NAILED IT!

After church today, I stopped at Home Depot 

and bought some Behr Marquee paint in the color I thought

 I had picked out back in March! 

 Since I had the paint and a friend to paint it,

 I just went with it at the time

 but I haven't been thrilled with missing out

 on the sage green I wanted. 

 Well, this is the color I wanted and it's perfect.  I painted all day and will have the sore muscles tomorrow

 to prove it but I LOVE IT!  

Then in the evening I knit on the second sock, turned the heel and knit the ankle.  I am ready now to begin the leg ribbing. 

 I head to help Mary put the binding on her quilt today 

and I will bring the sock to work on while she stitches on the quilt!

 

PLEASURES

Lena helped me set out the knitting--one top done and the second one (in a smaller size) is well begun.

I bought a new flag and put it up on a bamboo pole.  The old one was faded and tattered;  kinda like our nation's leadership.

Look at the footprints I found on the driveway--any ideas ?  they are about 2 1/2" in size.

I played with some watercolor, too. 

 I find it very relaxing to play with this medium.

(I also note the desire for cooler weather-well, mainly weather without humidity!)

 

QUILT ACCOMPLISHMENTS!

My friend, Mary, finished quilting her top--she did it all herself and we did a happy yip when she was done!!!  What a great job she has done!  Monday we will add the binding lesson to her skills!

While she was working at the frame, 

I sewed the borders onto the charm squares. 

 I decided it needed another row so I added the gold strips.  

This makes me very happy--the colors are so bright!  

 

CLOSING ON GOALS

The size 6 girl's sweater is close to binding off at the bottom and then I will have to pick up the sleeve stitches and rib those and bind off.  Sweaters in Florida have short sleeves to get the most use!  I'm looking forward to casting on the second one in size 2 which will go much more quickly!

The Desert Rose is sending out its first blooms for the winter-they are beautiful!

I stopped off at my local fabric store after my monthly doctor's appointment to pick up some material for two borders for the charm pack quilt.  I will attach them today while my friend Mary closes in on the finish for her quilting work at the frame!

I did happen to look for some interesting fabric to make an adult Jar Collection quilt while I was there!

 And was surprised to learn I had earned this gift certificate;  Miss D's still offers one for spending $200 over any amount of time!  I can't wait to savor special trip to shop 

next time I am in town!

DRIFITING FROM ROOM TO ROOM

Bill found this chair put out with someone's garbage...I gave it a good cleaning and then recovered the seat.

Look at the cool feature of this chair!  It opens for a little storage area!  I don't know what I will do with it but it will find a good spot, you can be sure!

I did a little bit of stitching;  

but spent more time in other rooms today.

I finished another square grapefruit wood bowl!  

This one moved right along-only a few hours of pleasure!

I did work in the kitchen the longest again yesterday -the last batch of muscadine jelly was successful.

See what the ripe grapes look like?  Delicious as jelly but not the best for eating fresh unless you have some cheese to go with it but I can't find a polite way to spit out the seeds! lol

 

WATERCOLOR PLAY

I set up a little tv tray in the living room to play while watching YouTube--it's been relaxing.

I like the different ways you can make watercolor look-

bright or subtle.

Here's something fun I bought-

it is real quality watercolor paper;  thick and thirsty!

And the back is printed, 

ready for mailing as soon as the paint dries!

 

KITCHEN WORK

Since I was in the kitchen all day--really, all day!--I had this pretty bloom in the window to enjoy!

I made two batches of Muscadine Jelly which meant that I had to make a wash a batch of grapes, cook it down, drain it out for the juice, wash the pan, back to the pan to then make the jelly and then into the washed jars!  I did this twice!  I did put an old movie on and tried to enjoy the process!

I did have every jar seal but the pint in the back will go into the fridge to eat now because I didn't have enough jelly to fill it all the way!  I did sample some and it is delicious!

Once I finished the jelly, I ate lunch and then began peeling the Sand pears and slice them up.  This goes into a pan the same way that I make applesauce-with a bit of water and sugar and then cook it down.  The big difference is that the pears take hours to cook down-with a lot of stirring in every little bit to be sure all is well!  

