Mother's Day and This and That

First off, a big shout out to MOM! Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you!

I don't think I mentioned that within this last year my mom got her first computer--so now she reads my blog! That has been a really special treat for me. (Although I can no longer pull something like this.) She now "gets" how fun blogging is and what it means to me.

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I got a special card today and opened it up:

I read outloud "Mommy, your ok." That's nice, I thought, albeit a little less enthusiastic than their usual Mother's Day greetings. How happy I was to be corrected: No! Mom! It says: "Mommy, you rock!" (Whew! What a difference a little translation makes!)

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In some sad news, I was talking this week to a knitter-friend of mine at church, the lady that I mentioned before who lost her niece on Valentine's Day. I didn't know that her niece was also a knitter. She had 8 projects on the needles and my friend is working through them one by one to finish them. I guess this is a way to work through grief but I can't even imagine how difficult that would be. Prayers for her family would be good.

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And I also learned this week that UMCOR is a good agency to donate to if you wish to help people in Myanmar. 100% of your donations go to the relief effort, since all administrative costs are paid by the church. And they are one of the few agencies that already has people in place and permits to be working there now. FYI.

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On a completely different thread, I found myself making last minute teacher gifts before school on Friday. Clarification: these were not the big end-of-year teacher gift. That is yet to be determined. (Teacher Gift Guru Kay, please bestow on us the wisdom that is this season's best idea for teacher gift!) This was a little trinket that they were supposed to bring in for teacher appreciation week, to be contributed to a big class basket. I used some of my favorite fabric purchased at Paducah, to make tissue holders from this great tutorial.

It is especially appropriate for our 2nd grade teacher, since their class had caterpillars this month. The "theme" wasn't as pertinent for the kindergarten teacher, but I figured, who can resist the hungry caterpillar?! He is just the cutest. There is a whole line of Hungry Caterpillar fabric

(see some here and here) and I'm hoping to make a picnic quilt out of it before the end of school. (As if!)

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Speaking of kindergarten, their science project this spring was hatching chicks. My girl was so excited. She dressed up in a dress the day the eggs were delivered. Every day I got an egg report. In honor of the hatching, we made a shirt. Which led to another shirt.

And another.

Wonder-under on the fabric, iron it to the shirt. I recommend a small piece of fusible interfacing on the underside to help stabilize it. Stitch around the shape, adding details as you wish. Couldn't be easier! (Seriously--it's embarrassing that I just typed out instructions.)

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I guess that's it, sorry for the jumble. New knitting projects and FO's up this week. Today I'm giving thanks that, in someone's eyes, "I rok", and wishing you all a rocking day too. Happy Mother's Day.

p.s. I almost forgot to mention a little thing....today is my birthday! What a difference a year makes. Last year I was completely freaked! 40 is hard! 41 is nice and mellow! I'm having a wonderful mellow relaxing day today, and as soon as hit publish post, I'm going to go make myself a delicious birthday pie. Happy day to you all!

Magic Ball Fever

Hello! Since I have an etsy shop update tonight, I thought I whould show you something I finished last month from a Magic Ball. (Tonight will be the last of the Magic Balls until fall--I need to rest my winding arm!)

I was so taken with Jodee's Baby Suprise Jacket that I wanted to make one myself. I was possibly the only person on the planet that hadn't made one and I wanted to see how it was constructed.

Fun! Quick to make, fun to figure out, and adorable finished project. No wonder they are so popular! If I am wrong, and YOU are the only person on the planet who hasn't made one, go forth, now, and make thee a Baby Suprise!

Add some wee buttons and revel in the cuteness.

Specs:

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Suprise Jacket from The Opinionater Knitter, also available as a single pattern from Schoolhouse Press.

Yarn: Sophie's Toes Magic Ball, color Pastel Baby. It only took 1/2 of the ball.

Buttons from Wool and Company.

Notes: I was determined to use the Magic Ball as is, with no "engineering" of how the stripes would be placed. But when I got toward the end, I could see that the only pink section was the one around the sleeve edge (the same stripe that goes across the upper back). And I thought it would look really nice if the pink was repeated. So, I did break my "rule" of leaving the ball alone and just doing whatever came along. When I could see that the last stripe was going to be purple, I took the ball apart and got to another pink section so the front/bottom stripe would be pink. Some rules are meant to be broken--I love the way it turned out.

Quilt Show

Holy Cow! Look at all those quilts!

Here I am in Paducah, Kentucky: Quilt City, USA. I came with Mommy, Grandma, and Aunt Allison. We came to see the quilts.

I am really good at picking out fabric! I tell Mommy which fabric I like (all of it!) and she puts it in the cart. Sometimes she even buys it! (Sometimes she puts it back when I'm not looking.)

I love joking around with my Aunt Allison. Here we are at Hancock's of Paducah.

Quilt shows are hard work. I think I'll make my new fabric into a princess bed and take a little nap. Mom will be back at the blog after she does some laundry and gets back into reality!

Love, Sophie

Just Call Me Auntie Em!

We have a new nephew! He came a little bit earlier than expected, but luckily, (thanks to all those nights on the sofa with Mom) Blue Blankie is finished and I just needed to get it in the mail this weekend.

Here it is before we sent it off, modeled by my own blankie loving boy. If this blankie gets just half as much lovin as this one has, I will be very happy indeed.

