Getting the Word Out on My New Venture

 
I'm excited to tell you that I am going to start making T-Shirt Quilts!!!

I have been asked many times by people if I could make a T-shirt quilt for them.  At the time, I was not ready to take on that task.  After much thought, I thought it would be rewarding to be able to make a keepsake for people that they would cherish for years to come.

I have a made a few, and silly me, I did not take pictures of the finish products.  The clients were happy with the results and asked if they could refer me to friends.  With that, I gained the confidence to pursue this venture.

If you are interested in having a T-shirt quilt made just send me an email at cmsusanne@sbcglobal.net and be sure to reference T-shirt Quilt in the subject line. Let me know how many T-shirts you have.  I will have my pricing put together within the next couple of days.

Obviously, I will not be able to make one for Christmas but keep me in mind for upcoming graduation gifts.

I have also been doing some knitting for gifts.  I'll post some pictures of these items.
 

Thankful for So Many Things

Thanksgiving has past and there is so much to be thankful for.  This past year has had it's up and downs.   We had a bad experience with Inspiration Remodeling doing the work at our home.  They ended up quitting on us and we were left with quite the mess.  My new craft room was complete to insulation, the bar was a mess, baseboards were taken up in areas they had not even started on.  Their professionalism was lacking.  It is not good when your neighbor says "They are always outside smoking and on the phone, no wonder they are behind on the job".  But in came Richard Williams and Associates.  They were wonderful.  They came at 8:00 and left at 5:00. Every worker was professional and hard working.  It was so wonderful we have hired them to do more work.




Enough of that, I'm so thankful and blessed that we were able to add a room onto the house so I can enjoy my hobbies.  I'm still sorting things out and will be ready to get rid of things I know I won't need or projects I won't do.  Aunt Terry was a huge help in getting my room organized.  In three days, we cleaned out a lot of things and it felt good. 


This summer the whole family went to Japan for two weeks.  It was a wonderful vacation enjoyed by all.  We were not sure if the boys who are 11 and 13 would enjoy it but they loved it too.

The downs of this year were the loss of two friends who were so young.  One was my neighbor that passed of pancreatic cancer and the other was my maid of honor who passed of cancer as well.  They passed within a month of each other.  It amazes me how much younger it seems people are passing away due to cancer.  I think of them both often.  They say backdoor neighbors are the best and Marcia sure was.  Marietta was such a giving person and even though we lived miles apart we always managed to connect when I was home or talk on the phone.

Well, I hope to keep this blog up more this year and share photos of various crafts that I do or adventures I take.  I have pictures to post but they are on the other computer so I will post later.

Until next time....enjoy everyday to the fullest and count your blessings.

Fast Forward to June 2011

Well, it is already June 2011 and I still don't have a spinning wheel. But that is OK with me. I decided it would not be "my thing". I have discovered what "my thing" is and it is quilting. I love love love everything about it. It has been three years since I started quilting and I finally have my sewing room the way I want it. I have been quilting like crazy and hope to post all the quilts I have made on my blog.

The best part of quilting is sharing the craft. My dear friend Cheryl got me interested in quilting. She is like a second mom to me. My mom lives in Canada so it is wonderful to have such a dear friend here in Texas. The other great part of being friends with Cheryl is that I also acquired an Aunt. Her name is Aunt Terry, Cheryl's sister. She also quilts. My favorite thing to do is head out on a Saturday morning and go to quilt stores with both of them. We always have a great time.

This summer I will be learning how to do applique. I can't wait.

I recently sent out 7 quilt tops out to be quilted and cannot wait to get them back. One of the quilts is my favorite. I will have to post pictures at a later time because they are still on the camera. One of the quilts is for my 12 year old son. I finished his quilt in March and just haven't had time to send it out and he keeps asking me when his quilt will be finished. I'm so pleased that he loves it so much that he can't wait to use. Again, I will post a picture of it when it gets back.