After putting it through the strainer, I have a large bowl of pear sauce.    I have another 5lbs of grapes to cook for jelly but I didn't have any more jar lids!  I hope to find some more today.  I also want to try to make some pear jam-thanks for the idea, Dee.  Of course, I will have to wing it for the recipe but I'm pretty sure I can do it!

Oh, and I even put a casserole together so I could have it for dinner;  a pretty painless way to provide sustenance!  

PLANT LIFE

The female Sago Palms look like this around here-the top know looks like a brain!  It is the size of a basketball on top of this 3' high plant while the branches cover a 6' diameter;  the fronds are not soft, on the contrary-each tip is needle sharp!  But you have to admire this plant-it is very prehistoric looking!

I spotted this knot on a tree-it is called a burl--

it's a thrill to turn on a lathe!  

I have plans for this burl and it will end up on my lathe soon! 

This is a century plant-a member of the agave ( Asparagaceae) family.  This plant is 6" tall and just as wide. 

 This, too, has a needle tip on each of its leaves!

This is a grapefruit bowl--it has striping and orange from the molding and spalting that grows in a dying tree.

Wood turners appreciate the color 

and design this brings to the finished results!

 This bowl is 5 1/2" across and 4" high. 

 I love the ease of making this kind of bowl; 

 it is pleasing on every level!

A FULL DAY!

A new bowl is at work--this is from the old grapefruit tree, so it is a special piece of wood.  I am making a square bowl from this one.  I have my box of finishing equipment ready to use.  The bowl will be turned now and the front hollowed out. 

 It will be done soon since it is small.  

My neighbor called to say, if I wanted, I could go and pick some Muscadine grapes!  Yes!  Even though Bill put a fence around my plant-something got in  and ate them all!  Millie's vines are close to her house so maybe that keeps them safe.  But I have a ton of them to make into jellie!  I can't wait!

These were also ready-Sand Pears-they are hard even when ripe, you can't eat the skin but I found that when I peel the skin, and cook down the fruit, it makes delicious pear sauce.  We eat it like applesauce.  Yum.

 And then I completed the Jar Collection quilt top--all stitched and pressed!  I  have started a second one, too!   

SWEATER START

 I've not done well with the sweaters I have started and abandoned for myself lately. 

 I saw this top-down kids sweater and I wanted to make it--so far so good!  That little bit of colorwork is done already

 but I will keep up the pace of this knit; 

 the color is pleasing!

SHARING THE LOVE OF QUILTING

Wednesday night when we came out of church the moon was perfectly framed through the tall pine trees in the woods across from where we park-it was amazing to see!

Yesterday, my friend came over to load up her first quilt top

 and I gave her a crash course on machine quilting!!! 

 She did beautifully!

This is her quilt...

Here is a glimpse of the panto she is using.

I finished the last three jars for my Jar Collection quilt. 

 Today, I will sew on all of the blocks, sashing and borders.

 

HICKORY LOG TO BOWL

I didn't give up on the bowl 

and learned how to work with a hardwood.

This is the original log that I started working on to make this bowl.

I ended up having to take the bowl (still in its chuck)...

and this is what I did to correct the wide cracks that had been revealed just a few inches into the bowl.  It kept catching the tool and I almost gave up on it.  I'm glad I didn't! 

 I learned how to fill the cracks with sawdust from the bowl and some CA glue (think commercial grade super glue!)

 and let it dry overnight.

The next day, I began working on the bowl and in a few hours, I had hollowed out the bowl beyond the cracks to reveal the solid wood underneath!  I couldn't believe how wonderful the grain was under those cracks!  

The bowl has a lot of 'imperfections' that I look for in a bowl!  Knots, surface cracks and crazy grain lines.

The outside looks great with the variety of colors and swirls!

This bowl is 10 1/4' wide at the top and 5 1/2" high. 

 This bowl already feels like it has been in the family for a hundred years!  I'm thrilled.

It's this time of year--the Magnolia is making its seed pods--they are beautiful and enjoyed by the squirrels, too!