A Home Day!

 How sweet it is to have a day to be home!

I took advantage of the morning and set the tile adhesive on the birdbath.

Other than the awkwardness of setting the contact paper/tiles in place,

it was a piece of cake!

 I probably used too much adhesive because it squished up between the tiles in a few places

but I will let you know tomorrow how it worked out 

removing the contact paper after the adhesive sets!

 During E's nap, I did some piecing on the 

Winding Ways blocks.

A much better piecing order emerged with the hour of work 

so I won't ignore this design on the wall anymore!

I also pieced all the rows of the LeMoyne Stars.

I hope to sew all the rows together to have a top done soon!

I still have to figure out how I want the borders on this

but that is joy for another day!

Detection

The boys and I have been doing some metal detecting

around the yard.

We have found quite a bit of scrap metal 

but some is very interesting!
The more decorative pieces I will add to the others
and make a plaque of the interesting shapes!

This bottle is pretty and still has its lid.

This one is an older bottle because it pre-dates the screw on cap.

We admire the beauty of the objects 

and the boys love getting dirty and digging holes!
And so do I!

This is a large (8") disc of heavy metal.
It sure made the detector go crazy.
It will go to Bill's scrap metal pile.
Another day, another beep....

Full Week Already

 I've had to say so long for now to my parents-

here they posed for pics with great grands, 

my youngest sons two children.

 Mom and I sat and knitted while it rained outside the car;

we even played some cards!

All while waiting to pick up the boys after a visit.

I've never seen a 'cruise' ship in the St Johns River ;

we decided that it was an older model now in private use.

Wouldn't it be fun to have our own knitting cruise!?

 The Fringe Tree is in full bloom-

it always goes like this in a few days after being bare all winter.

 A sure sign that it is nearing the time for my parents to leave.

Bittersweet goodbyes but

the flowers are so sweet and fragrant.

 Will had his cast removed!  He was a bit apprehensive but he did fine!

 And he is adjusting to his new brace which he will wear for the next month!

And we refreshed ourselves at the beach-still has a bit of a chill in the wind but the sunshine was beautiful.  The boys played in the bit of surge on the shoreline-the wind was still strong and the rip currents were at their worst.  We had a very sweet time at the beach and had a hard time leaving!

And a new child's sweater is cast on for Eli,

who is pictured above.

I started it on the ride to the beach and knit on the way home, too.

I love how a top down sweater really moves along,

like beginning a shawl!

(I knit the first sweater for his sister so I bought some more of the same 

yarn to knit him a matching sweater.)

The pattern is Felix's Cardigan

by Jacki Kelly.

Trying My Hand

Trying my hand at mosaic work.

I ordered a bag of mixed tiles (3/8") a few years ago, 

so I could try to do my bird bath.

 It's the same syndrome as the blank canvas when you are painting-

it is very intimidating when you don't knI ow what you are doing!

After looking tons of Pintrest ideas a few at a time as they came into my email,

I learned enough to dig out the box of tiles and give it a try.

Because one of my biggest hurdles was the amount of time

I would need for one sitting,

I was very interested in this way to organize your tiles;

you cut out and draw your general idea on the non-sticky side of Contact paper.

Then you peel off the paper and begin applying your tiles.

The sticky keeps the tiles in place and it is safe from kitty paws and kids alike!!!!

Genius.

I have worked on this for almost a week doing a round at a time.

It is now ready to apply to the bird bath-

stay tuned!

Classic Toes

I started a pair of socks!

It's been a long time since I worked on a sock

 and it is so enjoyable to have one on the needles again!

This is a K1,because I hate to start the row with a P1,

 K4, P1 repeat across ending with a  k1.

On size 2.5mm needles (US1)

These are a men's sock for width, 72 stitches across the foot;

a pair for my brother.

Working it Out!

 The headbands are working out fine at their new dimensions!

There is enough yarn to knit two more at least!

The texture is amazing and really plays off the colors.

