daily yarns 'n more

baby surprise

I took off again on Saturday, back to Illinois for a surprise baby shower for a family friend who grew up with my older daughters, and boy was she surprised.

I had made a Dr Seuss baby quilt and a nursing cover up.

This is what I have been working on that has kept me so busy lately.  Now I'm working outside in the yard.  It's been such a long winter and being able to go outside is awesome and the weather has been so nice, I'm absolutely loving it.  I brought back a van full of boxes and odds and ends from my parents home that they've already packed up, and I've been cleaning things out and getting things ready for their arrival.

I hope Y'all have been doing good.

snow bunnies, potatoes and google reader

I bought this cute bunny pincushion pattern from Thimbleanna's shop when we lived back in Illinois, and I just got around to making it now.  I have no idea if I put the front paws on correctly, but I really don't care I'm happy how it turned out.  I'm not going to use it as a pincushion, I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, maybe it'll be my little mascot when I go on quilt retreats.

I love hamburgers on the grill and we grilled out on a Sunday during a Blackhawks game.  I made The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes to go with the burgers.  Mine sure didn't look anything like hers but they sure tasted good.

Changing the subject.

I absolutely can't believe it.  Google Reader is closing.  I found out over at Sandra's blog yesterday, then when I went on my Google Reader there was a message that popped up.  When I first started blogging I used Bloglines, then that closed and I went to Google Reader.  But Sandra was so kind to do the leg work for us.  I think I'm going to go with Feedly.  I've been checking it out and I think I'm going to like it.

Next month I will have been blogging for 6 years, and so much has come and gone in the blog world since I started way back in 2007, that I just roll with the punches.

Have an awesome kind of day :)

 

what's happening

Tomorrow I head out for a quilt retreat, I'll be gone until Sunday.  My sewing projects and equipment are all packed up and ready to go.  I'm really excited to go and hope to get a lot of my UFO's done.

We still have snow on the ground and it's supposed to snow on Thursday afternoon and have accumulations up to 6-8 inches.  I'm glad I won't be traveling in the bad weather.

Sugaring hasn't started yet, it looks like it might be the first part of March.

Pasty was on the menu for this week and I ground up a venison roast and used that instead of ground beef, and it tasted very good.

I saw this idea for a curtain in the Country Sampler January 2013 issue.  It was really advertising for a wire basket and rug panel and the curtain was in the picture.  I loved the look and found some brown checked fabric that I thought would look great.

I added the tie higher up than what the photo showed, to put the curtain down is easy as pie, just untie the tie.

I'm slowly decorating our home here.  I have ideas, and one at a time I'm adding them to our home.  I love our log home, decorating it is a lot different than your traditional home is, it's not easy adding shelves or pictures and I have to be choosy with what and where I put things.

I hope Y'All have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend, I'll catch you next week when I get back.

 

who's expecting?

We are expecting our 26th grandchild next month.  I wasn't able to go to the baby shower in Michigan, so I had to send the gifts I made there.  I made a baby bib on my embroidery machine and knitted a baby hat.  Anyone want to guess which team the hat represents?  If you don't know already they are having a boy :)

I made a blanket out of minky fabric, a Dr Seuss blanket and I threw in a couple of Dr Seuss books.  I do like the minky fabric end results, but dislike working with it.

I can't wait to see our newest grandchild.

 

burlap christmas stocking

Well, I did it.  I made a couple of Christmas stockings out of burlap.  I thought of buying colored burlap but liked the natural color more.

After taking the photos of them, I moved them around some and left them hanging on the tree.

I think I'll leave them there.

 

the-weeks-end

While Jim was out hunting I was putting a lining in the felted bag I had made back in 2009.  I love this bag and only use it in the fall/winter months, but hated that I had to dig for everything, and never could find anything in it, my keys, phone, a pen, whatever it was I was looking for I could never find.  So...I decided to add a lining to it, but I didn't want to go out and buy fabric, so I dug into my fabric scraps, and found that the fabric that I had made the apron for my daughter-in-law with was pretty much the only scrap fabric that would look the best.  I love it!

Also this weekend I made The Pioneer Woman's Fried Mozzarella, these were very good, and I was pretty surprised that I actually got them looking (almost) like hers :)

I just had to take a photo of Jim heading off to the deer stand in the afternoon.  Nothing yet so far, but we're hoping.

I also made lots and lots of cookies that I will be donating to an event that is happening in town over the Thanksgiving holidays.

Whew, I'm tired from such a busy weekend.

How about you, how was your weekend?  Was it busy or relaxing?

 

have i told you lately that i've been busy?

One of my daughter-in-laws wanted me to make her an apron, so in between making Christmas gifts I jumped at the chance to make one, I needed a break from what I've been focusing on, it's not that I was getting tired of what I was doing, I just need to do something different for a while, change it up a bit.

I can't show you what I've been knitting, these are gifts as well.  I'm finally on the last one and I can't wait to be able to show you, but that will have to wait until after Christmas.

Fall garden harvest...kale and carrots taste great with homemade bread and locally raised pork.  We didn't plant a lot of kale but next year we will.  The Pioneer Woman has a recipe for fried kale in one of her cook books which is to die for.

This is a bit of what's been happening around here.

Sewing, knitting and food.  Nothing gets better than that.

 

now that's my kind of coffee cup

Three cheers for cooler weather...Hip-Hip Hooray...Hip-Hip Hooray...Hip-Hip Hooray...and with cooler weather comes the desire to sew.  I found this cute pattern for a cup cozy when I was at the quit retreat.  A couple of us ladies went to the local quilt shop in town there and I just had to get this, it's going to work perfectly, not only next to my sewing machine, but I can take it on my next retreat in the fall.

I just love all the pockets to hold all my items where I can keep them organized.  You can't tell but the fabric is a sewing/craft theme that I had in my stash from oh-so-long-ago.

But aren't you just loving this cooler weather or are you still experiencing the heat?

 

basket love

I had a little bit of a problem with mice getting in the bag that I had on my handle bar, and the saddle bags that Jim bought me that fit over my back tire.  It had been a few years since I've ridden my bike and when we pulled it out of the shed I was just sick to my stomach.  Mice had gotten in all the bags that I had on my bike, there was no saving them as the smell and damage was too much.  So, when we went to Door County I had to get a basket.  I thought when I got home I'd make a liner for it, then when I saw Timbleanna's "Happy Basket" post, I just knew I had to make one, as her's was so cute, and when I saw the bike fabric I remembered the fabric I had found on-line way back in October of 2009.  There wasn't a lot of it, so I tucked it away to use someday, well the "someday" came. 

I looked and looked on-line for a pattern, there were some, but none that would work with my basket.  Then I came upon this blog, which didn't have a pattern, but I figured it out.

The sides are gathered at the bottom to fit the sides and bottom together.

I added a pocket and key clip.

When I'm done riding my bike I can just take the basket off, or take the lining out and away I go.

Now, I can't wait for my next bike adventure.

 

summer :: fall

I finally get to show you a couple of bags I made.  These two were sent down to Texas.  I thought these were perfect for living by the gulf, to be able to cram all their beach stuff in them.  And right when I was about finished with the second one my embroidery machine locked up on me, NOT GOOD.  So, that is in for repair.

But, in the mean time I knitted myself a vest for the fall.  Yes, I have a turtle neck shirt on under the wool vest, and yes the temps were probably in the mid 80's, and no I won't show you my red face from the heat.  Luckily the shot came out okay for me to call it good so I could get the heck out of these warm clothes.

I hope to get visiting you all today, it's just been busy with our weekend project going on here that is almost finished.

You all have a wonderful day!