The very same day that neighbour Krists heroically rescued my mis-delivered yarn package, she went out to groom some parrots, stepped of a stool badly, and broke a few bones.

On her left foot, she broke on of her toes. Which while painful, is manageable. But on her right foot… she fractured one of the long bones that run up to the ankle. It’s going to take a lot longer to heel, and she may need surgery.

She reached out to me with a plea. “Can you make me a sock big enough to go over my cast? My toes are freezing!!!”

After she swooped in to help me out with my parcel, how could I possibly say no.

She gave me some measurements, and I got knitting.

The yarn is ICE yarns Glamor Sock. Mom bought it a few years back for her sock machine. But she didn’t realize it was sport weight. As it was too heavy for the machine, she gave it to me. I though it would be idea for this project. I made the socks to the measurements Krista gave me… but it still looks HUGE to me. I won’t get down to deliver it until the weekend, so I’m going to try to knit a smaller back-up sock, just in case. This one only took me a few evenings, so I should be able to get one done in time.

I have a sunny little story for you on this fine Sunday… (at least I hope it’s fine where you are).

Dave and I have a bad habit of grabbing fast food whenever we run into town (which before Christmas seemed like every other day). One particular day, he really wanted a burger from Harvey’s, but I wasn’t terribly hungry, so I decided I’d just get a kid’s meal.

I completely forgot that kid’s meals come with toys! In this case it wasn’t a toy, but an “Activity Pot” – a little compressed soil disc, and some sunflower seeds.

You totally know I wasn’t going to just toss it! As soon as we got home, I soaked the disc in water, planted the seeds, and put it on my kitchen window.

There were five seeds, but only two sprouted. I’ve been diligently caring for them for a few weeks now, and the other day I decided I better get them in a bigger pot with some better soil soon, or they were going to wither.

I wasn’t wrong – those little roots were trying hard to escape the little pot.

Now they are repotted and happily hanging out with Baby Groot and the other plants under the grow light. Hopefully in a few more weeks, I’ll have to upgrade them to an even bigger pot!

And for bonus points… please enjoy this little ditty by one of my favourite bands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MevYCdn5S8&list=RDMMgQ616r5fOPk&index=23

When I showed you my last Oh My Stars quilt top, I mentioned that it’s a great pattern for leftovers. So much so, that I cut up the left over of my space prints to make another one.

I had two helpers with the layout this time! Once the fabrics were in place in the design bed, Rupert left to go do other cat things, but Burton was committed.

He stuck it out through the whole assembly.

And I think he’s pretty pleased with the result!

I’ve got some fun rocketship flannel for the back, and tiny stars for the binding. I’m hoping to head to Mom’s at the end of the month for a little quilt-a-thon. But that will all depend on COVID case counts. Omicron is just raging right now.

When I wrote my Christmas post, I completely forgot to share the gift I got for Mr. Relic.

Of course… it begins with a story.

Before we finished the living room, Relic would sit beside me on the futon every night. When the living room was finished, I switched to the road recliner. You’ve seen how that works out with all the cats.

And while Relic will occasionally put up with the other cats in his space, more often than not, he gets up and leaves. Then he lays on the floor and gives me sad face.

He really needed his own piece of furniture. I really want to get him something like this.

… but I can’t justify spending a few hundred dollars on a couch for the cat, when I have never spent that on a human couch (we’ve actually gotten all our living room furniture for free, or close to it… but that’s another story).

So instead, I got in an inexpensive dog bed from Walmart.

At first, it was hard to tell if he really liked it much or not. But eventually….

Of course. He still has to share it occasionally…

I still don’t have the needle for Hemlock Ring. I was a complete idiot and didn’t notice that it was being sent to my old address until it was delivered on tracking, and I realized it was delivered to the wrong house! Happily, former neighbour Krista came to the rescue and retrieved it for me! She’s holding on it until I can get down that way.

And it’s not like I don’t have enough projects to keep me busy….

I was so close to finishing the Koi Pond socks that it didn’t take long to get them on the blockers

Of all the people I make socks for… I think making socks for myself is my favourite. Not only do I get to keep the socks at the end of it… but I prefer shorter socks, and I have small, narrow feet. So making socks for myself is just so quick compared to making them for others!

This pair is nothing fancy – just a 2-2 rib. I let the yarn do all the work. And it’s such a great colour combo, it really doesn’t need anything complicated to shine.

And as much as I like making socks for myself, this will probably be the last pair I make for me for quite a while. My sock drawer is getting really hard to close – and I even tossed out some worn out pairs at the start of the year.

… or possibly nightmare.

On the last day of my Christmas vacation, I threw my back out. (I stubbornly insisted on putting the new car jack I’d bought Dave in the truck by myself). I should have spent the day chewing pain killers and chilling on the couch, but I really wanted to do some sewing.

I had collected some fun unicorn fabric, and had planned on making a disappearing nine patch with it. I had just enough of it to make a baby-sized quilt with it. But when I was cutting, I messed up my cuts. I wasn’t going to get enough squares for the pattern now. Sigh.

I decided to switch gears and decided I could make do with my favoured 8.5″ saw-toothed star. Everything seemed to go ok…. at first. I fussy cut the rest of the unicorn fabric for some centers, then I started doing eight-at-a-time HSTs for the star points.

It wasn’t until I started cutting those HSTs apart, that I realized I should have done geese for the star points. It’s not the end of the world, but it saves on time and makes a more accurate block (less seams). I didn’t have enough of the star point fabric to start over with geese, so I just had to deal with it.

Obviously, the back pain was interfering with my brain processes. I put together one star and called it a day

At least they are cute. It’s going to be one adorable quilt… but I’ll save it for a day with less brain fog!