I'm heading to Connecticut next week and plan to spend some time in New York too. I look forward to going quilt shopping. My cousin has already asked a quilting friend of hers where some shops are. Yeah!

Well, until next time happy crafting.

It has been a while!

I've decided to start blogging again. I've been doing so much over the last year it has been crazy. I started working at the kids' school as the Receptionist and loved it. But this year I am going to be a Life Skills Aide. I'm really looking forward to this position and can't wait to work with my good friend and neighbor.

Since the last time I posted I have taking up quilting and I'm so addicted. So much so that when my friend Alanna, bless her heart, decided to help me clean my craft room/guest room, we discovered that I had 18 quilt kits to make. Plus, I had fabric for other projects. Once I get a chance I will post before and after pictures.

I've knit some but not a wholelot. I started to make some Christmas gifts hoping to be done by Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I've asked my husband if he would purchase a spinning wheel for me. I even said it can be for my birthday and Christmas. So I'm looking for a wheel. I can't wait. I want to go to Jacob's Reward and spin with the ladies in the Little Red Barn.

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day so I guess I can't get caught up in a day either. So I will start posting more often.

Happy Stitching Friends!!

Things are looking up!

Tomorrow I am going to spend the morning with the family attending my son's all-star hockey and my other son's basketball games. Then I'm off for a day of scrapbooking. I cannot wait. I love doing this type of thing because it brings back memories and you can get alot accomplished.

Things are looking up, I got some good news today that I can't discuss right now but I am so excited about it. I know, if I can't discuss it why say anything. Well, I just wanted to point out the fact that things happen for a reason.

Sometimes you can do something or say something that a person hears or sees and that leads to other things. So when I can discuss this I will but I'm just happy to say that I'm so happy. And no, I'm not pregnant!! That would not be happy news when I'm about to turn 40.

to be continued...

Why is it..

when I talk to people lately it isn't good news part of the time. I can't take anymore bad news. In the last month and a half I know three people with cancer. They are all at different stages in the process of healing but holy molly!!
My Mom had cancer and God bless her she was truly lucky and she didn't have to have chemo or radiation. It was detected early. Come to find out from the doctor who did my gall bladder surgery, that she is very lucky. She had to have a whipple procedure and only 10% of people who are diagnosed are candidates for the surgery. 10% survive the surgery and of the survivors 10% go five years. It will be four years this month and she is scheduled for an MRI next week. The way things have been going I don't want to know the results.

Each person deals with the situation differently. I am the type of person who loves to help anyway I can. A request was made for chemo cap donations and I sewed 10 of those in an afternoon. While making them I sewed in some good juju for the receipients. When I was purchasing the fabric the lady cutting the fabric asked what I was going to make. I told her chemo caps as per a request from a friend. There was another customer at the cutting table who came out and said "Thanks for doing that, I really appreciate it. I'm a breast cancer survivor for 14 years now." I told her I was glad she was at the store that day.

I'm going to continue to make my chemo caps as my way of dealing with this and continue praying for those who are sick to get well soon. One day at a time.

Sorry for the depressing post but I had to put it down somewhere.

Alpacas, Skunk and Elk Oh My!!

This post has alot of pictures. But such nice pictures if I say so myself.

We went to Victory Ranch in New Mexico on Tuesday. I was so excited I could not contain myself.



We pulled up and were greeted by sweet dogs. The farm has Great Pyranese working in the fields and a couple decided to lay on the porch and take in some loving from the boys. Andrew loved what he called the house dog Lola.




It was time for the 11:00 a.m. feeding which we arrived just in time for. The kids loved feeding the animals and I think my husband Frank did too.





Meet Carmelcup. She is so sweet. She was just recently sheared.



