Vomit Logs

I've been slowly working on the Scrappy Stash Quilt-a-long over on Ellison Lane Quilts.
The blocks go super quick when I get a chance to work on them.  (Boo on Jury duty)
Monday I got this far:

Then yesterday I watched some Downton Abbey on Amazon Prime and made a few more.

I'm calling these Vomit Logs because I am using any and every type of scrap fabric I have.  They are sorta wild!!!!  I plan on trying out quilting it myself.  EEkkkkk!!!   I hope it doesn't turn into a mangled mess!!

I have a few finished knitting projects that I will try to get put up soon.
Happy Crafting!!!

October Farming

Not sure about you but I think it is too cold outside to do much farming here.  So I will do the inside kind.  Quilting!!!

Noon and Night- somehow I made two of these, but that is ok, I have to repeat some anyways to get the amount I need for a King sized quilt.

Old Windmill

Now I noticed that I skipped one in the book, Northern Lights!  Will have to do that one next!

Been doing a few other crafty things and getting everything ready for winter.  None too soon because the snow is on the ground.
Happy Crafting and Farming!!!

Foodie Stuff

I got a new cookbook.  Now if you could see my cookbook cabinet you would say, "Why did you need another cookbook?"
Cookbooks are so wonderful.  They are like little books of tasty treasures.  All the possibilities!!

Being the wierdie that I am, I always like to start at the front of the cookbook and work my way through.  That didn't work this time.  The front cover caught the kids eyes and that is what I made first. Homemade pop tarts.
I behaved and didn't try them.  If I would have I would not have been able to stop and I would have eaten them all.  So I let the girls eat them.  I made jam, nutella and cinnamon sugar.  The jam and nutella were the favorites.

Yes, these look a bit unfortunate.  But I just had to share.  haha

Next time I will be a little less messy with the egg wash.

And while those were cooking, I  found some bugs in my sugar!!

Just kidding.  I made some vanilla sugar with some of the leftover vanilla beans from my vanilla extract.  It is crazy expensive to buy but this is super easy and cheap to make.  This will be so yummy sprinkled over fruit or on top of cookies.
Now that I have gained 5 pounds by posting this, I had better go to the gym.

Threadbias

Oh my...
Just what I need.

Have you joined Threadbias?

I am going to try, really hard, to mostly use it as a place to organize my quilting projects.  I can already see that I have WAY too many WIP's.  I need to be one of those finisher people!!!

So I added this:

and this:

and this:

And I could go on and on!!
If you join up, I am aksherry.
I had better get to cracking on all these projects!!

Messed up Farmer

I think my Farmer is messed up!  I thought Farmers worked mostly in the spring and summer.  Well, mine sat all summer!!!!!
I finally got started on my Farmer's Wife quilt this week.  I got a nice bit of fabric from Silly Mama Quilts.  I was running out of Fig Tree fabric to use.  The shame!!!

This week I made:
#58 Mother's Dream

And #59  Night and Day

I got another one finished but since it started Snowing!!!! , the light was crappy for taking a picture.  Boohoo.  Seriously, I could cry.

Since I am making 141 of these thingies, I figure I am a not quite half way.  I have made two of some of the easier blocks.

Happy Farming!!!

Rainy Days...

It has been raining.  Not just raining,  Raining.  The rain sounds like someone is filling up the bathtub.  Nope, it is just filling up the outside.

Last week I drove to Anchorage and back so that my hubby could go to work.  This is 150 miles both ways.  The wind tried to push me into the inlet and the rain tried to drown me.  But I survived.
I had all sorts of plans to work on my crafts after I got back home but I was just so tired.  It was not a relaxing drive.  Mostly I just vegged and did laundry.

I am making something new, thought it is not from fabric or fiber ....

Haha, doesn't look like much does it?  I am making my own vanilla extract.  I used bourbon and some vanilla beans I ordered from Ebay.
It gets darker everyday!!!  I'm thinking that a few of friends will be getting some for Christmas.

