Thank You So Much for the Birthday Wishes

It was a wonderful birthday. All the dishes I dirtied while making the cupcakes were left in the sink Friday night. On Saturday morning (my b-day), I awoke to find them still there (no green elves in my house apparently). Not wanting to start my birthday off by washing dishes, I decided to take Jake for his morning walk instead. I came back to find my husband washing the dishes. No, he didn't just shove them all into the dishwasher. He was actually washing them by hand. You see, folks, his jobs around the house consist of killing bugs, taking the trash out, hanging my many pictures, cutting the grass and operating the air conditioner. The cleaning of the kitchen belongs to the cook. Thus, it was a lovely surprise!

So instead of cleaning the kitchen, I got to go play in the garden. The other rose bush is saved from the evil mower!

Afterwards, I started to prepare for dinner: ham, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob. Can I pass along a cooking trick to you that I just tested out? Like most others, I tend to buy pre-cooked hams that just require warming. During the last 20 minutes or so, one is recommended to baste the ham with a brown sugar mixture. If you have kids visiting or time is of the essence, try this: baste the ham with molasses instead. The kids can help out with this one. Just hand them an old paintbrush that has never seen paint or anything else equally toxic, and have them dip into in molasses and then paint it onto the ham. It's fun and easy! Plus, my husband was raving about how good it tasted.

Birthday Presents: Hubby got me a bike rack and tote to carry all my purchases back home. The only trouble is I can't get it to fit on my bike. Typically, it would be attached to the bike seat pole, but I have to have my seat almost at the lowest position in order to reach the pedals (Oh, the joy of being short). Thus, there isn't enough length of the pole to attach the rack to. I'll drag it up to my trusty bike shop and see if they can't advise me on what to do next.

My dear friend got me a Craft Tote. Isn't it cute? It holds all my sewing notions.

The next day I went to visit my Aunt and Uncle. They spoiled me with a homemade dinner: roasted chicken, spaghetti, Italian bread, and green beans. It was very good. The chicken was the best though. And because they know how much I love to bake, they gave me 2 cookbooks and a huge tub of flour. (They had picked up a 25 pound of flour from Sam's Club and then didn't know what to do with it all. I go through 10 pounds in a month so I was happy to take some off of their hands).

The only bad thing that happened was poor Jake came down with an ear infection. I started him on the ear drops and wipes yesterday and, as you can see, he is feeling much better today. He'll have to endure a few more days of treatment though. It takes both of us to get him to cooperate with the ear drops for he tries to bury his head in your lap.

So, all in all, it was a wonderful weekend and a wonderful birthday.

Thank you to all for your warm wishes!

Weekend Work

How was your weekend? I hope it was wonderful!

I spent the weekend quilting, gardening, cooking, and being followed around the house & yard by Jake. Hubby even took me out for lunch on Sunday. It was a lovely weekend.

The quilt is almost finished.

I completed the border and stitched it to the front. Then, I made the "quilt sandwich", holding everything together with safety pins. (I've decided that I am never going to hand-baste the layers together. Why? Pure laziness.) Finally, I machine-quilted the piece together. The majority of the quilt is machine-quilted via the technique called "stitch in the ditch". Only the diamond in the middle has a 1/4 inch stitch (a.k.a. I stitched 1/4 inch away from the seam).

Next on the list:

1. Learn how to make a hanging sleeve
2. Attach it to the quilt back
3. Stitch on the binding.

So close! Which means I am all the closer to starting on my next quilt - a baby quilt.

Sunday was mostly dedicated to working in the garden and hanging out with Hubby. I am in the process of creating specific paths to mow between. If my husband mows down one more of my plants, I'm going to throw the mower out! He's killed a Japanese Maple sapling (with Jake's help who peed on the tree when it was trying to grow back), and injured my rose bush (again with Jake's help ... I think they are in cahoots!) and 2 hosta plants. So in an effort to ensure he doesn't nick my rose bush again, I ripped up the grass under and around it, laying down mulch along the way.

Hopefully, next weekend I can "save" the other rose bush.

So, what knitting did I accomplish over the weekend? Um. Does knitting 2 rows this morning on my mystery project count?

Internet trouble equals longer sleeves

Finally, I can get on the Internet today. Comcast has a monopoly on the area (unless you're willing to sacrifice speed, which I'm not) and I have been suffering for it these past few days. Today is the first day, I am able to get on the Internet, check my e-mail, and update my blog. Even earlier today, Comcast was having problems, i.e. Internet outage. **mutter**

There is a silver lining in everything. Thanks to Comcast, my right sleeve is 75% done. I have started on the cap.

