sorry guys

Does anyone know how much of a slacker I am? It's unmeasurable. And inexcusable. I am so very sorry. Between helping take care of my dad, who is doing much better, and life itself blogging hasn't been very high on the list. So without slacking, here is a short status update about what I am up to these days.


Lace knitting until my brain explodes. I'm working on the Spanish Armada pattern. 158 rows total and I'm on row 87. Currently a row takes me about 30-45 minutes and it's just going to get bigger and take longer.

I'm also starting a super secret project for a friend's birthday. No pictures of this project will be posted.

Still quilting. I really don't want to post a picture of it until it's done. I am working on it though. I plan on finishing the borders today. The fabric I picked for the back in currently tumbling in the dryer so I can piece it together later.

Later this week I will be making my monster Halloween wreath! I just have to get over to the store and get my materials.

That is all for now. BYE!

When things go crazy

So I haven't done ANYTHING blog related since last week. Simply put it was because I was busy with crazy family stuff. My dad had a heart attack a week ago last Friday and all plans or projects went out the window. He's on the mend now but I am very far behind. No blogging until I am caught up on work stuff. Bye!

Beginning a New Obsession.

It's not much, but it's the beginning of something totally new and exciting to me.



Quilting.

What you are looking at is the beginning of a quilt. I started taking a class at my LQS. The shop is literally about 2 miles away from my house. This could be horrible for my budget. It could be wonderful for my sanity.

I tend to get cranky if I go too long without engaging in some form of artistic expression. Like, emo kid cranky, wallowing and dragging myself around the house cranky. No one likes me that way. Not even me.

The class I'm taking is an 8 week class that I am taking with my mother and my grandmother, which to me makes it that much more fun. This week we went over cutting our fabric. Which is why that picture kind of makes no sense. What's bagged up is for my own organizational purposes. The flowery print is for my border and we've been told not to touch it since it's lesson 5. I have to admit. I'm itching to do more.

I pretty sure I am now hooked. Thanks Allegory! (p.s. if I go broke on fabric I'm blaming you)

Once again there is no news regarding other projects because one of my jobs tends to take up a good bit of free time. I have a three week period that starts on Monday that should give me enough time to get all caught up and ahead so I can stop running around like crazy.

I've been browsing lace patterns looking for something light and pretty to make for winter. So far I've found nothing I like enough to use the lace yarn I've been hoarding. I shall continue searching and post pictures as soon as I get started.

For now though I am off to make yummy pork chops with maple apples and cheesy grits for dinner. Hubby will be full and happy tonight.

Alone and loving it.

It's Friday. My darling hubby who I love more than any man (even David Tennant) is off at a bachelor party. This leaves me at home to my own devices, and in case you were wondering, while I will miss my hubby I will not waste this wonderful time. I love my husband very much and I do enjoy his company. I do, however, enjoy the occasional evening I have to myself. I get to knit, sew, read, watch girlie movies and pretty much do whatever I want. What am I doing tonight?

Washing fabric. I am starting a quilting class on Monday and I need to get my fabric all washed before then. Wonder what else I'm doing?



Eating pie!



Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie. I made it on Wednesday and it's been lovely. We sliced it before I could get a picture made. I also made butterscotch fudge brownies but they don't look as impressive as this homemade pie. I even made the lemon curd from scratch.

Besides laundry and pie I made myself dinner, have been watching Netflix programming Curtis doesn't like, and plan on reading for the rest of the evening. I might even work on my sock in progress.

Tonight. Is. Awesome.

one day my ducks will be in a row

I actually forgot to blog..... for reals. I got a last minute part time job offer that requires quite a bit of preparation on my part and I literally threw the blog to the back of my mind. I have nothing picture wise to post today for I am terribly behind.

Hubby and I went to the mountains last week for a short vacation. There will be pictures soon. I signed up for a quilt class today that starts on the 22nd. I'm quite excited to begin that. Tomorrow is my day off so between preparations for this coming Monday and paying some attention to my home environment I might get around to posting some pictures. Hopefully. I say I'm going to get up early to accomplish something, however the warmth and comfort of my bed come morning may prove too much for me to resist. I'm bad about that.

Tomorrow shall hopefully bring, pictures, progress and cookies.

New Experiences

So I keep saying I'm going to use this blog for food as well as crafting. I made these awesome chocolate chip cookie cheesecake bars last night and before I could take a picture half the pan was gone.

It was good. Basic run down of the recipe right here people.

2 tubes of chocolate chip cookie dough
2 8oz. packages of cream cheese (this is the south..... I make no claims that any recipes I post here will be in any way healthy, however, I do promise they are yummy!)
3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsps vanilla extract (I use J.R. Watkins double strength vanilla and I always add a little extra)

Open one package of the cookie dough and slice it. Place slices in a 13X9 pan so that the bottom of the pan is covered.

combine cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Pour over the bottom cookie layer

Open and slice the second tube of cookie dough. Place these slices on top of the cream cheese mixture.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes (or depending on how your oven bakes, 25 minutes)

Once baked, cool enough to place into the fridge and keep in fridge overnight.

Yummy!

