Make yourself a cup of tea.....

......and put your feet up.  Tonight I gave myself the night off.  Except for a couple of loads of laundry, I just relaxed.  I poured myself a class of Chenin Blanc and watched three great PBS shows that I found by accident.  I discovered the 'Craft in America' series and watched episodes I, III, and IV.  I skipped II because it didn't interest me.  I hope you'll set aside time to view each of these shows -- there's a lot to learn and much to enjoy.  I especially enjoyed the piece with Sam Maloof, master furniture maker, who was still working at age 90 when this was filmed.  Sadly, he died nearly two years ago at the age of 93.

I did skip through the intros to each episode -- not fond of their version of the old Shaker hymn, 'Tis a Gift'.

I still need to view episode V, when I have another free hour.  Hope that is soon.

Knickers in a Bunch

I'll admit it.  My knickers are in a bunch.  My biscuits are burned.  I'm bent out of shape.

Why?  Because on Wednesday when my daughter finds out the sex of my forth-coming grandchild, she will not tell me the results.  Period.  Done.  I will have to wait until the baby shower to find out.

So that means that anything I want to knit up for the shower will have to be unisex.  I am so annoyed.  I have a million possibilities to knit and no direction.

I put my stand for the loom together today.  Probably not a great idea since I'm so upset.  But it's done and there was minimal swearing involved.

Worse yet, while assembling the stand I nearly burned my beets when the water ran out in the saucepan.  Ugh.  I made some white and sweet potatoes, just in case, to go with some baked Salmon.  The house smells SO good - NOT!

Today Kevin and I cleaned up the back yard and re-organized the shed.  3 hours of work in 30 MPH winds -- woohoo!  It snowed, it hailed, it sleeted (is that a word?!).  It's probably the earliest we've cleaned up the yard in years.

On the bright side, here's the knitted purse I bought yesterday at the Spring Fling:

Apparently, it was made by Lori.  Hope that doesn't confuse people in case I misplace my bag.  I love the rayon fabric and the fact that you wear it across the body -- keeps your hands free to shop, talk on the cell, etc.  

Well, I'm off to finish my dinner and try to relax before heading to bed early.  I want to get into the office early to try and get caught up after taking Friday off.  I have a one-on-one meeting with my new manager in the afternoon.  That should be interesting!

Such a nice day!

Despite the dreary rainy day today, it really was a nice day!  My friends Sue, Kate, and Harriet rode along with me to the Black Sheep Weavers Guild's Spring Fling in Highland.  There was so much to look at and it was really nice that items were grouped by color families.  That's Kate way in the back in the bright green jacket, looking over an item.

I really enjoyed perusing all of the tables, going back and forth and back again.  There was so much to see it was easy to overlook something!  Here are a few of my favorite things for sale:

 A much better looking Chicken Rug than my homely chicken rug.

  A beautiful quilted wall hanging -- love all the colors and the precision piecing!

 This woven wrap was stiffened to create its shape.

This woven piece was one of many by this artist -- absolutely lovely!

Isn't this 3 dimensional felted horse amazing??!!

Kate and Sue were successful shoppers:

I made a couple of purchases but haven't taken photos yet, maybe tomorrow.

After we left the show we stopped to turn onto Main Street and look what we saw:

You don't see this type of 'filling station' much anymore.  Notice the "lead" gas sticker on the pump??  The station has a 'No Gas Today' sign in the window.  Whoever owns it has kept up the building nicely.

We headed over to Cinco Lagos in downtown Milford for lunch.  It was MMM, MMM, good!  Sue and Harriet had Margaritas:

Kate and I did not.  I ordered the Two Fish Taco plate:

Here we are just before chowing down.  I swear I never take a good picture and this is proof positive:

Once we finished devouring our lunch we headed over the the Knitting Circle yarn shop to browse a bit.  Each of us found something that had to go home with us in this cute and friendly shop, just down from the restaurant.  I was looking for yarn to use when I start weaving and found some cottons that I hope will do the trick plus a couple of skeins of milk/wool blend yarn.  Yes, milk.  Made by Kollage Yarns.  Can't wait to see how it works up.

As we were heading out of Milford toward home, I spotted this Knitting Graffiti:

I don't remember ever seeing knitting graffiti in person before anywhere else -- a first!  After looking at the photo in close up, I think it's actually crocheted, not knitted.  That's the beauty of photo software!