Plus, I finished both of the gauges on the project I can't show you. It should be ready for submission by Friday.

Then, when my hands hurt from knitting so much, I went outside to my garden. I pruned the Easter Redbud tree (well, it looks more like an overgrown bush), the Forsythia, and some of the Fire Thorn. (I can only take so much of the Fire Thorn bush at one time. It's painful!).

My thanks to J3W3 for his/her advice on the mint seeds. S/he stated that mint can be very invasive. After spending all of last summer combatting against the Lily of the Valley, I have no desire to battle it out with another invasive plant. I should mention, that I only managed to thin out the Lily of the Valley, despite pulling out the roots. It came back this year in the same spot. I am worried because it has started to encroach upon the grass, which Jake loves to nibble on. Sometimes, I think he missed his calling; he should have been a goat.

Gauge Woes

As you know, I am knitting an adult size version of the Barbie shawl. As knitting rules state, one must knit a gauge first. For me, it's especially imperitive in order to write the accompanying pattern. However, after tinkering with the mesh pattern yesterday, I am still unhappy with the outcome. The whole pattern leans to the left. (I ripped it out to save the yarn .. and plum forgot to take a pic first. I was too frustrated to see beyond the end of my nose!)

I have once again tinkered with the pattern. Today, I will knit up two version of the pattern. Here's hoping at least one provides me with the results I am looking for. (This time I'll be sure to take pics so you can help me decide which is the best choice).

So, as you might guess, yesterday afternoon ended on a sour note.

But, to cheer my day, I recieved a package from Laurel. It was filled with the paper I had requeseted from her destashing efforts. Along with all the paper, she even included a book: Instant Gratification Cards by Sterbenzes. It made my day! Here's a pic of it all.

I'll post a picture of the first card I make from this stash later this week. I've already laid the materials out. It will be a Hippo card. Just what everybody needs. =)


After opening up this package, I decided to tackle my hedges by the lamp post. Some of the bushes had grown over the top of the post! Enough was enough.














I believe I won the battle!

Then, just to make sure today started off on the right foot, I baked up a Berry Coffee Cake.


I think it helped. Here's the beginnings of my next block in the "Ode to Quilting" afghan. It is one square in what will be a 9-patch block.


It looks dreadfully boring right now, but just wait.

One Sleeve Down

While I was watching the Phillies win their game against the Marlins (OK...OK... so we pulled it out in the bottom of the 9th, but, hey!, a win is a win), I finished the left sleeve. It's done! No pics please, though. It hasn't been blocked or the ends weaved in or sewn to the sweater body. It's not a pretty sight, plus my cam is on the fritz again. Hubby took the good cam with him and left me the "Sometimes I'll work, sometimes I won't" cam. You can guess which one it picked. Nothing but a black screen. Arg.

Back to the joy of finishing the sleeve: I even managed to save some brown yarn in the process. There are now 7 tiny balls of brown yarn ready and waiting for me to continue knitting the right sleeve. Oh, I suppose I have to at least try. I'll wait to start until Monday. Monday is a good day to tackle sleeves that may or may not have enough yarn to complete, right?

I simply can't do it this weekend. I have a left sleeve to seam together with the body. More importantly, I have a new quilt to start. I have decided to make my sister and her husband a wall quilt for their kitchen. It's never too early to start making Christmas presents. (Every year I start all my Christmas projects earlier in the year in the hopes that I won't be staying up past midnight on Christmas Eve trying to finish everything. It never works! This past year, on Christmas morning, I was still stitching up the matching doll pajamas for my younger niece.)

Here is my inspiration for my new knitting project: Ode to Quilting. (Many thanks to my good friend, Jen, for giving this to me as a Christmas present!)




This basket is filled with Lion Brand's Wool (100%). I plan to use as many of the colors as I can to make an afghan in true quilter's style. It will be an afghan that can use up a knitter's leftover balls of yarn from previous projects. Shapes (mostly squares and triangles) will be knit up, then sewn together to form larger squares, and then these squares will be sewn together to make the afghan front. Lastly, the front will be seamed to the back. Minor details still have to be ironed out, such as what the back should look like. I'm giddy to start the gauge process. This project will combine two of my favorite hobbies: knitting and sewing/quilting. (I suppose true quilt lovers wouldn't lump sewing with their hobby, but since sewing came first for me, I still have a fondness for it).

My other accomplishment today was building a wall around Big Brother (the biggest of my Weeping Japanese Red Maple saplings).



I'd like to see my husband mow him down!