More Cake

Hello Knitters,

I'm back again at my sister's house. We had a great weekend celebrating her birthday with our family. Above is a picture of the cake a made. It's a strawberry cheesecake sandwiched between two layers of sponge cake, filled with layers of fresh strawberries and whipped cream and then iced with whipped cream. It's her favourite cake, so it went over very well.

Yesterday was filled with appointments so I didn't get a chance to do very much crafting. I started a pair of socks a couple of days ago and I finished the first one last night. I forgot to take a picture though. Maybe I'll wait until the pair is complete and then show you. That will give me more incentive to finish them!

With all the busyness these last couple of days, I didn't get any time to work on my sewing. I decided that I'm going to complete my 30 days, but not necessarily in exactly 30 days - I'm going to stick to the commitment of sewing for 30 minutes each day on as many days as it's possible, but when I miss a day or to, I'm just going to pick back up where I left off. This way I can still complete the challenge, but at a pace that works with my current life schedule. I want to enjoy this endeavor and I find the idea of forcing myself to sew on super busy days to be a very unpleasant thought. Summertime is all about relaxing, taking things easy, and enjoying yourself, so that's the way I'm going to approach this challenge. I'm hoping that by sticking with this, I will come to like sewing even more.

Today I baked some bread, and during the waiting times, I snuck in some sewing. I started a couple projects that I can't talk about here on the blog just yet, but that's a little peek at one of them. Another thing I'm working on is a skirt for myself. It seems like an easier pattern, so maybe I'll have it done soon. Also, I learned today that my cousin's graduation is on the 29th, so I thought it would be a fun goal to make myself a dress to wear to it. I guess this means I should get looking for a pattern and some fabric....I think this means a little trip to the fabric store is in order!

Well, I hope you all are having a wonderful week and that everyone who is participating in the 30 Days of Sewing Challenge is enjoying themselves! I'm off to bed now so that I'll hae the energy to get right back to work in the morning.

Happy Knitting and Sewing Everyone!

P.S. While home on the weekend, I forgot to get the extra yarn I needed to complete my dotted chicken, so I'm going to have to work on it next week when I'm back home. Just thought I should update you all on the progress there!

Speedy Update

Good Saturday Morning Knitters,

Today I'm working on baking the rest of my sister's birthday cake and packing up my things to head home later the afternoon. My sister, Jake and I are going back home to stay for the weekend. I'm excited to see my little Yorkie Emmie! I've missed her and the other pets while being up here. I'm also looking forward to picking up some more of my supplies for both knitting and sewing, since I'm coming back up to spend next week here.

Speaking of sewing. I didn't get any sewing in yesterday for Day 5 of the 30 Days of Sewing Challenge. I did however spend my time looking for patterns. I came across quite a few really nice ideas. I hope I can find some suitable fabric at home to make a few of them.

Well, this is just a quick little update since I've got to get busy so I'm ready to leave when my sister gets off work. I will be back on Monday, so have a great weekend everyone!

Take care!

Making Progress

Hello Knitters,

Today's update is going to be a little short since it's getting quite late and I'm super tired. I got my 30 minutes of sewing done today. I was on a roll making the coasters, so I spent most of the late afternoon and into the evening working on them. It was fun watching them come together.

These are the blue ones I made. I also made two more pink/red ones so that there is a complete set of 4 each.

I also got some knitting done today. I worked on the chicken and got him to the point where all I have to do now is add the dots and his eyes. I don't have enough colours here at my sister's house, for the dots. I'd like him to have lots of colour, so I'm going to wait until I get home to finish him off. After I did that, I worked on taking back the rows of my Traveling Woman shawl that I mess up. I think I've figured out how to get it back on track, at least I hope so! It still needs some more attention though, but I'm going to leave that for the morning when my brain is working better.

An exciting thing that happened today was that Jake set up the wireless Internet, so now I can blog from anywhere in the house! Right now I'm writing this while sitting on my bed in my room :-) We don't have these kinds of luxuries at home, so it's quite a treat for me!

Well, that's about all for today's update. I hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Happy Knitting and Sewing!

Birthday Bash!!

Hello Knitters,

Today was my sister's birthday!! Her fiance and I had her a little party when she got home from work. He did the BBQing and I provided the salad and cake. I didn't bake this one, it was an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. I'm going to bake her real birthday cake on the weekend when we can celebrate at home with the whole family.

This is the lovely couple! Aren't they just so adorable?

I'm not much of a singer, so Jake sang the birthday song to her. This is her "encouraging him to sing" look.

When she blew out her candles she had one left. It's her "one true love" candle.

She said she had a great day, and I'm so happy that I could be a part of it. She's the best sister in the world, and I'm so lucky to have her in my life!

On the crafting front, I officially joined the "30 days of sewing" group today. I'm so excited about this. Janelle had such a great idea, and I'm glad she's letting us all join her. My goal is to work on sewing myself some summer clothes as well as some housewares for my sister's new home. I think this is going to be the perfect thing to help keep me on track. I'm also seriously considering applying this to my knitting, since I have way too many WIPs that need to get finished. I'll think it over, and let you know what I decide.

