This and That

It's Saturday.  A day when one has more options than during the work week.  The schedule, if there is one, is a little more relaxed.  For some reason, today, there are too many choices rattling around in my head and I haven't settled on a single one.  So far, all I have managed to do is pick up the dry cleaning. 

This morning when I was eating breakfast I noticed a couple of Blue Jays.  First there were two, then four, then five.  There may have been six, but he may have been  hiding just out of my view.  They were so pretty.  Their colors flashing in the light and their peaked hats.  And just as quickly as they arrived, they were gone again.

I finally took some pictures of the two most recent chair covers.  I think they turned out nicely.  These two chairs are a little smaller than the four around the table, so the covers are a little large.  I decided to make them all the same size anyway.  I can throw them on any chair after washing and not worry about whether they are on the 'correct' chair. 

The Unusually Helpful Helpers have discovered these.  One chair sits in a Southwest corner which picks up the afternoon sun - when it decides to come out.  They have determined this is a great spot for a little siesta.  Which means I needed to get out the lint roller before I took pictures this morning.

I used a water soluble marker to line up the patterns for these.  I got the biggest kick out of spritzing them with water and watching the marker disappear.  It was a blast. 

"Look Sweetie!  Disappearing ink!  Isn't that just the coolest thing ever?!" 

The Sweetie seemed amused but not nearly as excited as I was and gave me one of those worried looks.  You know, the one that looks concerned about ones mental state.  I don't care.  It was cool and I had great fun with the water bottle.  It doesn't appear to take much to amuse me.

Chair Covers - Again

Good news...  I have finished 4, (yup, four) of the chair covers for the dining room.  I am super excited as this means there are only two more to go. 

Bad news... I only have pictures of the first two.  And not great pics at that. 

Great news... They received the Sweetie "Thumbs Up Seal of Approval".  With a comment, "These look really good."  I don't need the Sweetie seal of approval to feel good about my projects, but it is extra nice to get it.

Here's the first one.  I cut out the corners where the ties are.  This made putting on the binding a little snarky, but by the fourth one I came up with a pretty effective system.

And here's the second.  For reasons I can't explain, Blogger is posting this picture sideways.  What 'evs.  Just tilt your head a little to this side.  No?  Maybe the other side...

Here.  Maybe this is a little better.

Then today I received some really great news - completely unrelated to chair covers.

I have a new job, which is fabulous news, which I began this week.  Generally speaking, professional service firms and blogging don't mix.  You know, the understandable separation of church and state and all that.  So, you won't hear me mention work often on these pages.

But today...  I learned there is a Yarn Group at work!   Folks who get together regularly at lunch to knit, crochet, etc.  You know, yarny stuff.  Other people who think yarny stuff is cool and hip. 

I almost fell over.  I thought it was super cool and can't wait to show up to one of their meetings.  What a great way to meet people from other departments.  This is gonna be fun. 

Did I mention I was super excited?  Dude, I'm tellin' ya, I'm super excited!  I hope it's fun.  I bet it's gonna be fun!

Mohair Scaft - Finished!

I finished this project a few weeks back.  Before I knew it I was onto a couple of other projects and never celebrated the end result.  I seem to have more than project in the works at any one time.

I am very pleased with how this turned out.   It's about 12 inches wide and 6 feet long- yes, feet.  I'm a "wrap a scarf around twice" kinda gal.  I also like a long 'tail' on scarves I wear.

Here's what it looks like with a short neutral colored grey jacket.  Sorta gives it a little zip.   I think this could easily be dressed up or down.

Mohair is a yarn that can drive some folks nuts when worn directly against the skin.  I personally wear this type of item with a white cotton blouse with the collar turned up.  Because it's long, there's plenty of room to wrap it loosely so it never falls directly on skin.

It was super easy to make.  These are just 2", 4", and 6" granny squares.  I laid them out in this pattern.

