Small Accomplishments

 I quilted the little orts quilt-I am going to sew the backing to it like a pillow and then put a foam core poster board in it for a  wall hanging/wall art.

 Since the socks are off the needles, I have been working on this summer sweater-I am almost ready to separate for front and back.  It is Merino/angora so it feels like a wonderful silky cat in my lap!

The first beach scene is on the 'gallery' wall!   I am pretty happy with this one!

(The littlest guy is sick and he has been very needy!  Fever let go today so hoping for well soon!)

Leaving Paw Prints!

 Another pair of Tuxie Love socks are off the needles!

 Coming or 

Going.....these socks are leaving prints wherever they go!

Tuxie Love pattern

Size 2.5mm needles

KnitPicks Stroll Fingering yarn in Rabbit Heather and White

(Modified to add a knit in paw print on the bottom of the foot and in the short row heel in this pair of TOE-UP Socks)

Suiting Quilts and Fruit

 This is why the frame was empty for Millie's quilt the other day....

I finished all the men's suit samples quilts.  

Here are all four lap blankets for the donation pile!

 The banana grove has fully recovered from the Hurricane Matthew.

 In fact, there are three healthy bunches of bananas growing!
Bananas take about 4 months of growth before you can pick them.

 Aren't they interesting?!  It helps waiting when they are so pretty!

From the bananas to the tip of the flower is 3-4'.

 Other signs of the hurricane are still in sight.......

This is one of my favorite Live Oak trees

 and it had the center twisted right out of it! 

 It is unusual for these to lose branches 

but it met its match in the hurricane this time!

We need a day to just cut branches 

and burn up the piles while it is the rainy season!

Charms and Jungles

 A new charm pack of has so much potential....

This one has four pieces of each fabric 

so I could use them to make something special.

 I quartered each 5" square of fabric, 

added a half square triangle to two of the squares,

 and sewed them back together! 

 Randomly, they are pretty all mixed up.

 But the fun thing about these shapes 

is you can also make recognizable blocks out of them, too! 

 I generally like order instead of random (chaos) 

so I will see how this little quilt turns out!

 My neighbor, Millie, also brought over a baby quilt she had pieced. 

 I loaded it right up on the frame!

 And give me a few hours and I had it finished with an allover pantograph!

 Didn't she pick the cutest fabrics?  The banana border is a great touch!

And the backing is just right, too!   

It is nice to have a quick project for the frame!

Rest and Restoration

 I've slowly been putting the wrought iron bench back together.  

The boards had rotted right out and so I took the opportunity to paint it (taupe and spots of green for a faux weathering look).  

Bill cut new boards for me today.   

Now to stain and seal them . 

 Then we will have to drill the bolt holes in each one

 so we can secure them in place!  

Did I mention it is a slow project!?!

 As for the restoration-I have had these hooked rugs 

my Gram made from the 1960's and 70's.   

Due to a cat indiscretion, I had took the opportunity to do some maintenance on them and give them a right proper bath! 

 I washed them in the tub and said farewell to some vintage dirt! lol 

 After washing and rinsing until clear,  

I spun them in the washer 

and hung them over the pole of my quilting frame to dry!  

It was back breaking work 

but oh-so-worth-it to have them bright and clear again! 

 (The discolorations in this rug are variations of yarn and not cat stains!) 

This one has had a hole in the center for ages. 

 After washing, even as careful as I was, 

the hole is larger and another one showed up nearby.

I have a plan! 

 I have some fabric to back it under the holes 

which I will hand sew in place.  

Then, if I can find some matching Aunt Lydia's rug yarn 

which is what my grandmother used, 

I will hook in the gaps to set is all to rights again!

Stay tuned!

Eye Candy

 Can you guess what this is?

A Pineapple flower!

 Yes, the top of the pineapple I grew and then planted last May (2016) is flowering and I should be eating it by next May! 

 Yes, every pineapple you eat, requires two years to grow! 

 Savor it!  

(If you tried fresh pineapple and didn't like the acid taste-I will tell you to rub the freshly cut pineapple in salt and let it sit for 5-10 mins,

 then rinse it and slice it up for eating! 

 Magic happens!)

 The Lifesaver Cactus is blooming again-this is number four!  

 It is about 1 1/4" across the points;  no smell but very rubbery looking!