After all the trouble I had with my top yesterday, I decided to work on something a little less stressful so I made two coasters for my sister. They are something that she doesn't have yet, and I can see that they will come in real handy. I didn't worry too much about perfect lines and shapes, but focused more on the handmade look. I really like how they turned out, and best of all both her and Jake think they're nice!

Well, it's late, and I've had a long day. I'm off to bed now. Have a great night everyone!

Happy Knitting and Sewing!

Tuesday's Happenings

Good Evening Knitters,

How was everyone's day? My cousin came over today for a little visit. It was so nice to see her! I hope that we will get the chance to visit again before she heads back home.

I started knitting a Dotted Chicken from Itty Bitty Nursery this morning. I wanted to have a quick project to work on. I got the yarn way back in April from my Itty Bitty Easter Swap partner Brittany. I'm so glad to be able to finally put it to use! I forgot to bring my fiberfill, but my Mom is going to bring it up with her tomorrow when she comes to town. If I keep working on it, I hope to have it finished soon. What a cute pattern!

I also got to work on my top this afternoon. I'm to the point where now I only have to whipstitch the facing seams closed and then hem the bottom. I thought I should try it on to see how it looked, and guess what, it doesn't fit. The top part is way to snug! I was really surprised because it didn't look like it was going to be. I'm a bit frustrated, so I think I'll wait till tomorrow and try to figure out what to do. It does have 5\8" seam allowances, so I thought I'd try to take them out and re-sew them at 1/4". Maybe that will help.

I came across a really great post today on Melissa's blog Knitting a Baby . She was talking about committing to sewing for 30 minutes everyday for 30 days. She got the idea from Janelle over at Pretty Little Stitches. I thought that was a great way to keep on track with my goal of sewing myself some summer clothes. Imagine how much you could get done if you sewed for just 30 minutes everyday. My life is very conducive for this right now. Being home alone all day long lends to getting quite a bit done, but I thought this would help me to keep motivated. You could really actually apply this same principle to anything that you would like to get done. I think I might consider using this with my knitting! I could really use some motivation in that area right now! There seems to be quite a few WIPs hanging around my house lately....

Well, I'm off to bed for the night. I've got an early doctor's appointment in the morning! Have a wonderful night everyone!

Happy Knitting!

P.S. Tomorrow is my sister's birthday!! I'm so excited!! :-)

Just a Regular Day

Hello Knitters,

I hope everyone is getting their week off to a good start. Today I went to the dentist for a cleaning, and got to go to Walmart with my Mom to pick up some sweats and slippers. I'm staying at my sister's new house with her this week and forgot to pack something comfortable for just lounging around the house. This morning I answered the door at like 11:30 am in my jammies, since I had nothing else to wear while sewing, and scared the Jehovah Witnesses pretty good! lol I felt pretty stupid at the time, but had a good laugh at myself about it later. I was so flustered (as were they) that I still took their paper while trying to explain that I'm a Christian and already have my faith, so I didn't need to go to their convention. They were probably thinking "boy does that girl need some help!"

I haven't gotten around to actually knitting anything since I've been here, but I did get some sewing done. Last time I posted I was working on a baby quilt that needed to be hand-tied, and I did get it almost completed. I ran out of embroidery floss with only four ties to go. Now I've got to go on the search for some more floss that will match. So in the mean time, I'm working on sewing a top for myself. One of my goals is to sew some summer clothes for me, so this is my starting piece. I was debating whether or not to make it a top or a dress, but I think I decided, with the help of my sister, to make it into a longer top. The pattern I'm using is the "Smashing Smock" from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing. By the way, I don't think I ever mentioned this before, but back in the spring, my Mom won a Toshiba Netbook from the Tim Horten's "Roll Up the Rim to Win" contest, and since she's not really a computer user, she gave it to me (I love, love, love my Mom!!), but I haven't really figured out how to upload pictures just yet. Maybe by my next post I'll have figured it out.

Anyways, I should get going. I think I might try out my sister's new stove and make some cheesecake squares. Have a great evening everyone!

Happy Knitting

Nip Cancer Girls

Hello Knitters,

I have a special announcement to make!!

Hop on over here to check out a few things I donated to the Nip Cancer Girls. Linsay and her friend Jessica are selling items in their etsy shop to help raise money for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for a Cure. There are quite a few lovely and adorable items in their shop and I hope you pop over and take a look. All the money goes to the Susan G. Komen foundation so it's a very, very worthy cause! I met Linsay (mommieof4munchkins) through Ravelry and was so touched when I heard she was raising money for breast cancer. I lost my Auntie Lorna to breast cancer, and even though I was very young at the time and don't remember much, my Mom was really close friends with her and I've seen the impact the loss has made in her life. My sister's future Mother-in-law also had breast cancer, and I'm happy to say she is a survivor! Our family has been touched numerous times by breast cancer as well as all forms of cancer, so anytime I see a way to help with finding a cure, I do my best to donate what I can. Please take the time to go and check out their shop. If you'd like more information on the Nip Cancer Girls, you can look here, you can join their facebook fan page, and even follow them on twitter @nipcancergirls. Way to go Linsay and Jessica, you two are wonderful examples for us all! I wish you both all the best in the world!