I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd put something on today. It's been so smokey here from all the fires but we're ok. Just have to stay inside to breathe. I sure hope the air clears soon. Especially for those with asthma and other breathing problems. It's kinda scarry for them. We've had a lot of extra time on our hands because of things being cancelled due to the poor air quality, and staying home to stay out of the smoke and out of the way of fire trucks and evacuees. You'd think I'd be busy crafting but since I have to stay home I get restless and want to do anything but that. I did manage to weave a rug this week though on one of the days that I had the news on all day. And, my daughter is weaving one right now while I'm doing this. Other than that I've mainly watched news and cleaned the house. I'm going a little stir crazy. My daughter's school is closed today and now we have an open weekend too. Hmmmm? What to do?!

I don't like to post without a picture and I don't have anything new and exciting to show so here's a picture from beautiful Julian, CA taken last fall. They are under evacuation again. I sure hope the town makes it through.

Busy Fun!

Wow! Things have been so busy around here lately...but I managed to get the binding sewn onto my quilt this week. Hooray! That makes two quilts this year that I started and completed. It's such a great feeling of satisfaction. This one is the first one that I've ever made that I had professionally quilted after I did the piecing. There's a back side to it too...I figure that if I'm putting so much time and money into it I may as well make it two quilts in one. The back is mostly plaid with a big pieced square in the middle. I like it. I made this with Moda Charm Packs in the Chocolate series and yardage from the same line, except for the plaid. I made it to hang over our loft wall to add color and warmth to the living room. I'm really happy with it. In fact, I can't believe I did it! It's so awesome to see it with it's handsome quilting (leaves and vines) and the edging came out so nice. Ahhh! Fun! Besides that I've been so busy with my daughter's life. She's playing her harp in her high school production of "Midsummer Night's Dream" as a fairy. So, I had a costume to sew and lots of taxi service to provide taking her and her harp back and forth. Last week she practically lived at school as they rehearsed until late each night and then two performances. This week has less rehearsals so I've been able to see her a bit. There are two more performances. The kids all do a great job. It's a fun show to see. We were able to find some time a couple weekends ago to go out and take some pictures with her and her harp (something we like to do from time to time) and I got some pix of her modeling a shrug-vest thing I knitted. It turned out really cute. I'm just not sure if it's ok to post her picture on here. I know some people say it's not a good idea to do. Not sure why but I guess I'll go along with that, for now anyway.

I'm pretty excited about quilting after completing the binding on this one last night but I need to focus on other things. Especially since Christmas will be here before we know it. I need to really get busy on gifts. So....I think that's what I'll go do right now.

Happy crafting!

Free Form Fun!

Ok...I can't wait...I have to post this strange looking bit of fun that I'm having. It doesn't look like much yet...or maybe it looks like a sun? or a flower?...anyway...it's my free form crochet bag that I'm making. It's so much fun that I'm having a hard time putting it down. It's more time consuming than it might look and I've been working on it so much that my left hand is cramping up. But it is so much fun because it requires creativity every step of the way. Selecting colors, textures, combinging yarns, and figuring out how I want to crochet the next row. So much fun!!!

A Gourd, A Scarf, and a Purse

I'm working on several things right now and nothing is ready for it's 'Kodak moment' yet and I don't like to post without a picture. Pictures make it more fun. So, here's a picture of a gourd bowl that I made a while back. I cleaned, cut, cleaned again, drilled, sanded, stained, sanded, stained, sanded, finished, and crocheted. Now it does a great job of looking pretty on our desk containing all the wires for our "wireless" devices....phones, ipod, etc. I have some ideas rolling around in my head to work with another gourd and incorporating fiber into the design.

I haven't worked on the lace again...yet. My mom is doing a couple of rows a day on hers...probably about all she can stand since it's so hard to knit those angled stitches. So, I've been working on the scarf that was suppose to be a "two hour or less" project...wrong! I have no idea how long it has taken but it sure wasn't two hours or less. I bound off this morning and even though my gauge is right it's too small. So, I get to be creative to make it fit. So I started crocheting around it and adding some little ties to the corners. So far so good. I need to give my hands a rest though. I knitted and crocheted pretty much all day yesterday and my hands are feeling tired and sore. I went to Crochet Cafe and enjoyed the company of some ladies that took a free form crochet class last week and were working on some purses from the class. I was inspired and came home, pulled some yarn from my stash, and got to work trying to re-create what they're making. I got the basic idea of the construction and because it's "free form" there are no rules...that's pretty cool and fun! So far so good...it's looking like the ones I saw yesterday. Right now it looks like a spider but it's coming along. Pretty exciting.