Seriously Bad Blogger!!!

Well, October was just about a wash around here for getting much of anything done and I have been such a bad blogger - I apologize!  Things have just been so busy that I honestly haven't spent much time on the computer.  I thought that life was suppose to get easier once you got one child off to college and the other one was old enough to take care of herself (for the most part).  But that doesn't seem to be!!  I hope that you didn't come to see what I was up to expecting grand finishes!  This has been such a wild month that not a thing has been finished - not a stinkin' thing.  But as we all love finishes, in keeping with the time of the year, I present this:

Witches Brew

No, this just didn't come hot off my sewing machine.  I haven't had a finish in what seems like months!  So pathetic.  So I have to show something that I made a long time ago and since today is Halloween, I thought it would be perfect.  Actually, this was a model that I made for a shop quite a few years ago, and I always got to keep the models I made.  I never quilted it as I actually don't hang it up.  I suppose I should - so today it's hanging from my craft room door.

And it reminded me of another quilt that I made around the same for my son when he was little.  I'm sure I'll probably see one or two Pokemon characters trick or treating for candy tonight.  Is Pokemon still popular?  I'm not sure if it is, but when my son was little he lived and breathed Pokemon:

 

I remember being so excited to see this quilt in a magazine while I was grocery shopping.  I ran home and ordered the fabric and had it finished within a week after receiving the material.  Which poses the question. Now that my kids are older, why don't I get more things done???  Hmmmmm.

So what have I accomplished this month?  Well, not much.  As I said it's been one of those months.  DD sprained her foot quite severely so that Pointe ballet is something that she can't do at the moment - tap and jazz she seems to manage now that a couple weeks have passed, but getting on her toes doesn't seem obtainable right now.  DS came down with Pneumonia while at school (I knew this would happen because he doesn't know when to slow down) which meant some trips up to see him.  I broke a tooth eating of all things, a peanut butter sandwich, which necessitated a trip to the dentist.  Well, more than one trip - a few trips.  Actually quite a few - for two crowns as one tooth broke and a filling was cracked in another.  I wonder where the dentist is planning on going on vacation this year - on my dime???

Then on top of that, I had an incredibly busy day one day a couple weeks ago - in and out of the house all day.  The final trip was to DD's dance class.  Just before we left she told me that she needed pink hair spray for something at school the next day - Pink Day if I remember right for Breast Cancer Awareness.  We were running late for dance as it was and having to make an unexpected stop at the Halloween store was something I hadn't planned on.  Well, it true scattered form, I fly out of the driveway and BAM!!!  Straight into my husband's car!!!  Can you say OUCH!  Two cars with smashed parts!  Not just a scrape, but major league damage!!  My husband's worse than mine.  Did I mention that a couple days prior we had really high winds and something flew through the air and shattered my son's windshield in the driveway?  OY!  And as you can imagine my husband was oh, so pleased that I decided to play bumper cars!  Oh well, he'll get over it!  LOL

So what have I accomplished?  I knew you'd ask!!  I'm still working on my sister's mermaid.  I've got 20 days to get this baby finished.  I thought I'd be done with it last week!  HA!  What was I thinking?

She's coming along and she's quite pretty, but I still have a lot to do on her.  For some reason I thought that I could just whip this out!  I guess not!  LOL  Notice the little crab needle holder?  That was a gift from Terri that she picked up when she was in Georgia.  I figured it was the perfect needle holder to use with this mermaid.  I think that it's become my favorite because the magnet is incredibly strong.

I have managed to get a little quilting done.  I abandoned the Civil War Chronicles quilt for a while as I was getting tired of making a million half-square triangles - those things just drive me nuts!!  So I went with something easy:

Recess

Miss Rosie's Quilts - Schnibbles

This one is a lot of fun and almost a non-brainer since my brain seems to be in some scrambled mode lately.  Just exactly what I needed.  I've never made a Schnibbles quilt before just because the size is so small, but it's been a lot of fun to work on.

Then because of my crazy fascination with Pinterest as of late and pinning all things crafty, I got the urge to do some crocheting and managed to make a couple blocks for a afghan that will probably be done, in my normal slow fashion, in about 5 years.

This afghan is comprised of 63 different blocks.  Two down - only 61 more to go!   It makes a great carry-along project when DD dances since the lighting in the studio isn't conductive to stitching even with my little scroll light.

Then because the knitting/crocheting thing is just calling my name, I had to indulge in these:

I've never been attracted to Granny squares all that much, but for some reason this afghan is just calling my name!  No, I haven't started and probably won't for a few weeks, but I think that the afghan is just so pretty (and also is the same colorway of one the quilts that I use on the beds).

And last but not least, I discovered another sewing machine for my sewing room.  No, not a big one - just a small one discovered at a local flea market that was held a week or so ago:

I'm starting to accumulate a lot of these.  I'm going to run out of room soon, but it's so hard to resist buying them when you find them for the right price

Well, there you have it - the month in review!   I'm hoping that the next month is better, but it's going to be another busy one with my DD's confirmation coming up and my annual trip to NY.  I can't wait for that.  I'm hoping the weather holds up and they're not hit by a snowstorm like this weekend.  How freaky is that?    But with fingers crossed, the mermaid will be done and I can go on to finish up (or start) other things.

