Change is in the air

The studio has been arranged in the same way since I moved it into this room. Why did I suddenly decide to rearrange furniture?

It started with the big pile up of sandwiched quilts. There are three in the seat of the rocking chair. To keep the quilt from dragging on the needle as you are machine quilting it needs support. I've been using a variety of items like tables and the ironing board to support the weight of the quilts.

The sewing machine cabinet is now nestled into the corner and the quilts can not fall off the side or the back of the cabinet. An added bonus is that now I can look directly at the small quilts I have received in swaps. Love it!

O, and in case you are wondering, the purple rectangle is covering up one of the applique UFO quilts on the design wall. I plan to enter it into a show or two and won't know until it's time whether I can picture it or not, so it is better to be safe and not show a picture. Want to know what else is on the wall? Right above the purple rectangle are 3 finished embroidery Halloween blocks and to the left of the purple is the  loosely folded Iris Garden.

Of photography (and yarn)

 

I must be doing something right. I've been asked twice now on Ravelry if I would allow the use of my photos. By yarn companies no less. Both of these photos were taken with my old PhD (push here dummy) point and shoot Kodak Easy Share. Sadly the camera is starting to add 'noise' to pictures, otherwise I would probably be still using it.

Are you watching?

Art by Laura Aldrich

I've been engrossed in the Olympics. CarGuy has a very large screen HDTV and I have pre-empted him for the Olympics. I drag an easy chair right in front of the TV, grab my knitting and away we go. The other night on the moguls the cameras caught the action straight on and I felt like the skier was going to land in my lap!

Tonight is the snowboarding halfpipe. TheKid rides a snowboard and I just love to watch them. Of course, it is dangerous. I know someone who smashed up his clavicle and has all kinds of metal in him. Ugh. But watch the halfpipe tonight. I don't think Shaun White will disappoint when it comes to moves and flamboyancy.

What is in the bag?

Some mystery yarn resides in the yarn stash. Scientific experiments have been performed to determine its origins. The burn test revealed it was 100% wool, albeit a very scratchy wool. The swift and ball winder were set up and as the yarn wound into cakes, it was run through the fishing line counter to determine how much yardage was there. Yardage/meter is a better way than ounces/grams to determine what to make. If the weight is needed, why there is always the kitchen scale to be used. The wrap test was performed: wrap the yarn around a knitting needle and count the wraps per inch to determine worsted or sport or fingering. One ball turned out to be worsted and the rest were sport.

So where is this post leading? The LYS recently did a redecorate and wanting to see it in real life, I took one ball of the mystery yarn with me and cruised into the store. Well. I love the redo, but K was not able to identify my yarn. :-(  I did, however, get my kitty fix as Patrick greeted me at the door and accompanied me on my tour.

I left with more yarn than on arrival. No, I did not purchase. It is a mystery bag of yarn. Ooooo.... I love a good mystery, don't you? Do you know how hard it was to hold off opening the bag until I could get a good photo of it? Do you? Here is what it contained:

So I Told Myself

stop whining already and make one for yourself. What, you might ask, is she talking about? Why, a new weighted pincushion, of course! Isn't it cute? I have a lot of pincushions but they either have magnets in them or they are too lightweight. So I made my own pincushion and weighted it with crushed walnut shells. My pins slide right in, the weight keeps it handy and stable and I do not have to worry about magnets near my sewing machine. Isn't it a cutie?