Under Construction

I hope everyone had a happy and enjoyable Holiday! As you can see Malibu loved playing in our tree this year. He was such a good kitty last year -- didn't even bother it once. Well he made up for it this year. He was sleeping under it, batting the lower ornaments, chewing on the branches and drinking the tree water (yuck!). Guess he made up for being a naive kitten last Christmas!

Now that the holidays are over I managed to find some time to finish up the last little house from a class I took with Megan in early December. The scrappy border uses 132 1-1/4 inch squares. I started cutting them tonight but this is definitely going to take a couple more nights of cutting and digging through fabric scraps.

As far as handmade Christmas gifts, I only managed to finish two quilts for my great-nephews who are 4 years old and 8 months. I used Hungry Alphabet panels that I had purchased a few years ago with no immediate need or use. Since I am on a mission to reduce my stash and make more giveaway quilts, I thought these would be the perfect gift for the boys. I also made pillowcases to match out of the remaining fabric (far be it from me to only buy what I need). I used the pillowcases to wrap the quilts.

Happy Stitchin'

Bitten by the Knitting Bug

Okay I have to admit it I have been bitten by the knitting bug. Years ago when my youngest DH was a baby I took on the challenge of knitting a baby sweater. I don't know what I was thinking as I had never knitted before attempting the baby sweater. Needless to say, it remains unfinished as I dropped stitches somewhere along the way and gave up. A couple years ago I tried again. This time I stuck with the basic knitted scarves which were so popular. The eyelash yarns and furry yarns were great. Not easy to work with and there were several scarves that were ripped out and started again when I dropped a stitch and couldn't find it in the eyelash yarn. When the cold weather came this year, I got the urge to once again try to learn to knit. Not quite ready for a sweater . . . how about a shawl? So while visiting my favorite LQS which isn't really that local, I stopped into the knit shop next door. Actually I was looking for a pair of bamboo handles for Caryn. However they did not have them. Since I was already in the store, I decided to look around and admire the beautiful sweaters wishing I knew how to knit. I stumbled onto a shawl that used the stockinette stitch -- thinking I could do that -- I know how to knit and I know how to purl. How hard could it be? But wait there is a buttonhole in the shawl . . . not sure I can do this. The shopowner assured me it was an easy pattern and the instructions explained the buttonhole step by step. Okay, SOLD!

Last night I finally kniited enough rows and had to put in the buttonhole. It took a bit of reading and re-reading of the directions. I had to pull out my only knitting book for clarification but in the end I managed to complete the buttonhole without dropping any stitches!

Happy Stitchin!

Polka Dot & Rick Rack Swap

A few months ago I joined the Polka Dot and Rick Rack Swap hosted by Sharon. I sent my package off to the Netherlands and in return I received one from Lorraine in Australia. I was thrilled to receive all of the goodies which were mostly handmade. I cannot express my thanks enough to my swap partner for all of her gifts.

It was like an early Christmas at Thanksgiving. Thank you Lorraine!