a happy girl with a happy pill

a happy pill quilt that is!!  it's FINISHED, washed and on the bed!!

i started to think it would never be finished after all of the delays.  but it is done and it is on the bed and it is claimed by the 16lb cat.  he bit me when i attempted to pull him out from underneath it so i could finish making the bed... 

now i just need some nice new pillows to coordinate.  my old ones don't work very well.

kidneys...

this is my father.

this is his new replacement kidney...

thankfully, surgery went well and he is recovering nicely.  now we all have to learn more of what's to come with only having the one.  #kidneycancerawareness 

knitting up a storm

i've been quiet on the blog-front, but there are a million things happening on the home-front.  including storms...  we've had rain for over a week and today is heavy.  there's a tropical depression moving in and frankly, we don't need it.

there are some knitting finishes, such as my "twist my stripes" shawl, minus the tassels.  it was fun and easy to knit and i got to learn a new knit stich that created the pretty twisted stitches.

the second finish is a kidney.  a kidney you ask?  why?  well, my dad was diagnosed a few weeks ago with kidney cancer and he will undergo a nephrectomy in less than a week.  my humorous attempt to make him feel better is to give him a new kidney to replace the one the doctors will remove.

 i've considered adding a small stone inside the stuffing for the full kidney stone effect... i just need to find the right one to stick in there.

the happy pill quilt is nearly finished.  i started work on the last rows of blocks last night - without the aid of a big ball of fur sleeping on top of it!  i need to figure out how i want to bind it still, but i'll worry about that in a day or two after i'm done with the quilting part.  then there are 5 other knitting projects i'm currently working.  yes, i have too much...

while not knitting or quilting or at the office and it's dry enough to paint in the garage, i'm working on the last few cabinet doors.  i have two that are still in place without a speck of paint and two large ones coated in primer and paneled.  

while i had an extra set of hands available, i enlisted the redhead to help install three upper cabinet doors.  so much easier to have another set of hands than to use knees and feet while you drill and screw in the hinges like i did on the lower doors.  the kitchen is coming together nicely.  just floors, lights, counter top cement work, a sink and building a new island to go!

to anyone reading who is in the path of hurricane florence - stay safe!!  leave if you are able so you do not get stuck.  and to anyone who is soggy already from the texas rains as i am, find yourself something to work on and keep praying for this new system to fizzle out or go somewhere else.  i need good weather while sitting at the med center with my parents next week.

crafting with cats

unlike the cats i have, or have had, who like to help me with my art and sewing/quilting/knitting... this is a whole other crafting with cats kind of post.

my brother and sister-in-law gave me this horrible book for christmas about crafting with cat hair.  yes, hair.  you read that correctly.  i swore then that i was going to make something once i collected enough cat hair to make something.

so, here i am, babysitting westychic's two cats while she is on a river tour of the danube river.  lucky.  it's hotter than hades here at home.  while i am babysitting them, she did mention i could brush thaddeus any time i wanted since i'm the only person who he lets brush him.  so i am...

he loves the brush...when i do it.

seriously.  one round of brushing compacted 5 piles of hair.

so as i collect grey and white hair from the big boy kitty we adopted after watching him as a refugee, karrie had a ziploc of orange hair that i'm adding to.  she is also determined i have to make something nasty for my brother.  i just have filled up the bag of orange kitty hair and need to start a second.

these are a definite yes:

even winston is interested in what i'm reading

these are a maybe:

and these... westychic picked out for me to make as gifts for my brother and sis-in-law:

i love my cats.  i just don't really want their fur purposely made into something.  it's already all over the stickin' house and my clothes as it is.  the little princess girl doesn't shed nearly as much as the big boy.

is he telling me something?

am i too slow a quilter?

i guess i need to step it up so he can sleep on it on the bed.  

the quilting process has begun!

oh my goodness...it's been a long time coming for a project that wasn't supposed to become a UFO.  just barely squeezed by on that.

the furry supervisors had to inspect

my happy pill quilt has 5 lines of quilting. (picture at the second line though).

and it's awesome so far.  i chose a brightly colored varigated thread for the top to go with the super bright colors of the blocks, and a black thread for the backing.  even though there are tons of colorful curves on the back, it still has so much black that it'll blend nicely.  and it does.  you can see above that the yellow matches the yellow cotton solid perfectly.  so does the green and my dark green solid.  and the red.  and the dark blue.  *squeeeee* i am currently happy and i really hope it turns out well.

