Twenty Eight and Counting

That's how many hoursI have left until we hit the road for Acadia National Park in Maine. We're staying in a cottage overlooking the ocean and we'll be there for an entire week. I don't know how we're going to get everyone in the car though...my yarn will undoubtedly need a lot of space!

I did finish the quilt I started in Heshey, PA at the Quilt Odyssey. Otherwise, I haven't had time to do much of anything else. Hopefully that will be remedied in 28 hours!!

An All-American Weekend

Once upon a time, in a land of milk and honey, I had scads of free time that I used to quilt and cross-stitich my little heart out (I hadn't learned to knit yet). And during that time of bliss, all too short lived, I attended a Moonlight Madness Quilting Party. My shop only hosts this event once a year and when I stopped in last weekend, I was stunned to find them already setting up for the next party. Could it be true that an entire year had passed? I mean, surely, even though I'm not the carefree flower child I was last year, I could finish a quilt top in the span of a year!

Can I get an AMEN Sisters! The top is done!! And now I can work on the top I started at the Quilt Oddysey in Hershey, PA. I know, I know. I'm supposed to be working on my best friend's quilt. And I will. Honest. What, you don't believe me just because I've been saying that since Feb 2005?! Unfair!

But, of course, none of this explains the title of this blog....

So, Sunday, the SigO and I hopped on our bikes, as is our tradition, and pedalled off in a different direction than we would normally head. And in our wanderings we meandered into our local regional park, which sits right on the river. We'd both been down in this park before, but had never bothered to really explore around and see what it had to offer and lo and behold, they have a batting cage!! After hitting 160 balls between the two of us, we sat by the river and ate ice cream. I mean, really, how can you top that? I'll tell you how.....

Mani's and Pedi's all-around my friends! That's how. It was the SigO's first time and as you can see, he was really enjoying himself.

And that's what I call an All-American Weekend.

Baseball, ice cream, beer (you know there was beer!) and pampering.

Blogging

I'm always so disappointed when I go to the Yarn Harlot's blog and there's not a new post. Which made me realize, that there usually is a new post. And it's usually a lot of fun to read. So, think about that for a minute. Not only does she post regularly, but she has something interesting to say when she does. I mean, honestly, I have a hard time coming up with something interesting to say once a week, much less once a day.
One thing I have noticed though is a lot of people will blog about things that don't turn out as well as expected, so, here's my opportunity for that.
It's been so hot here, I decided I'd go for a swim yesterday after work instead of the more traditional bike ride. So, I lug my gear over to the pool nearest my office and ask how much for admission. Turns out, they don't work that way around here. You have to go to the association and get a pool pass...as if! As if a city association would be open at 6PM!
But, no worries, that just means I'll get to the quilting guild meeting on time, right? After driving the most convoluted course conceivable (say that fast five times!), my car's GPS finally gets me to the little elementary school where we're supposed to meet. The elementary school that is locked up tighter than Fort Knox. If this were an old western movie, tumbleweed would have gone rolling by for the paucity of people and cars. Come to find out, the meetings don't start at 6:30 as expected, but at 7:30.
So much for the best laid plans, eh? Only one thing left...go home and crack a beer!
Oh, and here's the cherry...I called the association today. For non-residents (I work in this area --shouldn't that give me something?) a pool pass costs $167.50. Shyeah! I'm gonna pay that to swim once a week for the remaining month in the season!

My co-worker reminded me today of how much fun it is to watch a cat chase a ping pong ball. I feel myself weakening...

To Purrr or not to Purrr

As I read other peoples blogs and see all the adorable cats, more and more I miss having one of my own. I decided it wasn't safe to have a cat when I took a job that could potentially have me out of town four days out of every week. It just didn't seem right to me to have a cat home alone that frequently...even if I got more than one. But these days, I've been getting to stay home more and more and the temptation gets stronger and stronger. Especially today when I heard about the cat show coming to my area. It got even stronger when I googled "adopt a cat" and found the pet finder. There are so many cats in need of a home out there.....

So, here are my questions to anyone who reads this blog (all three of you):

1. If you have a cat(s), how often do they interfere with your knitting/stitching/quilting?

2. How often have you come home to find your favorite yarn that you left sitting out in a tangled mess all over the living room? Or the quilt you had designed and laid out, waiting to be sewn up, scattered across the room?

3. If you potentially had to be away from home every single week and could only see your cat on weekends, would you still get a cat or would you think that too cruel?

