.. and dig out the fabric stash.

I've been wanting, nearly every day, to dust my beloved Bernina off and take her for a drive. But make what on that drive? Really, nothing was inspiring me to physically move fabric around, pick thread, sharpen my rotary cutter.. nothing. Sew Mama Sew has been posting tutorials every day this month for what they call "Handmade Holidays - 30 Days of Gifts To Sew", and many have made their way into my mental queue, but today... oh my.. today's post on drawstring bags included the Bagsket. Don't you just love that name? Annnnd, its very similar to the Lantern Moon basket with the drawstring top, but without the hefty price tag, and can be made from fabric in my stash! I think I even have enough fusible fleece to make several. Weee!

Now, I would have dragged everything out today, but I'm nursing one hell of a sinus headache. Tomorrow however, I have a plan! Connor and I have a play date with Janet, Greta and James in the morning. Then speech therapy after lunch. But after that.. Bernina baby is getting warmed up for some stitchin'!

In a few days, on Sunday to be exact, I will celebrate my first annual 39th birthday. This is a big milestone, no? Well, maybe it isn't since I plan to celebrate the same birthday every year from here on out.

So I'd like to entertain a little reversal here, and have a little contest. No answering questions, no donations to charities, just leave a comment telling me about a favorite birthday present you've received. I'll pick one at random on Sunday, November 4th and put together a little surprise package for the winner. See, as much as I love receiving surprises.. I adore putting together surprises for others. If the winner is a knitter or spinner, perhaps you'll get a nice fibery surprise in the mail. If you're not, maybe an Amazon or iTunes gift certificate... I have lots of ideas!

And here, I'll get you started. What is my favorite birthday present? Cassidy! She was born just a few months shy of my 30th birthday, and I had always wanted a baby before I turned 30 (weird.. I know!) But besides all of that, Richard and I were both surprised, since we had always thought our path to parenthood would be a difficult one. We were looking at facing lengthy and heartbreaking fertility cycles.. then there it was.. a positive pregnancy test, all on our own. And after a rocky first trimester, when we were expecting the worst to happen every day, despite bed rest and progesterone supplements, we were truly blessed... just in time to fulfill my 30th birthday wish.

Now, go, and tell me all about your favorite birthday present! As you can tell, it doesn't have to be a "thing", it can be "the perfect day", a great meal... anything.

P.S. Scorpios Rule!

I don't have much to show this week, since everything being worked on has a "secret status". I did snap this picture though, which shows soooo little of the overall project..

Seed stitch. Lots of it. I usually hate doing seed stitch, but I'm finding it this time around soothing in its rhythm. Great for simultaneous knitting and tv watching. I only have to stop every once in a while to measure the length.

The spinning guild holiday project is underway as well, but I couldn't figure out how to photograph it without giving too much away. So that stays invisible for now. Y'all know the handspun being used already. And you saw the book and lace needle, so its not a stretch to assume it will be lace. Use your imagination, knowing that I've now completed the set up rows and several repeats *grin*.

Call me crazy, but I'm suddenly itching to dig out some of my 30s reproduction fabrics and start a quilt. Yeah, C R A Z Y. As if I didn't already have too much on my plate.

I know that sounds terrible coming from a mother, doesn't it? To be happy that her kids are back in school and out of the house? Its not that I'm happy they're out of the house. I'm happy that there is a defined routine (something that can never be strictly adhered to in the summer) and that Cassidy, Alex, and Dylan are actually excited to get on the bus in the morning.

Dylan is especially excited, as he enters kindergarten. In fact when he got off the bus yesterday, after his first day at school, he ran up the steps exclaiming "School is FUN!" (of course kindergarten is fun.. we only hope he thinks, first, second and so on are fun too!)

So Connor and I are home alone, and will start his therapy line up on Monday, though is new occupational therapist will be stopping by today to meet us. Today we'll just be talking about how Connor has progressed through early intervention services and we'll also be setting some new goals. I'm just hoping that since both of Connor's new therapists work out of the same agency, we can all get together soon to coordinate our game plan.

And now that my day is slightly less hectic (no fights to break up, no reminders- at least during the day, to pick up dirty socks and toys,) I need to start addressing some chores and projects. Firstly I need to start thinking about moving my plants back into the house from the sun room. Once the temperatures start to dip, we keep that room's door closed (and un-heated.) The problem however, is that I've acquired several plants over the summer so I'm literally out of surface space. I've already purchased some swing arm hooks for my plants which can be hung, (like the epiphyllums and spiders.) But I also have several snake tongue plants from separating a monster of a plant earlier this year, a huuuuge fiddle head fig, and an equally large umbrella tree. Since floor plants don't work very well with a toddler and a cat, I need to raise them a little. I've found that bar stools work really well, and are much stronger than the overpriced and flimsy plant stands that can be found in the gardening section of any discount chain. So add those items to my "to purchase" list, as well as maybe a pretty and inexpensive bakers rack to display a lot of my smaller plants.

I also plan to be a little more active in some of the hobbies I've let slide. Most notably quilting. My poor sewing machines have been sadly neglected for about 2 years now, and I feel bad every time I pass one of them.

