Uh, Oh!

 Only a little knitting happening here--we have an uninvited guest;

Ethan has come down with the flu.

High fever,  aches and vomiting means this little guy is really sick.

 When he is dozing or in a movie zone, I have been experimenting with the seed stitch.

Both of these have k1, p1 across each row, the one on the top has the second row repeated or stacking the k1, p1 over two rows.  

These are two little washcloths that will be added to a pkg of love going to my grand nieces soon.

Smooth Sailing

 Summer Blooms is off the frame already!

                                         It's wonderful when everything goes without a hitch! 

I am hoping to get the binding on this today!

 And I powered right through the first half of the baby sweater!

I will reattach the second sleeve (on the right here)

 and work across the second side just as smoothly today! 

(Well, that's the plan!)

 Then I will decide what kind of finish I want to do with the front bands, neckline and cuffs.

To make you smile, here is a pic of the two delightful rascals that generally fill my days!

Nothing like a good romp in a warm rain!

Getting to New Ones

 First row of quilting on the Summer Blooms quilt-

 First section of the newest baby sweater on the knitting machine-

First piles of flannel to cut up for a baby quilt or two!

It's nice to start something new now that I have wrapped up so many old projects!

Thumbs Up!

I finished the thumb on the second mitten in no time;

why do we dread doing something at times?!

I was able to follow my notes

and changes to the thumb portion of the pattern--

I know better than thinking I would remember what I had done on the first one!

This is the Hansa Mittens

knit in KnitPicks' Palette yarn

on #1 needles

size large

It certainly satisfied the colorwork itch!

One Side of the Room

 I started out the day with some embroidery;

 the new scissors really were easier to pick up and hold for the trimming!

And now I have a new cotton dish towel embroidered to match my kitchen.

 While the machine was embroidering away, I got out my little Sparrow 15

 and did the piecing needed to finish up the two tops on the design wall! 

 First up was the Summer Blooms.

And right behind that was the owl quilt top!  

 I don't have a backing for this yet so it will not go on the frame first!

(Also, I don't know how I am going to quilt this--appliqued quilts are hard to decide what to do with them;  quilt through them?  around them?

And then there's the sashing--make it part of the blocks?

do something special in there instead?

See what I mean--I am going to put those hurdles way down the road for me---

all the way until next Saturday! lol

 I had to finish the little bird wall hanging before I could load another top onto the frame;

I not only finished quilting it, I also put the binding on it!

I was feeling like I was on a roll!

 Since I had the backing for the Summer Blooms, I loaded it right onto the frame.

I will be quilting this with a pantograph with the blooms and birds motif that I like so well.

Not a hard decision about quilting on this one!

And to show that I did get to do a little knitting, 

I made a dish cloth from the skein of cotton from my daughter!

I didn't get to touch the knitting machine but now I will be able to tackle that during this week!

Florida Breeze Shop Hop Day Two

 What a sight this morning--

such a bright and cheery centerpiece for breakfast!

(a surprise bouquet from my daughter!)

The conclusion of the shop hop and the charm packs;

I have enough charms to make two lap quilts.

You will see the blocks up on the design wall very quickly!

But first--
I need to finish the top for the owl quilt and decide how I will be quilting it
I want to machine embroider the new pillow for March
I need to finish the birds wall hanging on the frame
I want to catch up on the machine knitting course
I need to knit the thumb on the Nordic mitten
I want to machine knit the next baby sweater
I need to add the border to the Summer Blooms quilt and put it in the quilting queue!

I'm pretty sure I can get  all most of these things done today!

Florida Breeze Shop Hop Day One

 "What?"

 "Oh, this?!"

 "I didn't even notice!"

I had to scoot him out of the way so I could show you what I was trying to highlight in my photo!

This shop hop visit hands you a 20 pack of charm squares for each of 9 shops;

today we visited 6 of them!

And I picked up a few extras along the way-curved tip scissors with gripper handles so I (hopefully) won't drop and fumble them as much as the little pair I have,

sew in snap for the fox purse,

buttons for the next baby sweater (as soon as I can knit it!).

And a full charm pack(on top of the pile) I couldn't resist!

