I Love Yarn Day

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Friday Funny

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Quiltbrary

While we were in the hospital, I spent one afternoon perusing Amazon. I was looking for a pattern for a wrap dress but noticed some of the quilting books I've had on my wishlist for what seems like forever were dirt cheap if I were to buy them used.

I've never been anti-used books!

When we got home from the hospital a few days later, I had a partial library waiting for me in our mailbox. How exciting!

One book even came with an unexpected reader...

In the next few days, I received enough books I could probably open my own library! I will not run out of reading or inspiration for years!

One of the books I ordered wasn't expected to arrive for a month. On October 1, I inquired what may have happened to the shipment because I still hadn't received it. I was issued a refund within about half an hour, and the merchant was extremely considerate and professional. I felt bad for costing the non-profit the $3.15 I had spent. I thought I could try to find out if I could make a charitable donation either online or via a check in the mail. I quickly forgot about my intention.

Until yesterday, when the book finally arrived in the mail, in perfect condition (just a minor bit of wear on the cover), and with the August 21 postmark. Now I really felt guilty because a non-profit that supports a great cause had not only lost a book to me, but also had refunded my money.

I immediately wrote a positive review for the merchant on Amazon, and then emailed the merchant (because the parcel included a valid email address!) and asked where I might send a charitable contribution. I am not going to forget this time.

I've not heard back from the merchant yet (it's been less than six hours as I write this post), and I may have to do some research to find a snail mail address for the Akron Goodwill. Oh, never mind! I just looked them up on Amazon so I could link them above, and there's the address I needed! The check is in the mail! I hope it doesn't take two months for them to receive it!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Mental Illness

I thought this song was so goofy back when I was a kid. Now I understand it a little better...

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Snowflake Monday

Oh, how I did not want to make a snowflake for today!

My train commute was my crochet time. I do not miss being on the train right now. But I miss my crochet time.

Now that fourth quarter has officially begun, I'm finding more and more difficult to squeeze in crochet time – or any free time, for that matter. I thought I wouldn't have to water the garden anymore this year after our August snowstorm, but the in-the-ground tomato plant, the lavender and my first-ever glads are still going, so I'm not stopping. However, it's too cold in the morning (low 40s, high 30s overnight and 80s during the day) to water before I begin working; I worry the cold water will further shock the surviving plants. So I water during my lunch hour. If I get one.

Lizard is making tiny improvements each day, but he's still not independent yet, so what may have perhaps been commute time since March and became watering time is now meal preparation time or clean-up time or laundry time or… you get the picture.

I'm not complaining. I'm just having difficulty organizing a new routine that includes everything I want to do balanced with what I need to do. I'm so thankful I am able to work from home. But I'm still finding myself wishing each day had another hour or four!

I designed today's snowflake back in 2012 and didn't think it was worth publishing so set it aside all these years. The pattern is easy enough, I can make a couple of minor modifications and whip up a sample to test the pattern before Lizard wakes.

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Finished Size: 2.5 inches from point to point Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Reluctant Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 7 (counts as 1 tr and ch 4), 1 sc in ring, ch 4, [1 tr in ring, ch 4, 1 sc in ring, ch 4] 5 times; sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch 7; do not pull magic ring too tight. If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 2: [3 sc in each of next 2 ch 3 sp, ch 6, 1 sc in 6th ch from hook] 6 times; sl st in starting sc; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch the snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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Friday Funny

I'm hesitant to call this humor because people obviously fall for this scam... I've found warnings about it all over the internet. But I had fun altering the scam a bit in Photoshop to suit my purposes. I typically save stupid stuff like this to one day create a Christmas tree with decorations representing every scam and too-good-to-be-true offer I've ever received in the mail. This one might be too big to hang on the tree, so I'm hanging it on my blog.

What really gets under my skin is some business in my local area paid big bucks to sucker punch potential customers in my area. In this day and age. When people are already struggling. If I had a phone number and email address I don't mind opening up to the plethora of scams that would follow, I'd call this number just to find out what business is this stupid, and then I'd broadcast loud and clear as far as I could to let others know this is the type of thing we need to boycott.

Treat others kindly. Don't try to scam anyone. And have fun finding the humor in my Photoshop efforts.

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WIPped Back into Shape

I absolutely cannot believe I whittled another notch off my WIP list last quarter, but as of 7:26 pm last night, My Little Angel Owls are no longer waiting for my longarm to take flight!

I'd crafted a backing out of some beautiful snowflake gradient fabric the day it arrived in the mail. Blue snowflake scraps I've been using to create my Moda Blockheads 2 project were incorporated. So the top was already layered and ready to go when I decided it would be next on the Finished list.

