Winter Showers, Spring Flowers

Leia and I decided we should do some planting today, before the rain that's supposed to start tonight. I've had tulip and daffodil bulbs in the fridge for just over a week, trying to trick them into believing it's winter in So. California.
 
We unearthed the gardening equipment, finding a misplaced tiara in the garage along the way - Leia was thrilled - and started digging. Tulip bulbs went in along the front sidewalk, with Mr. Peacock-Head standing guard.
 
More tulips went in along the gravel walkway. 

  

Leia was pleased to learn that bulbs have 'butts', just like we do, 

and that they sit on their butts, just like we do, when you put them in the ground.

 

Four-year-old attention spans being what they are, Leia decided right after this that playing in the dirt was a lot more fun than digging with a purpose,

 

and abandoned me to finish the daffodils on my own. 

 

This last bed was full of worms, so I have high hopes for these bulbs, at least.

 

Leia thought the worms were cool, but when I asked if she wanted to touch one, it was "ewwwwwwww". 

 

Just as well, since I thought touching them was "ewwwwww" too. 

New Scarf

This was a super easy project, even with re-working the pattern so it was half as wide - and so I didn't have to cut my yarn every 2 or 3 rows. I hate weaving in tails.
 
With a slip stitch here and a slip stitch there, carry a yarn, weave a yarn - minimal yarn tails! My version is a little different from the original, but close enough.
 
The pattern is Sashay by Berroco, using two colorways of their Lodge bulky-weight yarn. Loved working with the yarn and the way the colors changed.
 
I'm teaching this as a class in April. I'm still debating about adding fringe, as in the original. I'm not much of a fringey person but I'm thinking this needs a little something more. At least I have a month or so to make up my mind. 

Newest Sewest

A friend saw the pillowcases Leia made - yes, I was bragging and yes, she's already made a second case, for Leanne -

and offered to give Leia the rugged, almost indestructible, 3/4 size sewing machine she'd used in her first and second grade classroom before retiring.

Leia is soooooo thrilled. We got it set up tonight, and Leia was off and sewing. She was very good about keeping her hands away from the needle (Me: do you want to see your blood? Leia: no way.) and remembered to always pay attention when the machine was running.

She quickly figured out how to change stitch patterns, raise and lower the presser foot, go in reverse and control the sewing speed. I put the foot pedal on a footstool, which made it the perfect height for her.

Some things I showed her how to do, and some - like turning the handwheel to raise and lower the needle - she discovered on her own.

Tonight was about experimenting and having fun with her new machine. Next time we sew, probably Thursday or Friday, she wants to make something "for real" for her daddy. Sure hope he wants a pillowcase!

 

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Potato, Potaato

Noro calls this a strawberry lace scarf* -

  

but to me, it's a pineapple.

 
It's smaller than usual, so maybe that's where they get 'strawberry'? Or maybe they want it to appear more modern? 

Either way, it was a fast, fairly easy project, with an 8-row repeat that I had memorized the second time through, except for the start and finish of each row. Never could make sense out of those so the pattern followed me everywhere, as I checked off each individual row.
 
On the up side, that made it easier to count repeats and know when I was supposed to be done. As usual, I got bored three or so repeats from the end and decided to stop. I think it's plenty long, so if I don't mention it, I don't think anyone will notice . . .

A 'by request' arm-warmer/fingerless mitt for the daughter of a friend is also done. 
 
She has arm and wrist troubles that include wearing a brace and the cold makes things worse.
 
It's my usual mitt pattern, super-sized for length. Hopefully, it will help, at least with the 'cold' part.

*Strawberry Lace Scarf by Robin Chachula, published in Crochet Noro: 30 Dazzling Designs. My Ravelry project and info is here.

Teach One

The last time I was in Joann's, I spotted a little pillow - half price! - that was perfect for Leia's preschool nap-time. I let her pick pillowcase fabric from my rapidly growing stash and today we started sewing.
 
