Thursday, July 31, 2008

Things I do when I work out of town

I eat pretty good food! I love Houston. Anytime you are this close to the gulf you can get some seriously delicious seafood. I went to a restaurant in Sugar Land called Razzoo's and had this wonderful jalapeno fried catfish, with rice and green beans. Delicious! The green beans have been cooked with spicy sausage and are delicious! If you are ever in the Houston area try this place out! It is good!

I found these at JoAnn's they are only $1 a set. I love them. I can't help but buy crafting stuff when I am out of town. These were a steal and I can't wait to use them making cards and scrapbook pages! Besides they are very easy to pack too!
I also purchased the latest "Sew Simple" magazine. I love these magazines. I have yet to try making anything but I love the articles. Great tutorials for sewing. If you never tried sewing I suggest these magazines. I believe they come out quarterly and cost around $5.99. I wait for a coupon from JoAnn's to purchase mine. I haven't been able to find them in the library around me.
I found this quilting book at Borders for $5.99. I like it a lot. I am considering making a quilt for myself. I haven't decided if I will but it's a thought. I thought an instruction book might be great. This one has some cool easy patterns too. I can't wait to read through it.
What a great day! I am packing to go home tomorrow. It rained today in Chicago and I hope it holds off to late tomorrow night for more. I don't need my flight delayed. Nothing is worst than sitting in the airport when you are ready to be home.
This weekend it looks like I will be spending at my mother's home. My brother will be home the weekend so I will be there to help with him. I plan on taking my crocheting to work on. Hopefully my projects will be completed by next weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I have already uploaded some photos today so I am getting back into the groove. I just hit one of those little bumps in the road along the way. LOL!
I'm back!
ROCK ON!



Crochet and photo news

Hello there!

I knew I forgot to post something earlier this month and now I remember. I finally joined Ravelry! My user name is mskasey. I like it so far. I have visited the Ebony Elite group, updated my profile, added two new projects and my crochet hook collection. I have yet to venture many other places but I hope to do so soon. I have so much on my plate so it will take some time. But I am glad to be a member now.

On another note I have made a decision regarding my crochet cardigan project. I am going to continue to do the back in solid yarn. The old back will be frogged and I wil finish the sleeve as well as the trimming around the edges with this yarn. I think this scenario works best for me. I know sometimes I have self doubts. I just needed to vent I think. Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions.

As for the picture issue, I think I have come to a conclusion. Stacey offered a great idea of switching to html to upload photos and suggested I try that so I will. I may also limit the amount of photos I upload per post. It's just a very time consuming activity for me. I will find a way to add them again. So don't worry. I will not continue with the long no picture posts. LOL!

Have a great day!

Catch you on the flip side!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Feelin' Flaky

Hello out there!

I have come to realize something about myself. I hate uploading photos to my blog. I mean I really hate the slow tedious process. I always want to upload pictures but I never do because it is so slow and arranging them drives me crazy. Hence one of the many reasons I don't blog very often anymore. Also photobucket gives me the flux sometimes. I hate it too. If anyone has any good suggestions please let me know.

This month has been a good one so far. I made my way to my local quilt shop for an "Escape to Sew" day they have once a month. One of my resolutions for the year was to go these events and I finally made it there this month. I was about to cancel when a friend I haven't seen in a while and I were trying to get together. We had decided on this day but I called back and rescheduled. I needed that day! I don't quilt but they offer space for you do any of your sewing projects. I met the ladies which meet there and had a good time. I mostly talked though. I ended up possibly offending a Creative Memories consultant but I don't care. I didn't agree with something she said and voiced my opinion. I didn't start any trouble but I shared my own personal opinion. I tend to do this with people which try to act like their opinion is fact.

Anyway, I took one of those one hour patterns to work on and I cut it out and started sewing but I am not finished in the least. I think I have about 33% left to do. I realized quickly that I talk too much. But that's me! LOL! I was there from 11am to 5pm. I am looking forward to going again but I might cut my fabric out in advance and just work on stitching when I get there.

I was also on vacation for a week. I took time do things around my home and I went to a scrapbook retreat in Central Illinois with six friends. We had a blast! But we always do. I worked on 22 layouts. I think I did a terrific job! I was very pleased. We had such a good time we decided to go back in November. I can't wait!

My other projects from the month include my cardigan I am attempting to finish. This is where the flakiness comes into play! The pattern called for 48 ounces for the large sweater. I bought 60 ounces and I ran out. I also realized the sweater was way too large. I was about 80% finished with it. I decided to frog it and start over. I did a swatch to test the gauge and I found using a smaller needle and a smaller size would work. Well guess what! I don't have enough yarn! Either the pattern is way off or its me. I think its the pattern! Really I do. I am about 90% done at this point. I ran out of yarn on the second sleeve! Yes that's right the second sleeve. I have about a third done (which is better than my first attempt with only one partial sleeve). RATS! The yarn I am using I cannot find any to match. I already threw out the labels because I was sure I had enough(note to self DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"). So I have been to many JoAnn's stores and compared yarn and there is nothing. The yarn available is too washed out and dingy looking. Too much of a difference to use. I have completed the back of the sweater, the two fronts and one sleeve. I have about a third of the last sleeve completed and its just sitting in a basket. I finally came up with a solution. I will frog the back piece and do it in a solid color and use the yarn I am frogging from the back to finish the sleeve and edging. I have completed about 60% of the back but now I am having second thoughts about the whole project. Not one but three people have told me it still looks a bit large (which it does) but it does have drop shoulders. I am beginning to wonder if I should finish it or frog the entire thing and start with fresh yarn all together. I am so confused. I am feeling very flaky! Give me strenghth! I need some good mental vibes so I can complete the darn thing. I had a finishing date of the end of this month and it would have been completed two weeks ago if I wouldn't have ran out of yarn. What's a woman to do! But on the other note do I want to complete a sweater that will be too big for me? I just don't know right now.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Later!