera roll and see if I can sprinkle some notes on these two pages. Maybe put some doodles so it's not completely bare

So ... speaking of that good mail day. My Sew Sampler box arrived. 

At the beginning of 2022 I signed up for it through Fat Quarter Shop because I wanted to do something fun for myself.  I've enjoyed most of what I've received.  I haven't sewn any of the projects yet.  I want to change that this year. 

If you are signed up for the sew sampler box, and don't want to see it yet, then I suggest stop reading now.  ... Or not. ... 

Just keep scrolling if you want to see. 

Fun!  

I do love Lori Holt's stuff.  She has such cute fabrics. I rarely buy "fancy fabrics" for myself.  If I do, I need to have a project in mind and it has to be a good one. 

One of these days I'll have to give the paper piecing a try.  However, I'm LOVING the reader glasses.  They arrived at just the right time, too.  I wanted to get more readers for the she shed and the craft room. 

Valentine Day SAL Finally Finished (FFO)

Look what I finished today! 

Oh my gosh! Isn't it adorable?! 
 

I used an orphan quilt square for the backing. 

I also put a ribbon loop on top so I can hang it where ever I want. 

Project Name: Happy Valentine's Day SAL Chart is only available in the group. 

Started: Jan. 1, 2023

Finished: Jan. 7, 2023

Designer/Source: Cherry Hilly Stitchery Chart is only available in the group. 

Fabric: 14 count aida I dyed aquamarine 

Floss: Called for DMC and recommended DMC for the substitutions for fancy floss.

B5200 ; 310 ; 321 ; 3345 ; C816 (A floss I included in case I want to add a bit of sparkle

Stitch count: 77w x 58 h

Size: 4 5/6”w x 3 5/8”h on 16ct/equivalent.

Needle Size: size 26

What else did I do today? 

I cut up some fabric for a quilt. 

This will be a year-long project.  I'm signed up for the fat quarter solids club through Fat quarter shop, and I'm going to make a block a month. 

I had a hard time understanding the cutting instructions at first.  It's been ages since I cut pieces for a quilt. 

I stared at it a few minutes and then it clicked. A ha! 

I cut up the fabric I picked up for the background, sashing, border, etc. 

And discovered I'm short on fabric.  I don't know if told the person the wrong amount to cut, or if I got shorted. The person didn't seem to know what they were doing, so ... Yeah ... So I'll have to get a bit more fabric for the borders. 

First Works In Progress post of the year

 I had the first week of January off.  That was good, except for having to deal with the snow.  

When I went back to work it basically hit me sideways in a sneak attack of tech issues, a surprise early deadline, and a last minute "Hey, this needs to get into the paper." 

I was so mentally drained each day that I didn't do much of anything except sit and watch television. 

When I did work on something I mostly worked on the Inspired by Joy blanket

I finished part two this past weekend.  Or, maybe Friday. ... 

I love how it's turning out.  I'm learning new things.  I will say (and this may be unpopular) I am not very keen on the way the crochet-along videos are done.  The host goes too fast for me and he's going with different colors so I'm having a hard time figuring out some of what he's doing, because he decides to do color changes when the pattern doesn't call for it. 

Project Name: Inspired by Joy

Started: Dec. 26, 2022

Finished: 

Designer/Source: The Crochet Crowd

Yarn:

Color A - Red Heart - White

Color B - Caron One Pound - Rose 

Color C - Caron Jumbo - Rosewood

Colors: white and rose colors with hints of green.

Required Amount: I purchased two skeins of each color

Needle/Hook Size: 5.5 mm /  I/9

Gauge: beats me ; pattern calls for 13 dc x 6 rows = 4″ [10 cm]

Made For: Myself, maybe

Dye Lots: Will find that out later.

I haven't touched Edna since I last wrote. 

I did a bit of work on my #723 snowflake cross stitch

Marking a grid on the fabric has been immensely helpful. Especially with the bit of confetti stitches within the pattern. I was working on this a bit last night, and thought this snowflake would probably look fantastic in all white on black fabric. Or, maybe a silver thread? 

