Case of the Unlocked Trunk

....or where is Nancy Drew when you need her? Are there still Nancy Drew books being printed?

Victim: 2001 Hyundai Sonata
Crime: A trunk that keeps opening. Twice the trunk was open long enough to kill the battery because the light was burning all night.
Suspects:
#1- Neighbor's new car. This started several days after she got her new car, a sporty silver Nissan. Could her locking system work on the same frequency as our car?
#2- Transmissions from circling aircraft. We are located under the flight plan for Philadelphia International Airport. I've heard that garage doors and gas fireplaces may be affected by those planes. Could it happen to car trunks too?
#3-Alien spacecraft communicating with our car? For what reason? Probably unlikely.
#4-Recently developed site of a new "Bermuda Triangle", located in a 6 foot diameter circle in our driveway. These electrical problems do not extend to the locking system or engine, but the retractable antenna in the trunk does not always extend fully. Probably not very likely either, how disappointing!
We have temporary remedied the problem by deactivating the electric lock and just using a key. How 20th cedntury.

Toby Quilt

The "Toby Baby" quilt is hanging in the bedroom. It WAS surprise. Tom was totally shocked.

Now that Christmas is over, it is time to organize. I have started to clean up my fabric area. I plan to cut stips from the larger pieces. Then sew them all together into sets by colors. I have not made a plan of how to use them, but probably use them in a crazy patch type quilt.

Merry Christmas from the Grandchildren

This card arrived from Florida yesterday, one day too late for dogs on Thursday. Left to right is Dancing Tigger, Casey, Kaia holding Ella, Holi on floor and at far right Frosty. Notice the dogs are wearing neck wear made by my daugther in law. Good job, Erin. Hanging on the fireplace are two stocking that I made for the kids about 12 years ago. It is too bad that you can't see more of them.

These two quilts will be going to my nieces on Christmas. The quilts are both in the same pattern but different colorways. Theresa, who likes sunflowers and yellow will get the top one. Kim chose cranberry and green to match her living room. I hope they both enjoy the quilts.

Socks are Done!!!!

The two pairs of socks that I needed for Christmas gifts are done, but as the photo shows I have plans for several more pairs. No rush this time, just knitting at leisure.

I did start a pair of fingerless gloves from a little bit of left over sock yarn. The right hand one is finished and the cuff of the left hand one is done. I plan to knit the rest on the way to a party this afternoon. My niece and her husband is hosting a family get together. They live in Delaware, so I have about 45 minutes of knitting time.

So, I have only one present left to finish. My niece's quilt. I spent about a hour at the machine this morning and plan to get some more done before it is time to leave. By midweek, I hope to add the binding, which I can hand sew at work if it is quiet. Then I can finish quilting over the weekend. We will exchange gifts Christmas night at 6:00 after we finish dinner. Plenty of time to finish.

Quilters Christmas Party

Our quilt Christmas party was held Wednesday night. Forty of us gathered at the Red Pine Inn, for fellowship, food and quilts. The GREAT committee made favors for every one. I got the orange pin, thank you, thank you. They also had a give away for everyone. Also the centerpieces were given out by a game like hot potato, but using left, right commands.

The quilt pictured was the guild's gift to the out going president, Sue. Members made the nine patches and it was assembled by our new president, Gloria. Included were the signatures of all our members. Sue was totally surprised. She thought she won the drawing for all those nine patches.

My "Toby Baby" quilt won 2nd place in the Challenge at the party. Photos when the quilt is hung on Christmas day.

Sunday at Work?

I spent a couple of hours yesterday at work holding a craft activity at the museum. Our first visitor was a little girl who made a gingerbread man using iron on felt to a quilted background. He was very cute. Sometime later a man stopped by and also made a gingerbread man. In between those visitors were able to knit. I got about 3 inches done on the last sock I need for a Christmas gift.

We were joined for part of the time by a museum volunteer, who needed help in making her sock. She had made socks many years ago, but had seen me using some self striping yarn and decided to try again using the new yarn. She was also wanted to try constructing a heel in the method that I usually use, which is an after thought heel. Just knit in the round using a number of stitches that can be divided by four. When you reach the area that you would do a normal heel with a heel flap and gusset, just knit one half the stitches using a contrasting color of yarn. Turn, then purl back on those stitches. When you reach the end, drop the contrasting yarn, pick up the main yarn and continue knitting in the round. Finish the toe as usually. Now back to the heel. Pick up those stitches on either side of the contrasting yarn and knit another toe.

While we knit, she was telling us about her upcoming vacation to visit her sister. They will be meeting in Quebec. She also spoke about the last time they met there, when they were both in their mid-seventies. They attended a winter carnival, where they tobogganed and ice skated. Of course, they had to rent their equipment and wanted a senior rate. But, not too many seniors wanted to rent anything, so their was no rate in place, so instead they were given the children's rate. Can you imagine 70+ year old women, skating and sledding with families of their grand children's age. What characters, good for them, I hope I can do the same thing at their age.

Disney Dogs

Kaia and I found Pluto at the entrance of Main Street. We were too late for a good photo, but we also saw Chip and Dale, her favorites there.
This is Goofy riding his bike on the float of Micky's Very Merry Christmas Parade. His float was a candy factory, the steam had a peppermint smell.

Tom's Christmas quilt, "Toby Baby", is almost finished. I put the binding on today, but I have not added the eyes or quilted that area. Seems that I can't get the eyes correct. Springer's have such sad eyes and each pair that I've done don't look droopy enough. It has to be done by Wednesday, so I must make a decision soon.

