LAZY SUNDAY

I just hoisted my rear off of the couch in the living room. It was a lazy afternoon as I stretched out with the dog laying on me while we napped. I need to enjoy it while I can, I gave the couch to my daughter who is moving to Anchorage. It's an old couch, but very comfortable. But in this respect, it is nice to have kids that will willingly take some stuff with them. I know that I didn't start out married life with a new couch..
This is what I am doing lately. I am gearing up for Christmas gifts, here is what I finished recently.
I clipped my lavender plant last month and the stalks have been hanging above my kitchen sink drying. I have cleaned off the dried buds and I will use a tablespoon mixed with rice for rice bags. An inexpensive but usually appreciated gift.
These are my latest Fiddlehead Fern mittens. The solid yarn is a wool/angora for the lining. I expect these will be very warm. I thoroughly enjoy making this pattern.

That is all I'm working on at the moment. This time next week, my daughter will be 4,000 miles away from me. She is nervous about the move, as am I. And, although I knew that the day would come that she would grow up and leave home, I'm really not looking forward to it.
Once the Army sends a truck to pick up her things, I will be able to start painting her room and moving my studio in.. that is the one bright spot for me. I am so cramped in my room right now that I just can't function.. which is the main reason that I am knitting so much instead of quilting. I hope that you all have a great week!

FAIR WEEK

This week was our county fair. Since I went to a couple of concerts, and went with my husband, I didn't get to walk around and look in the buildings or do anything that I would normally like to do. With him it's go.. eat...watch concert.. leave. I didn't really want to go out again just to fight the crowds again and look at quilts etc. Oh well, maybe next year.. In the meantime, this is what I did see.A pony wash

Vince Gill

Blake Shelton singing one song with his main squeeze Miranda Lambert

As you can see, Blake's jeans fit very well. He probably paid a lot of money for jeans with thousands of tiny holes, like he had been attacked by hungry moths..

Nothing much going on this weekend. I hope to get in some sewing. It is supposed to be hot, yuck, I thought it was almost over.. Have a good weekend!!

YES, I DO STILL QUILT

My friend Gail said she missed seeing my quilts. This photo is what I am working on now. Since I can't do anything halfway, and that is probably why I put things off so long. This is the quilt I am working on for the guild auction. It is a Karen Stone design made by my friend Beverly. I am doing the quilting. I really don't like to quilt. Mostly because I never can think of what quilt design to do, and I don't want it to detract from the beautiful piecing. And I don't like to pick out quilting when I decide that I don't like what I have done. So this is what I am doing this afternoon. Wish me luck!

FALL KNITTING PROJECTS

Lucky for me Knit Picks was very fast getting my order to me. This is the yarn that I will use for the Mystery Stole 4 KAL. I went to Oberlin to Bead Paradise and purchased the perfect beads for it. They are shiny metallic glass that have subtle color. Gold, copper, blue, green, purple, pink. The yarn is called "Shadow" and the color is Sunset Heather. It turns out to be a dark brick red. the picture makes it look more maroon than it actually is. So everything is ready to go and I am just waiting for the first clue to be posted.
In the meantime, I am working on mittens.
I knitted this mitten in a couple of evenings. Although you can't tell here, there is very little contrast between the dark green background and the variegated design. I knew there was some green in the yarn, but I didn't know that it got so dark. Maybe I should have just cut some of it out. Anyway, it will remain thumbless until I decide I like it again. I also knit these on the largest DPN's that I had which were 3's. This size is okay after blocking, but with the knitted lining, it makes for a pretty snug mitten. I decided to try this with a lighter background. I couldn't find any 4 DPN's, so this is knitted with 5's. I think it will work with a light blocking, and a lining. I wish I could find a hand dye with a little closer variegation, because I have to work in such a small area. But this is nice to I guess. I love this pattern. I want to make another Swallowtail Shawl, as the one I just finished is for a friend. I bought this for mine
This is also a Knit Picks yarn. Shadow which is a lace weight Merino, and it is called "Lost Lake". Although it looks green, it is a kind of blue green heather with taupe mixed in. Very pretty. That's about it. We are getting an early reminder of autumn. Cool breezy perfect weather. I hope it stays just like this.

