Finally! =-)

She's home! =-)  After being awake for  more than 24 hours and traveling around the globe to get here, one of the first things DD wanted to do when she got into town was to have Mexican Food!!!  Of course!  It's what we all crave when we travel someplace far from here for any length of time.   So, naturally, we all headed straight to the Old Town Mexican Cafe, which is conveniently located on the way home from the airport.  A margarita and chimichanga later, she was ready to head home, see her kitty and our beagle girl, and go to sleep.  Tomorrow morning it's a family holiday breakfast because she missed it on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and was pleased when I suggested it the other day.  Nothing fancy, just a family tradition for most big holidays. 

So!  It's been both a long 6 months and 6 months that in some ways just flew by.  I can't believe it is already over...and I felt like it would never end...weird, huh? I think we've both grown from the experience.  And now, finally, I can sleep without wondering where/how one of my kids is...for now, anyway...and that makes me a happy mom, indeed. =-)

Have a great Sunday everyone!
xo, Debby

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO Part II

Estimated time of arrival: 7:10 PDT!!!  Happy dance, happy dance!!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! =-)

Note:  she said despite the airline's pleas for non-essential trips to be postponed so that stranded passengers could use the seats to get home, there were many empty seats on the plane flying out of London...weird...I guess it was more a case of them trying to get back to the UK rather than US flyers trying to fly home...

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! TraLaLa...

...Fingers crossed! =-)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"UK skies reopen for flights as ash risk is downgraded

All UK airports finally reopened last night after the country’s aviation safety body downgraded the risk posed by the ash cloud that has brought travel chaos to Europe.

Passenger flights and offshore helicopters made a welcome return to the skies over Scotland and northern England yesterday as some restrictions were eased.

Hopes that UK flights would return to normal appeared to have been dashed by a second wave of dust from the volcano in Iceland that has kept many of the country’s airports shut.

However, at 10pm, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) gave the all-clear for Britain to get moving again following days of testing the effects of the ash on airliner engines."

Well, that sucks...=-(

DD has been in Scotland for 6 months.  Guess when she is ticketed to come home??? Saturday...=-/  All we can do is wait and see and hope for the best and a shift in the wind patterns.  I mean, really, what were the chances of a freakin' volcano erupting...sheesh...

Edited to add: From my NY Times email:  "The Civil Aviation Authority has approved the opening of UK airspace from 22:00 today," or 5 p.m. New York time, said a statement from Heathrow Airport.  Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/world/europe/21europe.html?emc=na

Sooooo, a plane or planes have landed at Heathrow this evening...it's a start...I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

A Wow! Friday Finish...

Well, ok, it's a WOW finish for me, anyway =-)

I have been digging myself out of the black hole of my sewing/throw-everything-in-there-when-company-or-a-holiday-comes room for a while now, but it has been a seemingly insurmountable task.  However, and this is HUGE, this week I have been able to organize and PUT AWAY all my yarn and (general, not quilting) sewing/knitting/crocheting books and pamphlets into ONE cabinet!  I made the decision that if the yarn didn't all fit into that cupboard then I had too much and some of it had to go.  I mean, really, no one needs more yarn than will fit in there!!  And it does, with a full shelf above it that holds art supplies.  And I can walk in the room--there is floor!!!--and I even sat down in the MIDDLE of it yesterday to go through a bin of fabric.  I was also able to bring in the bins of quilting fabric I put in the garage LAST April when company came and needed the guestroom closet.  That was where the bins used to be when that was the sewing room...they just never got moved over to the current room.  There is room for them in the closet in the current sewing room now because I have been weeding out and consolidating...a LOT.  All this organizing gives me such a good feeling!  I didn't know if I would be able to fit all the yarn and stuff into that cabinet so the fact that I haven't gone so far over the knitting deep end that I can is wonderful and I feel so much more in control of myself, at least in the yarn department, if nowhere else =-) 

So, here is my Friday Finish for this week.  My dad made the cabinet for my mom as a hutch for their kitchen a few years before he died.  I brought it home when we cleaned out my mom's house, not knowing what I would use it for but knowing I had to keep it because every time I look at it I can see my dad out in their garage working on it, and it really is a nice cabinet, and, well, it's hand made...I had to keep it...it makes me smile...  Now, instead of being a catch-all, it is a working part of my creative life and I love that I can feel my dad there with me...love it... Notice my mom's paper lace shelf edging...sweet and yellowed with age, but I just can't take it off...She's there with me, too...always...