What would I do differently?  Not too many things.  I used three different yarn types for this project - some from my stash from prior projects.  Mohair, mohair/silk, and silk.  They were not the same weight and each worked up a little differently.  I was able to adjust the silk by adding an extra row around some of the squares.  The dark purple was the heaviest yarn.  Next time I would try to find that color in a weight more similar to the others. 

I had my patterned nailed down, but not my color layout.  Had I sorted out the colors I could have joined the pieces as I worked and that would have saved a lot of time! 

Oh well, lesson for another project I guess.

Now onto the next...

Abortetum

The Sweetie and I played hookie yesterday afternoon and went to the Arboretum.  I didn't really play hookie.  I have this week off work.

It was a glorious afternoon.  It was still in the 50's but there was a hint of warmth in the air that led me to believe we might not be wearing a winter coat and scarf in July.  The sun was out, there was more blue sky than clouds.  The clouds were white and fluffy, not grey and heavy with rain.  The sky was soo blue.  It seems such a long time since we have seen so much blue.

Here are some pics from our afternoon.

The Sweetie took this one.  Even the weeds are charming.

Irish Lace Pincushion - Finished!

Whew!  I just finished this project this morning - finished hooking the edging, stitched it on, and wove in the last  few ends.  I pressed the edging which really helped.  Showed it off to the Sweetie, of course.  ...and borrowed his camera to snap some pics.

His camera, a pocket sized point & shoot, takes much better close ups than mine.  A new macro lens is on order and I can hardly wait for it to arrive.  It  should be here any day!!  Another chance to play around and try something new.

Now, I should warn you about one thing...

Yup.  It's round.  I tried to make it square, like the pattern, but it apparently was not meant to be.  I had the linen cut out  and stitched together, but it just didn't fit.  I still think it's pretty cute. 

Actually, I think it's super cute!  I can hardly believe I made it!

There's a saying that goes something like this:  Life is about the journey, not the destination.  I am a destination person.  I can't tell you how many times I nearly frogged this project.  I am glad I stuck with it.  It might not have been what I had in mind originally, but it still had a very nice end result.

I need to finish up the tutorial.  There are a few pointers I should pass along.  Like, crochet the edging after you stitch the piece to the linen.  On my first go at the edging - following the pattern instructions - turned out to be much, much too large.  When I re-did the edging afterward, I came much closer to the correct size and could have saved myself a ton of time. 

Oh well. Lessons learned from the school of hard knocks are often lessons best learned. 

I also walk away from this project with a new found respect for my great grandmas who made a ton of this sort of thing!

Chair Covers - Part 4

This never fails.  I have a plan.  Let's call it Plan A.  And in my mind it's wonderful - sometimes for a few minutes, even sometimes for a couple of days.  Then there's a new thought that creeps in and before you know it, there's Plan B.  I love Plan B.  It's better than Plan A.  And then another thought or suggestion creeps in... and you can see where this is going, right?

I am still working on seat covers for the dining room chairs, but the plan seems to have changed a tiny bit.  Here's the first image (which is right in line with my original sketch).

Then the Sweetie says, "Are you goin' to make them all the same?" 

"Sure.  This is what I sketched out, remember?  It's mimicking the wallpaper. Remember?"  Little did I know that the Plan B seed had been planted.  Sneaky little bugger.

I began to lay out the leaves for the second seat cover... and I start to think, "It might be boring to work on this project if all of them are the same."  Whammo!  Plan B!

Plan B was all sandwiched together and I begin the third.   "Hmm, should I do two patterns or three?    I have two different chair styles so two patterns would work.  Or... I have six chairs.  There could be two of each if I do three patterns."  KaPow!!  Plan C!

Now you know that can't be the end of the story.

Plan D.  Bamm!

Plan E.  Zammo!  (I have no idea why Blogger has decided this image should be Portrait rather than Landscape.)

Plan F.  Crash!