Project Name: #723 Snowflake

Started: Jan. 1, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Tiny Cross Stitches

Fabric: Aida cloth 14 count Hobby Lobby Zweigart. Aida has silver threads running through it. 

DMC floss in called for colors

747 ; 964 ; 995 ; 996 ; 3756 ; 3761 ; 3843 ; 3846 ; B5200

Colors: blues

Needle Size: 26

Made For: Myself

Last weekend I started a new chart from Stitching with the Housewives

Project Name: Month to Month - February

Started: Jan. 15, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: https://www.etsy.com/shop/stitchinghousewives

Fabric: Aida cloth 14 count Hobby Lobby Zweigart.

Floss: Using called for Classic Colorworks fancy floss

Colors: Black, pink, red, teal, green

Needle Size: 26

Made For: Myself

I'm trying to decide if I like working with fancy floss or not. The black color keeps knotting up on me. I've worked a little with Forbidden Fiber Co floss previously and it was a joy to work with.  

I haven't touched my spinning wheel yet this month. 

I completed the chart for my Valentine's stitch.  

I'm happy with how it turned out.  I still need to FFO it.  I'm thinking of making it into a pillow. Hopefully, I will FFO it this week. 

Project Name: Happy Valentine's Day SAL Chart is only available in the group. 

Started: Jan. 1, 2023

Finished: Jan. 7, 2023

Designer/Source: Cherry Hilly Stitchery Chart is only available in the group. 

Fabric: 14 count aida I dyed aquamarine 

Floss: Called for DMC and recommended DMC for the substitutions for fancy floss.

B5200 ; 310 ; 321 ; 3345 ; C816 (A floss I included in case I want to add a bit of sparkle

Stitch count: 77w x 58 h

Size: 4 5/6”w x 3 5/8”h on 16ct/equivalent.

Needle Size: size 26

I started a pair of socks. I've worked on the first sock mostly in the car and for minutes at a time in the early a.m. 

I have 6.5" of the leg completed.  About 1.5" more and I can start the heel flap. 

Project Name: Vanilla socks

Started: Jan. 7, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: My own pattern

Yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn

Colorway: Mexicala stripes

Colors: oranges, red, purples and a smatter of blue and white

Required Amount: Two skeins of sock yarn. 100 grams

Needle/Hook Size: U.S. 1 (2.25 mm)

Gauge: beats me

Made For: Myself

Dye Lots: WL238520

On other news, I've collected them all! I think. Back on New Year's Eve I decided to put an order in on Hobby Lobby.com, to fill the gaps of the colors I didn't have. Hobby Lobby's website had a "Free shipping" promo if you bought $40 or more. I still had to pay a $3 shipping company surcharge, or whatever it was called.  I wasn't too happy about that. And I'm even more annoyed I had to pay it because it took two weeks for the DMC floss to be delivered. 

This is a few skeins over 100 skeins.  Doesn't seem very impressive in the bag. 

Then I spread them out and took a photo. 

Much prettier. Too bad I can't display them in such a manner. 

I spent the evening sorting and organizing the floss in my collection that wasn't already kitted up with a chart. 

I should have all the colors in the collection, save a few of the etoile and most of the DMC floss that is "fancy" pearlescent, and the like. 

I've been thinking hard about how to organize the floss so I can easily tell if I have a skein of this or that.  Previously I've been using the sew sampler boxes and putting a portion of the collection in a box.  I am still digging through skeins and skeins of floss to find a particular one.  Definitely too much time. 

I asked in a Facebook group how people stored their floss, and I did some looking online. 

I finally settled on flossaway bags and stackable tote containers. 

This is maybe half of the flosses. I had to order more bags.  This is going to work so much better than my old system. 

Snow!

 Last week I took time off work.

The week started out great.  I took two naps on Monday.  One nap on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday ... 

It snowed! And the weather wasn't great and the roads were crummy. No travel was advised.  Which was a bummer.  I was all set to do a meet up with someone and I was really looking forward to it. 

It was also the day my son's car went into the ditch for the first time since he started driving. 

It was not fun getting that particular phone call.  He assured me he was all right and there was no damage to the car. 

