Lovely Tea Party

Yesterday Stephanie invited me over for a tea party. Silly me forgot to bring my camera but she posted pictures on her blog. I tell ya, she makes crazy good scones! My husband is gleeful whenever I am invited to tea because he knows some yummy scones will come home with me! Her table was beautifully set with the wonderful gifts from time for tea swappers. Her daughter was able to join us too!

OK, now what have I been up to? A little background first. I am Weight Watcher member (and employee) and this year they changed the look of the weigh in book--now it's called a pocket guide. Looking more like a passport, it didn't come with a plastic sleeve to protect it. I decided to make a holder for it. Here is my first attempt

Ok but the flap is too small. (hey, I know there are cupcakes on it!) I fiddled with the pattern and now it is much better! I put some in my Etsy shop and have sold some locally to other W.W. members I know. Sooo... I haven't made any quilts lately but I have been busy. (well, the covers are machine quilted, does that count)

I also bought some new yarn. This one is a sport weight by Deborah Norville (Yes, THAT Deborah Norville) I'm making another preemie hat with it and I like the yarn so far. It is nice and soft and not too expensive (especially with a 40% off coupon from JoAnn Fabrics!) I also bought it in pink!

That's all for today. Talk at you later! Rumi

Pincushions

Seems there has been alot of blogging about pincushions lately. Well, guess I'll jump on the bandwagon as well and show you mine. Some I made, some I bought and some I received as gifts. First, the ones I bought

This one I found at a craft show. Clever, it holds a spool of thread too.

This little felt cutie I found in a sewing shop in Japan.

Another craft show find. Quilting and chocolate--a perfect combo!

Next, the ones I made

And the gifts. The first one my mother found somewhere. Aww, reminds me of my California days on the beach!

Lastly, this gorgeous one made for me by Stephanie in my favorite color, RED!OK, that was fun. Now, how about yours?

I Heart Spring

First off I have to say how excited I am that I was one of the lucky winners in Lurline's birthday giveaway! What a happy unbirthday gift for me! Thank you so much Lurline!

Finally starting to feel like I can shrug off the coldness of winter. I see peeks of blue sky here and there and 60 degreesF feels downright balmy right now. I know that the weather is fickle this time of year and I may have to grab my parka again before long but I am basking in "springness" right now. Time to break out the "I heart Spring" wall hangings. This one I have in my foyer

In hindsight, I would have placed the bottom heart upside down so the points would meet. If I make another (and I may since it is so cute!) I will do it that way.

This bigger version is hanging on the wall at the Weight Watchers' center in the next town of Reynoldsburg.

A quickie version that I sewed right sides together and turned instead of attaching binding.

This next little wall hanging is not in spring colors but I think it's springy with all the cute yo yo flowers.

I had alot of green fabric scraps from my green and white quilt so used them for the striped border as well as the 3-D leaves.

I found these cute ladybugs made from polka dot ribbon! Had to add a couple of them.

That's all for today! Talk at you later. Rumi

More Pom Pom fun

Around Easter time when my children were in elementary school, I would make little crocheted bunny pins for everyone in their classrooms. With Easter right around the corner, I thought I would share little Bunny with you.

Chain 3 or 4 and connect to make a ring. Chain 3. Make enough double crochets into the ring to make a flat circle. Close with a slip stitch in top of beginning chain.

Chain 3. Make about 4 double crochets into the first space. Do you see Bunny's head now.

Chain about 12 stitches. Attach to back of head with a slip stitch.

Chain 12 more for the 2nd ear. Attach this with a slip stitch. Cut yarn and weave in ends.

Looking good! Now make a 2 finger pom pom. With worsted weight yarn I wrap about 30 times around.

Tie the pom pom on to Bunny's backside. Add a colorful yarn bowtie and a googly eye and Bunny is done. Glue a pin on Bunny's back or glue on a magnet and Bunny can stand guard on your refrigerator. Bunny could also be a cute package decoration for your Easter presents. Really, Bunny gets around!

Pom Pom hat

Finished a cute little preemie hat. Needs a pom pom on it though don't you think?

Bear with me if you know how to make pom poms. I have come across many people who have no idea how it's made so will give a quick run down on how. You will see pompom makers in the store but all you really need are your own fingers.

Wrap yarn many times around 2, 3 or 4 fingers depending on how large you want your pom pom. I wrapped this baby yarn about 75 times around. 100 would have been better, in hindsight. Thicker yarns need less times around.
Slide it carefully off your fingers. Take a length of yarn and tie the whole thing in the middle. Be sure to tie it tight or your pom pom will fall apart later.

Take your scissors and cut all the loops.

You will end up with a shaggy, uneven mess.

Hold it over a trash can and give it a nice round haircut. Be sure not to cut the length of yarn used to tie the pom pom in the middle. You need that to tie the pom pom to the hat.

TaDa! Done! Not perfectly round but a person made it, not a machine. Has a bit of character that way!