See...I told you it was a nice day!

34 Seconds

Today I took my first PTO day since my 'vacation' ended on March 1st, just to do my taxes.  After several stressful hours I finally finished and e-filed them.  Glad that's done for another year.  

Do you have 34 seconds for a guaranteed laugh?  My sister Denise sent me this video and it made me laugh out loud.  Maybe it was because my dog's name is Maggie, too, and I could relate!

Tomorrow morning I'm heading off to do something fun (in direct contrast to doing my taxes!) -- attend the Spring Fling put on by the Black Sheep Weavers Guild.  I've never attended before but now that I'm going to learn to weave, I'm really looking forward to checking out the goods and maybe pick a few brains while I'm there.  I'm going with my friends Sue, Kate, and Harriet and we'll be dodging road construction and some heavy rain.  I better go find my rain boots and a sturdy umbrella!

Over the Moon

Tuesday night was knit guild and it was our Sneaky Sheep Swap reveal.  I made a scarf using KFI Bubbles and Anny Blatt mohair for my recipient:

I made it for member Sue Hall, who I don't recall ever meeting and who missed the meeting, so I still don't know her!  My secret knitter was Diane, who made this fabulous neck gaiter and matching fingerless mitts:

Diane used Fleece Artist's Blue Faced Leicester wool -- one of my favorites!

But as delighted as I was about my exchange, I was over the moon happy that this arrived while I was at work:

This was inside:

Still wondering what it is that's got me so giddy????  IT'S A RIGID HEDDLE WEAVING LOOM!  I also got a stand to go with it and hopefully I'll be weaving on it before too long.  My quilting friend Kristi has offered to show me how to warp it and get going and she's also going to help my friend Kate warp her floor loom (hear that Kate?)  We'll be cranking woven lovelies out in no time, right?

Saturday morning I'm picking Kate up and then Harriet and we're heading out to Highland for the Black Sheep Weavers Guild Spring Fling, show and sale.  Woohoo!  It might be raining cats and dogs but I won't care.  I'm ready to absorb everything about this new-to-me craft.  I'm hoping it might help me crank out scarves faster and possibly (ok, I'm realistic, not likely) use up some of my yarn stash.

Tired

My new job has me thinking waaaay too hard.  It's like playing a game of Concentration -- trying to remember where I read a little blip about one thing that relates to another thing.  Right now, everything I've been spending time on is in the process of being re-evaluated.  They were going in one direction, put on the brakes, and headed off in a different direction.

Tonight I had a nice meal with my friend Eddie at the Red Coat Tavern in Royal Oak.  He gave me a great quilt book, full of Log Cabin quilt patterns but done with a modern flair.  We both had the delicious Mac & Cheese -- yummo!

When I returned home I got busy scanning my business receipts into my computer so I can get going on my taxes. I scanned in over 50 receipts - phew!  

Next up, the GLHQ guild meeting tomorrow night where we're having quilt historian, Beth Donaldson from the MSU Quilt Museum.  She'll talk about 1930's quilts, a new topic for our guild.  I'm taking a vintage quilt that belongs to my knitter friend Kim, so people can evaluate it's condition and advise on a possible repair job to the backing.  A co-worker is interested in having a pictorial quilt made of her dog so I'll be checking on that, too.

Busy day ahead.  Time for bed for me!

About Me

I found this interesting Q&A in alphabet form on Courtney's Sassafras & Winterberry blog.  Here's my list:

Age: 50 Bed Size: Queen Chore You Hate: Raking the lawn Dogs: Wire Haired Fox Terrier Essential Start of Your Day: Hall's Cherry Cough Drop Favorite Color: Green Gold or Silver: Silver Height: 4'10" Instruments You Play(ed): Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Alto Sax Job Title: Technology Liaison Kids: 2 great adults Live: Michigan Mom's Name:Verna Nicknames: Suz Overnight Hospital Stays: Baby deliveries, gall bladder surgery Pet Peeve: Cheaters Quote From a Movie: "Oh, Fiddle dee dee" Right- or Left-Handed:Right Siblings: 3 sisters Time You Wake Up: 6 am Underwear: Never wear thongs Veggie You Dislike: peas What Makes You Run Late: Trying to do too much in too little time X-Rays You Have Had: Dental, sinus, full body Yummy Food You Make: White Bean Stew Zoo Animal You Like Best: Polar Bears

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