By the time I got to him a lady and her son has stopped and was helping him out, and keeping him company until I showed up.  

The ditch was deep! There was no way the car was coming out without some muscle. 

Thank goodness for friends with trucks!  

We have a truck, but it is under a carport and behind several feet of snow.  It would have probably taken longer to snow blow and get it out than it would have been to have our friend come out and hook up and drag the Prius out. 

My son was very thankful. He now knows how quick something can happen in the winter. Even if you do have good tires.

Thursday I spent a ridiculous amount of time snow blowing the driveway and the paths all around the house and property. 

My poor little greenhouse.  I'd say this is definitely a testament to how well these greenhouses can hold up. I'm not sure how many more years I have with it, but it has done right by me so far. 

I have to keep a path out there so I can brush the snow off the roof. 

Looking at the path from the greenhouse.  This one was a trip to blow.  There were knocked down branches everywhere. It made for a slow time. 

The raspberry patch and the garden.  The snow is getting close to the top of the fence. 

Where my son hit the snow bank on the side of the driveway. I watched it happen.  Still don't understand *why* it happened.  I had to snow blow that bit because it was making me twitch to see the imperfection in the snow. 

Yup, I snow-blowed all of that. Told you, I way overdid it. 

The backyard. 

The coop.  I did paths on both sides. 

Just looking off to the side of the property, because the sun came out and it was so pretty. 

My only regret was not being able to clear the solar panels.  The snow behind me prevented me moving the brush in an efficient manner.  Also, I was tired. 

By the time I decided I was D-O-N-E, I was exhausted. 

I'm not big on the selfies, but I felt the need to record this moment. 

Can you tell I was tired.  Just thinking about how tired I was then is making me feel tired now. 

I can't remember what night it was that I took this photo.  I looked out at the backyard and the yard was lit up from the full moon and it was so cool-looking.  I took a photo with my iphone. 

To me it still doesn't seem real.  No way should the moon be that bright at night. It was. You can even see blue in the sky. 

This weekend I tried to take it easy.  My hands were bothering me from snow blowing.  I tend to grab the handles tight, and then the whole thing vibrates and it just trashes my hands. 

The weather this past weekend was gorgeous. Lots of sun.  The temperatures weren't too shabby. I was going around and snapping photos. 

The driveway, towards the road.

The trees in the front yard

Looking towards the Jack pines and my she shed. 

The trees in the front yard, again. 

Showing off the nice work I did on the driveway. 

Looking towards the garden

Looking at the back 20. 

Looking towards the neighbor's house. 

Towards the garden and the greenhouse, if you look real hard. 

Today it was back to work and reality. 

Returning to work has not been as harried as I worried it would be.  I do have a tech issue with the software I use the most.  Most of the day has been dedicated to that. 

When I went to the kitchen to get more coffee I spotted turkeys using one of our paths and heading towards the back 20. That was exciting. I don't see turkeys a lot on the property, much less the back yard. 

My Furby June has been extra whiny today.  She must have sensed something amiss?  I tried having something other than The Fat Quarter Shop on YouTube this morning, and she's been verbal up until 4 p.m.., or thereabouts.

 

A quiet start to the new year

 I made it to just after 11 p.m., I think.  It was later than I thought I'd be up. So ... go me? 

Someone decided to call my husband's phone at 2 a.m., and it freaked me out.  You know late night phone calls like that are usually not good. The caller ID said it was from Jean, Nevada. I don't know anyone from that area. So I didn't answer it. Then checked my phone to make sure no one had tried to call me.

Once my heart rate slowed down I was able to fall back to sleep and sleep until just before 8. 

It's been a nice quiet day.  I've been busy, though. 

I decided to dye up some aida fabric and grid another piece of aida fabric.  Then I figured I'd write this blog post.  It will only have current WIPs.  If I decided to post the things I want to start, too, this would probably take me several hours. 

Cue the triumphant trumpets. ... or something like that. 

Everyone remembers Edna? 