Happy Stitching (and if you can, send some stitching time to me)!!  :o)

Is it the Change in the Season?

Gosh guys, I've missed you!!!  I've been so remiss on reading blogs lately.  I think that the changes of the season must do things to people, right?  Well, it definitely has done something to me.  I've been in the worse stitching/quilting slump that you can imagine!  I have a million things that I want to make and then I look at them and walk away.   Probably because after the crazy summer we had around here, I'm still playing catchup.  But it also usually means that I need to look for a change of pace, and I think that I've found it, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Since I last posted anything of substance (which was over a month), I've made some progress on Ann Hall:

I was happily stitching along on dear Ann and then I got bored!  How could I go that when I was getting to the part where I could stitch in Adam and Eve?  Well, I don't know what came over me, but I went on to And All Was For An Appil (another Adam and Eve).  But you're not going to see a picture of that one because after a few nights it dawned on me that in less than two months is my annual trip to New York (insert a Woo Hoo here) to see my sister.  Now I've been promising my sister that I'd make her another Mirabilia mermaid, and being the procrastinator that I am I've been putting it off and putting it off, but I figured that I better get going on it.  So I dumped AAWFAA like a hot potato and picked up Deepest Love by Mirabilia.  Not my normal stitching fare, but I do like her:

Then I worked a little bit on a scarf that I started last year and hopefully I'll finish it this year:

An entrelac scarf using Noro Taiyo yarn.  It's fun to work on but I've only gotten that last row on in the past few weeks.  I figured this would be a great "take-with" project while my daughter dances now that her dance hours are later and I can't get into too much trouble in the malls (darned it!).  Another thing that has really caught my fancy are these babies and I think these are the change of pace I needed:

Photo curtesy of Ravelry (Love!!!)

Cute pincushions (More Love!!)

Crocheted Hexie Afghan (Even more love)

About the hexie afghan - yes, yes, I know - I was working on some quilted ones a while ago and they're still here, but there is something so soothing to me lately about the thought of crocheting.  You know, cooler weather, football game on the TV and the warm feel of wool.  So obviously I'm going through some changes like the seasons.

Oh, before I forget, my friend Di, who is the most fantastic stitcher, quilter and just about everything else person, set up a new blog and you have got to see her hand pieced hexi quilt (among other things), so check out her new blog and say "Hi Ya" when you have a chance:  On My Needle.  She does some remarkable things.

And I have to make a confession right here and now - all those pictures of knitting/crocheting are courtesy of Pinterest.  Have you taken a look at that sight?  Have you been sucked into the vortex of pages and pages of things to do, decorating ideas, food, photography?  Unfortunately, I have to confess that I have and I couldn't be happier that I've found all those wonderful things.  If you haven't taken a look, you're in for a lot of inspiration and a lot of time sucking!  Believe me on the time sucking thing!!!  I have a link on my sidebar (I think it will take you there or to the general site).  Take a look, and then put the coffee pot beside you and some provisions - you'll be there for a while!!!

Okay - back to reality!!  When I've been wandering around trying to figure out what I wanted to do, but couldn't get myself to sit down, I messed around in the craft room a little bit.  In fact, I'm changing the whole room around once again (enough already you say - get to sewing and quit messing around!  LOL).  I finally got a quilt rack up after trying to figure out how to do it (the wall was bowed in the middle - basement walls are not always the flattest) and this is the result:

A few of my children's vintage sewing machines and pincushions.  The quilt still needs to be quilted, but thought I'd just hang it up for effect.  I'm working on the last wall in my room as we speak, but it's going to take a while as one piece of the necessary furniture won't be here for a week or so.

In the antiquing finds category,  I'll show you the frogs I've accumulated since the summer up to about now:

The amber frog on the top right was a gift from Terri for my birthday, and the other ones I found here and there.  I was surprised to find the pink one in the lower middle, as I've usually only seen them clear like the one on the bottom left.  Here's a better picture of the two latest:

And last but not least, I got two surprises in the mail last month and I was just tickled.  These were from Mindi who had just started a blog.  I was her first follower and she sent me these absolutely wonderful things for being her first follower:

I was so surprised when the package appeared in the mail.  Thank you so much Mindi and I'm glad that I was your first follower!  And I just realized that there was a fob that matched the pillow that I didn't take a picture of.

There is it - and on the back is the initial "D".

And my dear friend Loraine sent me this package:

An adorable Welcome pillow which will hang from my craft room door, a marking pen that disappears (perfect for quilting) and The Angler 2.  I was complaining to her about the millions of half-square triangles I had to make for the Civil War quilts and she said that she had just the thing!!  I can't wait to try it out.  And she also sent a piece of wonderful fabric.

Well, I think that's about all for me today.  My son came home from school again this weekend.  I'm not sure if he came to see us or came home because the football game was away and he needed clothes washed (probably the latter reason), and DD is getting ready for the Homecoming Dance at her school this evening.  I'm still having a hard time believing that she's in high school, but I think that we've all experienced that feeling before.

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend, and I promise not to be a stranger now.  I've really missed reading blogs and seeing what everyone is doing!