Friendship Block

Tribute to An Angel

-
A butterfly fluttered to my window and made me stop and stare,
Twas not an ordinary butterfly as she held a special glare.
As she approached the window I was compelled to open it wide,
The little butterfly flew in gently and landed by my side..

She fluttered from room to room and finally settled in,
To the most comfortable spot in my home, it was my sewing den
She went up and down the bookcases and through the fabrics too,
Then landed on a quilt top that it appeared she knew.

She winged her ways across, almost every block before,
She stopped and lingered on one a little longer more.
She stopped on a button and spreads her wings open wide,
Then flew down and landed on a bead on the other side.

Before I knew what was happening the quilt began to talk,
It started to tell me stories and then it seemed to walk.
It said when you were down and needed me, I was there
to comfort you,
When life seemed so empty my threads and fancies pulled
you through.
When life seemed so hopeless and you felt so all alone,
A group of angels gathered and made me in your home.

A true labour of love as anyone can plainly see, lots of love
caring and full of memories.

When the little butterfly stopped and hovered over square,
I saw a little angel dust appear from out of the air.
A little teardrop filled my eyes,and slowly down my face,
I felt an inner peace come over me, it was a saving grace.

This feeling did not leave me and the tears began to flow,
The little butterfly fluttered over each block in a row.
It seemed to flutter twice when it landed on a name,
Then the memories came floating back and more teardrops came.


Froggie was the siggy and beside it was a boullon frog,
Holding onto a fishing line and sitting on a log.

Next to her was Priscilla dressed all in purple and red,
Stitched with such softness it was a loving thread.

Roses, roses everywhere and such beautiful lace,
Sandi had touched this quilt and left her dainty grace.

Marianna and her love for fully embellished seams,
Left her siggy and embellishments and a special dream.

Nark had left a collection of Carole Samples designs,
Amazing what can come out of a little stitcher's mind.

Carolyn left a little girl on a button with praying hands held high,
Now where did I find that button, and it lit up the sky.

Beautiful Brazilian embroidery covered one little square,
It was not hard to tell that Rita had stopped here.

A dainty little floral square covered with tiny laces
Gayle had added angels and tiny little faces.

A collection of tatting, silkribbon roses too,
Chatty was the name written on this block in blue.

As the butterfly was flitting from one block to another,
It stopped and lingered on one word or another.
One name was missing from the square and she spun a special thread,
And inscribed the word " Barbee " in gorgeous red.

I watched so very closely to see what the butterfly would do,
Would she go out the window or stop and visit you.
Sh flitted to my shoulder and seemed to whisper in my ear.
Do not be sad my little angel for I am always here.

I am in each and every block, in every stitch I made for you,
I am free from pain and sorrow and no longer live alone,
Heaven is my mansion, but I can still visit you at home.

I can tell you different stories that you might want to hear,
But, just pull out the blocks that we have worked on over
the past ten years,
Hold them in your hands and hug them and know they were
made with love.
Now, they are safe in heaven and resting with me above.

I still have my memories, the good ones are all I knew,
But once a year I will come down and visit you.
So when you see a butterfly flitting on your window pane,
Open up the window sill and let me in again.

Excuse me little angel I must be on my way,
I have nine other angels who are waiting for me today.
They have not forgotten me,nor will I ever forget them,
I have a lot of flying to do but will return again.

Love
B

(c) L. Boudreau out of love and respect for Chatty's Angel " Barbee " 2008

Prayer Post Two

This is the second prayer pouch that I made and finished over the past week. I added floating hearts, some fantasy flowers and a little cupid to the top. A trick I have learned in working with the fringed bead work is to hide it under a seam on the lace or a ribbon of it's own and you can feel confident that it will work.

I hope to do a step by step to how these are made and will share on my blog along with a basic pattern as each one changes in size and shape.

Prayer Pouch One

This little prayer purse is what has been keeping me busy the last few weeks on and off finding time to work on it and say a few prayers at the same time. I hope it brings happiness and joy to the new home it will soon arrive at.

