Everything has been changing... Wait, what!?! It's April?

Where have you been! Naughty, naughty Mrs.Kitty! You are free to scold me for my lazy blogging and my lack of posts and I will take the slap on the blogging/stitching/crocheting hand. I've had so many changes in the past few months. Quit my job for another one, this was a good move and I went from being very unhappy every day to being much more calm and comfortable with my situation. Considering I shaved off 20 miles from my drive each way I'm practically doing handstands.

Meanwhile during all of this change I made myself a blanket. I've done a few scarves with crochet but nothing too major so I took the plunge when I saw the homespun yarn on sale. I bought 4 skeins and started to crochet, I got several rows in and decided that I wanted it wider so I pulled it all out and started again and little by little it began to get longer and longer. I bought another 3 colors to add in (good sale not going to pass up) I watched many, many TV shows (thank you Netflix) while I worked on my blanket or I suppose it may qualify as an afghan. I watched True Blood (new book is out in May!), Farscape, Hercules and my favorite of them all Legend of the Seeker (canceled, so unfortunate). I approximate that it took me in the neighborhood of 80 hours to hook this all together.
Since I've finished it I see that it has a tenancy to travel. I leave it on the couch, I find it on my bed when I get home, I put it on a chair and find it wrapped around either my husband or son (the boy is wrapped in it now). Not to mention my cat that was hell bent and determined to sit on it during the crochet process and now whenever I have it over me she must curl up and fall to sleep. It really was very cute and yet annoying when I would sit to work on it, get a row done, have to pick up the cat to flip my work and she would scoot right back on it till I was finished with the next row and the process would repeat.. times 80 hours or so. Silly kitty >^_^<

Of course you must want to see pictures of this monster that I've created, It's not perfect.. far from it but I'm proud of it and pleased that the men folk and the little furry friend in my house have received it well. The dog is not allowed to be on it only because her claws are not kind to blankets and I'm a little afraid that it may get damaged as to me it seems fragile. It's still so new to me.

First let's have a look at the colors, I chose just about every homespun yarn that tickled my fancy and mashed them all together. I did a single crochet for 11 rows then switched to double chain for 3 and in one spot I think I did 4 rows, then back to single crochet for the reminder of that color's skein.



This sucker is LONG too, I wanted it to be long enough to cover my hubby. We estimate (only because I can't locate my tape measure) it to be 8 ft long (hanging) and around 5 ft wide.


Okay, time to look at my yummy colors, in order:








My Lovely Creation..


I'm back to the wizard cross stitch and should have an update for it sooner rather than later. Hope all is well for everyone out there in their stitchy real worlds.
Keep on stitching!

Cross stitching update and a little rant.

How time flies when most of what you have in life is work and the commute to and from. I'll let you in on a secret, I don't like to drive. I like to take trips, Oh yes... Packing and planning and all of the things that I don't need but remember to bring. But the daily grind, yuck! I have a 1 hour drive now and man oh man I do not look forward to it. Once I arrive at work I'm great, work is fun and I am enjoying the new people all around me. When it's time to go *sigh* my shoulders sag a little and back into the car I go for my 1 hour drive. Although it has given me a chance to listen to some older CD's from my collection of 90's rock but even then... the drive, the traffic, the monotony. Most unfortunately public transit is not on my side considering the hours that I work. 11:30 AM to 8:00 PM PST. (slight light at the end of the tunnel will be changing in the start of November to 10:30 AM to 7:00PM PST) Otherwise I would just sit back and stitch away riding the light rail.
Needless to say, perhaps my bit of whining was a little unnecessary. I have made some progress on my Cross stitch wizard.



Anywhoo.. I also wanted to share a project that I bring out each year. The story behind my creepy little house is that one year I dressed as the Wicked witch of the East... East right? You know the one, Dorothy's house landed on her. Well this was the house-hat I made for myself that year. Since then it is part of they little Halloween village that is slowly becoming more recognizable as a village. Honestly I have been quite pleased with my handy work on this little house that I thought that given the season I would share it with you all.





I spent a bunch of time explaining what I was supposed to be that year. Given that our theme was Wizard of OZ I thought it would be obvious... House on my head... Dressed as a witch... Guess not. Now it is part of my yearly tiny Halloween village, My son loves it (he's almost 8) and now he wants to make one too.

Well hope to post again before too long.

Till then... keep on stitching!

Kitchen towels for Mother and a cross stitch update

How to break this down? I thought that I could do 1 post per day but I don't think that I am patient enough to wait all 7 days for them all... So I think that I will cover it all here in this post, huge as it will be.
My dear Mother never asks for any sort of stitchy items, she always remarks on what I show her and she is always interested in hearing about my most current projects. When I did the chickens for my neighbor I caught the strong vibe from her that she would like her own set of towels. After searching through my collection of patterns via my computer, I found what I felt to be the perfect set for her. Day of the week flowers, and I set about getting them all stitched up one by one.
I honestly do not know whom the maker of the patterns are, I had to enlarge them prior to printing them, after I printed I found that the lines were not very sharp at all due to my enlargement so I went over them in black fine felt tip to get a nice crisp pattern from them. I don't use a fabric pencil for my tracing, I rig up a sort of poor-woman's light box to trace them onto my fabric using a standard #2 pencil a glass coffee table and an old desk lamp that is bendy and that I can face upward towards the glass. I think that when I have a chance I will scan my patterns into the computer and post them here so that they can be shared, I would normally reference where I located them but honestly I can't remember what blog/web site I pulled them from.
Onto the stitchery... let the insanity begin.

