Christmas at our house

We did not get snow the day of Christmas, but we did a few days before. It actually started to warm up here in Kansas City after the extreme cold weather we have had for the past week or so. I had a wonderful Christmas and hope the rest of you did too. All three of our kids were here for Christmas breakfast with Dad making his famous pancakes. We then did our gifts, which has changed alot from when they were little. It is much more relaxed and goes at a nice easy pace with each of us opening one gift at a time now that everyone is a adult (most of the time) around here. Although I do miss when they were little and all the excitement of Christmas Eve, of them going to bed at their regular time and hubby and I playing you know who, then being woke up before the crack of dawn to see what Santa brought for everyone. I do not miss being woke up that early anymore.

We then had our dinner and got to play the new Wii that I was very happy to get this year from hubby (thank you sweetie!). I am not a video game person, but got to play the bowling game one time a few months back and was amazed by it. This game system kept eveyone playing on Christmas day at my house, then again at my sil house the next day. Both nights we did not stop until 10PM when it was time to go home. Hubby and I got to have it to ourselves last night and did several games of bowling which is not much different then going to a actual bowling alley. We are totally addicted now.

I am going to leave you with a family picture of our family. This is the goofy one.

And me with our new Wii!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I predict that 2009 will a much better year than 2008 at least hopefully on the economy part.

WOW!

I really have not forgotten how to blog. It has just been a hectic time here lately. I have been under the weather for almost 3 weeks now and I think I am finally over it (keeping my fingers crossed). Went to the doc yesterday and was diagnosed with another sinus infection so I have started on the Z pack of antibotics. Still felt crappy this morning though and stayed home from work for the second day in a row. I can't recall ever doing that in the past. I am glad that I did though, by this afternoon I have started to feel normal again and I think I have licked this sickness now. It really got to me the day of Thanksgiving after all the guests left around 10:30 that night. Some had stayed after dinner to play poker (no I did not win) and I then fell asleep on the couch, woke up a hour later and had a fever. I had been feeling poorly most of that week anyways but could not take time off to get better so I stuck it out. The holiday weekend I was sick and have been sick every since. Oh how I hate feeling lousy. Especially this time of year when I should be busy making Christmas gifts. Hubby and I did a little shopping last Saturday and he was ready to go again on Sunday (amazing as he does not like to shop) but I was feeling crappy again and not in the mood for it. I hope this crud is gone for good now.

No pictures show this post but I hope to get back to the few items I am making for Christmas. This year I decided to make the guys their pj bottoms instead of buying them. I have one more pair to make out the three planned. I just hope they fit everyone. Each year we all get new pj's for the holiday. All the men's stuff is the same and not very exciting so I decided to make them this year. The fabric is corny but fun, like the teenage mutant ninja turtles for my 21 year old son because that is who he liked when he was kid. Not sure if the guys will actually wear these, but they have to on Christmas eve when they get them, that is the rule. HE!HE!

Now, back to my normal crazy life.

Be careful what you ask for

There she is on her 60th birthday party we kids and grandkids threw for her this last weekend. It was a fabulously fun party for her and the rest of us. One of the best I have been to. Most of us did little skits/memories telling her what she means to us all. The homemade DVD of pictures was a huge hit (thank you married daughter!) and everyone even got their own copy to take home. There was lots of laughter and some tears (happy ones)as well and one crowded house, but in the end the thing she wanted most was a picture of all ten of her grandkids, and she got that as well.
Happy birthday Mom, you mean so much to us all.
Love Jolene





BTW I did make her a hat with earflaps and she was so kind to tell me the next day that she wants one without the earflaps, thank you very much. And I always thought when I was kid she had such big ears, go figure.

interesting...