I sincerely love doing this as they are a true labour of love and creativity and all are lined with batiste and backed with dress linen.

First attempt at Brazilian Embroidery

I am so pleased with the kit that came with this beautiful piece and seeing as it is my first attempt using these radiant threads and working with the twists and beautiful colours I am very pleased.

I love how the little hydrangea turned out and this is square one in my quilt.

I received this kit as a gift from my special Chatty's Angel Sister Carolyn as a gift for doing her wedding pillow and I cannot thank her enough for leading me down this embroidery path. I am hooked.

Rose Swag Pouch

Spring Cleaning my sewing room I decided to set aside some small pieces of tone on tone fabrics and lace as well as some ribbons that were left over from other projects, beads as well and a second pouch is now designed.

The overall size of these finished and lined are about 4.5 x 6.5 depending on the main fabric I have to play with.

I enjoy working with ribbon and want to start using different types of flowers as well as techniques.

Boquet of Roses Pouch

With Easter upon us and the bulbs popping through the ground it reminded me of my beautiful rose bushes that I had planted last year so I decided to take their colours and use them on a pouch.

Vintage Colours Block

This one is ready to play with today. The motif will not necessarily remain in the same spot and there will be more definition in the work as it goes along.

Fourth Gold Block Finished

This is the fourth and final block in the wall hanging that I have to do. I just have to decide how to sash and this and the other three will be hung on a wall. Reason being, so much swag and swinging beads.

This will now sit on the back burner while I finish up, and or start some new items.

Bridal Pillow Finished

This is a bridal pillow that I have designed and made for a friend who has her grandson getting married in Mexico.

I was asked to make a larger pillow than normal so it could be used later so this one is twelve inches in diameter excluding the lace.

My largest challenge was the names. I ended up placing them on fine linen and then bordering them with hand rusched bridal satin and dotted them with pearls. I then went in and added some rosettes and floating hearts.

Most of the silk ribbon work in the centre fills a six inch diameter spot and has some teardrops added to the large ribbons 15 and 35 mm and small hearts as well as pink/blush 7 mm gathered roses and 7 mm over dyed green ribbon for leaves. I then used a green and added baby's breath and used mill hill beads to put on the end.

I also added beads to the bridal motifs then were added and added different collages of lace and beads to them as well as silk ribbon roses in large with floating teardrops.

The large six inch lace section is gathered and pleated by hand and attached from the back, with pearls securing it to the pillow top.

Swags of bridal satin ribbon are held onto the four corners with satin rosette ribbons and beads.

The pillow inside is made of batiste and the moire' is also back with the same batiste fabric so this pillow can be used after the ceremony.

Small bridal satin ribbons hold the rings on and floating hearts fall from the centre know with a cascade of pearls.

I do hope the new bride to be enjoys this pillow as making a larger than normal one for me was a bit challenging.

Bridal Pillow

Corner of bridal pillow with name cross stitched with metallic threads and surrounded by bridal satin and beads.

Block Four and final Block

This is the final block in the series. I had originally covered all of the seams in the brown wildflowers threads with very long stitches so had to remove them gently.

I will take a break from this one until after work today and then decide on how to work with this.

I have added another little face to the block, but she probably won't stay on this one, but one doe not know until they get moving along. I have to remove the brown stems or do something creative with them as well. I am also not sure that the green and gold braid is staying as I would like to curve this and do some rusched ribbon work so it blends with the rest.

Have a great day stitching.

The lady block is done in the gold block series. I have one more to do and this will be finished. I like the way she turned out and had a difficult time deciding on what to do to make her stand out, but not stray away from the other blocks and the bottom piece of metallic gold and black lace lead the way, the silk ribbon work above softened her. I would put a face on a block again.

Face Mold

When designing the third block in my gold series, I had a plant pot with vines coming from it and then one of the quilters online asked for some examples of face cab use and I decided to try and see what I could do with a simple one. I am very pleased with how she turned out and this is the first one that I have actually worked with detail on the face.