Coming soon... Farmers's Wife blocks!!!

Happy Crafting!

Ever Have?

Ever have one of those colds that never really turns into a cold?  Just makes you annoying tired for weeks?  I have one visiting me.  Not my friend.  One day my ear will hurt, then the next day I will be stuffy.  Been going on for 3 weeks.  I wish I would just get SICK and then it would go away.
Mostly it has just made me tired.  So when you are tired, what do you do???
Make hexipuffs!!!!!

Most people probably sleep, huh?

I have a nice little box of them.  I want to start sewing them together sooooo bad, but I know that my tastes in colors varies wildly from time to time so I don't want a mostly pink side.  I want the colors to be all mixed.

And of course, Nosey had to check it out.  Naughty boy grabbed one out too!!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Grandmother's Flower Garden and maybe I am a Beaver??

EEP, How I love thee.  I am amazed at how much I love doing this.  I have all sorts of visions of making lovely things..
then reality hits and I realize that it takes a freakin' long time to make just one flower!!

Polka dots are another love.  I keep scanning all the new fabric lines to see if they have little polka dots.   I'm trying to keep my sticky fingers off of all the other fabrics though!

Last post was all about food.  My obsessive need to put food away for the winter.

Maybe I'm a beaver, or a squirrel????

Us weird folk up here in Alaska always say you can tell how bad a winter is going to be by looking at how the Beaver is fixing up his dam.  If it is extra thick, an extra bad winter.  Well,  maybe I had better be looking for a beaver dam.  Last week Anchorage got hit with a winter storm.  Yes, last I looked it was September.  Rain, wind, wind and more wind.  My daughter was without power for 6 days.  130 mph winds will do that.  This last weekend was almost a repeat.  And now they are saying two more are on the way!!!

Maybe I knew it was coming, somewhere deep down inside??  hahaha
I sure hope this is not a prediction of things to come for this winter.  Last winter was bad enough.  At least I will have a bunch of yummy food to eat.  (note to self, get propane tanks refilled. Gotta have a way to cook it!)
And if I get busy maybe I can keep warm under a new quilt!!!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Food!

The nights are getting crispy here.

Like in the 30's crisp.  Yikes.  When Fall is upon me I get this desire to buy food.  Hoard food?  Can food.  Freeze food.  Get.food.in.the.house!
It must be that I devoured Little House on the Prairie books when I was a kid. (Well, actually sometimes I will get a hankering to read them now.) Must get prepared for winter.  You would think the grocery stores shut down.
Well, actually, we did have one winter where there were so many avalanches that the stores stopped trucking food down to us.  It didn't take long til there were mostly just eggplants at the store.
Anyways....

On Wednesday I scored a box of bananas for $5.  Here that is a fabulous price.  I have been dehydrating, freezing some for smoothies and freezing some for banana bread. If you have never had real dehydrated bananas (not the greasy ones from the store) you are missing out.  Most of the time they end up being eaten as soon as they are done.

I also have a case of Granny Smith apples that are being turned into apple butter, apple pie filling, applesauce and maybe some dried apples too.

This turned into applesauce!

Three pies in the freezer.  I freeze them in the pie plates, take them out when they are frozen and then put them in ziplocks in the freezer.  Then all I have to do to make a pie is, make a pie crust and then pop it in the oven!!!

Applesauce and apple butter.
The pictures look a little odd.  We are having an unusual winter type storm heading in.  Strong winds and rain, (thankfully not snow).  More like something we have in November and December.

I still have about one more batch of applesauce to make and some more bananas to process but I did get a lot of it done.  While I was waiting on things to process, I watched Netflixs and sewed on my Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks.  I will show you those soon!!!
Happy Crafting!!!

