birthday fun

Yesterday was my birthday. A big one! We had a very nice family party, Amber did all the baking & cooking. I spent a good part of my day doing extra special things like cleaning! Doesn’t the kitchen look shiny? I’ll spare you the master bathroom but it’s shiny too.

I was spoiled with all manner of good things! Naturally there was cake, German Chocolate and very fancy, she also made this. Tyler gifted me a Craftsy class I’ve had my eye on. Amber & Evan gave me some fun things for my terrarium and Kellen & Ethan have added considerably to my knitting fun and comfort with a book I’ve wanted and a nice ottoman for the living room. Jerry is home for the weekend which is probably my favorite thing!

Looking forward to the ‘BIG GAME’ this weekend (the ottoman will come in handy,) just in case you don’t know who we’re rooting for, here’s Kellen with a hint….

Now I should go clean my sewing room (with its very snowy view) some more.

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PS – just saw my neighbor ski by out the sewing room window :0)

pillowcases & pancakes

I am really trying to get the sewing room cleaned out for 2014. It’s become so cluttered I can hardly think in there! I’m trying to just get rid of most of what’s in there that I don’t use directly for Impie, Hattie & Bea, the webshop, and maybe one or two other projects – the rest HAS TO GO! I need to attack it when I’m feeling ruthless, that doesn’t happen very often!

I did run up a batch of pillow cases with some larger fabric pieces I had stashed and from some miscellaneous bolts I have on hand. I used about a yard for a standard pillow, a half yard more for a king sized. I love the mis-matched look of these and they feel nicer (and are finished nicer) than the mid-priced sheet set pillowcases I usually use. I have a few more fabric pieces to do up, I might blog a tutorial if anyone has an interest. I need to stop looking at these pictures, it might bring on a nap and then I’ll lose momentum!

And, just perfect after a night’s sleep on pretty pillows, blueberry pancakes – yum!

Yzma says hello.

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November!

There were 6 balloons in the sky on the way to church this past Sunday :0)

It’s hard to believe that much of 2013 has already passed. We celebrate our 29th anniversary this month and Jerry has a birthday. I’m already looking forward to Thanksgiving and it’s time to finalize Christmas gift ideas.

I will give you a final report on the Flood Relief Fundraiser in my next Rocky Mountain Wednesday post. Together we’ve raised well over $300. I can’t total it up just yet there are still some donations enroute at this point. I thank you so very much. I have a few creative ideas for what we’ve raised, I’ll be keeping you updated on that as well.

You may have noticed that there was no Rocky Mountain Wednesday post this week. I’ve been extrememely busy in the work room as you can guess. I am starting to feel a bit better, I don’t have to take my cough medicine round the clock anymore – thankfully. Ethan took a pretty bad tumble on Wednesday while we were out shopping. He has a badly sprained ankle which I thought must have been broken at the time. Thankfully I had Tyler and Kellen with me. Tyler was able to carry him to the car and Kellen had just bought himself a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream which the boys immediately thought to apply to the injury – as an ice pack although eating might have been beneficial to my nerves. Ethan is in very good spirits about the whole thing.

I have some knitted gifts underway for the holidays, I won’t be sharing many photos of those til January but here are a pair of mitts I knitted for myself early in October and which I may or may not be knitting more of for gifting… I used this pattern and this yarn. I’ve already gotten quite a bit of use from these especially when we were in Avon recently.

Yzma says, Happy November!

PS – I don’t know if you have to be logged into Ravelry for the pattern link to work….someone let me know if you have a chance please – thanks!

a few random things

I’m up to my eyeballs in orders to be sewn and shipped so here are just a few random things. I did take a short break from all the the sewing I have to do to….sew something. Actually I was trying to get the tension sorted on my machine and decided to zip these charm pack squares together for another little back yard quilt. Hanging it in the window gives it a pretty stained glass look I think. It’s not going to stay there but I enjoyed seeing it like that. Eventually I’ll get it truly made into a quilt but probably not this week.

Other things, my girls bird watching. Goodies Tyler has rounded up for his new apartment. Some mini quiches I made with leftover pie crust dough from the last quiche I made (crust recipe on my food page if you’re looking for a good one), and some grocery store treats. I can’t remember the last time I found perfectly ripe pears. Ethan hopes to keep this beautiful back yard bloom (where it had no right to be to begin with) around as long as he can. It’s still looking pretty good after 5 days on my windowsill.

Happy Monday!

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a rainy afternoon

It’s cool and cozy and I just want to watch the raindrops with Yzma and knit but I must keep sewing :0)

Have a sweet weekend!

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Not sure if this link will work if you’re not signed in (at Ravelry) but this is my Ravelry Project Page for this scarf.

yellow bird

Except it’s blue – Yellow Bird from La D Da. I stitched this up quite a while ago but finally took a few minutes to finish it up this weekend. You can read more about the materials I used here I think…scroll down to older posts about Yellow Bird.

More snow, the girls like to watch it fall, it’s about the only time the three can get along for more than 30 seconds without someone having a hissy fit (Yzma)…I’ve been out in it once to ship orders, would very much like to be home for the rest of the day but boys’ activities may rule that out.

I’m off to do a bit more stitching, some sewing, and some much needed dusting!

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PS – I’ve blogged about the other pincushions here and here.

hello Monday

I spent a lot of time yesterday getting things prepped for a very productive day today. Mondays just never go how I plan them. I did get some things done, not things on my official ‘to do’ list but useful things nonetheless.

I have actually done a bit of personal stitching too that will be something worth showing soon. I’m putting together some threads to make kits for that project and I’m also giving some serious thought to seeing Raspberry Patch from Country Cottage Needleworks on my kitchen wall soon!

I’m waiting on several shipments of inventory just now, some I expected Saturday, some today, tomorrow I expect heaps of mail since I’m still waiting! I did get some yarn to match Yzma’s eyes in the mail today which was nice, I wasn’t really trying to match her eyes…it just happens to.

Hope your week is spectacular!

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PS – the finished, framed, ‘busy’ cross-stitch shown is a kit from Shepherd’s Bush, it also comes with a little hat for the sheep but I liked it better without.

Winter Stitches

I’m beginning to feel much better and get caught up around here. I shipped a box of Winter Thread Pals off to Hoffmans, stitched a little more on my Quaker Sampling III (using DMC 3787 and 40ct lambswool linen), and made some knitting progress on two projects: a light wool scarf and warmer baby alpaca cowl (yarn, pattern).

I still need to get the Christmas tree down and decorations packed away but we still have one more Christmas party to attend so I’m feeling like it’s appropriate to still have the decorations about.

GO Broncos!!

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PS – Hi from Yzma!

knitting and housework

That’s my plan for the day. In reverse order of course, I would NEVER do my knitting before my housework….that is when I’m being exceptionally good, which happens on a rare occasion, now and then…sometimes.

I’ve finished up this super warm scarf. It’s really long and can wrap around the neck nicely and still be as long as my coat. It more than a foot taller than I am so about 75 inches at a guess. I list the yarn and the pattern in this blog post.

Today’s housework includes dusting, vacuuming the cat hair covered steps, and cleaning the bathrooms. I’ll spare you any bathroom pictures. Thankfully I only have to clean the master bath, the boys take turns cleaning the other two.

When I’m all done I think I’ll bake a cake (to justify eating the leftover icing) and get back to my knitting. I’m using Cascade Alpaca Lace yarn in Ecru to make this cowl.

Jerry comes home tonight – yay!

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PS – the Austen cross stitch is by The Sampler Girl and the other is a pattern from Blackbird Designs.

3 little kittens

Yzma

Ophelia

Jane

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