I know… me?? A Tiny needle Tuesday post???

But I think I’ve mentioned before, that cross stitching was actually my first craft. I set it aside in my teens, but watching so many of you make tiny little Xs has had me itching to get get stitching!

Not long after we bought the house, Dee sent me a pattern for a little house sampler, and I’ve been dying to get started on it. But since it’s been so long, I figured I should probably start a little smaller. So I dug out a project that’s been around for far too long.

Back in the early 2000s, Mom bought a couple Debbie Mumm kits to make and hang in her bathroom.

She made the butterfly one, but lost interest. A couple years later, she asked if I wanted the dragonfly. I said I would take it and make it for her. And then I put it on my shelf, and there it sat forever and ever.

Until the other day that is. I pulled it out, ready to get started…

It was already started!! But here’s the kicker… neither of us remembers doing it. I’m pretty sure if I’d started it, I’d remember. But it’s not the first time I’d be wrong about remembering something. And at the end of the day.. it doesn’t really matter. It just meant the project would be even easier.

By the end of the evening, I had all the crosses done! Up next is the outlining. I used to dread the outlining, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Stay tuned!

There’s been no work on the Hemlock Ring blanket, as I await arrival of the longer needle. (It should be here this week.) As such, my Koi Pond socks have been getting lots of love.

The first one is done, and I’m on the gusset of the second. They are for me, so they are short in the leg and small in the foot. It won’t take too much longer before I’ve got a completed pair!

A while back, I picked up a couple terra cotta pots at the dollar store. They sat around for a while before I finally got the ambition to do something with them.

I got out my paints, and over the course of a couple evenings, got busy beautifying them.

First up… GNOMES!!!!

If these guys look famililar, it’s because they were inspired by my current quilting project. My Ogre Ears plant (Crassula Ovata) has gotten quite large and needed a new home. I thought the gnomes would appreciate it.

Next up… a little marsh scene…

It’s now home to my ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia),

Now I’m looking at the rest of my plant collection, wondering who else could use a new home!

Ah, New Year Day… a time to reflect on the past, and then ruminate on the future.

First the reflections:

• Holy-free-holies… where the heck did 2021 go? I know the years go by faster as you get older, but I’m pretty sure 2021 was only about 26 weeks long!

• Ok, admittedly, that because we had a major happening; ie We bought our first house!!!! And it really was a whirlwind. We started looking in March, and by the end of April we had our place picked out and offer approved. Early May saw the approval of the financing by the bank. June 1st we closed, and took possession. We then spent the bulk of June and July doing as much renovation as we could, and officially moved in on July 24th! Things slowed down a little after the move, but not that much. As of December 31st, we had the catio built, the basement refreshed (it got a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint), two rooms 90% renovated (Dave’s studio and the lower living room), and one room partially renovated (the laundry room – just enough so we could get a laundry sink in as there wasn’t one). And Dave has started on fixing up his garage – he got the important things done (i.e. his sounds system, a tv, and computer installed out there! Ha!)

• COVID continued to make life difficult. But we still both have our jobs, and our health. In fact, we are better off financially than we’ve ever been, which is kind of amazing And we still managed to socialize a little. Dave has stepped in with his Grandma’s care and spent every other weekend with her to help give his Mom a break. This will continue in 2022. I got to spend a few weekends with Dad and Mom and her quilt machine! And we squeezed in a few visits with friends here and there too! Once COVID settles again, and we can do more things outside, I hope to see a few more people. I’m not a huge social butterfly, but there are definitely people who’s company I miss!

• In terms of crafting, you saw in my year end round ups – the go-go-go nature of the year didn’t make too much of a difference in my output. It was a fabulous year of crafting, and we managed to sell quite a few quilts too.

Now the ruminations… what will 2022 bring?

• I hope the pace will be a little bit slower!!!
• In terms of the house, my goals for the year are to finish off the studio and lower living room (they need windows and trim), and then renovate the upper living room and dining room. Outside, we need to attend to the sun porch (it’s sinking and we need to decide if it can be jacked and re-supported, or needs to be completely rebuilt). Landscaping is also high up on the agenda. I’m not going to go too crazy… I have a lot of space to work with. But I want to get the front of the house started, and looking more presentable. I also want to landscape the inside of the catio fence. There’s so much bare ground there right now, that every time it rains, it turns into a giant mud hole, and the cats just track it all inside. Ideally when I’m, done with it, it will be 80% gardens, with a looped path and a small grass patch for munching and sunning.
  Dave would also like to do some more work on the garage. By the end of the year, I hope to see new garage doors on it, and insulate and drywall the interior.
• Financially, as I’ve said, we are better than we’ve ever been. Last year Dave managed to pay off his credit cards. Now we are focusing on mine. It will mean the renovations won’t go as fast as we’d like, but it will be worth it in the long run. By the end of the year, the only debt I want is the mortgage.
• When it comes to my crafting, knitting and quilting will continue! The yarn stash is overflowing, so I’m making the commitment to knit only from stash this year. I’ve been pretty good at that the last few years, though in 2020/21 I did buy quite a bit of sock yarn. Between that and dyeing up the last of the Wandering Cat stock, I’m pretty well supplied.
  Quilting is tougher… I’ve got a great stash, but sometimes you really need to buy something to finish off a quilt (usually a backing). I am going to try buy as little as possible, and it will only be to go with projects I’ve started… not something new I saw online and just had to have!
• And last, I hope to explore our new area a little more. We’ve gotten to know the immediate area pretty well, but there’s still lots to discover. I’m hoping to talk Dave into some hiking. And maybe get Dad out here for some fishing (we haven’t fished together in years.)

Here’s hoping 2022 brings wonderful things to you and yours!