Tuesday night stitching

Will they ever stop??I hope not.Every week my friends keep bringing in finished projects that just amaze me.Cindy H. makes knitted hats and mittens with donated yarn. These will be sent to needy families in the area.Of course now she also has to make socks for her family........she's in for it now.

New to our group is Jean............she has been working on this sweater for a few months.I think it would be a few years if  it was my project.I can't tell you how gorgeous this is up close and real The colors are so deep  and vibrant. A photo just doesn't do it justice.She is close to being finished so I will try to get her to do a little modeling for us.

This is more my speed...........we have finished a  second blanket for the St Charles children's home.We had planned on doing 2 but, each has been sent home with a child as they leave St Charles.We can't let someone go home without a blankie now can we?For those of you not familiar with our project we started HERE If anyone would like to make a square please do not hesitate to contact me.

Another project that has caught my fancy is the slouchy hat from Brooklyn Tweed........wanting to challenge myself this year I decided to check out there SPRING THAW collection.I wanted something lacy and feminine and I settled on this hat called Ravenfoot

I wasn't sure if the hat was going to have enough slouch so I had Sarah try it on for size. That would be the last time I saw the hat so I guess it met with her approval...........Don't tell....... but. I've made several since then and they are tucked away in my craft stash where only I can find them.......said the hobbit.

Road trip with the girls

Well, we finally did it!My 2 daughters and I have tried to plan an all girl get-together for a while now and two weeks ago we finally pulled it off.

Boston is only an hour and half away but, the traffic can be intimidating ,not to mention the ridiculous parking fees. Our plan was to avoid all that by driving to Sarah's ,parking at her apartment and taking public transportation in. Here she is planning our strategy to ride the bus to the famous Sully Square Station.

While she was concentrating on that,sister Renee discovered her stash of fabric and was intent on taking a few samples to go. I wonder if she managed to tuck a square or two away?

After catching the bus, we rode the Orange line into town. Renee was in entertainment mode and immediately started hamming it up for the camera,which set the mood for lots of laughs and giggles. A most difficult decision was "Where do we go?What do we see?"Boston has so much to offer and we have so many varied interest that this was a major decision.

It was decided we should go to a yarn shop on Newbury street,which is the Rodeo drive of Boston. The shop is small,but,filled with hand dyed yarns of high quality.

Mmm looks like Sarah knew what she wanted. A chunky hand dyed yarn requiring #15 knitting needles. But, that was only the beginning of the day. I'll be back to tell you the rest of the story.............................said the hobbit

My crafty people

I forgot to tell you about our road trip to Web's!!! What was I thinking?

Eight of us headed down to North Hampton Mass.for a day of yarn shopping and lunch.Not pictured here is Sarah I have no idea were she is ,since we asked some total stranger to take this photo. We had already completed our shopping and were taking a well deserved sit-down.

Betty and the" sock queen "provided us with the transportation and we changed places at the rest stops so we could have a conversation with everyone. It was a 21/2 hour trip so we had lots to say.

Michelle the" fancy stitching teckkie" found this stitch and bitch pin and bought one for everyone to make the day memorable.What a sweetie.

Then Webs gave us each a little packet as a" thank you for coming" prezzie.Each bag contained Jolly Roger hard candy ,measuring tape,delicate laundry sample and a new pin to add to my collection.


MMM, this was LUNCH. One of my favorite meals Mussels with pasta.I can never resist this when I see it on the menu,but,that day it was the special.Whenever I go to a restaurant I always order the special because I feel this is where their strenght is on that day. How about you ?Do you go with the special?Repeatedly order the same thing?Are you one of these people who avoid the special because you think they are trying to get rid of something that has been lurking in the fridge a tad too long?

Sadly I have to say goodbye to one of my stitch and bitchers.This is Just Jen. She lost her husband to cancer a few years ago and was in this area re-educating herself in her chosen field.Her classes are completed and now she is moving back to N.Y. We have all exchanged mailing address' and hope to keep in touch,but,the ritual of seeing her come thru the door and saying "It's just Jen" has come to an end.We hope her future will be bright. On that note I have to mention that we have a cyber stitch and bitcher I hope to tell you all about her next time we meet. Her name is Margaret....................said the hobbit

Thrifting in my area

I love going to thrift shops and imagining the stories behind the things I hold in my hands.Damask napkins are a particular favorite.I found this set of 6 napkins for $3 .What a bargain!I can see it gently folded alongside a beautiful china table setting.Someone carefully raises it to their lips to wipe a stray drop of gravy from a bite that was just a little too big.

