My helper

Dear Kelly,

As usual, Randy has his crap all over my side of the basement. In the meantime, I decided to have him bring my sewing machine upstairs to the dining room. While he was doing that, I filled a basket with the tools and notions I needed and left it on the table. This is what I found a little while later:

















Patsy thinks she's the mending :)

Love,
Shayne

Log o' yarn

Dear Shayne,

Last year, a friend went to Morocco and attempted to bring back some yarn for the knitters in her life. She tried to get the vendor to give her several small balls of yarn in different colors, but he kept bringing down huge quantities of the same color: brown.

Finally, given the language barrier and his increasing level of frustration, she took what he gave her and ran.

Therefore, I now present... the Log o' Yarn:

(Please note the ruler there for size. It's a big log o' yarn. BIG.)

It's a nice rich brown color (that I didn't capture very accurately in this photo) and it feels good... kinda soft, but sturdy. We're not quite sure what it's made of yet... but we can do tests! With fire! Let the fun begin!

Meanwhile, I'm ashamed to admit that this log o' yarn has been sitting under my desk for over six months. There are a few of us who are going to divvy it up, but the Herculean task of winding it into manageable balls is daunting.

We need to have a big ol' windin' party or something. With cocktails. Large cocktails. Whooopeee!

love,
kelly

Hand quilted hearts

Dear Shayne,

Last week, I posted the memory quilt top that I've been working on and I asked for some quilting advice. I got a few responses, but I'm still on the fence. (No pun intended.) (That quilt design is called "fence rail." Hahaha -- quilt-y humor!)

At any rate... Sister Diane suggested that I try stitching in the ditch. (By the way, Sister Diane is a Craft Goddess and I am so honored that she reads our little blog -- she's the genius behind the CraftyPod podcast. If you've never listened to it, you must!)

I actually really liked this idea, but the more that I read about hand quilting in the ditch, the more discouraged I became. I've done it on a machine, but everyone says it's a nightmare to do by hand. Then I actually tried it on a sample and almost died. Too much going on in the seams for this little beginner quilter. So that's out. Sigh.

On my flickr photo, quilting pro 2ndAveStudio had some lovely suggestions -- hearts and words and a memorial wreath! Wow! But I don't have nearly her skill level of quilting. It's just not within my realm of expertise. Sigh.

While talking it over with my friend Iyabo (also a quilter), she suggested a meandering pattern and I just love what she said: "I'm not sure if I'd do hearts yet if you haven't done it before. Something that doesn't have to actually resemble a recognizable shape is probably a better idea." That totally cracked me up! She's got a good point there!

However... here are the first two hearts I tried (this is still on the sample piece) and I think they're pretty sweet, if I do say so myself:

(Ignore the goober at the very bottom tip of the left one. I was still working on knots then.)

I really like the way those came out -- much nicer than my straight lines! But I'm still stuck on how to arrange them on the quilt top. A heart in every block? Perhaps flipping every other one over, like in my sample? Or is that too... basic? Country? Hrm... not sure.

I'm still taking input (and I hope that Sister Diane and 2ndAveStudio are not offended by my public rejection of their ideas -- I really loved their ideas, but I don't think my skills are quite there for either of those techniques yet) so if anyone wants to chime in with ideas, let me have 'em!

love,
kelly

A Plug

Dear Kelly and all of our lovely readers,

In an effort to get the house cleaned up and organized, I'm selling copious amounts of magazines. Most of them are crafty magazines, so go clicky and see the list

http://buymymagazines.blogspot.com/

and buy some issues. You know you want to. And check there regularly. I've got a ton more to list. Maybe two tons.

Mention this blog and get 10% off the purchase price (shipping *not* included).

Love,
Shayne

Bill's green thumb

Dear Shayne,

You know I've been posting about my little plants lately? Well, Bill's got a jungle going on in the backyard that blows all of that away! He started with these tiny tomato plants about six weeks ago:

(Need to mention here that he also built that raised garden bed -- my man is craft-tay!)

Just look at those crazy plants now:

WOW. They are at least five feet tall. I have no idea how he did that -- he's like the Tomato Plant Whisperer or something.

And super exciting -- there's some fruit starting to grow:


Yay! I loooove tomatoes!

love,
kelly