To say Leia was excited would be a big understatement. She was completely engrossed, concentrating on getting everything just so.  
 
In fact, we got so involved, we forgot about the time and ended up sewing straight though what should have been her gymnastics class. Oops!

I cut and pinned the initial tube, then Leia sewed it together. 
 
We pulled it inside out, ironed, trimmed and re-pinned it so she could sew the next set of seams - with just a bit of help from cousin Leanne, who wanted in on the action.
 
Once the sewing was done,  
 
we fit-tested,
 
then sleep-tested the pillow 
  
before Leia did her "I made a pillow" happy dance.
 
But we still had one more step to go. I had Leia write her name on the pillowcase (it took a couple of tries to get it just right, as you can see on the right below; a quick pressing with a hot iron will erase all evidence of that quickly enough)
 
and then I embroidered over her writing. 

Perfect. Both of us think so. 

Quilt Class Do-Over

You may remember the quilting sampler class I took last June (here). It was waaaaay just a little bit over my head back then, so when Debbie offered it again, I signed up for a re-do. Today's blocks were 'Fifty-four Forty or Fight' 

and 'Garden Walk'.

 
I'm feeling much more comfortable with sewing and was able to finish both blocks in class, with only minor oopsies. Yay! And I'm very happy to have my sewing machine out again. It's been put away since Christmas and I'm itching to start stitching.

Quilt Show

The weekend of 'try new things' continues. 
Took a bus trip with the local quilt guild to Road To California, my first ever quilt show. Hundreds of vendors, gorgeous quilts, and 8 hours of 'oh my, look at THAT!' My quilt teacher and show companion was highly amused. 
My little cell phone camera can't begin to do justice to the award winning quilts. They were beyond amazing. Stunning, impossible, intimidating, and just a touch of weird thrown in to keep things in perspective.

 

It took me three trips through the vendor halls - with breaks in between to rest my poor tired feet - to make sure I'd seen everything and to give them all my $$.
 
I came home with patterns, scissor fobs, hand-dyed fabric, custom printed fat quarters and this, the highlight of my day - 
They make me smile every time I look at them. Pretty sure this project is going to bump to the front of the line, just as soon as I quit dragon my feet (hee) and figure out how to use them to best effect.

Jewelry Makin'

I swore I wasn't going to get into jewelry making. Too many crafts already and not nearly enough time to do them well enjoy them. But then I started reading about French General, 
 
found out they are just a few miles down the road only 45 minutes away (or 2 hours, depending on LA traffic), and somehow let a friend talk me into taking a class there with her.
 
So. Much. Fun. Three hours, 72 charms and much laughter later, we both had finished bracelets. 
 
The shop is tiny but packed full of fun charms, beads, fabric, kits, and much, much more. The only thing that followed me home, though, was a giant pincushion. Simply could not resist it.

 
We're already planning on taking more jewelry-making classes, along with the felted bunny class in March. Yeah. So much for 'no more hobbies'.  

Perfection

You know how sometimes - not often - the perfect yarn pairs with the perfect pattern to make the most perfectest project ever? This is one of those.  

Two colors of Tofutsie sock yarn that have been in my stash for a looooong time 

Pattern is African Flower hexagon (a variation on this pattern) with this join-as-you-go tutorial. Fast, easy and fun.

And the result? I LOVE it.
 
This is another class sample for February. Can't wait to show them all the different things you can make with this one motif.

Spring Planting

It felt like spring today, with temps in the 80's, so Leia and I did a bit of planting.
 
An amaryllis for me - a gift from Marie, Scott and Leanne at Christmas;
 

and an avocado tree for Leia.

Leia did all the playing in the dirt dirty work on the amaryllis, going back again and again, even hours later, to make sure the dirt was just so.
 
We put the avocado seed in a clear glass so she can watch the roots sprout and the stems start to grow. 
 
Given my brown thumb, that may be as far as we get. But hope springs eternal, right? Maybe these plants will beat the odds.