What You Hafta Do

 Our credit card was compromised when I went to a local store on Sat morning,

their card reader wasn't working properly and I had to swipe the card instead of using the chip.

By the time I was home ten minutes later, I had purchased electronics in California!

The fraud dept caught it and cancelled our card. 

 So yesterday morning, we had to take a trip to St A to get new cards!  

While there, we did some other errands.

I accomplished a lot of knitting during the ride!  

This sock yarn is great and I would recommend it!

 We stopped at our other favorite outdoor dining restaurant, The South Beach Grill, 

and had a very warm but delightful lunch! 

 It is a sweltering 97 out for most of the day and at 7pm it was still 96!

We don't cool off much even during the night but it was 77 when I woke up this morning-cool out!

For example, this is our sunrise.

The haze is what the Saharan Desert is bringing us.

Even though it is sunny out, there is a funny color to the day.

 I did find some of the paints I want for the next patriotic bowling ball project!

 And over the weekend, I did a bit of this-the groundwork for my next painting!

I've been watching YouTube videos on sketching and watercolor.

That was what I originally wanted to do when I started this art adventure 3 years ago!

I hope to have something for you tomorrow!

A Runner

While I was searching through the stash for some blues for the mystery QAL,

I found these blocks.

I squared them up and then made a little runner!

Nice to give some life to the orphan blocks.

And this week, I will be piecing the extra units I made for the QAL.

This was an accidental math error but the fabric is all cut and ready for me!

Why not?!

The nice part about it being a scrap quilt

is that I don't get bored with the same block each time 

because they are not the same each time!

Look how beautiful the orchid is again!

The last bloom fell off from the first six blooms

and it budded again!

This time two of the four are open and the others are near to bloom, too.

I've never seen it do this!

This has been blooming since February-amazing.

Isn't it a beautiful coloring?

I wake up to this in my eastern window each morning.

Socks and Shawls

A new pair of socks are on the needles--in pink which will never go on my feet 

but I have plans for these when finished!

These are in a new-to-me yarn by LionBrand called Mani-Pedi 

in the colorway called Knees.

I have no idea what that means but there it is! 

 It is a 75% wool/25% nylon blend.

A good yarn so far!

And I have resurrected an old shawl project because I keep bombing out on the ones I choose

but so far this is going great and I can't think why I stopped knitting on it before hand!

It is called Odyssey by Joji Locatelli in some of my finely spun Shetland wool.

So far, so good!

Just Do It!

 I finished piecing the Mystery QAL blocks yesterday

 and will sew them together today!

 Once the piecing was done, there was nothing for it but to rip out all of those stitches gone so wrong!

It only took a little more than an hour to snip and pull from the wrong side.

I then stuck a pin in the front marking each of the areas that needed repairs .

I had to use the variegated thread to match the missing stitches.  It worked very well actually! 

 And soon I had it completed and enjoyed a second more successful, "Ta-Da!"

 It was a great project-I will add the binding today, too.

 See how perfect the backing is--splashes of colors!  Lena thinks it is just right, too.

I loaded up the next quilt on the frame last night so I am ready to go!

Being Home

 I spent a good part of the day piecing the elements I've been making for the mystery QAL.

They are pretty and very different than what I would've done all on my own 

which is why this kind of participation is good for me! lol

 Lena didn't leave my side today (she doesn't like it when I am gong all day like the other day!)

Most of the time I was sewing, she was laying on my units 

so I had to move her or dig under her to get the segment I needed!

 When I needed to stretch, I stood up and finished the vintage paint brush quilt on the frame.

 In no time, I was finished and as I unrolled the quilt to take it off--I discover these nests underneath!

I had to walk away but later did begin the job of picking them out and then I will have to try and

sew these areas again.  I did find the old machine did not like the slick thread I chose.  Sigh.

And then Bill called to me to see if I could get a pic of these visitors-

gopher tortoise in the foreground, eating some of the pig plums on the ground

and the sandhill crane family in the background;  

they had been eating from the corn crib until I disturbed them!

Grandparents to the Rescue!

 My saga started last week when my son fell off a roof he was working on-nearly a 20' fall.

