It's been one of those weeks...

Between tending to a sick kitty...

... and cleaning and cooking for a dinner party for 15 at my house last night there hasn't been much sewing going on here at Casa Grande.

I'm afraid the best I can show you is a little tatting. This is the start of Renulek's Spring 2017 doily. A new round is posted every week or so with #5 posted yesterday. I'm about to finish round 2.

The party is now over and I have exciting news to share tomorrow for HeLP so I expect to catch up on the doily soon.

Sick kitty is not going to be so easy...keep us in your prayers!

Not much to share this week...

There hasn't been much crafting going on at my house lately...I had a craft sale on Monday and since then I've been putzing around, trying not to get sick again and preparing for the annual party at my house this weekend.

I completed 3 more tatted snowflakes. Today I was even asked to teach a tatting class at the "Fiber Flurry" in March, a local event now in it's third year. I'm excited!

I've spent a little time on my En Provence mystery quilt. I went to a non-LQS last weekend and finally picked out the "frame" of my colors - now I'll pull from my stash to fill out the scrappy variety that I adore. When I go up to the city (and another non-LQS) next week, I'll fill in more.

I'm still planning on making a smaller version of the quilt so I shouldn't need to purchase a lot more. Bwahaha - who am I kidding??!! I go to the city store once a year - I'll buy what ever jumps in my shopping basket!

You can see, in the front, that I cut out my magenta tri-recs - I still need to cut the neutral section. I'll do that Sunday after my party. I think it will be a nice way to relax after the stress of party prep (cleaning, decorating, gift wrapping). Any excuse, right? Especially since there will be another clue out tomorrow to play with...

Linking to Bonnie's Mystery Linky Party.

Snowstorm

I've tatted up my own little snowstorm!

Clearly I still need to hide all the ends for that snowflake on the right. And the snowflake on the left will go much faster now that I have the pattern "memorized."

Of course, it would go much faster if I wasn't keen to keep petting this huge fuzzball in my lap or paying attention to an exciting season of Gray's Anatomy on DVD.

Ohhhhh....wait! You thought I was talking about THIS kind of snowstorm. LOL!

So, YES we did get our first snowfall overnight. Zorro has been in and out all morning to explore but Blue is happy to stay inside and just watch the snow melt since it's now raining...and will be raining until about midnight when it turns back into snow.

Let's just hope it doesn't all freeze as I still need to buy new snow tires...

Sarah Surfaces...

I'm sure you've been wondering where I was for the last couple weeks. No quilty posts? No hexie posts? What gives?

Well...long story short ... taxes (job#2) have been bad in so many ways that I was just exhausted. Too tired to stitch much at home, 2 tired to squeeze in a post during the day. It seems the worst is now over and Z let me sleep in Sunday so things seem to be righting themselves...

I've been working on my hexie club UFO but it hasn't been in a good place to take pictures - soon! I promise.

In the meantime I've gotten back in to tatting. I am trying to keep my urge in check by just making a couple snowflakes a month. I started by saying I would make just one a month but here it is the 11th and I've got 2 almost done.

How about I just blame Blue??!! He likes to sit on my lap (keeping us both warm!!) and it's hard to stitch together large hexie chunks with a curious cat in the lap so I look for something smaller to stitch. He won't mind if I blame him...

Ketchup

Didja think I got lost? Nah…it’s just been a whirlwind of activities. Shall we go in reverse order? Thought so!

Last night I made Caribbean Peach Chutney. Not such a feat in and of itself but there’s this little heat wave going on so while I questioned my timing and mopped my brow, the peaches had to be used or tossed. It smells divine but didn’t make very much, hence too much headspace in the jars that I did get. You can also see the rest of my garden in the background – my 5 (!) tomatoes just ripened while the cherry tomatoes continue to produce. Any ideas on what I can do with them? The eggplants are tomato size and the next wave of purple peppers is starting to arrive. The sunflowers opened last week – I bet the tallest is close to 9 or 10 feet tall! The Glads are spent and I am determined to plant more of them next year.

Not much sewing has happened in the last two weeks. Working half days at my day job and then working the rest of the day at the fair left little time for anything else. It was easier to bring my tatting with me. Then I spent all of my “free time” last week pulling escrows (I’m the school tax collector) and we had internet viruses so I couldn’t have posted if I wanted to.

I did buy a FQ bundle of ‘Sew Chick’ by Bernatex from the Quilter’s Daughter booth at the Fair. We’ve all been greatly anticipating this store as it’s a couple miles from my office and supposed to open September 25th! Claudia says I’ll be working for fabric on opening day which is ok because I need border fabric. This is a disappearing 9-patch variation that will end up about 4 x 5 blocks plus the borders. That makes 2 blocks of each of the colors shown. I’ll still have some “parts” from the FQs for table runners and such…

And last but not least – the pictures that I did take during the fair document this:

I chopped 13 inches off and will send the pony tail to Locks of Love or Wigs for Kids. The stylist showed me how to style it straight but I admit it’s much easier to let it go curly!