You Should Be a Doctor

You are practical, sharp, and very intuitive. Optimistic and energetic, you are a problem solver who doesn't get discouraged easily. You are also quite compassionate and caring. You make people feel hopeful. You're highly adaptable and capable. You do well with almost any curve ball life throws at you. You do best when you: - Are always learning new subjects - Use your knowledge to solve problems You would also be a good therapist or detective.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

I am trying to figure out

Sam closeup.JPG, originally uploaded by Camperjo.

this flickr thing and blogging from flickr to my blog. I am not doing so good because I can not figure out how to put more than one picture on a blog entry (maybe I can't from flickr??)
Anyways, here is Sam's closeup on her birthday. Happy 21 SAM!! She shared her birthday with my hubby as they have their birthdays in the same month. I won't give him away though by telling you all how old he is now. Let's just say he wishes he was 21 again.

She got her blanket

Sam rag quilt.JPG, originally uploaded by Camperjo.

There is she is, the neice, Sam, with her new rag quilt blanket that I made her wait for. For eleven months, I am a horrible Aunt. She love, love, loved it!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I think there are too many birthdays at this time of year. I am having a hard time keeping up with all my loved ones. The two pictures above are more handmade birthday gifts I am working on. The one on the top is a rag quilt in progress for my niece Sam who turns 21 in a few weeks, and the other is a poncho for my mom who turns 60 on the same day. I also have my hubby's birthday on the 3rd. I want to do something special for him but am totally stuck on that one. I started a pair of knit socks for him last night, but I do not hold out hope that he will actually wear them though. It's not that he would not like them, just that he is really picky about his socks. The burning ring of fire hat in the previous post was for him, and he explicitly stated no ear flaps, they are too dorky for him. So he got no ear flaps. I can't wait for it to get cold enough for him to wear it. I am sure it will make my heart swoon, ( I on the other hand am dorky and love it).

For my mom's birthday I am hosting a little party for her at my house. The married daughter is coming over today for us to work on a project to put snapshots and (hopefully) old VHS video onto a DVD to make a movie for her. I have tried to work on this myself last weekend and the &%#* program would not burn to a DVD for me. She on the other hand has Mac computers at work and can apparently make this at work instead. She works in the graphic arts department at her job. She put together a sample DVD last week to show me, and told me she did it in like 45 minutes, compared to my several hours on a Sunday spent on mine. I told her she can take over this project then since I seem unable to grasp the computer part of it, UGH! FYI I have no fear of my mom reading this blog and finding out about this before the party as she does not even own a computer.

The rag quilt for my niece though, she might read the blog, but she also is expecting this for her birthday. I made several last Christmas for my own kids. When we did the gift exchange at her mom's house grandpa ended up with the one I made for that occassion and she expressed her desire for one as well. I told her she had to wait til her birthday, which she was not happy about as her birthday was 11 months away. I know she will like it as her mom told me that whenever she is at her house she always gets out the one I made for her mom on her birthday. I love it when people love and se the things I make! Makes me very happy indeed. Now, if I could only get around to making myself one.

Now, time to get back to that birthday planning, enjoy your weekend.

Burning ring of fire...

Here is another hat I made this weekend. Told you I was still working on em..

Have you had enough of the hats yet???

Here am and I (above) and college girl (below) trying out the homemade hula hoops we made this past weekend. College girl was trying to give me the peace sign, looks like you have to make that funny face in order to give a peace sign. HA!HA! If you want to make your own, go to this website here and get the low down on same.

Super easy, but the materials were a little bit more pricey than buying one in the local box store of choice. Of course, I did find out from this website why it is better to make your own if you are now a grown up as the ones in the store are made for the little people and we grown ups need ours to be a bit bigger for obvious reasons.
The nephews were over last Saturday so their mom (my sis) could go out for the evening, and she just had to try out the hula hoop too. They thought their mom was hilarious! Lots of fun had by all!
If you do go and make your own, let me know, I would like to hear out these work out for you too. See no hats to share, but I am still cranking them out over here.

So you think I am a stud, huh?

That is what this guy said when he got his skull hat for his birthday this past weekend. So I told him, he and the saying were going on my blog.

