Thursday, August 30, 2012

Words to Stitch By

Moving into a new home is always an exciting thing for me, whether its only five miles or hundreds of miles.  This time it was only across town, but boy is it alot of work anyway.  There is still some painting to do, lots of furniture rearranging, and some serious organizing to do too.  And that's just the inside of the house.  I can't wait to get my hands on the garden.  So there may be some crafty before & afters in the coming weeks (including a hot pink wall in my sewing studio!) but for now I want to share some embroidery that I've been working on when I'm too tired for anything else.

A couple of years ago my shop carried a cute collection of metal wall plaques with various gardening related sayings on them like "Gardeners Know the Best Dirt," and "Don't Just Stand There, WEED!"  There were also a few general sayings, and one that really moved me was "Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You."  Turns out, this is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt and its a great inspirational concept.  Good for small business owners, good for shy people trying to be more outgoing, good for those of us who procrastinate on the hard stuff, good for learning new techniques in your craft.  Good on lots of levels.

I think about it from time to time, so I created a graphic with some fun fonts and started stitching.  Its not a proper sampler, but with its stem stitch, satin stitch and long & short stitches I think it has some interest as a stitchery and its almost done.   It may stay in the hoop, or I may frame it. 


Do you have any favorite inspirational sayings or quotations? Ever think of stitching them up into a little wall decor? 


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Moving

Sorry to be MIA. I'm moving to a new home this week & you know how crazy that can be.

Katie is not sure she likes sitting in the uhaul.


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Olympic Knitting



If you surf the discussion forums on Ravelry, you will know all about the Ravellenic Games when the Ravelry users knit and crochet and spin to their hearts content in honor of, and while watching the Olympic Games.  There are plenty of events, from WIP Wrestling to the Bag & Tote Backstroke and you post your finished items as though you were competing in an event.  Its tons of fun, and all in the spirit of enjoying the Olympics no matter where you live, or what yarnie craft you do.


Since I'm packing to move to a new home (next week!) I haven't had much free time for knitting, but it rained today so I got out a project to finish at work.  I started this cabled cap from Knitting Simple way back in February 2010.  At the time, my father was helping me get my house in Virginia spruced up to put it on the market, and we had 2 blizzards in a row.  My power went out, and I spent a little time working on this cabled cap to go along with a grey Prismatic Scarf (available on Ravelry) I had knitted for him and finished January 2010.  Apparently I never took a photo of the finished scarf though and I'm bummed about that.

Pattern: Cabled Cap, Knit Simple Winter 2006 / 2007
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky, Pewter (less than one skein)
Needles: US10


It's two years late, but its finished!  He will be here this week to help me get settled in the new house so its kind of ironic timing.  Hope he likes it!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Pets on Quilts 2012

Its August already!  That's a little jarring for several reasons, like I'm moving next week and the kiddos start school in a couple weeks (my nephew will be in middle school - nooooo - that's too old!)  and a bunch of other events that hammer home how quickly time passes.  But the fun part is, its time for the Pets on Quilts blog parade!  Pets on quilts and pet themed quilts are of course the focus of this fun blog hop, started by SewCalGal last year.  There are even prizes too!

Pets on Quilts

The Pets on Quilts event runs from August 1 to 12.   Hop on over to Lily Pad Quilting (I had to say hop!) and check out the links to those posts that are already up. 

I'll be posting pictures of Katie & my quilty projects sometime this week, so I'll see you soon!