Home FROM my Holiday

I spent the weekend in Florida. I met the family there for Micky Mouse's Very Merry Christmas on Sunday night. It was great to see everyone. We stayed at the Coronado Spring Resort. We visited the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. On Saturday night my granddaughter and I had a pajama party. On Sunday, we got up early and went to the Magic Kingdom. We got there before the park opened, so we had short waits for several rides. We did Splash Mountain first. Hint: do not sit in right hand front seat unless you need a shower. After I dried off, we did Thunder Mountain two times in a row. We did several more rides then had to meet the rest of family for lunch at the Wilderness Lodge. The all-you-can-eat barbecue was great. Kaia got to lead the stick pony trail ride. Sunday night was the Christmas Party.

Warm weather, great family time, and VERY sore feet.

Always on the look out for a good quilt. This prize winner is by Minnie Mouse. It is on display at her house in Toon Town

Middle Grand dog

Introducing Holi (short for Holiday), my middle grand dog. Holi joined the family during the holiday season nearly two years ago. My son, who is a police officer, found Holi standing over the body of another dog, probably her brother, on a back road. She was covered with fleas and ticks, but not injured. She spent the first day in their garage, until she visited the vet and received a check-up. Then, she joined big sister dog, Kasey and her human family. Her back is marked like a German Shepherd and she has a blue tongue. She has a great personality, gets very excited when greeting a guest (sometimes little puddles on the floor), and can spend hours chasing lizards in the back yard. While she is inside, she naps in a chair in the living room that faces the road where she can watch the traffic. When the family travels, Holi goes to a kennel, where she is very anxious and probably confused, therefore a little difficult. However, the kennel has an employee who is slightly autistic. She is a great comfort to Holi and is the only one who can care for her.

Christmas to-do list

I usually make a few gifts for Christmas. Here is the list for this year.

These are done: Multi-color diamond quilt for my Dad.
Yellow and blue quilt to my niece Theresa
Blue and green quilts for a co-worker

These are started: Socks for my Dad- one completed
Quilt for my niece Kim- pieced but
not quilted

Toby quilt for my husband

Not even started but I have the yarn- Socks for my friend

Not to bad I guess

Happy Thanksgiving/Incomplete dogs on Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Photo is of the dining room before dinner. Turkey is in the oven and I have just enough time to jump into the hot tub for a short time before company arrives.






Incomplete dogs on Thursday.

I began a quilt of our springer spaniel Toby for my husband's surprise Christmas present. I can only work on it for about an hour each morning after he leaves for work, but before I have to leave. Also, I am using it as my entry in the Christmas challenge for my quilt guild. Our party is Dec. 12, not much time to make a quilt. Toby passed away almost 2 years ago, so I found an old photo of when he was a puppy to use as a model. Photo is of the fabric that I used for the center of the quilt.



Toby is made using raw edge applique, glued to the background fabric. This will be surrounded by two borders. The first of patchwork squares. The second will be a patchwork ribbon and bow using fabric for the challenge.




Hopefully, I will have the squares completed this week and can begin quilting the next.

Socks for Dad

My father asked for a pair of wool socks for Christmas. Just the excuse that I needed to buy more yarn since all I had was orange or pink. So, I ordered from one of my favorite places, but not just yarn for one pair of socks, but several. One pair for him, one for my friend, Sonia, who has gotten a new pair for Christmas the last several years, one pair for me now, and one pair for later. As two of these are needed for Christmas, time to get knitting now. I started with Dad's, as his are the largest, using brown striped super wash merino. After checking the size and using a pair of mine as sample, I start to knit.

I cast on 100 stitches, and knit several inches. Looks good, great stripes, but large enough to fit an elephant. So, frog it back and start over.

I cast on 86 stitches and knit several inches. Looks good, great stripes, but now large enough to fit a baby elephant. So, Rippit.

I cast on 68 stitches and knit several inches. Looks good, great strips, but NOW just the right size.

I still have a problem with gauge. I guess I think that it is easier to rip out then to actually sample. By this time 12 days have passed and I have only half a sock. Since it is Saturday night and I have no where to go and nothing to do, I will knit, knit, knit.

First Blog

Here it is, finally, at long last, I've done it. This is it my first blog. A little bit about me. I'm married and have one son, who lives in Florida with his wife and daugther, three dogs, one cat, two gold fish and a growing collection of "Webkins".

My Grandmother taught me to knit when I was 8 years old, but only the knit stitch, so after several squares I quit. I re-taught myself when my son was 4 years old. I made him a sweater for Christmas. It was teal green with raglan sleeves. He wore it for several years, because I did not read the part about gauge in the instructions. Sometime later, a cousin gave my the fleece from his sheep, so I had to learn to spin. I now have three spinning wheels, but haven't spun any wool in quite a while. I currently have been making socks for family and myself and baby hats which I donate to the local hospital for the new babies.

Lately, I have been making quilts. I tend to chose traditional patterns but enjoy the challenge of choosing and using colors in a less then tradition way. I have designed and created several wall hangings. Each has been a challenge in either combining patterns and new techniques, such as paper piecing or raw edge applique. The quilt pictured is a simple nine patch I made several years ago.

They say the first step is the most difficult. So THANKS to my co-worker, fellow knitter and good friend, DW (Britknitter) I am NO LONGER blogless.