I may need a cocktail when I finish quilting Plan F.  This one certainly has more twiddly, fiddly little pieces than the others.  And none of the pieces connect.  Heck, I might need one just for cutting out all of those twiddly, fiddly pieces.

Now should anyone ask why I have six different chair covers I will reply, with my readers low on my nose, "I decided to explore the pattern possibilities using a simple shape and two colors.  They are simple repeats, based on the original idea of 'wallpaper'."   Gah!  What a snob! 

But we will all know the true answer is has more to do with the power of suggestion, a short attention span, and boredom with Plan A.

Chair Covers - Part 3

So I got to thinkin'.  Perhaps I should try machine applique before I cut out a gazillion leaves.  Some times a tiny voice of reason sneaks in over the din.

I had some scrap squares from a recent project.  I thought I could make a quick drink coaster.

Here's the front;

And the back.  All of the directions I've read, say to go over the applique piece two or three time.

How about a close up view?   Not so good.  Thank goodness this is a practice piece.

My first attempt.  My stitching is all over the place!

My last attempt.  Things are starting to improve a little.

I think this is going to take a little more practice before I begin on chair covers. 

A set of Wonky drink coasters anyone?

Chair Covers - Part 2

One focus of this blog (aside from being a socially acceptable means to talk to myself) is to try new things.

For the chair project I am using batiks, khaki, and machine applique.

Many fabric stores have big sections devoted to batiks.  Lot of quilters are devoted to these fabrics.  Until now, they really have not called my name as I walk past.  But here's what I have recently learned.  They are a tight weave.  They hardly fray at all in the wash.  No, snarly gob of threads at the cut ends!  They appear to be the same on the front and back unlike most print fabrics.  Hmmm, all of these folks have figured something out and I am just late to the party.  Typical.  A blue and green found their way home with me from the shop.

Next, I am using khaki.  Not one of my go-to colors - which is blue, for all things.  I'm not even sure I own a pair of khaki colored pants - or if I do, they don't fit.  But this Carolina Chambray was just the right color for the dining room.  I'm game, I guess.  I was cautioned that this fabric does fray and I would be wise to do a quick fold over hem to keep that under control.  Good advice.  I will also zigzag around each piece before I start quilting as this is my base fabric.

Next, I've been wanting to try machine applique.  I've been eyeing some of the cool quilts and pillows at the Don't Look Now blog.  She is a master at this style of quilting and her stuff is seriously cute.  She offers a tutorial on her blog, but I was chicken to start this technique on a big project.  A chair cover is not big, so it seemed like just the right sized project 

Next, I had to lay out my design and figure out how many leaves I would need to applique.  Um about a gazillion.  No, seriously.  By my math, there are 96 leaves per chair, time six chairs.  I think I may be ready to be institutionalized at the end of this project!

Check in for the next installment for the answer to "Is she working from home or the local funny farm?"  I can assure you the Sweetie thinks I should already be tucked into the funny farm!

New Quilting Project - Chair Covers

Hi.  Me again.

I've recently begun a new project to create seat covers for the dining room.  When the Sweetie asked if they should be called chair cushions.  I said, "Sure, but I'm not sure how much cushion there is."  The Sweetie is skinny and may be looking for cushions.

We have ladder back chairs we purchased shortly after we moved into our house 20+ years ago.  They have rush seats, which is essentially twisted grass.  Surprisingly, they lasted 20 years.  But after the Kidlet, cats, many dinners, and years of homework at the dining room table, they were starting to wear out.  It would be really bad to have someone fall through (pause to visualize), so we had them re-rushed (not sure that's a word, but I'm goin' with it).  The cost to have them repaired was nearly as expensive as the original purchase. Yikes!  I have no plans to do that again any time soon.

Yes, we know we have two different chair styles.  Our decorating style can (ahem) be best described as eclectic. But I digress.  Hey, but don't those  new rush seats look nice!

