I finished crocheting Mom's afghan on Monday night and finished weaving in the ends on Tuesday night while I got my hair done. (How girly is that? Working on crochet with foils in my hair?) I crashed and burned last night, still fighting the after-effects of the cough medicine with codeine which just wipes me out. But this morning, after 13 hours of sleep, I was able to get up and snap a quick picture so I could post it for all of you!

I'm sure there will be many of you thinking "gee, that seems to match Linda's living room pretty well... seems strange...." Well, it is a little strange. Mom and I have the same color schemes in our living rooms at this moment. My decor and accessories of course, are a bit funkier than Mom's (note the swirly area rug), but yes, the colors are similar. This is actually a good thing, because I have a bunch of the yarn I used in Mom's afghan left over. I have a lot of the brown, less of the tan and the aqua. So maybe after I tackle some of the quilt projects and get some machine quilting time logged, I'll whip up a simple afghan for MY living room.

P.S. The pattern for the afghan is called Fantail Fantasy and it's from Under Cover: 60 Afghans to Knit and Crochet, published by Sixth & Spring Books. I found it at the library, so maybe you can too.

Some friends of mine are planning a fabric intervention, but I keep telling them I'm fine, I don't have a problem, and I can quit anytime I want to. Meanwhile, thought I'd share one of Saturday's purchases with you. I stopped at some shops I hadn't yet visited this weekend and really enjoyed the time I spent at each. This little bundle of goodies came from A Touch of Amish in Barrington, Illinois. Charming downtown to lose yourself in for a day, if you get the chance. But I was there on a mission--I took a class a year and a half ago from this shop, but the class was offered in northern Wisconsin, so I never actually went to the shop. The finished project from that class is now with its rightful owner in Mishicot, but I might resurrect that pattern again for another baby quilt I need to make. Don't know yet if that will be the pattern or not.

But anyway, the two fabrics on the sides of the photo I bought in yardage--the dots because I loved then and the paisley because it was the end of the bolt (or was that the other way around). The others are a mix of fat quarters and half-yards. Yes, the top one is the same pattern as another one I bought recently, but that one was pastels and this one is in primary colors.

Stay tuned later this week for more fat quarters from another shop, a preview of a quilt my mom's working on (she says she's not a quilter, she just sews blocks together, but you'll have to be the judge), and an update on the afghan...

I spent much of Saturday and Sunday watching my Godson play basketball in two tournaments. I did it while fighting off a nasty cold again--seems like the same thing that got me in January. But I was able to make quite a bit of progress on the afghan while watching the games. Since it doesn't look any different than it looked before, there's no sense in sharing another photo, but it's now 44" long, so only another 16"-22" to go, depending on the pattern repeat. Would love to finish it this weekend, but it might not be possible. We'll see.

For a little background, a few weeks back, I spent a blissful afternoon at the Mitchell Park Domes and there was so much to see (and it was cozy warm, which was SO welcome on a snowy March day). The flowers and plants were all lovely, and there were so many colors to tantilize a color junkie like me, but I was really taken with the orchids ... the stark contrast that they provided in the lush green environment was pure eye candy. So when I saw this orchid print on a vivid crimson background at The Sewing Basket, I knew I had to buy it as a reminder of that marvelous afternoon. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, and it's the only yardage that I bought that doesn't have a plan formulated for its use, but I just had to have it. (Note: I don't have plans for the fat quarters that you'll see later this week, but c'mon, they're just stash-builders!)

... would describe my weekend. I did get to gaze at the beautiful and vibrant stained glass windows at the Basilica of Holy Hill. If you ever get the chance to see them, the colors are wonderful. If you do a google search in images of "Holy Hill, Wisconsin" stained glass or go to this flickr page and do a search for Holy Hill, you'll see what I mean.

I did get a few rows done on the afghan over the past week, so that's good. And my Mom did come visit the site, so she knows that it's coming along and is very excited about that.

I did get the house tidied up, but I regret that I didn't actually get through many of the things that still need to be gone through, just got the place picked up. And with three busy upcoming weekends, I regret that I won't make a lot more progress for a while. But that's okay--I'll have my evenings to work on some things.

Since the last photo, I finished the two aqua fan rows, two tan fan rows, three brown fan rows, and one more tan fan row. It measures almost 20" long and 46" wide; the desired size is 60"-66" long and 46" wide. So I'm about a third of the way done, and it's been moving along so nicely! I don't know what has taken me so long to get working on this project, but I'm really enjoying the process and the finished product as well. It's predictable since it's a four-row pattern repeat, so it's great for working on in the carpool, in the office at lunch, and while I'm watching old movies. Last night, it was The King & I; tonight it's Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.

Either Mom's not checking in on my blog or she doesn't know how to leave a comment yet, but I haven't heard boo from her about the fact that I'm working on her afghan. I hope to finish it by mid-March. Now if I could only figure out a way to crochet while I'm walking on the treadmill or riding the exercise bike at the gym, I'd be VERY happy.

As for the rest of the day, I did make it to the gym for a double workout (twice the cardio time and four sets of the weight circuit instead of two) after mass, and I did get the cards completed for my One World, One Heart winner (copies of some of the cards I made in December). And I did obtain a new laptop. As I've complained here before (or complained somewhere before), my six-year-old computer has not been very cooperative with the drills I've been putting it through in the last several months--blogging, photo editing, Facebook, etc. Unfortunately, I haven't finished the laundry, but there's always tomorrow night.

Hey pals! I had a great day today! I attended a quilt show with a schedule of quilting classes (quilting more than piecing) and I got a lot of great ideas on how to use templates to design patterns for my quilts. I can see that I'm probably going to need a lot of practice to get good at this, but now I've got the ideas to try and some visuals to aspire to. I took two classes: one from Patricia Simons of Quilter's Rule, Inc. called "Unlocking Your Creativity, Templates are the Key!" and the other by Sheri Wood called "Not your Grandmother's Feathers." Both taught me a lot and I'm so glad I attended. And then there were the fat quarters that needed to come home with me.

I'll show you some of the sketches from those classes later, but I did actually get something creative done today! I had a special Valentine dinner with My Favorite Three Year Old and her folks. But while I was up in West Bend after the quilt show, I found the PERFECT gift for the Wee One--fleece fabric printed with Curious George! She adores George and with my penchant for the music from the movie, we talk about George often. So I bought two yards and fringed the edges using my rotary cutter, Shape Cut ruler, and mat. And that's it--less than an hour later, a fringed Curious George blanket! I thought about doing two layers and knotting them together, but she gets pretty toasty when she's bundled up in my two-layer fleece blanket, so I figured one layer was better for her. That monkey is SO cute that I almost wished I was keeping it for myself. But she was so fascinated with the process, since I did all the fringe-cutting at her house. She was right there next to me while I cut the fringe--her Mom said if she got any closer, she'd have had to be tattooed on my arm. I love the idea of teaching her to make things when she gets bigger. I got her the little stitch-around shapes for Christmas (Disney Princesses), so I'm already helping her out with her fine motor skills!

I'm going to do a little more work on my afghan tonight while I watch the end of The King & I. I've been working on it in the carpool (when I'm the passenger, of course) and I can get one complete two-row pattern done on most commutes--four rows or two fans each day. So I'm making some good progress and I'm excited about that.

Tomorrow I'll finish the cards for my One World, One Heart winner, finish the laundry, and go to the gym after Mass. I'm so looking forward to a quiet day at home tomorrow. But I figured you'd all want to see my not-excessively-creative creativity for today.