An Evening Chat

 Peeps, I'm trying to get used to a new schedule.  A schedule that keeps me up late, and sleeping in longer in the morning.  I love it, but it's going to take some getting used to.  And I haven't quite figured out when to fit in my blogging time.  All of these years I've blogged in the mornings.  Now when I get up, I eat breakfast with my Shug, and then get busy because the sun is already up...if it's coming up at all.  I'm used to getting up hours before the sun.  And If I don't get busy right away, I get nothing done. So please give me time to adjust.  I feel like I'm running in all different directions right now.  I know that's never happened to you!

So let's just chat a bit.  

I'm by myself right now and feel chatty.

I think my evening blogging sessions shall be chat sessions.

Nothing in particular...get some tea...or hot chocolate with yummy marshmallows like I have.

Do you ever feel like you have to rescue the plants at Lowe's on the clearance shelves?

I do.

They were in these tiny little pots, being terribly neglected, and only 50 cents.

I finally got them repotted.

 

 

OK if you're a 70's child, you HAD one of these plants sprawling all over the place.  Everyone did!  I think it was called a philodendron.  I'm not good with houseplant names, I just know this takes me back to the 70s.  If it lives, I'm going to crochet a hanging planter thingy for it and put it in front of the window.  I never got the hang of macrame' but if I did I would make this plant a macrame' hanger.  It would be so happy in a macrame' hanger...with wooden beads.

 I planted these hyacinths too.  Can you smell them?

 Smeeelllllllll them.......mmmmmm......

I did go to crochet group last week....  This is some Mystery CAL (crochet-a-long) that "K" is working on.

 The rug underneath  is Debbie's.  She had a bit of a rough start.  It was getting all ruffled but it's looking nice now. I want to make one but I can't.

 I can't because I still have WIP's I'm working on...that must be finished before starting something new.  My rule.  I already broke my no chocolate for lent rule.  (Sigh-my shug bought me two packs of dark chocolate)  So anyway, not starting a rug....not starting a rug....not yet.

We decided my Happy Blanket needs something besides just big squares, so I'm crocheting four smaller squares with a border to put next to the big squares. 

My Work in Progress (wip) at home is this blanket.  I had all of the flowers on it, and the backing sewed all the way to the end, and it DID NOT FIT.  Somehow I measured the backing wrong.  So, I spent yesterday evening taking the backing completely off of it, then the flowers.  I'm sewing a larger different backing on it.  It's the yellow sheet in the photo above.  I think I'll work on it in a few minutes.

Another thing I found with this new schedule is I don't have much time to read.  I used to go to bed with my Shug, early in the evening, because we had to get up at 4:30 am.  His schedule is my schedule when you're living in one room.  Well, I couldn't get to sleep so I'd lie there reading (with a flashlight so as not to wake him up.)  I went to the library the other day with high hopes of finding some good movies and good reading material.  They had this little promotional thing going on.  You get a wrapped book, bring it home, open it, read it, fill in the card and return it to the library by a certain date.  The card gets dropped in a box for prizes.  It's a Valentines promo thing.

 Well,

I was all excited to open this....

 Blogettes seriously?  People still write these kinds of novels?  

His hot seeking hands covered her bare hips, gripped them, tugged slightingly, rocking her in a motion she didn't know yet recognized in some primal corner of her soul.....blah blah blah

I am not going to read it.  Do I fill out the card anyway?  I mean....Life is too short to read bad lit don't you think?  Should I just drop it off and not turn in the card?  I dunnno.

Ok so here is my Shug.  I asked him, when he had time (right, he's building a house!) that I needed him to build me a "lazy Kate."  It didn't have to be fancy I said.  

A lazy Kate holds your bobbins of thread that you spin on a spinning wheel, so you can ply the thread into yarn.  Hence, two ply, or three ply yarn. 

 I have one that goes with my Elizabethan Ashford spinning wheel.  Well I also have a Schacht spinning wheel and I thought I could use one lazy kate for both.  No can do.  When I went to ply my thread into yarn, I found out the bobbins for my ashford are much smaller.  So, my Ashford lazy kate isn't big enough to hold three Schacht bobbins.  Makes perfect sense to y'all right?
My Shug made me a lazy kate for my Schacht in no time!  25 cent brackets I bought at a garage sale years ago....a piece of pinewood he collected from an old house....and a rod from a sign that used to be in our yard.  Voila' a lazy kate for my bigger Schacht bobbins.  I could have just bought one but this is much more special, and cheaper.

 Now these pictures are just cute.  My little Dixie Doodle is watching a home show...fixer upper man type stuff!

