Some new bags...and other tidbits

I did finish some bags last weekend, and I am finally getting around to posting a picture.

They will make nice gifts, they are tucked away for now.

I thought you all might like to see pictures of how Gorby helps me with my household tasks. First, I fold all the towels.

And Gorby tries out that stack to see that they are indeed folded correctly. And if they are not, she then

divides the stack in half. This requires alot of effort and so she must then take a brief nap before moving on to help me with something else.

Knitting Olympics

Well, I started the knitting olympics last night, and I cast on the Snowdrop Shawl. Well, after working at it today I have realized that the equipment (ie the yarn) I had for my event was not compatible with my event (the Snowdrop Shawl). I have therefore switched events, and I am knitting the North Sea Shawl from the Folk Shawls book. I hope that the equipment and the event will be a bit more compatible!

On another note I have lost my voice, to the delight of my husband. :-)

I have a cold...

but the weekend is only 2 days away and I can get plenty of rest. We had a busy week last week, this week we are laying low and not doing much after work. Jim is working on his basement, trying to get his library done. He's very excited to finally have the space to have all of his books out so he can see them and just pull them off the shelves when he needs to. And he'll be able to sit down there and have a cigar if he chooses.
I have an extended weekend, so I plan on working on Kathy's quilt, and also finishing the socks for my mom's birthday. Those are the 2 main projects. Other than that I have some bags to sew up and Chris from the Quilted Moose finished quilting my trip around the world quilt, so I have to bind that. Chris does an excellent job with her long arm quilting machine, I'm lucky to have her only a couple blocks away. :-)

Trip Around the World

This past weekend I took a quilt class at the Quilted Moose. This was the first class Paige and I took together, and now whenever they have it we take it again because now it's tradition. And we love to do it. We had a good time and I managed to make my quilt top and left it there for Chris to quilt.

I believe this one is all mine, a great quilt for cuddling up on the deck this summer in the evenings. I need to make the binding and then when I get it back from Chris I can get it finished up.

We have Diva this weekend at the shop and we're sewing cute little totes. I need to pick my fat quarters, it takes 2.

American Girl Doll Laker Style

I don't have a pic of the doll wearing her new outfit, but here is the Lake Superior State University cheerleader:

I got a bit of knitting done on some socks this weekend also. Jim and I went to a concert last night and ended up leaving during the third song, the music was too loud and the sound quality was horrible. We ended up at hockey and had a much better time.

Quilting this weekend!

Only 1 more day to get up early for work, and then it's Saturday and time to go to quilting! I am very excited about that. We're doing the Trip Around the World quilt, again. Everytime the class is offered Paige & I take it now. It's tradition, it's the first class we took together. Her sister Judy is going to be taking it this time too, and I'm very happy that the three of us will be sewing away on Saturday. By the end of the day we'll have a quilt top done or just about done.

Sweater KAL

I've decided to do this: http://blog.lionbrand.com/2010/01/14/announcing-our-winter-2010-knit-along/#comments, and when it is done I am going to give it away. Not sure what size I am knitting yet. I need to do my gauge swatch, since the KAL starts today. I have time to do this before hitting the shower to head to work, or at least get it started anyway.
Jim and I are in for a busy weekend. http://www.lssu.edu/whats_new/articles.php?articleid=1915. I'm very proud of him, he's doing wonderful things. And he loves his job...sometimes too much! :-)

Master Knitter Level 1

So far so good. I am working on my level 1 of the master knitter course from www.tkga.com. There are 16 swatches and I am on #15, hopefully will finish 15 and 16 tonight so I can get them blocked and in my binder tomorrow. I have learned from this, and it hasn't been easy. I have never had my knitting judged so I am interested to hear what they have to say when they get my binder. I still have the questions left to answer though, so it will be a couple weeks yet I should think. Then it's level 2!

Diva club Saturday!

Ok, Diva club at the Quilted Moose means sitting and quilting for the day. But today I'm not taking my machine. I am taking my well packed knitting bag. I want to finish up the swatches for my level 1 master knitting course, so that is the plan today. I also threw in some sock yarn to start my mom's birthday socks, and I have a scarf in there I have been working on. So lots to knit. The company shall be good also. But first I need to stop at the grocery and pick up something to munch on, so I better get moving!
And it's very cold up here. I am very thankful that I have a warm place to rest, and I pray for those who are struggling with this weather.

The New Year and finished projects

So I finished out 2009 and started 2010 by finishing up projects. Second sock syndrome no more! 2 pair hot off the needles just for me:

And potholders for the Lady's night at work, we are trying to get more women screened for breast & cervical cancer. I am putting together goodie bags, so far I have made the potholders and started knitting the dishclothes.

And I finished a quilt for ??? It's technically a comforter because I tied it, but it's so cozy!

Not a Christmas quilt, but a winter quilt with snowmen and trees.

So that is the start of the new year, and I hope that it continues to be as good as it started.

