Pre-Headed

 I've started my stuffed cat....I assembled all 6 parts not counting the button eyes to make the head!

The rest of the body will be a snap after this!

(As for the title, it is a beheading when the head is removed from the body but

that isn't the case when you start with the head, right?!  lol

Laugh--it is Leap Year Day and you can't laugh on this day for another four years!)

I dug out the fine fingering yarn to make those replacement blocks

for my friend's antique granny squares afghan.

This was made with a B crochet hook yet it is still too large! (5")

I think that the rest of the blanket has been previously

washed and  shrunk a bit, perhaps?!

I might just make the replacement block with only 6 rounds instead of 7

and see if that puts it in the right size range.

And look!  I brought this African Violet leaf home from my Mom's plant 

back in October and only now has it put up two little leaves!

The dead stub next to the large leaf is the death of the hens and chicks plant I brought home on the same trip.  She died the end of December!

I am excited to have a successful regeneration.

Has anyone else started an African Violet this way?  From whom did you get the slip?

A Hat for February!

 

By the skin of my teeth, I finished one hat on the knitting machine this month.

This one is made from my leftover sweater yarn,

Lion Brand Wool Ease.

We learned how to knit this kind of decrease 

which isn't as easy as hand knitting but a good skill to learn! 

 At least I didn't have to rip anything out today!

We were encouraged to donate at least one hat a month this year-

and now I have done so!  

She's been happy I have been sitting so much!

The Joys of Health

 

 I was giddy with a burst of energy yesterday morning.

It was so good to be able to be up and about

 but the house sure needed some attention after I was down for a few days!

So after a housekeeping reckoning, I went to the studio!

I loaded up this top so I could quilt it soon.

 Then I hung the background fabric I purchased after dropping the grands at the airport on Saturday.  This is going to be covered with blue fabric within the elephant shape by applique--

very much an elephant quilt experiment!

 The fabric is hard to see but it is a grey/white texture print.

Perfect for this project, I think.

 And I sure had fun cutting out these apple core pieces for a new quilt.

No , this is not the layout--it is only all of the pieces I cut placed 

so I could estimate the size arrangement. 

 I will rearrange these fabrics for a few days before I do any sewing!

By afternoon, I was pretty much out of steam so I sat and did some more knitting.

Are you tired of the bunny photos?! lol

I made the Brunny pattern's shawl to finish her wardrobe!

And then another dishcloth flew off the needles.

I will tackle the knitting machine project as soon as I knock off some laundry!

More to Life...

...than knitting dishcloths but it is better than drooling!

After the airport on Saturday, we stopped at JoAnn Fabrics

and I picked up a skein of  Re-Up in Saffron which is orange and blue/grey.

I am such a sucker for that color combination!

I will send these to my daughter-in-law in WA state.

I think today I am going to see an improvement;

the medicine is starting to work!

I woke up with a glimmer of humanity again!

A Little Dishcloth Knitting

I spent the day in bed yesterday,

something is up with my intestines.

I hope the doctor will be helpful.

I made several dishcloths while awake

between naps!

Too Quiet

The foursome is back to a twosome!
The kids flew back home this afternoon.
It was an amazing week!

Even with the wonderful memories floating in my thoughts,

I needed some consoling.

It didn't change anything but distracted me at least! lol

Pantalones

 Brunny the bunny now has pants!

Here is the process:

 I measured her and entered my numbers plus seam allowance of one stitch per edge

and some wiggle room.

 Then I drew it on graph paper.

From the graph paper I knew how many stitches to cast on

and how many to increase and decrease to get the right shape! 

 So when it was time for the photo shoot-I get Nyki!

 and Nyki....

 and Nyki...

Until I get this-Miss Cooperation! 

You would think she was a model from the look in her eyes!

Oh, and the pants fit perfectly!

The Pond

 Remember the pond?

It's back;  the flood waters have receded after 2 years!

See the banana grove way in the back right.

This is looking at our pond from the neighbors' side of our property, looking west.  

 But as nice as it is to get the pond back again, the landscape is forever changed for my lifetime!

 Most of the pine trees have died along with the maples.

 The East Palatka Holly died, too.  Bill has done a lot of landscaping, too.

He's built up the rim of the pond, and built up roads so that if the lake overflows again,

it won't isolate the whole area from our access. 

 The clearing of the mess will keep Bill busy for a very long time!

Bill and David have been fishing out in the pond.

Not a bad sized bull head!

It was released in the swamp across from the access road-

Bill will stock the pond with tilapia

so he will try to remove the bull heads.

 Here's something else to remove from the pond---a 3' eel!

it gave the guys quite a startle!

I think that is a golden orb spider in the top portion of the photo!

How Artful!

 After a lazy morning yesterday, Abigail and I had fun painting.

We laughed that we were not as quick as the youtube artists!

These will be finished this morning.

We have quite an art center set up! 

 Wednesday afternoon, we enjoyed a golf cart ride and then a swim-

well, one of us swam!  I did a bit of knitting!

 The amaryllis are blooming!

These live outside and they flower with very little work on our part!

And boy do we have azaleas!

They look like glow-in-the-dark colors!

Off to do more of the same!

A Grand Beach Day

 We started out our beach day with a bit of metal detecting!

 They each found quarters,

 Abigail a 2005 collector's quarter of California--we had a few heart stopping moments

when the date 1850 was read first on the back!  David's quarter is dated 1980.

We might not be rich, we were looking for doubloons after all, but we had a wonderful

time digging merrily away together!

 After lunch, we fed the seagulls.

And then Abigail and I did this while the guys did some fishing. 

 We enjoyed coloring with pencils in our bird field guides, a water bird scene, of course!

 David finished off some crackers and we packed it up!

 Goodbye, beach!  Thank you for the warm, sunny day!

(it was in the 80's with no humidity--utterly wonderful!)

 After dinner at South Beach Grill, we were greeted by this sunset!

In just a few minutes, we crossed the intercoastal waterway and David captured this photo.

Yup, it sums up the beauty of our whole day!

Spiffing up for Family!

 Since I moved this chair into the fireplace room, 

I didn't like the color of the cushions so I recovered them!

 It is a nice soft fabric, too, so it's very inviting to take a seat--we will be taking a dip in temps

again this weekend so I will be sitting here looking at the fire!

Until then, I wore this t-shirt to go to the airport and pick up my two oldest grands!

They flew w/o parents to spend a week with us!  I am so excited!

We have a lot of painting and fishing planned!

Curl up with Comfort!

 The borders were sewn on the charming tumbler lap quilt!

I do like it with the grey at the top, too.

I will load it up on the frame and quilt it this week.

On Saturday, I did machine knit this blanket-Lena approves!

It is 48' x 56", made from Red Heart gradient yarn called Graffiti yarn.

It has folded hems on the top and bottom

and I-cord trim on the sides to help battle the curl of stockinette.  

This is the best way to power through an afghan!

It will go to a friend who is chilly while sitting in church!

Just the thing to warm her legs.

Today, I will work on some more pet beds while at quilting group.