Stats:

Pattern: Fiber Trends Easy Knit Baby Blankets, Collection 2

Yarn: Plymount Encore Worsted Color 793 Lite Blue (their spelling-not mine!), 5 skeins

Notes: I made the smaller size and it turned out 34" x 40". While doesn't sound that big, this thing really looks big; it is easily a baby/toddler drag around blanket. I think you could take out 2 repeats and make a smaller blankie, and I would probably do that next time.

Overall: enjoyed the pattern, not the yarn, but it is very pretty, very traditional, very washable, very blue, very Blankie-ish.

Signing off for now,

Auntie Em

p.s. I am going to start answering questions in the comments now so if you are anonymous and asked a question last time, be sure to check back in the comments on the last post for your answer!

Quilty Post

Thank you for the sweater love! I really appreciate your comments! I have a lot more knitting to show you, hopefully I'll get some photos locked and loaded for next week. I also have some questions to answer, so stay tuned.


I hate to use excuses for my lack of posting recently, but really, how often do you get to say "the garbage truck ate my internet." (Meaning--those supersized trucks keep pulling down the cable line that goes from our house to the pole across the street). This has happened 3 times in the past month or so. Seriously, I now brace myself every Monday morning (garbage day) to be without phone, cable tv and internet until Tuesday afternoon or even, heavy sigh, Wednesday. But I think this last cable guy got the line up higher so the problem will be solved for a while. Hopefully.

I went to the Chicago Quilt Festival last weekend. Several people had asked my if I had a quilt in the show this year and I told them no. So imagine my suprise when I walked in and saw a friend who told me that my quilt looked great! I told her, I don't have a quilt in the show. She said "Oh yes, you do!"


This quilt, Trio, won the Master of Contemporary Artisty award in the IQA show in 2001. It won me $5,000 and a trip to Houston. It was my only trip to the Houston show, and I made the trip with my then 5-week-old baby Molly and my sister. That was such a special and exciting trip and I treasure those memories!! The quilt is now in the permanent collection of Quilts, Inc. and they picked it to bring along and decorate their booth. I got to meet Ruth Moya, the show operations manager (above photo, in the middle). She was handing out a questionaire to show-goers.


She is so nice! And it was great of her to take my picture, so I got an unexpected me-with-my-quilt-at-a-show photo. And my clothes matched my quilt, even though I didn't plan* it! So, in case you couldn't tell, from my enthusiasm and liberal use of exclamation points, it was a nice treat to see this quilt again and to have a quilt in the show after all.

Speaking of quilts, I am often asked when I'm going to make a big quilt again. Well, the answer is.....soon. The trouble is, sometimes soon, for me, means a few days and sometimes it means a year. But I'm working on it. This school year has been much busier than I expected with the kids (you experienced moms are shaking your heads and laughing at me, I know) and of course, the yarn takes a lot of time too. I'm feeling a little rusty at the quilting but trying to get the wheels turning again.

In anticipation of starting a big new quilt, I have been spending a lot of time spring cleaning the studio. Clearing out the cobwebs and clutter (literally) has helped clear out the clutter in the brain. You know, the voices that keep telling me that it won't be good.

I spent several days ironing and folding hand-dyed fabric that was messy, disorganized, wrinkled, and scattered around the studio in several piles.
Doesn't that bookshelf look yummy and inviting now? So which stack would you start with? The pinks and oranges?

How about the blues and greens?

I think I hear this stack of periwinkle calling me.....

*Would I normally plan my wardrobe so that I matched my quilt--of course!

Happy New Sweater!

I have tons of love for this new sweater! I really wasn't sure how it would turn out; substituting a woolier, less-drapey yarn, the weird yoke, the bell sleeves, the ruffle at the bottom. But I worked it, bay-bee. And I love it!

Really, I could use about 100 exclamation points during the course of this entry(!), but I will spare you any more gushing. Here's the back:

Here's the yoke:

And here are the specs:

Pattern: Cabled Cardigan by Shiri Mor, Vogue Knitting Magazine, Winter 2007/2008

Yarn: Cascade 220 Quatro Color 5017 Moondance, 6.5 skeins

Mods: Obviously, I omitted the ombre effect that they used in the magazine sample and went with one color yarn. I also added a four stitch seedstitch button band to the front. I omitted the buttonholes in the yoke while knitting the fronts, but placed a marker where they were supposed to go, so I could put them in the same spots when I knit the button band.

A few more details on Ravelry.

Hitting the Hot Spots of Muncie, Indiana

Spring break! Vacation knitting at it's finest.

I took the kids on a little trip to see the Grandparents. Took six projects. Knit a bit on all of them. Here are the highlights:

Calico Cat Magic Ball patchwork scarf went to the Minnetrista Cultural Center.
Scaruffle went to the Muncie Children's Museum.

Periwinkle Cable Cardigan went to the library.

Green stripey sock went to the world's best bakery.

Blue Manos scarf went to the world's best (I'm really not kidding) candy store.

But don't let all those yarny tourist shots fool you. In reality, not a lot of knitting was done while I was watching the kids ransack the museums and bakeries.

The best knitting was done when the kids were tucked in and exhausted, just me and my mom on the sofa, watching the one channel (PBS) that she gets with her rabbit ear antenna on the TV. Knitting and chatting into the wee hours.