Lots of UFO's

I have alot of projects I have started that I haven't finished, and I would like to start the new year fresh. I have several pair of socks started, a shawl, a tank top, quilts, so I have set a goal to finish 3 projects before I start anything new. I am on the gusset of a second sock, so that will be one!
Paige is coming over to sew on Thursday, and I plan on working on a quilt top or two that I need to finish up also!

We're back in the Soo!

We're back in the Soo after a visit down to see my mom and my brother. While we were there I learned that my great-grandmother was a knitter! She was born in 1892 and when she passed away she was survived by 11 children (3 had already passed). The obituary also states she is survived by 45 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren! I was not born when she passed away. Here is a picture of Nellie, my great grandmother,
who knit mittens for children and then tucked a dollar inside. :-) I like her style.

While looking through old pics there was also this shot of me with my brother, when we lived here in the Soo. I was probably 2 or so in this photo.

The weather cooperated for our trip downstate, we passed by ice fisherman.

On the way home the highway was kind of bad,

So I did what every knitter should do, I knit. And knit. By the time we got to the Mackinac Bridge, my sock was almost complete, just a few rounds to do on the toe.

Unfortunately I was so nervous that I knit it way too long for my foot!

Christmas this week!

Hard to believe Christmas is this week. 3 days of work and then I am off for 5. Everything is ready for the holiday so now it's just time to relax and enjoy. We have snow, more is on the way.
I am grateful for what I have, I am thankful for my family, friends and my job. I have a great job that keeps me very busy and it's a job where I get to help people. I couldn't ask for more.

Our winter quilt

Our winter quilt is on the bed, and I love it.

The polar bear fabric is so pretty, and Jim helped pick the coordinating fabrics. I made the pillowcases to match, and I also put the flannel sheets on the bed!

Today we are putting up the tree, Jim just ran to fetch it out of the basement. We had to move the tv and when we did something happened to the cable box, we have cable but no On Demand or cable guide. So I called and ended up ordering new services, as of Tuesday I will have BBC America and 47 other channels in addition to what we have now, and dvr. I think we'll like it.

We have had some snow but not alot, but it's certainly cold and icy in spots in the parking lots.

Home again..

We went to Ohio for Thanksgiving. I got to meet my two nieces, twins, 5 months old. Amazing how they are so different! We ate lots, laughed lots, it is difficult to live away from family. But I remind myself that there are other families that are even farther apart this holiday season. And I am grateful for being able to travel to see ours. I saw my best friend Cheryl, and we shopped. And shopped. All I have left to get for Christmas are gifts for Jim. And some toys for the cats. Even though Jim said I have to throw some out if I am buying new. :-)

My birthday!!!

Today is my birthday, and I took the day off. Because I needed a break, and I don't work my birthday. It's my special day to do whatever I wish. And today I will be writing, working on my novel for http://www.nanowrimo.org/, I have just over 12,000 words. I am finding that having to report in my word count is motivating me. And I am also figuring out that the writing habit that works for me is to write for 30 minutes or so and take a break. Everyone does it different, this is what is working for me. And I am having fun, last night I gave my main character a dog. How cool is that? :-)
I am also going to finish knitting a hat today for the troops, a lady on my knitting list is collecting them to send off.
So those are my big birthday plans, as well as going out to dinner!

Last weekend...

Last weekend we did a mystery quilt class, and I finished a whole quilt top in a weekend (about 64" by 74"). From this:

To this:

Paige did a Scooby Doo:

We had a great time. And I used some of my stash! The snowmen fabric was actually one Paige had given me after I admired it in her stash, she had already made 2 quilts with it.

Hockey again this weekend!

Gorby's Discovery

Gorby has discovered what the birdfeeder is. The little birds are darting from the apple tree to the feeder and back...and she's really loving it! She watches for awhile and then comes to yell at us like "Come check this out!"

I am very glad we put that feeder up for her!

Preparing for winter

So a couple weekends ago I woke up to snow.

To get ready this year we bought a birdfeeder for our cat. Our cats don't go outside, and in the winter Gorby gets very sad when she can't see the birds. So we set this up for her,

It's right outside the bay window where she likes to sit, and I can fill it from the deck and I don't have to try to get thru the snow to it. Hopefully it cuts down on her sighing, she actually does sigh when it snows out!

I finished the baby sweater for my co-worker,

Fiber trends pattern #CH-33, Baby Brights. It's a great pattern.

Jim was given a puppet yesterday, it's going to school with him. The cats aren't too sure about it, Shadow wouldn't even pose with Lil' Doc...see the resemblance? :-) Thanks for the puppet Travis!

Half over

The work week is over 1/2 over and we are headed into a busy weekend. We have hockey games to go to, and we also have tickets to a comedy show. I hope to finish some projects up this weekend, I can knit on the sock at the hockey games, just have to get it fixed, I lost a stitch and had to rip back at the last game. Oh bother! I would like to finish one sock and the baby sweater I am working on. And I really do need a pair of mitts to match my new winter coat I got last year, and it's getting cold enough to wear mitts, we've had snow twice, it just didn't stay.