January GG ~ From the Last to the First

Aloha, friendly readers~ I hope you all are enjoying your worldly weather. We've had a huge snowfall for our neck of the woods. It has been many years since the area has seen this much. It was wonderful. I restocked our snow ice cream for when we forget what winter is like in the midst of summer.  We shoveled snow (a lot of it).  Luckily my shoulder has healed nicely.  Last week was the first week it felt "normal" so it was good timing, and the shoveling of the snow didn't do anything other than make us sleep really well. :)

scale in inches

Of course, now they're threatening the same thing could happen this coming weekend! I wonder how much of this current snow will melt before then.  Certainly not the mountains of shoveled stuff! Oh well, I love it all! :D  This was a lovely atmospheric gift which segues nicely into the next item of interest, January's Gifted Gorgeousness!

click for more info!

First up, I made my first ever shawl!  It's a shame I couldn't get better pictures of it; this red just seems impossible.  It was made to match this hat, gifted to my husband's grandmother back in September.  I spent quite a while looking for a pattern to try!  I wanted it to have shells (like the hat) but still have somewhat open stitches so as not to be overly warm.

didn't mean to match the carpet

Technical Details

• "Tranquil Tea Wrap", crochet, freebie pattern by Lion Brand Yarn found here (ravelry).
• My ravelry project page here.
• 10mm (N/P) hook.
• Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in autumn red.
• Started: October 17, 2018, Finished: October 21, 2018, unknown hours.  

As you may notice, this was a blazing fast finish (for me) at only four days!  I think the gigantic hook helped though it felt odd using one so large.  Plus the sitting around at grandma's house made for excellent crafting time.  I made a few modifications, namely doing another repeat of the pattern to make the shawl longer.  I also did not do the edging as the pattern indicated, instead opting to keep the scalloped edge of the shells as the last part.  Afterwards, it received the spa treatment of a gentle wash and then a light blocking.  I don't much care for blocking acrylic but it opens up the shells and spacings so nicely.

assembly in progress

Next up, yes, finally the husband cube, and finally a cube~!  I had fun with this...mostly.  I used iron-on interfacing to give the rather floppy jobelan some stiffness and to close up the holes in the fabric weave so stuffing wouldn't leak out.  Also it helped with this very fray-some fabric!  I outlined each of the glyphs in DMC 310 and then went insane and joined them together with gold metallic floss because I enjoy suffering, apparently.  I wanted to do it this way to mimic the logo of the series which is in black and gold.  I then braided a small loop of black and gold crochet thread which must (must!) have something wrong with it as it is incredibly fragile.  I may at some point go back and make another, sturdier loop of something else but for now, I'm waiting to see if it's okay as-is.

assembly complete!

I rather like how it turned out, though it is much bigger than originally anticipated.  I don't think he'll be taking it to work after all, so it is proudly displayed atop our media cabinet where most of our video game consoles live.  As I was stitching it up, I had to laugh at myself.  I was stitching it on the closed top of the sewing machine.  Wouldn't that have made quick work of the cube!

what a crazy floss toss

For Christmas, my husband got me the remainder of the "old" floss colors of the DMC collection!  I would be complete now if it weren't for those silly new colors. :)   I greatly look forward to bobbinating these but I've run out of plastic storage containers.  It's so hard to find them in colors other than pink, blue, purple, and clear.  There used to be a whole bunch of options available!  Even eBay has failed me.  I'd really love a yellow one but alas, I'll probably just wind up with another clear one.

a year of giveaways!

Lastly, I've been toying around with this idea for a while.  I have a small pile of patterns I've picked up in various thrift stores so I wanted to try a Year of Giveaways!  Each GG post in 2019 I will have one chart up for grabs, and I will announce the winner in my random end of/beginning of the month post.  Since these are all thrifted designs, some might have some markings on them.  I will make note of the ones that do in their individual posts.  Here is the first chart!

PFC #14

This is an older Homespun Elegance stitch from the Plain & Fancy Collection called "Snowmen - Tall & Small".  This a totally clean (was it ever stitched?) chart.  They're really cute and I love the idea of having a twig broom embellishment!  No fancy extras will be included in this giveaway to cut down on shipping costs so you will have to source your own twig haha. I will ship the pattern worldwide though!

Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway Guidelines

1. Be a minion follower (upper right corner of my blog)!  Feedly, bloglovin', etc. do not count as there is no way to show it!  I am sorry; blame blogger for this one.
2. Comment and tell me you would like to be included in the drawing!
3. Open worldwide! 
4. No winning twice in a row (example: the winner of March's drawing would not be eligible for April's).
5. Closing date: January 29th, 2019 23:59 CST.