This is my SIL's boyfriend, Apple. He is a great guy. He did not want any of us to make a big deal out of his birthday and we tried not to.

But when you turn 50, you have to make a little bit of a big deal out of it right??? Here's to you Apple and may we get to spend the next 50 years with you!

Did you say you wanted to see more hats?

Now that is a request I can fulfill my friends. Finished the above this last Friday. It is for my sister's birthday and college girl decided to model it when I was finished. So nice of her, dont cha think? Until she got kooky and decided that it makes her stronger and she tackled the boyfriend, below.

This is the fast cap with ear flaps from Elizabeth Zimmerman, in most of her books. I used Noro for this one (so love how the colors change). I have loosely been following that pattern for the others that I made and have done okay. I kept messing with the decreases at the top because I did not understand her directions at first for same. After reviewing other hat patterns directions, I finally got it and am pleased with the decreases now. So I made another one for me.

I am loving how the decreases come together at the top looking like a star. Really simple and easy. I started mine Friday evening while watching the debates ( did you all see those?) and finished this afternoon while watching the Chiefs and Broncos play here in KC. GO CHIEFS!
I would love to share the pattern but it is protected by copyright, so if you have not discovered EZ yet, go and get you some of her books here. They will free your knitting from the first time you read her.
See, I am a self taught knitter. I never had anyone that I could go to and ask questions of. Always had to just keep reading directions and trying to figure it out. This was about 8, 9, maybe 10 years ago. It was very frustrating, but I kept trying until I got it. It took me forever to get that damn purl stitch! EZ is not fond of the purl stitch either. Alot of her patterns are knit in the round and when I discovered this and how to do it, I was hooked!
I used to live in Iceland when my dad was in the Navy. We did two tours there when I was a kid, I spent half of my teenage years there and did not appreciate it at the time. I always loved the Icelandic sweaters though which are done in fair isle, so when I learned how to knit, I absolutely had to learn how to make those. And the more I knit the better I get. I also like the fact that my knitting items will (should?) be around long after I am gone so that my kids and their kids will have something to remember me by. That is another reason that I like to make knitted blankets and quilts (although not near enough of these yet). I know that blankets will always be in need, so if it is something made by a ancestor, I hope that my future generations will treasure them as much as I treasure the very few that I have my ancestors. Okay enough about me. Why don't you comment and let me know what you are working on now that fall is here. I would love hearing from you.
For now, keep on crafting.

A little show and tell

Above is the lovely fair isle sweater that is still too big for me. I had the married daughter try it on and it fits her. She usually does not like sweaters with crewnecks, but this one was a little bigger than most and it did not ride up on her throat and make her feel like she was choking. She said she will take it, so it will be hers as soon as I am done weaving in the ends. At least now I know what size my sweater needs to be. I kept better written directions this time around. Now if I can only remember what I did with those?


And here we have some fair isle hats with earflaps. My latest projects. I sorta made my own patterns by following Elizabeth Zimmermans directions in the book Opionated Knitter. I have discovered that I can knit fairly well with both hands, but when I go to just knit with my left hand ( I normally knit the English way) I am at a lost. Hmpf, I was really wanted to become a picker instead of a thrower too. One is for the son in law and the other is for a family friend. Their birthdays are this weekend.




Speaking of birthdays, mine was last weekend. I was able to attend the weekend Plaza Art Fair and make a trip to the local yarn store there. I then went to my sisters for a little get together to celebrate my birthday. Fun time had by all. Yes, that is me in the middle at the grand old age of 41 trying to jump on the trampoline with the younger kids! Who Yoo for me. I did not last long.

So here is the hubby with his FREE riding mower. A neighbor gave it to us because it is 16 years old and would not start anymore. The neighbor went and bought a new one, and the hubby went and spent about a hundred bucks for a new starter. This was his first ride on it in the backyard a few nights ago. It worked Fabulously! Then on his first trip around the around he hit one of the landscape edgings and sliced a hole in the back tire. Bummer! He ended up having to finish mowing with the push mower.

