What I Did on the Last Weekend in July

I sewed! Surprise!
I know you're not surprised...I can't fool you all. You see those tickers ticking away above me there, just as well as I do, right?

Sometimes I wish I didn't do tickers. Then I realize how powerful they are for reminding me how close my deadlines are. Oh yeah. Those are close...

So I have to show for my weekend:

Two Knitnanas, two Meras, two Kerries and a Rosy. Seven bags. And I even had time to cut another Rosy, so I'm a bit ahead of the game...

Below is one of the Meras from this weekend, and another from last week, which I hadn't shown off yet.


The weekend was incredibly hot and humid (tho' I'm relying on the radio for that information about today, as I didn't stick my nose out my door...it was just a bit warm heading downstairs to do laundry, tho, so I did have an inkling they were right). And yesterday I headed to two farmer's markets and picked up tomatoes, beets, carrots, and eggs. I saw friend Sandra, briefly! That's always nice as I don't see her very often (oh, well except on Facebook).

Mid-to late afternoon, I heard the radio announcer say something about storms in the area, and suddenly I heard grumbling. That went on for a bit, and, while standing at the ironing board pressing a seam, I realized I had a cat under my feet. The camera was close, and you don't know how novel it was that the cat in question wasn't under the bed by now with the level of grumbling we were hearing...so I grabbed the camera and focused on said feline under the ironing board. Everything was set, I hit the button...
and in that split-second timing nature has, an ear-splitting crack landed right on top of our house. You can tell how frightened she was by the SIZE of her glowing orbs, dontcha know...

(And sorry that the photo is fuzzy, but it was such a thunder-clap, that I jumped a bit...heheh.)

That did it...she had company on the stairs from that moment on, by the way. I think The Tonk is aging into his own fearfulness.

(sigh)
But she has been a stick-me-tight ever since. Poor sweetie.

Cat Sidekicks...

And no, I don't mean my brood!

This kind of Sidekick!

I've made these six in the evenings this week, all in advance of the National Capital Cat Show - if you click that link, you'll be taken to their website, and *then* if you click the vendors tab, you'll see the link to Nana Sadie Rose! As I put these together this week, it suddenly occurred to me that these aren't just perfect for the sock knitter who likes to knit as she walks but will also be perfect for tying onto a walker or wheelchair arm! When you think about where I work, it took me way to long to figure that one out...heheh.

So now it's all sewing, almost all the time now...and what do you know? We're closing in on the weekend! Tomorrow, TGIF!!
;)

Sunday Afternoon...

Much of this weekend has flown by doing things other than what I know I need to be doing, and as a result I'm feeling a bit flustrated. Yesterday was mostly spent shopping for Farmer's Market veggies (and I'll have a post over on Nana Sadie's Place in a bit about that) and shopping for uniforms for the Nana Sadie Rose "crew." Dinner with sis-in-law last night at Panera, then more shopping, finally heading home and answering the call of my accounting "tutoree" (sometimes I wonder how I get myself into these things, but this is a friend, and we usually help our friends out, right?)

I'm about to begin another session of accounting help shortly, but I wanted to get some things up here for you to enjoy...I certainly had fun making these for the National Capital Cat Show:

When I saw this cute print, I had to pick it up, even tho' I know it won't appeal to everyone, but brown, avocado, and orange, being 1970's colors, still speak to me somehow, even tho' I no longer have them in my house! (oh, well, except for all that Tupperware...). This Rosy seemed like the perfect bag to make up in this print.

Then I simply had no choice but to make a sample Sadie bag. This is the largest bag I make, and I don't stock them, they're only available by custom order. I had sold the last sample last year at NCCS, mailing it out to the buyer after the show was over, and hadn't made another one. Then I saw this wonderful print by one of my favorite artists, Dan Morris, and had to snap it up! It was perfect for this bag, as it's a bold stripe.

And from my button stash, I pulled this darling handcrafted item and stacked it with the aqua button beneath it. Couldn't have planned it better, I don't think!

This sample won't be sold. It's Nana Sadie's *wink*

Sorry! But...TGIF!

Okay, have to admit I did think about posting sometime the middle of the week, but I never got a second to do so, and now here it is, the weekend again...probably should expect that to continue, at least till the end of September (after the TKGA Greensboro show).

I stopped on my way home from work tonight at our newest LYS, Wyrd Sisters Yarn in Piccadilly Square. This isn't the best location they could have chosen from the standpoint of my pocketbook...it's entirely too nearby! But it's a great little shop, in a nice little mall (I discovered a new place to eat, too, right there...it's in a spot that I'd never have looked at, my travels take me on either side of the mall (by maybe a mile or so each way from their doorstep) but not on that stretch of road, as I tend to traverse a parallel route. Anyway, it's so close to my house, I may end up finding that this little shop will become a haunt on those days when I (1) have nothing else to do (okay, that's rather rare), (2) am craving other yarny folks' companionship, (3) have had "one of those days" (or as was the case today, "one of those weeks!), or (4) am procrastinating on something I really must do...(also something I was doing today, as I couldn't quite bring myself to go straight home and sew!) I decided I would head to The Discovery Shop as I thought they were having a sale, and shortly after I made the turn to head down that route, I thought, "OH! Wyrd Sisters!" and immediately decided I'd stop there first.