Thanks for reading this edition of Ishkabibble Babble and good luck to anyone entering! \:D/

what to do after it snows?

December GG ~ The Last

Hello there, everyone! Are you all doing well with your Christmas preparations?  I feel like I've reached the "Yep, Good Enough" stage hah.  Things are going a little slower for me this year as shortly after Thanksgiving, I wound up doing something to my shoulder.  I was moving one of my potted plants (a small jalapeno) to position it better under the grow light.  When I lifted the pot, the most horrible grinding and then a sharp POP happened.  How I didn't drop the planter, I'll never know.  I toughed it out for a week, but as it was still quite painful, I made a doctor's appointment... which couldn't happen for another 1.5 weeks eep.  I finally got in this week.

Luckily, it's not serious and is healing nicely~  At first there were fears of a partial dislocation or a torn rotator cuff.  Instead, it seems to be tendinitis.  I got my first x-rays ever which was kinda neat.  There are no chips in the bone, and in fact, I apparently have excellent bone density hah.  I guess loving milk helps.  In my case, the fact that I work out has highly mitigated the damage.  My husband and I do P90X every evening, 5-6 days a week.  I am still able to (and the doctor encouraged continuing to) exercise, though at a slower pace and lighter weights. I'm on prescription-strength painkillers for a while which have made me very groggy.  My husband has already told me no driving and I'm listening to him.  I also have a few stretches to do to help get the full range of movement back.

One silly thing about all this whole adventure was that I discovered my husband had no idea that such a thing as a hot water bottle exists!  You know, these things?  He thought I was imagining up some impossible to find thing (to be fair, I do have some wild ideas sometimes) and I thought he was surely joking with me because it's a hot water bottle!  We poked around the store trying to find this Mystical Item to no avail, and he was growing more and more convinced I dreamed up this thing ahaha.  I finally asked an employee who thankfully proved my sanity LOL.  It feels wonderful on my shoulder and my husband enjoys it warming up the foot of the bed when I set it there after I'm done for the evening.

But enough about my Gardening-in-Winter Mishaps, this is Gifted Gorgeousness, the last of 2018!

click for more info

First up, we have a winner of the giveaway mentioned in the previous GG post.  The Prairie Schooler chart, Starry Night, goes to: Carol from Stitching Dreams!  Yay, congratulations! She already has many (many, many!) PS charts but miraculously not this one. We've already been in contact so the chart is currently on its way to its new home~

before

after

As for my stitching, I give to you The Final Side! The tail took a bit longer than I would've liked but I am just not fond of working with grey.  I like how his tail turned out though.  While stitching, the greys seemed awfully similar and I worried it would be hard to see the details.  It turned out okay in the end as things tend to do.

Technical Details

• "Ceadeus" glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, pattern charted by me.
• 2 over 1 on 20-count light tan jobelan fabric.
• Finished size: 3.50 x 3.50" (9 x 9 cm).
• Started: August ??, 2018, Finished: December 7, 2018, unknown hours.  

death from land, sea, and sky

I have thought up how this will be finished and am currently in the process of doing just that.  So I will have another object for January's GG!  I've never sewn anything up like this so hopefully it will turn out like I'm imagining!

Also in the spirit of GG, I have been making my Christmas cookies.  With my derpy shoulder, I am SO glad for the stand mixer this year!  I will try to keep track this year of how many I wind up making.  We send them out to friends and family (mostly in Hawaii) that we don't get to see during the season.  Plus I make more for the friends and family we do get to see, but these are usually the more delicate cookies that wouldn't survive the mail.  It's a very cozy way to spend a few days!  Plus the house smells delicious hah.

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envelopes

Because this post is a little bit sparse this month due to being secretive, I will show you some things I've been gifted.  As you may remember, I went back to my grandmother's house in October.  She asked me to get down a box that was high up in her closet and we had a great time going through it.  It was various sewing and crafting supplies of all ages.  This magical Christmas tin provided me hours of entertainment, and her hours of amusement at my entertainment.  What is in it?  Buttons!!  They are mostly white.  But in the same box was a large bag with envelopes.  She had more buttons separated by color family.  This isn't even all the envelopes!  I'm the type to keep buttons all jumbled together but having her writing on the envelopes is pretty awesome so I'll probably keep these as-is.

