Leather and Lace

You start with some totally cool leather looking paper that the Hubby picked up last year. You think, "This matches my brother-in-law's couch. What neato thing can I make with it to give as a wedding gift?" You mull. You ponder. You look through this. You get to work.



You stitch away at three little pieces for a week and then you search the stores for three perfect little square frames that you can recover with the above cool, leather paper. You find no such thing. Instead you find a triptych frame and decide to recover just the mat. You dig out your spray adhesive. You spray. You wait. You adhese(?)


You trim, roll and stick. You iron your stitched pieces. You agonize for 35 minutes over arrangement of said pieces. You finally close your eyes and pick randomly. You are totally pleased with the configurement until you realize that it was the first one you tried and you could have saved yourself 35 minutes of worry if you hadn't second guessed yourself.


You snap a picture of the back of the pieces before you place them in the frame and then you totally forget to take a picture of the finished piece before you wrap it up and head off to the wedding. You don't realize this until you are posting about it the next morning and you find no pictures on your camera.



We had a great time at the wedding, just as my new Sister-in Law began her walk down the aisle the sun broke free of the clouds and flooded through the stained glass window at the back of the chapel - it was beautiful and perfect!
I just hope we don't have to wait 10 more years for the youngest Brother-in-Law to tie the knot, we're on a 10 year pattern here folks and the boys are only 1 1/2 to 2 years apart!

Mummers Dance

The Hubby took this pic in late fall about 2 years ago and I just love it. I found it again the other day after he had cleaned up the desk. I have always thought this should be a movie poster or album cover. Its just so ..faerie.

Moving Right Along

...dugga dum, dugga dum.
Nice trip to Rhinebeck on Sunday with Cupcake. I TOTALLY missed the exit for the Taconic Pkwy and as I was passing Albany - realized I had gone too far. A bit of backtracking and we were there by 11. Had a great time perusing the barns, fondling roving and goggling at yarn and Baby Doll Sheep - They look like Ewoks! I want one! or two! We had a couple of good sammiches, crispy-cruchy onion rings, yum, and I only bought enough yarn for a scarf of my very own. I'm using Ms. Zimmerman's Gull pattern for my first lace attempt.
I was a good girl and I had a great time. I only found two squares on my RBB card but I'm fine with that - it was the experience that counts. Nornspinner pulled in and parked right behind us when we got there and we ran into a bunch of other RBB players that were not on my card. Good, good times.





This is the Grumble's new hat, sorta rastafarian - though not planned that way. She likes it, thats all that matters. Simple striped hat knit about 1/3 too big so I could go back with a smocking stitch, I liked making this one.

*sigh* I got a new job this week - I give my notice at the Mega-Bookstore today. For those of you wondering, I'll be working here starting in two weeks! Whee!

Girl With the Weight of the World in Her Hands

The Hubby had some time with the Grumble on Saturday while I was at work and The Bean was on a Girl Scout trip, she's a Daisy :) Doesn't he take a nice picture.





The Hills Are Alive...
And you can see UMass' Library in the background, over there on the left. This was the spot of one of the night caches that they did a last weekend. The Hubby decided to go up and see it in the daylight.




He and I had the same thought this weekend, this is his...








...this is mine.










Rhinebeck was great - I'm not. Something nasty has taken hold of me today. I'm off to get The Bean on the school bus, down some vitamins and suffer through a day of work. I'll try to post tomorrow about the trip - thanks again Cupcake!

Up On Top

The Bean's new hat.

Yep, its a deerstalker. That's what she wanted, that's what she got.

Elementary my dear Watson.

You Don't Know Me

Hello Dear Friends,

I am coming for you. Some will be the recipients of hugs, some inquisitive stares, and a few may indeed be deafened by my "here come my lungs" laugh just before I cross you out.

I warn you now - I Will Find You (unfortunatly not in a great Daniel-Day-Lewis kind of way).

