IT'S A PUZZLE!

A friend was having trouble with piecing this new quilt.  

It was a puzzle for her because she was trying to make them blocks at a time but these pieces have to be put on a design wall before you sew anything otherwise you would never know what color to put where with the 'knobs' of the puzzle pieces getting its color from its neighbor!

I had fun digging through the stash and finding 16 different colors so there would be no repeats!  Isn't this a great pattern?

I'm looking forward to a pleasant day of sewing and chatting with a good friend!

 

WATERCOLOR AND WOOD!

From a  crotch of the wild olive tree, I started a bowl last week.

I learned to keep the weight in the center of wider bowls to shape them thinner using centrifigul force.

There sure is a lot of wood chips when you work at the lathe!  Soon enough, the inside of the bowl was finished!  Next was the less glamorous but needful sanding and sanding.

And here is the bowl!  10 1/2" wide and 2 1/2" tall.

It is light in color and weight!  I love the way the grain swirls because it has the mix of the branches growing together.

I kept the low side, knots and worm holes which make it all the more valuable to me. , too. 

 I find these features just add to the beauty of the wood.  I have no specific plans for this bowl so for now will just enjoy its beauty!

I am working up to a cityscape--this looks like the buildings on one of the streets in my nearest town.

We could sit on the roof and enjoy a good knit 'n sit time together!

 

TNT

I've stitched everything except the central flowers which I did begin yesterday.  I am thoroughly enjoying this project

 but I have already picked the next one

 and am excited to get started on that one, too!

I've played with the bookmarks with the rock designs.

  It was fun and a good lesson on slowing down 

and enjoying the lines and how they work together!

 

FINALLY A FINISHED SOCK MONKEY QUILT!

As I was pulling this quilt from the machine after sewing on the binding, I was happily trimming threads and noted a snarl on the back.  And it wasn't in one spot but half a row had to be ripped out! I did have a light-bulb moment to trace the stitching with an erasable pen so when I pulled out the thread, I still had a 'trail' to follow !  I loaded the quilt back on the frame, and re-stitched without any problem!

What a relief that with only an hour and a half, 

this was a fixable mistake!

The quilt has been washed and dried...

and very sweet to hug with its minky monkey backing!

 

SOCKS AND I DO'S!

The first sock is completed...so soft and pretty-

it will make a great gift when paired!

We attended a wedding yesterday-the tropical breeze was a delight to give relief from the warm temps

 but no thunder storms built to ruin the day!

The wedding was held at a vineyard only 3 1/2 miles from our home-we didn't know it existed!  What a beautiful reception hall.  The cake was so very pretty!

And the cupcakes were pretty amazing, too!

This was only one of the many fields of grapes.

It was a wonderful afternoon!

AND THUNDER STORMS!

I woke up to both butds blooming!  Such a pretty sight in my bedroom window!

I got right to work and finished off the second table runner in no time.  Lena is watching the sky-there is thunder rumbling out there!

Sadly, the design wall and the frame are empty!  I need to get piecing and to shop for some backing fabrics for the tops already made.

I did go out and play with the newest bowl on the lathe.  I learned this new way for getting the bowls thinner by leaving the weight remaining in the center of the piece--using it to stablize the bowl.  Letting centrifugal force work for me!  

 This mess is just from the inside of the bowl!  I cleaned up from the work turning the back!

When the storms hit, I went inside, of course, and the power promptly went out.  I sat listening to a book while knitting on a sock--I'm glad I got the 'machine' work done early!

HEAT WAVE!

This is where Lena goes to escape a house full of kids

 I invited for a swim! lol

I played on the lathe until I couldln't stand the heat any longer!

I put some binding on the table runner; 

 the other one is on the frame!

 

TWO TABLERUNNERS

This table runner was removed from the quilting frame 

and will be bound today.

I finished piecing this one and will load it on the back as soon as I piece the back!  Another home day is a treat 

and I will be catching up today!

 

WATERCOLOR AND A FINISH!

Continuing the landscape series, I tried to paint some mountains.  These are pretty low in elevation but I will tackle mountains again.

And the doors came in and our contractor gave up his day off to work to install it today and just like that....it is finished!  I will really miss the noise, dust, smells and mess.  Not!  

 

CALM

The blue socks are done-I don't know why I call them faux-cabled 

because it does have cables. 

I guess it is because you don't use a cable needle-just knit the left stitch before the right one and take them both off at the same time!  Easy!  These are  knit in Stroll Manatee Tonal.  

64 sts on #1 needles.

I played with some zentangle drawing for a bookmark. 

 It is indeed very relaxing to play with the different patterns.

Remember the replacement orchid I bought after trying to repot the three I used to have?  Well, it is blooming!  I am so proud of its efforts to be healthy again!  It was pretty pitiful when I bought it from the 1/2 off table!

It is an incredibly colored bloom!

WEEKEND RECAP!

Saturday we headed toward Fernandina Beach early in the morning and ran into a T-storm but went over the river....

and through the woods....

to a beautiful resort

right next to the beach dunes.

Here is the whole family for a Father's Day gathering;  Cassandra's parents, Caleb and Matthew and grands!

After eating we all headed over the boardwalk to the beach.

Now, I will share a bucket list activity of mine-to stand on a surf board in the ocean.  (I left the surfing part out long ago!)  Caleb helped me get to this position...

but my inner balance is greatly impaired and I did this several times before..

I managed a victory pose!  I smiled all day!

 

SOCK PREP SUNDAY

I laid out the new yarn hank on the winder...

This was the skein, for your rememberance.

Now it looks like this--so sweetly colored 

and callling for me to knit with it!

The designer and info on the label.

I'm almost done with the second blue sock

and had hoped to post it finished here but it didn't happen!