SUNSHINE 'N SOCKS

I worked on the new socks and finished the one and immediately cast  on for the second when youngest son and wife arrived!

They were here to buy this second (3rd, 4th) hand 17' boat for family fishing!  Bill and Caleb made sure everything was road- ready to tow the trailer the two hours home and did some general check-ups when it was time for us to break for a late lunch.

We went right in town (close) so we didn't have to be on the road any longer than necessary for them.  Forgive the squinting faces--it was 96* out and 104 in the shade-there wasn't any! lol  

Soon it was time to kiss goodbye so they could head home.

  (the kids were at their other grandparents for the weekend so it was a very different visit than usual but absolutely wonderful!)

 

OUTSIDE

After the errands this afternoon, I washed the car and took a few pics for you of the flowers that are new this past week;  this one is the Blackberry lily.

The pagoda flowers are beginning again, too!   

Here is the fabric for the dragon quilt--I will begin cutting out the pieces today!

RESIN ART!

So this project began with a  video on an email from  LittleWindows Brilliant Resin about turning stamps into a pendant.  I asked my Mom for a stamp from a letter Dad had written her when he was in the service. 

 She found one and I couldn't wait to begin!

I built up the resin on the front of the stamps (the others are stamps from Poland-my husband's family) and then after curing, did the backs with the findings.  The top two pieces were made by pouring the leftover resin in little molds with curious items placed inside!  More on them on another day.

I was able to cut the postmark out and adhere that to the back of the stamp for Mom--I used a different way to hang it from a chain because I didn't want the bail to cover the words or dates!  

The one on the left is of a horseback rider and the one on the right of irises!  I need to buy the necklace chains when I head out to run some errands today.  

I'm also stopping to buy some fabric to turn this into a quilt with a layout like the recent dolphin one! Her brother is going to love it!

 

CAR KNITTING

A bit of knitting in the car on the way to to get in a bit of supplies because we are having some children from church over today for a swim party!  A little bit of cleaning and cooking and then a lot of splashing and laughing!  

The new sock yarn is working up in a funny kinda way-parts look like modern Christmas colors 

except for the yellow/red area that reads orange! 

 A bit of a jolt to the rest of the stripes!  

 

OFF KILTER

Mary worked on the frame yesterday to finish her quilt and she did it!  It's pretty amazing that for someone only quilting for under two years and falling and breaking her shoulder in December so sewing was out of the question for4 months, I'd say she has found her forte'!

While Mary was doing her thing, I was trying to learn a new skill.  I was working with resin.  If you remember the old Lucille Ball show when she was trying to put up wallpaper....you will have an idea of how me and resin got along!  Thank goodness it is a forgiving medium, because I got these pieces stuck to me and everything I picked up I dropped on them........they have to cure 12 hours, I will turn them over and resin the back and wait 12 hours but then I can show you what I have made-I hope!

 

NO TNT

I didn't play with fabric and thread once this week!  I did enjoy playing with wood instead!  I am trying to use a new tool and practicing on these little boxes!

I made these from this Sycamore branch. 

 i am still working out the best way to mount and finish each of the pieces but I did the second one with a lot more confidence so doing two in a row helped.

The lids have a domed inner area and fit the base very snugly the way they are supposed to

 so they won't flip their lids at the least little thing! 

I do like the little knobs on top of the lids--it is fun to give it a little button top.  The boxes are 4 and 5" tall and 2 1/2" wide.

I took advantage of the lower humidity-not perfect out but much more bearable than it has been.  I have three fans pointed at me while I worked and that helped.  The only problem I had was during clean-up when the dustpan full of wood chips was lifted up to go in the bin and the breeze blew the chips all over the place!  Nothing like sweeping them up twice!

FIXING THINGS

I felt good about getting the last borders on the QuitsForKids.  Mary will finish up her quilt on the frame tomorrow and then I can begin chipping away at the pile I have stacked up!

And for those of you who noticed the mistake on this corner of the quilt;  it has been ripped out and resewn!

I spent the other hours of my up time this weekend putting in the baseboard for this wall in the dining room and also framed the cut out Bill leaves in the wall to access the pipes (the bathroom is on the other side!)  We've already had to access a burst pipe in there once!  The frame only has two small screws holding it in the wall and will easily come away if there is another emergency!  I'm glad it looks finished now!

  I'm going for labs today--hoping to nail down the reason for the hives still plaguing me and interrupting my nights for hours!

SOCKS ON SUNDAY

  I almost finished the pair but I did a lot of other things this week instead of sitting and knitting!  As it is, these will be done in a few days.  I decided to try something different with the leg this time and used a k1, p1 rib.  It's a whole new look and doesn't take that much longer to knit. 

GOOD WORK

While Bill mowed, I did a bit of piecing for the girl's quilt.  This is as far as I got but will finish piecing the rows today.

And then, there are two rows of borders to sew on.  

And when Bill was finished mowing, lunched and cooled off, he helped me rearrange the woodshop! I moved the old lathe out, turned my lathe and tool chest 90 degrees.

 Now there is so much more room to maneuver!

Here's a panoramic view of my tools all lined up with the wood shelves to make a 'room' in the garage!

