I have been a tiny bit obsessed with scarves lately, so this will be the first in a series of posts about the scarves I’ve been making. I finished a knitted one, experimented with a wrap and some elastic for another, and am raiding my vintage lace and eyelet for yet another. I have some more ideas I want to try out soon, too. I’m going to start with the easiest one of all, however. If you’re in need of a really, really quick project with maximum satisfaction, this is a scarf you have to make. I take no credit for this idea, I saw it here, where you can even order a kit, although for about the same price you can buy your own fabric and have enough for two scarves. The key is to use Kaffe Fassatt’s shot cotton. That link has really good photos, and you can see the two colors blended in each swatch.

They’re just really lovely, the depth of color makes the fabric look almost like silk. I chose two blues, as you can see. All you have to do is get a yard of each of two colors (you could even use one of the stripes or plaids if you want to go a little more crazy), cut them in half lengthwise and sew one half of each together along a short end. I pressed the seam open and stitched again to hold the seam allowance in place. Then toss it in the washer, dry it, give it a light pressing and trim off the long, ravely bits and throw it around your neck!

Winston came by to participate in my photo shoot. He was asked to leave when he started trying to lick the subject’s face.

Another shot of the fabric because I just love it. I will probably keep pulling out threads along the edges as I wear it to get more of a fringe-y effect.

And now, to change the subject completely, a friend gave me these beautiful red and white egg cups and ceramic egg tray for Christmas, and I was playing around with them yesterday.

My sister-in-law gave me the red chicken egg cup a while ago, and they are all so happy together! They’re all from Anthropologie. When my friend handed me the bag I didn’t even have to open it, I just told her I loved it right away. We went to Anthropologie while I was in Boise, and that store is just like the mothership to me. I may have splurged on a new bag, which, coincidentally, goes nicely with my new scarf!

Today I decided that my New Year’s Resolution is to clean the microwave and the cubbyhole where it resides. I hope I can get it done by December. It’s a somewhat frightening task in its enormity.

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I meant to mention this in my post last night, but I cannot always remember important things at 10:30 p.m. I don't know why. My friend Kim has a design up for voting in this weeks Spoonflower contest. It's the second one from the left, so if you have a second, and you feel so inclined, go vote for her!

If you don't know about Spoonflower, you should also head over there and check it out. It's such a great site. You can design your own fabrics and they will print them for you. Along with about 50 other things, designing my own fabric is on my must-do list this year.

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I'm back from visiting family for the holidays, and I have so much to show and tell. I also had a long day at work, so I'm just popping in to share some pictures of the quilt that was worked on, although not finished, and I'll catch up some more very soon.

I took the four-pointed star quilt with me, and my sister, sister-in-law, and I put it up. Cary didn't like the way the corner was looking, so he decided to fix it for us.

Please notice that he is wearing a wrist pincushion. Maybe I should add this to his mySpace. I'm sure his fans would be impressed.

We didn't get a ton of quilting done, but it's well underway and I hope to finish it soon.

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I'm back to normal! I was so disappointed to get a cold last week, it's been about two and a half years since I've had a bad cold or flu. I was going for a new record and instead I got sick twice in a month. That's just dumb.

I feel terribly behind, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. I have e-mail and comments to respond to, and I will get to it soon, promise! I'm not ignoring anyone, just trying to get all caught up. Meanwhile I promised to share quilt tops, so here is a little glimpse:

It was dark and gloomy this weekend, so this is the best I can do for now, but I think you can see that I've got quite the bonanza here. I think my New Year's resolutions for 2009 will involve finishing a couple quilts, starting with the Double Wedding ring quilt.

I need to do a little research first. I'm somewhat concerned about the stitching. It's all done by hand, and I'm not sure just how sturdy it is. There are a few places where pieces need to be restitched. I think the fabric itself is still in good shape. Also, the rings are actually the edges of the quilt, it's not square, so I think I have to turn the edges under and sew it by hand? Or can I bind it normally? It would be a pain, but it's doable with a bias binding. I'm just not sure if that's how it's traditionally done. Any expert quilters out there? Mom, what do you think? Either way, it's going to be so cute when it's done.

The four-pointed star is fun too. I haven't looked too carefully, but I don't think there are many fabrics repeated. I think it might have been made from the family's old clothes. These quilts have been in the family for a long time, my mother-in-law doesn't sew or do any kind of handicrafts, and she doesn't really know who made what or when it was made. I think the fabrics look like they are mostly from the 1930s and 1940s.

I feel like I hit the lottery with these quilts. There will be periodic updates, I'm sure. I'd really like to finish and use them. That seems like the best tribute I can give their makers.

Despite the gloominess outside, it was warm and cozy inside our little house, and I put up the Christmas tree last night while the fire was roaring in the stove (thanks to Mr. HeyLucy, fire-builder extraordinaire). Between the tree and the fire the cats were in heaven. At one point I found Lucy sitting in the middle of the tree, precariously balanced across several branches. Oi. They especially like it when the lights are on. I still have all my glass ball ornaments to hang, but that should be done sometime over the next couple days. I wire them to the branches with florist wire, so the cats can't easily bat them off, although they will try.

