Colors...

 Of a new quilt on the frame.......

 Of windy swirls on the windmill blocks.......

 Of the gopher tortoise in the driveway.......

 Of the resurrection fern in full leaf because of the rains....

Of a new grand daughter all in pink!  My world is full of colors!

A Welcoming!

A million more pictures will follow but join me in welcoming little Aria Noelle to our family!  (All 7 pounds and 19" of her.  )  She made her entrance into the world this morning amid a flurry of prayers, tears, phone calls and texts!  How grateful I am for technology that cushions the crevasse of a thousand plus miles and a God so big that nothing can separate me from Him!

I spun this month's fiber to help calm my emotions!  This is Eri silk; the most pleasurable silk I have worked with to date.  I will be purchasing some more of this fiber.  If you have tried Tussah silk and didn't have a great spinning experience, give this a try!  You will still need a high spinning ratio but it is not a struggle to get it on the bobbin or when plying.  What a nice momento of this memorable day!

(Bill took me to the doctors this morning and now that I am on medicine, I am going to make a great leap to health so I can fly out to hold the newest granddaughter next week!)

Hands and Heads

 I have been down with another head cold that turns toxic-well, leads to a sinus infection that feels toxic!  My activity level is seriously impaired.  I spun up this skein of pima cotton-400 yards of fingering weight yarn-just delicious even though it didn't behave well for the plying.  I did find that I had spun it at a lower ratio and that most likely accounts for the misbehavior. 

 The last bit of Isaac-down pours one minute and then sunshine the next.  Nice napping weather at least.

 I did finish the second Quant for my niece.  The package is ready to mail out to them just in time for soccer season!

See how pretty the sunset can be.........goodbye Isaac.  Thanks for the visit.

Finishing Up!

 I set to work in the sewing room to finish the projects that were in varying degrees of progress just lacking a supply or two. Because we took the trip to JoAnns yesterday, I now  had all the supplies I needed to finishing them up!
 I have two grandkids who will be putting these to use soon.....two Kindle covers.

 Binding applied and hand sewn to the back of the baby quilt-I placed this over Nyki's feather by mistake for the picture; boy, did she let me know it! 

 I appliqued , ribbed and snapped the baby nighties into completion!  These are made of knit fabric left over from the crib sheets!  Fun , huh?!

 They are in the 'going to Washington' pile.  I also made a nursing cape for Krystle out of the same fabric she is using in her nursery.  One nice thing about buying from a chain store-all the way across the country and I could find the matching fabric!

And I used the newly purchased ribbon to finish the booties and hanky/bonnet for the east coast  grand daughter!

I read a post on Craftzine I wanted to try- making a business card holder and because I had a little paper left over, I made a little sewing kit, too.  These will go in the random gift pile.

All in all a good day in the sewing room!

Socializing and Light Travel

 Yesterday, we did a little change out in the pool area gardens-I didn't like the vine we had planted in there-it just grew too much and took over the area so I couldn't see anything else. 
                    
 Bill pulled them up and planted these New Guinea Impatiens and it adds just the right height and color !

The afternoon rains came in a bit early just as we finished the plants so we had to move inside.  I finished up the new skein of yarn-this is so soft and snuggly!  It will be even more so with a new grand daughter inside of it!  This sweater is for the FL baby.

 We were still waiting on our guest to arrive, so I ripped out the sleeve caps on this sweater I made in March and lengthened them with the left over yarn.  Now it is just right!

 We had a great visit with other National Grid retirees that have moved to Florida-it was a great visit for us ladies while the men rehashed work stories.  We had a great lunch at Corky Bells and the storm let up enough for us to walk the pier and get a picture!  The baby gator was  not to be found unfortunately, probably hiding from the thunder!  Thanks for stopping in, we look forward to returning the visit next month!

 Today, we ran some errands in Daytona and visited the ocean, of course.   The combination of temperature (mid 80's and breeze-warm tropical) was just perfect.  Hard to believe they are having a hurricane just a measly 1,000 miles southeast of us!

 This was my car ride knitting-the second Quant!  I need to kick this project to the front of the line and get it mailed to NY in time for soccer season!

