Busy!

Here is my progress on His Eye for this week.  I'm not showing the border where I did manage to stitch a few flowers as well.

I love that tiny owl, don't you?

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but for those of you stitching this piece, there are corrections on Beth Twist's blog.  Also, I ran out of WDW Havana and am getting low on GAST Caramel Corn.  And I'm using 40ct too, so if you are using a lower count, you definitely need more than one skein of those.  And you probably need more than one skein on 40ct too!  I'm pretty economical with my floss.

Here is my fussy cut star for the week, number 48 I believe.  I used a fabric from Horizon by Kate Spain.

Now for some catch up.  I neglected to tell you about my trip into NYC a couple of weeks ago.  I went in to have lunch with a very special lady, who I was so so happy to meet!  Ellen Chester!

I'm sure you all know that Ellen is the talented lady behind With My Needle.  She and I have been corresponding by email for quite a while, and now we have finally met in person!  My only regret is that I didn't get to meet Ellen's husband Tom.  One of these days I will make it to one of Ellen's classes.  I'm bound and determined!

I couldn't waste a day in NYC, so after our lovely lunch, I hopped on the subway to go to Soho for some Christmas shopping.  And a little shopping for myself too!

Yup!  I went to Purl Soho!  My second visit.  I really need to go more often.  lol!  Here is my stash.

I got some Purl Soho Line Weight yarn, the great Fringe Supply tote (It says, "Wool is an essential part of any high-fiber diet."), Some Fringe Supply removable stitch markers, and some ribbon embroidered with my initials (one with an M and one with a C).  I also picked up some of these from LaDuree.

Met the father type for dinner at Bareburger when he got out of work.

And then we went home together.  A lovely day!

This past weekend was, of course, Thanksgiving weekend!  Hooray!  Which meant this.

And this!

Ack!  Please ignore the mess behind the girl child.  lolol!

Yes, my two kid-lings came home!  So nice!  We had a lovely Thanksgiving together.

(Note the man bun on the boy child.  Loooong hair!)

The cook 

The spread

But all too soon it was time to say goodbye again.

(Yes, that's the Sockhead hat I knitted for the boy child!)

So sad, but it will be Christmas break for the boy child in a few weeks, and the girl child will hopefully visit between now and Christmas too.  We hope!

Mia got a bit stressed by the kids being around.  She's gotten used to us old folks and our quiet ways.  She used my lap as a safe haven quite a bit.

Silly kitty.  

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!

Two classes! (loooong post)

I will show my progress on the current known projects first.  Here is my latest Fussy Cut Star, number 15.  I used another Judie Rothermel fabric for this one and love it.

And here are the City Sampler quilt blocks I made this week.

(The top two are butt ugly IMO.  lol!)

Sadly, A Parrot has been put aside for now.   But I have good reason.

On Tuesday, I ventured back into NYC to go to this shop, String.

I went there to take a class in Fair Isle!  I've wanted to learn how to knit fair isle and intarsia forever.  After all, I've been a huge Kaffe Fassett fan ever since he first came out with those magnificent huge intarsia sweaters years and years ago.  Our class project was this piece, the Mobius cowl from Vogue Knitting Magazine.

It was a great class, and I came away having learned a great deal.  Afterwards, I wandered around a bit.  Here are a few sites I saw.

This is a cupcake ATM!  lol!  The screen on the left is where you make your choices and purchase, the door on the right opens to reveal your cupcakes all boxed and ready to go.  No, I didn't try them, just watched.

This is the food market in Grand Central.  An amazing place!  Full of everything you could want -- fresh produce, baked goods, fresh meats and seafood, prepared foods to take home, cheeses, nuts and legumes, -- everything!  I loved strolling through to see what was available.

I met the father type in Grand Central, and we went to the food concourse and ate at Junior's for dinner.

Junior's is most famous for their cheesecakes, so of course, we had to have dessert.

In the course of our telling each other about our days, I discovered that the father type went to a talk and book signing for an author at Google.  (Google is constantly getting famous people to talk and/or play music at their site.)  I plotzed when I found out who the author was -- Emma Donoghue!!!!