There were some other things I was going to work on this week for my finishing projects...things that only needed a button or a seam or just a tweak, but this yarn cupboard organization took over and, really, is as good a finish for me as any of them could have been.  So, next week maybe they will get thier pictures taken...Or, if I keep on keepin' on, there may be pictures of other areas in the sewing room...I do intend to keep this up, this is only one small area...I really need my room back and a place where I can do the things I love to do.  It's time...far past time, actually...for that space to become my studio again and not the junk room...I mean, seriously!

Have a great weekend, kids!
xo, D.

Mama has a brand new...

...Moosewood!   I am salivating!  I finally fully committed to vegetarianism in January or February of 2009, but had been "almost veggie" for several years before that... I can't believe I haven't gotten around to actually buying and owning this book until this week.  I always intended to, I just never bought it. Wow, am I going to be making some new and delicious meals now!  I'm tired of my same old recipes, though they are good ones, I'm just ready for something new...and, I can't wait to get started on these! 

O.W.W.

Poppy

Friday Finish x 3

Wow, 3 finished things this week =-)

First up, my very first knit sock ever!  I finished this on Tuesday. Yes, I've started the other one now, too... I finally bit the bullet and decided to make a pair of socks...people have been asking me why I didn't or have been telling me that I should...so I did...even though that kind of thing usually makes me resist with all my might...I'm a brat...  It wasn't hard at all; in fact, I found it fascinating to see how it all came together.  I used the two circular needle method, and Patons Kroy Socks FX 75 % wool, 15% nylon yarn.  I'm not too sure that I will go into the sock-making business but it was kinda fun. Um, yes, I have a "few" skeins of yarn for more...you knew I would have...and Mary Ann, I still have the pretty yarn and needles you sent me...I think it will make such a nice pair of socks...now that I know what I'm doing =-)

2nd finish,  a little sweater which I actually finished knitting in NY last October.  All it needed was the buttons. Serendipitously, Laurie over at Crazy Aunt Purl had a little tutorial today about sewing buttons on baby clothes in a virtually permanent manner.  And, actually, it was Laurie who posted a sweater that inspired me to make this little "5 Hour Sweater" ...yeah right...5 hours...ha...whatever...NOT 5 hours...not hard, either...but definitely not 5 hours...not for me...  I liked the colors of this yarn, and it was really soft...but it was acrylic and actually too soft for anything that one would want to have any kind of shape to...but I tend to make baby things in acrylic because of the washability and the price...since babies do nasty things to their clothes, grow out of them in five minutes, and moms like things that are easy to wash.  I would never use this yarn again for clothing, but it might be ok for a little blanket since it is so soft...the pilling that I can see happening right away probably wouldn't matter so much on a blankie.

And last, but not least, I finished a bag that I started probably 2 or 3 years ago.  I had knit the body and the straps already and felted them; all I needed to do was to sew them together.  And I wanted to add a lining.  So that is what I did today after putting the buttons on the baby sweater.  The yarn is a discontinued (of course) Berroco Medley.  I had seen a bag sample in a shop made of it, though, and really loved the way it felted with all the nubs and multi colors, so I hunted some down on eBay...I ended up having to buy 10 skeins...so I have a LOT left...I think I will make some scarves for gifts or maybe a t-sirt style sweater/top or something with the leftovers.  The lining of the bag has a large zippered pocket on one side and a divided "compartment" pocket on the other for my phone, camera, and pen, since it's what I call a "dump" bag and everything I throw into it will be jumbled up on the bottom.  At least with the compartments for those three things I will at least know where they are when I need them, even if everything else is all mixed up on the bottom. I also am so happy that I made the lining in a light blue color so I can actually see what is in my bag.  I think it should be illegal to make a lining in a bag/purse you make or buy out of black or dark fabric! haha! The buttons on the ends of the straps are all different from each other and are vintage carved wooden ones from my jars.  I'm not sure about the dark colors of them on the light blue but in person the bag is very arty, nubby, sorta hippy-groovy colorful, so the dark buttons are probably just fine...I do tend to over-think things...you may have noticed...