Did you know I love buttons?  My mother also has a huge tin of them at her house and I can remember going through them several times as a kid (and as not a kid).

buttons and hooks

Here are a few of my favorites from the collection.  I love that little aqua flower and sparkly four-leafed clover!  The white one is an older mother-of-pearl, which I found a neat trick for determining.  A mother-of-pearl button is super cold when held up to your cheek.  The difference is very obvious when compared to a similar-looking plastic one!  A MoP is like ice!  The little red one reminds me of a raspberry; doesn't it just look so ripe and delicious? (No buttons were eaten in the making of this post).  The small round, metal one is a field of very tiny flowers.

Also, the white hooks on the right are bone, though not necessarily super old since they have the price engraved on them - 10¢!  The one on the left is a bit of a mystery.  It's very plain and slightly warped with use.  It's either bone or ivory (I suspect bone).  I'm not sure that I will use these hooks because I know I do my work too tight.  I would be afraid of snapping them.

Okay, have I talked you to death yet?  This was a very rambling post!  I'd blame the painkillers but I've rambled a lot before.  No excuses. ;)  My next posts will probably be recap posts for 2018 (egads).  I hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

November GG ~ Secrets

Howdy, everyone!  It's such a busy time of year and I've been feeling under the weather for weeks now. Not sick, just exhausted and blah! They've finally harvested the fields around us so I could start the deep fall (winter?!) housecleaning. It normally would've been done months ago, but I didn't realize they would wait so long to harvest the soybeans (it was a terrible year for them here).  So, I've been hanging out our windows caulking gaps and scrubbing everything inside and out. That had to be put on hold as it turned cold and we've already had our first significant snow (very early for this area).  I'm hoping for a brief warmup so I can finish up the outside caulking!  Whew. I'm pretty sure I've unearthed enough fur to make another cat. How does it get everywhere?!  Maybe I should save it and spin it into yarn!

click for more info

Anyway, onto the Gifted Gorgeousness, the SAL where we work on gifts, gifts to be given or gifts received or gifts slid in by the magic of Shoehorn Power!

before

after

After getting back from Grandma's, I feel like all my crafting has taken a nosedive!  There's just a bit more on the last side of the MH3U cube for my husband.  I love that blue but we've seen the end of it in this piece, alas~  It's the giant tail left and then I really need to figure out how to actually finish-finish this piece into a cube without ruining it, eek!  I've been toying around with some ideas but I dunno if I can pull them off.  We'll see~

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I actually have some other work complete but it will have to wait for a somewhat large January GG post as they're going to be Christmas gifts!  Instead, here is another Flower of the Month huck towel completed.  This was one of the projects I took with me to my grandmother's house.  This is not GG unless it's a gift for myself for finally being done, hooray!

before

after

Technical Details

• "September: Aster" freebie pattern by Ellen Maurer-Stroh, found here.
• 2-over-1 on a 14-count ecru huck towel.
• Finished size: 4.5" x 4.5" (11,50cm x 11,50cm).
• Started October? ??, 2017, finished October ??, 2018, unknown hours.

I was not very good at keeping details for this stitch.  But sheesh, a year is too long for one of these.  I just wasn't into this particular flower for some reason.  October will be the calendula -- most readily known here as a marigold!  I tend to like yellow-y flowers so I hope it will go faster.  And as a bonus, it will count for GG as I will make use of the huck towel sent by Tiffany at Tiffstitches!  :D  I have yet to find the two remaining towels in any store, at least in the ecru color.  Even eBay is weirdly pricey for these.  JoAnn's still carries them online, so I will hopefully be able to make use of their free shipping and 40% coupon combo that usually happens this time of year.  Fingers crossed!

just three more!

Since it was another "third", here is where the completed collection now stands.  They all look so happy together!

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Lastly, here's another giveaway!  It's a little late for Christmas stitching this year (though I know a few of you are fast enough hah) but I hope you enjoy this piece.  The chart is clean and actually doesn't look like it's ever been used (this was a thrift store find!).

Prairie Schooler #109: Starry Night

I love the color scheme in this leaflet; it's so serene.  There are seven different designs depicting the Star of Bethlehem and the Nativity and they would make lovely ornaments.  I'll ship anywhere in the world~

Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway Guidelines

1. Be a minion follower (upper right corner of my blog)!  Feedly, bloglovin', etc. do not count as there is no way to show it!  I am sorry; blame blogger for this one.
2. Comment and tell me you would like to be included in the drawing!
3. Open worldwide! 
4. Closing date: November 29th, 2018 23:59 CST.

