Nothing since MAY???

Come on, ladies and gent, let's get posting. Granted, I'm one of the non-posters as well, so here's my update:

1) finished the knitting part of my mom's Christmas 2008 present; just have to figure out and attach the fringe.

2) started yet another baby blanket (knitting), but this one is in Badger red for a Badger baby in Wisconsin. :-)

3) crocheted LOTS of squares for the Girl Scout in Kirkland, and donated the rest of the yarn I had I didn't get to use (thanks to Glenn Peterson for that one!!)

4) haven't finished my step-sister's handwarmers yet, but I'll get there.

5) spending lots of time knitting and watching TV online in air conditioned places, like Panera Bread in Redmond or at Northgate. Bonus: they have an excellent new low-cal salad called the Chopped Cobb (chicken, egg, tomatoes, bacon, lettuce, some lovely cheese that starts with a g, and a very light herb vinaigrette). Full size = ~490 calories! (Though the frozen coffee drinks effectively negate the excellent cal count of said salad...)

6) seriously thinking of heading to Alaska to ride out this damn heat wave.

Meeting of the Minds

This marks our first real-time blog post: I am currently sitting at our monthly Seamsters meeting with Chico (the Javanese) and his human Sandy, Beth Z, Jackie, Kathy, Alice, Wes, Beth K, Liz, and Sarah. Knitting needles are clickety-clacking (Jackie, Sandy, Beth K, Sarah, Kathy, Jenny...hey, fiber's fiber!) and Wes is doing counted cross stitch.

Talked a wee bit about Northlake's autumn Art Show, how to make it live long & prosper, how to get wonderful artists/craftspeople involved (shameless plug alert: if you are an artist, have cool ideas, or want to volunteer, email at artshow@northlakeuu.org), etc.

Then a little show-n-tell: Sandy finished her quilt for Baby Gus, save for the binding; Beth brought her three notebook covers (two big 'uns & one little 'un); Jackie showed her "Einstein" knit coat, in progress; Kathy's knitting a big felted bag for her quilting retreat's auction; Beth is knitting a loverly hat for Steve, a.k.a. "Stumpy;" Sarah is knitting handwarmers; Sandy is knitting a beautiful linen stitch scarf (see earlier post & photo from Beth K); and Liz is busily painting on fabric. I'm alternately typing, taking photos, and knitting on a wool sock.

Demo time, demo time, time for demo time! Liz is demo-ing surface design! Pentel Fabric Fun pastel dye sticks (www.dickblick.com/products/pentel-fabric-fun). Very cool stuff. Liz's super-groovy tool? A triangular makeup sponge. Wow, stamps, pastels, watercolor pencils, thread...so many ways to embellish. Gonna score some of those dye sticks soon!

And now down to brass tacks: those of us who have sewn squares for the winter raffle quilt (a colorful raw-edge bullseye with black & white backgrounds) have brought them in. They've been quartered and thrown upon the design wall for scrutiny and re-arrangement by committee. Not as difficult a process as you might think...By Jove, I think we've finally got it.

News flash: this year's Mariners Stitch & Pitch will be Thursday, August 27th. Let's go, people!
www.mlb.com/sea/ticketing/stitchnpitch.jsp. Our rallying cry? "Yarrrrrrrrrrn!" (Think Jack Sparrow with Addi Turbos).

Well, some of our numbers have already departed (Liz, Beth K, Sarah). I think this post is winding down to a close. I'll throw photos on when I get home.

From the Vault - Langley, Oct. 04

Langley, Part Trois - Memoirs

Langley - We're Gonna Need a Montage!

Langley Retreat, Part Un

Woah...two months is a long time to go without a new post. Shameful! Bad blogger - no doughnut. Since we're so woefully behind, and since we've got a lot of pics, etc. to post, we'll break it into a few posts instead of one gigantor one.

A group of the Seamsters had a rockin' good time at the 8th annual retreat in Langley, WA on Whidbey Island. Happily ensconced in our quarters over the Quilting by the Sea quilt store, eight of us spent Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday enjoying each others' company, sewing, knitting, shopping, eating and laughing. Some sleeping involved as well [and if we're being very honest, a wee bit o' snoring].