After a thorough checking out-the only damage was to his left hand-he lacerated it when he tried to grab the roof  which was metal, and the edge was sharp.

So sharp he cut through the tendons of his middle two fingers.

This is how the ER sent him home with instructions to see the hand specialist.

 Surgery was to take place in Jacksonville today

but we got the ph call they moved it up a day and so we took an early morning

drive-an hour past Jax to watch the kids so he and his wife could go to the hospital!

 I did get to do some sock knitting!

 And a lot of time with these two!

We had T-storms so were mostly inside.

 I did get a few glimpses of this sweetie!

And the good news is by day's end,

youngest son, Caleb, was doing pretty good.

(food, nap, food and a pain pill sure helped!)

His humor was shining through --he was showing me his thumb still works!

If nothing else, he can always do puppetry!

He has a long recovery ahead of him.

PT begins on Monday.

He's been warned it will be grueling 

but worth it to get as much use of that hand as is possible.

Hands do NOT like to be tampered with like this!

How grateful we are that it is 'only' hand surgery .

Celebration!

 Today we enjoyed a lunch at our favorite 'deck' at Corky Bells on the St Johns River!

 There was still a lot of sanitizer and disinfectants but we at a meal out and it was wonderful!

Warm and not humid--what a treat!

Bill turned 69 today.

We laughed and laughed at the thought of being in our 60's; 

 sorry but it is a wonder to us.

 The little gator has grown since were here months and months ago! 

 I began quilting the vintage paint brush churn dash quilt on the frame--splashes of paint!

A design by Beany Girl Quilts called Drip!  Perfection!

And the socks did get finished though

 they need wet blocking to get rid of the side 'seams' 

where the magic needle leaves a line.  

Wool is much more forgiving than cotton 

because it has more bounce but these will wet block perfectly!  

Very comfortable and a fun knit! 

Thank you, Jessica!!

 (SilverSpun cotton/silver/lycra)

Three Socks!

I made one of the Silverspun socks, then one of the striped

and now I am making the second Silverspun!

I've never done such a silly thing before! lol

I wil lbe in the car a good part of the day-a trip to St Augustine 

and a lunch at an outdoor restaurant for Bill's birthday!

I plan on a lot of sock knitting to be accomplished on the way and back!

Cereus Sighting

There are at least 10 'pipes' ripening on several Cereus plants....

I am hoping it won't be raining on the night they finally open!

Happy Solstice.

All in a Day's Work

I went with a friend to another friend's house to help her out since she has had surgery on her knee and her husband and daughter who were caring for her have both gone back to work.

It was a wonderful time of cheerful cleaning and talking-almost normal women time.

 A sheer delight.

Sock knitting when I got home...not much energy left for anything else!

It was worth it, though.

Busy Outside and Inside!

 My breakfast entertainment...

Lena decided to burrow under the table runner -

 and popped out the end and hung out for a few minutes!

 After breakfast, Bill helped me with my annual project-a bamboo trellis for the Muscadine grapevines.  Nyki helped a lot with the supervision.  She also hung out under the golf cart where it was cooler!

 We tied the sides with jute to hold the poles in place 

and provide something for the vines to grab hold of.

 When we came in, I loaded up a quilt on the frame 

and have it ready to go but the design eluded me.

 So I turned to piecing and sewed the borders in place-

another top ready for the frame work to begin!

 And then I caught up with the Mystery QAL which is a good thing 

because today another clue will be posted!

And last night I finished one of the therapeutic socks, knit with SilverSpun cotton/silver yarn that is great for feet with neuralgia--a gift from a caring friend!  On to sock two!

Color Continues

 I sewed all of the blocks and sashing--

now to attach the borders and add it to the frame queue!

 The nine patches also saw progress;  I am half way thru the pile for them.  

(12 of 24 blocks)

Everything is cut out, I just need to piece faster!

I hope to make even better in roads today.

 The buttonwood is in bloom-isn't it interesting?  

It smells good, too.

And I  have a rose bush!  

Sweetly smelling and dainty;  it looks like a small tea rose bush!