 

 And my Shug and my Dixie snuggling.  

Everyone have a nice evening (ummm...guess I chatted awhile, it's 10:00 pm)  I'm going to go stitch some on the blanket and see if I can get interested in a movie.  

Cindy Bee

PS.  Jane, I cannot get onto your blog anymore.  I did send you my e-mail address as requested. 

PSS. After I posted this, I got a message from blogger telling me that blogger will no longer allow sexually explicit content after March 23!  I feel awful!  I wasn't being explicit!  I was just telling you about the book.  Oh my.

Winter Woolen Workshop

Remember that Saturday Night Live skit by Hanz and Franz.....

"We want to Pump.....you up!"  

 

Well that's how I feel every year when I attend the Winter Woolen Workshop. 

I get all pumped up, excited, and a bit overwhelmed by everything I see, learn, and want to make.

I do believe for as long as I've been blogging, I've been telling you about the Winter Woolen Workshop.  It takes place in two mansions in Kokomo, IN, that are right next door to each other.  They are The Seiberling Mansion and The Elliot House.  

It's always in February.  

And it was yesterday and today (Sunday).   

You missed yesterday, but there is plenty of time to attend today.  Sunday 11-5. 

There is a $15 admission fee.

Here are a few pics I took yesterday.  I kept walking around with my camera, but I kept getting side-tracked and forgetting to take pictures! 

So here I am showing a young lady how to spin.  She loved it!

 There are a lot of demonstrations going on at the Seiberling Mansion.

If you want to learn to quilt, knit, rug hook, bead, embroider, etc, Etc., ETC!....

Click "HERE" to see more details....

I want to show you some pictures of the stuff for sale.

Lots and lots of wool.  This is only one of several booths of wool.  

It's great for rug hooking, rug punch, applique, and sewing.

 Ephemera items, journals, cards, tags, scrapbooking items, bags,

and other fun primitives.  I love the crow!

There is a booth full of yarn, knitting needles, yarn bags, 

and other booths with yarn bowls, and 

rovings.

 Fancy roving, which I think I'll be spinning into thread for embellishing....

 Plus roving for spinning.  Tons and Tons of roving.

 And we got your stitchers...dressmakers....bag makers....

 (see that grayish colored apron to the right.  I bought it right off the mannequin)

 basket makers

and soap makers.

 Here are a few of the rug hooked items.  Some are for sale and some are display only, but the patterns are for sale.

 If I were a rug hooker, I'd make this owl and bunny (only in brown).  But I'm not.  (I made a coaster once - teehee)

 And this is the very photogenic granny bee holding up her beeskep pattern she drew herself!

 This is also another pattern I was drooling over.  Keep in mind, they tell me, you can use an Oxford Rug Punch on these patterns too. 

 One of many booths of rug hook/punch patterns for sale.

 Patti!  What are you doing in this picture!??!!!  She's shopping of course!

 Wool and alpaca socks, mittens, scarves, and stuffed animals for sale

 If you need a supply, a tool, an embellishment.....

 Get it here!  This is one stop shopping for hand made stuff.

 And I forgot to mention painting.  Yes we have a painter amongst us as well.

 If you click on The Granny Bee's page, you will also see that there are classes you can take at this event.  Most of them require pre-registration.  However, I heard one of the teachers tell someone yesterday that she had an extra "kit" and she'd let her take the class even though she didn't pre-register.  So there is a chance you can still take a class.

Now, let me show you my purchases.   (I don't have time to flip this pic!)  I have to get ready to go!
Lots of patterns.  Yes I bought them all!  Well, they were on clearance!

 a piece of over-dyed velvet material, over-dyed silk threads, over-dyed osnaburg (that you can punch needle in, and I do know how to do that!)

 How to books...

This is a journal.  I love the fabric they covered it in.  The lady told me that a friend of hers bought an old rug.  The friend took the rug apart, unrolled all of the fabric, stitched it all together and made a big sheet of fabric and gave it to her.  (her as in the lady with the booth)  She covered this journal with the fabric and no  I didn't need a journal, I just love these colors.

 The paper looks old.

 Rolags...to spin....into thread or yarn.

 Linen apron style dress thingy.  (I'm wearing it today!)

 I don't believe this (below) was hand-made (has a made in china mark on the back of it) but it looks handmade.  Either way, it was not expensive and I bought it.  I'm thinking table runner, pillow, or folding it in half and making a bag.  I love the colors.

All of the stuff I bought came to right under $100.00.  There are some good deals to be had, and the best part...lots of women having fun and laughing (alot) and sharing ideas!

Come by and get pumped up for hand made!

See you there!

Cindy Bee