I also made the most delicious hot chocolate ever, to sip under the Christmas tree lights. Here's the recipe, if you want to try it yourself:

For each serving mix together in a saucepan: a generous teaspoonful of good cocoa powder, an equal (or slightly more if you want it sweeter) amount of sugar, a tiny capful of good vanilla and some finely grated Belgian chocolate (about one square inch). If you're feeling adventurous, add a pinch of cayenne pepper. You won't taste the pepper, but you'll feel the heat when you drink it. It's quite nice. Add a little milk, and stir until all the powdery bits are well incorporated into the milk. Add more milk to make a big mugful. Heat gently, until piping hot, but don't let it boil over! I speak from experience when I say that you will have a big mess that is not fun to clean up if it boils over. And here's my top secret weapon to make it truly the most delicious hot chocolate ever: get yourself one of these little gadgets, and whip up each cup for a minute or so before serving. I found mine at a local Ace Hardware store for $10 or $15 I think, which is a little extravagant for a tool I use for only one thing, but it doesn't take up hardly any space and it really makes all the difference, so I don't regret purchasing it at all. Serving it in a pink café au lait bowl, and sitting down with some knitting and a feline companion will make it just perfect.

There will be more Christmas-y stuff here this week, and a special Christmas gift for my lovely blog readers, so be sure to come back soon, I don't want you to miss out!   

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Today's nonsense is brought to you by my fuzzy head cold. I fear I may be about to ramble incoherently. Sorry in advance. At 3 p.m. I realized that I forgot to apply deodorant this morning. I was going to say that it's been all downhill from there, but I'm pretty sure the downhill slide started on Friday morning, when I woke up with the runniest of runny noses.

I had big plans this past weekend for Christmas tree decorating, Christmas gift making, and the continuation of the great studio clean out. I was also going to write virtuously about how I had a good attitude towards Thanksgiving despite the fact that I had to spend it a day late at the home of my mother-in-law, eating the re-heated Thanksgiving Dinner for Four in a box from the local grocery store, listening to her complain about everything from the cost of paper towels to how difficult it is to find quality blouses at her local thrift store these days. I managed to help her balance her checkbook, and ignored the usual comparison of my obsessive sock knitting to that of Madame Defarge. She wasn't too bad this visit, and she was even quite pleasant at times. She sent me home with several vintage, pieced quilt tops, which I will photograph and share sometime soon. The quilt tops are, I believe, from the 30's and 40's, and include a gorgeous double wedding ring quilt-it's double or maybe even queen-sized! They are all hand-pieced, and there are a couple spots in need of repair, but otherwise all they need is batting, backing fabric and quilting!

She also gave me this sweet little bird that her aunt always had on her Christmas tree.

Instead of all those wonderful activities for what was a beautiful weekend weather-wise, once I got home late Friday night, I blew my nose every 10 minutes, rearranged the pillows to the proper angle for prime sinus drainage, counted off the hours until I could take the next dose of Theraflu/Benedryl/Airborne/Tylenol, none of which did much to alleviate my symptoms, and carefully maneuvered so as not to disturb the two cats curled up on either side of me (and the occasional dog, too). I am thankful for my lovely laptop, which kept me entertained for the last three days. I found all sorts of fun and interesting things out there on the interwebs. I watched movies on hulu.com (Master and Commander (one of my favorites) and 24: Redemption (Yay! a new season, finally!)) and Netflix (Dan in Real Life (meh, it was alright), Gone Baby Gone (pretty good, but sad)), played zilch and Bloon Tower Defense III and various escape from a locked room puzzle games (I think this was one of my favorites, and easy enough that I didn't have to cheat and get a hint), and found funny t-shirts that I think I need and lovely little videos of what look like miniature worlds, but are actually real life-sized ones, thanks to a little tilt-shift action (try this one, it's especially lovely, although the monster truck one is cute).

So, it wasn't the best Thanksgiving ever, but it wasn't the worst, and I still have a lot to be thankful for and one day soon when I'm feeling a little less fuzzy and incoherent I'll make a gratitude list. Although I suppose I could start by pointing to that list of links over there on the left under Family. I am thankful for family, even though I didn't get to spend time with them and they are all far away. And for Mr. Heylucy for getting me cookies when I'm sick. And for cats and dogs who will curl up next to me to keep me warm. I hope you all had lots of delicious turkey and that you're not sick of the leftovers yet!

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When I went on my little shopping trip last week I didn't find a whole lot of stuff that I really loved. Mostly because it seems that all the colors for this Fall are black, grey, or dark plum. I have no problem with those colors, but seriously, how many days a week can you wear dark plum? I have plenty of black and grey in my wardrobe already, and I know it's technically Fall/almost Winter, and my brown sandals have been put away until next Summer, but still, I want to have some color in my life. I started out with flowers for my desk last week. They're still looking pretty good, for cheap grocery store flowers:


They definitely helped satisfy my need for color, but I still wanted more. A trip to Old Navy helped, when I found a pair green pants ($15!) and a stripey blue t-shirt (2 for $15!). I decided to take it just a bit further, and added some big, flowery appliqués

I know, it may be a little much, but I don't care, when everyone else is looking dreary in their black and grey and dark plum, I'm going to be feeling bright and cheery. I added another flower to the hem:

I think I've got a thing for carnations lately.

Here's the how-to, just in case you need a little color too:
I just cut out the flowers from some cotton fabric in my stash (Kaffe Fassett Flower Lattice, which I cannot find anywhere online) and cut out some Wonder Under roughly the same shape. I carefully ironed them in place, and then just did a plain running stitch around the edges. They'll fray a bit around the edges when I wash it, but I think that will look cute.

I have lots more colorful ideas and things to share this week, so check back soon!

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