Unbeknownst to the father type, I am a huge fan of hers, having read many of her books.  And of course, I just started her latest book, "Frog Music."  But of course, her talk was around the same time as my class anyway.  Ah well.  The father type has a signed copy of "Frog Music" somewhere in his office space now.  Lucky guy.

Now here are the results of my fair isle knitting once I was home.  First up, a start on the Lidya scarf from Rowan magazine number 48.  (I got the yarn for this one when that magazine first came out years ago, in the hope of being able to knit it one day.)

Then it was back to the class project.  My progress so far.

Still working on tension.  I think I'm mostly good, except perhaps for the longer floats in a few places.  And the Koigu yarn is a pleasure to work with, much more forgiving than the Rowan yarn for the Lidya scarf.

As if that weren't enough, on Saturday, my friend Kathy (no blog) and I headed down to NJ, almost to the Pennsylvania border, to attend a class with Catherine Theron!  So exciting!

There she is, standing in the blue sweater, which I've been told was hand knitted by Catherine herself!

In the foreground of the picture, you can see my friend Kathy's sewing box (which Kathy is digging into), which she stitched (it's a design by Cathy Campbell of Primitive Traditions).  I've always admired it.  Here's a pic of the top.

Anyway, back to the class -- here's the class kit!

We also could buy two smalls kits, one for a needlebook, one for a scissor holder and fob, complete with tiny Bohin scissors.  I, of course, bought them.

It was a great class, and the best part is the finishing looks easy.  I like easy.  lol!  I don't have much progress to show, just some nun stitch on the border of one piece.

This is what happened when I got home from class.

Mia jumped into my stitching bag as I was unpacking it.  Of course.  It was also a beautiful day, so Mia was enjoying the open windows and doors.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!

Lots to post about....

First off, here is my progress on A Parrot A Leopard A Lion.  I have all the uppermost motifs done!  Well, except for one that I'm not sure whether it will fit or not.

Here is a closeup of the two huge flowers on the right that I just finished.

Here are the City Sampler blocks I got done this week.

I'm trying to either stick to the same color palette or to use the same fabrics as shown in the book.  Finding solids of the right color is a challenge!

And here's my fussy cut star for the week, using another Judie Rothermel Peace and Unity fabric.

I copied straight from Temecula Quilt Co on this one.

I received a lovely surprise in the mail this week from Paula of Kelmscott Designs.

Aren't they wonderful?  They are the Pear and Red Barn needleminders and the Hearts Atopple Scissors.  Thank you so much, Paula!  I love them!

This past Friday, the father type and I had a dinner date and art gallery opening to attend with some friends in the evening in NYC.  Since I was going into the city, I figured I'd have some fun beforehand.  So I went gallivanting!  Here are some pics of my adventure.

New York Public Library -- you can see the lion if you look closely.

Evidence of spring in Bryant Park.

Lovely fabrics in B&J Fabrics, in the heart of the garment district.

Had to stop here!

A rest stop at Caffe Bene (never been before, but it was yummy!  Strawberries and a mango peach smoothie.)

Lion Brand Yarn Studio.  I should have taken a pic inside.  So colorful, and the fibers seemed really nice!  (The display in the window is made of fiber.  Pretty amazing.)  Note the door handles.  Yup, they are yarn bombed.  Love it!

Then I headed across town to meet the father type.

And we had our evening with friends.  (It felt too tacky to take pics.)

Mia was happy to see us home that night.  (I don't think she likes all these adventures and late nights we've been having.)  She was curious to see what I bought in NYC.

What's in the bag??

Here's what was in the bag, my swag.

Most are from the City Quilter, a few from Lion Brand Yarn Studio.  The tote at the right and the knitting accessories are from the yarn store, of course.  At City Quilter, I got a NYC kitchen towel, a beautiful tin to store sewing supplies in, a piece of fabric with the names of NYC stops in mosaic tile like in the subway, and some Australian Aboriginal fabrics.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!