Brrr.

Ah, yes, it's cold.  Too cold. And I've worried and worried about Next and Nuff.........but in their own cat stubborn "know it all" way, they resist coming in the house.  So today, I'm looking out the window, at their box on the porch, and it occurred to me that there wasn't much to stop the wind, and that maybe we should have put it in a more sheltered place.

L, the cat hater, listened, and then in her best cat hater fashion, took a ride up the road to a local farm, and made THREE trips back and forth with a bale of hay in the back of her Subaru each time.

Now their box is surrounded on its exposed three sides, with sturdy bales of hay, and there are a few heavy rugs on top of it, and the heated pad inside.
Now if they will just curl up together,  they can stay warm. 
I will probably still worry, but not so much.
Thank goodness for  Aunt Lois  the cat hater.


                                                                (Next on a rug in warmer days)


Life around here is pretty exciting.

I spent quite a bit of time organizing my knitting needles.  They were in a jumbled mess in a big box, and I finally had enough of searching for the needles I needed.
I probably have every size anyone would ever need, in straight needles, circular needles, and double pointed needles.  But they don't do me much good when I can't find them.

I think it's winter, it makes me zero in on junk drawers, and makes me want to live a more minimalist life.
I am half way through my books and saved magazines.
My kitchen cupboards are next.

I recently realized that when I do my own laundry of jeans, long sleeve shirts and under wear, I do the same clothes over and over.   I do the laundry, wear the same clothes the next week, and then do the laundry again.  I am so NOT a clothes horse.  That bit of information inspired me to go through my closets and my dresser, and bag up a LOT of clothes that I haven't worn in longer than I can remember.
I also matched all my socks, and threw out all the ones with holes.  What I found out is that I really have plenty of socks, now that I can find them.
Now I know this is probably driving you wild with excitement, but hey, it's winter in New York.

And before I bore you to tears, I'm going to go drink my hot chocolate, before it gets cold.
Staying warm is my Number ONE priority.

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A day in paradise.

Can you call two friends knitting, a "Knit In"??

Well, we did call it that, and it was perfect.
A perfect quiet day,with my bff.



On the ride there, I can feel the stress leaving my body.
A sigh escapes me.

As we sat and knitted, the birds made a ruckus at the bird feeders, the brook icy cold in the background.

The warmth of the fireplace was  beyond lovely, and the occasional whiff of wood burning was nostalgic to me.
My friend's house is bathed in beautiful, restorative, sunlight.

While my friend occasionally grumbles about the lack of cupboards, the thought of chopping veggies on this countertop in this open, sunlit kitchen is very appealing.

There is a flow to her little house, and such a good feeling.  It is tastefully decorated, accidentally or otherwise, everything is just right.

The quiet is what I miss most about my own life.  I remember living like this, and there is really nothing quite like it.
It will always be in my heart, and it will always be what I aspire to have once again.
Someday.

We chatted away the rest of the morning, had a gourmet lunch of home made black bean soup, and puff pastries with broccoli, onions, and mushrooms.  Then over tea, we chatted away the afternoon.
After accepting me into their domain, Winnie (left) and Topsy (right) slept in the sun.  Like Roy, Winnie snores.

There is something so peaceful about a home with dogs and cats lying around in total peacefulness.
They are all loved, and they know it.
And it's all good.

Topsy, you may be needy, but you're very sweet inside.

Outside, sunflower seeds attracted the flock.

There are times that I am confused about what I am missing, and about what I need most, and about what makes me happy.

This was a simple, beautiful reminder, that it's not that complicated, at all.

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Modern Courthouse Steps

I so love this idea of taking one traditional block and turning it into a quilt! That's exactly what Denyse Schmidt did in her book Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration. 

 The quilt in the book uses solid fabrics, but I chose to bust some of the stash by using prints in analogous colors of orange/yellow, orange, orange/red, red and fuchsia. For the light strips, I used leftover bits of solids in creams and tans.

It's quilted using the #4 serpentine stitch on my Bernina through the middle of each strip. I've played with this stitch for quilting before, but was never happy with the result. The key was increasing the length quite a bit - length of 4 and width of 5 - and I'm super happy with it.

The back is a combination of a solid cream and print with a 1" strip separating them to mimic the 1" strips in the quilt.

After quilting, I was stumped on a binding, but ended up using the leftover solid pieces for a solid scrappy binding.

I'm wondering what other traditional blocks would look nice blown up as a whole quilt?

. . . Cindy

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A Day in the life.

I have tried getting Next and Nuff to come in out of the cold, but they are very resistant.

They like their boxes with the heated pads, the solar house.  They also go under the porch, although I can't imagine it's very warm under there.

And they eat well.   They are both pretty solid, and their fur is thick.

I still worry.