The Unusually Helpful Helpers (Jupiter and Max) discovered shortly after the chairs returned from the shop that these were fantastic scratching posts.  I just don't think so.  Our short term remedy (um, nearly a year now) was to place old napkins over the chairs.  Presto!  This worked.  The Unusually Helpful Helpers weren't interested in them once the rush was covered.

The napkin trick worked, but once you leave the table they frequently look like this:

And more frequently like this:

Not exactly projecting the swanky high class establishment vibe we've been going for.  Just kiddin'.  

So I drew up a design (I just love graph paper!), which is loosely styled after the wallpaper above the chair rail.  I calculated the yardage needed. 

And head off to the fabric store where these lovelies were just waiting for me to pick up and take home.  Funny how fabric just jumps into your handbag!

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Cherry Trees

I had a chance this past week to go see the cherry trees just off Red Square at the University of Washington.  I am embarrassed to say, I have lived in Seattle over 25 years and this was my first visit. 

Even stepping back, I didn't catch them all in this photo.  This view must be even better on a sunny day.

These almost seem covered in snow.

The trunks are all twisty and gnarled.

Great pom poms of blooms.

Clusters of flowers were even growing from the trunks.

It was absolutely lovely.

Dreaming

There is a house a few blocks away I have been coveting.  For years.  I used to walk by and wonder what it was like inside.  It's an older brick home, with a porch a gazillion windows and views of the Cascade mountains.  It's a two story with a daylight basement.

It has had only a couple of owners so I was pretty sure that many of the original features were intact. 

Then last fall it went on the market.  The Sweetie is a real estate agent so he took me through it.  He warned me that it needed work - lots of work.  I didn't care. 

You might think that because he is in real estate I get to go through houses all the time.  I supposed I could if I asked.  The reality is that I go through about 1 a year.  Usually, it has to be something pretty special.  But, I digress...

So he opens up the front door and everything is original.  Windows, hardwood floors, lighting, oak staircase, fireplaces (yes, several).  Gorgeous.  I am in love.  I even know where the Christmas tree would go.

There is a downside to 'everything is original".  Electrical, plumbing, HVAC... the list goes on and on.  The sweetie keeps muttering 'money pit' as I swoon over new each room.

The listing price is well over my comfort zone (under a million but not by much) and it needs about $500k to bring it back to it's former glory.

It is a very large house (over 4,000 square feet) with something like 4 or 5 bedrooms - many with adjoining bathrooms and fireplaces, a sun porch, butler's pantry, work shop, two garages.  Totally impractical for nearly empty nesters.  And yes, it is a "money pit", but in the right hands....

So it's sold to some one who's going to fix it up.

But, last week the Sweetie tells me it's back on the market.  (What?!  How lucky could I be?) Overpriced - at over a million now.  And the remodeling, incomplete, doesn't seem in line with the money the owner claims to have spent.

We were driving in the car yesterday - together, in the same car, which almost never happens - and the "Money Pit" comes up.  And I launch into my fantasy...

We win the Lotto (which I never play).

We buy the Money Pit - even though it's overpriced.

We live in our current house while we remodel the Money Pit - with money being no object.  We do a great job, maintaining as many of the cool original features as possible.

We move into the Money Pit.  We keep our current house, which we allow the Kidlet to use once he graduates from college and begins his Life.

In the Money Pit we have plenty of room to have family to stay as guests.  Lot's of them.  Any time.  I fix up the yard with lots flowers.  Can't you almost imagine the Disney-esque birds helping sequence from Snow White or Cinderella?

The Sweetie looks over at me (worried) like I have lost my mind.  Which, of course, I have.  Then we have a laugh.

Now, if only I bought a Lotto ticket...

Turtorial: Irish Lace Pincushion - The Network

For me, the 'network' was the most challenging part of the project.  I found myself wrapped around the axel on Rows (or Rounds) 9 and 10.  I struggled with Row 10 because I had Row 9 wrong.  Makes sense.