  It's about a 15' x 15' area.

Now everything is open and roomy to work in 

and that makes me smile. 

 I have plans for two projects today!

 

RACING TO QUILT

I had a thoroughly nice time piecing this while watching old movies! 

Some little boy is going to enjoy snuggling under this one! There is getting to be a queue at my quilting frame.  I still have to get to the fabric store to buy some backings for the other finished tops!  We just haven't been up to traveling an hour away to get there.  On another front, I've been doing some rearranging in my little woodworking shop and hope to finish it today!  I need to corral Bill to do the heavy stuff!

 

STUDIO AND STORMS!

I found a fabric I liked from the stash for the border for the puzzle quilt.

I had to cut the strips by scissor because when I folded it and lined up the ruler, the strips wouldn't be straight- along the pattern stripes-what to do?  Cut them by hand!  

I cut along the lines of the design!  

It didn't take too much longer to cut the 5 strips and now I know they run right along the straight line of the pattern and will not drive me crazy!  It's good to know what to do so you don't drive yourself crazy!

While I cut my strips, my friend Mary stritched a few more rows on her quilt at the frame. We had a few glitches due to power outages during the intense thunder storm that rolled through mid-day! We had a snack and waited out the storm

 and soon got back to work! We've had 12" of rain for the month of July already!  We usually have that much for the whole summer!  Needless to say, the pond lawn and surrounding low area is very soggy!

 The mail brought two kits from QuiltsForKids which have some very bright and cheerful fabrics! 

 I will enjoy turning this little pile into two new quilts!

ART ON WEDNESDAY

I think it was the talk of Arizona that sparked this landscape. 

 We loved the desert for its novelty.

Last month, I tried another fluid paint pour. 

 It looked liked this at the start...

...and dried like this. 

 It looked dull to me when it dried. 

 I just set it down and would think what I could do with it!

Yesterday, I found the little canvas and decided to transform it!

I used acrylic markers to color in the background

 to create lake rock shapes.  I framed in the rocks and left the sides of the canvas colored just for interest.

Now the 'rocks' looked more vibrant and less dull to me!

  I had such a relaxing time painting the shape by filling in the background and then shading each rock to give them dimension then adding shadows to ground them.

I sealed it with clear lacquer and now it is hanging on my wall! 

 I'm onto something very satisfying! 

What do you think?!

(inspiration from Mii Painting on YouTube)

 

TNT

I have a finished object to share! 

 This was the free pattern from Yarnspirations.

  It is mounted in a 9" hoop to hang on the wall. 

 I used DMC floss throughout.

I couldn't wait to start in on the new hand towel

 which will be for pretty and not for washing up!  

 

VERY CLOSE TO CLOSING MY BORDERS!

I have two more rounds of borders to sew in place and this quilt will be finished!  It is so exciting to look at; 

 my granddaughter is going to be thrilled! 

 I found another panel to make a dragon quilt for her brother!

 

SOCKS ON SUNDAY

 These socks just flew off the needles!  What fun it was to see the colors evolve.  Even the 'solid' areas have very complex shading!  These socks are from Static in Rooster on 64 stitches on #1 needles.

UP AND AROUND!

I couldn't believe how much better I felt today!  What a welcome gift!  I cleaned and puttered and ended up in the sewing room!  I added the two skinny borders and pieced the bottom pieced border.  My goal today is to piece at least one more side!

We've been cleaning in the garage some more and I ran across this original ink drawing by a real artist-Alba Zaiser!  Here is her obituary article which is an interesting read.  Now this isn't worth enough to retire on but it is a cool find.  There is a bit of discoloring on the watercolor paper (she is better known for her watercolor paintings) but all in all it is in good condition.  I cleaned the frame and glass and promptly hung it on the wall!

Bill was the recipient of some warm blacktop that was left over from a job a friend of his did--he had to drop everything  and spread it-along the edge of the driveway, the ends of the porch, etc.  It's a good thing he has a new tractor and could hook up his heavy lawn roller to smooth it out!  We each enjoyed adding rows to our projects!

 

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

 So when I pieced the top border yesterday, it was way too long!  So I went back to the instructions and found that I had forgotten to apply the two skinny borders first!  Guess what I will be doing today!

GARDEN FLOWERS

We've had heat and rain all week and that means....flowers! 

 This is the Curcumin.

The flowers are large and deep-oh, so intricate!

I have about 12' of Caladium that has really grown over the few years.  They bring color from Spring to first frost.

This flower is in a large pot-

it is also a Curcumin which is in the Crinum family.

The edge of the pot is dwarf wave petunias.  I love the contrast of shape and size but Bill says it is too messy in the pool area--it does drop little blooms and leaves quite regularly.

These are the tiger lilies from NY.  

 All of the flowers so far are from bulbs and that is why they are all in pots so the bulbs can't be desiccated in the sand

 and also for protection from voles and squirrels!

My bowl of succulents is doing well and it even produced a  tall stalk!  I can't wait to see what develops.

The buddha plant (Jatropha Podagrica) has been blooming for months but this time the flowers have produced these seed pods!  

This is what the blooms look like so several of the flowers must've gotten pollinated even in the pool patio!