The above sounds alot like how my recently finished fair isle sweater ended this past weekend. And no, I have no pics yet. The biggest error was that it came out about 3 sizes too big for me, ugh! My gauge was good, I just made it too big, I wanted a loose fitting sweater and that is what I got folks. I still have to weave in the ends so when that is done, I will post a picture. For now though I am thinking of giving it to the married daughter whom it would fit and not be too big one, but I know that she does not like to wear wool sweaters. Hmmm, what to do?

This was my view for most of last night. My work on the fair isle sweater continues. I have about 2 more inches of plain knitting to go before I can begin the fun part, the color work. Yippee!

I still have to wind up the skeins of color I have picked up, all in the pink and purple family. Then do a swatch of the pattern to see how it turns out before committing it to the sweater. I should do like EZ says and make a hat. I really just want to get to the color work and begin that part though but know I need to take my time with the colors and make sure I get it the way I want. Otherwise I will not wear the sweater if I do not like it. Too much work involved at this point to hurry thur.

Today is knitting/crochet day at work. THere are now only two of us that meet at lunch for this time and it is what makes us look forward to coming to work on Tuesdays.

Keep on crafting...

Did you say you need a blanket?

This is why I like to make blankets. One of the nephews using the first ripple blanket I made on the car ride last weekend to the camping area. That car ride was horrendous! I was looking forward to working on the new blanket for most of the car ride. And I did on the ride down. It was the ride back that I did not touch the wool yarn at all. Why? Because the truck had a frigging leak in the air conditioner and we had no air on the ride back! Which would not have been too bad but it was over 90 degrees that day and so humid. Oh, and I was sitting on the sun side of the car for more than half the ride. I am talking a 8 hour car ride here. UGH!
Anyways, the trip was lots of fun for the nephews and the grown men and I had a lovely time being some place new to explore. We went to Arkansa in the Ouchita Mountains. Reminded me of parts of Colorado. It was very humid there and we left Monday morning and saw lots of relief vehichles headed down to New Orleans to help out with the Gustav hurricane.

Above is the progress I have made on the new ripple blanket. Super easy and I sat there last night working on it for 4 hours!! I also realized that I have several projects going at once again. I think I will work on the EZ sweater tonight as my extra skein of yarn came in over the weekend. Not sure if I said anything about that project, but it is another fair isle piece, similiar to the one I made for my mom, just this time it will be for me. Then there is the project that I have to get started to make mom a poncho for her birthday in November. There is also a pair of socks waiting to be finished that I started last winter. And a quilt I started in the spring for a quilt a long. And, and, and, oh hell, I give up! I will just work on whatever pleases me at the moment.

Keep on crafting.

New Project!!!

Here is my order from Knit picks. I have had it for a over a week, but just last night finally picked a blanket pattern that I am going to work on. It is the crochet soft waves from the 200 ripple pattern book. I cast on last night after having my favorite crochet girlfriend assure me that I was doing the pattern properly on a swatch. Now that I have started I have realized that this blanket is going to be approximately 50" wide but only about 42" long, which is not long enough at all. I will have to order more yarn, for shame!!

I was going to make this a birthday present for my mom for her upcoming 60th birthday in November, but she has since hinted to me that she wanted another poncho instead. I have that order of yarn coming in the mail this week. I got a bargain over at Webbs on some Rowan yarn at 50% off. Only problem is she will have to hand wash it as it is wool, but hey you can wear a poncho lots of times without having to wash it ever time you wear it, right?

