UFOs...

...or UnFinished Objects, as they seem to call them in the craft bloggy world.

Here's the latest one, 2 years since I knit the first stitch, finally finished yesterday on a snowy Sunday afternoon:

Umm... it's not exactly how I imagined it would turn out. I attempted to merge a great Rowan pattern with one I found in a knitting magazine. The result is a little, let's say, unusual. I had DX model it (over much protestation on his part, I might add!), and he reminded me of a little furry-backed mammal. See for yourself:

I definitely should have stopped the fuzzy stripes earlier- at the third one from the bottom, I think, to line up with the sleeves.

I'm pleased with how the front turned out, though.

My 3 year-old niece who will be getting it in the mail soon is a pink fanatic, so I think she'll at least like looking at it. I'm not sure how much she'll enjoy wearing it (those fuzzy bits could tickle)! But I have the satisfaction of seeing it finally "done", and I've learned a little in the process. That's what it's all about, right?

This One's for Flo

I wanted to write this post for my friend, Florence, who is moving to the North West Territories in a couple of days. I'm really going to miss her.

What can I tell you about Flo? She's smart, funny, real, grounded, savvy, committed, resourceful, kind, caring... I could go on and on, but you get the idea- I have a lot of admiration for this woman. She's a Mom, wife, daughter, business woman, organizer. She's generous with her time, talents, and blessings. Most of all, she's a true friend. A lot of people in this neck of the woods will miss her, and the rest of her family.

So, I made this scarf as a going-away gift for her. The fabric is mostly animal prints (including a small piece of dragon print from DX's OHGWQ, for luck and prosperity!), since animals are one of Florence's loves in life, and they were the reason that we even met at all, almost 5 years ago.


Follow her adventures on her blog, Life Lessons With Toast. I know I'll be checking in regularly!

Thanks, Flo, for everything you are to so many people.

LWB Cleft Home

I just got an update from one of my favorite China charities, Love Without Boundaries. They have been setting up a special foster home for cleft-affected children, and, according to their new blog, the babies have arrived and are settling in nicely.

Check the link by clicking on the title of this post- the babies are beautiful!!

This project is so close to my heart. As most of you know, DX was born cleft-affected. To think that these babies in the LWB home are going to get the special attention that they need just makes my heart soar!

Springtime?

What a week it has been.

Major snow storm on Monday, freezing rain and ice pellets on Tuesday, more rain on Wednesday, followed by, at long last, on this very first day of spring, a little bit of sunshine! So, I'm cautiously hoping that more spring-like weather will follow... soon...

This was the view from the upstairs window early on Wednesday morning:

Yuck.

Storm days have their value, though. On Monday evening, I finally finished the quilting of DX's One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt. Now, I just need to cut a binding and sew it on. That should take a couple of weeks to get at!

Doesn't DX look excited!?!

I think he was a little bored by the "cocooning" that the weather forced us to do.

Over the last couple of weeks, I also made some progress towards finishing a sweater I started to knit for my niece about 2 years ago. Of course, it won't fit the niece for whom it was intended- but luckily I have another one, and she is just about the right size to fit into the sweater!! Here it is, half-sewn together, looking something like a fuzzy pink animal.

I'm afraid I won't get much sewing or knitting done this week. I have a presentation to give at the end of the week, so that will keep me occupied. On the bright side, I'll be anxiously watching the mail this week for my fat quarters of black & white fabric to arrive. The mailing deadline was Saturday, so let the squares arrive. I just *love* swaps!!

Mega Storm A-Coming!

Yep, our break in the battle that is this winter was brief! It snowed yesterday and we cleared out from that. Today, schools were closed two hours early due to that swirly thing in the satellite shot above.

It's a big one, and we started to feel its effects just before 3 pm- and it's nasty already. Up to 60 cm combined snowfall and ice pellets by tomorrow afternoon.

So, we're hunkering down again. I have a feeling our power is going to go. So, see you when it's all over!

As the years go by...

Our oldest daughter will turn 11 at Easter. 11 years old! It is almost unbelievable how quickly those years have whizzed by.


We had a party for her last night, since some of her friends will be going on holiday over the Easter break. We took her and 8 friends to a pizza restaurant and then they came back to our house for games and cake. Here she is (in the orange hoody) with the cake that she decorated herself (she drew pigs with pink icing!).