 When we got home, I crashed by the pool with my Kindle and Bill headed out to unwind on his tractor.  This week he has been laying old railroad ties along the edge of our neighbors driveway (the right of way for the driveway is on our property so Bill takes care of its upkeep).  We have had so much rain this summer and the driveway keeps washing away into the road.   Bill has graded it, added the rails for drainage along the low side and will top it off with some of the wood chips which FPL (the power company) dumps out back for us.  (They need to get rid of all the wood chips when they trim back trees all summer and we enjoy getting to use all the wood chips for our yard-a perfect arrangement for both parties!)

While I was watching Bill work, I saw this pretty wild flower-it looks like it is in the Echinasea family. 

I am hoping tonight is the night for Jared and Krystle to become parents in spite of the moon being only half full! 

Routine

 A few months ago, I was given two partial bolts of decorator weight fabric-neither had enough to  make patio chair covers but there was enough of each to cover one side of each chair!  I even had enough to make four placemats! 

 Doesn't it give a nice perk to one of our favorite places!

 I made another hanky/bonnet and booties set. 

 I did not have enough ribbon for ties for the bonnet so I added it to my JoAnns list.
We are hoping to go this Friday.

 We got another rain storm this afternoon, I thought it was a perfect time to quilt Aria's little quilt; one nice advantage to crib quilts is that they are easily finished in a few hours!

 I used the roses and ribbons pantograph.  On to the binding....

The new yarn is working up just beautifully!  I love the feel and the drape of this superwash wool by Cascade! 

Making the Most of our Time!

 We took the unscheduled trip to Georgia to fix Bruce's car and the bonus was to savor the extra family time!

 Unfortunately, Bill wasn't able to fix the car and they had to call for a tow truck.

 The good news is that the garage can fix it.........but for the record, we would have charged less!

This is how guys watch their car go...........

 When we went to the pool, the Autumn birds were flocking giving you a hint on the water temperature.

 It took the kids a few minutes to get used to the water (numb) but then they gave quite the water show when they got wet!  We loved being in the peanut gallery first hand for this!

 Abigail and Marsel took me to their local yarn store for an hour of tactile delight!  I found just what I was looking for-some superwash hand paint yarn from Cascade and then some different sock yarn!  (If you look closely to the left view of the bag, you will see Mindy's love bites on my pretty shopping bag!)

 We have learned to make good use of our time together so in between and around school time, we did some sewing-making a new cover for the porch swing with matching pillows;   made some soccer backpacks for the kids and then after the kids were in bed,

 we sat together and started the scalloped binding on Abigail's quilt  (FYI-this was late in the evg and we both look a bit punchy but cramming a week's worth of project into a day will do that to you!)

 I did some re-knitting, too-I brought the left over yarn from Marsel's sweater, ripped out the previous cap sleeve and reworked it to be a classic sleeve.  We both like it better!  I will be repeating this for my black sweater.  In fact, when I go to Washington in a few weeks, I will bring the yarn left from Krystle's sweater and while there, rework her's, too!

 Mindy helped us with every project we initiated-she is a perfect companion!

Goodbye, my Georgia family!  Thank you for a great few days!

Threads and Travel

 The first of many little baby sweaters is finished.  I started with this pattern but the designer and I parted ways after the yoke!  I rewrote the directions for myself so it will be streamlined for all future sweaters I knit!
(The directions call for knitting the left front and binding off, then the back and binding it off, then the other front and binding that off and then each sleeve and seaming it all back together.  That is so counter intuitive to anyone who has been knitting more than a week...........sorry.  Ahem, that didn't seem to be efficient to me, so I put the sleeve stitches on hold as I came to them, cast on the underarm stitches, continued around and then repeated for the other sleeve.  Now , all the stitches for the body were on the needles and the sleeve stitches were on waste yarn to be finished in the last.  And lickety split , I had a sweater done and no seaming required!  What a cute sweater and now the directions match the idea!

 I knit this from an acrylic worsted weight yarn, this one from the Caron company.  I liked that I got a whole sweater from one skein!  (I will admit to it being close but I did it!)  This sweater will be going to WA with me in a few weeks for our  new grand daughter!  (No, she isn't here yet, but soon..............)

 I got together enough yarn to keep me busy for a few days so we can make a spontaneous trip to Georgia for some hugs and car repairs!

 The suitcase is packed,

 the kitties are kissed------>;

though some are not as impressed with the goodbyes as others!  Nyki hides when we leave in case we are thinking of taking her in the car again!  Off to fill some Grandma tanks!