Now that fall is right around the corner (although here in KC it is has been a exceptionally cool August), I am ready to get back to my knitting and crafting projects. I am already thinking Christmas projects, although I have no idea what to make. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Here is some news on the family front, as of today my son is moving out (sniff, sniff..), I am really happy for him, but still worry about him making it in the world on his own. Like can he or will he handle the rent and utilities payments on top of all the other daily living expenses he has. This is officially his first time out on his own, so I want to make sure he can make it. He is 21 now, so you would think I could cut those apron strings, huh? I think us moms worry about the kids no matter what age they are. The youngest, whom I will now call College girl, has started her first year at Rockhurst University. She wants to be a nurse and they have a great nursing program there. High school was easy for her, but I have noticed that she is spending most of her free time doing a LOT of studying. I know that she will adjust though by the end of the semester and do just fine. The married daughter is doing just fine also, she was able to buy a couple of jetski's and has spent all her free time at the local lake. Ah, to be young again.
I will gladly take being 40 (almost 41 next month) and have all the kids grown up now. I miss not having them under foot anymore, but I am really enjoying the time hubby and I have to just ourselves now. College girl lives at home still but she is no problem at all.

I hope everyone had a fabulous summer and I will try to get back to blogging more regularly now. We are off for a mini vacation this weekend to go ATV riding with my sister and her family. I am not totally thrilled about the atv riding part (so bumpy!), but am looking forward to the getting out of town and camping by a creek part. And my nephews are usually a blast to hang out with!
Have a safe Labor Day Weekend all!

Oops, I did it again

I succumed to my desires, for more yarn that is. I just placed my order over at knitpicks. I think I put more thought into this though before I made my purchase(at least money wise, not so much color wise). I went to the big box store last Sunday and controlled myself. I really do not like their selection of yarns as most of it is acrylics and I hate acrylics. But they do have the Lion Brand cotton ease that is 50 percent cotton and I have used that for past projects and liked it. However the price of same went up to 5.49 a skein and I figured I could ind more natural yarn online. And of course I did over at Knitpicks.
For some reason I have felt the need recently to begin a new crochet project. I either want to make another ripple blanket and this time in crochet instead of knitting or the babette blanket that is all the rage over on Ravelry. My mom is turning 60 this coming November and I think I should make her something, but I know if I make the babette I will want to keep it for myself. So I placed a order for several colors over there, 21 in fact. Hey at 3 something a skein in washable wool, I think that is a bargain. Now I just have to wait for it to arrive so I can play with all those colors and decide which project to begin.

Keep on crafting everyone!

I was a little productive this past weekend

So I had the house to myself all day this past Saturday and planned on doing lots of sewing. I wanted to work on my red and white quilt and get caught back up with the rest of the gang. I am on number 7 and last Monday they completed number 13. Then I wanted to try out my new sewing foot for quilting that I bought a month or so ago and just practice with it. But I did not do any of those things.

Instead I slept late til about 9:30 am, took my shower and went up to the art studio on the computer. I browsed some blogs and then I started and finished another pair of loungy pants. This time from some vintage sheets that I got my girlfriends lake house the weekend before. Now I need to make her a pair as that was the only way she would give me the sheets. They were fun to make except for the few mistakes I made that I had to rip out some stitches and redo. And so comfy!!

Then one Sunday we went to the lake near our house with my sister and her family. Here is a picture of one of my favorite nephews having a blast. He turned 7 this year and does not have to wear a life jacket unless he is in the water now. He was loving it!! Of course I would prefer that he wears it all the time, makes me feel better about it. So we let him take it off for a little while.

That is it for now. Sorry about not blogging as much as before, but summer has been so busy and I am enjoying it. Before I know it, it will be fall again and I will have to be indoors more than I like. I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer as well.

I have been tagged...

by psychedelic armadillo for 5 things you did not know about me. I have never been tagged so this is a little exciting, my first time WHO HOO!! Okay here goes:

1. My dog has a bladder problem, meaning she goes pee on the living room carpet several times a week. She is almost 15 years old, so I cut her some slack, but it means that I have to shampoo the carpet (in the same spot) once a week sometimes more. UGH!!

2. I am menopausal and have several hot flashes a day which makes me irritable and cranky sometimes or if you were to ask my family they would say all the time.