A good time was had by all!

It was our first family birthday celebration since DX has been home with us. Other than his, that is. I'm not sure what he made of 9 "tweens" running around the house, screaming and laughing, but he had fun with those things called balloons.



This morning, it's much more peaceful in the house! And after a couple of days of horrid weather, the sun in shining in all her glory. The air is cold and crisp, and when I let the dogs out, I loved the way that the flashing on our chickadee nestbox was glinting in the sun, and how the shadows from the fence palings striped the unbroken snow. I took a photo... not sure if it does the scene justice...

Happy weekend, everyone.

A nice break...

We're having another storm day. Expecting 20-50 cm snow, followed by 20 mm rain. I think we're getting freezing rain right now.

This time, I'm not facing the snow shovelling solo, so I'm happy that we all get to stay home together and have a nice break from the often crazy routine that is our life!

Already today, I've been able to do a little bit of the work that I get paid for this morning... so I'm pleased about that. It was some data analysis on the effects of bird egg lay order on chick development that I had prematurely written off as containing nothing interesting. After a closer look, it seems there are things in the data that are sort of cool. My student who has been working on this project is going to be very happy, I think.

And, as a bonus, I was able to do a small bit of sewing while dh and the girls slept in late. Once DX was set up with a Go Diego Go DVD, I made some small patchwork squares. I had help from our quilting cat, of course. She's so cute, except when I've lined up my material just right to cut with my rotary blade and swipe!, kitty wants to play with it all. I had the camera next to me, so I had to take this picture of her ( she is lying in my bag of scrap material).

DH is going outside to get the snowblower going. I might haul out the sewing machine again for a few minutes. Tracey, what a great idea about making different squares to use in an Easter quilt. I'll have to see if I can find some similar paper-piecing pattern (or maybe I can make one!!). It might be done by next Easter!

Paper-Piecing

While I was off on parental leave this fall, I took a 5 week quilting course at our fabulous (and only!) local quilt shop. This was, of course, to make DX's One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt. I found that I enjoyed the sewing so much, that I bought a sewing machine from the shop- my sweet little "Bernette" (the lower end of the Bernina line).

Well, our machines came with a free sewing class once a month in the new year. I missed the first February class, but went this week to the March class. Here is what I learned to do:

It's a paper-pieced square- kind of cute, if I do say so myself. I learned to machine-applique the eggs also.

Last night, I added a border, so now it looks like this:

I cut the green border on the bias, since I only had a 8" square of it. It's the first time I've worked with a bias-cut, so it's not exactly perfect (but I also don't have it laying perfectly flat so it's actually not as distorted on the lower left as it appears in this picture).

I'm trying to decide what to do with it. Stop here with a backing and a binding? Add another border? Make another one and have a pair!?! Oh, the possibilities!

This Little Piggie...

The rag quilt I started last month is done.

Here it is:

It's crib size, and turned out OK, I think. I'll donate it to the upcoming auction and we'll see if the preschool gets a few dollars for it. For anyone who likes the "shabby" look of rag quilts and wants to try their hand at quilting, I highly recommend starting with one of these. It was quick and painless- cutting the squares was the biggest chore, and even that didn't have to be too exact. It seems that rag quilts are very forgiving- and very cozy with that flannel backing! Google for some patterns, and you'll find plenty.

I'm going to package it for the auction with this guy (purchased, not handmade):

Ain't he cute? Now, if we can just keep our flu germs off it all!!

Quick Update

We are still sick, sick, sick in this house. I had to stay home from work for a day again last week with an awful upper respiratory virus, and now our oldest daughter seems to have it. We have alternated our misery- at least one member of the family has been ill every day for the past month- gastro bug, flu, pink eye, various coughs and colds. Well, that's everyone except for the 2 youngest kids. They must have heartier immune systems (and are probably the ones bringing all these viruses home to the rest of us!). So, that's it- I'm officially sick of being sick. It has to end!!!

Because of our collective contagion, we didn't meet with the social worker last week for DX's post-placement report. That's going to happen this week. So, I need to vaccuum and wash some floors this afternoon. I loathe washing floors. My husband usually does it. But he's working today, so I guess if I want the sw to think that we always have clean floors, its up to me. Sigh. Mr. Clean, here I come.