Unraveled Wednesday

February 11, 2026 Vicki6 Comments

I’m joining Kat & the Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday!

KNITTING:

I sat down to watch the Olympics and something was missing… KNITTING! I dipped into the yarn cupboard, looking either for a couple of skeins that would play nicely together for a Hitchhiker or for something that could be a Sophie scarf.

I came up with selections for both, but Sophie won… mainly because it’ll travel better. I can’t capture how luminous this yarn is in photos! It’s richer & brighter & just beautiful — Pashm, 80/10/10 superwash merino/cashmere/nylon, from Wisconsin’s Ewetopia Fiber Shop, in the “Tapestry” colorway. I likely purchased it at Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, which I haven’t been to in a few years, so I’m happy to be using it!

I would be much further along — I was much further along — and then realized that I was making the increases in the wrong place and likely counting wrong (even with the loopy yarn row counter… maybe if I put that in a different place? I’m hoping that I’ll eventually catch on.). Anyway, it’s fun. I finished the other Sophie-esque scarf that I was knitting and, oh boy, is it ever scratchy. I didn’t choose wisely for that one & don’t know if it’ll improve with soaking & blocking.

Can you believe that the first Knitting Olympics were held 20 years ago? Did you participate?

A woman smiling while wearing a cozy knitted cardigan with a cable pattern and colorful accents, standing indoors next to plants.

I was on the USA Cable Team and earned a gold medal for Williamsro !

QUILTING:

I sewed together my sixth quilt block at class last night and, as I’ve been doing every week, sent a photo to the family chat… or thought I did!

I was thinking, “What’s invisible, Alison?? What new method, Kate?? Is there something wrong with my quilt block??” I was also busy, so obviously not thinking too hard! Then, a couple of hours later, Ali made a comment about one of the fabrics & I realized that the photo hadn’t gone through. haha.

A colorful quilt patch featuring a variety of vibrant patterns, including swirls, polka dots, and floral designs.

Anyway, this is Friendship Star. I then chose & cut the pieces for a Sawtooth Star. I have double homework, since I won’t be back from ABQ in time next week, so sometime in the next two weeks, I’ll be working on Patchwork Chain, Ohio Star, and Log Cabin blocks — choosing & cutting fabrics, at least, if not sewing. There will only be two more blocks left to make, then, and only four more weeks of class after next week, so I imagine we’ll be moving on to putting it all together — layout, sashing, batting, backing, quilting & binding.

READING:

Same/continuing (bedtime pages): No Time on My Hands by Grace Snyder.

TOO GOOD NOT TO IMMEDIATELY SHARE

Art display featuring paper portraits of children on green columns, with one central portrait labelled 'Virginia' wearing a laurel wreath.

Say hello to Ginny The Greek. Her class made self-portrait Greek statues!!! I can’t get over it.

Citius, Altius, Fortius — Communiter, or Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together.

Have a wonderful day.

Weekending

February 9, 2026 Vicki6 Comments

I didn’t venture far from the house over the weekend — to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon, and to a local bar & grill to pick up some wings during the second quarter of the football game yesterday (I had a hankering!). There was a lot of laundry to do, fold & put away on Sunday. And we watched some of the Olympics — mostly the figure skating team competition. And putzed. As we do.

I worked on my quilting class homework on Saturday. I was to make the “Economy” block, start-to-finish, and then choose fabrics & cut the pieces for the “Friendship Star.”

A patchwork quilt square featuring four colorful diamond shapes surrounded by blue fabric with white polka dots and a center design of multicolored circles.

A colorful quilt block featuring four sections, each with patterned fabrics including polka dots and circles in various colors.

Just for grins, I played around with different arrangements of the half-square triangles to see what it would look like. I love this play on circles & squares & triangles & dots & diamonds & grids & I thought of Josef Albers more than once. As it says on my Ravelry profile, IDEAS WILL EMERGE! haha.

