ramblings of a crazy girl with cold toes.

Hello, friends!  Just grabbed myself a cup of tea and thought I would sit down for a chat and a catch-up.  How are you?  Here's what is going on over at our house.

Sunday marked the height of creativity by the girls of the OCD household. So many creations, it was a frenzy over here!

First, The Middle Child showed me the bed she made for her doll:

Yes, that is a Corona box.  Lucky we have a few of those on hand!  Next, Last But Not Last decided Kitty, too, needed a bed. Of course matching paper pillows and quilts were required.

Next, it was almost time for lunch, so why not play with our food and give the mangos a makeover?

The girls then discovers my scrap bin and found some pieces of minky and got to work hand stitching pillows for their favorite toys.

Next, a sweet note for mom using some more minky, cut into a heart shape.....

.....and another, left for me to discover next to a current knitting project.

I love my sweet girls!


As for me, I was busy too.....

They are more than meets the eye, but you will have to wait a bit for a full reveal and the story behind those!  In the meantime, if you are hankering to try a framed purse (which you SHOULD!! So fun!), don't forget I have an old step by step tutorial on how to do so over at Moda Bakeshop to see you through.

Also continuing to happily clickity clack along on Downton Abbey and my Downton Sweater.

My birthday came and went on the weekend, which I have been using as an excuse for several weeks now to do a lot of this:

You see, you NEED lots of pretty fabric and wool when the weather looks like this:

Lastly, I have a funny story to tell you (and that should get us girlfriends all caught up!).  On Friday, I was at the annual Manitoba Dental Association conference, and, well, truth be told, hiding in the back row of the lecture theatre, knitting on the sly (I was listening, too, I swear!).  Suddenly, my ball of yarn decided to jump out of my purse and rollllllll about three rows down before coming to a stop against the leg of a table!

(can you see it over there on the right??)

Luckily, it went unnoticed (I think), as I tried in vain to get it back, worrying if I pulled to hard on the string it would only come loose and continue to roll down until it landed at the lecturer's feet. I made it to the end of the lecture (the guy talked for THREE STRAIGHT HOURS, for pity's sake) and let most people leave before I went about the embarrassing business if crawling under tables to relieve it.  Yes, my life resembles a sitcom.

Hope you have a great week! I am wearing my herringbone cowl today to keep nice and toasty warm :)

funny things my kids say

I think it is time for another instalment of the funny things out of the mouths of my kids!

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Kids:   Mom, can we invite some kids over for play dates?
Me:     No, I don't feel like watching a bunch of kids today.
Kids:   But Mom!  You don't have to watch us!  You can just look at your iPad and we'll get you if somebody bleeds!

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The Middle Child and I were discussing the kids' favorite Christmas traditions as I was tucking her in at bedtime.  Cutting down a tree, getting new Christmas pyjamas, etc.  Then she adds to the list, "fighting with each other!"   Hmmmm....I suppose that happens, too!

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Last But Not Least comes into my bed for a snuggle in the wee morning hours and starts to chatter:

'Mommy!  I love your big boobies, they are so fluffy I wanna DIE!  It's like they are stuffed with feathers!  Did you know boobies have no bones?  When am I going to get boobies?  By the way, did you know my bare butt smells like butter?"

And so the morning began......

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Last But Not Least, who is five going on fifteen, has been talking about "marrying" a boy five years her senior for several years.  He is the big brother of one of Big G's school friends, and the sweetest kid.  Anyways, she recently proclaimed the at the "engagement" is off.  When asked why,  here was her response:

"Well, Mom, he is like in grade FIVE, and I am only in Kindergarten.  By the time I am ready to get married, he will probably already be a grandpa.  So, it's better if I marry someone from my own grade."

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Tucking Big G into bed one night, distracted and eager to be off to my "to do" list while he of course tried to prolong the process as long as possible.

Me:       "Big G, go to bed already, I have a hundred things to do!"
Big G:   "I have a hundred things to do, too, Mom, and all one hundred are to hug you."

And then we shared a long, 100+ second hug :)

it's a good day for making quilts....

It's about minus bazillion degrees outside, and all I want to do is curl up under a quilt, knitting or making another quilt, with a big cup of tea and the fireplace on!  Here is the dreadful forecast for "Winterpeg" this week:

For those unfamiliar with the Celsius system, -30 C is about -22F, i.e., colder than your deep freezer.  There are only really a few choice words to describe it, and most of those have four letters.

But, on the "plus" side, I have managed to finish my wonky "plus/cross" quilt top, which is especially fitting as I am "crossing" my fingers that the temperatures will return to the "plus" side of the scale one of these days!  I sliced up a bunch of scraps and fabrics, no measuring, and made blocks of all sizes, which I then spliced together using neutrals.  I absolutely love how it turned out, and it was pure joy to make.  And I know just who to gift it to when it is all done.

It seems to be popular with the furry people, too.  It took all of 20 seconds on the floor before Bailey the Wonderdog claimed it as his own. Smart pooch!

Happy Monday.  Keep warm! ;)

what I am working on now....

It has been a slow crafting start to 2013, just busy with life in general, but I always have my hand in something, or else I would have no excuse and have to clean up my tornado of a sewing space ;)

Quilting-wise, I am really excited about the newest improv top I have started.  I am using a bunch of my favorite fabrics and slashing them up, no measurements, and then am piecing them together as I go, adding bits of neutral scraps here and there.  I came up with the idea and had a rough sketch drawn in about 3 minutes, and usually my favorite quilts start that way, just done for the love of stitching.  I have a recipient in mind for this, but no timeline, so I will pick at blocks here and there. Here is what I have so far.

In the knitting arena, I decided a new year warranted casting on a new sweater!  The pattern is the top-down cable yoke jacket by Cotton and Cloud, and has the sweetest braided cable yoke and a hood. This will be a longer term project, and is for The Middle Child, who is so sweet and my biggest crafting cheerleader.  She was asking for a purple sweater and this yarn, Malabrigo Rios in Purpuras, is knocking me out with its softness and gorgeous tones.  Might need a big-girl one!  It is coming along quickly thanks to my latest obsession, Downton Abbey.  I treated myself to seasons 1 and 2 as an early birthday gift and so that has planted my arse on the couch with my knitting needles more frequently than normal.  In fact, I have named this the "Downton Sweater" and have joined up with the Downton Abbey Knit Along over at luv in the mommyhood.  Good fun!  Just started Seaason 2 and really enjoying it!

I have a couple other quilts to finish up, and a swap project to work on, so I am hoping to get some time to get at these!  In the meantime, my sidekick and I are likely curled up on the couch like this.... :)

Hello 2013 and my Friday Felicity

Happy new year, friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2013 is already treating you nicely.  I have much to say and share, but today I thought I would just touch base with a hello and my felicity of the week, which is HUMOR.   Really, isn't life better with a laugh?  If you have been around here awhile, you know that it one of my favorite things.  So today I thought I would share a few things that had me in stitches (ha ha!) of late.  And we knitters/quilters sure know how to laugh at ourselves!

First off, I am totally putting these glasses from Ravelry on my birthday wish list.  Seriously...what better than a saucy pint to drown your sorrows when a WIP goes wrong?  For you non-knitters, a project is "frogged" when you screw up and have to "rippit, rippit!"  ;)

On a related note.....

And who doesn't appreciate a good ballsack?

And if the men in your life are feeling a bit chilly this time of year, believe it or not, you can pick one of these up on Amazon.  Yes, you can officially buy anything on the internet.

So be sure to hop over to see Felicity to get some happy.  She is even featuring a little something I made for her over the holidays....will be back to post more about that later!

Have a fantabulous weekend!