So instead of being good and going home from work to work at home...I ended up buying this:

(Methinks The Meezer approves...)

The browns are all the same as my lovely favorite girl-cat, but the lavender? hmm...that's all Knitnana, through and through...
*wink*

Another Weekend Blowing Past Full Sail!

I'll tell you what: I remember being a child and wondering when my mom mentioned to her friends how fast time flew and thinking..."no, no it DRAGS..."

Heh. Sorry Mom, I didn't mean to doubt you. You knew exactly what you were talking about. And I wish I could put a weight on the days to slow them down just a mite.
:)
Anyway, 1/2 way thru the weekend, here's what I've managed to finish:

Four Rosies for the Cat Show. These are made with cotton throughout (no flannel) and have 3 pocklets, including a pen sleeve.

The kids are underwhelmed. They happen to be telling me in that photo that it's time to turn off the machine, feed them, and spend more time on the books. The client's books, not the NookColor!
*wink*
Should have those done tomorrow, and then...I'm helping a friend with accounting ... hmm...should I get the MBA or should my friend?
lololol

Back to Work...Back to the Real World!

Back to work today, and re-entry is always hard. I took Friday and Monday off, to make a nice long weekend, didn't do nearly the amount of sewing I probably should have but there was company, and projects on the house, and celebrating the birthday, and ... and ... and ...

I did manage to finish these - The Lavender Ginger Socks, yarn from Fiber Space, purchased on my President's Day trip to DC to visit my Big Sis. This yarn (Knitting Fever Indulgence in 6-ply) is a heavier fingering, almost sport weight, and I'm looking forward to wearing them this winter...(that's my toe-up vanilla sock with picot hem on the cuff)

The house is tighter now that the windows have been weather-stripped and caulked and the shrink-wrap applied...there were other projects completed (a new cabinet for the sewing room!) and much laughter and casting thoughts back to younger days. Fifty-five ain't so bad, I suppose...

But The Tonk (and The Meezer, who spent most of the weekend hiding, or skulking around the edges of every room in the place as she tried to be a part of the activities while also being the most unfriendly Siamese imaginable) are both thinking that maybe I did something I shouldn't have.

I went back to work. They were really happy having me IN the house for 4 days. Tonk especially - he had many happy hours chasing crinkle balls.

And now, I'm gone again.
(sigh)
Oh well, Tonk. I'm sure there's another holiday upcoming (oh...maybe I shouldn't tell him the next one his "Auntie Lynette" will be here house/kitty sitting while I'm at National Capital Cat Show!)
Shhhhhh....he's grumpy enough right now.

Finally! A Modeled Shot of Ishbel!

As luck would have it, this being my birthday weekend, an old friend was in and we headed out to a celebratory dinner this evening. I dressed up for the occasion, draping Ishbel across my shoulders knowing the restaurant would be chilly (they always are, in the South!)...As I was getting ready, I suddenly realized I had the perfect opportunity to have Ishbel photographed as I actually modeled her:

And here's the money shot!

Birthday's not till Monday, but we had a great time at a favorite restaurant...

And The Bernina Sings!

8 sets of baglets, a few odd baglets to pair with others to make sets, several checkbooks to match sets of baglets, a Sidekick because I had enough fabric and the matching cute button to go with...

That's today's bounty...and while, perhaps the Bernina really doesn't sing so much as hum, there's a Meezer who is singing loudly, telling me first of all that I've ignored her long enough, and also that she wants me to make the booming stop. There are fireworks going off, tho' I could have sworn I was far enough from the Salem Fair not to hear them, and they really don't sound like firecrackers, but booming there is, and we know how skittish The Meezer gets over thunderstorms - it sounds a lot like that to her...

Tomorrow night will be far worse, of course. The fireworks will be only a matter of a few blocks away.

Poor dear. I'd best get the dust bunnies out from under the bed so she can hide there in peace.
*wink*

A Nice Long Weekend...

Of course, for me that means working at the cutting table and sewing machine (not to mention the ironing board!)...but then again, there are rewards for this, you know? Rewards like:

A Mera and a Kerri bag for the National Capital Cat Show...

And another Kerri bag for the cat show with a set of baglets and a checkbook to coordinate. While I was at it, I also pulled fabrics from stash for more baglet sets. The stash fabrics are about evenly split between cat and "other" fabrics - like the coffee set above that also got made today.

I was really tired when I turned off the lights in the sewing room at 10pm and came upstairs. My intention was to sit with my Nook, read a bit, and knit on my Blue Denim Rag-style sock (it's Paton's Kroy which I've not used before)...I set everything in my chair and came to the computer to check email and an hour later, this is what I found in my chair:

The Tonk sabotaged my plans a mite...
*wink*
How are you spending YOUR long weekend?