3. I bought the reusuable bags at the grocery store but most of the time forget to bring them to the store when I go. One time I brought them and left them in the truck. Go figure!

4. I smoke cigarettes and think I want to quit but have never tried yet.

5. Hmmm, what else? I don't like to cook and am a picky eater.

There you go five things you were just dying to know about me. That didn't hurt at all for my first time.

HeeYYY!!

So how is your summer going so far? Apparently you would think that I have been super busy since I have not been blogging lately, right? WRONG! I have not been doing too much, being pretty lazy really.

I can not even go in the studio and sew since the stupid window unit a/c went out about three weeks ago. Yep, I used it maybe twice and now it is out. Hubby needs to get up there and fix it but he has been working alot also so I hate to whine at him to fix it when he is home.

Anyways, just popping in real quick to say HeeYYY! and I will be back later with more post. Enjoy your summer!

4 & 5 are done now...

Here is square #4, got it done last week. Last night I started number 5 and got it done as well. Just forgot to take a picture. I was dreading #5 a little because alot of the others that are on this quilt along were saying it was a bit hard. And it was, but I did complete it without too much trouble. Now I am only 2 squares behind, or three if you count this week (they are on #8).

I also got some finished projects (baby blankets) in the mail and out to the new babies today. WHEW! Glad that is done and off my to do list. Do not know why I procrastinated so long on getting those outt. I think secretly I wanted to keep them for myself they were so pretty. But there are no babies in my little circle of family yet.

That is it for now, just a short note.

Quilt a long square 3

Betcha you thought I gave up on the quilt a long huh? Well I didn't, but I am way way behind. I think they are on week 7 (square 7) and I just did square 3 last night. (sorry about the blurry picture, I was in a hurry this morning). This one was easy and I am getting better at matching up those points. You can still join if you want, it is never too late. Check out Crazy Mom Quilts blog if you are interested.

Here is another project I started as well from her blog. I think it is called the hour glass block. You basically just make a shitload of these squares (starts out as triangles though-directions on her blog) and then sew them up together. It is good for a scrappy quilt and I have plenty of those. I gave it a shot last night instead of working on another block for the quilt along. Yes, I like having too many projects going at once, keeps me interested. HA! HA!

I ordered some cascade 220 from webs (it was on sale) and started another wool sweater with the color work at the top from Elizabeth Zimmerman. Those are so easy. I was even knitting in the dark last night while watching the second season of Weeds on DVD (love that show!). I never do that (knit in the dark), and it was very liberating. To watch TV and knit at the same time without having to keep watching my hands, loved it. I usually just listen to the TV and then miss all the action. Of course this was just knitting in the round, kinda hard to mess that up. Believe me though when it comes to the color work and knitting with two hands, I will not be able to do anything but keep my head bent to my work and the color chart. I have to tune everything else out so I do not mess up.

Oh Crap, is that my office building on fire?!

Nope, no such luck today. That is a gigantic fuel storage tank on fire. It got hit by lighting last night in the storm and was still burning this morning. Which is fairly close to downtown where I work. Still had to go to work though, bummer...

Finished objects!!

Just a short note, I got the baby quilt done this weekend, WHO HOO!! I liked how it came out all crinkled looking, but my make your own binding needs some more practice. Got me a free motion quilting machine needle this weekend also (on sale at Hancocks!!). I want to try and practice that also.
I better get hubby up to the art studio though if I want to continue working up there. He needs to get the little air conditioning unit hooked up for me. I sweated like a pig up there this last Saturday and it was not a hot flash!
I also finished the granny square baby blanket. It was done, I just had to weave in a billion ends. Finally set my butt down and did it. Whew! Glad that part is done. Now I just have to get it in the mail to the baby that is over 2 months old now.
Will post more later, I want to get some of those graduation pics up here of the girls. Those are in the youngest daughters camera.

Is it done yet???

