Autumn Color Preparation

 Here's something I haven't done in a long time-dye some yarn! 

 Dee of PointyLittleSticks blog is doing a KAL 

which will begin on September 1, 

 highlighting Autumn colors.

 I have plenty of wool but needed a pop of color for the leaves affect 

I pictured in my head!  

So I dyed two skeins since the first one turned out so well!

It was a great day to dry them outside!

 The bottom skein is worsted weight yarn in a downy wool 

and the top skein is fingering weight superwash Merino.

 Here is side one of the worsted skein

 and side two.

 This is the sock yarn-side one

and side two. 

 I left a bit more undyed spots for this one 

to give the impression of a speckled yarn.  

We will see how they turn out on Friday!

If at First You Don't Succeed....

 Try something else!

The Jural top is was done but when I tried it on....there was this super low armpit and it is a no-go! 

It would work if I never moved while wearing it.

So,  I am presently trying to pick up and knit 

to fill in the 'space' 

and who knows if I can repeat it on the other arm hole.  

 Sigh.

 Try something else is right-I purchased  some more of the white for the sashing on this little quilt the other day 

so I have begun putting it all together.  

Give me a few hours and I can really make a go of the sewing queue!

 This is part of the incentive to get the backlog manageable again!

A new Accuquilt die is just waiting for me!  

I have a pile of rainbow solids and some black fabric

 just waiting for this guillotine!  

Ever make a winding ways quilt?

I have a blank for this quilt pattern so I can doodle to use all the colors instead of just two.  

 Ideas bounce around so much sometimes, I hear sounds 

like the old Attari pong game in my head...........!

Earth Star Fungi

 This is a complete new find for me!  

These are growing right outside my sewing room door!

They are a puff ball fungus, an inedible mushroom in the Geastrum Triplex family.

 Some call them wood flower mushrooms and you can see why here.

They feel like a mushroom, smell like a mush room but don't give it a taste!

Today, they puffed out their spores right out of the center!

A first find for me!  

How about you?

A Pair of Calicos

 My grand daughter needed a pair of Tuxie Love socks 

to honor her kitty, Mindy, a big Maine Coon Calico!  

My 'little' grand daughter is 13 now and tall and slender as her mom; 

 the socks are size 8 1/2!

 the paw prints are cute little calico prints on her toes and....

on the heels. 

 Yeah, I see the prints don't match exactly...

..these things happen when you knit late at night.  

I chose to overlook it.  So there.

Stats:

The yarn is Dramatique colorway in the Alley Cat base. 

 2.50mm needles over 56 stitches

SeaShell!

 Since I bought the new software,

 I have been enjoying doing embroidery again!

 This design is 6" square and it took 7 hours to get it finished stitching!

I had to fuss with thread shredding-

after tweaking with a new needle and tension settings, 

I finally brought about a good stitching rhythm!  

I went through two full bobbins which shows how thread heavy this design is.

Maybe it would be better on a pillow or canvas bag

 but I wanted it for a birthday t-shirt for my grand daughter! 

 I lined the design with tricot interfacing so the inside would be soft to wear. 

 So this plain white t-shirt was sprayed with dye to make it beach-ish,

 then I did the embroidery.  Not bad for a day's work!

Bees Early in the Morning

 The binding is finished on the hexagon quilt;  it was a good project and used up most of these two old fabrics!

 Yup, kid approved!

The bee panto was just the right touch if a bit too subtle in my thread choice!

 Early morning beauty out my studio sliding glass door. 

Another early morning kind of beauty-Peppa Pig for snuggly pajama-ed boys!

Ups and Downs!

 The eclipse was a complete washout for us;  we were so disappointed not to even get a glimpse of things because the thunder/lightening storms were so fierce!

 But when the evening mail came-I had a package of joy!  My swap package came from Debbie of Araignees Tangled Web!  Not only were the towel and pot holders beautiful, they were in the colors that make my heart sing!   The cards and notes and the soap are always a hit!   How nice to have such generosity in a swap!

 Yesterday I woke up with pink eye-I thought it was appropriate they put me in the pink room!!!   I sat and knitted for almost two hours.  Good thing for knitting!