The last 3 shops are on the horizon for tomorrow!

(If I can find the stamina to do it!)

Grand Finale!

So this has been my week!

My oldest grands have been here for a visit from Georgia!

 There was a lot of swimming taking place!

And fishing without a lot of catch, unfortunately. 

 And for our last day together, we did the gardening!

 Yes, we thoroughly enjoyed planning where to put which plants-some of them very new to me and that was fun! (Bulbine? )

Our soil is not soil remember-it is only sand.

When Bill dug this bed for me, he put compost in the gardening strip instead of the sand.

It looks like I am digging here but it is really just scooping out some compost to put in the plant!

Easy enough work for my dumb back.

However, my daughter and grandson stole the shovel away from me after a rare minute or two!             

 Lots of laughter;  here is David photobombing us!

It was very satisfying to get all the plants in along this side 

and the north side which is the corner to the right of the very front of the photo..

The week always go by too quickly but we always savor the moments....

Gardening!

If you are wondering what I am doing today,

it is gardening!

My daughter is here and we bought some color!

It will go in the new strip of garden plot beyond the pool screen.

So much potential....

Big Dreams, Small Spaces is a great series on Netfllix--

I am inspired!

Nocturnal

 This little 1" tree frog is pretty common around here-they hunker down in the plants all day 

and come out to 'sing' at night.

 Today, Abigail spotted this large guy-2 1/2" of tree frog and spotted!

 He was very relaxed about his photo shoot!

The little one is called a Squirrel Tree frog and the larger is called a Barking Tree frog!

So now we all learned something!

While they are nocturnal, I am not even though my best knitting time

 has become the hour before bedtime!

It's a good thing these mittens are so symmetrical so I can memorize the pattern for each row!  

I have to get knitting--I had hoped to send these home with my daughter so Bruce would have this completed pair while they still have winter!

(I had worried the mittens wouldn't fit but my daughter tried them on

 and assured me they are spot on!  Phew!)

This is a short and sweet visit so I had better get knitting.....!

FO But Not Blocked

A little knitting is happening in spite of a major back spasm.

A pinched nerve?

Pain...

I can knit, if I don't move too much,

don't yank the yarn out of the skein,

don't turn to look at my notes.

The sweater was a quick finish on the machine-

I did add the button bands and neckband by hand--

I can't skim that carriage back and forth.

I like the lace at the front and back hem;  it was a good exercise in design.

And the only exercise I am doing right now!

Outside Pleasures

 While there were lots of real live manatees in the spring, I didn't manage to catch a clear photo of one!  You will have to settle for these two guys (Will on left and a friend on the right!)

 It was a breathtakingly beautiful day to be on a field trip!

 This is looking north up the St Johns River.

 At home, there are so many colors that please the eye...ornamental kale,

 my favorit red camellias,

 the burgeoning azaleas

 and even the bees are out!

The calliandra bush is full of blooms because we didn't have a killing frost!

The honeybees are grateful to have the mild  winter,  too!

(this was late to post because I forgot to hit the publish button!)

Squirrel!

 I made pretty good progress on the Squirrel Cardigan.  

One side is completed;  later on today, I will finish the left side.
I did decide to add a bit of lace on the bottom of the fronts and back.

See, it is starting to make sense.

But first, I have a field trip with Will to go and see the manatees in Blue Springs!

Pictures tomorrow!

Machine Embroidery Work

 This faux leather wallet is made 'in the hoop' as an embroidery project from UrbanThreads.

 It is a quick and clever project to do with materials I had on hand.

My son bought a cash register for the boys and we play 'shop';

I noticed they needed a wallet to carry their money.

 This wallet design holds the paper money and their 'credit' card in the slots.

 It's nice to hit the bull's eye when making things for the boys!

 We had a lot of fun spending the money-they even do chores to earn more money to spend--

a great learning tool, right?!

(Even when the money is fake!)

 Along those lines, there was also a pattern using the same kind of 'in-the-hoop' design 

for this Fox purse.  

(the red tipped pin is only holding down the flap 

 until I make it to the store to purchase a larger snap closure!)

I liked this picture because Nyki did a photo bomb and I didn't notice her at the time!