A colorful quilt block featuring four diamond-shaped patterns, each surrounded by polka dot borders and filled with various circular designs in vibrant colors.

This is how the block is actually put together & sewn up. I’m excited to make the star block tomorrow night… and also get extra homework because I’ll miss next week’s class.

I’m flying down to Albuquerque on Friday to meet Kate (& Kai) for a long weekend. We’ll be getting together with my cousins on Sunday morning, have a dinner reservation on Sunday night, and we’re winging it other than that! There are a half-dozen or so places to consider on our “to visit” list & we’ll just see what happens.

It’s been almost 15 years since I saw my cousin, Missy, and even longer since I’ve seen her sister, Mel — it had to have been at their brother’s wedding, and that was in 1998!! We’ll have fun catching up.

I hope you had a great weekend! I’ll be back on Wednesday with… don’t faint… KNITTING!!

Quilting · Unraveled Wednesday / Knit & Read

Unraveled Wednesday: QB3 & 4

February 4, 2026 Vicki7 Comments

I’m joining Kat & the Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday!

KNITTING:

Nothing new here.

QUILTING:

I made my sewed together my third & fourth quilt blocks last night which were previewed the other day!

Colorful patchwork quilt featuring spirals and polka dots in shades of pink, purple, orange, and white.

Here’s how that Disappearing Nine Patch sliced up & got rearranged.

A colorful quilt square featuring a central floral motif surrounded by various patterned fabrics, including polka dots and zigzags in vibrant colors.

And the Squared In pansy block.

The day I can both cut and sew in a straight line will be one worth celebrating. haha.

A vibrant quilt featuring four colorful patchwork squares, each with distinct patterns including swirls, polka dots, and floral designs.

Here are the four blocks that I’ve completed so far! They won’t be arranged like this & they won’t be all jammed up together in the end, but it really helps to see them all together so I can make fabric/pattern choices for the next one or two or three. I have homework!!

READING:

Continuing (bedtime pages): No Time on My Hands by Grace Snyder.

George Saunders’ Vigil on audio. I have one more chapter… and then I might start all over again!

It’s been a weird week, y’all. I ended up going to work yesterday morning because of a domain expiration due to a credit card expiration and because of such, we were getting no email. So, I ended up going to work on all three of the days I would normally have had off last weekend! Oh well. On top that that, Rusty returned from a long (work) weekend in Todos Santos & his flight didn’t arrive until 11p — last night! So, after quilt class, I drove down to Milwaukee, arriving at 9p, and snoozed in my car for a couple of hours — well, an hour, maybe — after I caught up on all my Crossplay games & messages. I must have actually fallen asleep, though, because my alarm woke me up! And I didn’t have to work ALL day yesterday, so I was able to get in a little nap in the afternoon, too.

Quilting · Weekending

Weekending

February 2, 2026February 2, 2026 Vicki6 Comments

It’s a funny one. It’s supposed to be one of my long weekends, but I ended up working on Friday (half-day) & today, too, because my co-worker’s mom had heart surgery on Friday.

I had Ginny, Malina & Davy overnight on Friday — Junah was otherwise occupied! There was painting, coloring, game-playing, K’nex building, jigsaw puzzling, movie watching, plenty of eating, and time on the iPad (which they love, but I limit to :20 each, once or twice a day).

A child stacking blue game tokens while sitting at a wooden table, with a board game featuring playing cards in the foreground.

If you knew how wiggly my old kitchen table is, you’d understand why I was bracing for a disaster as I snapped this pic while Ginny & I were getting a game of Sequence underway. She got them all stacked up without mishap! Whew.

A boy sitting on a bed with a laptop, and a girl sitting beside him on the bed using a tablet, surrounded by a colorful quilt and soft furnishings in a cozy bedroom.

Davy, patiently awaiting his turn in my sunny & bright bedroom, holding the empty iPad case while his sister tests her limit. haha.