That's all for today. Talk at you later! Rumi

Happy St. Pat's

Hello everyone,

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I don't have a drop of Irish in me but one day a year, everyone is Irish right?

Thought I would mark the occasion by showing you some pics of some of my favorite green items around my house.

My son drew and stitched this for me in 1985 when he was about 6 years old. Love it.

My 2 green teapots. The cast iron one is a dark green. The 2 plates on either side were made by my friend Mary Grace Robertson. She has a kiln in her home workshop. Wonderful craftsman.

I have a green kitchen. Here are my green garlic keeper and utensil crock. Green counters and green accent tiles.

This star shaped bowl is not totally green but I love it! I got it at the Columbus Arts Festival a couple of years ago.

Finally, a portion of my green and white quilt I am working on. When done, it will be queen size. You can bet I will be taking this baby to the long arm quilters to quilt.

Enjoy all the green items in your world. Happy St. Pat's Day!

Talk at you later, Rumi

Obsession

Yum, what's this? Chocolate ice cream! I scream, you scream, we all....
Wait a minute, something's not right!

Surprise! Bet you didn't see that one coming did ya!

"What is it?" you ask. Only my weird obsession with collecting all the little corners I cut off of triangles. I know, I know, doesn't make sense does it; but then again obsessions are like that sometimes. "How did this happen!" you ask. Well, cutting off those little dog ears was one of my most dreaded quilting tasks. I would avoid making anything with triangles so I wouldn't have to cut those little puppies off. Well, you can only avoid triangles so long before you have to break down and make some. To make it bearable, I started to make a game of it to see how many corners I cut off of my project. Well my friends, just like any addiction, it starts out innocent enough but before long it has you firmly in it's gnarly grasp! So here I am, a gallon bucket almost half full of tiny little corners. I wonder if there's a support group for quilter's like me.

Flannel Fun

If any of you have purchased or received one of Stephanie's flannel pillowcases, you know what I'm talking about when I say they are wonderful. Thick and soft, she uses only premium flannel folks! I received this froggy pillowcase from Stephanie for Christmas and it has been in continuous use since! Seems to have gotten softer with each washing. If you don't have one, check out her etsy store. She still has some nice ones there.


Being the generous sort that she is, she gave me a stack of leftover flannel from making her cases. How cute are these!


Well, I turned some of it into these burpcloths.


I volunteer for a great local charity called Touching Little Lives. TLL provides clothing and other baby necessities to preemie as well as needy babies. Having been a preemie myself, I have a soft spot for them. These nice thick and soft burpcloths are on their way to happy babies!

Here are some pics from this month's TLL workshop.
Bags and bags of baby quilts.
Stacks of receiving blankets.
Mountains of hats, booties, outfits etc.

Colorful snaps for all those wonderful little (and I do mean LITTLE) baby clothes.

This is a gown not a shirt!

As you can see there are alot of dedicated people sewing, knitting and crocheting away to provide so much for our littlest ones. And this is just 1 workshop among many throughout the area. I'm actually the slacker of the group. I always have the best intentions to get alot of TLL donations done but before I know it, another month has gone by and I have meager offerings.

Talk at you later! Rumi

Baby Blanket

I love to sew but only during the day. I lose my steam for sewing in the evening. On the rare occasions I do sew in the evening, I find my self making dumb mistakes and having to break out the ol' seam ripper and frogging it (you know, rip it, rip it). Not fun. What I do like to do in the evenings is knit. I turn on the TV for background noise (can't be anything too interesting or I'll lose count and end up frogging that too!) Can't say I knit every night and usually it's only for 30-60 minutes. In the winter I like to work on warm wooly (tho' not necessarily wool) projects. As the work progresses, it keeps me toasty as well! I finished this baby blanket last night.

Here is a closer look. It reminds me of honeycombs

It's hard to see in the photo but the yarn is quite lovely. White with little specks of pink, blue, yellow and green. I made a pale blue one recently for charity and loved it so much I made another one to put in my "gift stash". You never know when you will need a baby gift.

It's almost time to put away the "warm" yarn and break out the cotton yarn. Days are getting warmer in spurts---yesterday was warm but today, not so much. Spring can't get here soon enough for me! You can take the girl out of California but it's hard to take California out of the girl! I'm not fond of cold weather, altho' I like to ski. I always say I like to play in snow but not live in it!

Little buds are starting to appear on trees in the neighborhood. Pretty soon I will be seeing spring flowers pushing their way to the surface. Inside my house I have a confused Christmas Cactus. She is all abloom (with her flowers looking like pretty party dresses, I consider her a she!)

When I first moved to Ohio 20 years ago I joined the local Welcome Wagon group. I didn't know anyone and it was a great way to meet other women. I still get together with some of the women I met then. Anyways, sometime during that first year, my Welcome Wagon secret pal gave me a little 4 inch pot with a tiny Christmas cactus in it. Well, it got bigger and bigger and 20 years later it is this magnificient beauty! I can't remember who my secret pal was that gave it to me but I do thank her every time this plant blooms!

That's all for today. Talk at you later, Rumi