Looming Deadlines

The GRE is breathing down my neck, and I ought to have finished my writing sample by now, so of course I spent the weekend playing with fiber!

I finished the quilt top I started at Jessica's sewing bee last weekend:

This is from a kit I got at The Quilting Loft a while back (no way could I match up colors and patterns that well - I'm a bit of a disaster that way). The pattern says it's 52" square, but I haven't measured to see how close I got. I can tell I'm getting better, since the corners aren't off by nearly as much as they were on my earlier quilts, but I still have a ways to go. I need to decide on a backing fabric and figure out how on earth to quilt this.

A few weekends back, I managed to stop in at the Kingston Quilt Shop during Shop Hop weekend (purely by accident - we were on our way back from camping on the peninsula), and picked up their block kit:

The corners are really good on this one; I'm very proud. I'm going to make it into a hot pad, since it's only one lonely block. I've got to remember to get the shop hop on my calendar for next year.

I also finally cut the last square for the Beatrix Potter quilt for Adam - can you believe I let it languish for months because I was too lazy to cut a 5" square?

It's fairly tiny, so I'm going to add a border in the dark green. I think if I make it ~4", that should bring it up to a respectable toddler size. I need to pick up some peach-y flannel for the back.

Yes, these are all tops; I'm still terrified of ruining them with the quilting phase. I'll get there.

The Tour de Fleece started this weekend as well - I have several skeins that I spun leading up to it, and a full bobbin to show for the first two days:

This is a terrible photo of my progress from Saturday and Sunday. It's a superwash merino from Funky Carolina that I'm going to make into a two-ply sock yarn.

Finished skeins (pre-tour training):

Wine-Dark Sea - a bunch of stuff I carded together, mostly wool


Abyssinian Maid - a merino/silk single


Each to Each - a merino/tencel single


Eat a Peach - Spinderella mixed batt plied with New Zealand wool


Do I Dare? - Spinderella mixed batt two-ply


And Do I Dare? - Spinderella mixed batt navajo-plied

I also read Wuthering Heights for the umpteenth time. Sigh. (Although I agree with Leila: Heathcliff is a prat.)

Happy Bloomsday

Jessica has tripped my overactive guilt reflex over the fact that I've never finished a single thing by James Joyce. So, to avoid having to hand my English degree back, I promise to give him another chance.

I'll keep you posted.


*grumble* stupid impenetrable modernists *grumble*

Dreams

Early this morning, I dreamed that I was having a conversation about books with Neil Gaiman. He recommended several which, sadly, appear not have been written yet; given that two were by Octavia Butler and one was the final Chronicle of Tintin, I suspect they never will. And that's a shame, because they sounded fascinating.

I was also, for some reason, looking for my pants, in that very matter-of-fact way that you do in dreams. As in, "oh, where are my pants? Perhaps I'll try this room, where I'll stop to have chat with this nice fellow and examine his bookshelves." Of course, given the state of laundry around here, I'm frequently searching for pants, so I don't attach much significance to that bit.

My Daemon

Squee! My dæmon has a ligature!

Hang on... Modest, shy, humble, and assertive? Okay, internets, weigh in. Is it me? Or do I choke up on multiple choice questions?

Via Leila

Public Service Announcement

If you have a cold and already can't breathe, watching Hotel Rwanda is a really, really bad idea.

Baby Book Club: Adam's Pick

Adam has adopted my copy of Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter. No other book will do. Every morning he grabs it off the dining room table (yes, my books live on the dining room table; don't yours?) and dances around with it. Then he chews on it a bit and tells me there's a sheep on it.

I'll make a knitter out of him yet.