It happened to be Eagle Days on Saturday (plural, even though it’s only one day… I guess “Eagle Day” sounds dumb) at 1000 Islands Environmental Center, our local nature center. They had a live presentation by the National Eagle Center (HQ in Wabasha, MN) featuring Latsch, one of the centers “eagle ambassadors,” who was found on the ground near an eagle next nine years ago, and discovered to be blind in one eye.

A smiling man in a blue shirt stands beside a bald eagle perched on his arm, while an audience watches in the background.

One of the day’s presentations was timed perfectly, so we met Ali & Junah at the nature center. As far as those types of programs go, this one was pretty good — not too long, informative, entertaining, and interactive. Plus, live bald eagle! Oh, and it was standing room only. We ended up standing right next to the tarantula cage (aquarium) and he/she was very active! Ew (shudder), but also wow!

I didn’t leave the house all day yesterday. I putzed, tidied & napped, watched some Shetland (catching up on the last few seasons) & the Grammys, and pressed & cut some fabric for the next two quilt blocks.

A quilt square featuring a patchwork design with nine sections, incorporating various patterns such as spirals and polka dots in shades of pink, purple, and red.

This will be a Disappearing 9 Patch, and will undergo a bit of a transformation during construction. I’ll have an update on this one, for sure, on Wednesday.

A colorful quilt block featuring a central diamond shape surrounded by squares in various patterns including polka dots and zigzags, predominantly in red, navy, and pink colors.

I also auditioned & cut pieces for the fourth block, which is called Squared In. As soon as I cut the piece for the middle, I knew it wasn’t going to work very well — it’s a stylized hydrangea but the scale is all wrong.

A colorful patchwork quilt square featuring a central floral design surrounded by polka dot and zigzag patterned fabrics in vibrant colors.

I just happened to have more of that Big Blooms fabric (two or three cuts in different colorways), so why not another pansy? There are a few more “centerpiece” blocks in this sampler quilt… not sure they’ll all feature pansies. But maybe. If all goes well, I’ll have an update on this one for Wednesday, too, though it won’t look much different (just more put together).

GOOD THINGS

Good Things

January 30, 2026January 30, 2026 Vicki7 Comments

Whoa. I just had a deja vu moment typing those words… GOOD THINGS was always the first (and sometimes the only) section of Martha Stewart LIVING that I’d turn to, back when I had a subscription (my mom gave & renewed our subscriptions for years).

Anyway.

I’m joining Kym’s Happy Hour this week, sharing something GOOD!

I recently wrote about redoing the art on our living room walls and shared some photos of a painting that my husband made in 1991.

A framed painting depicting a serene beach view from a porch with wooden flooring, featuring a chair, ocean waves, and seagulls flying in the sky.

I neglected to share a part of that story. The painting had been sold to a client 35 years ago, and that client recently retired & sold his business. He contacted Rusty with questions about what to do with it… he didn’t really have a place for it elsewhere (i.e., at home). They set up an appointment to meet, and Rusty was considering buying the painting back, but by the time he met with the client, the client had decided to just give it back… he’d loved it & enjoyed it for all those years in his office and it wasn’t really about money… he wanted Rusty to have it.

And that’s how that painting came to be back in our possession.

I’d also shared a couple of detail shots from the painting, including this one:

A watercolor painting depicting a colorful mug placed on a wooden floor, surrounded by plants and flowers, with sunlight casting a shadow.

The model for that was the very For Better or For Worse coffee mug that I used every day back then, and I was so sad when it broke. (I don’t know how Rusty has used the same mug nearly every single day for the past 41 years, but he has… it’s faded almost beyond recognition!)

Well, look what he sprung on me for our anniversary!

A coffee mug with a cartoon illustration of a woman in pajamas saying 'After my coffee...' with a dog, sitting on a wooden table next to a watercolor painting of a house by the sea, while snow can be seen outside the window.

I haven’t used it yet; it’s just been sitting on the kitchen table… where I see it & enjoy it every day!