Thanks for reading this edition of Ishkabibble Babble and good luck to anyone entering! \:D/

October GG ~ Progress is Progress

Howdy again, world~  Here is this month's Gifted Gorgeousness where I astound(?) you all with my progress(?) on various gifted items.

click for more info

First up, a bit more progress on the last side of the Husband Cube.

before

after

Once I finally fixed all the errors I made previously, progress has happened.  He's got his flippers now.  All that's left is his gigantic tail and a bit of belly(?) decoration.

all better

Next up, I made some repairs to the house slippers I made for my husband three years ago!  It's the gift that keeps on giving. :D  The soles on his slippers were worn through and the foam wouldn't stay put any longer.  So, I made another set of soles and this time, wised up and ATTACHED THE FOAM instead of just stuffing it in there.  Now it shouldn't migrate all over the shoe whenever they're washed.  I also tacked down the cuff a bit more firmly this time too.  It did somewhat change the aesthetic of them since I had to attach the sole to the already existing shoe part instead of making the shoe on top of the sole.  But, it wasn't so drastic that they look terrible.  They're now ready for another season of toasty toes!

well-worn

I still have to repair my own slippers but that's not GG territory unless I count my feet being warm a gift to myself!  Since I didn't take a picture of the bottom of his slippers pre-repair, this was the state of mine.  As bad as they are, they are no where near as bad as his were! These pictures are kind of dark and a bit blurry... Fall weather is nice but also lots of overcast days.

vintage-inspired coasters

Lastly, I finished up some delightful little coasters for Leonore's wedding!  Unfortunately, I made the silly error of assuming post to Germany would get there as quickly as it does to the UK.  So they did not make it in time to provide table decoration for her wedding, buu. 

She asked for shades of green so I started making them in the dark green.  Then I just happened to find myself in Michael's one day (funny how that happens) and saw the pretty mint green.  So, why not both?

four each

I have to say -- I LOVE this pattern. There were a few minor issues with the pattern that I worked out in a test piece but after that, each was such a wonderful project to work on. They turn out so dainty and sweet.  I may wind up making some more for us that I would have to hide away from a certain small-item-stealing kitty (not naming names, Oreo).


Technical Details

• "Vintage Coasters" freebie pattern by Anabelia Handmade on ravelry.
• Hook: 1.65mm.
• Thread: Aunt Lydia's Crochet Classic Crochet (Size 10) in white and mint green.  American Thread Company Puritan Crochet Cotton
• My ravelry project page here.
• Started: ??  Finished: September 18, 2018, unknown hours.

Okay, that's all I got this time!  See you next time, probably for the Hallowe'en Blog Hop~ :D

September GG ~ Stash Enhancements, Hats, and a Just Jo SAL!

Hello, world~  It's time for our monthly installment of Gifted Gorgeousness!  Are you curious about the Just Jo SAL?  I'll get there eventually~  There hasn't been any progress on the last side of the MH3U husband cube as I've been a bit busy with other things that can't yet be shown to the public eye.

click for more info

I got an awesome package in the mail last week -- a nice pile of new-to-me knitting and crochet magazines!  A friend was clearing out some of her stash and asked if I needed wanted any.  Of course!  I took all she offered and anything that doesn't entirely tickle my fancy, I'll take with me to our local "yarn and yak" group.  Thank you, Awesome Friend! :D

yay!

I adore the Jane Austen Knits magazine!  I'll eventually update my ravelry patterns page with the ones I'll be keeping.  I'm getting quite the collection on there but it makes it so much easier to not wind up with duplicates~

In the spirit of giving instead of hoarding receiving, I made another "flowering hat", this time for my husband's grandmother's birthday. She's in the Red Hat Society and I thought this might work for some of her gatherings. The flower is again removable and she's already mentioned using it as a pin on a dress! How nice to hear a gift is already being used. :D

best hat pattern

I actually had a rather difficult time trying to get this color to show properly! It's actually a deep wine red.  There's also a small button at the center of the white flower holding everything together but that got washed out trying to bring out the red.  I went up a hook size for this hat and am much happier with the result.  It's so soft!  The flower might be a bit too big with that hook though...

Technical Details

• "Ridge Hat with Brim" freebie pattern by Kool Stitch on ravelry.
• Hook: 4.5mm.
• Yarn: Caron Simply Soft; Colorway: autumn red, purple, and white.
• My ravelry project page here.
• Started: ??  Finished: August 24, 2018, unknown hours.

With this finish, I have finally surpassed last year's crafting finishes (this is #16) and am on my way to surpass my most productive year (2016: 18 finishes).  I'm not a very fast or prolific crafter so this is really exciting for me.