See you in Rhinebeck,
Togbean

Amy - Crazy Lanea (http://www.crazylanea.typepad.com)
Amy - The Hook and I (http://hookandi.blogspot.com)
Andrea - Soapbox (http://noricum.blogspot.com/)
Ann - Annie Knits (http://annieone.typepad.com/)
Bethe - Insaknity (www.betheany.wordpress.com)
Carole - Carole Knits (http://caroleknits.knitblog.com)
Carrieoke - Carrieoke's Knitting Blog (http://www.carrieoke.net)
Erin - The Curly Knitter (http://curlyknitter.wordpress.com )
Flat Scout - Scout's Swag (http://www.scoutj.com)
Jackie - Knitting and Other Stuff (http://www.jackie-blue.com/knit)
Jenn - Siercia Knits (http://sierciaknits.blogspot.com)
Jenny - Eat.Knit.Sleep. (http://www.jennysbelly.com)
Julia - Moth Heaven (http://scrubberbum.typepad.com)
Kris - Kris Crafts! (http://kriscrafts.bradandkris.com)
Laura - A Frayed Knot (http://www.afrayedknotknits.com)
Marcy - Habetrot (http://habetrot.typepad.com/)
Margene - Zeneedle (http://zeneedle.typepad.com)
Mel - Cabezalana (http://cabezalana.blogspot.com)
Monica - Two Left Needles (http://twoleftneedles.com)
Paul - Blithering Knitiot (http://blitheringknitiot.typepad.com)
Penny - Penguin Girl (www.penguingirl.com)
Risa - One Crazy Fiber Lady (http://crazyfiberlady.typepad.com)
Terri - Off jumps jack (http://offjumpsjack.blogspot.com)
Vanessa - spinning my life away (http://www.spinningmylifeaway.blogspot.com)

For those of you with your Blueticks trained on me - this is my tell:


Nornspinner, ridicule will be your only prize if you don't find me over there - I'm looking forward to a familiar face! :)

Baby, Its Cold Outside

With the decidedly cold snap that has passed through New England this week I thought it was time to get a new winter set ready for each of the munchikins - hat scarf mittens. I let the girls go through the stash and pull out what they liked. The Grumble, who just isn't very girlie, is on a pink streak lately and these are her choice.


The Bean has gone with something a bit more sophisticated and mature, eh, it just had all the colors she wanted. She has a coat with white faux fur lining and the coat itself is a strange persimmony-orangy-pink color. Who knows, this is what she picked.



I've also been asked by Cupcake to work on a project for next spring - here is my first attempt in progress. I'm hoping to finish it this week and give it to her on our trip over to Rhinebeck on Sunday. OH! For those of you that have me as a square on your RBB cards, I will post a picture of my bag on Wed or Thurs, that's how you'll know me :)


Working away at the Project Runway Poncho, I'm liking it - even without the sparkle.





Big sigh here...
I applied for a new job this week and I have an interview tomorrow morning, I'll also be dropping off a letter of interest and a resume at another possibility. My fingers are crossed and my breath is baited

I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK

Introducing Edith, for Marti - hope you enjoy! She'll be shipped out today :)


Idn't she cute! - (btw, "Idn't" is NOT misspelled, its an Ursula thing - Mom's and little Mermaid fans, you know what I mean)


Sorry for the shot up the old girls' skirt but I just luh-huv the button feet :)


The Hubby says her beak is too duck-like. Hmmmm....


Edith, post rhinoplasty


For those of you wondering about size, MS. Chicken Edith is:
5 1/2" high, 8 1/2" at the head, 4" wide, and 7" long. She is just about the same size as Chicken Betty but twice as large as Chickens Agnes and Maude.

C'est l'Amour

So, Marti wants a Chicken Edith. She chose fabric, I sketched it up.










I cut, sewed, cut and sewed some more, chose some buttons and bought a bag of polyfil (cuz I was out). Now the fun of bringing the chicken to life happens - hee hee ;P



I'm also working on a couple of Kitchen Chickens for my Mom and Sis' kitchen, I chose the fabric, now I get to play with combinations. Wheeeee





The munchikins went caching with the Hubby yesterday 10am - 8pm, hungry, cold kiddos at the end of the day - but happy and well behaved :)

She's Going the Distance

It's Stitchy, Yo!

Above you will find the lovely and delightful MR. + MRS. Stitchy McYarnpants. I traveled down to West Hartford CT to see Debbie at Sit-n-Knit, the fourth stop on her Mock-n-Roll Tour. It was a lovely little shop full of friendly people and few ladies VERY excited about the book, they even brought old pattern books for her. Yeah! Debbie did great, she was at ease, very funny and she seemed to have a great time :)

I was invited to join her and Jon for lunch afterwards, yippee for me! We went over to a tappas place called Barcelona. Good food, strangely their meat delivery never showed up that day so there were a coule of things unavailable and they were out of a bunch of their beer selections, but it was a good bit of food. I had a great time with them and I look forward to seeing Debbie again next weekend in Rhinebeck.

I love Mommy's days to herself. Ahhh.

The Owl's Song

Is it Halloween yet?

This is the Bean's Halloween painting of a spooky owl - I may just have to make a stuffed version of this. My great grandmother used to collect owls and my grandmother used to collect chickens, I feel a theme coming on....

I'm working on a custom chicken for my blogger buddy, Marti. Its a belated wedding present. The poor girl is stuck with a dial up connection and her brand-new husband just trucked out for his mounted police training. Yup, he's a Canadian Mounty, how frickin' cool is that! The hat, the red coat, the horse!