i don't know why, but walking foot quilting actually scares me a bit.  and i am taking a vow not to turn my quilt in different directions if i don't have to - i usually do and it pulls on the fabric in different ways, so this should keep it even.... right?  but how the heck will i keep all of the quilt to the right side of the throat when i get to the left side of the queen-size quilt?  ugh.  i guess i'll be rolling it up later.

while i'm waiting on paint to dry in the midst of pouring rain, quilting is a great alternative.

summer jack of all things

the kid has been gone for 2 weeks and hubby has been working nights just a bit longer.  so what do i do all alone at the house after my 40 hours of daily grind?  oh... a little of this and that.

i have a helper while attempting to iron the top for my "happy pill" bed quilt.  

i went to sandwich and baste it 2 weeks ago, only to find out that the online store i purchased the backing from last year cut it a little short.  so i ordered another yard and i'm still waiting on that to arrive... grr...  i could have had it quilted and working on the binding!

then westychic and i finally started cutting out of collection of prints for a collaborative quilt project. she brought the original bundle of FQs over and during quilt fest, we purchase one yard cuts of other prints we liked.

then it took forever to get to a point post-Harvey where we could start work on it.  then we had to decide on what we were doing.  the pattern she brought over didn't quite work with our fabrics, so i pulled out my entire book and magazine and pattern stash.  few hours later, we had it narrowed down to two and then a trip to the store for template plastic.  cutting all of those wedges took quite a bit of time.

i'm at the point all my rows are complete per the pattern.  but i have enough cut to widen the quilt a little before i choose a border fabric.  i think i'll widen it by 2 wedges each row.

i started purl soho's notched hem tank top for a summer knitting project and garment.  i'm using knit one cotton yarn in a fingering weight.  it's a bit odd... lots of marls so it doesn't knit as smoothly and consistenly as i'd like.  

it's taking foooreeeever it seems.  i'm about 8 inches in of knitting in the round.  this pattern has a lot of firsts for me:  knitting section and putting on a holder, then knitting another duplicate section, then doing a cable cast between those two knit sections and joining in the round; short row knitting and soon.. somehow i'm splitting the knit fabric into the armhole sections and crochet edge finishing?  um ok...

while i'm not fretting over the tank, i'm working on a blanket for a gift, plus i broke out some beautiful hedgehog yarn.

this will be a shawl for me, in a pattern called "twisted stripe" that i found on ravelry.  it's got a fun "twist" in the contrast yarn - a silvery grey fuzzy lace yarn i had pulled from a long-time stash.

and now for the bigger project.... kitchen cabinet redo.

my kitchen has been under one stage of construction to another for a year and a half.  too many things got in the way (loss of a job in the house, kidney stones, heat, too busy, funerals, etc).  now that i've got quiet time and i'm not hurting from the kidney pain all day, i'm setting myself to doing it.  i filled in the raised sections of the cabinet doors and drawer fronts with a compound, now i have to sand it all down to minimize wood grain.  now i'm working on a few sections at a time to keep the nosy cats out of my cabinets.  sand, prime, insert beadboard in center panel, prime and final paint.  

i need new hinges still.  i don't want to attempt to clean off the old ones that were damaged by previous owners/tenants of my home.  i do have cabinet and drawer pulls though.  then after the cabinets are finished, it'll be time for the concrete countertop and floors.  and lights.  then it'll be done!

fox tails shawl is finished!

after a start on an airplane, lots of office lunch knitting and even some on-location NASA knitting, my fox tails shawl is complete! this is my first shawl knit with malabrigo yarn, my first lace knitting (successful too!) and my first time to block something.

it was quite a bit of fun.  i had easy rows mostly, but then i got to practice counting all the repeats for the lace.  i learned some knew knit stitches and i think i did a lovely job.  i can hardly tell i knit it myself, so that's a plus.

forgive the weird angle thing with the camera and my face.  something moved as i was taking the picture and it looks very long and angular.  i'll wear it with a nicer shirt or dress later...this was my i-was-too-excited-to-change-my-shirt photo.

while i have a few welding caps to finish and my happy pill quilt for the bed, i also picked my next yarn and knitting project.  i'm going to try a tank top from purl soho with this lovely cotton yarn in "lipstick" color.

i even wound that yarn by hand.  :) 

lunchtime knitting at NASA

this is the t-38 talon park at johnson space center.  sometimes i go there to eat my lunch, to get away from my office and coworkers and just have some peace of mind.