I can't tell you how many times I ripped out and reworked them.  Here are some pointers and pictures to help you make sense of the instructions.

You may have noticed this is not a tutorial in the traditional sense.  I am not working from start to finish assuming you are a crochet newbie.  I am counting on a basic understanding of the following stitches:  Chain, Slip Stitch, Single Crochet, and Double Crochet.  Also, I am not redoing the pattern from start to finish, but trying to provide clarification in areas that proved troublesome for me.  See, it's all about me.  As usual.

Row 8:  The pattern describes a Picot Loop as ch 3, ch 6-picot, ch 3, ch 6-picot, ch 3.  This is what it looks like (upside down).

Get comfortable with this as you will be making a LOT of them!

A variation of this is what I am going to call the Corner Loop.  The instructions are ch 7, ch 6-picot, ch 7, ch 6-picot, ch 7.  You will only make 4 of them and only in Row 8.

Much of Row 8 is worked from the back side of the piece in a manner similiar to when you made the Rose in Part 1.

To begin you make a Picot Loop, ending in the next petal.  You can see I have begun, but not attached the Corner Loop (next step). 

The second step is to make a Corner Loop.  This ends in the same petal where you started the loop.  Please refer to the illustration. and photo below.

Next is another Picot loop.

You make this series of Loops 3 more times to finish the round (Picot Loop, Corner Loop, Picot Loop, repeat). 

Here's what it looks like when you are finished with Row 8. 

I found it very helpful to pin this out from time to time.  You should have 4 Corner Loops and 8 Picot Loops.  Double check, because it is much easier to correct it now than later.  

Don't panic if your project looks like this.  Mine did too before I pinned it.  Nice, huh?  This may have been part of the reason I lost my way on this pattern. 

Row 9:  This is where I ran into the first bit of trouble.  The instructions are silent on what to do with the Corner Loops.  Here's the best advice I can give you.  Put stitch markers on them (to make them easier to identify them in Row 10 and you do nothing with the Corner Loops in Row 9.  The stitch markers also make it easier to ignore them in this row.

Stitch markers?  Holy cow, those weren't on the list of supplies!  Don't worry.  Alice, from future girl uses those cute colored paperclips.  Clever, clever girl.  Even regular paper clips will do and most folks have a few sliding around in the junk draw in the kitchen.

I scratched out a quick diagram showing how this row should be worked.  I just worked infront of the Corner Loops - the stitch marker should hold them out of your way.

Row 9 is in green.  You will be attaching 8 picot loops to the 8 picot loops in Row 8 - ignoring the corners.  It's important to note that you worked Row 8 from the back of the center rose.  For this point onward, you will be working from the front with the center rose facing you.

To begin the instructions say to slip stitch into the middle of a Row 8 picot loop.  From there you begin to work Row 9.  I hope this little diagram helps  The slip stiches are in green. 

Once you have made the 8 picot loops for Row 9, here's how it should look.  You can see the Corner Loops but they are not attached to the picot loops in this row.  They come into play in Row 10.  This is also a good time to make sure your new row has 8 new picot loops.

Row 10:  For this row you will attach the Corner Loops.  You will finish with a total of 12 new picot loops in this row, because you included the corner loops as you work your way around (4+8=12).  I have numbered the loops in the photo below.  The corners are between loops 1 and 12, 3 and 4, 6 and 7, 9 and 10.  Remove the stitch markers as you incorporate each corner.

Row 11:  Work picot loops all around.  Easy peasy.  No funny stuff.  Double check to make certain you have 12 picot loops.  If it looks like the photo below, finish off with a slip stitch.

Whoo Hoo!  You're finished with the network!  For me, this was the most difficult section to get my head around.   I'm generally pretty good at reading Crochet instructions, but sometimes a few pictures can really help.

Please send a comment if the illustrations or photos were confusing.  I will be happy to update the tutorial.

Next tutorial, will be how to make the Leaves.