A good weekend

Late Friday afternoon I got my car back.  It drives very nicely and I am pleased with it.

Saturday we went to Springfield for a little shopping and dining.  Went to a new store that had opened a while ago and to a micro brewery.  Had a real good time.  Nick, Johanna, and Ben all met us up there so it was a lot of fun.

Here's the tee shirt quilt I have been working on for a customer.  It's not very large, about 50x50.  I just did a simple meander all over it.  The quilting part is finished but I haven't taken it off of the frame yet.  I am using the rest of the backing to work up some quilting samples for my friend who would like me to quilt a top for her.  So far I have done simple loopy loops and a meander.  I would like to work up a couple of pantos to show her also.

I had a lot of trouble with thread breaking.  If I remember correctly, this particular thread gave me fits last time I used it, so I just muddled through and have decided that I am going to take that cone of thread upstairs to use for piecing.

I also accomplished something I have been wanting to do for a long time.  I have learned to knit!  Years ago I played around with knitting, but I never really figured it out.  This time, with lots of help from my friend Marla and a couple of You Tube videos, I think I got it!  My main goal is to be able to make a simple dishcloth... not a very lofty goal, but that is the reason I wanted to learn to knit.  I have always loved those knitted dishcloths!  I tried to duplicate them in crochet, but was just never able to come up with something I liked.  I have a huge cone of cotton yarn, so all I had to get was a set of needles.  Well, once I got in the yarn aisle, I did see some pretty colors of cotton yarn and had to pick up just a couple.  Here's what I have done so far:

It will certainly not win any beauty contests, but I doubt my dirty dishes will care.

Ev and I made a trip over to a furniture resale shop on Saturday morning.  I have been wanting to get a table that I could cut a hole in to set a sewing machine down on a shelf below so that it was flush with the table.  There is one at Ikea, however it is $65 and I just cringe at the thought of paying that much for something I am going to cut a hole in and possibly mess up.  The table we found is larger than the Ikea one, which is fine, and I was able to get them down in price to $30.  Ev is going to pick it up this morning. 

The machine that I would like to put in it is one I don't have yet!  haha.  I am seriously considering buying a new machine for piecing, but just don't have the cash for it yet.  So until then, I am going to hold off on cutting any holes in tables...