Author: Miss Lynne

Oh the power of facebook, my dh passed some comment about cynical commercialism and our friends reminded him of how lucky he is. Twenty minutes later a box of heart shaped doughnuts were brought up to my office to go with my mid morning cappuccino.

Saturday was busy catching up with the normal girly things in life, nails haircut etc. There were a few light snow flurries but nothing that will stick thank goodness.

Sunday I went over to White Barn Farm for a Nuno felting class, it was very different to my normal hobbies. There were nine of us in the class and we each picked a piece of silk and some wool roving (Merino sheep) you lay pieces of the wool on the silk, some people covered their silk with the wool and others, like me, went for a more waterfall effect. You then cover the whole thing with a net curtain, wet it with warm soapy water and roll it up and then agitate it by rolling your package back and forth

We were checking it in-between rollings to see if the wool fibre had migrated through to the backside of the silk. Once this was established we used really hot water and agitated the wool to create the felting effect, and at the same time it shrinks. It is an amazing process and you get lots of surprises in the way your colors blend.

Stash report week 6

1 yard used to date
9 yards added this week
Added year to date 29
Net used year to date -28

Last week I took some knitting to Florida with me and I was able to finish 3 more squares for the charity knit.

Saturday morning I was up early to go get Shellac put on my nails. For the first time in over 10 years I am back to my own nails, minus the gel. Shellac is a toughened nail polish which I hope will protect them long enough for them to strengthen. Off to the quilt shop for a BOM called patriots in petticoats. No pictures of the finished blocks yet as they are still a work in progress, you get 2 blocks a month but they are all very small pieces so great practice cutting and sewing accurately…. I hope. Off to lunch at the local diner with my very good friend Dolores. Lots of chatting and laughing, just as it should be.

DH and I then drove over to the White Barn Wool shop to drop off the squares and while I was there I bought some fabulous wool its by Berroca and it has Alpaca in it… so so soft ! The colors are great as well

The top skein is a little more grey than it looks in the picture and that is the main color. I am knitting the jacket in Nicky Epstein’s Block By Block book. Its a fantastic book there are instructions there for loads of 8 X 8 blocks using all sorts of knitting techniques, cable, intarsia, 3D blocks etc. and then the instructions for a number of completed designs. The idea is that you can make the design your own by switching out the blocks you use. I will show you as it comes along.

Back to the house a quick spruce up then off to collect our friends Kathy and Wayne so that we could go and meet up with Anita and Carmine, early dinner in Middletown then off to the theatre to see a Beatles Tribute band. They were excellent and really took the whole thing very seriously including the faux Liverpool accents and general appearance and manners of the band.

The evening was rounded off nicely with dessert and the sweet cafe and then off home to bed after a very full day.

Sunday was PJ’s and sewing day – I made a home spun style door stop 

And also completed my January block for the quilting B that I belong to. It was called a broken wedding ring I think – lovely fabric and very interesting way of making it – I enjoyed it a lot.

Sunday night was spent knitting a little but mostly packing to come back to Florida. i am here for 2 weeks this time so no sewing. I am sure I will get withdrawal symptoms

I travelled to Jacksonville Florida last Monday, My flight was at 7am from Newburgh airport so  early start. My flight went via Atlanta and it was strange to see the snow on the ground there. The weather in Jacksonville was a lot warmer but overcast and drizzly.

I was working there till Friday and I had taken some triangles to stitch together by hand, I managed to get quite a few of them done. Got home by about 9 Friday night the temperature had already dropped to 12degrees and that was without the wind chill. Saturday morning we drove over to White Barn Sheep and Wool http://www.whitebarnsheepandwool.com/ , They have asked for people to knit squares to make a blanket for a local man who was in a very serious car accident here is the first one.

We also called in at Quilters Attic so that I could collect my kit for next week. I am doing the Patriots in Petticoats BOM and have now got the fabric and instructions for the first 2 blocks. I will be going to Quilters next Saturday morning to assemble them as the teacher will be talking to us about the history relating to each block. They are all named after a famous American female hero.

Sunday morning I completed the wonky house block for my quilting B It was really difficult as I am not used to freeform. Can’t say i am thrilled with the result but I hope it is suitable for the person who wants them.

Lunchtime I made some dark chocolate chili truffle cookies – Yum ! they are very rich, but even so I will be lucky if there are any left by the time I get back from Florida next week.

I was then able to focus on my January UFO – I spent the rest of the day sewing and was finally able to finish my blocks for the blue and white quilt. All I have left to do now is assemble, quilt and bind.

So lets talk about my stash update

Week 4 stash report
1 yards used year to Date:
0 yards added this Week:
Added Year to Date: 20
Net Used for 2011: 19 yards

Here is week 3 stash report
0 yards used year to Date:
0 yards added this Week:
Added Year to Date: 20
Net Used for 2011: 0 yards