Monster Post

Alright, apparently I did not want to post for an entire month after NaBloPoMo. Here is a mosaic of what happened in the month of December.

Lets see, included in there is the Christmas Tree, Napa, Corgi Faire (where Lucy won 3rd place in corgi limbo), stuffed animal, graduation from Puppy 2, Birthday cake, Freddy's visit and Lucy's new water bowl.

Yesterday I worked on a couple projects, the quilt top you see above, and my clapotis. I finished it! Here is a photo with half dropped stitches and some that still need dropping. I still need to weave in the ends. I'll take proper photos in the new year.

Have a safe New Year's Eve!

NaBloPoMo: Day 30!!!

Alright, first the photo. Today at Mitsuwa, they had a Giant Bluefin Tuna Carving demonstration. While it looks delicious to some people, I'm sure it's nauseating looking to others, so I'll give you this one photo. This is the HUGE tuna they carved. It was 350 pounds! It was amazing. They shipped the tuna from Spain, and the people from Tsukiji in Tokyo. We bought some of the Oo-Toro and it was delicious.

Now, I cannot believe I posted every day in November for NaBloPoMo. While I think a lot of my posts were just adding junk to the internets, it has been fun. Lucy's gotten much more blog time than she usually does. I think I'll continue with this more frequent blogging, although blogging every day may be a little exhausting. I'll try at least once a week and see where that takes me!

NaBloPoMo: Day 29

Played Rock Band 2 all day today. Surprisingly, I'm much better than I thought. Although still very very bad. I think I'm too lazy to count. Which makes sense, because I think that was my main problem with band in high school too. It just doesn't come naturally for me.

Photo has nothing to do with Rock Band, but we went to Target today and gave in and bought lights for the little tree we bought. And then I took a photo with my phone. And I accidentally moved when it was taking the photo, but I kinda like it...

NaBloPoMo: Day 28

Some of Lucy's tricks... video from my phone! Bad quality, but you can still see Lucy, so good enough. Please ignore that my voice sounds like Minnie Mouse. Really, I don't think I sound like that. But who knows.

NaBloPoMo: Day 27

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

ps. I think she's trying to be this dog.

NaBloPoMo: Day 26

No photo today, sorry.

We had an alumni basketball game today, and I am SO exhausted. I guess not playing for 8 years and then playing with girls 10 years younger than you doesn't really work out too well. It was fun anyway. I'll have to practice more for next year. Or recruit some tall girls!

NaBloPoMo: Day 25

Yes I realize this looks gross, but how do you eat frozen persimmons? I love the fresh ones, so I decided to try to freeze then and then eat them in the summer. Apparently there's some trick to it...

NaBloPoMo: Day 24

So I was trying to take a photo of my new slippers, because my house is so freaking cold, and someone kept interrupting...

Who me?

NaBloPoMo: Day 23

Ok, other new thing is that I bought a car yesterday too. First big purchase by myself, first loan, first CD player in the car....

I gotta say I love the car.

In other news, Lucy got a bath today. She was not happy with me.

NaBloPoMo: Day 22

Wooo! Lots of changes today. Well two big changes. First one is that we switched back to AT&T. AND I got a new phone! I really like it... now to figure out how to use it...

NaBloPoMo: Day 21

Still working on the project. How do you transfer designs to felt? I tried the iron on pencil, and either I have a bad pencil, or I'm just really bad at it. This design was transferred using Simplicity's dressmaker transfer paper, which is wax. Unfortunately I couldn't find the chalk one...

NaBloPoMo: Day 20

Working on a new project...

But did you know that Erin Michaels has a new fabric line coming out for Moda? I'm so excited!!

NaBloPoMo: Day 19

So it looks like we've faked you out. Today is Lucy's actual birthday. She is officially one year old today! Her official name is Rocky L Lucky Lucy Porkchop.

Rocky L is for her breeder. She came from a Peanuts litter, so she has sisters Sally, Marci, Peanut, Patty and brothers Charlie, Linus and Schroeder. I think. It's been a while since I've seen them.

