What I've Been Up To

First, I want to say I love my monday knit night group. Even though I've been gone for ever to spend time with Matthew, they hugged me and welcomed me back. And to think I almost didn't go. All I wanted to do was go home a have a good cry but instead went and had a blast. And some of us are meeting up on Friday to check out a yarn store near me. :D

So Matthew left for a month long training on a different base today which means I don't get to see or visit him. I had to drive him down so he could be on our regular base by 3 am and I've been bummed ever since. Things should be looking up soon, but I miss him a ton. The reception out there is sketchy so trying to talk to him on the cell is a little difficult.

So here is what I have been up to. Not knitting (though I've made headway since the last post) but quilting: (the best is last)

First quilt is one I've worked on for a "year". I bought most of the material last year, during one of the time's Matthew was gone (in April 08?) I pieced it together in 5 days, and then put the borders on in one this past month. It's a large queen size measuring in at 111 inches long and is at the quilt shop waiting to become a quilt: It's HUGE!


Here is a christmas one I threw together over 2 days at the end of last month. I'm planning on trying to quilt it at my mom's house tomorrow if I can get the material for the backing but it depends on if I can get to the store in time.


A Halloween one (it's languished for 2 years while I waited to learn how to put binding on):


But my favorite, absolute favorite is the Log Cabin Quilt top I finished for Matthew to take with him to Iraq.




There's even one tiny square with strawberry material at his request. It's at the quilt shop now and they've promised me it'll be done on or before September 25th so that when he leaves, it'll be ready for him to take. Can't get into the mushy stuff right now, but I'm sure you all know I put allot of love and prayers int making it.

On the knitting front, I've almost finished the Spring Thing's Shawl that's an Xmas gift but I'm not sure what to start next. There's a sweater I've my eye on and would like to be able to wear it this winter... Of course, my new spinning wheel comes in tomorrow...Hmmmm

Vacation Pictures

So Ok I'm lazy, uber lazy and will try my best to not do a series of pictures (ha ha). First up are from my FIL's camera while we were taking out 2nd series of Old Time Pictures:

I actually think I look cute. Yea! And the 2nd one I thought was neat with both of our eyes hidden.


Skip forward a few days to where we leave his mom and step-dad's house and drive to Silverlake where his dad's side of the family owns a cabin (his great grandpappy helped build the CA aqueduct or some such and was granted federal land).The drive up:

Here is my Super Sexy Husband on the front porch:

Which Faces THIS:


How freaking amazing is that? It's gorgeous. I have over 200 pictures that I just can't get through them all. It's so lovely there (if a tad too rustic for my bug-feared tastes) but my favorite spot (and your moment of FarmGirl Zen) is this:



Love. Will be back. And hopefully next time he'll know how to turn on the propane so we can have hot water to shower. (That is melted SNOW water there to FREEZE your girly bits off-needless to say I didn't take a shower).

FarmGirl Crafty Bits

Not much has been going on around here in the knitting world. I started on my cousin's socks for christmas and had to frog them 4 times before I just went with it. It's probably still too big but there is no way I'm frogging the same damned sock 5 times. You couldn't pay me.

However, in terms of sewing, I have been doing very well. :) First up, my SIL asked for a set of sewn coasters as part of her wedding present (we also got them nice bedsheets and the Martha Stewart Home Keeping Handbook) so I went ahead and made some yesterday (perhaps the day before?)-She likes blue so that's why I picked these colors:


And I snagged some for myself and made:


Aren't they beautiful? I LOOOOVE the material. Love. Also, I've been waiting rather impatiently for the next FarmGirl update/project/whatever so I went to the store and bought material to make this:


It's a pretty Purple gingham with roses pattern and green gingham for the sashing. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, It's a bathroom shot since I'm home alone. :) I love the material and the apron is great considering i made it with out a pattern, but I can't wait until my sewing skills are much improved.

And speaking of sewing, lookie what I got for $50.00 at an antique store for a christmas gift:


I KNOW! FIFTY BUCKS! It even comes in it's own sewing stand:

I'm not sure it works but who cares? A: It'll be for decoration since damn near every woman on my mom's side of the family sews (save my cousin of whom I'm knitting socks for her hubby for x-mas) and so we all have excellent new machines. And B: It's not like we can't take it to our friends shop to have it repaired. :) My husband was at the antique shop with me and was like, "Get it. Get it now, $50.00 we can do". Clearly, I'm going to rock the christmas gifts this year. Perhaps I should start this early every year? (smug smug-lol) Have a great day/night!