I had purchased the small faces from "Leslie " and wanted to work with them as I use them in my beaded flowers. Click on beadwork and you can see them in my blog. I received these one's glazed and at first did not know where to take them from here, but now must admit that I like the glaze as it gave me the opportunity for self shading.

I first took the cab and highled the face with two coats of nude nail polish., lingerie coloured or whatever shade you like. I then took some pigma pens and did the eyes, eyebrows ( which I would change in the next one ), outlined the lips in a deep red, ( must get some suttler shades ) and then went back in and highlighted the lips and eyes in black. I felt she had a vintage look to her.

I then took an eighteen piece of 7mm over dyed ribbon and cut six inches off. I first gathered along one edge and and kept this close to the top of the cab for a full hair. I then gathered the other twelve inches and lowered the placement and tacked it around the cab. This cab is held on with double faced tape as if I decide that I want to, I can now go back in and add an adhesive, but I am pleased with the soft feel of double faced tape without the hardness of glue and the fact that I did not have to bead around this particular face. I then added a little bead each side for ear rings, add a fluff of feather to the top and a deep rose with a pearl.

As the vines were already stitched I had to decide what to do for the background so I chose a sort of Mother Nature attempt and did beaded lilacs ( in other words groups of four and five beads clustered on the ends), and went back in with a darker green thread and worked leaves and sprigs. I feel she is as finished as I want her to be on this block as I do not want her to take over the block as it is only six inches. I hope to work more on this one today.

Second Gold Block

Friday when I went to finish this block the bower of roses changed my theme of sticking with a small pink flower on every block. I wanted to move out a bit more. I am still keeping with using up small amounts of things I have saved. For example the tatting was a design that never did make it anywhere else, but it did fit well on the project. I also scrunched some gold toned ribbon and collages beads. I did cut the dangling cluster of beads that was hanging as it did not look like it belonged. I love the little fairy hiding under the beads and used some special sequins from my friend. I have one more block laid out and and fourth one to pull some stitches out of and then I can proceed further. I am truly enjoying this challenge.

Gold Block

I picked another block from a little stash that I had prepieced to do a purse for and decided to work on this to see if I could get the sttiches back in line again as it has been so long since I did seams and silkribbon work.

I never throw anything away. The wild rose at the top left is a small piece of 17mm hand dye that was cut into thirds, each was gathered separately and then added as if the wild rose was with large petals, the little white beads added to this. I also took a piece of green that highlighted this and it also was a leftover and cut it in two and did a loop stitch and tacked it under for leaves. I had previously started to work bead work on a large piece and tossed it into a bead box and pulled this out as it seemed like a nice accent on the rose piece. Another piece of ribbon came out just as I was about to rusche a piece of off white ribbon and it was satin brown, it went beautifully into a bow. The heart button and the dangles were saved from a project that they did not work on before. I just re threaded them. On a purse I would leave them dangling on a block I secure them down. I have now laid out another gold block as I have had four of them waiting to be worked on for about a year now and see what develops.

Pink, beige and white Block 6" square

I found this a very soothing block to work on. As you can see from a previous post I have removed the rose and put a fluted flower with a beaded pistil lop at the end of the gathered and rusched ribbon. I also removed the flower with the white in it, as it was taking over the block. I like how the little bouquet of roses adds to the design in the middle and the bleached wooden buttons fade out as if the little dragonfly is going to land on them.

I will have to place a new work in progress on my table so that I can start something new to work on. I do want to do the Piecemakers block, but want to warm up a bit with some smaller ones.

Playing with Colours

This is a block that I made as a spare and now I have taken and started to work on this one.

I love the suttle colours and a touch of pink just seems to add to the beauty of this block.

I have the Piecemakers pattern for this year and wanted to start the large quilt and take away from the black in the background and perhaps I have innocently stumbled upon a colour that I can work with other than the blacks, greys and whites. I love the concept of the quilt and also love the layout, but when I look at all of the dark colous in it it makes me feel cold. I know it is out of darkness as it rises from the ashes. A picture of the quilt I hope to start on this week is at http://www.piecemakers.com/ and is not only a quilt but a calendar as well. I have started collecting butterflies to keep putting onto the quilt.