Internet MIA

Hello all,
I am back from vacation.  I thought vacation time would be a nice time to catch up on some blogs, maybe do some little blog posts.... Nope!
We had no internet!!!!  I would type in the ridiculously long password and the little thing would spin and spin and spin until I got the timed out message.  I finally just gave up.  And guess what?  The internet survived without me!  I didn't think it could happen!
The vacation was nice even though I did have to ride in the car for 2085027 hours each day.  I think my butt was permanently asleep.  Found an area that we would love to move to!!!  They can actually grow fruits and veggies there!  Amazing!!

Just some random pictures!!

The weather was perfect with temps in the high nineties.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven, hubby on the other hand thought he had died and gone somewhere a bit hotter!

So now I am back to the normal day life, baby is a Senior in high school (how did that happen), middle daughter is back to school starting her Dental Hygiene program today and oldest is thinking of going back to school to study nutrition.  So I could possible have 3 children in college next year?????????
eek

I need to get back to my weekly shopping instead of the haphazard stuff I was doing this summer.  I need to clean my house and do some laundry!!  You know it's bad when you are wearing the undies that you don't like.  I need to get back to cooking for my family.  And I need to get back to crafting!!!

After I went to the gym today, I came home and put on my working clothes and go busy.  I have done laundry, cleaned a bit,  made a snack to have on hand for starving peoples and generally had a productive day!!

I made these pretzel dogs today.  Hubby says they are yummy!

Now my break is over and it's back to being productive again!!

Happy Crafting!!

P.S. Thanks for all who followed me on Instagram.  I followed you back!

Camp Loopy 3

Monday to Do
Run 4 miles
change sheets
do laundry
mow lawn
weed
have workout with trainer
dinner for Birthday girl

All Done!!!
Now it is Olympics and Camp Loopy time.

I've got started and now I think it will go faster.  I haven't memorized the lace pattern, but it is becoming more familiar and faster.

I think I need a longer needle, but ummm, I don't have one!  It is going to be bunched up pretty fast!
Hubby and I are going on a little trip next week and he said there are three yarn shops within walking distance of where we are staying.  I'm sure I can find a needle to use.  :)   I haven't had him look up fabric shops yet.  Maybe I will take a really, big suitcase.

This will eventually be Ziggity made out of Madelinetosh.
Better get to knitting!!!

Are you on Instagram????   I'm there as aksherry.  I will follow you, if you follow me.  :)

Happy Crafting!!!

Wash On Monday

and Tuesday and every other day of the week.  It's one of those never ending things.
But now it is a bit more fun since my laundry room is almost done.  We just have one more project that we can't quite figure out yet.

Sink!!!  I have even washed some of my hand knits in there!!

And here is the cute little chandelier.  It makes me smile every time I walk into my laundry room.  Which is several times a day.  :)
See the pink counter there?  That is the last part of the project and the one we are not sure on.  I saw some paint that covers countertops but hubby thinks we might just replace it.

And outside the window is my ugly greenhouse and the nice ladder that we are using on our roof.    Too bad I don't have curtains up to hide the ugly!!!!

Hope you enjoyed my little tour.
Happy Crafting!!!!

Camp Loopy 2 is Finished!!!

Basalt is finished!!!  This scarf (or maybe it would be better to call it a wrap) is heavy.  I won't be cold when I wear this. 

I used the Neon Rose color for the edging, which went much faster than I thought it would.  One and a half episodes of American Ninja Warrior and it was done!!

I was planning on getting some sewing done this week because I got my Camp project done early.  But nooooooo, it had to get sunny so that I could mow the lawn and do all the outside stuff.  But seriously, I will take the sun because those days have been few and far between!!

Tomorrow starts Camp Loopy 3 and the Olympics.  I am excited to cheer for the USA!!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Yarn is Madelinetosh DK

I'm Here to Enable You...

I thought I would show you some of the pretties that have visited my house in the last few months.  I don't have a LYS so any yarn has to be ordered.  I do have some quilt stores that I try to shop at, but lots of times they have different styles than I do, so I end up ordering fabric too.

Gothsocks... don't you just love self striping yarn???  I was lucky enough to catch an update that happened late one evening, my time.  Usually things just fly but I think most of the rest of the US was sleeping, so I got lucky!!

