More Travis

You may remember the cocoons I made for baby Travis' first portrait session? His mommy gave me permission to post some of them here, so y'all can admire the cocoons MBT (My Boy Travis) in his hand-made finery. 
Isn't he adorable?
 
I don't think there's anything more precious than an infant yawning . . . unless it's a baby in a bear hat. I just love that expression on his face. 
 
These were taken on January 22, a day before Travis turned one-month old.
 
And this one
 
was taken just a week later. He's already starting to change and grow. And like the shirt says, My Boy Travis is a handsome lad! (Yep, I'm a tad biased. But you know I'm right . . . )   

Quilt Blocks

Blocks five

 
and six are done.
 
Only three more to go - another big square (like the one on the top right, below) and two little ones, about the size of the blue and red star. 
 
I tried a couple of arrangements today, looking for what colors I need more/less of, before I decide on the fabrics for the final three. 
 
I'm thinking more blue, no more yellow and . . . . .

ETA* - here's the plan, subject to change after I sleep on it:

the pattern -

 
big pinwheel -
  

little pinwheel -

 

sailboat -

*edited to add

Pass It On Down

One of the best things about having almost all grandgirls is the ability to hand down the hand-mades as they are outgrown. I made this ladybug hat for Addison back in 2008 -
 
and now it's Leanne's turn to be tortured by wear it happily. 
 
 At least until she can rip it off her head.  (You can click the photos to make them bigger.)

(I solved the 'I don't want to wear it' issue by putting the hat on my head. As soon as Leanne thought I wanted it, it became her favorite thing. All those years of parenting taught me something, anyway.)  

Yarn Present

For Christmas, my wonderful, brilliant, talented husband (who can take a hint very well - especially one that's written down for him) gave me a ball of Qiviut*.

 

I'd wanted some for forever, but just couldn't bring myself to pay the $80+ for just over 200 yards of lace weight yarn.

 

But what yarn it is! So soft and light and warm and gorgeous. My little skein of heaven is now a long crocheted cowl, made using a variation of the Crocus Bud Shawl (Ravelry link here.)

A cowl I plan to wear at every opportunity for a long, long time. 



*Qiviut = the super soft underwool of the Arctic musk ox

Done - For Me!

Most Thursday nights find me hanging out with my buddies at our favorite LYS, a place that's exceptionally hazardous to my self-imposed yarn diet - especially when a brand new shipment of any madelinetosh yarn arrives. 
 
The yarn fumes were especially bad last week; multiple boxes of Madelinetosh Merino Light had just been unpacked and I Could.Not.Resist the 'Golden Hickory'.
 

Now, normally a new yarn would go straight into the stash, maybe to see the light of day in a few decades years months. But this one told me what it wanted to be on our way home and insisted on being put on the hook that night. And three days later, I had a finished shawl - and a new design (which I'm in the process of writing up and having tested.) Love this thing! 

Leia helped me with the blocking (mostly by spilling the T-pins everywhere) and the misting. Although 'the drowning' would be more accurate. 

She was very enthusiastic and very thorough in her spraying efforts.

Have spray bottle, will travel.

My poor shawl might be dry by 2013.     

The Big Picture

What's wrong with this picture?
 
I was so wrapped up in matching seams that I forgot to check how the last piece was positioned.
 
That's better.  And much, much better than the first one, both color placement-wise and seams-wise. 
 

It's amazing how much difference the proper tools can make - or in this case, the proper lines on my sewing machine.

 

I feel like I could conquer the world, one seam at a time.

Cocoons

Grrrrrrr, Blogger ate my first post when I tried to publish it. Hate rewriting - once it's gone, I always remember it as purrrrrrfect.

Travis' mommy asked me to make a knit cocoon for his first photo session. She picked out the pattern*, purchased the yarn and gave me plenty of time to get it finished - it just doesn't get any easier. 
 

Soooooo when the cocoon was done ahead of schedule, and I still had an unused ball of yarn, I whipped up a little crocheted nest as an additional photo prop. 

This pattern is super easy. I love that the author gave the nest's dimensions - in addition to the stitch count - which made it a cinch to substitute my slightly thinner yarn and still get something I was pretty sure would fit a one-month old. 

 

Can't wait to see how sweet Travis looks in these.

*I'm not linking to the knit pattern. I thought it was very over priced for something that basically said 'cast on x stitches, knit y rows, bind off and sew up two seams'. If you're interested, more info is on my Rav page.  

The Quilt Life

This Wednesday is the third of 5 sessions in my Quilting 102 class. I've been struggling with my seams - which means nothing is turning out right - but I think I've finally got it licked. I brought in the big guns - aka Woodworker Husband - to put perfect straight lines in perfect places on my sewing machine. 
 
And I took a hint from Pinterest and am using a pad of Post-It notes as a sewing guide. Cheap. Low tech. Easy. And it works. 

So while Naia watched movies and Leia camped out in the front window (note the backpack; it's her favorite accessory this week), 
 

I built a house

 

to go with the little 4" star I finished in class last week.

Week 1's assignment was trees (love these) 
 
and a 9-patch block that is so wonky I'll be doing it over very soon.
 
See how much shorter it is than the house? That could be a problem.
 
But now that my magic seam team is in place, replacing it should be a breeze.

Week 3's blocks are cut out - 
 
with this quilt I'm going for an 1860's vibe; old fashioned, muted colors, with the red as my tie-it-all-together, put-it-in-every-block fabric. 
Should be interesting.        

Walk-Crawling

This is out of focus, but it's too funny not to share. Leanne has developed her own mode of locomotion- not quite walking but not quite crawling either. And it makes me laugh every time I see it.

Little Star

Today we present "Twinkle, Twinkle" by Leia.

Fishy Life For Me

We took advantage of the last week on our Aquarium of the Pacific annual pass to take the grand kids* for one more visit. Usually when we pay a season pass, we go one time and that's it - not a great way to get your $$'s worth. But we've been back to the Aquarium at least 4 times this year. And the kids love it. 

There's plenty to see and do to keep them entertained - petting the rays, 

watching the jellyfish

  

and sea dragons (my favorite)

 

finding Nemo 

 

and the kids' favorite -  

 

running through the outdoor water playground. 

Such a great way to run off energy before the 2-hour drive home. Pretty sure we'll be investing in a membership again this year. 

*Yep, Miles got to go with us! Woohoo! 

FO Catch-Up

I've gotten a bunch of crochet things finished lately, mostly class samples that had to be done (in theory) when the class schedule came out at the end of December. Yeah, missed that deadline on a couple of things, but I'm getting there. 

I took a breather to work on a fun project - a Gumdrop Hat for Naia. 
 
See that happy face? That's why I make things for her. She can't wait to wear it to school tomorrow. And you'll notice how looooooong the hat is? 
 
It barely fits over all her hair.

Some class samples - honeycomb cowl, using Tunisian crochet on a double-ended hook. Seriously fun to do and I love the texture. 
 
And crocheted slippers, both non-felted 

 

and felted.

 
Thought I'd like the felted version best but nope - going to make another set just like the blue pair for ME.

Seems like there should be more things, but I can't think of what they are. Maybe that means I'm closer to done than I thought I was? Crossing fingers . . . .