This photo does not do justice to the nubbiness and colors of this yarn...it is very groovy and very textured...I think the bright colors are whatever synthetic is in the yarn, so those parts didn't felt, which makes for a really cool effect. I do SO love this yarn =-)

So.  This finishing things every week so that I have something to post on Friday (or Saturday) is, so far, a really good thing.  I've been able to get some things off my guilt list that have been hanging around and that feels great!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.  I hope they are beautiful Spring days for you!

xo, D.

One Word Wednesday

Watching

Just hopping by...

...along with two of the bajillion bunnies who live in or visit my yard, to say I hope you had a lovely Easter!

And I also wanted to update anyone who was worried or wondering:  Yes, we did have an earthquake here, measuring somewhere around 7.0-7.2 or so, centered east of Tijuana, Mexico.  Yes, we really felt it...a lot!  And, yes, we are FINE!  We saw no damage, everything is still on the shelves here, and no cupboards flew open =-)  We did hear from a young man who had stopped by our company offices that file drawers were flying open and the building really shook and swayed but no damage.  I know there was a lot of damage in some of the towns in Mexico, but we were very lucky here.  I was sitting on a huge granite rock out in front of my MIL's house at the time of the quake, out in the sun, talking to DD in Scotland on the phone...At first I thought, hmmm, was that an earthquake?  And then very shortly thereafter I was saying, "WOW! Yes, this certainly is an earthquake!"  It lasted about a minute, the rock really shook, the windows bowed in and out on MIL's house, and the roof tiles made a fierce creaking sound.  Then it was over.  The aftershocks had a sharper, quicker feel. I read this on the NY Times news alert in my in-box this afternoon:

At least five possible aftershocks were reported, including a 4.5-magnitude quake 62 miles east of Tijuana, reported at 4:09 p.m., and a 5.1-magnitude quake near Imperial, Calif., at 4:15 p.m. A 3.8-magnitude quake was also reported 12 miles northwest of Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif. at 4:19 p.m. A 3.6-magnitude quake was reported 7 miles northeast of Julian, Calif., at 4:22 p.m.. A 4.3-magnitude quake was reported 15 miles west-southwest of Calixico, Calif., at 4:34 p.m., and a 4.7-magnitude quake was reported 14 miles south-southwest of Mexicali, Baja California in Mexico, at 4:37 p.m.

The ground rumbled off and on for awhile...it is disconcerting while it's happening, to say the least, and makes you on edge for a bit, jumpy at every noise or hint at another after-shock.

Needless to say, I quickly called DS to make sure he and DDIL were ok and then I called family in NY to let them know everything was fine because the news stations were going berserk with reports.  It is so frightening for them to hear the sensationalized words:  "Massive earthquake in So. California" on the news when they have family here and live in a place that doesn't have earthquakes...Quakes, in general, really don't phase us much here, though...yes, we notice them, usually, but they are few and far between and are nothing that I ever worry about or even think about very often.  Now, fire...that is another story altogether...=-/

Anway, Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

xzo, D.

Fifteen Minute Friday Finish...

I bought this foot stool at least 3 years ago at Ross.  The same day, I bought fringe and trim to put on it.  Ok, you know what happened with that... Soooo, for my Friday Finish I decided it was time...time to dress that plain Jane foot stool up, even though it had lived happily in the pretty room all this time in its naked state.  Easy-peasy. Glue gun, scissors, fringe, trim..Voila!  What in the world had I been waiting for, hmmm???

Have a lovely Easter tomorrow everyone!

xo, D.