These are some of the fabric choices we are working from, we'll see what works out. I'm So excited about this chicken, she wants to name it Edith after her Grandma - cool and ahw-inducing all at the same time.

Allentown

Swiss Miss loved her monkey! She hasn't named it yet but thats OK, she's only 3 :) We had dinner tonight, me and the munchikins and my buddy April and her 2 kiddos. The kids were jumpy and picky at dinner but they knew there were cupcakes waiting for them - who can blame them :)Yummy, yummy cupcakes, mmmmm. Thanks April! Happy Birthday Swiss Miss!

I'm a naughty monkey! Truth be told, Swiss Miss has a bit of Loki in her, I thought I'd give her a friend that had the same. Hee hee

Update on the Hubby - He made it out of CT the next day. The airline ended up paying for a room for the night and he arrived in AL the next afternoon refreshed and ready for some sight-seeing in Nashville. Then he got down to the hardwork of helping his cousin pack his life into a Penske truck for the drive back north. Last night they were in VA - someday I will explain why VA is my least favorite state, it has everything to do with 9 hours on 81 and nothing to do with people or politics. Tonight they are in PA and should arrive home in MA sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm missin the big goofball. It is hard to watch TV alone when you have all these snarky and sarcastic comments about what everyone is doing and there is no one to share them with.

And Then There's Maude

Meet Chicken Maude
I sort of have this thing for making chickens right now. I've decided to give them all church lady names, I'm mulling over fabric choices for Chicken Cora right now :) I tried a different tail and crest on this one - I'm still experimenting with stuff.

Sorry for the indignant shot up her underside but I love the little pearl buttons.
We have a B-day party tonight for the pink monkey girl - Swiss Miss. I'm making a banana for the monkey this afternoon, I'll have pics tomorrow and maybe pics of the ipod scarves as well.


We were at my Mom and Sis' place last night for dinner and to visit with Gramcracker one more time before she heads back to Florida till the spring. The kids vanished upstairs at one point and we caught them in mid-dress up mode. This is my nephew, Buddy, as a spy - you can't see the cool red lazer shooting out from his glasses. And the Bean behind him as a knight.


No words. You should have felt the dark-knight vibe!

Three, Its the Magic Number

I found this trio in some catalog last year - I can't remember which. Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel, Stuff You Want but Can't Afford, Shouldn't You Just Make This Shit Yourself. I don't know, one of those.








SO, I'm thinking of making a couple, small, as holiday ornaments. Sort of a tree-hanging version of the munchikins. The blonde one will be all goofy smiles and braids and the brunette will have a scowl and unruly bangs.







I bought up a bunch of poly-felt to practice with, if they work I'll splurge on wool felt. My hubby is currently stuck at Bradley Intl. Airport. His flight was supposed to leave at 4:45 but was grounded for maintenance issues. Now, the plane took off and flew to it's destination - with his baggabe on board - but he is stuck in the terminal until 6:20 tomorrow morning and there are no available rooms at the Sheraton because someone is having a white-trash wedding at the airport hotel - wtf!
I miss him already :(

Everybody's Doing it

Bingo Anyone? See you in Rhinebeck.

Minute by Minute

The second volume of the Yarnival is up and running - go check it out.

Here we have the newest work in progress - Swiss Miss' pink monkey.
Ignore the ugly pink top-stitching, it will be covered over with some lovely handwork tomorrow or Friday. I still need to knit up some i-cord arms, legs and a tail before I stitch her all together. I also have another chicken that I need to make for Mom and Sis' new kitchen. Lots to do this weekend, AND my husband is leaving me home alone with the munchikins for 6 days *sigh*. He's helping his cousin pack and move back home from the deep south. I'll miss him, he leaves on Saturday.

The Wheel in the Sky

We took the munchikins to the 149th annual town fair on Saturday night. Damn! Those things are expensive!?! A buck a ticket and 4 tickets per person for the ferris wheel! Thankfully The Hubby is afraid of heights so we had a few tickets left for the munchikins to go on the carosel - no good pics of that though :(


Can you see us? This was the first ride of the night - the Super Giant Slide - again, no Hubby. Who knew a 31 year old woman could have so much fun on a stupid slide :) The munchikins say that the ferris wheel was their favorite because it lasted the longest - boy did it. By the way, I prefer ferris to farris, I like the idea of a large iron wheel - ha!


This is what you get when the rides are done and you mention that two munchikins can, maybe, have some cotton candy - Uncontrolled bounding.





Mid - sugar rush. Now remember folks, if you give your kids cotton candy, and you let them lick it, don't attempt to hold the shriveled pods of fluff on the car ride home with the thought that you will save yourself the icky job of cleaning up the backseat when you get home. Those things will drip on you! EW! Digestive action at work, double ew!