Remembering

I've added one of the four corners to the square of last month's kit.  Every row was different and very interesting to do;  I'm very grateful for the video that accompanies the pattern, I will say that!

I'm trying to make the second corner without assistance. 

 We will see how I do!  I am enjoying it.

Be sure and thank a veteran today

 for securing your 'day off' .

We've paid a very high price for our leisure 

and would do well to remember that fact.

 

A Speckled Sock!

It was a fun knit to work with this Hobby Lobby sock yarn from Yarn Bee ;  it has a lot of sproing to the finsihed sock!  

I bound off while watching a good artist do a line and wash of the Jelly Bean Row houses of Newfoundland!

I knit the leg in a k3, p1 rib. 

 I see a lot more white in the photo of this sock

 but in person it reads more as a neon yellow!

The leg ,when rolled down to a short cuff,

 really shows off the rib! 

 Maybe on the next pair I will knit it P3, k1 just for the texture!

 

I completed the baseboards in my bedroom-almost -but for the area behind my bed when I ran out of wood again;  I have ordered more for pick-up today after church! 

 I'm ready for a good afternoon nap today!

Enhancing

My daughter gave me this classy note paper made of linen;  I folded it to be a note card.

And it took the watercolor paint beautifully!  I mailed the first one I did without taking a picture, silly me but I have many sheets to play with to try all kinds of colors!

Forgive the funny lighting--but I finished the green dress

 and made the changes to the pattern pieces

 that was necessary for a good fit around the armholes.

I had promised a friend (Jessica) 

that I would post a pic of me wearing it

 but when we were eating supper, it rained 

and then it was dark 

and I didn't feel like taking a pic in the house....

blah, blah on with the excuses

 but I will promise a photo of me in the dressy one to come!  

(I had forgotten how much I enjoy making clothes;  

it was a good hour sewing!)

I will work on more baseboards today-yesterday didn't go so well.

 

Out and About

I went for xrays of my hand and feet yesterday for the 'proof' of psoriatic arthritis then a doctor's appointment after that--it is tiring to be out and about!  I have this new kit to tackle for the Moroccan Afghan and I can't wait to dig in!  This installment is to add triangles on each side so that it is a square in a square--it should prove interesting to learn how to make the shaping on each side!

I only did a little work on the house--I framed in the attic access in the dining room.

 Here is what it looked like before I framed it--just 4 long screws to hold the 'door' in place.  This is one in the hall and I will make the frame for this one today so that area will be completed.  I might mention that working on the floor (bending over and kneeling) isn't a ton of fun but I will do that any day compared to working over my head!!!!  Wow, is that awkward and uncomfortable!

I will get to that dress today and load the Dreamscape Window top on the quilt frame!

What will you be doing?!

A NEW PROFESSION!

I had to move all of the furniture in the guest room so I could install the baseboards-are you tired of the theme I have lately?!  I'm on a roll and only have two more bedrooms and then my studio and I will be done! lol

I pushed everything to the middle and just barely fit myself around the edges so I could do the nailing 

and measuring of those pieces!  

The room is 16" x 12" with only one closet door to break up all of the lines;  much easier than the hall!

Once I finished moving things around for a new layout, 

I did a lot of dust bunny removal and a good clean

 as long as I was making a 'new' room!  

This is my hope chest bought for me 45 years ago by my husband;  I added a thick cushion to the top which is held in place by elastic casing around the edge of the cover.  It makes a good window seat!

After 56' of baseboards, the only place you really see them is on the walk in and by the window seat!  

But I know it's there! 

The moon was fantastic on the drive home from church last night but it was hard to see through our headlights.

I changed my phone to night vision and for a split second, Bill turned out the headlights and I caught this fantasy view !  Cool!  Once home, I walked all around the yard trying to get a view I could get a photo of but it was doomed-we have too many trees on our south side.  If I wake up at 3am, I might add a new photo here:

I did unwind with a bit of knitting and a good YouTube lesson for water coloring...I have the urge to paint again  but not until the baseboards are finished!

 

Momentum

I was frustrated because I kept leaving my tools where they weren't convenient;  and sometimes way in the garage when I was back in the house!  I almost called Bill, who was in town for errands, but thought I didn't need to do that-

I could sew my own tool apron!

It fit well with the little bit of elastic in the front keeping it securely in place even when loaded up!  It sure was nice to have everything right where I was every time!  The center was full of the nails I needed and I daresay, I worked much more effectively!

In fact, I finished all the fussy cuts for the quarter round pieces--see all of the angles?!  Might I add that houses do NOT have square angles anywhere! lol

While I was working away, Bill was having a very different adventure; on the way home, his truck engine blew a rod right out the bottom!  A friend saw him pulled off to the side of the road and gave him a ride home to await the towing company who brought the truck along much later. 

 What a very sad event! 

Whenever we think of going to only one car, a day like Thursday arrives with both of us having dr appts but at the same time in two different towns! 