Bad Amy... more self striping yarn.  With a little contrast skein!!!
I was lucky enough to join her sock club when she first started it up.  Amy comes up with great colors and I love every single one of them.

Indigodragonfly... You just have to go to her site and check out her color (or since she is Canadian: colour) names.  They will make you laugh.  And then her colors, sigh.  so gorgeous.  This is her newest sock club shipment. There is always something going on in her Ravelry group, KAL's, fundraising, something.

Now that I have done my enabling duty, it is back to my own knitting.  The 27th (Camp Loopy deadline) is coming fast!!

Happy Crafting!!!

I'm a Sheep

I just can't help it!!!  I fall in love with every new thing I see.
Thankfully, (but sadly) it has been a while since I have had time to check out all the fun blogs.  I suppose winter must be a better time for me to do that.
Anyways...
I'm sure you have all seen the gorgeous Hexy MF quilt.
Well, I might have bought some fabric.  Hmmm, this is for sure going to be something that I work on in the winter.

I got some Kona Iced Frappe for the background and  High Rise Grand Hotel for the hexies.  I plan to use more blues and greens from my stash also.  And yes, this will take me about 100 years!!!

I've been trying to do some organizing in my craft room.  I had all my fabric folded by color on shelves but then I would pull one out and before you know it...mess.  I have been slowly buying some of the Martha Stewart storage boxes and they look very nice and neat.  Only problem is, I have more yarn and fabric than I have room for.  Ooopppppsssss.

Time to get to work on my scarf!!
Happy Crafting!!!

Camp Loopy Progress

I'm making some progress on my never ending scarf,  Basalt.  It is a super easy knit, which is what I need right now.  Everyone is taking time off at work, so my little two day a week job is right now a 4 or 5 day a week job. Yes, I love working there but I really wasn't planning on working that much.  I feel like a gerbil on a wheel, running but never going anywhere!  haha

Basalt has an I-cord edging that goes on the long edge.  Since I hadn't planned on making this pattern, I didn't order a color for the edge.  Of course, when I started looking I just couldn't decide.

I'm partial to the pink (surprised??) and hubby likes the orange/red.  Which is your favorite?

In this picture you can see how the colors blend.  I was so excited that they actually went together like I was hoping they would.  It is hard to choose colors like that on a monitor.

I hear that the I-cord edging takes a long time so I had better get in gear and get the main part done!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Camp Loopy 2

Well, posting from my phone just didn't work.  I downloaded a few more apps and they SAID that they had posted but I sure don't see them!  So, they must be out in cyberspace somewhere.  Freaky!!

I've been trying to get a few rows done each day on my project for Camp Loopy.
I had planned on making Caprio with this pretty yarn,

but.... I got almost through a pattern repeat and made a mistake that I couldn't fix.  And of course, I hadn't restrung my lifeline since the beginning of the repeat.  Rippppp!  I was worried about trying that pattern in such a limited time anyways.  I am not a good lace knitter.
I changed patterns and now I am doing a ton of garter stitch.  I had to use the same yarn so I chose Basalt.  I think it might even be a better pattern for what I am trying to do.  I wanted to do an ombre' look from the darkest blue to the gray.  I just finished the gray and am working on the lightest blue again.  This is going to be a Big scarf.  My oldest daughter keeps eyeing it and says how much she thinks she will wear it this winter.  I will share, I suppose.  :)
Then it gets an i-cord edging.  I have two colors to chose from, a neon pink and a tomato red.  I just can't decide!!!

We have been having the most miserable weather lately.  I tried to get a picture of the scarf in progress but it is just too nasty out.  I will try again!!!!

Happy Crafting!!!!

Just A Test

Since it is summer and I am not finding time to sit down at the computer I thought I would try a blog post from my phone. Please let me know if it works ok. How was your fourth of July? Did Thursday feel like a second Monday to you??? We went to Seward to watch the running of Mt. Marathon. Oops! First snag in the plans. Gotta figure out how to post pictures!!!