Whew, this last week has been busy for me. Got the oldest graduated last Friday at Municipal Auditorium with associates in Graphic Design and we now have the youngest left to do tonight for her high school graduation. In between there were dinners out and the barbeque yesterday at home for all the family and friends. I am plain tuckered out now (and broke)!!

I did squeeze some craft time in when I could. Above is a baby quilt I am started from fat quarters. I know, I know, what happened to the quilt a long you ask? I am still working on it but got sidetracked after looking thur a quilt magazine. I just wanted to try this and see what would happen. Not perfect by any means as my oldest, the graphic designer, pointed out to me.
The quilting of it is done and I just have to get the binding on it. I challenged myself and tried some different things with this since it was a small project. I did diagonally quilt lines instead of in the ditch, and those lines are not perfect at all. I did not have a good guide when I was sewing them, but I still like it. It will work as a baby blanket even if it is not perfect. Now I just need to find a baby girl to give it to or keep it for my own grandbabies when they come along.

I am off now to finish up all this graduating business. Next week will be my time, we are going canoeing and camping at the river. WHO HOO!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I gave my mom her sweater today and I think she liked it. I was worried about giving my mom a wool sweater in the middle of May, but it was cool today (is spring ever going to get here?) and it turned out to be a good present for the day.

I had the family over for a barbeque to celebrate all the Mom's on my side of the family. Here we are together, my sister in law Beth, my sister Robin, my mom, and then me.
Then the mom's with their kids, my SIL Beth with her two boys, Dillon and Brandon.
Me and my kids, Jeffrey, me, Sirena (she worked a split at Pizza hut so she is in her uniform) and Valerie in the front.
My sister Robin, and her three boys, Zach, Kyle, and John Robert.
And then my mom with her three kids, my sister Robin, my brother Gary, and me.
I hope you all had a FABULOUS mother's day, I know I did. Next weekend will be more of the same as we have the two girls graduating, WHO HOO!!

I got the second block done today for the Quilt A Long

Here they are. Much better this time. I had to get my seam allowance right (just had to move the needle over to the right). I still did not get 12.5" though, but they are 12" so it will work for now. this is the second block, and the points MATCH! I am very glad that worked out on this one.
Of course when I redid the first block, my points did not match. I figured out what I did wrong though, one of the pieces where supposed to be 3 7/8 inches and I was off 1/4 inch on that. I am going to keep it for now and see how it works with the other squares in the future.
I am off again tomorrow, so who knows what kind of crafting trouble I can stir up then.

I was unable to

get to the second block of yesterday's quilt along because I was working on finishing this knitted sweater for my mom for Mother's Day. Take a look..


I started this sweater for myself over a year ago and put it down when the Christmas holidays came barreling toward me. It is a Elizabeth Zimmerman one and so very easy and fast. I used Cascade 220 (love that stuff). It looks really rumbled in this picture, I still have to weave in the ends and block it. I also might redo the ribbing at the bottom as I realized when I picked this back up that I did not use smaller needles for that part (I did for the sleeves though, go figure??).

Here is the current progress of the recent giant granny square blanket I have been working on when I have the time. It is to be for a friend and her new baby girl who I think is now 2 months old. Current size approximately 32 inches square, made with Lion Brand Cotton Ease (comes in lots of colors).


I will have this Thursday off for Harry Truman's Birthday ( I work for the local county government where he served as the leader of same way back when) and I am taking Friday off as well. I hope to be able to do some sewing then and get back on track with the whole quilt along project at that time. I still have to check why my seam allowance was off and Crazy Mom Quilts gave a good way to check same this week, very helpful. I tend to become a scatter brain when I go from craft project to another sometimes.
Friday is also my 12th wedding anniversary with this guy. Current picture shows us at the bowling alley and being goofy while second daughter took picture.

Currently we have no spectacular plans for same, maybe just a quiet evening out for dinner and movie.

Well, that is it for now, keep on crafting..