Colour change

I want it to be spring so this is as close as I can come. Now I have to go take the DGD to swimming and then pick up my knitting pattern that I left in Inge's car.

More fabric .............................. WELL

I have to make a quilt for my niece and she chose colours that aren't all in my stash.............. so I had to go buy some ....... right?????
Today was Fat Quarter Tuesday at ......................... Quilt shop in Bellingham. I wasn't going to go because I don't need any more fabric and I didn't want to spend the money but........................................ Inge and Jocelyn forced me to go with them............................................. Yes they did.....................................................HONEST .............................................. Inge told me Saturday that I was going if they had to drag me kicking and screaming................................ Not a good thing for the neighbours or Shelby to see so I went quietly. Many Fat Quarters later I am home and here are photos of my purchases. That Margaret wasn't even able to join us for lunch as she was so busy at work.

I think these will make a nice quilt. What do you think???


I bought two japanese print fat quarters and ....





these are just because.





Saturday I finished a Dear Jane block for Rosa and Sunday Iris, Celeste and I played with UTEE and stuff.



Yesterday I did next to nothing trying to recover from a very busy week. I did some knitting and finished this bag. The pattern is Pinwheel Purse from "Modular Knits" by Iris Schreier




The yarn was hand-spun I did about 15 years ago and I felted it slightly. Instead of a button I used a broach I made many years ago when I still did petite point.

We found it

Well today we went shopping for Wedding dresses again and ................................................. we found one........................... Hurrah. It is a lovely dress and Cory looks gorgeous in it. It needs to be shortened and taken in a little around the hips so is at the dress makers right now. She got her shoes and veil as well all for under $500. I am exhausted but so are Molly and Cory.

I am losing it............

I am not sure what IT is so that makes it hard to find it. Yesterday when I got dressed I put my shirt on inside out and my jeans on back to front and no they do not have a zipper (elastic waist). Fortunately I discovered this right after I did it so didn't go out in public. Besides the jeans felt funny.
Last night was pool hall night, there was 8 of us, no 7. The Yarn Floozies didn't come so they must have gone to Three Bags Full. Today 2 of my quilting friends are coming over to knit and tonight is knitopia.
Tomorrow is Wedding Dress shopping again , Saturday is quilting at Jocelyn's and Sunday is Multi- media group here.
I also started the Twisted Wrap for Cory. I know........ I KNOW .........I have the 2 shawls to do for other people but I can;t do them at knit nights.

I saw the ring

Cory came over today to pick me up to go shopping for her Wedding dress. WE SAW HER RING and it is very large and beautiful. I will take a photo of it next time I see her. There is 3 large diamonds and a bunch of small ones.

We met my friend Molly in New Westminster and started shopping. OH MY GOSH we must have seen a zillion gowns................................. and some of them are really awful ................................I am sure they must suit some people but ......................aaaawwwwwwwwcccccckkkkkkkkkkk............................. I can't think who .............. but most of them were lovely.

Cory must have tried on at least 25 dresses. We found 5 that looked good on her and she liked but nothing that said "THIS IS IT". The other thing we found out is the larger sizes go first ............. now Cory wears a 12 but she had to try on a 16 to get enough room in the bust. You would think that they would make wedding dresses a little larger than the normal size rather than smaller. Mind you maybe Cory is a 16 bust and a 12 waist and hip. Friday we go again and hopefully we will be successful. We all went home very tired. I am not sure why but watching some one try on wedding dresses is almost as tiring as trying them on.

Can you believe that I did 3 postings today ......................... must be a record.

Engaged

Our Daughter Cory is engaged and they are sort of eloping to Mexico in April to get married. They don't want a big ceremony so are going to be married on the beach in Mexico. She got a ring last night but I haven't seen it yet.

Girls day

Yesterday we had an ABBA girls day. We were going to go to Margaret's house but Lisa forgot her passport so Margaret and Jeanette met us in Langley. We shopped in Home Sense, had lunch in a lovely restaurant. We ordered a salad and 3 appetizers to share, split a bottle of red wine and all tasted Lisa's fancy drink. For dessert we ordered 5 different ones. We past them round and round the table , tasting each as they came to us until they were all gone. We shared what was going on in our lives and after lunch we went to Chapters. Then Sherri, Lisa and I had to leave so hugs all around and we hope to meet in Whistler next month.

Photos of purchases and presents from the spinning retreat

This fiber is actually more rust than red. It is BFL that will end up as a hat or scarf or gloves or.....................

BFL that I spun at the retreat.

This is green BFL plied with a rayon thread but I need to put more twist in it as you can see.

This silk hankie was part of my door prize along with spinning oil and stitch markers all in a nice re-usable bag.

This was my gift from the gift exchange. Isn't she lovely and did you notice the quilt on her back.


Well it is now 5:30 am and I think I will go back to bed and see if I can get more sleep.