today, i continued working on my "fox tails" shawl.  it was gorgeous outside - a light breeze that was cool with the sun shining through the oaks.  to the left and out of view are the talon jets.  in the center is the shuttle mock-up and an actual cargo plane that carried the shuttles back.  

i evicted my kidney stones recently

for about 9 months, i've been growing a pair of kidney stones.  unfortunately, i wasn't able to pass them on my own and when i went in august and september to the doctor, he said he wouldn't be able to do scope and basket removal of them due to their location and size.  uncomfortable and miserable, i waited (im)patiently for the 6 month follow up scans and visit.

he decided i was finally ready to have surgery for this pair of stones.  i went in on friday the 13th (!) and said goodbye to two of them...

my ride...dad... asleep while we wait...

turns out, there were actually three stones, but one was embedded into the kidney tissue itself, so he left that one alone.  

sir winston was not thrilled with my hospital bands.  he was actually chewing on one in this picture in his attempts to remove it from my arm.  he's always helpful.

this morning, i got a report notification on mychart.  it had a lovely photo of one of my stone babies.  the report said my stones ranged from 1 to 4 mm, so this is the little one.

but i'm feeling better, finally.  still tired and still sore.  all of this and the surgery recovery in conjunction with my autoimmune issues have kinda knocked me back a bit.  i'm looking very forward to getting back to some sort of normal, with artwork and sewing (for me) and all.  i found some great fabrics recently that i want to make into dresses to revitalize my closet after having outgrown most of my favorites.  plus, i have my happy pill quilt that needs finishing!!  

sorting through memories

my brother returned from michigan with the car and trailer with the items we kept from my grandparent's house.  so now as a family, we are unloading and sorting items between us.  for the first time ever, i got to see this beauty of a quilt:

made in the 1930s, as told by the fabrics, by my great-great grandmother.  it is the only remaining quilt made by her hands.  my mother said it is "the ugly one" out of what they had when she was growing up.  the one that got used when someone was sick and then washed.  one that was supposed to have been thrown away when asked about it, but somehow it was saved.  i think that was my grandfather since he was good at saving the important things.

it is a beautifully pieced and well made quilt.  it needs a soak in some vintage quilt wash to get out some discoloration, but perfect otherwise.  my great grandmother was someone who paid attention to detail and had precision with her hands.  i wish i could have known her so she could have taught me what she knew.

yesterday marked a week since i said my final goodbye to the last of my grandparents.  a week since i held my mom and cried.  a week since i lifted her casket into the hearse and watched it be lowered into the ground.  my grandfather had been gone just over a month yesterday.  19 days apart from each other.  i've been missing them dearly.  i want to call and hear my grandmother's voice when i call to say hello, even if all she would do is complain about old age and ailments.

i hung up these butterflies last night in my studio over my drafting table.  they hung in my grandfather's room.  my grandparents had three sets of butterflies - two with this style and one of another style.  all three sets were different, but all three of their grandchildren got a set.  my mom pointed out this morning that they had three grandchildren and the sets had three butterflies each.  

i'm back...

i had all sorts of knitting on the plane time.  thought i'd knit in the funeral home, but i was kept busy enough with family (good and bad) and rude old ladies.  

i made all sorts of progress on the fox tail shawl though.  but pretty much only while on the plane.

the snow from 2 - 2 1/2 weeks ago was still there.  melting a little each day as the sun was out, but then refreezing each night when it dropped to 25 degrees.  my mom and i had a very short-lived snowball fight my first afternoon back.

i'm sure this is the last snow i will see at my grandparent's house.  i've seen a couple good ones over the years for good memories.

and now that i'm back and attempting some normal again, i got to knit while watching the pre-UIL competition for the intermediate and high schools in our district last night.  i did stop while my son's group played and i clapped for everyone.

trying to keep up with the lace pattern in the dark is tricky, so i probably won't try that again.  unless it's straight-forward knitting.

saying goodbye again...

two weeks ago today, i was saying my final goodbyes to my grandfather at the church, in the front row for family and as a pallbearer.  today, i finish packing to head back to detroit to say my final goodbye to my grandmother.

we were preparing her for a transition to memory care.  she was supposed to move in today, but she unexpectedly passed away the day the movers were coming.  stubborn as she was, she always insisted she wasn't moving from her home.  she did not; she only went to the hospital.

