Crafternoon

 We had a great group for Crafternoon this past weekend with very diverse crafts being represented. 

Maggie and Aly were doing some quilting.  Maggie has a very precise way of pinning pieces of a quilt together to ensure that they don't shift and that the seams you want to line up are in fact aligned.  She taught Aly this pinning method this weekend and as you can see, they're both pleased with the results!

 Keva decided to join the group and keep herself close to the action!  Mom was laughing because she's really the perfect crafting dog.  She's quite content to lay around while everyone crafts.  

 Kim was working on a knit washcloth.  Interestingly enough, she stated what many crafters probably feel.  This wash cloth is taking way too long; if it were a blanket square it would be different....even though it's the same exact work, for some reason it seems more worth it.  She happens to fit quite comfortably in Tyler's chair so she got the squish chair! 

 I worked on spinning some fantastic fiber that I received in a Mad Color Fiber Arts Geek Tour shipment. 

It's based off of an episode of Doctor Who called "Blink" in which there is the most perfect pick up line ever...."Life is short and you are hot."  I swear, if any guy ever tried to pick me up with that line, I'd fall in a heart beat. 

Aren't the colors fantastic?!? 

 Here I am tucked away at my spinning wheel making great progress.

And this is what the singles are looking like.  I'm trying to keep the colors together on the bobbin because it pleases me to see them all lined up in sections.

 Gary got the other squishy chair and was working on knitting the most lovely green shawl. 

When Aly first walked in the door with her sewing machine and sewing supplies I swooned.  She uses this vintage suit case to keep all her project and supplies together in one fantastic kit. 

 Maggie is working on a machine applique block for a quilt for Aunt Lois.  I tell ya!  Machine Applique takes the patience of Job.  It takes For-Ev-Er to get one block done...But the results are stunning!

Like any good Crafternoon, we had food!  There was an egg, potato, cheese casserole, Cheetoes, Oreos, chocolate bundt cake, orange juice and cranberry juice.  Yum!  But the real treat came in the form of poached pears with fudge sauce over top.  I have never had anything poached before, but now I'm a convert!  Gary has great cooking skill and flair so even though I hadn't had poached pears before I knew I'd be thrilled to eat them. 

 He even put together a fantastic presentation!  They say the eye eats first, but I'm pretty sure my taste buds were the real winners here.

Here is the progress I had made by the end of the day on my stripey yarn:

 Not quite as tidy on the color chunks as earlier in the day, but I'm still very happy with how it looks!

Dress Code

Here's one of the "dangers" of going sample sale shopping with people that you work with. Every now and then you show up to work with the same shirt on as your coworker. Unfortunately, I didn't get one of these same shirts or else we could have written it up into our dress code!

And, as fun as it is to have two coworkers dressed alike, it is nowhere near as fun as the time when we were touring Europe and five out of the seven of us assembled in the lobby of our hotel wearing VERY similar outfits and didn't even notice until we were walking in a line down the streets of London. (Give us a break--we were very tired and it was very early.)

Knotty but nice

I've been doing a bit of knitting lately. Since I've been making many smaller items (hats, scarves, handwarmer mitts, etc., and giving them away to others, and Erika at the office has graciously looked at all of them and admired (either genuine or courtesy admiration...I can never tell), I decided to make her a knit hat of her very own. I REALLY like how it turned out and I plan to use this pattern again.

Pattern is Knotty but Nice from Knitty

And Erika likes it too!

And the Envelope, Please...

It is not every day that I am excited to go to the mailbox...yeah, it's kind of a fun outing when you have been sitting inside all day and need an "approved" destination and yeah, it's great to see all the sale ads that inevitable show up, but...THIS day was a day that I was absolutely giddy to retrieve my mail. Why would I be so excited on a certain day? Why, funny you should ask! I knew what was coming! About a week before, I had learned of a very exciting event that was in the works and that the invitation was being hand crafted and then posted. That same day I was talking to another invitee and she said that hers had already arrived. I would have to ask the neighbors to be sure, but I'm pretty sure I nearly pranced to the mailbox. And my prancing was NOT for nothing!!! When I got to the mailbox, here's what I saw!!!!
Black Envelopes!!! Some may be asking, "Umm...what's so exciting about black envelopes?" And it's not just the envelope that's special, it's that it is written to my from my book boyfriend (who is quite different from my Starbucks boyfriend, my many movie boyfriends and my other various boyfriends) Jacob Black!
And the other great part about the envelope? It was postmarked in FORKS, WA which is where the majority of the Twilight novels take place...Oops...for those who missed the Jacob Black reference, this envelope is Twilight embodied...
Now, if I was this excited about the envelope, how about the awesome inside?
I had a picture of the inside too, but it has someone elses address on it with their name and I'm not sure how they feel about having it posted. BUT if you are interested in seeing more about the creation of these works of art and teaser for a super fun party, see Jessie's post here.
The invitation to the party says that we're going to be taking book cover photos and recommends that we wear black with red accents...I have tons of black, not so much red....Time to go shopping!

Oh Sew Charming!

Cindy Wiens is the craftiest person I know! And now she's the most famous person I know! She designed a quilt pattern based off of the floor tile at Taco Grande taco shop (for those who don't know, it's an amazing taco shop where my associates and I eat a lot!) Cindy created a pattern and now IT'S FOR SALE ON THE INTERNET!!! I am anxious to find my charm pack that is worthy of such a fun (an meaningful) quilt project.