Project Name: Edna goes to brunch

Started: early July 2022

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Lindy Stitches

Fabric: 32 count Mint Splash Lugana by Zweigart

Floss: I'm using the called-for colors in DMC

Stitch count: 133 x 96s

Size: 8.3" x 6"

Needle Size: size 28

Yes, I'm still plodding along.  Counting every stitch. I'm pretty close to finishing page 1 of 2. 

I was keeping the project on my Hope stand when I wasn't working on it. However, I noticed some dust from the wood stove was landing on the fabric.  Now it lives in a project bag I made last year. 

Next up is the Inspired by Joy crochet blanket.  I'm following the tutorials by Mikey of the Crochet crowd. 

Project Name: Inspired by Joy

Started: Dec. 26, 2022

Finished: 

Designer/Source: The Crochet Crowd

Yarn:

Color A - Red Heart - White

Color B - Caron One Pound - Rose 

Color C - Caron Jumbo - Rosewood

Colors: white and rose colors with hints of green.

Required Amount: I purchased two skeins of each color

Needle/Hook Size: 5.5 mm /  I/9

Gauge: beats me ; pattern calls for 13 dc x 6 rows = 4″ [10 cm]

Made For: Myself, maybe

Dye Lots: Will find that out later.

This is a crochet-along.  First part was released on Dec. 26, and the rest of the parts will be released on the following Mondays.  This is my first time doing something other than easy crochet.  It's been a trip. Took me a lot longer than I thought to finish the first part.  The pattern has a lot of texture in it, and then the first part there was a bit of a goof in the tutorial, so I had to discern what he was trying to explain, without actually seeing it. It's giving my brain a bit of a work out. 

When I'm not working on it, it's living in a tote. 

Up next is a cross stitch chart I recently purchased from Etsy. 

Project Name: #723 Snowflake

Started: Jan. 1, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Tiny Cross Stitches

Fabric: Aida cloth 14 count Hobby Lobby Zweigart. Aida has silver threads running through it. 

DMC floss in called for colors

747 ; 964 ; 995 ; 996 ; 3756 ; 3761 ; 3843 ; 3846 ; B5200

Colors: blues

Needle Size: 26

Made For: Myself

I took the time to grid this fabric up with a fabric marker that disappears with water.  I spent some time on youtube looking for ways to grid fabric and came across this gal's tutorial. Her youtube handle is Stitching Jules. 

The floss is so pretty all mini-skeined up. 

Project Name: Happy Valentine's Day SAL Chart is only available in the group. 

Started: Jan. 1, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Cherry Hilly Stitchery Chart is only available in the group. 

Fabric: 14 count aida I dyed aquamarine 

Floss: Called for DMC and recommended DMC for the substitutions for fancy floss.

B5200 ; 310 ; 321 ; 3345 ; C816 (A floss I included in case I want to add a bit of sparkle

Stitch count: 77w x 58 h

Size: 4 5/6”w x 3 5/8”h on 16ct/equivalent.

Needle Size: size 26

I originally thought I'd stitch this on white aida.  Then I saw someone's photo in the group and they had pink hand-dyed aida and I though "ooo!" 

I have no pink or red rit dye and I wanted to do something today.  I thought aquamarine would be fun. Fabric was still damp when I took the photo. I can't wait to see how much it lightens up when it is fully dry. 

If I don't like how it looks I will rip it out and save the fabric for something else.  I will introduce the rest of the projects as I start them. 

My last WIP is some fiber that I've had on the spinning wheel for several years. Each year I participate in a spinning even and I've been spinning that same fiber. This is the year I wrap it up!

This is an old photo so you can see what the color is. It's Grey Corriedale.

I don't know how much I have left, but it's got to be less than a pound.  Half a pound? I don't know. I'm getting so close to being done! Then I'll figure out the yarn weight and I can start a sweater with it. 

Meanwhile, Miss Furby June was been in a mood all day.  At one point I booted her outside for a bit and I don't think it cooled off her little attitude. 

She's been scratching in her tote all day, making a mess of things.  She's kicking pine shavings into her food and water dishes.  I can't tell you how many times I've cleaned her dishes out. 

My little brat regrets nothing.