Short and Sweet

Two days off in a row is what I have to work with. I thought today I would get a lot done. I really didn't get anything done. Yeah I sat on the couch and knitted while watching Futurama, Star Trek, and The Dick Van Dyke Show but other than that, not much accomplished.



Well except for this. My hands started to ache from knitting so I took a break and seriously could not sit still. My hands wanted to do something. I grabbed a random measuring tape (among the many in the apartment), the scissors and the glue. Cute right? I'm going to put it on a jacket. I was going to leave it alone but it needed something. Antique button from my collection handed down to me from my great grandmother. Buttons are awesome. I just love buttons.

I'm home. It was a wonderful vacation and nice to have the time away. We got home on Sunday night but were far too tired to do anything other than unpack and go to bed. We had to pack Curtis a bag for his business trip that he left for this morning. I did a whole lot of nothing while at the lake. Lots of reading, knitting, and movie watching. Watched a good bit of Doctor Who so I got my David Tennat fix in for a while.

We did go to Callaway Gardens for one day while we were there. Of course we went on the hottest day of the week. We didn't plan that very well. It was still fun though.



This is us in the butterfly house. I'm surprised we don't look worse than we do in this picture. The butterfly house has a lot of tropical butterflies and in kept at oven like temperatures. It was hotter in there than it was outside! I of course spent the entire time trying to will a butterfly to land on me for a picture. At one point I sat on a bench completely motionless while they flew all around me but not a single one came close enough to land on me.


They liked Curtis though. He was taking pictures of a few and didn't notice that one had landed on his hat. Isn't he cute? I just love his face so much.


KOI! I love Koi. They're such pretty fish. These though wanted nothing to do with the food I was trying to feed them. I learned why later when a few started to float by. They were the fattest Koi I have ever seen in my life. It looked like their bodies were about to get so big they were going to consume their faces. No seriously....

The last full day we were there we decided to actually go out on the water together. Curtis and his dad went fishing every morning we were there. Honestly I'm not a fan of fishing, I can't imagine anything more boring. They only caught fish one day while we were there and those were catfish we had for dinner that evening.

The cabin we stayed at had a kayak so Curtis and I decided to take it out one afternoon. It was a lot of fun. Curtis went out on his own and immediately turned into a 30 year old kid.

The ride reminded me how terribly out of shape I am. My arms were a little sore. Soaking in the hot tub that night helped cure that though!


I was not idle while I was there. Progress on the destroyed cowl has been going well. 40 inches knit and only 9 to go before I start dropping stitches. This is still a terribly mind numbing project. It was a good project to make on movie nights since I don't even have to look at my hands while knitting. It's so boring though.


I love making socks. I think it's the way it takes shape as you work on it. Or the connection to the past when almost everyone had to make their own socks. I can't imagine trying to keep up with making socks for an entire family. I doubt they made them in anything other than a basic design for everyday wear, unlike the fancy stitching most sock knitters use today. These are the Cookie A design and the stretch yarn is actually working pretty well.


Today I felt like playing with random objects and glue. I went in bored and came out with two pairs of earrings. Nothing complicated or hard. Took me all of five minutes. I love buttons though so I figured I needed some button accessories. The zipper pulls were leftover from another project and I hated to throw them away so I figured I'd do something with them.


Ok yes this bunny is missing a nose, I know that now. It will have a nose eventually but I just forgot to buy one today. I was lucky to remember googlie eyes.

I am actually quite thankful that Curtis was already in the air when I had a disturbing revelation today. I began looking for some craft supplies when I realized the horrible truth. I didn't own a hot glue gun. I literally plopped down on the floor and began to try and rationalize with myself. "How can I not own a glue gun? What is wrong with me? Why didn't I notice it sooner?" After about... oh... 15 minutes of questioning my worthiness of calling myself a crafter I realized what happened to my glue gun. I gave it to my mother.

So I went and bought a glue gun and some tacky glue because mine had reached that point of no return. When you almost pop a blood vessel in your eye trying to squeeze the glue out of a bottle it's time to get a new one.

I haven't touched my sewing machine since I got back and I doubt I will tonight or tomorrow night after work since I'm going out for a girls night.

Well everyone, I am hoping Wednesday and Thursday will prove productive. For now I am content to chill with the cats, a glass of wine and a bubble bath.

From a Lake View

So I lied. My husband picked up my computer because the house we're staying in has Wireless and we can connect to it. So I can write, however there are no pictures because I left the cable that connects the camera to the computer at home.

We're at West Point Lake for the week. We arrived yesterday evening after celebrating my grandfather's 75th birthday.

So far today has been nice and relaxing with quiet and opportunities to knit and read. Last night while watching "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" I finished a skein of merino for the destroyed cowl. 16 inches completed and just about 32 left to knit. Socks still plugging along, and the cuff has the garter stitch edging completed.

Now if you'll excuse the short post, I am going outside to go check out the dock.

grumpy cat with yarn and all

I was suppose to write yesterday, but my computer decided to be a jerk. Here I am today!

My WIP list is growing longer and longer the more I dig through my stash of craft supplies. I need to stop but it's hard. New to the list of projects are some yarn and pointy stick projects.