both of these beautiful people are gone.  three weeks ago, i had two grandparents.  today, i have none. my mother no longer has parents.  

i am thankful that i was able to comfort her at the loss of her husband, rub her back and hold her hand as she cried.  i am heartbroken that her memory failed her at a faster pace than before and that we all experienced her heartbreak and grief each time she remembered or asked.  i am grateful i got to see her in better spirits a week and a half before the sudden illness took hold.

but i think my grandparents are together again and in youthful bodies that do not fail their spirits.  i can only hope and pray for that.

getting ready to say goodbye

i fly out in the wee hours of the morning to say goodbye to my papa.  my skunker.  i'm trying to get ready for this, but i've been running constant since i first heard on friday, that i only get moments to let it sink in.

thanksgiving 2002

this guy.  he taught me to fish for tiny little sunfish on his friend's pond when i was 11.  he badly attempted to teach me to bowl (he was semi-pro and i was scrawny), even though my toes on my left foot ended up bruised more than i got distance with that bowling ball.  he was silly and called cats skunks and skunks cats most of my life - but only to me.  he told me i looked good when my grandmother commented on weight gain after a baby.  we'd take walks the summer i spent with both sets of grandparents, where he'd buy me bazooka joe bubblegum and a comic book.  i think he was secretly proud of his granddaughter drinking good dark german beer instead of girly drinks.

he was far from perfect.  but he was my grandfather and i loved him.  1930-2018.

leaving tiny "pieces of my heart"

it's valentine's day today and i decided to leave little "pieces of my heart" scattered around the NASA area in houston.

don't worry.  it's all good!  i'm part of a FB group called R-evol-u-tion where we create tiny pieces of artwork and spread them around town/state/country/world to bring cheer and love to others.  it is a world-wide project.

i left a piece outside a salon next door to the starbuck's while grabbing my coffee before work.  seemed appropriate since there was a little heart of their own in the window next to the door.

i left two pieces in the nassau bay post office.  one at a sorting table by the big box PO boxes and one above the set of PO boxes for where i work.

one piece is sitting in a sign advertising office space for rent from our property management company, just inside the main door.

this one is in the stairwell, outside the 2nd floor door that i walk every day.  i felt it needed a little love.

check it out.  maybe you will want to spread some cheer around your hometown.

the joys of ravelry

i really don't know why it took me so long to start using ravelry properly.  instead of just favoriting patterns and never starting anything, i'm moving them to my library.  and when i realize i indeed have yarn to make one of those patterns/projects, i'm moving them to my queue and linking my yarn.  

amazing things happen when the bins of yarn get sorted into your stash online.  it actually recommends projects!  or yarns to use with a project.... who'd have thought?  :)  

within my studio, i have bags and bins of yarn.  cheap yarns from the big box stores for projects just because i liked a color or softness (or price).  and good yarns from LYS when i've travelled.  i have a lot more to upload to my stash on ravelry, but i have a nice start in helping me use up some of the ever growing stash my family doesn't realize i have.

this is the year to get active in creating again.  i'm going to pick up my pencils and my paintbrushes too.  it's time to do things for me again.  and with doing things for me, that also means easier knitting and sewing for others so help hone my skills better and build up to the amazing projects i want to keep.

i hope you, dear readers, continue to craft and create as well if you hit a slump in the past.  keep your skills practiced and learn something new!  or find a group you can create for and spread some happiness along.

ending the week on a high note

two good things happened last week/weekend....

first - i got to FINALLY see the moody blues.  i had tickets when they came to town 8-9 years ago, but wasn't able to go because of scout obligations.  i should have pushed X2 aside for westychic's company and gone anyways, but i didn't because i'm a nice person. (kicks myself in the backside for that...)

we had ice storms last week that shut down the city.  yeah...houston and the gulf coast has no idea how to drive on ice and our roads aren't built for it.  the band couldn't get to us and we couldn't get to them, so it was rescheduled by one evening.  my DH bought me tickets for christmas knowing i didn't get to go the first time.

they did a lovely tribute to ray thomas during the whole show, who died the week before.  they may be old, but they were still rocking the leather pants and the guitar/bass playing never slowed.  a second drummer has been added and it was a bit sad to see graeme edge not quite playing up to speed, but i get it... age... 

the other great thing that happened was i had the house mostly to myself, which meant that i got free reign of the living room to spread out quilt blocks!