Labour of Love Gift Block

This block was created for a friend and hopefully when this one arrives there will be more so that she can have a wall hanging or prayer quilt.

I chose suttle colours and was going to stay with a suttle theme and that did not work. I felt compelled to keep working and working on this block and now it is time for it to start it's journey home.

I truly enjoyed working on this one, and have started to work on a second one that I am going to set aside and allow it to motivate me to keep stitching.

A new start a new day!

I finally got the ambition to clean out my sewing room and make it more accessible for me to get around. I have been working on mass producing some charitable items and it would make it much easier.

I must admit that also I am working on the thread bears and still puttering away at finishing some socks.

I finished knitting anothe face cloth, this one in a pretty deep peach, so that makes two, one a week so far.

I have a crazy quilt block of Marianna's and will work on that once the handles are on the totes I have been making and then settle in to work on a quilt.

Have a great day stitching and hopefully tomorrow I will have some pics to share with you.

Wheelchair Back Packs

Amidst some links on line and a collection of soil resistant fabric samples that a friend gave me years ago I have started to make the tote bags for wheelchairs and walkers. I have about six completed so far. My favourite is one made in yellows with an oriental design in it, would have made gorgeous pillows. I also did a lot of paisley and light colours and now have about another dozen to put straps on and send along.

These are very basic and very simple to do. I do not like Velcro and I do not like ties as these can cause a hindrance to the operator of the chair or the walker so I measure about eighteen inches for each tie and put two on them so that they are secure.

Here is my basic plan according to the size of the fabric I cut my fabrics so that there are no raw edges and the writing on the cardboard that is sealed to the sample fabric is removed, this usually leaves me about a 15 to 16 inch square to work with. I do not worry about both sides being the same as they can be used either or and gives each a reversible effect. I do try and match colour families for male/female, and as the nursing home where I am donating them has children I plan to use some cute children's cuts of fabrics and make some totes for them.

I will add some pics when I have finished the next set. I wanted to get these out to the residence so that they could tell me if these, are, in fact, of any value to these folks. I have designed them so that when they are removed they fold in half and can hang on a bed or a door handle. I have watched them try to navigate with books in their hands, knitting needles etc. and from my own personal experience know that a tote bag is a great solution to a lot of how we feel about getting from point "a" to point "b".


Materials:- 2 pieces of fabric , I chose curtain sample fabric's. cut according to size. I mine now, they are 15inches x 17 inches.

- serge or sew around three sides. I Serge so that makes it easier so that the threads to not strip, and if you don't serge, I suggest sewing with right sides together, trimming back the seam and then french seaming from the wrong side. In other words. Press the seam flat and encase in another seam. It is very professional looking and sturdy.

- I then take and measure in about an 1.5 inch from the top of the bottom corner and sew a triangle across. I do not cut this but lock it in place with a few stitches. Do to the opposite side, this is not necessary but it does give the bag a boxed corner and bottom look.

- I then measure in about 2.5 inches from each side and pin either a handmade strap or strong webbing in place. I stitch this on one side, then flip and stitch on opposite sides. I then turn the top edge down, stitch close to the bottom, then top stitch.............voila' a beautiful little tote bag.

- I plan on doing some smaller ones for those who just carry a book around with them as it is easier to hold onto a few strips of fabric than it is to carry a book and balance a walker.

- I will share some pics tomorrow.

Bean Bags for the Nursing Home

I will do some instructional pictures over the weekend as once again we are promised snow. While at the nursing home with dh's last week visiting I asked the recreation director what I could sew for her. Her eyes grew very large as she said " sew ". I said yes, what can I make for you that you could use. She responded with bean bags. She had just tossed some tattered ones out.

I sat down this evening and in less than two hours have double lined and filled 16 bean bags and will share my basic pattern with you.