These two poorly wound balls of yarn are going to be made into Pretty Twisted Cuffs . I apologize for the terrible ball winding job. They were all nice and neat not too long ago but after being in the stash bag for so long they're a little beat up. These are leftovers and the cuffs look like a good stash busting project. What is it about us crafters, we don't want to let any kind of supply go no matter how little we have left. Fine line between crafter and hoarder anyone? I know I'm guilty.

My fabric stash is no where near where my yarn stash is. I'm hoping to build it up though. This fabric is for some picnic napkins and some cute place mats. Once the craft supply ban is up I'm hoping to buy some more fabric for future projects.

SOCKS! I love knitting socks. I know, I know. A pair of socks can be bought at the store for $1. I hear that from people and immediately realize I'm talking to a non crafter. Fellow crafters, even non-knitters, are supportive. It's not about a pair of socks when you really get down to it. It's about making something. These socks are a Cookie A. pattern, Hedera I picked out for a Craftster KAL. I only have one cuff right now but hopefully a week at West Point Lake will prove productive.

This looks like nothing right now. It looks like a black blob with a blue line of yarn at the bottom. Eventually It will be a Destroyed Cowl and will be quite lovely. This pattern is shockingly easy, and somewhat tedious. I have about 7 inches knit right now, I have 39 inches left to knit. This is on my 50 craft projects to do in 2011 list. A list that I forgot about until last month. I've done 3..... that's right 3. Will I finish by the end of 2011? I have no idea.


I made a cute sweater for my favorite skullie mug! Hubby and I drink a good amount of hot tea and while I adore this mug it gets super hot when filled with tea so once again I dug through the magical Marry Poppins yarn bag and came up with an unlabeled ball of two ply worsted weight yarn. I'm pretty sure it's handspun. It's a grey and pink blend and super soft, I'm pretty sure there is some Alpaca or Mohair in it. It shed all over me while I was knitting. It needs some buttons and I might have to re make the ties on the corners once I attach buttons. This is the third project from the 50 list.

Next week means no posts. I'm going to be at West Point Lake with Hubby's family for some quiet and time away. I will take pictures but I'm not taking my computer. A bag of knitting and books with accompany me as well. Vacation is greatly needed for both of us. I hope everyone has a great week next week and I'll do all my catching up when I get home!

Pursuit of Happiness

Due to budget cuts there is a craft supply ban in the Barrett abode to remain in effect for the month of July. This makes me sad but forces me to be creative with what I have on hand.


ZIPPERS! These zippers serve a dual purpose. I am going to use the zippers themselves to make a brooch for jackets and sweaters while using the sliders from each set for awesome amazing earrings. Most likely an afternoon projects but either way I end up with two accessories.




Oh and scaredy cat. She's not a project, more of a distraction. In this occasion husband Curtis was running the vac around the apartment for a quick spin and literally chased her out of the room with it. I was in the kitchen the whole time and have no idea when she jumped up there but she had to be removed by force. So unusual because she never jumps on the counters (at least not when I'm able to see her).



This is just the beginning. I have been wanting to make an altered puzzle since I saw one in the Craftster message boards. I have some paper and some kids puzzles to get me started. Hopefully I can start working on it to distract me from craft store browsing for this month. I have a feeling my altered puzzle project will be a WIP for a while.



Sad knitting basket. My WIP knitting basket is so very sad because though there are items in it.... none of it belongs there because I'm not working on anything. Hopefully I can dig through my bags of yarn to get together a project to take to the lake next week. I need to order some yarn but not this month. Cleaning out that basket and getting a project together is a project in and of itself.



If I have learned anything from living in a one bedroom apartment it's that the use of space has to be well thought out. I have found myself stashing my crafts in containers that go under end tables, the coffee table, the bed, and on bookshelves. I feel like an addict hiding my stash. I gathered some embroidery supplies and then realized in a panic (true panic because I watched Hoarders that day) that I had no where to put it. After much twitching, wailing, and laying on the floor in the fetus position I realized I had a decorative box someone had given me that I had just sitting under the coffee table. Needless to say I am not allowed to watch Hoarders anymore. I have had too many crazed cleaning/organizing frenzies.

I must be off. Hubby has started another Stargate-SG1 episode.

soooooo lazy.....

I've been neglecting my creative side. I was working on an original design for a knitted accessory and gave up after being stumped on it for what I feel is too long. Curtis decided to scold me into starting it again. Of course I'm going to finish it and start a really cool scarf design I found on Ravelry (super awesomeness).

I have no pictures, simply because.

I am currently overwhelmed with the possibility of ideas that have been pondering for projects that I want to work on. There are several sewing projects, a few knitting projects, starting jewelry making, and some other things. I have a lot to do and now since going to part time at work more time to do them in. Thank goodness Curtis strongly encourages me in these endeavors. He doesn't view them as silly, pointless or old fashioned.

Well off to enjoy a glass of wine with said husband, as an early celebration for our anniversary *wink wink*

I need to do better

I got married. I should update more often but I've been a little crazy lately. Life is good and promises to get better. I've been able to cook and bake and knit like mad and have a very supportive hubby. I just love my husband and our cute apartment that feels more like a home every day.