Ribbon Scarf Progress

I have been working on this scarf/stole for a little bit - it is my driving/waiting knitting. What is shown here is about 23 inches and the first ball of yarn finished. There are two more balls of yarn so I am expecting this to be approximately 69 inches before blocking. I was originally making this for my MIL, but now my oldest daughter says she really wants it. HMMMM.... could these possibly be gifts for the holidays this year??? or maybe birthday gifts..... A close up of the fabric this ribbon yarn creates. It's really cool!

Some knitting

I realize that I started this blog as a knitting blog. Initially it was all knitting all the time, but as time has passed I have branched out and done a little bit of many things. As my mom says: "I am a jack-of-all trades".....the next part is not so complimentary.... "but master of none". However, it probably applies and that is way ok with me :o)

A bookmark from the Monthly Bookmark Group. Those are flowers on it. I made it with dishcloth cotton so it turned out much larger that I usually like. But it is nice and has been adopted already!
Ice Skating Dish Cloth from the Monthly Dishcloth Group. I haven't done a dishcloth in a year and it was really nice to make one. I haven't made the mid-month cloth yet, but I will soon.

Just a regular old terra cotta pot that we had lying around that I decided to paint. It still needs to be sealed both inside and out and then I can plant in it. I am not sure what I will put in it - maybe some rosemary - I have always wanted to grow rosemary and I love the idea of just picking what I want to use when I need it.

I like the butterflies a lot!

Fiddle/Clogger Competition Dress Done!

The dress is done - it was completed yesterday afternoon-during the time I was supposed to be taking my walk! :o( I am so glad to have this off my plate. The competition is this Sunday so it's not a moment too soon.


Note that the dress is much shorter than originally called for. If you remember, this dress was supposed to be floor length. That is what the clogger's family requested. I made the dress floor length but did not hem it until the final dress rehearsal two weeks ago. Well.....both the clogger and the banjo player sent their dresses to be made at a dressmaker's. The same dress maker at the same time. The clogger's family decided at that point that the dress for the clogger should be knee length so that her feet could be easily seen. They also decided that the banjoy player's dress should be just past the knee. We found out about this change at the final rehearsal when we showed up with a floor length dress and the other two were significantly shorter. AAARRRGH!! I was told that our dress needed to be knee length also. There was a problem.......notice the two tiers-we will call them tier one (the one closest to the bodice) and tier two (the one closest to the floor). When the other two dresses were made, the dressmaker made tier one longer and eliminated tier two. On my daughter, tier one ends just slightly above the knee and if I were to have cut the fabric to make the dress the length requested, the 2nd tier would have would up being about 1 1/2 inches long -kind of wierd. I did not have enough fabric to cut out a new tier number one. I lopped twelve inches from the bottom of this dress and hemmed it. The clogger and her family seem to be ok with this alternative and each performer will have a slightly different lenghth dress. My daughter loves it!

AND, that's what counts!! By the way, Yes she will perform barefoot because both her and the banjo player are supposed to be hillbillies playing in the summer.

Puzzles=FUN!!

I can honestly say this was an unqualified success!!! Everyone in our family from the youngest to the oldest had a part in completing this puzzle. The big pieces and easy design made it easy enough for the youngest (3 1/2 years) to place a few pieces and my husband and I had fun also.


This new puzzle was started right after the other one was completed and although it is also a 300 piece puzzle it is much, much harder. Only the oldest 3 are interested. The 7yo has put in a couple of pieces and the 3 1/2 yo has no interest. The pieces are much smaller than the one above and the detail is much greater - it is much harder to place the pieces.

I am sure we will finish soon. Last night my in-laws came over for dinner and they put in a piece each. The next puzzle will need to be easier if the youngers are to feel included. Of course I love this puzzle!!

Fun Dinner Entre

I am one of those people who feels the NEED to plan their meals in advance. Every week before errand day, I sit down and make up a menu. I go through the fridge and the freezers to see what is there and what fresh foods I can use up before they go bad. With 5 kids, there is usually not much fresh left over :o) I made an exception last week when I found a recipe in the Everyday Food secion of Martha Stewart on-line. These pork Cutlets looked so good and I felt like making something special. I lucked out that I had everything on hand. Here is our meal - and wonders upon wonders - all kids ate A LOT!!

Pork Cutlets Parmesan

These took a little longer than I thought but were well worth the effort!
'Chinese Buffet' Green Beans
I discovered this recipe through 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven she is a mom of 9 kids and is so very organized!!!

Potatoes :o)

These are potatoes that I washed, cut up and mixed in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic and a little salt. I put them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350 degrees and left them there until the rest of the meal was done. We did not have any leftovers for the next night!!

Plain old salad.

The kids are vegetable mixing challenged.

Whole wheat bread from the bread machine.

Peanut Butter S'Mores

I saw this idea in the July/Aug 2008 issue of Taste of Home. I knew right away that it would be a hit with our family. I made chocolate chip cookies (fresh and gooey is best!), turned the bottom one upside down, drizzled with chocolate syrup, placed a warm marshmallow (warmed up in the microwave) on top, put on some mini reese's peanut butter cups that were in the cabinet and topped with another cookie. These were a COMPLETE hit!! I also made them last night for friends - a very easy, extremely yummy dessert!!! More cooking tonight!!

