Lisa Quilts

Hellooooooo!

I realize it's been far too long since I stuck my head in here.  Since August we have been busy - we've been working and playing a LOT of our waking hours.  I'm back working at the school I was at last year (hooray!), as well as working to co-build and co-teach the ShelterGuides course, and am coaching speed skating.  In the quiet corners here and there I've tried to find time to do some crafting, but those quiet moments have been few and far between.  

I'm currently managing three websites, and developing a new one.  Somehow I managed to stay away from the computer for two full days - only to find more than 70 emails waiting for me this morning!  (*Note to self * NOT vetting the email regularly can be disasterous!!)


A good example of how little crafting time I've had:  the sweater that I cast on in August when Randy was at the coast for his knee replacement surgery is still not finished.  I managed to cast off the second sleeve last night, and still need to assemble the sweater and knit the collar. This sweater may end up taking the longest of any I've ever made!

School ended for us last Friday, and I got busy stitching, making gifts for friends and family.  Now I'm mostly playing. There are just a couple of gifts left to make, so this afternoon has been playtime!

If you've been reading this blog for a very long time, you may remember this post or this post...

I found a local source for verrrrryyyyy inexpensive clothesline ($2.00 for 100ft...100% cotton).  I still have a rather large stash of fabric - and some spare time!!  I've been playing with shapes and sizes, and am finding that I can make a rather nice sized breadbasket with about 50' of line.  The photos here are of my only circular one so far - the most recent experiment involves using up lots of extremely colourful scraps, odd bobbins and ends of spools of thread...and I plan on attempting a lid.  This particular basket is quite a bit larger than the other ones that I've been making.  I'm hoping it will not end up TOO big, and can be recruited to hold all the remote controls and other detritus that collects on the coffee table but needs to be there.  Then again, if the lid thing works out, I may make another one in tamer colours to live in the main room and recruit this one to hold crafting or spinning supplies. :)

 Yesterday I went out for a walk with young Max through the neighbourhood.  Although it snowing now, yesterday was reasonably clear (for this time of year) and cold.  The frost had formed on almost everything in the yard (branches, buildings, fences) - but only on the WEST side.  There was a lot of beautiful furry frost to be seen in all kinds of different corners.


We walked all over the place and Mr. Max left quite a few people prints in different areas...edges of fields, just off of driveways, out in the gravel pit. The area was beautiful and misty, with a low fog hanging in the valley.  I was able to get some really gorgeous photos of the area (some of which are posted on my Facebook account for friends and family).  It was wonderful to get outside together for an hour or so.  The kicker is that it was the last hour before sunset, which is at about 3:50pm these days as we are right up against our shortest day of the year.  Hurry up solstice!  We need our days to start getting longer!

The other night we unleashed our Christmas Chaos, and the boys decorated the tree - and each other from time to time.  It was pretty sweet to see.  They're so lovely together so much of the time.  I count my stars every day that they are the young men that they are. We are so lucky.

Wherever you are, I hope this note finds you well.
:)
Lisa