Home gave me a bit of time to do this-a different kind of quilting for me but it is working out!   I wanted to quilt bee hives in the plain blocks so I drew one and cut around it to make template and then use the air erasable pen to trace it on my blocks-it is working well.   I put bees and fleur de lis in the corners.  (Napoleons idea of bee representational art work!)

La, La, La!

 Remember the pretty spinning wheel music box my sister-in-law gifted me while on my NY trip? 

  I took it apart to clean and oil it-every spinning wheel needs this kind of care.  As soon as a drop of oil hit the music gears-it started to play!

It looks and sounds so happy!

   I will be enjoying this for a very long time!

Calico Kitty Socks

 I put the final stitches on the first of this pair of Tuxie Love socks while the boys enjoyed some 'play in the mud' time at the pond!

 See what all our seasonal rain has done-filled the pond back up like it should be!

 The Pampas Grass is in bloom-it does mean Fall is on its way!

Each of the fronds is beautiful bobbing bloom!

ATTENTION PAID!

I enjoyed several hours in the studio today!

Not only did I accomplish a bunch of pile sorting and finishing up, 

but I tried a new pattern and turned it into a skirt.

Unfortunately, I was sidetracked by the sizing-

why do our sewing patterns have to be so different 

from the off-the-rack sizing numbers?!!!    

According to their directions, the skirt only overlapped a little bit-

I am not the slit up to the thigh kind of girl, 

so I cut the LONG skirt I had planned to make 

and made it a knee length one 

so that I could have a proper overlap-the whole front!

Now to figure out how to wash it because of the long ties!

I also modified the Sawtooth star block 

and made the center a whole piece

 so the fabric was more evident-I like the results!

And in the evening, I finished knitting another mosaic stitch 

basket weave dishcloth!  A satisfying day!

Neglect

 The studio is feeling neglected but

a little bit of knitting is happening and........

a little bit of piecing.  All in good time.

Finding Home Good

 BoyWonder has started K-4! 

 How exciting is that!?!  

In my spare time,  I'm loving the Mosaic Stitch!  

I finished this one up and cast on another!  

 The beehive quilt is finally getting some stitching done-how appropriate to use a flying bee as the quilting design?!

And this creature was found by the swingset this afternoon-it was already dead so it was easy to have a good inspection of it!  (Cicadas are very loud this time of year here!  Think the screech trill of a science fiction ray gun and you will get the idea!)

Let's Catch Up!

There is nothing like travel and company to rearrange blogging life!

Let's catch up is right!

 Here is a collage of all the hand work Mom and I accomplished!

 And here is the reason for the visit!  

There is nothing like some one on one time.

 And meeting the youngest member of the family was just a special bonus!

On the flight home, I worked on a new Tuxie Love pair of socks.  

This one is for my grand daughter for her Calico cat! 

 Knit in Wandering Cat Yarns in the Dramatique colorway, Alley Cat base.

 While I was gone, lightening struck this palm right next to our garage

 and caused quite a stir in the household!   

Smoke alarms started screaming 'Fire!' and children and adults ran to comfort and assess.....well, you can only imagine!

Florida isn't called the lightening capital of the world for nothing!

While there wasn't any structural damage or fire, 

it did mess with appliances-

it blew the internet (router fried), it blew the dish for tv (black box and roof dish), the dryer works but blew the timer, the water filtering system lost it's brains (replaceable at least) and it blew the alternator on my vehicle parked in the garage. 

 Our last home was hit three times with lightening! 

 I had felt we were safe here.........reality can be painful! 

 We are replacing and repairing everything at this point! 

 So thankful for  handy husband!  

I will mention that AT &T sent a new router overnight 

but Dish wasn't interested in any timeliness 

and made everyone wait a week for a technician. 

 Not great customer service by ph or email either.

  Boo to you Dish!

 It was great to be home and see everyone again!  

My youngest son and family came for a visit to pick up some things we had stored for them (and to see their GA loves before they left!)

 On Sat morning,  daughter-in-law and I managed a painting outing 

and produced these!

Cassandra's....

and mine!  

How fun to laugh and create and enjoy some quiet together!

On to my normal life again.......