Crochet

 Switching things up a bit. I usually knit my dish cloths but I've been wanting to try some crochet patterns.  I'm going to make a basket for a raffle at sister's retreat the end of January.  It got delayed from last weekend due to damage at the girl scout camps from the 2 hurricanes.  Lots of tree damage on the 600 acres. I'm thinking a couple microwave cozies in girl scout cookie fabrics, some dish cloths and things for an ice cream night. 

I found this link for a farmhouse dish cloth from Amanda Crochets.  I just need to go around it with double crochet to finish it off. The test one will be for me and the next one will be for the basket. I might try a couple more patterns. I got this yarn at Walmart for under $10. 

Marching band is down to just one practice on Friday's after school instead of Monday,Thursday,Friday. She is trying the winter guard rehearsals so has Tuesday, Thursday until 7:30! Try outside are Saturday.  She has never done this so we will see how she does.

The boy is busy with academic club this week then an early drop to school Thursday for him, 6am for their 5 day civil right trip. Ther are heading to Alabama- Montgomery, Selma,  Birmingham, then to Atlanta. 

These kids sure keep us hopping.

Finished Cat and Mouse Quilt!

 The cat and mouse was put on the frame mid March 2020. It was not making progress.... so February 2024 I basted it on the frame and took it off for hand quilting in the hoop. The hand quilting was finished on October 30th. I made the binding on Halloween and finished hand stitching it down yesterday afternoon. It is currently 59x69 but needs a gentle washing so it will get a little smaller and snuggly. I think I might have made the cat blocks back in 2014? Then did the mice a few years later. I think it got to the top stage in 2019 or 2020.  It is nice to cross this one off the list.

The whole quilt in the sun.

A better shot of the quilting. The triangle of cheese for the mice is in the light teal border and the butterfly's for the cats are in the dark teal border. Those butterfly's were so fun to stitch. 

The backing.

With the clocks going back an hour last night, the dog did not get that memo! The cats were content to sleep in, but someone thought he needed a walk... at 6AM (new time!). Turns out.... F1 Qualifying was happening in the rain in Brazil, so I got up but watched that fiasco with Aidan and put the doggie off for a bit. He did get a nice long walk and then helped me with photo's out back after feeding the chickens some seed treats. I need to hack another pumpkin open for them and pop it into their run. I might have forgotten to carve Halloween pumpkins this year..... oh well, the girls will eat them!

Greg and I did head to The Villages new High School yesterday afternoon to watch Emily and her bandmates compete at their MPA for marching band. They did well and got straight Superior's across the board! That is the best ranking against the rubric, so they get another metal pin this year at end of year awards. She was a 11PM pick up at school last night so we enjoyed that extra sleep time. 

My handwork will switch to the QAYG hexagons today, I think. I need to do my one blue from yesterday and today to finish this set of 4.

Then I'll work on stitching the singles into twosomes, then everyone into sets of 4. I need 12 sets of 4 to make a long column to attach to the existing quilt to make it wider. I think I need at least 4 columns.  I've been doing pretty good at doing one each day on my lunch break. It is time to prep a few more - it looks like I need red, green, purple and dark blue to add to the mix. Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

The happy doggie Bear after his walk with lots of sniffing of wild turkeys! We saw a set of 14 along the way a few times. He is so much better walking on a leash from when we first got him in April 2022. He is a very strong 85 pound boy. Don't mind the slobber... lots of sniffing today. Got to love that doggie smile.