We went into the shop and found all these goodies. I bought a book called Shear Spirit. It includes information on 10 Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns and info on yarns. Victory Ranch is one of the featured farms. They had this pretty shawl and when you bought the yarn and book together it was a great deal. So I purchased the yarn and book and couldn't wait to get started on it. The knitted lace is the beginning of the shawl I knitted in the car on the 11 hour drive home yesterday. I also bought some alpaca from "Honey" to make some cable socks they had a sample of. I don't have a picture of the socks but the yarn is shown on the left in the picture.




I thought it was neat the way they labeled the yarn. If I run out of Honey I just call up and say I need X yards of Honey and they ship it. The "dyelot" is the alpaca's name.



They do have a Frankie and when they shear it I will get some to make my Frankie something. He thought that was cool. This is Frankie the Alpaca.



These are bags of fleece to be carded.



Shop shelves loaded with alpaca



The boys with their alpaca bears that as so so soft.



Darcy is the one in the book wearing the shawl and she is winding my yarn on a Knitty Knotty.



After the alpaca farm we headed to Taos. We found a yarn shop that was called La Lana Wools that was unique in that the yarns are naturally dyed and there were lots of interesting yarns too. Andrew decided to knit a row of a project that was in the shop for that purpose, to knit a row on. He found to such project baskets in the store. I just loved looking at the all the yarn.



I came across roving in the back room. I thought WOW they even have skunk. There was a basket beside it with dog hair and such too. They had wild skunk and they had tame skunk. Here is some Wild Skunk roving.



Cool Eh? Well upon my return home I went on the website and it is apparently just a name. It is 50% american wool and 50% merino. No wonder the lady looked at me like I was wacko when I said I wanted something unusual. She was probably thinking what is so unusual about american wool and merino. Hee Haw! Dumb A**. Then my husband and I got to thinking is there such a thing as a tame skunk? Obviously, in brown. LOL

This is some Lincoln Thickspun that I will use for trim on a little girls sweater.



So we headed home the next day and saw these beautiful elk on the side of the road. So I leave you with pictures of the Elk and pictures of us on the Rio Grande Suspension Bridge the day before. The bridge was cool because when you shouted it echoed. So of course Andrew and I shouted all sorts of things like Alpacas (as instructed by Darcy at the Alpaca Farm), hello and just screamed. It was so fun.

Skiing pictures will have to wait because it is now the second period of the Winter Classic hockey game where the Chicago Blackhawks are beating the Detriot Red Wings and I want to go watch the game. So stay tuned for more vacation pics. By the way I'm in a Ravelry group where we are knitting a HAT TRICK, that would be three hats in the month of January so off I go to start the first one while watching the game.

HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR. Pictures follow:

Skiing in New Mexico or not so much

Yesterday, we all headed to Angel Fire for our day on the slopes. We arrived well enough in time for our registration and ski lessons. Since the Texans did not know about the time difference. Yes, that is right we arrived an hour early at the ski resort. That would be 7 a.m. Everything opened at 8 a.m. and our lesson was at 9 a.m. Can you say freeze your ass off for an hour in -10 degree weather.

Anyway, we got to our lesson and it went very well. I did not fall at all until the last hill. My right knee was getting extremely sore so I stopped at the top of the mountain. Actually before stopping I took a "wicked wipe out" as the kids put it. So then I told the Ski Instructor to call a skidoo because I was just too pooped to ski down the rest with my sore knee. Well it turns out that I rested long enough, rather waited long enough for the skidoo to arrive, to continue on down the mountain to the end. Yeah Me! I don't know if the skidoo is looking for me still or not but I don't think so. I could be buried under the snow and they wouldn't even know. LOL. Frankie and Andrew had a blast and Frank had skied a number of times before so he had a great time too. Even more so because the kids caught on so quickly. Andrew actually went down a blue mountain with Frank and then alone and met up with Frank and Frankie. So after I made it back down the mountain I returned my ski equipment and went to the car to get my knitting.

The boys are all skiing today and I'm going to hang out in town. Tomorrow we are heading into Taos to shop. I have scouted out the yarn shops and quilt stores too.