CALENDAR

You know, calendars are a good thing. Especially if you turn them when the month ends.. or look at them at all. I spent all weekend working on quilts because I thought they were due this coming Thursday. When I got to work on Monday and looked at the calendar above my desk, I realized that I had almost 2 more weeks. I didn't get one finished because the thread kept breaking, so I spent time picking out the quilting that I had done. In the meantime, I started working on the second quilt. Oh well. It continued to be July in my studio until this morning.
On the bright side, I got my swallowtail shawl finished.
This was really fun to do. I made it with Knitpicks Shadow which is a Merino wool. The color is called Oregon Coast. It is a heathered yarn. The base is a taupe I guess, and if you look closely, you can see pinks and blues. This was my third attempt at this pattern. I had the whole center section done at one point, and in another yarn, and I ended up tearing it all out. I realized while I was making this that I just like knitting. I have no idea what I will do with it.
My daughters and I had a girls day out. We went to lunch and a movie. It was great fun. Too bad the one time I actually get sick had to be today. Several tylenol and motrin brought my temperature down below 100. I don't feel that great, and I slept through part of the movie, don't really have a cough or anything so I'm hoping I will be better by tomorrow.
Now, I have to find another project to occupy my time.

CRUNCH TIME

Yesterday I just had to stop and take a photo of Lake Erie. It was so beautiful and blue. I am so glad to have this wonderful view so near to where I live. This is a new boat dock that is situated right by the library branch that I go to. I love to go sit and read at the library because the room is a wall of windows that looks out on the lake and now this break wall. If you could see it, the building would be to the right in this photo. This is also the area where the lightning photos were taken two days ago.
This is my auction piece. Last spring, when in Paducah, I had blocks signed by several quilters, a couple of authors, and a artist who specializes in quilt greeting cards. I have left room for the prospective owner to collect some of their own. It is only 8 1/2 " square.

Today, I am going to quilt the other two quilts. I have 3 evenings to work on these. They have to be finished on Thursday.
I also have my Swallowtail Shawl nearly finished. I have finally got past the section which calls for 5 stitches in one stitch and then when you knit the backside, you have to purl the 5 stitches together. It isn't terribly difficult if the stitches are loose enough, but there were quite a few that I got a little tight on and it was difficult to slip my needle into those 5 stitches. This last section is all knits and yarn overs.. it should to quickly.
I am signed up to do the Mystery Stole 4 Knitalong. It is free and here is the link to the yahoo group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mysterystole4/
I think they are still taking sign ups, so if you want to join in, it should be fun. They start posting the clues next month. The last stole I think was called Swan Lake. Anyway, it ended up looking like a lace wing. It was really pretty. This one is a rectangular stole. I have several prospects for yarn out of my stash. I need to find good contrasting beads.
Well, that's all for now. Time to get back to work! Happy stitching!

THE ART OF NAPPING

My dog Sam has extended nap times all day. He is very creative in his sleep positions, and naps wherever he can find a spot.






As you can see.. I'm not getting much quilting done. But on the bright side, Sam is napping at my feet.

FIREWORKS OF ANOTHER KIND

Last night when I was taking the dog out before bedtime, the sky was lit by flashes of light. It was unusual because although there were large clouds, there was no thunder and it was a warm and mild night. Kind of reminded me of the clouds in the movie "Independence Day" but those clouds had large alien spacecraft behind them. I talked my husband into putting his shoes back on and we drove the 1 mile to the boat dock to watch the lightening over the lake. It was beautiful. I took many pictures and this is the only one that turned out.

It's another mild, sunny day here. I will be in the basement working on quilts as I wasted the rainy days and waited until the last minute to do what I could have done months ago. See ya!

Friday Aug 1

I wanted to show you the close up print for my bag posted yesterday. In case you didn't understand the whole skeleton thing on a knitting bag.

I can understand this happening with some of my knitting projects!

I bought this cute little flower container. It is handmade pottery and the well in the center has a 'frog' to hold flowers in place. The best part is it only cost $2.00 in a thrift shop. I picked the Queen Anne's Lace and clover along the road today on our trip to Amishland.