Does it sound to you like I'm really not ready? I mean listen to all these questions/doubts I have. I keep telling myself I don't really want a cat because of all the above mentioned reasons. And then I see something like this.

Or worse, something like this

Maybe I should just get this

First Sock?

Man, if this is her first sock....grrr!!!

What do you think? Is she using Continental or Throw?

The weekend where progress was made and gifts were given

Well, I finally got around to filing my taxes this weekend. So, first, let me tell you, I have never ever had to pay taxes before. In fact, I always got a big ole honkin' refund. Last year, when you combined my federal and state refunds, I received almost $5,000! This year, I was stunned to find out not only would I not get that beautiful little refund, but I would be paying...more than $5,000! I'm still not sure how much it's going to be after penalties and all that. Obviously, from now on, I'll file on time. Because I always got a refund, and because I didn't expect much this year, I wasn't in any kind of hurry. I suspect the sting of penalties in addition to the pain of roughly $6K in taxes will get me out of the starting gate on time next year! You know how you always hear stories of people who have financial, or housing, or illness - related problems, and they post their problems online and help comes pouring in? Yeah, I'm not holding my breath!

So, what did I do when I discovered my entire savings would be wiped out to cover my taxes? I went shopping! Duh!! Some people go pub hopping, I go yarn hopping. I just opened up my traveling knitters sourcebook and started plugging addresses into my navigation system. I found Crazy for Ewe in the quaint little square of downtown Leonardtown, MD; where I picked up a wool, silk, cashmere blend of black yarn and a pattern to knit it in.

Next I found Ch'naca fiberworks in Prince Frederick, MD (more sock yarn purchased here!) and right next door to her was a nice little quilt shop where we gushed over what great people Carol Doak and Jinny Beyer are! I finished up my sulk-fest at Balducci's where I picked up a bottle of Kim Crawford (best Sauvignon Blanc out there right now, especially at this price!) and a crab and mango stuffed avocado, which I paired with Valhalla's 2005 Rheingold---a perfect combination! I was concerned the tropical notes in Kim Crawford would be too much with the tropical notes of the mango...but what is this? A food blog!? Moving on...

After wallowing in self-pity for the first half of the day, there was only one thing left to do...knit! So, I attacked the most recent square for the afghan and got that finished up.

I picked up the first sock several times and contemplated working on it, but I'm just not ready to tackle the gusset. The heel has turned nicely though, and the third iteration does look a lot better than the first two...due in part, no doubt to the fact that it's only ankle length. I just didn't have it in me to do a full calf-length sock for the third time.

But the redeeming factor of the weekend was the gift from the SigO. He went on a road trip with his daughter this weekend and stopped at Wool Gathering in Kennett Square, PA to try to find something to cheer me up. You gotta hand it to him. Nothing cheers a girl like cashmere!! So, even though I'm pretty down hearted about the taxes, I did manage to make progress on the never ending afghan and I did get a pretty awesome gift...so, the weekend wasn't a complete write-off!

Quilt Odyssey Weekend Continued and Ended

OK, this is my last post about the Quilt Odyssey weekend. Mostly, I just wanted to post more pictures. This time of the cool fabric I found. I'll admit to being somewhat disappointed in this year's Vendor Choices in the market. The last time I went (2005) there was a wider variety of vendors selling some unusual fabrics and patterns. This year, I felt like most of the vendors were selling fabrics and notions that I could find at my local G Street Fabrics Shop. I was beginning to get pretty glum about the whole situation when I came to Usha's stall.
Her handloom batik's had a wonderfully unique look that set them apart from the average batiks you find all over the place. I bought a pretty good sampling of her fabrics. She was a delight to talk to as well, telling us stories of her shop and passing out business cards, each of which has an Indian god or goddess portrayed on the front for which she's more than happy to explain the properties and powers of each. I got Durga - the Queen Mother, Warrior Goddess, rode tigers into battle defending Her children, the gods. The SigO got Ganesha-the Elephant god of success.


At first, I thought Usha's was the only stall of interest in the market. The quilt hanger guy was back and I did eventually break down and buy one of his pieces, but as far as fabric goes, I was disappointed.....until......

I found these African Indigo's. I'm not sure how I missed them in the first go round. They are quite spectacular. I got 15 prints total shown here and while I certainly love them all, here are my favorites:

Doesn't it make you just want to touch them? They feel so interesting! For an interesting history lesson in indigo, check out wikipedia's info.

Oh, and just in case you're thinking I've been slacking off, here's the progress on "first sock". Does it still count as first sock on the third iteration?