Happy 4th of July and a bit of rambling

Happy 4th of July (even though I've 2 hours to go)

So tomorrow, I have work form 10-am to 3 and then a party/bbq/welcome home at my best friends place. I'll probably trade out the beer for yarn. But we also have company coming over to go to the party and they'll be crashing here. I still wish I was strictly a house wife so my house could be *pristine* like it was when I wasn't working versus spending the last 2 days or so making it look like I have. -_- Or something along those lines. Anyway the house guests are 2 guys and one's wife. Whom I met before, but she had brought along her girlfriends so it wasn't like she was talkative with me. Awkward silences much?

It really pains me to admit this because it's so goddamned catty, bitchy and dare I say spiteful, but I totally want her to see my home and wish her's could be like mine. See? I'm a total bitch. I feel bad about it because hello, her and her husband still live with 2 other marines, and gods know they are not the cleanest creatures on the planet. Sigh. Does anyone else feel like this? I mean, it is also about taking pride in my home and thinking to myself, "This is awesome" but do I need to be so damn catty? Where's my bowl of cream?

Ok farm girl stuff (pat, have you joined? you should :P). I've always wanted a country/cottage themed home but the red's and gold's and green's (or bright cheery yellow's) never quite appealed to me. And I was looking at the curtains at target (because let's be honest, it's more cost effective to buy $40 curtains than $100 material to make curtains-that's allot of knittin' time there) and I was literally stressed out. Back and forth on the colors. Should i grab the plum colored faux silk ones that I loved so much or the green? I couldn't see how I wanted the house to be decorated and it was driving me nuts! Not to mention the other guy coming over helped my husband hang the curtain rod in our "dining room" last time he was over and I wanted to make sure he knew I appreciated his efforts.

ANYWAY... It then hit me. As I was walking through Michael's (I bought the plum curtains-purple is my favorite color ever) fake flower section I realized that what I had gotten was PERFECT. They have started putting out fall stuff in the flower section and I walked by an arrangement that had the deep red, gold, brown and PLUM colors-all fall and harvesty. Hot damn! Wait, where was I going with this? Oh! So my country theme will simply be red's gold's and purple's. :D The Curtains btw? Look amazing.

I'll have to post pictures later, but for now I'm off to finish cleaning....meeeeoowww.

HenCircle and my Inner Farm Girl

Hello!I'm not sure who's reading from where, but I joined the Plurkett Sisterhood (ie: http://www.moderngypsy.com/farmgirl/ ) Enjoy that btw, I am. So to my fellow sisters:

My name is Alexis, I'm 23 years old, Married to a U.S. Marine and trying to find a way to cope and deal with the world around me (sounds profound eh?). I have to be honest, I'm scared for the future for the world (terrified and depressed might be better adjectives) and how we'll all be able to deal,but the energy from people *Waking up* is amazing and beautiful.

I got into knitting little over a year ago and it has saved my sanity time and time again. If it wasn't for knitting I wouldn't have found Lime and Violet's podcast and they saved me from 2 major breakdowns, and probably many more. It's interesting to see how parallel my life is with others, I've wanted to knit for forever, sew (I got a sewing machine xmas 06 and looove it), make my own essential oil smell good things and oh, all sorts of stuff for as long as I can remember. Now I found people who want the same!

As for my inner farm girl, I live in an apartment in So Cal with a cement slab for a back yard (it's prettier than that really, check out my Feb 08 blog posts). Every summer I used to visit family out in Southern Illinois and would get to play on various family farms (but mostly indoors, bugs and heat I like not) and even got to pick and shuck corn one year. I've never grown anything myself and while I can for sure try (I almost said do-best not tempt fate) the potted plant thing on my patio, the trees outside are COVERED in spider webs and I'm arachnaphobic. I have a feeling those bastards would try to make a home on my plants. OH! And i only get about 3 hours of direct sunlight a day.

But I'm so energized and excited to start getting in touch with my inner farm girl. I want to make aprons (though the only one i wear is for work at the restaurant), bake bread from scratch, learn to cook in general, decorate my home, keep my sanity while Matthew goes on deployment, craft, create, inspire, and regain my spirituality.

And now, let me leave you with a dose of farm girl zen (My knitting nook).