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winner, winner, chicken dinner (?)

Here are the results to the poll from the last post regarding y'all's preferences over comment settings.  Embedded seems to be the most preferred setting!  I would guess this is because it allows people to easily reference the post they're commenting on.

I have no idea how long this poll will last, or even if it's still open to vote!  The site says they eventually clear out inactive polls but didn't specify a time.

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Now it's time to contribute in a different way to GG!  Surely by now y'all know I love thrift shopping and can often spot fun things I don't desperately need. I also watch for potential giveaways for pretty charts I know I'll never stitch but think will make someone else happy.

Just Nan - Morning Meadow band sampler

This time the giveaway is for a Just Nan chart: Morning Meadow.  I had originally offered it to our GG hostess as she sure seems to stitch a lot of Just Nans, to the point where I started calling them Just Jos!  Jo already has this particular chart but hasn't stitched it yet.  So, win this chart and have a SAL with Jo and get to count it for all sorts of Gifted Gorgeousness!  :D

what's a meadow without grasshoppers?

This giveaway is just the chart; unfortunately no fancy beads that sometimes came with them.  It's a nice, clean chart with no markings though there is a thrift store price sticker (it's a bonus? :D).  Since shipping is open worldwide, this will just be the chart, no little extras tossed in.

Gifted Gorgeousness Giveaway Guidelines

1. Be a minion follower (upper right corner of my blog)!  Feedly, bloglovin', etc. do not count as there is no way to show it!  I am sorry; blame blogger for this one.
2. Comment and tell me you would like to win!
3. Open worldwide! 
4. Closing date: September 30, 2018, 23:59 CST.  Closed a little early on September 27 and will ship to the one entrant!  A popular name means a lot of people have it already haha :)

Thanks for reading this edition of Iskabibble Babble and good luck to anyone entering! \:D/

August GG ~ The Different Stitches

Greetings, world~ Thank you for the interest in my last post! It was so exciting to me to fix up the sewing machine and I know the post might've been a bit technical.  I've been playing around it; more on that later.

click for more info

For GG this month, the final side of the Husband Cube has had a good start!  And by good, I mean rough.  I picked out many, many stitches over and over (and there's still a couple left) before I finally got things rolling in the correct direction.  And I really goofed up making the pattern for this guy. Who would have thought the characters of v and ^ could cause so much trouble!  I should not have them next to each other, that's for sure!
 

Ceadus

Otherwise, this monster has a very pretty(?) interesting(?) weird(?) glyph.  Despite having 500+ hours in this particular game, I am not sure what that eye-like thing is supposed to be.  Best guess is that it's where his mismatched horns meet...?  He's also using two of the brand-new DMC colors - 02 and 03.  I had thought my husband would choose all four when he saw them but, nope, two of the older greys still won.   The new ones are the ones in his horns.

Side note: I think DMC is quite ornery for numbering the new colors 01-35!  That requires significant rearranging of floss boxes don'tchaknow!   Couldn't some be in the 3000s?!  I don't have them all yet but they are available individually at Hobby Lobby stores which is nice.

I'm also working on another gift (actually two others!) which can't yet be shown here on the blog because I'm being a sneaky hobbitses.  You'll just have to leave things up to your imagination for a while.  Don't get too wild, though.

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Not really for GG unless you count it as the gift of learning!  As mentioned above, I've been trying to figure things out with the sewing machine.  I have a nice assortment of different feet and attachments but little knowledge of what it is they do exactly!

tension control makes happy stitches

Firstly, I had to play with the tension or it wasn't going to matter what attachment I used.  So I adjusted it.  And then I adjusted it more.  And took apart the tension assembly, again.  And took the bobbin case out, again.  And adjusted even more. It wound up worth it as the pretty stitch is there!  I used white thread for the top and black for the bobbin thread so I could see what was messing up where.

zigzags and buttonhole!

Since my sewing machine is quite old, all it can do natively is a straight line of stitches so I have to add stuff to it to make it do all the fancy things machines now do straight out of the box.  The first things I tried once were the zigzag and the buttonhole attachments.   They're really neat little gizmos that do exactly what they say they do!

I'm really in love with the buttonholer.  I have three of them!  The first one I bought I'm fairly certain goes with my exact machine due to the circumstances surrounding its find.  One I bought because it had the extra set of templates and the price was right.  One I bought solely because it contained the eyelet template which is insanely hard to find and as a result, expensive!  On eBay, the eyelet alone can go for around $30 and I bought all three buttonholer sets for under $20.