I'll post some pics when we get back since we forgot the USB cord. We bought Frankie a digital camera for Christmas and it is so nice. It is actually better than the one I have.

Hope everyone had a good holiday.

Time Flys When You are Having Fun!!!

My how time flys!! I can't believe it is almost New Year's Day. (I actually started to type this post in October and said I couldn't believe it was almost Halloween) Last time I posted we had just celebrated New Years and imagine that here we are again about to celebrate New Years.

Here are a few highlights from the past few months.

Took a trip home to Canada and went to Chicago this summer for Chicago Blackhawks convention. The convention was so great and we are glad we went since they fired the coach who was my husband's favorite player. We were able to get his autograph. Which is huge. You have to understand, we have been together since 1984 and for that long we have tried to get this autograph. July 2008, mission accomplished. I have knitted quick a bit this year and even have finished projects. I can go knit everyday of the week if I wanted. There are various places I can go and knit with friends. Right now I knit three times a week without fail.

One day I went into a Starbucks and was looking for a place to sit with my boys. I asked this lady "Is this table taken". She replied "It is for the other knitters". I said "Oh, how fun that you knit. I have my knitting with me." She said "Well sit down". And that folks was the start of a new friendship with such a wonderful person named Barb and other nice ladies.

I can't tell you how much fun I have knitting with Barb, Cheryl and the other Knitting Nuts.

As a group we knitted 25 hats and gave them to a lady in our Wednesday knitting group. We are in the process of knitting the Baby Surprise Jacket together. It is so much fun. (At the time of this post, the Surprise Jacket is surprising not being worked on).

I can just say that I have been knitting with people I enjoy being with. It is so pleasant. We have learned so much from each other from various knitting tips and tricks, health and wellness, to where to buy the perfect bra. Let me tell you, I love my new bras from Jockey. They support the girls and are very comfortable.

Another hobby I have gotten back into is sewing. Yeah!! I have been loving it. I made crate covers for a Annise who recently had her first child. She emailed a tutorial to our knit group and was disappointed she didn't sew. I emailed back and said I sew, I love to give people gifts. Hum? So I made two for her with manetee fabric which match her nursery. And gosh darn it, I did not take a picture of them. I have to get some from her.

My dear, dear friend Cheryl, God I love that woman. She is a hoot and we get along so great. She started me with quilting. She quilts like there is no tomorrow. She does extremely beautiful work. So she said you can do this. She provided me with fabric and batting and backing fabric to make a scrap quilt and off I went. I went camping Columbus Day weekend and took my old sewing machine with me. Before I left I went to Cherly's house and she gave me a quick lesson and when I returned from camping I had 11 of 18 squares completed. Today I finished the last quilt square so now Cheryl will be coming over to help me assemble it. I can't wait to put the squares together. We are going to take a road trip to a quilt store in Celeste. Yeah, I can't wait.

I went to a Knitting Fairy Retreat hosted by Alissa and my friend Annise. Unfortunately, Annise's son decided to come into the world a little early and we missed her at the retreat. I brought various projects and left with some yummy yarn.

I received the bestest ever Christmas gift today from my husband and boys. A CSA share in the Hudson Valley Fiber Farm's Spring 2009 Yarn Harvest. That is a mouth full but man do I love the gift. You can keep up with the sheep via weekly updates and/or read the blog. I can even go to the shearing in April. I am planning on it if it all works out. My husband wants to come too. I think he has fallen in love with the little babies. They are so sweet.

Well, I am going skiing and should be packing right now but instead I'm on the computer. Oh well, it will get done, it always does. I will post some pictures when I get back of some FOs and Alissa's cake I made with a friend for her birthday when we were on the retreat. It was so pretty.

Tickled Pink!