Starting with Saturday as it is Saturday today... still.




I think that I'm in love with how Sunday turned out.





Monday looking lovely.





Tuesday is another of my favorites.






Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday. I think it's the floss I chose for the writing but I just could not find a variegated floss color that looked right.





Thursday, I may do some bookmarks with this design I got quite a few compliments on the colors that I used for it.





Friday is so bright and cheery to finish out the week.





Here they all are ready to be given to my Mother.


She loved them, she even had tears in her eyes and told me that Grandma Lefa would be very pleased to see the hard work and would not know what to say. But that they reminded her more of what my Grandma Lois would have stitched up... it means so much to me to hear that, Grandma Lois taught me to embroider when I was around 7 or 8. I often think of her when I embroider and thought of her very much during the stitching of these towels. Here is the ugly truth though... My mother doesn't want to use them, afraid to ruin them! And to share another tid-bit... the chickens I made for my neighbor... she won't use her's either!
After all that work, I just feel a bit sad to think of them laying in a drawer for years not really being enjoyed. I'm proud to have made items for people that hold their gift in such high regard but I think that they are more honored in usage. I know that they are pretty and mom used the words keep-sake. But really, I made them to be enjoyed, touched and used.
I have a set of towels that I made for my kitchen and I use them all of the time... they make me smile and add a little personality to my kitchen.
They live here if you wish to see all 6 just view the embroidery set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrs_kitty/2915157399/in/set-72157607898983071/

*sigh*

How about a cross stitch update...?



Keep stitching my stitchy peeps! I know I will!

I'm sure I can learn a few more... Crafts

Long ago when I was more than a little young my Grandma had tried to teach me to Crochet, I'm not sure if I was just not patient enough or if I just didn't want to learn but I was never able to quite get the concept. Started a couple pot holders but never finished anything I started, and really never started much of anything.

Jump into the recent past... after my former department transferred to new management I met a lady that would turn out to be a wonderful friend.. well, more than one person turned into a friend but this lady knows how to crochet and did it in her spare time at work. We would sit in our cubicles her crocheting and I embroidering. Anyways we agreed that I needed to learn how to Crochet and so began my revived effort.

The very first try I ended up pulling all apart. It was wonky in every way, starting wide and getting narrow and then wide again then narrow (the second try did too... see below) but as I had intended it to be a snowman scarf I decided that I didn't care. The yarn was too rough to be used for anything very nice and the only stitch that I have learned so far is the double Crochet.



I used the entire Package of yarn on it, so it is long and wonky.


I chose a much prettier yarn for my scarf that I intend to wear and enjoy, I also used the entire package of yarn on it. My second try turned out nicer, much less wonky and very soft.







My sweet son has chosen rainbow yarn for his scarf, I'm poking along on his and I think it should be done by the time he needs it for fall. I'm going to make his much shorter as he is only almost 8. (Starts 2nd grade tomorrow!)



In Other News...

Sadly my Garden was a failure this year. Nothing wanted to grow and we just didn't try very hard to make it work. I did however get lovely rhubarb again, it was growing here when we moved into the house and I just love having it. Not everyone likes rhubarb but I find it tart and tasty. It always reminds me of my Grandma Lefa. I use her recipe to make mine every year. This year I'm making 2 more, one to bake and one to freeze for Chistmas. I'll take it out of the freezer and pop it into the oven... I will let you all know how that works out come December.



What would summer be without Shortcake?


And Finally....

I bet you thought I forgot all about my stitching... Nope not yet. I have finished my Mother's gift and just need to photograph and present to her, so watch for those posts. More recently I started a cross stitch, I don't cross stitch often but I find that the neat squares in their proper order is relaxing to me, soothing in a chaotic world. I purchased this kit a while back and had tucked it away in my crafting supplies earmarked ad "rainy day project" My son loves Harry Potter and we agreed that the Wizard reminds us of Prof. Dumbledore with Harry's owl flying along. It's not really but I don't think it matters. I'll stitch it up and frame it for his room.



Progress shot so far.



Happy stitching to one and all!

Flowers, garden... and weeds.

If only life were as simple as it is in movies, spending my day whiling away my hours stitching, trimming my garden and waiting for a rich man to come and ask for my hand... Yes. I have been daydreaming about life in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Needless to say my garden looks nothing like those in that fantasy world. I did however manage to grab a few pictures of some flowers in between rainstorms. It has rained 21 days straight and yesterday was our first dry day! I weeded will my arm was sunburned and my back ached, there is still a monster waiting for me but in a few short weeks I will have more time to spend making everything lovely.

My stitchy project is moving along quite nicely but I have to hold off on posting pictures as I don't want to spoil the surprise for my mother. :)

I actually managed to get to the garden center on their Fuschia sale and got this tiny variety. I think they are sweet.


With all the rain it is sort of amazing that these are going red, 5 years ago I has bunches of them at this time of the year. This year... not so much.


My garden has patches of forget-me-nots, I believe they are hitchhikers from my compost. I really don't mind them in the garden, I find that the bees love them too. :)


And the un-weeded zone. Aeahhhhh!! I must say clover has become the bane of my existence, creeping and twining in and out of the strawberry plants.
I will never again let me garden go for a year! Bad! Bad Mrs.Kitty!




Clamtis looking healthy this year.


I just adore Columbine I actually have a few other varieties but did not get pictures before they were all gone.








I just had to cut some of these and take them to the office, I wish that Ponies were not so temporary.


Just to add in... My neighbor loved these so much!


Keep stitching!
>^_^<