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mysterious

Lastly, I've been busy making these little things. Any guesses as to what they are?  They're not particularly exciting but they are a bit amusing, so come back for the Smalls Edition of Ishkabibble Babble to find out~  :D/

June GG ~ Side #5 is a Finish!

Allo there, folks~  Thank you for all your reassurances last post that "appy" is quite fine where it is!  I am currently waiting for the sparkly red floss to finish the fireworks.  I could not find it in any store, anywhere!  I was going to order it online but they wanted four times the price of the floss for shipping -- lol no.  I am patient and attentive to sales so I know there would be a free shipping coupon at some point.  Luckily within the week!  It took quite a while to ship as I just received it yesterday.  I haven't even found time to bobbinate it let alone use it.

Anyway, on to the giftedness!

click for more info

before

after

Hooray! The fifth side of the Husband Cube is finished!  Narg wound up with a lot of pleasant-to-stitch colors but really seemed to take forever.  I guess because there weren't any little patterns in his large blocks of color like the others had.  And the tail was suitably a pain in the tuchus just like in-game.

Technical Details

• "Nargacuga" glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, pattern charted by me.
• 2 over 1 on 20-count light tan jobelan fabric.
• Finished size: 3.50 x 3.50" (9 x 9 cm).
• Started: March 29, 2018, Finished: June 8, 2018, unknown hours.  

and then there were five

Next up, the final side!  It will be Ceadus which wasn't originally planned for ???? reason.  Poor guy, he's even a flagship monster in the game; dunno why we didn't immediately think of him.  His pattern is a little creepy but looks really interesting to stitch.  As a bonus for a cube finish, it won't matter which way Ceadus faces -- he's an underwater battle and goes whichever direction suits him best hah.

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Not for GG, but I wanted to squish in a little progress on September's Aster somewhere. It may be September before I finish this one hah.

before

after

At least one flower (and bud) is finished! Maybe the other will bloom a bit faster.  I think I've achieved acceptance on the orange center.  Or at least laziness.  :D

Re: Blogger Comment Fiasco --  I will be doing the "Notify Me" version of the comments on my blog.  If I don't have/can't find your email address, I will reply directly to the comment.  I didn't have this set up on the last post so if you haven't received a reply from me, it's because none were sent!  This whole thing is really silly and I hope that it's soon fixed.

Next up will probably be for the Smalls SAL if I can rummage up another little piece out of my digital stash.  Still not quite feeling Christmas!  See you folks next time for another edition of Iskabibble Babble~  \:D/

May GG ~ The Return of the Speaker Cozies

Howdy, folks! Hope everything is swell where you are~ We've finally decided to end winter here and of course, skip straight into summer. I am a bit grumpy over this.  I hate being hot!  Plus with the fresh green grass needing mowed every five days...  whew.  Sometimes I wonder how I am staying awake at all.  But you're not here to listen to me complain about the weather being weather, you're here for Gifted Gorgeousness!

click for more info

First up, we have substantial (for me) progress on the 5th side of the Monster Hunter cube!

before

after

We finally picked up a PS4 and my husband has been busy playing through Dark Souls 3 and I've been busy enjoying all the spare crafting time next to him! I'm not sure why this particular side seems to be taking forever. It might be the large blocks of color.  Soothing to stitch yet seems to go nowhere fast.

before

after

Next up, the long-neglected speaker cozies. I have been forced to decided to make a change. I joined the two smallest cozies together to make a single larger one that will grow even more. One of our cats (not mentioning any names, Oreo) likes to steal small items and carry them around.  Coasters, socks, actual cat toys, and apparently small doilies are not safe from this sneaky kitty (Oreo). So, I am making it into a bigger cozy for either one of the larger speakers or possibly for the end/coffee tables. They are still pending decision from the other half. And possibly to see if they're big enough to NOT be of interest to a certain furball (Oreo). 

totally innocent

I also made another fan bookmark for a Mother's Day gift.  Of course I forgot to take a picture of it before sending it off so you'll just have to use your imagination of a variegated peacock blue. :)  I really, really love this pattern and the resulting bookmark!  You can find it here on ravelry or if you don't use ravelry, here on the blog post.

That's all for this edition of Ishkabibble Babble.  I'm not sure if there will be a Smalls post at the end of the month.  The vast majority of my small stitches are Christmas and I'm just not feeling like working on Christmas!  I will have to go through my digital stash to see if anything leaps out at me.  Until next time!  :D