I started knitting the Cables and Bits dog shrug from Knitty.com on Sunday. It was such a fast knit and I was thrilled to give it to Dolly, my neighbors dog, this evening. We tried it on her and she loved it. She wanted me to pick her up and she gave me lots of kisses. She is so sweet.

She will be going to the groomers tomorrow so when she returns I'll get a picture of her with her new sweater. For now here are some pictures of the shrug and one of the cuffs. I actually made a consistent error on the cables. Instead of tangled cables I made wavy cables but I really don't think Dolly will care. The edge around the neck and back were done without the "bits" part. It should have looked like the cuff but I like the way it turned out. The collar near the neck actually folds down.

Loopy Edge finished!!

Well I finally finished binding off my pinwheel sweater. Holy crap that was crazy. Note to self: Never make anything with 400 stitches that has a loopy edge again!!!

Here are the pictures of the sweater sans sleeves. Why no sleeves you ask? I ran out of yarn. Yes people I ran out of freaking yarn and am thinking of a few options. Maybe this will be a pinwheel vest? Who knows? We shall see.

This is a picture of the loopy edging where you makea 12 row i-cord and then attach it to three stitches and make another one and so and so on. Since I used varigated yarn I skipped three stiches and went around the sweater two times. Boy was glad when I got the last i-cord.

This is the sweater layed out. I love it. It is very soft. I used an alpaca/merino/tussah silk blend.

On another note, I learned how to do Magic Loop and I love it. I think this is my new favorite way of making two socks at the same time. I'm using some yarn I got in Rhinebeck. It is from Autumn Farms and the colorway is called Janwood. I love it. I can't wait until they are complete and on my feet.

Pinwheel Sweater and stuff

I have made great progress on my Pinwheel Sweater. I hope to have the body done this weekend with only the sleeves to finish. Here is a picture of the progress which doesn't do the sweater justice.

I didn't want to take a chance and put it on waste yarn to spread it out so this view is not too good. I'm about 18 rows from having to do the i-cord edge on it and bind off. I can't wait to see it with the edging.

I guess the following are my New Year's Resolution:

Knit from my stash. Call me crazy but I don't even want to buy any yarn. I didn't even go to the Woolie Ewe sale. Obviously, I purchased other yarn for a reason and I guess I should knit that stuff up.

Get back into my scrapbooking hobby so I can get the boys books updated. I feel like knitting has taken over and my other hobbies have suffered. My boys really enjoy looking at their scrapbooks and that makes me want to work on them even more.

Update my Ravelry with projects I want to do and get them organized.

Knit more socks. I've been working on a pair since Rhinebeck and they aren't complete yet due to the fact that I tried a toe up sock and need a refresser and I have lost two of my sox stixs. I need to replace those but I think I may carry on without them.

Learn more about crocheting.

Attend a STITCHES convention. Not sure which one. Rhinebeck been there, done that, don't need to go back quite yet.

Swap Package

I received my swap package from Andrea on Friday. I love it. It is full of so many fun things.

The package was in this cute basket with gingerbread men around it. The cutest knitting sheep magnet. A mug with lid to keep my cocoa with marshmallows hot. Some wonderful pumpkin pie three in one body wash, shampoo and bubblebath. It smells so yummy I could eat it.

Also in the package was some Lone Star Arts Peppermint Twist fusion 100% superwash merino yarn. It is very soft. There was a knitting calender with cool things to make, a journal, post it notes and ruled pad of paper, note cards, a Christmas stamp block , and cinnamon candles. Oh I almost forgot there were, noticed I said were, two Lindt chocolate bars, one was chocolate toffee and the other which was awesome, white chocolate and coconut. Yummy!!

Thank you again Andrea that was very sweet of you. I love it!!!

Pool, Another Crafty Event and the Knitting Fairy

I can't believe the pool is complete. We are so excited for it to finally be over and of course now it is getting cooler. But that doesn't seem to stop the offspring of two Canadians. Keep in the mind the water temperature was 58 degrees. The boys insisted on going in except one thought it was too cold. Hopefully, we will heat the spa up this weekend. WARNING: I suck at taking videos, apparently I'm shaky according to my family who every time they watch one of my recordings feel like they are on an amusement ride. This one, I think, is not so bad.