The advance party [Beth, Jackie, Sandy, Liz, Jenny] set out at 10 am on May Day - warm weather, blue skies, and no ferry delay. Huzzah! Adele couldn't make it - but hey, she did make it into the group photo and sent tomatoes & avocados with us to boot. Trina, Margaret, and Cyndy arrived Friday evening, apres-work. The early arrivers took a nice, leisurely stroll around Langley and accomplished a Very Important Mission at the Star Store: namely, Cocktail Shaker and Jigger Acquisition for the requisite Gin Gimlets. As it happens, only one taker on the gin gimlets, but hey, Always Be Prepared. We also popped into Knitty Purls to fondle skeins. Beth even modeled a darling hat and scarf for us. 

A little sewing, snacking, quite a bit of conversation, the evening comers arrived, and eventually most of us headed out for din-din at the Langley Cafe. Yum! After dinner we had a photo-op with the sculpture overlooking the water on the main drag. I think Mr. Sculpture is traumatized. At least he wasn't around to hear Margaret regale us with "99 Sex Facts You've Never Heard Before" from an old issue of Cosmo that was lying around [sidebar: the quilting loft has a delightfully random assortment of reading material, everything from a hardcover copy of Medical Humor to old Us & Cosmopolitan magazines to quilting magazines from the mid-nineties...women with mall bangs, mom jeans, and Little House on the Prairie crazy quilt vests - not a pretty picture. But makes for really fun reading!] Oooh, and I almost forgot: Beth borrowed Trina's iPhone to get a very special song: "Now You're a Man! A Manny-Man Man!" which has replaced "Smoke on the Water" as the most tenacious ear-worm ever.

Saturday the rain came in; however, rain tends to boost productivity, since one would rather stay in the "workroom" and work vs. gamboling in the sunshine. Langley is an awfully quaint place. Once there was a break in the heavy rain, a few of us braved the very slight drizzle to head to the Bayview farmers market. Very charming. Did a little noshing - veggie samosas, pancit, lumpia, and even a little naughty caramel/pecan bar. Acquired nice greens for the evening's Mexican potluck supper, as well as a few other choice items. Beth found a chicken coup she would probably sell her first-born for (sorry Ben). But she compromised and got a couple of broccoli starts. Seems like a raw deal (no pun intended). 

Trina's not a doctor, nor indeed a physical therapist, but she did make an armchair diagnosis of my sore foot (school auction injury...can I claim worker's comp?) and recommended I get athletic tape and tape the h-e-double hockey sticks out of it. Which I did, and danged if it isn't working like a charm. Thanks Dr. Trina!

Lots of wonderful projects worked on: the new raffle quilt, art quilts, several quilt tops, a table runner, a top secret project. I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

The quilt shop is not doing as well as could be hoped, and the current owner is looking for a buyer. She's going to try to keep it going, but it's a possibility that she'll need to close her doors. Which would be very sad - it's a wonderful little retreat space, and it was surprising to go back through the guest books and see just how many years we've been coming. In light of this fact, we took some archival photos of all our journal entries over the years which will be put on a separate post. 

All right, I've rambled on long enough. I encourage the other Seamsters to make their own posts! I'll put photos and the journal entries on separate posts. Peace out.

Little Lady Lucy's quilt

Here's the quilt for my little grand-daughter, Lucy. I'm very glad that I started it as soon as I did because it took me forever to finish the binding - apparently not my favorite activity plus I made it difficult for myself in several ways. I mailed it off today, a week after the birth. Perhaps the parents will snap a pic of the little lady herself, lounging amongst the foliage. The blue bits aren't as eye-popping in person.

I also made a sling - I didn't take a photo of that since it's a bit weird without a cherub inside to show what it is really for. I got the design from SlingMeMommy dot com and it was really quite speedy. The one thing I am glad that I did was to chose a fabric that was the same on both sides.

Cyndy