I loaded this baby onto the longarm before Lizard went into the hospital in August. I thought I'd be able to surf Instagram and Pinterest during 14 long days in the hospital to find a suitable continuous-line snowflake quilting design I might be able to adapt to the background of the quilt. I'd planned to outline the owls and their details.

I found a couple of cute designs, but the snowflakes were so... well, identical, I decided I might do better drawing my own. So I did!

However, the orange (because I needed it to show up on dark blue) quilt marking chalk I used to draw snowflake outlines didn't wash out on the first try, and I was far from happy camper. If I hadn't been through this process a time or two before when fabrics ran, you likely would see tear stains all over this quilt.

An internet search initially proved disheartening. Use the chalk eraser that came with the very expensive kit I bought at a quilt show many years ago FIRST, before washing. If that doesn't work, use a sponge and lightly rub the marks out BEFORE washing. Uh oh.

One suggestion was to try washing the quilt with vinegar. I have a ton of that on hand because of all the natural dyeing I used to do. Might as well put it to use. The vinegar removed most, but two fabrics retained markings.

Another suggestion was synthropol, which should be placed directly onto the fabric and gently scrubbed. I replace our toothbrushes every month, and today is new toothbrush day. So I used my September toothbrush to gently, then vigorously, scrub the remaining markings. Lizard for years has repurposed all our old toothbrushes for bike maintenance. This time, I get to keep my old one, and it's staying right on top of the washing machine, just in case I ever have to repeat this drill!

Next came hydrogen peroxide with a cotton swab. Now only one fabric still had tiny traces of stain, and most weren't orange anymore. So I could live with that. I tried Borax in the washing machine. Hints of orange remained on the light blue fabric. I gave straight up lemon juice a try.

AND THE STAINS CAME OUT!!! Hallelujah!!! Happy dance! Happy dance!

My freehand longarmed snowflakes, orange tinted or not, are far from perfect, but they are my own design, and they were yet more needed and excellent longarm practice. Eventually I will have a steadier hand driving Ringo.

Quilting took two nights. The quilt was ready to bind. However... with that predictively brilliant mind I posess, I used my snowflake fabric to stabilize the (dark boysenberry towel) backdrop for the gladiolus time lapse I've been shooting ALL friggin' week. !!!

This is the first time I've ever had glads in my garden, and I wasn't sure the blooms would keep going after our second overnight freeze of the pre- and actual autumn season. (Our first snowfall of the pre-season happened in late summer after a record high day, and I think the intense heat of the previous three weeks baked our rocks and bricks into an oven-like temperature, which then radiated to my plants and apparently kept them adequately warm in the 32-degree frosty night.) I clipped and vased a stem of tiny emerging dark purple buds, then aimed and set the camera and turned on the grow light for consistent exposure. The stems I left on the stalks outside did indeed survive, and they may bloom faster than their now indoor cousins!!! Blossoms seem to take so much longer to open once cut.

Because I couldn't get to the snowflake fabric without jiggling and perhaps even knocking over the vase, I decided to raid my Moda Blockheads stash once again. I'd done that a year ago when I framed the My Little Angel Owls panel. I have a cardboard box of scraps in each of the six basic colors, plus white, black, brown, multi, blue floral and blue snowflakes. Yes, I have three boxes full of blue fabric scraps. Only my green batik scraps take up more space; they are in a much bigger box!

I took every blue snowflake fabric piece wide enough to include in a binding, even if short, and in about three hours, I had nearly 30 feet of scrappy snowflake binding!

The best part, other than completing a quilt, of course, is having enough leftover scrappy snowflake binding to finish another quilt or two!!! This does mean I will have to dig into the blue snowflake fabric yardage to finish up the Blockheads project when I get back to it, but successfully using up scraps is such an adrenaline rush! Now, if that darned glad will just open, open, open!!!

Here's my quilt WIP list for the summer quarter:

1. Hawaiian Punch


2. Lizard Toes


3. Hexie Booboo


4. Tickled Pink, the Sequel


5. Teal Shadows


6. Goodbye Hollyhock Road


7. Snowflake Strip Bar


8. Green Floral Batik Postage Stamps


9. Giant Dahlia


10. Showcase


11. Snowbike II


12. Time for Me to Fly


13. Venetian Squiggles


14. Moda Blockheads


15. Tiny Triangle Leftovers


16. Matthew's Quilt


17. Charming Painterly Petals


18. Green Batik Leftovers Quilt-As-You-Go

Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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