Messy house

Well I spend a day and a half resting and yesterday I went to Jackie's to quilt. I worked on one of the blocks I owe Rosa, after I fixed Laura's knitting. Last night I went to the Pool Hall to knit. Finished the 'Magic Scarf"( its not really very magic). It's a gift for a friend.
OOOOPS no photo. I guess I should get my camera out and take some photos of things I bought and made.
Today I have to find the kitchen and vacuum DOG HAIR . I may find time to run my green yarn through the spinning wheel again as the rayon thread is too loosely plied to the wool.
Tonight is fiber night at Knitopia so Gail, Sharon and I are planning to be there as we have a surprise for Lynn (the owner).
I am working on the sample shawl for knitopia and the Test shawl for Mario (aka Leo) so I need to get those done before I tackle anything else. Then it is a balaclava for Jamie, a moebius stole for Cory, Scarf for Che, mukluks for Liz and Candice, also something for Jill if she would sit down here long enough to pick something out of my books.
I am going to try and make at least one item to put in the gift box each month even if it is just a wash cloth. That way I should have a stash of gifts.
I also need a mindless project to do when I am knitting and visiting as that is not a good time to do lace unless you want to rip it all out afterwards............... NOT me......... I do enough ripping as it is. Therefore I have started another pair of socks in a 6 ply Opal as it will knit up a little faster than regular 4 ply sock yarn.
I think I am going to design a pair of fingerless mitts done from the top down on two circulars . Can't decide if I will put in a lace pattern or a cable one. Need to think on that........................... this may take a while as "sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits" (Pooh).
I really don't want to do house work today. Does anyone else hate unloading the dishwasher. I quite like loading it. Its sort of like doing a puzzle............. how many dishes can I fit in and still have them come out clean. Unloading is just not a challenge.................. anyone want to come and do my housework so I can knit spin and quilt???????
I can't even blame the mess on Shelby but how about Bill and the dog? I of course have not contributed to this disaster. I think the knitting and spinning fairies have left all this fiber on every seat (but 2) in the living room................. and all the other flat spaces.

Resting

I am resting today from all the activity I have been involved in the last two weeks. I went to the Langley Weavers and Spinners Guild retreat on Friday with Gail and we had a great time. (Boy was Shelby ever mad at me for going away again.) Friday night was spinning and shopping until about 11:00 when we went to bed. Gail had insomnia ............................ it took her 5 minutes to fall asleep............. That was probably because she kept telling me that we only had one and a half days left at the retreat................... crazy woman.
Saturday we were up about 7:00 , breakfast at 8;00 then more spinning, shopping, door prizes, a scavenger hunt, food and more spinning.My door prize was a small bag of dyed silk hankies, stitch markers and spinning oil all in a lovely reusable bag.
There was lots of laughter and meeting new friends...................... one of the best things is we didn't have to COOK.
That night we managed to stay up until 12:30 .................... I think. Gail went to sleep right after saying we have to go home tomorrow. Sunday was gift exchange day and I received a sheep ornament and the little sheep was wearing a quilt............ very appropriate for me.
I think I was fairly restrained in my purchases. I bought 2 books and 2 small packages of fiber. I have spun up the blue BFL and started on the brown BFL. They will become projects from the "One Skein Wonders " book I bought.
Tomorrow I will post photos from the retreat. Today I am just too lazy to put new batteries in my camera and take photos.

THEY TOOK IT.................

It was my own fault because I forgot about stuff in containers ................................................... but it was MY HONEY that Deb and Chris gave me. I was so annoyed because the security person was no help at all in fact if I took his advice I would have missed my plane............................................. irritating man. I told him some one should take it home as It is very good honey. Maybe I can get Deb to send me some more.

Here are some photos of my son and his fiance, plus my purchases at the Golden Willow. If you are a knitter and you go to Regina you HAVE to go that shop. They have wonderful spinning and knitting supplies.

This is Liz ............... she is a little crazy but lovable.



My eldest child and only son, Che.



Juanita took this picture of me having my first (and last) Pizza Pop. They couldn't believe I had never had one.


My purchases at the yarn shops minus the books.



These are my suitcases when I left. The small blue case has my clothes and I thought I would be able to leave the sports bag with Che and only have 2 pieces of luggage going home ......................................... NO .............................. Che and Liz sent so many things back with me that even my coat pockets were bulging


These are my finished projects minus a photo of the gold mitts I gave to Liz.
I made these for me and then gave them to Liz but they are a little big for her so I left them for Shannon and made the gold ones for Liz. I finished them just before I went out the door to catch the plane so there is no photo.

Mitts for Rhyann from the leftovers from my fingerless gloves.

Bill's socks.


My fingerless gloves
.

It was a wonderful trip and a rather tearful goodbye for me but I am happy to be home. Hopefully I will see them again soon.

Home

Well just about everything is packed and ready to go. My plane leaves at 4:15. It was wonderful to see my son and meet Liz and her family. I am going out for coffee with Florence (Liz's Mom) this morning at the biggest Tim Horton's in Canada.
I haven't bought any more fibre but I did finish the socks for DH and have almost finished another pair of mitts. I have requests from Liz and Candice for these felted mukluks in Canadian Living and Che wants a scarf so I guess I will be busy when I get home. May try to do them for Birthdays that are coming up.
I thought would be going home with fewer bags but Che and Liz had so many presents to send back with me I still have 4 bags. The only thing is they aren't as heavy as they were when I came.
Che had to leave yesterday to go back to work but we did spend time together on the weekend. It was rather a tearful good-bye for me but hopefully he will get out to see us this summer and maybe Liz can come too. It would be great if Bill could meet Liz's grandchildren but I KNOW they won't bring them. They are a lot of work especially Adain who at 1 is into everything and especially those things he knows he shouldn't be into. He is already a terrible tease and as cute as can be. He is going to be a heart breaker when he is older.