The Porkchop is for two reasons, one because she was born in the year of the pig (like me!) and two, because Porkchop from Doug is such a cool dog.

Now the Lucky is a real story. Lucy was the last one of her litter born. Not the runt, but the last one out. She almost needed to be taken out by c-section, but the vet gave her mom a shot of calcium, and a few minutes later, contractions started and Lucky Lucy was born.

Looks like she's not too sure about turning one...

NaBloPoMo: Day 18

Ohmygod I love this stuff. And I can't believe I'm dedicating a post to Nacho Cheese. SO good. They sell this stuff in bigger jars too, which I don't buy because yes, I'll finish it all. You can't tell but this jar is pretty much empty. I do love nachos though. Especially Taco Bell Nachos. Mmmm. Did you know that there is a site for people who love nacho cheese? Genius.

NaBloPoMo: Day 17

Bleh. I did not like how that quilt turned out. So instead you get a funny photo of Lucy from yesterday. So the quilt I'm talking about is the twin to the blue and green quilt, but it had some "upgrades".

First, I added a border (the turtle fabric) and used the patchwork binding. Then I used Oh! Frasson's fantastic pattern to add minky to the back. Here's the problem... I didn't prewash the front, but I prewashed the back. So the beautiful minky was all baggy. I guess I have to do it once to really learn my lesson. Other than that, the quilt was ok. At least it will be super warm for the baby! And then I gave it away before I took photos of it... This quilt was full of ups and downs. I didn't particularly like making the quarter square triangles, but piecing them together was fine. Adding the border was fine. I had such a hard time machine quilting this one (just top and batting, no backing). But then doing a zig zag around the edges was fun, and adding the patchwork binding was fun too. Then the back came out baggy. It's really too bad that it ended up on the down side.

In the end, I am not sure if I will ever make another minky backed blanket. I did like this one, and I think my mistakes were obvious enough that the next one will turn out well. But honestly, I like the cute backing fabrics! And if I was a baby with a minky blanket, I think I would be hot!

NaBloPoMo: Day 16

My pup is almost a year old! Her birthday is this coming Wednesday, but we had a joint birthday party with her "cousin" Fred today. There was doggy pie, hats, doggie ice cream, treats, squeaky toys and more.

Fred wasn't really a fan on the hats...

Lucy on the other hand... didn't really seem to mind.

NaBloPoMo: Day 15

So this is the first patchwork binding I've made. In retrospect, I should have mixed the dark and the light blues. It was fun to make, but I'm not sure how much I'll like it in the quilt... I guess we'll see tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo: Day 14

Ok, so I tried to take photos of Lucy at the dog park today, but the sun already was too far down. The photos were pretty bad, but this one cracks me up. The first time I saw it, I thought there were 3 dogs! Lucy, the poodle, and some dog's butt. Later I realized that Lucy and the butt were the same loooooooong dog...

NaBloPoMo: 13

Here are some more photos of the baby quilt. Unfortunately it was super foggy this morning, so the lighting isn't that great. These were blocks from a mystery quilt. I did stipple quilting and bound the quilt using the same method as the In Stitches throw. I forgot how quick baby quilts go! Due to change in plans, it turns out I didn't need to rush though. But that's alright, because now I have time to wash the quilt before it goes. Maybe I'll add a little elephant friend too?

The backing fabric is absolutely one of my most favorite fabrics, and definitely my favorite for little boy quilts. I found it at Joann's a few years ago in the little boys apparel section. I should have bought more!

A gratuitous shot of Lucy, so you can see the scale and how blue the photos turned out...

NaBloPoMo: Day 12

DONE! Just in time too! Hopefully I can take some better photos tomorrow morning before I give it to the new uncle!

NaBloPoMo: Day 11

Didn't get as much done as I wanted, but I'm still working on the baby quilt. Not much to say either...

NaBloPoMo: Day 10

Oh Lucy, always the clown.

Quilt blocks for a project with a deadline!

NaBloPoMo: Day 9

Finny and Donk, you are going to be SO proud of me. I am finished with the Nov/Dec In Stitches Challenge! I made the Patchwork Throw.

