A Little Yarn On The Side

Obviously, I've fallen off the radar a bit.  In September, Andy's brother was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, and in April we lost him.  He was 57.  Andy did get a chance to see him first, but it's still an overwhelming loss. We've both been struggling a little with work:  Andy has been working on a huge project that is both frustrating and requires extra hours, and my company brought in a free-lance sales "trainer," who has been condescending, dictatorial, and demanding that we have things like paper "pitchbooks" that were unprofessional and out of date 20+ years ago.  Luckily, the plug is being pulled on that idiot, but it's hard when you have something to really dread first thing every Monday morning. There have also been good things happening.  We are now finally and legally free of Andy's ex-wife, who has been spiteful and as nasty as possible every chance she's had.  There are lots of posts on my other blog about just a few of t...

Quick pictures to prove that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth--even if it feels like it....

So I have a little app on my phone that I use to track how long it has been since I last bought yarn and fabric.  Yesterday  I saw my yarn counter was at 999, so excited and, frankly, amazed that today would be day 1000 since last buying yarn, I opened it up to see....999.  (Fabric, BTW, is at 16--I'm struggling a bit on that front.)  So, my counter can't go any farther.  I do at least know that July 15 will be 3 years on the sheep, but I think I need a new counter as I don't think a once-a-year anniversary is strong enough to help me cling to my sheep.  I need incentives!  Preferably ones that don't include buying things.  'Cause I have fabric for that. This weekend I've been doing our taxes (ICK), but I rewarded myself with sewing breaks, so the new quilt is progressing.  There were indeed two nights this week when I could pop up and sew the pinned pieces, and I even amazed myself by ironing and pinning the next pieces together b...

You might have guessed by now that I am spending a lot less time crafting.  The new job often wears me out entirely, so I come home many nights and retreat to the heating pad. This would allow for quite a bit of knitting were it not for two string-crazed kittens who are determined to "help."  But over the weekend I cut out fabric for a spring throw for us, and my new plan is to leave everything ready to go so when I have a few minutes, I can pop up to the sewing room and start sewing.  I got one stack sewn, ironed, and repinned last night, and I am ready if I have time tonight. It's a fairly simple pattern with 10 inch blocks (where have these been all my life?), so I'm hoping it goes rather quickly.

Andy and I take turns making Christmas gifts, and while this is going to be his year, we're so much busier now that I'm back to work that it never hurts to be ahead.  And, we have a new house to decorate.  And it's easier to sew a project that one can find than a project one hasn't seen since the first week in the house.  I'm flexible that way. I finished these a little while ago, and while we're keeping one, one goes in the gift bin.   And this  is for us.  I bought this set of fat quarters shortly after we bought the house.  I love batiks.  This one  is a Christmas gift for some very old friends.  This is a more time-consuming pattern so I don't make many for gifts each year, but I thought they would like it.  Yesterday I cut out some red peachskin to make some coordinates to go with that poppy jacket.   My industry dresses pretty casually, but after all the back issues and wearing mostly pajamas, I lov...

I didn't necessarily set out to do Me Made Mondays again this year, but the group on Ravelry wanted to continue, and so far I've only missed one Monday this year and even then, I wore me-made pajamas that night so I'm probably good.  I was SO excited about the new jacket that I wore it to work yesterday.  I love this jacket!  I've loved this fabric since I first saw it at Joanns, but kept putting off buying it for one reason or another, then it started getting difficult to find!  That's not a good situation for one with fabric-buying issues.  Joanns is lucky they have any left.  I'm going to make a long tunic next, and maybe a tank shell to go with the jacket.  I have some red peachskin for slacks.  I'm trying to be a bit more mindful of making things that can be worn together, or at least intersperse that amongst the "ooh, shiny!" moments.  

More than two months of the year are gone, but I have finally made something!!!! I have some red peachskin material that will make a great combo with this jacket, and I'm hoping to get at least the pants cut out today.  Andy is gone this weekend, so the kitties and I are catching up on some sewing. and a bit of squabbling over who is Primary Sidekick.  No winners have been declared yet, but thankfully there's a lot of napping as well, so I can actually get things done.  As you might have guessed, work is keeping me busy, but lots of the potential sewing time has actually been spent unpacking the sewing room.  Shortly after we moved, I found this great little sewing table in an antique store, and with this and the sewing table, I'm loving having furniture with drawers ! There's a lot of stuff in the sewing room, but one of the challenges has been that I needed bins for holding absolutely everything as there wasn't a single drawer anywhere in the old se...