A Big Bang

Did you hear that big BangBoom last week???  It was me.  I fell hard at Sunshine Yarns last week.
Here is how it goes:
I see something in the Shop Updates Thread that I just need!  Ok, want but this is my story.  :)
I am at the gym, I see it is almost 9:00.  I take a potty break, (I am not working at this point, working out).  I grab my phone and hide in the bathroom.  I refresh, refresh.... only this time, the pretties that I wanted were almost the last to go up.  So, I stick a few things in my cart.  Yup, those will be sold out by the time I get done.  My phone is so little and it is so easy to click on stuff.  See, this is my story again.  Sometimes I hold my phone up way high to get better reception.  I'm sure the other ladies think I am insane.  Whew, there is that pretty yarn I wanted.  Check out.  Run back to my class.  They all must think I have crazy bladder problems.
After I get home, I check to see what I got.  Gack, tons!!!!  I need to knit faster.

See that pretty green one on the right.  All it's fault!!!
It's called Emerald City and I just fell in love.

Dani at Sunshine Yarns is also having a Colorado Wildfire Fundraiser.  She is putting together some great prizes for anyone who donates.
This is dear to my heart because we have so many wildfires each year in Alaska.  If we weren't so sparsely populated we would have the same situation.  Most of ours are just left to burn out because we have so many dead trees from the spruce bark beetle infestation.  But each year some homes are lost when they are started in populated areas.  I have memories as a child of watching my parents hose down the house and yard as a fire burned right across the lake from us.  The helicopters would scoop up the water from the lake and dump it on the fire.  If you've been wanting to help, this is a great way and you might win some goodies!!!!

I had a change of plans on my Camp Loopy 2 project.  The other one just wasn't working out!!!!
Update soon.  :)
Happy Crafting!!!

A Winner and a Finish

Hello all,
I used a random number generator for the first time today.  Fun!  And he picked #4.

gossamerbabeJune 19, 2012 5:08 PM

Congratulations!! Will be following your blog definitely, new blogger myself and love the way you write! :)

I will be emailing you shortly to get your address.

Camp Loopy Project #1 is done.  Whew, I was right down to the wire on this one.  Tuesday I knitted most of the day and finished it that night at about 8:00.  That was too close for me.  But, it is finished and submitted to The Loopy Ewe.

I present to you, Folded!

A close up of the detail on the front.
I knitted a medium and it is still a bit big through the body.  On it's Ravelry page, people have knitted it to be close fitting and also really loose.   This will be perfectly cozy for the winter.
I used Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the color Tern.

And now on to my next camp project.  UMMM, I'm gonna have to spend a lot of time on this one.  I will update you soon.

One thing about living in Alaska in the summer, is that you get lots of visitors.  Mostly people who used to live here and have moved away.  In the last week, I have been to a picnic (where everyone but me turned into a lobster from the sun), and dinner out with some friends from Germany.  Tonight three couples are coming over here and then Sunday we are going to big reunion picnic.  Ack, too much food!!!!

Enjoy your weekend and Happy Crafting!!!!

A Sunshine Hug

A very long time ago, in a far away land.... oops, wrong story.  Anyways, a very long time ago I joined a traveling scarf group over in Sunshine Land.  Everyone in this group is super nice, and the yarn is just fabulous.  If you have never tried Dani's yarn, you must!!!  The colors, oh my!!
Last week, this showed up in the mail.

I got it all washed and blocked and now I just have to wait til winter to wear my hug.

Jam!!!!  I made some with apricots/blueberries, and some that had a few bing cherries in them.   We already ate a whole jar of the apricot/blueberry!!!  I wish I could grow fruit like this.  I would can it all!!!

I bonked my head pretty hard yesterday so the next few days I have to take it easy.  I got quite a bit done on my Folded sweater.  I think I just don't like to knit sleeves.  I think they should just take a few minutes cause they are small, but they seem to take forever!!!!!

Happy First Day of Summer!!!