Not for those with a weak stomach

Yesterday the Pickle and I were messing around in the living room. I was folding a basket of laundry and he was doing the things that the pickle does. As I reached into the laundry basket and looked up at him he made a squish face and gave a shutter. I looked at him a little closer and noticed a little smear of something on his face. Then "Hey! Where did you get that grape?"

Uhhhh... yeah... let's call it an ABC grape to the extreme.

The weekend

We had a great weekend. Saturday we hosted the block party. We decided to invite 3 blocks worth this year, and then the same people showed up as last year. I guess a lot are just not interested in being social. It is a little disappointing. We had a great time though, the weather was chilly and sunny. We got out a fire pit and sat in the middle of the road around the fire until about 10:30.

I have become hooked on knitting socks! I knit the pickle a pair this weekend. But... They don't fit so well. The stitches are stretched out and the one heel is short. I started another pair with a different pattern, on smaller needles. I think it will work out better. It is for a larger size and the band looks good so far. I'm hoping that I didn't waist too much yard on the first pair and can get the second pair out of the ball. Last night I was dreaming that I was knitting away, while I slept. The problem was that the needles kept slipping out and I'd loose them in the bed. I half woke up and realized that I was twisting the sheets thinking that I was knitting them and looking for lost needles! ha.... I guess it is on my mind.

I have pulled Michaels quilt off my big quilting machine. I'm having issues with the fly wheel not being spun by the little wheel off the motor. I contacted the maker of the machine and it sounds like I need to give everything a good oiling. I'm hoping this solves the problem. I have quilts and knitting on the brain and I don't want to waste the pickles nap time trying to fix broken things, I want to get things finished!

I've accepted another quilt commission for a 50th anniversary quilt. It is due in April. Once the design is finalized I'm getting down to work and getting it done ASAP!

Mom gave me her embroidery machine and I have put some dinosaurs on a pair of fleece overall's and pants that I made the pickle. I need to get some pictures of them. When the Pickle sees the dino he always says "Hi! Rawrrrr" So cute!

Good things on the pickle number 2 front. We aren't officially discussing it yet but I'm done with drinks on the town for now!

Happy Birthday Baby B!

On the elevator ride up to my desk this morning I was thinking how I really got a lot done this weekend. Then I started to tally it up... I baked a cake, well 2 sheet cakes and a little baby cake, I decorated the cake and... uhhh.. oh yeah I rolled t-shirts for tie-dying... and what else... yeah that's about it.
The cake was for a friends boys first birthday. I had a great time making in and trying out some new techniques. It came out a little lopsided due the everything in this house sloping the the center, including the oven, which leads to a cake with one corner higher than the others. I was nervous that Belinda was not going to like the cake, but it got rave reviews! People even asked if I would do cakes for other people. Here are some pictures of my efforts.
The baby cake.













The sheet cake:
I was thinking about the amount of butter and confectioners sugar involved. I think that there is at least 5 lbs of butter, maybe 6 in these cakes! And probably 6 pounds of confectioners sugar. They sure were good though!
I loved making the rockets and see using this technique in the future for other things.






And a couple of pictures of the birthday boy.