Happy New Year!

The healing power of purring.

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."

- T.S. Eliot
(cited in the The Writer's Almanac for today, January 1, 2009)

Merry Christmas!

So this has definitely been a stormy Christmas.

I didn't get a photo of it; but you might remember my wren nest from earlier in the year - well it was absolutely clogged with wrens yesterday. They were like clowns in a clown car coming out of the nest and all over the door and the wreath. Pretty significant wind came through again with the snow yesterday so I think they were hiding.



Never-ending snow:



Tiniest Christmas Tree ever:

Snowy weather and completed project

Finally the ridiculous freeze broke a bit to bring in the clouds and the snow. There has been a lot of wind out here with this storm so the snow isn't accumulating so much as blowing around.

Just prior to losing power last night I also finally completed the largest quilt I have done yet. :) The design is "Winter Garden" by Nancy Rink, Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Jan/Feb 2004/No 359. This design utilizes the Shoo-Fly block but also had a fun border. There was actually even another border of triangles but I wasn't as crazy about it and given how large this quilt got, I am glad I omitted it.


I don't usually get to say that I love quilting my quilts; but this time I actually did. I am not sure if it was the challenge of it or the fact that I am simply getting better control and smarter about planning the quilting out. This quilt has a really nice mix of straight quilting lines and free motion. The size of it was intimidating though (especially when I realized I needed a queen sized batting) and it was a real workout to move around.

The backing is this really cute crow flannel that I got at Taylor Creek Quilt Studio in Maple Valley (really great little shop). I also got some great advice there when we realized I wasn't going to make this work with the amount of fabric left on the bolt. It turns out that is preferable to create a backing of three panels anyway rather than one seam down the middle. This is more for the extreme stretch that happens on commercial quilting machines; but basically it distributes the stretching stress a little more rather than putting it all on one seam. And. I loved the look...

You may note the little kitty feet in the above photo. There was plenty of fighting going on to keep the cats and the quilting doberman OFF the quilt while I was trying to take photos of it. And this is why I have to wash all my projects before I give them away.

The cold snap has arrived

I really don't have much to say except that all of these cover jobs are not done by me.


I have been somewhat alarmed to find that rescue kitten is also an under-the-blanket pet (mostly because I have to be careful about squishing him).

And yes, he is actually sleeping that way, with his legs like that.


Happy winter everyone. Hope you are all keeping warm.

Knitting mistake

I made probably one of my more impressive knitting mistakes in all my time of knitting and I still couldn't tell you exactly what happened. The pattern was from Rowan and called "Lauryn Shawl" by Lisa Richardson. As you can see; mine didn't turn out as a shawl.

One of two things happened: either I totally blundered the count or I was shorted a skein (it was a kit).

Still, a very interesting pattern with a neat effect.

Three Forks Natural Area

The Three Forks Natural area is a small little park that has some river bank access and flat and short trails. The quilting doberman is sitting on the historic site of the North Fork School.

It is certainly pink

I don't think I have ever been so happy for a quilt to be completed mostly because it caused so much problems I was just glad to be done with it.

The pattern is called "Second Honeymoon" from the The Quilter Magazine, March 2004. I am pretty sure I have worked on it on and off for almost 3 years. I learned a lot from this quilt. The fabric chaos is due to not having enough of any color and being too new to quilting to know how to plan for enough fabric.

I broke a ton of needles quilting this one for two reasons, one, failure to clip excess fabric at the star points (I think called rabbit ears?) ESPECIALLY important with thick flannel, and two, failure to adjust my quilting plan once I realized the problem so that I could avoid these particular thick points of fabric.

Anyway...it is DONE! And hopefully some little girl will love it a lot more than I do. :)

The quilting doberman enjoying the fall weather out on the North Fork: