you've got to put out to get any action...

this has always been my motto. and today, it fully paid off. i've been signing up for swaps and ordering fabric, and it's all been coming in the mail! i got my fabric from pink chalk. i'm VERY excited.

it's got my first fabric with rocket ships on them. ROCKET SHIPS. and jonathan livingston seagull fabric! and some other miscellany, mostly on sale. mmmmmmm sale fabrics. :) i'z a lucky, happy girl.





i also got some charm square swap fabrics. got lots more coming in the next little bit, and three different cuts of thrifted sheets for my upcoming picnic blanket.

can't remember where this link came from, but the dog will be getting one of these similary in style but hand knitted by me. diamond is mostly excited, i'm pretty sure.

finished cutting my circles for my summer quilt, and knitted a dishcloth for a friend whose brother is graduating from bootcamp and becoming a real marine. :) going to dye (likely tomorrow) a knitted laptop case for a friend of mine. this will be my first foray into kool-aid dying! :D

sewmamasew!

so guess what came in the mail yesterday?!!? 700 buttons!

AND, some loverly jay mccarroll fabric, winter wonderland. i'm going to use this for a prezzie for a friend, kind of surprisey-like, so no more deets, but it's SO nice.





and soon...there will be pink chalk fabric fabrics, which i'm very, vurrrrrrrrry excited about.

tonight: cutting more circles, and possibly starting on my patchwork project for my partner for lindamade's patchwork swap.

tomorrow: sending out some vintage sheets for a swap-bot swap, for eventually to make a picnic blanket a la this.

and finally, i'm madly knitting a making dishcloth for a friend's bebe bro for his graduation next week from boot camp. cuz what every new marine wants: dishcloths knitted by his sister's friends who he's never met. :D

swaps, swaps and more swaps!

haven't really been MAKING anything lately. this weekend was a disaster relaxing-wise and crafting-wise, so super busy. also, i've got to get to the fabric store for a few FQs for swaps, but i should soon have some swap results. :D going to keep cutting and start working up a pattern for a small bag for the patchwork swap and then i'm going to keep moving on my one-tone-two-toned shrug.

prezzies in the mail!

so not feeling at ALL super today--left work because i was having some anxiety rising issues and got home and am now feeling mega nauseated. but to make me feel a bit better, i got my package from my ravelry karma yarn swap partner, a lovely girl named curlie. it is just BOOOOOOOTIFUL, i can't even believe.





in here: misti baby alpaca, which is SOOOOOOOO soft and SOOOOOOO fat, i lurves. malabrigo--YUM. some local alpaca, LOVE me the local everything. LOTS of chocklits, which i shall hide from the boy and eat when i'm not feeling nauseated. they are from trader joe's, which i've heard lots about but still haven't quite figured out what it is comparable to in canada. sylvi, a pattern which i just got yarn for, but hadn't gotten the actual PATTERN--curlie must have read my mind. ;)

there was also a 6 pack holder from trader joe's for beeeeeer, which is HILARIOUS because here in ontario, you can get these same 6 packs for wine bottles at the LCBO, so this is a baby version of a bigger 6 pack holder i already have and use often! hahahahhaha--maybe too much booze? heck no!

and, of course, there was a lovely note which made me laugh, because i've been trained by my gran to read the note or card first, so i was all pawing through the package and guiltily saw/opened the note which said "open the yarnz first, then read this"...which I clearly did NOT need to be told twice and ripped into the package! :D

i also had this to deal with when i got home. she is terrifically sad because i'm not feeling well enough to play. she did, however, come and take advantage of my not feeling well to lick me all over the fact (which i don't normally put up with because she tends to try to lick in your mouth and all up your nose, which is pretty yuk...)





oh! and, not pictured: the dog treats that curlie sent for diamonddog. i swear that that dogfink has a sixth sense about these things. she heard the crinkle, jumped off the lazyboy, where i *swear* she was asleep, and then whined and wiggled while i fumbled to try to get the bag open.

other than that, not much crafting went on in my life this past weekend. we didn't end up taking hte trian to quebec city because it was booked, so we drove (read: i drove because mister man doesn't drive standard, which is what i gots in my car). i did a bit on the sleeve of the apple green shrug i'm making, but that's it. at stitch n' bitch last night, i started cutting on the mountains of fabric that i'm cutting for the back of my orangepeel quilt. i've picked a navy polka dot print, and this is what i've got done so far. not much considering how much i need to get done.





more crafting action tonight and this weekend. i need to cut out another approximately million nickels for the many swaps i'm signed up for. i need to get mailing on that, i think! i just LOVE getting mail, and sending out prezzies to new people. :)

this is what I came home to tonight, which was super weird:



it would seem that the boy piled his clean laundry up all on his side of the bed, as if you were going to cover it to make it seem like there was a person in the bed, and the cat fully took advantage of the situation by rolling all in it and making herself a bed.

AND, there were fat quarters awaiting my arrival home. SO exciting. :) the lovely ladies i was paired with for the sew, mama, sew swap sent out my FQ's! they're lovely, and are in the dryer now getting ready to be cut up into 5" squares.

then, i organized the pile of fabric which is to become my 5" squares for several swap-bot swaps over the next few months. i'm quite excited.





i spent pretty much all night cutting up fabric, which was lovely, and now i have another 37 pieces for my stash and several gazillion more all set for my swaps. :) result: i'm exhausted and am heading to bed presently.

heading to quebec city for the weekend to visit with the man's family, so i'm going to be knitting up a storm (no tv and no internet!), hopefully i'll get somewhere on the shrug that i started ages ago. :) or maybe the black and white baby blanket. i haven't quite decided which project(s?) to bring along.

i've started a black & white pinwheel knitted baby blanket, but i'm a bit concerned that black and white might be a bit not-really-baby.

i also sent off my FQ's for the Sew, Mama, Sew swap, so i can't wait to see what i get back. i've also got my package for my ravelry karma swap ready, i just have to post it, and i've got to cut a gazillion 5" squares, which i started the other day, and am going to continue this afternoon/evening for some swap-bot swaps. :)

finally, i'm washing up some fabric for a summer quilt that's going to be based on the tutorial that i stumbled on here for a faux cathedral windows/orange peel quilt, which i think will be my next quilting project.

post number one

so my last blog actually lasted quite a while, but i pretty much quit posting in 2006 when i started grad school, which is, coincidentally, about the time my knitting dropped off drastically. who knew that doing a master's degree would be so frigging much work?!

anyhow, i'm back at it, mostly to chronicle what i've been working on, looking at and plotting to get up to next, primarily with my knitting and quilting.

i've discovered swapping, and am obsessed. i've already swapped several scraps & fat quarters with a host of lovely ladies throughout the world via the intarwebs, and i'm just LOVING it. :) i actually just today got my package from the we the people scrap swap. i got a bunch of loverly fabrics which i *will* sort this weekend, along with the fq's that i got from the last swap a few weeks ago. i've also joined swap-bot, which is awesome, and i'm anxiously awaiting the deadline for the first of several (million) nickel swaps that i've signed up for. this weekend is dedicated to cutting up 5" fabric squares, packing up packages and sorting out what all needs to be posted when. and possibly a slight trip to the fabric & yarn store.

also on the radar is a vintage sheet quilt--quite sweet, and a knitted baby-ghan for a not-yet-even-thought-of baby (DEFS not mine!). i have a couple of friends who have recently or are rapidly heading for wedding-ville, and i can't be sure that 9 months will be enough time to knit babythings, so i want to get a jump on it.

i've also been on ravelry non-stop and am participating in a swap there for which i made a small project bag which turned out beautifully (and only a light tearing up and re-jigging, thankyouverymuch!). my swap partner there is a sock knitter, which i don't really get, but am quite envious of after pawing at sock yarn all last weekend.