I took a picture of the pool this evening with the lights on and the boys refer to it as the green slime pool. Boys? I think it looks peaceful and inviting. I can't wait until the patio cover goes up, the furniture set out, the landscaping is completed and the landscape lighting gets installed.

On a crafty note, I received a phone call today from a lady who would like me to participate in an open house she is having at her home to sell my bags. She has 7 vendors including me and we all have different things to sell. I'm excited about this because there is no booth fee and hopefully I can sell the remaining bags I have. She seemed very pleasant and sells Mary Kay herself. I'll keep you posted.

A huge thank you again to the Knitting Fairy, http://www.knittingfairy.com/ , for helping me make heads and tails or should I say yarn over and knit stitches of my pinwheel sweater. I was tootling along on my sweater and then I kept forgetting if I was on a yarn over round or a knitting round. What a mess!! I tried to fix it myself and didn't do too bad but I still have to rip back about 15 rounds or so. I didn't mind because it is a simple pattern, ya right and that is why I'm having so much trouble. It really is a simple pattern and I decided I need to knit on it at home in a quiet place or figure out a method to keep track of which round I'm on.

What I got in Rhinebeck and Craft Shows - Picture heavy

I finally got around to taking pictures of the things I purchased in Rhinebeck. I have been working on the pinwheel sweater for myself using this Alpaca, Merino and Tussah mix. It is so soft and I love the way the and I love the way the colors are knitting up.

I also got some Alpaca that is Chocolate Brown and Gray but it actually looks blue. I will be making a sweater out of this but the pattern has yet to be determined. Again, so soft.

This is some Primero 100% kid mohair from Brooks Farms Yarn which I will be making the circular scarf in Old Shale Pattern.

This is 55% Silk and 45% cashmere laceweight yarn from Skaska Designs. I will be making a lace shrug with. The color shows as orange but it is a coral color that is so pretty.

This is a merino lace weight shawl kit from Morehouse Farms. The colors were so pretty and looked like the trees.

This is some Sunshine Sock Yarn that Dani was handing out for free 1/2 skeins (225 yards). I plan on making a scarf with beads in it with this yarn. I saw one made up at the festival and now I just have to find the beads. The colorway is Standing in the Rain.

I also bought this dark purple, black and red sock yarn. Some other sock yarn from Herdwick Fine Merino Superwash. Colorway is Jackie's Woods that looks like Christmas Colors. The pattern for it came as a bookmarker. I thought that was cool idea.

To wind all this beautiful yarn, I purchased this jumbo ball winder. I also purchased a swift that sits on a table. You can clamp it if you want but you don't have to. Sorry no pic of the swift but I think we all know what that looks like.

I have also decided that I am not a craft show type of gal. I think I will make things on request and put the love and enjoyment into that article rather than mass producing things to sell and have them sit in my craft room like the Misfits on Misfits Island. Actually the little reversible bags I made are coming in handy because my boys have three birthday parties to go to in the next two weeks and so I have decided to put a gift card into a bag and attach a "From" card to it. These little bags are perfect for socks projects or small knitting projects. They also fit Webkinz perfectly. They are about 6" round and 8" high. The camo reverses to the fushia, the baseballs reverse to the stars and the ladybug reverses to red dragonflies. The puppies/paw prints and soccer balls/stars fabrics are in progress. They are cut out but not sewn.

Here is a picture of the knitting tote bags I have made for the show and now reside in my craftroom. If you are interested in any let me know. The first one is neat because the handles are made from curtain tie backs. The next two are suede like fabric that is so soft to touch. The next two are drapery/upholstery fabric. They all have three interior pockets and one has a zipper pocket on it too. Each bag is $45.00.