Materials:-

1 - yard of flannel - bright patterns are the best.
1 - yard of heavy broadcloth
2 - 2kg bags of long grain rice.


For 16 bags here is how I cut my fabric.

I took the broadcloth and cut it into 6 inch strips and sewed them together leaving an opening for turning. I then added one cup of rice to each bag and serged the edge closed.

I then took the flannel and cut it into 7 inch strips. I sewed on three sides then about an inch in or each side on the top, inserted the rice bag and topstitched closed. I did all of the work on the machine as these will be used by seniors and take a hard toss.

I must admit that I speed sew and sew in multiples so here is my recipe for making them quickly.

Tear lining fabric into 6 inch strips.
Seam long sides together.
Cut into 6 inch sections.
Sew bottoms on each one, fast feeding one behind the other through the machine.

Add rice = serge across opening, set aside.

I do the cover the same way.

Cut strips into 7 inch widths.
Seam long sides
Cut into 7 inch sections
Seam bottom and in a bit from each side on the top, add the rice bag, and stitch the top closed.

I will add some pictures over the weekend.

Pics as promised of the little bears.

On the left hand side is the collection of bears made so far from the tiniest at about two inches to the next size up about 3.5 inches to Purple who is about five inches standing. My fingers are so sore I can hardly type, but these little critters are addictive and you can create as your crochet and change as you will.

Pay It Forward

Busily crocheting the little bears that are made with thread and finally did one with a twist, it is done in light purple and is brushed. I do need a break from these little critters and they will be forwarded onto new homes as promised.

I finished a white and beige set, a miniature beige bear, and now the mohair bear, and have a red bear and one more, I think in thebasket, then I will make for myself.

I will share some pics. I made the above for a few who do not crochet and now need to concentrate on doing some resting and reading and catching up with the things I have wanted to do in my life.

I asked a local nursing home if I could sew anything for them and they mentioned such as, and I responded with " bean bags ", she exclaimed "yes " we had to toss some out as they were getting pretty ragged.............so I plan on setting up and doing about a dozen new bean bags in bright colours for the nursing home.

I also have a new book Alexandra Stoddard " the Art of the Possible " and have never read any of her books but want to read this one. I also want to start reading Barbara Bradford's " Emma's Secret ", it is a gift book and it is a big one but keeps calling out my name.

I have one cq healing block to finish and get in the mail and my parcels should all be ready to go by tomorrow evening.

Happy New Year - Welcome 2009

With the busy Christmas season behind us it is time for us to move forward and take some time to reflect what really makes us happy and what we plan to do to make a difference in someones life this year.

I feel that each life we touch secretly will be a life that will feel the love that someone has taken the time to make them aware of.

I also believe that silent givers are the best givers and that I like to choose who I want to surprise and give my handwork to, with this in mind. I have decided to do at least one kind random act of kindness a month. I am not doing a drawing as I know personally, there are beautiful items I have received this past year when all I had to do was comment on their work and I was honestly only commenting because they were beautiful. When I won, it was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

I call the above thread bear " Spice " and he is one of two that is going out silently to a special friend who has gone above and beyond for years for all, not just for me. There is a wonderful group on line for thread ted's and they share their love of making these tiny creations, and all I was going to do was make one to put on a quilt, now I am finding that there are some special people who do not crochet who would like to have one and must admit that this work is an art form in itself and I am far from having achieved it. My bear is the first one I have crocheted and the second one is not much better, but with time they will get easier.

I have finished a lot of started projects and will share and this is the year that I get my own full sized crazy quilt all done by me. I purchased the calendar from Piecemakers and can hardly wait to start and do one in a similar style. I am also so enthralled by the handwork of Jo in Nz; and Allison Aller to mention a few that I want to practise my stitches.

Carole Samples and Victoria Adams Brown have made crazy quilting an art form that was not delegated to just stitches, and then take the artwork and stitches taught by Nancy Ehna and those on the crazy quilting international list and I will have my own little masterpiece.

" Give to the world the best that you have and it will give back to you. " Authour unknown to me.