Lois has been busily weaving a custom order.  I wasn't thrilled about the customer's choices of colors, and I didn't hold out much hope of liking it, but I must say it has grown on me.
I now think that it is very striking.
L has come a long way in two years.   When she first came to Crazy as a Loom, she had no intentions of weaving right away, she just wanted to "help".
Now here she is weaving an 8 x 10 all by her self.
Impressive, right?
I must be a good teacher, but she is also very OCD meticulous, and most of the time she listens well.

 

It is a beautiful rug, and she has done an awesome job.  She had 20 shuttles wrapped with fabric, weaving them so that it "appeared" that they were random, when in fact, they were quite orchestrated.

Not easy.

I cut about 36 lbs of fabric for this venture.

(For you weavers, I figure .35 lbs per square foot of rug.)

 Then I pull the fabric towards me while "slitting" it with scissors.  It goes pretty fast, and I have cut so much fabric this way, that my precision is quite good.

On another front, I am re-warping for my next towel venture.  These will be waffle weave, one of my faves.
I used these little plastic pieces in each section, to keep my warp flat.  Aren't they cool?

How do you like my colors??  I am so done with orange.

 

So it was a busy, productive day at CAAL,  and even though I am still not staying ALL day, I am working on it.  

We had a great soup for lunch.....I guess you would call it vegetable rice. Mystery soup.  It was pretty awesome.

And perfect for a day with single digit temps.

 I could bitch about the weather.   Oh, yes, I could.  I could tell you how much I hate the cold.
But I have to focus on living with it, and to me, that means embracing the things that make it doable.
Weaving by the fire, lots of hot tea, homemade soups, good books, and lots of yarn.
And sunshine, all we can get.
Sunshine makes it all possible.

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Beauty is how deep?

Remember Bubba Lee????  And her litter of five?  Well the gray and white kitty in the background, who is a little standoffish, is Humptey, one of Bubba Lee's babies.
He is very happy in his forever home with Moose and Lily, who are much more outgoing than he is.

And how about Bella, the kitten that my daughter saved from the prison parking lot.   She is also very happy in her new home, and very spoiled, too.   Or so I hear.

Sydney says:   "Who are they?"  

 

Miss Puss says:  "Pfft.  None of you are as beautiful as I am."

 

"Did someone say beautiful?"

 

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The 6 minute circle

A pieced circle in 6 minutes! I first saw this technique on Simply Quilts, an HGTV show back in 2005. I thought the technique was cool and immediately bought the book about it, Pieced Curves So Simple by Dale Fleming. Of course, the moment passed and I never did anything with it until this week.

I was inspired by my Redbird Bee buddy, Hanna's quilt Hugs and Hugs. I thought they'd make the perfect addition to my "X" blocks for a hugs and kisses baby quilt.

Was I able to do a pieced circle in 6 minutes? At first, not by a long shot. But after a few, I managed to make a block in about 15 minutes. Considering my blocks were 2 pieced circles, I was pretty pleased.

I found my Olfa circle cutter handy to make the freezer paper templates and a pair of super sharp to the point scissors for all the clipping. All in all, I loved this technique and plan to use it again. A nice video of the 6 minute circle technique can be found on the HGTV website here. You might want to bookmark it - I had a hard time finding it until my friend Kelly pointed me in the right direction!

As far as other projects go, my Bee blocks are also pieced together and the quilting has started!

. . . Cindy

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It' time.

Today I decided to put the "Custom Rugs Considered" back on my web site.  I took it off last summer.
I think it's time.
I will say that I intend to be more selective about the orders I take.  If they sound like heartache, then they probably are.

Working with a customer to get just the right rug CAN be fun, and productive, and a huge success.
It should be.

Winter is soup as far as I am concerned.  I made my fave this weekend, and I will be eating it all week.  Here's the link:  http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/lentil-soup-with-sweet-potatoes-spinach/
I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and it's easy to boot.
I did, however, add some cannellini beans, because I only had one cup of lentils.  And I was MUCH more liberal with the spinach, in fact, I put in the whole bag. 

And when DH and my mother are doing their carnivorous best, I make another fave.......a grilled raisin bread with cheddar and a thinly sliced granny smith apple.  You can put some Grey Poupon on it too, if you like.  It's the best.

I am a lover of bran muffins, but sometimes when you buy them in the bakery at the grocery store, they are a little dry.  I found this recipe on another blog, and decided to try it.
I did use OAT BRAN, because I had it, instead of wheat bran.
I DID leave the batter in the fridge, as specified, for 24 hours.

They were TO DIE FOR.  Can I just say, warm with a little butter?  OH MY.

Oh, and I didn't have raisins, so I threw in some Craisins.........delish.
Even DH thought they rocked.
You can find the recipe here:  http://www.twobearsfarm.com/2013/01/breakfast-is-easy-with-this-bran-muffin.html
You'll want more than one, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Roy says pffft to the bran muffins, but he just wanted you to know he is feeling a little better.

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