 Nope, not ready yet to be a single vehicle home yet.

And I did finish the binding on the latest QOV-what a good feeling to see a completed quilt!

 

Start the Week with a Bang

While I watered my flowers first thing, I noticed my Tropical Milkweed was completely bare;  I soon discovered why!  I brought one of my other milkweed plants over and coaxed him to board the one with all of its leaves!  I hope I will be seeing a chrysalis soon enough!

Inside, I tackled the quilting on the 2nd QOV and hours later completed the job!

I did bring out some practice fabric (the green) so that I can check the fit and if tweaking is needed, I can work it out before I cut out the silky flowery fabric at the top of the photo.

My goal was to cut all of the pieces of baseboard for the hall to my bedroom.  They are not nailed in place, only fitted but the major part of the work is done.  (my hall and the garage where the saw is are on opposite sides of the house!)

And by 6;00 I was ready for a swim and then a relax with an Audible book to knit by! 

Socks

 A finished pair of socks in Felici Hotshot;  

size 1 needles over 64 stitches. 

 A plain pair of socks with a k3,p2 rib leg, toe-up gusset heel.

Solace

I worked for hours, squaring up the panel, cutting it into four pieces and sewing the 'window frame' strips into place.  Next, I pieced all of the bottom blocks and then I got sidetracked by the siren call of the lathe!

While outside when I walked about the flowers-I saw how much this pineapple has grown since Marsel and family visited!  It is about 8' tall now!  Another 4 weeks and we might be biting  into its sweetness!

When I made it to the lathe finally, I made a little saucer out of the other side of the piece of Oak.

It is the other half of the hunk of wood so they are very good mates!  A very satisfying 2 hours.

I could see the moon for most of the day--it was nice when it was dark enough for it to look like it belonged up there at last!

A Special Kinda Day

There is a new flower to discover each day! 

 What a beautiful time of year! 

 This rather large cluster is from the red ginger plant.  

There is a very light but pleasant smell from the cluster--look at how brilliant they are when fully open!

And my first tiger lily is in bloom 

with several very full buds due soon!

the dwarf hydrangea is still gaining more flowers each day; 

 it has been so dry and windy here 

that the flowers need water every day-

it does take a lot of time but I enjoy it. 

 

I bought a few succulents to go on the garden cart 

Marsel and family brought to me on their visit-

it goes nicely with the patio decorations!

Yesterday I enjoyed being teacher again to a friend that has decided it's time to learn how to quilt!  We had a wonderful time and managed to cut up a lot of her fabric purchased to make her own bed quilt!  Like any good teacher, I gave her homework to be reviewed next week!

Today, I will be stitching the Window's View Quilt 

and frame quilting the 2nd QOV!

 

The Desert Blooms

This Desert Rose sits right on the front porch, 

right in front of my kitchen window-what a view to enjoy!

Usually the majority of blooms hits its peak on Mother's Day 

but it is a bit behind this year-I'm just glad to see it bloom because the frost killed quite a few of the branches' tips 

this winter!

And some yarn came home from our trip to Daytona Beach today!  The dr appt went well.  

I have to go for xrays to confirm the diagnosis

 but he is 99% sure that what is causing the hand/wrist pain is psoriatic arthritis.  It's time for another first hand study for me to understand what is happening just below my own skin! 

 (it's another auto-immune disease in which my own body attacks myself-in this case, the joints in my fingers, hand and wrists, etc).  

 We were gone a long time today;  it was good to get home and finish this Japanese Maple bowl.  Per request, it is shown here for scale with a full-sized skein of sock yarn!  The bowl is 5" wide and 4" tall.

And I did finish one sock while traveling today!

A Window's View

 I have found a new-to-me YouTube channel called Jordan Fabrics and the owner, Donna, has a very straight forward way of teaching.  She did a recent video on using those panel quilt pieces that so allure us to buy them and we are stumped on how to use them! 

 Well no more!  Her instructions are for the vertical panel but,

 of course, I had a horizontal one I wanted to use 

but I worked out the differences and made this layout.  

Now to stitch it up!

Wooed by Wood

Japanese Maple crotch piece is shaping up for a bowl.

I turned it around so it is now ready to be hollowed out.  The wood on this is lighter than I expected and it was a very dense wood which was also a surprise. This is still relatively green wood (as in freshly cut) but it is a slow growing tree so that must be why it is dense.  Since it is a first for me, I am enjoying figuring it out.  I really need to keep a journal.

Now this was the oak from my daughter's yard;  it  has been dried a long time but oak is a hardwood and so was an interesting cut. I started with a piece of split wood like the one the bowl is sitting on, rounded it and then hollowed it.  Pretty straight forward.

 The wood has a ton of  spalting and is incredibly beautiful; 

 like a zebra!  

The log and therefore the bowl are small; 

it finished at 3 1/2" by 1 1/2" and very light weight-what a surprise!  It has been good to work with wood at the lathe again...