Of course these napkins had not even the slightest hint of a stain so,their previous owner was quite the housekeeper.Perhaps she was a genteel woman who had domestic help.
I'm also very fond of strainers .Especially when they have this red and white plastic handle.It too has been well maintained.The mesh is very fine and has no sign of wear.Maybe they ate at moms alot.This too was in the $3 lot.Very few things actually have a price.When you get to the register the clerk says "so,what do you think $3?"and I nod my head in the affirmative. Maybe she thinks that's my price range.

The clothes however is a different story.They all have price tags on them.I have decided to make an effort to dress in a less "down on the farm" manner.No offense to anyone who farms,I'm one of you. It seems that without realizing it I have made less and less of an effort to present myself as a lady. I haven't been able to go right to the dresses from the jeans but,I'm trying to ease into that range of clothing. Maybe it's just a whim?I found these 2 pant outfits that I thought would be a bit on the feminine side for my trip to N.Y.city.The one on the left was 2 separate pieces that I thought would go well together.The pants were $1.99 and the shirt which is 100%silk was 99 cents.The outfit in the wicker chair came as a suit,the top is a little short-sleeve jacket. Marked price $3.99.Not bad,I think I looked pretty spiffy in N.Y.My husband was quite pleased and that was what really mattered................said the hobbit

Going to the big city,to process

I can' t believe it's already time for the Fancy Food Show. Sarah gave me this lovely print and I think it explains me to a T. I am forever in the process of. I always thought I would be done but, somewhere around 40 ish I realized we are all in the process, so now I'm happy with that . So this week I'm switching gears and putting on my N.Y. city hat to taste marvelous goodies in hopes of bring back just what my people need to comfort them thru these times. Of course we always allow a little time for us to process the big city . Included in this trip is always a visit to N.Y. city bakeries and restaurants and yarn shop and Takashemaya one of my all time favorite places to go. I went there for 3 years and savoured every inch of the store{mostly gardening treasures} before the owner asked "Have you seen the other 5 floors" Can you believe that? 3 years loving a place and not even seeing 20% of it. Well you can bet this country bumpkin got right on that elevator and checked out the rest. Every floor is totally different but the connecting thread is quality. The children's department has all unique gifts and books that will be treasured for a life time. I have 2 baby prezzies needed for this year so I finally get to shop this department. So I must rush off ...............so many things to do ............I'll never be ready but I'm in the process..........................said the hobbit

Finding Cambridge

At last I'm back. It's been such a hectic week, with no end in sight. I thought it best to just forge ahead and post the best I could ,so, If I seem to be rambling, give me a break will ya. When I last spoke to you we were leaving Massart. Betty was in a state of shock and needed some familiar sights. She thought a walk thru Cambridge would soothe her soul. We were willing to go anywhere just point us in the right direction. So Betty called husband Bob and told him where we were. After getting off the phone she informed us of his directions. Find a bridge and cross it, you should be able to find Cambridge from there. So off we went to find a bridge. This is not as easy as it sounds. There are many bridges in Boston. Hard as this may be to believe it worked out perfectly, althought Betty often told me to get in the left lane and then after recognizing some shop or intersection whe'd have me make a right turn. But, lo and behold we found Cambridge and that was easy compared to finding a place to park. We rode around about 20 min making circles into residential areas, checking out lovely homes till finally we found a parking lot behind Barnes & Noble. I was so excited that when I got to the gate I pushed the button for my ticket and a gentleman asked "can I help you" I informed him I wanted to park my car and he informed me I was pushing the emergency call button would I please try the green button.Oops!! Car finally parked we put our walking shoes on and hit the pavement .






We managed to find a great little bakery with biscotti like I never had before,some contained blueberries and ginger and I just could not pass them up. I wish I had written down the name but, being new to this blogging thing it's a detail I forget .Oh well I guess I'm a work in progress. We finally hit paydirt for Betty when we spotted a shop called Papersource
Being a scrapbooker she was in heaven. The place was filled with ideas for memory books which Betty is a wiz at. I am at a total lost in this field. My mind just goes blank and I can't think of a thing to do.





Betty had me take a picture of this memory book to give me something visual to work with. I don't think it's going to help .I can't remember for the life of me what it was about. So off we went to find food and a restroom. I don't think peeing is allowed in Cambridge. We tried 2 restaurants before we found one that had a public restroom,however,that one had no seating available so after doing what we had to do off we went to the first restaurant. Soon we were back at our vehicle ready to go home when I spotted a small sign that read parking for customers only have ticket validated in mall. Oh oh here we go again. I went into the mall spoke with a security guard who found my adventures quite amusing and informed me our parking ticket would be $1

I gave it to him in quarters and made my escape. Soon we were back in N.H. having been gone a total of 12 hours bringing our first adventure to a close.Next stop Portland or maybe the South end open market. Of course that's in Boston.Dare we try again ............said the hobbit