Cross stitch progress

This cross stitch is SLOW going!! However, I am enjoying every moment of it!!!

On the left is last week's work - on the right is the progress up to last night. I most likely will not be able to keep up this pace, but it's great for right now :o)

Beaded Eggs

Another beaded egg is done. These are so much fun to do!! A little fiddly because of the seed beads, but pretty much an instant project. Just a couple of nights to knock off one of these puppies.

This is obviously a Christmas egg. It is done in the same manner except that the front is left unbeaded and when everything else is dry I cut the remaining unbeaded egg shell away. I have seen very intricate cut outs on similar eggs but as of yet have not worked up the courage to try. Maybe one day.....

Back to the litany of WIP's that are squirreled about downstairs:

"One" sock - as I still have two feet, another one is needed

Cross stitch on plastic canvas for an ornament. When the cross stitch is complete I think I will place a felt backing on it and whip stitch all the way around in a gold metallic thread. I have also thought about using a silver metallic thread because it would go with the gray and stand out nicely with the black.......I'm not sure.

FO, progress & more WIPs

This scarf has been picked up, put down, picked up, put down, picked up......so many times I'm just not sure how many. It is finally finished!! The yarn was purchased not long after I learned how to knit so sometime in 2005. I cast on and started - then like a monkey, something shinier and "more interesting" caught my eye. This kept going on and on and on and on - Now it is finally done and I actually like it. I know it is that weird bobble yarn, I know that it really isn't snazzy or classy, but I like it and I like wearing it. It is quite warm which was a surprise to me. And I will keep it until it makes it's way into someone else's room around here. Then after awhile I can STEAL it back :o)

Started: 2005 sometime

Finished: 1/1/2009

Yarn: Bernat Baby Bubbles

Color: Pretty Bubbles (that's an original name)

Needles: US7

Here I am trying to get an artsy photo
It didn't work out all that well, but at least the bobbles are visible. Kind of cute!

This is the progress on the cross stitch stocking. I got the idea to post progress pictures from Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber. She is the one who inspired me to pick up my needle once again - I didn't realize how much I really liked cross stitch. HOWEVER, this is 28 count aida cloth and my eyes have aged since I last did cross stitch about 10 years ago. I now need a magnifying glass-EEEKK-I just can't believe it!

Here is our new family fun "thang". I have always wanted a puzzle table. Now we have one and it is so great. We all stop by and put in pieces as time permits and we gather around this table for a few minutes before teeth brushing in the evenings. I had no idea that everyone would like this idea so much!! The 3yo has even put a couple of pieces. This puzzle is almost complete so we need to go out and find a new one. I found that this 300 piece puzzle was just about perfect - a little easy for the oldest, but the youngest could participate as well. I really like it when everyone can do the same activity together.

These are beaded kits I bought a little while ago that have been in a bin under my desk. I would love to make them in time for Christmas this year!

I hope the finished the products are as pretty as the picture on the front :o)

Holiday Fun and more WIP's

Our family finally made "Cake Pops". We have been wanting to make these for a long time - ever since I saw Bakerella on Martha Stewart. The 7 year old loved making these - she is my big helper in the kitchen!!

These are only 2 of the 6 foam blocks of pops we made for our New Year's Eve party. Something we learned: The cake pops need to be refrigerated before you coat them in chocolate. We did this; however, what we didn't think about is that if they need to be refrigerated to be firm before you add the coating they definitely need to be refrigerated AFTER coating the balls. We had a few of the balls fall off the sticks before we figured out that they were getting too soft. They tasted good anyway :o)

Holiday gifts for grandparents. Names were included on the finished sweat shirts!!

These were fun to do. We just used a bleach pen and traced around each of the kid's hands and wrote the names - it couldn't have been easier and they were well received. SCORE!!

Grandpas got blue, Grandmas got red

A little WIP - Dorian the Dog - I love this little guy and he is so easy to make. Just felt and floss and a little time to handstitch. Why then is it taking me so long to put the nose on this guy???

The hem on the dress for DD#1 for her performance coming up in two weeks.

Bad Cat Designs Summer Sampler Stole

Blue Ribbon Stole - I have made some progress on this since this photo.

More up soon!

WIP's

Happy Holidays to all!! It has been so busy crazy here with family and friends - it will be way too quiet when everyone goes home to where they are from. Over the next few posts, I will be making a list of WIP's. Not ALL of them mind you - that would be embarassing!! - but only those that I have stashed around in corners downstairs. There will be a very real effort to finish these this year - HAHAHA - I can even hear myself laughing!

First up - the shell. I made two of these previously and gave them to the two oldest daughters. Now it is my turn :o)
Cross stitch stocking for daughter #1. I have 5 of these kits in different designs. I just started this one two days ago and will post progress soon.

Secret of the Stole

"Home Sweet Home" cross stitch for our home that was started when we bought this home in 1993.

Bee Fields Shawl from KnitSpot. I jumped on this quite awhile ago when everyone was doing it. I even joined a KAL, but didn't get too far :o)