Stacked Pyramid from base pattern

This is my version of the stacked pyramid. I want to learn to adapt the base line stitches and bring them both up and down over the seam. In this one I worked up, then down, added beads and kept with two weights of thread, one a size 12 perle silk and the other two strands of needle necessities. The beads are metallics in black and in abalone from mill hill.

Build A Seam Week Eleven

This is a very poor picture of a stacked pyramid base pattern, but it is soft pink silk perle on tafetta. I will add the seam below that I created from this one.

Miss Kerry, I hope you meant it when you said it is never to late to join in a challenge. I hope to go back and do the other ten seams over the coming week.

Collars and cuffs

While waiting to catch dh's cold and flu I had started some collars and cuffs and would like to share my results with you. I have adapted various patterns I have seen on line. The tall neck version is available in a different stitch on http://www.lionbrand.com/ as well as the base pattern for some of the cuffs, others were just made up as I went along.

I have not decided if I will rewrite the patterns or not as I did not take any notes while I was crocheting and would have to start from scratch again, but as I now have his flu, I doubt this would be done before the end of the year.

Creative Moment

With crochet hook in hand and a basket of assorted sizes of yarn and wool that was previously purchased I have once again started to create designs that I enjoy.

I played with wrist warmers this week, and today took on the challenge of a neck warmer and I am pleased with how that turned out as well.

Knowing our cold Nova Scotia winters I have decided to also make some boot toppers, and can see this leading into frilly sock tops for special occasions. I can't seem to get past frilly, pretty and practical.

Practical being that a set of cuffs can change the look of not only blouses, sweaters and jackets but easy on the pocket book for the office/executive staff.


Practical also involves a collar that will keep you warm in the winter, cool in the summer and make that collar less top look like a day to night outfit.


Practical also means that I can knit plain socks and add pretty toppers to them so that the tops of the socks are not lost when the heels wear out.

Practical means that hats can be warm in the winter with a headband added for some extra style that would be removable and used to hold back hair or drop down as a choker/necklace styled.

I love the new cuffs that I am playing with for a design, rather than warming the wrists alone they give a whole new look to what is under the jacket and keeps out the cold. They can be worn long to keep the arms warm, or turned down and add some class to an outdated outfit.

I am not a scarf person, but can see designing some in the future. I am also not a crochet with yarn person normally, but love the feel of thread so can see this being carried forward to bridal and heirloom work with thread and crochet hook.

I also love the idea of legwarmers that look not only stylish, but can be sloppy and comfortable as well either over leggings or boots. Now I have to get out and get a pair of the higher boots with a bit of a heel.

I also love a challenge and want to try and force myself to finish some of the ideas that I have sketched in a notebook and wanted to use for a long, long time.


I am playing with some mock-ups in both worsted, sport and bulky weight and now want to try and take it down to finer threads, but first must design a cap/hat that I would like to be able to create easily.

Baring any unforseen power outages, as we are supposed to be in for a bad icy raining evening, will be back on line with some pics to share.

FFT#3 Block is Home

Thanks to beautiful work of Pam, Shery, Lisa, and Janet my fabulour first times block is home where it belongs. I love the work that they have done on it and thank them immensely.

The centre seam of scallops is one that I learned from Marianna one of my angel friends and this was a ufo before it was sent off, and now it is finished and I am ready to add some of my own work to this one and check and see if there is possibly enough to start piecing a quilt together. I do have a lot, but they are all different sizes so making a plan will be a major strife as all of the ones that have work on them from others mean so much to me.

Still sharing some odds and ends.

k;

I love to knit socks and just started to knit mittens again and must admit that unless I can find a one armed, one legged person that these normally just end up in the 'ufo' pile, but I have found a solution. As soon as I finish one sock, I set the other one up on needles and then mindlessly knit while watching tv with dh in the evenings. I now feel productive. I have an order for some heavy weight socks and men's wristers so these will go aside for a day or so until I make a set for dh, who is working in a very cold building.

Winter sniffles turns into down time.