 The plant has these long fingers that spread and grow and drop off and root-it is very interesting!

And a friend from far away thought of me and sent along some miles of machine quilting thread! 

 I have them sitting out because they are so pretty

 and the thoughtfulness just warms me up!

Progress on the Prowl!

 One new sock from the Tuxie Love pattern is finished.  I was able to add the striped ribbing without incident this time!

 The toe has a knit in pawprint.......

And one at the heel!   I have the new sock cast on and moving along without the hindrances of designing on the fly!

Sunrise

I've seen a lot of these in the last few months......

Breathtaking painting from the Creator.

Alterations and Mending

One of the things about losing weight, is trying to make your old wardrobe still work.  

 I slit the side seams at the waist band of my jeans  and cropped pants

 using my pinking shears to control raveling.

 I overlap the welted seam over the flat fabric until I reduce the waist to fit or to the pocket in this case.
 I am putting in a kind of dart that lies flat and is comfortable.
I do not tuck in my shirts so this seam is never seen.  

The inside looks like a dart-see?!  It is nice to be able to have a bunch of casual pants to wear again!

I did a whole pile of things-do you do your own mending or do you toss things that no longer fit?

I hate to shop so anytime I can keep clothes I already have , it is a win for me!

FROGS...

 As I approached the finish line for the  second pair of the Tuxie Love socks, 

I heard that funny voice that whispers...it's awful narrow.

Oh, yeah, what was I thinking?! 

 I checked the math and the chart-remember,

 I was trying to find a way to KNIT in the paw print

 on the underside of the toe on toe up socks, 

 and for some reason I cast on only 56 stitches 

which I haven't done on socks with my recent yarns 

and my smaller needles for almost a year now!

I ripped it all out.  

Even the changes I had made to the chart-

it was all smaller and more delicate-gone!

 The additional paw print on the heel-gone. 

The pretty ribbing in grey knits and white purls-gone.

 BUT I figured out the non-magic loop method for casting on toe-up socks

 and then I could easily knit the paw print on the underside of the toe! 

 I cast on the half of the total number of sock stitches-32 in this instance

 and then proceeded to knit a short row heel so to speak! 

 I was knitting back and forth,  so it was simple to knit in the paw print!  

When I came back to the other side of the toe, 

I merely picked up stitches from the cast on edge and continue in the round now to knit up the foot!  

I am thrilled with the updated version-I knew it could be done.   

AND if you don't understand a word of what I just said,

 just be happy for me that I am successful! lol

Speaking of frogs, I found just the right buttons for this guy's eyes! 

 The larger buttons are yellow that perfectly match his belly

 and the upper black button is faceted to be reminiscent of the old buttons I had to replace.

   I am thrilled! 

( He just needs the mouth to be stitched on 

but I am thinking I will not do that.........those red stitches were kind of creepy!)

A Walk in the Yard

 Ahhh, the sweet Viburnum are blooming!  The whole yard is fragrant with the almost honeysuckle-like aroma!

 We have several trees along the south side of the house in the hedge and so their aroma wafts over both front and back yards.  Delightful!  (It almost makes up for not having lilacs....almost.)

 The Pagoda plants are blooming.......no aroma but at four feet tall, they make a different kind of statement!

 There are a million little flowers on each plant!

We have a few Crepe Myrtles blooming but our few bushes lack something to rate showy. 

 I think this is the problem and they need a good fungicide to rid them of the lichen attack.  If I had the patience, I would pick the branches clean and have enough lichen to dye some wool!

 Our Cana lilies are doing their thing-we have yellow and orange.  The reds are dwarf varieties purchased in error.  They are duds!

 The aloe are in bloom.  This stands four feet tall , also, and is a favorite of the hummingbirds!

 And hibiscus.  Beauties one and all.........

Seamstress Again

I found this website, So Sew Easy,  that has lots of patterns for purchase and for free.  This is one of the free tops.   I purchased the knit fabric at WalMart for pennies and whipped it up yesterday!

I could see the front wrap sagged a bit so I added some

elastic to the neck edge and now I don't have to worry about a 'gap'!

I downloaded a bunch of patterns (all for knits) and will get them all taped together-the only downside to downloadable patterns is the tiles (pages) of  the pattern and taping them together but with great results , it will be worth it!