Now to  have the fun of giving them away!

Hang Your Head

I ripped out all the headbands!

When Cassandra and Ella visited this weekend, 

they tried on a few and they were all too big!

I did mention that because I knew that silk didn't have the stretch and 

resiliency of wool, I would knit it shorter than the pattern required.

It wasn't enough of a reduction!

I knit two for them to retry-

making them narrower and shorter and they fit!

I missed pics of them but will be re-doing the 

rest of the yarn and will have plenty more to share!

Standing at the Frame

 My neighbor brought over a wall hanging she just finished

and needed me to quilt it for her.

 Will wanted to photo bomb me like Nemo does....

And then he wanted to be in it 'all the way of me'.

Consider yourself all in child!

Isn't it a cute wall hanging, too?

Full Circle!

 Nemo always likes to be there for the final stitches.

The denim circle rag quilt is completed!

I learned my lesson with the last rag quilt by filling my washer and dryer with tons of lint.

This time, I did some pre-wash 'fringing'! 

 Look at the mess I made when I shook the quilt out before tossing it in the washer!

 The finished quilt is fringed just right and looks just the way I hoped it would!

It is such a pretty lap blanket!

Even the back is pleasing!
I might even add on to this to make it larger than the
30" x 36" it is now.

Heads Up!

 Last month's project from DarnGoodYarn was these headbands....I had enough to make two from the one skein.

And I had enough left over from the TWO planters to make two headbands from that skein, too!

Simple knit in seed stitch and I graft the ends together. 

 Silk doesn't have a ton of stretch but the combination of stitch 

and the right needle size gives a nice cloth for this-

oh, and the fact that I knit them only 17-18' long so they have to stretch to fit! 

 (it wouldn't do to have a sag factor for a headband!)

In a Bind or Two!

Among all the usual activities on my schedule, 

I managed to get two quilts bound 

and tossed into the washer/dryer!

Nice to have a helper, Nemo, weigh the quilt down as I sewed....

Bottled Up!

 One night's knitting produced a wine bottle gift bag.

 This month the shipment from DarnGoodYarn

was a bulky weight silk roving yarn.

 I rolled it into a ball, put on a movie and knit away.

It took a little to get used to the 'slower knitting but faster results' of a bulky yarn.

I had to look hard to find a bottle

that would work for a model!

There were also some pretty bottle jewelry 

shipped with the yarn but I couldn't find a bottle neck it would fit

so I decorated some of the bottles in my 

collection!

Quilted Duo

One, two and I am through!

Lena approved the quilt on the floor because I won't let her

lay on them when they are on the frame!

These are all identical triangle log cabin blocks

and make the secondary interaction because the blocks are turned 

this way and that until they made a pleasant design to me.

She was determined to look up at me when I tried to get a close-up! 

 The second lap quilt is the combination of rail fence

and log cabin blocks.

The quilting is just a simple star and banner pantograph that I like

for patriotic lap quilts.

Ups and Downs!

Another installment of the DarnGoodYarn silk yarn-making headbands...

perfect kind of project for me right now!

And the new shipment just came so I am reminded that I am behind!

We took the boys to the County Fair yesterday;

it was a crazy wonderful time!

It's a Finished Object Alright!

So here's the little girl's cardigan before blocking

...and after.

It's much easier to block wools than acrylic but it is possible with a bit of steam.

I had such high hopes for this cake of yarn

but 

I think it is made for scarves 

and NOT for sweaters.

I didn't realize when I bought it that it is DK weight so that was the first bummer.

The colors are just too jarring and not the look I can admire for a sweater.

Maybe I would use this for a Brioche project when the 'other' color would be a dark solid.

Anyway, I used almost the full cake of yarn, Lion Brand in DK weight, #6 needles.

Goodbye to this project!

(It is destined to my fancy dressing 5 yo granddaughter who will love it!

But first I need to knit a vest to match for her brother! lol)