I've promised Cass that I'd dig through my monstrosity of a fabric/notions stash, as part of my autumn organizing, and send her a little care package. She has jumped back into sewing/quilting, so I'm excited to see what she comes up with.

And speaking of Cass, shes starting a new Friday ritual called..

I like this idea.. and it may actually force me to post about knitting/spinning/quilting at least once a week. So without further adieu, this is what I'm working on..

These Roza's Socks (I know.. another pair - I just love this pattern) are being worked in Cider Moon Flurry colorway "peas and carrots", chosen at The Loopy Ewe because, y'all know how much I love orange and green. I started these on the way to PA last week and this is as far as I am. Shocking.. because I expected to have one sock done by now.

And my spinning guild holiday wool has finally met my wheel. I plan to spin this as lace weight singles. And of course because of that, my holiday gift project will be lace. I'm not sure which pattern yet though. But even when I decide, I doubt I'll be documenting that particular project, since several of my fellow guild members read my blog and I'd hate to spoil a surprise.

I also started work on the Dana Bag (that Berocco pattern I complained about a few weeks ago.) However right now there isn't much to show. I'm halfway through ONE of the side pocket panels, which requires 13" stockinette over like 300 stitches. This one is going to be a long winter long project for sure.

I've often been criticized for my stash of fabric and yarn, not to mention the number of sewing machines I own...

Attention friends and family members... Back off.

It could always be worse.

Did I buy paint? No. We ended up not having time to run through Lowes between having to pick up some epiphylum cuttings from a fellow freecycler and being back home in time to meet a yet another freecycler to pick up something I offered. Its ok though. I'm going to gut clean the kitchen this week to get prepared, so that once I pick out colors, I can get started right away. I did find a very cool tool at the Sherwin Williams site though.. their Color Visualizer. Go play with it.. its FUN! I'm leaning towards something like 6087 - Trusty Tan, though I'd mix it around a bit. The peachy orange would be on the walls. The white on the cabinets and the tan on the accent molding, with new brown countertops too. Wee!

And the whole reason we didn't have time yesterday was that we left late. Late because I was having too much cleaning up the new acquisition..

A before shot. Before deep cleaning that is.. I had already wiped it down to remove the surface grunge. But even with the haze and years of sedentary life, you can still see the perfect decals!

Not the best lighting, but you get the idea. All I do is take a soft toothbrush with some WD40 and gently scrub at it to lift the hardened oil grime and rust. I was able to get most of the rust off the bobbin winder, and badge plate, but all of these will have to come off the machine head anyway for a good soak and a better scrub. As you can see I located my spare belts and installed one. She has a pleasant click click click common with vibrating shuttle machines. The one thing I did notice though, is that the veneer damage is so bad in places that I think its beyond my knowledge and capability to fix. Perhaps not worth fixing. I think it might be best that if I'm lucky enough to come along an identical cabinet, just swap the head out and place it in the new cabinet. Its a bummer for sure. According to my guestimation this machine dates to 1909ish.

Anything else this weekend? Not really.. though I did put down some money on Mega Millions and the NY Lottery. Mia had linked to an astrology page in comments a bit ago when I was complaining about Mercury Retrograde. In that reading, it said I should play sweepstakes and lotteries. Did I win? Yes! Three whole dollars.. certainly not enough to buy a luxury home, but almost enough for some baseball tickets.

A contest! Not knitting related for my knitting readers, but its an iPod! I want! Live Learn Invest is giving away a brand new Ipod Shuffle of your color choice by simply mentioning Printed Circuit Board Quotes.

My Saturday didn't turn out quite like I had planned. My wonderful husband let me sleep in, and I mean really sleep in.. I didn't crawl out of bed until 11AM! So all day I had this shortage of time feeling, which ultimately leads to me being totally scattered, running from chore to chore. I did get a lot accomplished though! I had replied to an offer on my local freecycle list about a pair of treadle sewing machines, and it turns out the person offering them is also a collector. There was another person interested, but upon finding out how much I love to rehab, and use them, she gave me the pick of the two. I chose the White (check out that link, my new acquisition's cabinet is very similar.) It has some veneer damage, but nothing I haven't handled in the past. The decals.. *gasp* are nearly perfect, so near perfect I'm giddy over it all. I gave her a good scrub down in the driveway today with some Murphy's then a good soaking with Howard's.. pictures tomorrow because I forgot today. I do need to take some parts off the head, and scrub them down with some WD40, locate my spare treadle belts, but I may have her making a stitch within the week.

Amidst all the running around from task to chore, Richard and I briefly talked about our plans for the kitchen. We've decided since the remodel is out of the question this year, some painting was in order. Walls, cabinets, everything. I've actually been planning this for a while now.. but we're totally stalled because I can't decide on the colors. So tomorrow we're going to head to Lowe's and get some sample cards, check out counter tops, and look at some under cabinet lighting since ours conked out and currently just blinks on and off if we try to use it. Who knows.. if I find a color I love, I may just buy the supplies and get started.