Had a bit of down time and decided to work on a few cuffs to go under blazers or jackets for gifts. I must admit that I love working on them and they are so versatile.

They can make one look like they are wearing a gorgeous sweater and still put a pair of winter gloves or mittens on under them.

I took the base pattern from a bernat free pattern on line and added the ruffle as I would work a doily.

I also love ribbons and glitter so I went down to a worsted weight yarn rather than a bulky yarn.

The pattern also comes with a plain neck ruffle and I hope to play with this one as well. I am sure they will be a hit with the teenagers.

Winter Sniffles

After our beautiful ( ugh ) snowfall on the weekend I have picked up a chill and a cold with letting the dogs in and out as they want to play in 40 cms of snow. I am not impressed. I am snuggled up in myfavourite chair with a quilt and some hand knitting for a bit.

Bloggin Friends Forever Award

I was honoured with this award from Jackie Young and would like to pass this award along to the following:-

1.- Leslie of http://www.pinyoncreek.blogspot.com

2.- Kerry of http://www.kerrykatiecakes.blogspot.com

3.- Sharon of http://www.inaminuteagoblogsot.com

4. Pam of http://www.kittyandmedesigns.blogspot.com

5. Lilla of http://www.lillalevine.blogspot.com

All of the above have made a difference in how I look at the thread that passes through the eye of the needle.

Winter in the Valley

Old Man Winter hit with a vengenance this weekend dumping 31 cms of snow yesterday and another 15 cms of snow last night. Proud to be in a snow belt.

One thing it does is wake us up to the reality that ' snow tires ' are a definite necessity for this time of year, the fender benders were unreal.

I did not venture out and have not for about a week now,which is not abnormal for me in the winter time. My power chair does have snow tires, but can't picture a tow truck pulling it on our country lane.

Yesterday I tried my economical ( cheaper than most ) bead spinner that I got from Walmart a year ago. Can't believe it was that long, but remember as we were visiting dd at the time and I thought under fifteen dollars was a real steal, but felt it would never truly work, but was willing to give it a try.

It spins and works like a top. It is a small one, and I normally only knit the beaded purses and the little things and feel great that I did get the beads loaded back on and finished another jabot purse. Pictures to follow next week.

At the time I also purchased a little mermaid in porcelane with hopes of doing a beaded skirt, not to mention the butterfly and getting back into my french hand beading..........well, this snow has got me started and there is no way now but forward.

I would love to thank Beadin' Gran Jackie Young for voting for me as Friends Forever and I must admit that I have no idea on how to transfer the symbol to my blog except I can follow through with five people who I would love to remember for the rest of my life and will do so after chatting with Jackie.

I too, have bit the sock craze and am wearing the first set, and have three more pairs that will be done before the day is over, the other three pairs are being done gently as my friend Miss Vortex has assured me that knitting on the toothpicks is great. She was even gracious enough to send me the fine sock " thread " to knit on and must admit that when these are knit they go right into my sock drawer.

Sock Knitters Revenge

What would the night be without another sock in the process. I know soon I have to start finishing the other ones that I have hidden, but they tell me they have a name for this disease now, it is called " the one sock syndrome " and I have it big time.



I feel the urge for real bulky socks, sport socks and not to mention mohair socks................but alas, my heart has to say that these are portable t.v. watching projects as my first love is my needlework, I left the world of knit design some years ago, I think.......this may be a real test.






Can you beleive that all that needs to be done fo rthe second sock to see a foot is to have the toe tapered properly, and it will be history........let's see what the night brings.

It all started with this toothpick and very expensive thread that is referred to in the knitting industy as self patterning sock yarn, a gift from a friend who said this is the size yarn I love to use. I must admit that short of needing to use my reading glasses to knit with them the feel of the yarn is out of this world..........now to turn the heel properly on such a fine specimen of knitting.

Now this is my weight of yarn, worsted in all it's glory. Start one sock on Saturday and finish the second on Sunday, mindless knitting. Oh my, now what does that say about me....