Now I did not like making this throw. Basically, you get a big piece of muslin, and then applique pieces on top of it. A lot of unnecessary ironing and sewing, if you ask me. And then comes the quilting. Oy vey, that's a lot of lines!

But I do like the quilt. I was a little meh on it until I grabbed it from the dryer. I love the wrinkles, I love the fishy fabric on the back, and I love how the binding is wider (about an inch wide). Look at all this wrinkly goodness!!

And here is the bad photo of most of the quilt.

NaBloPoMo: Day 8

Mmmm... I'm missing summer already. I'm using up my CSA vegetables... only 3 weeks left until the end of CSA season! Oh how I'm going to miss having fresh tomatoes and cilantro!! This salsa came from this recipe from Anina. I love it. I especially love the cilantro. Unfortunately I didn't have lime in the house at the time, but it's still soooo good!

NaBloPoMo: Day 7

I have a few WIPs that I would love to get done this weekend... hopefully I will have more to show you soon! Above is my Clapotis. I'm making it with Noro Silk Garden, and it is my first time working with any sort of Noro. I think I like it. I definitely enjoy knitting with it, but I have a feeling that I would like the finished product better if it was a more subtle pattern. Or solid. You can't go wrong with solid colors. I am having a lot of fun with this pattern, using all the charts and tips that people have posted everywhere.

NaBloPoMo: Day 6

So no photo today. I'm in bed right now, because I almost forgot to post today! This post a day thing is hard! Not much to report today, except that Toy Bot Diaries Free is the best game EVER. Also, I think I'm going to make a duvet cover for my winter comforter.. completely out of scraps. Not only is November a post a day month, for me it's also a no spending (except for essentials) month!

NaBloPoMo: Day 5

I just had to share this with you all. Last night, Lucy slept UNDER the covers. She started out on top, but in the middle of the night I woke up and realized there was a Lucy by my feet... under the covers! I think this gives me rights to make her sweaters since she's so cold that she sleeps under the blankets.

I love how she looks so guilty in the photo. Like she's doing the walk of shame...

NaBloPoMo: Day 4

I voted at 7 am this morning. I've been antsy all day about this election. I don't think I've ever been this excited about an election before.

NaBloPoMo: Day 3

Boy, have I been a bad Common Threads member. Here is Betty's block. She had a very cute idea to do treehouse blocks. It took me a month to decide on the design, and another month to actually sew it down. I hope you like it, Betty! I figured since it's about winter now, it appropriately doesn't have any leaves...

NaBloPoMo: Day 2

Here are some better photos of Lucy's Halloween costume. She was a Maguro (Tuna) Nigiri. I've never made a costume for a pet before, and I definitely learned some things. I ran out of steam at the end, resorting to safety pins and tying pieces of fabric on.

I used Simplicity 3667 for the bottom rice part of the costume. I made the "Salty Dawg" version, but didn't cut the fringe. I learned that Lucy is a "Large" size, and needs it to be longer still. That's why the back of the costume is held together with safety pins.

Another thing I learned is that the pillow tuna on top made the entire costume top heavy, so it would slide from side to side. I used the piece of black fleece to secure it to her body, but it still slips around.

Even with these problems, she's super cute and the costume was easy enough to start planning for next year!

Vietnam and Cambodia

I figure since I'm catching up on posts, might as well post some highlights from Vietnam and Cambodia. Both countries were beautiful, but I found myself liking Cambodia more. The history there is amazing. More photos from Vietnam here, and from Cambodia here.

Green oranges! Plus I love the orange gingham

Boats on Halong Bay

Pineapples

View from lookout

Dog in one of the temples

Faces

One of my favorites temples, Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed

I see you!

Another one of my favorites, Neak Pean, a Hospital

Fabulous Angkor Wat

Rainbow at Angkor Wat

Folded (!!) lotus flowers

Basketball Court... for the people who live on the lake!

It really was a fantastic trip. I would love to go back in 10 years or so, I think things will be very very different then!