my happy pill quilt finally got to see row construction.  i had some furry four-legged supervisors to make sure i was getting it laid out correctly.

the fabulous magritte approved after seeing a bigger picture and once the boy got up from his upside-down shenanigans.

and the refugee kitty, sir winston furhill III, had to shuffle blocks around, while bringing me his dead bird for about 30 minutes solid. 

setting goals for 2018 - textile edition

once upon a time, i used to make a dozen quilts of valor a year.  this was on top of quilts for other people, plus clothing, plus some 2D artwork.  certain things have slowed down and other things are picking back up, so i thought this would be a great time to set a few goals for myself.

introducing...my textile goals...  or at least the start of it, all subject to change of course.

my best friend and i have been knitting a few of the big heart little hat red hats for the AHA and i should ship those next week.  late last week, she sent me a text with a link saying we needed to knit for "knots of love"once we were finished with the red hats.  looking into it - i agree!  helping chemo patients and veteran amputees sounds good to me.

i had a coupon for jo-ann's, along with their weekend sale.  off i went after church sunday to take advantage.  KOL has a very specific approved yarn list, and i knew i could get some of these from jo-ann in great color variety.  i walked out with this bag stuffed with 10 skeins of approved yarn in men and women's colors for chemo caps and stump covers for only $34.  i started an arm stump cover in that grey/white marl yesterday and should finish it today.

this will be my satisfying and easier knitting projects for the year.  and i'll throw in some additional tiny red caps for next year's AHA collection.

next up.... FINISH HAPPY PILL!!!!  

the pile above are the last blocks to stitch!  there's about 30 in the pile, so it's not too bad.  and then i have to trim all of them down to size before i can start laying out the blocks.  i will have a new bed quilt in bright and happy colors this spring!!  hopefully.  

the next goal is a huge one.  ok, yes, happy pill is pretty large as well.

i need/want to learn how to knit this maple leaf shawl.  someone, either my mother or my best friend, posted a picture/link to this shawl on my FB page a couple years ago.  i knew then i couldn't do it.  i'm not so sure i'm ready for it yet now.  BUT it is being added to my goal for the year.

i've purchased the pattern and stared at it cross-eyed.  thankfully, the first pattern part i opened was just the chart version and they have regular written instructions also.  i don't really know how to read charts for knitting.  somehow, you knit sections and then knit other sections and they all get added together??  no clue yet and i'm going to have to see about getting some of the more experienced knitters at church to help me i think.

shopping online for good quality wool yarn to withstand the extensive blocking process (which i've never blocked anything btw), while not breaking the bank was an adventure.  you can't have just any color for a maple leaf.  none of the decently priced wools were the correct autumn color for a maple leaf, so i decided to choose a spring leaf.  appropriately named... "a new leaf" green.  

the house my dad grew up in back in michigan had gorgeous maple trees out front.  the street was lined in them.  when i got the chance to visit my grandmother in early autumn, i'd spend time outside taking pictures of the leaves glowing in all shades of red, yellow, orange with just a hint of green.  i adored it.  the last time i got to do that, i brought home a leaf of every color combination i could find to press in wax paper to prove to my then-husband that leaves really are that color outside of gulf coast texas.

and somewhere along the way, get in a few dresses and skirts.  i need an update to my closet after all these thyroid and autoimmune struggles the past 2 years.  

hello 2018!!

goodbye 2017....hello 2018...  

it's been a ride this past year.  in houston alone, we went through a hurricane with massive flooding, won the world series, and had snow!  actually, that snow week started out in the 80's monday and then it snowed mid-week.  it actually was heavier and stuck longer along the coastline than in town north of me.  like everyone, there was more to happen this past year than most of us care for, but we keep moving along.

my december looked like this:

crafting and planning gifts

constantly trapped by or keeping an eye on these two furballs

little hats big hearts cap production (i'm up to 5 complete!)

celebrating with family and friends

and a surprise QOV presentation

i baked, i ate, i knit, i sewed.  i actually finished the last of the large order of welding caps for my hubby's coworkers on new year's day in the morning and i am clear of those for now.  i'm hoping that a bit of a break happens from those so i can return to working on my happy pill quilt, start a collaborative quilt project with westychic and get in some sewing of clothes for me and maybe knit something good for me too.  that trio of yarn above is calling to me!!  

i wish all of you a very happy new year.  i hope it is better than the last and that many good things happen to us all.