A CHRISTMAS TRIP

We left very early on Friday morning to head up to Fernandina beach to meet at our son's for a Christmas gathering!  The guys did a lot of fishing on Friday while my daughter-in-law, Cassandra, and I did a lot of food prep not only for dinner

but for the feasting on Saturday that would be our Christmas!

We also celebrated two more birthdays!

And a good time was had by all!

The drive home was pretty smooth--the sunset was breath-taking!  This is over the St Johns River at Doctor's Inlet.

 

YARN PLAY

I am enjoying the hat experiments;  this one has a single layer rib for the brim.  I increased a stitch in each of the stitches from the knitting machine (46 stitches) so the brim has 92 stitches. 

 I made several hats today.  

I also wanted to try the 'drop stitch' scarf on the knitting machine.  You knit 100 rows and when you remove the stitches from the machine, you only pick up every other loop from the needles.  Then you gather the rest and secure as usual.  Then you begin to pull the tube to make the unsecured stitches 'run'. 

This lengthened the tube from 24 to 50" long!

   

I did a light steam blocking and it is a soft and airy scarf

but still warm around my neck! 

 (I used some hand spun wool/silk blend yarn from the stash)

 

WRAPPING UP THE YEAR

I learned how to make the half-hexagons so the sides will be squared on this afghan.  I had a few false starts before I could make the right shape but I think it's imprinted now!

I did finish the quilting on this top, have it trimmed

 and today will get the binding attached!

It will join these two which are washed and dried even! 

 You can see underneath these

 that I have the next quilt loaded , too.  

It's amazing what you can accomplish if you just keep plugging away on them...

 

MORE YARN WORKS

Hat haul, relaxation in every stitch!

I decided to separate each color repeat to satisfy my curiosity.  Another 15 blocks will be made in this skein.

  Now they are more portable and I don't have to worry about remembering a pair of scissors!

 

A CALM DAY

I had an idea when making some new hats on the knitting machine;  we don't need double layered hats here, (though we do need hats on occasion) so I just added some ribbing by hand after cranking 36-40 rounds which takes only minutes. 

 It worked beautifully and in no time, I had several hats made!

I had a very relaxing morning and afternoon and then it was time to head to friends for Christmas dinner.  

Yes, it is a new circular knitting machine. 

 I tend to make so many, I use up the cheaper ones!

  The bright yellow at the top of this hat is waste yarn which is  what I use to end the main yarn portion so the stitches are distinct for picking up onto my hand knitting stitches.

  It was a very pleasant day.

I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the calm of the day!

  The yard was filled with a flock of 20 turkeys! 

 They were in the field out back where Bill has cracked corn for the Sand Hill Cranes and he also provides the deer with corn here--the turkeys have discovered them both!

Oh, and they even made fast work of the cracked corn under the bird feeder!  We enjoyed their clucking and chipping in spite of their voracious appetites!  It's been quite a while since we saw this many turkeys here!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A quiet morning spent celebrating the birth of God's own son

 and what it means to us.

Ornaments add to the special beauty of the morning.

A bough of mistletoe is hung at the front entrance to welcome all who visit!

I hope you make today a special day!

 

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Proof I do know how to do some baking!   

Just one top was bound...

but I did attach all of the red around the gingerbread top

 and found fabric for the backing from the stash.

I loaded the snowflakes quilt on the frame and did start to quilt it.

I was ready for my recliner after all of the standing and to dig into this new adventure!  Have you seen this new release yet?  It is a continuous color changing yarn that makes a granny square with only the beginning and ending tails to work in!  

I will admit to a bit of trial and error in working the gauge to match the color change just right but it is easy enough to fudge a bit with the granny pattern to make it work out!  Each skein will make 14 squares so I bought several skeins for an afghan!  This will be a very relaxing project over the next few weeks!

Merry Christmas Eve!

 

THE STUDIO'S SIREN CALL

One off the frame and the second loaded up!  

I have the binding cut out, I just need to finish applying it today!

I sewed the beige and red top together and then decided it needed a red border so I will stitch that in place also.

The pieces are all cut for the NICU blankets.

  This won't be tackled until next week now.

 

STITCHES

I have started sewing some more blocks together for another holiday top.  I have to finish the quilt on the frame before I can tackle these last two tops;  it's nice to spend some time in the studio again. I washed  and dried the flannels so I can square them  up to get ready to layer up.  I will work on them today!

 

SHOPPING GOOD COMPANY!

Since I am enjoying making these hexagons so much, I needed to buy (so much for using up all of the old stuff!) some additional yarn for more and especially the cream colored yarn! 

We found the cream and several more good colors to add to this project bin!

I also bought enough fabric to make 6 more of the NICU incubator cover quilts.

And a few more crafts for this Christmas time intrigued me!

Look at this--new blossoms are opening on my orchid!  It is a thing of beauty each day!

(Mary and I had a wonderful day together yesterday.  We went shopping, had lunch at Applebee's, did some more shopping and ended with a dr appt which went well.  It was a perfect birthday!)

 

A GOOD DAY!

 It's officially done and on the wall!  Nice to finish an idea that was started back in 2016!

Today is my birthday (68th)

 and I am off to meet a friend 

for a day of shopping (yarn and fabric)

and then some lunch! 

*and as for the new heading--I just noticed that I sewed the banner wrong-it said Christmas Merry instead of Merry Christmas!

I took it down, rearranged it and it is back up on the wall!

STUDIO SUCCESSES!

I loaded the mini-Christmas quilt onto the frame and had it done in no time!  That was one benefit of it being small that I enjoyed!  I plopped it down on my sewing table to trim and this happened!  Lena had been stressed because there were maneuvers by fighter jets and she worries it is thunder!  I tried to tell her that it was sunny out (for a change!) and so it wasn't thunder but it didn't help!  This did....

A friend was cleaning out and sorting through bins of fabric and gave me a huge pile--several Christmas/winter prints and a huge portion for kid's quilts!  I couldn't wait to dig in.  This is all pieced and needs to be paired with a backing to go on the frame!

And it will as soon as I get this one done and off first! 

 I hope to be on a roll in the studio again! 

 I can manage to stay busy until 3-4 pm each day

and it's wonderful to feel me coming back to myself!

 

ORGANICS

One sock done and I need to cast on the other!  There are so many distractions!  I am happy with how this one turned out--I only needed to 'waste' this small amount of yarn to get to the toe color for the next one.   A size 8 sock, 64 sts on 2.5mm needle.

 

I saw this guy at my friend's house--since I have never seen one like this , she humored me while I took his photo

 and then she promptly exterminated him! 

 It is a Rosy Wolfsnail which is an invasive species.

  Some vegetable gardeners leave them alone

 because they eat small snails and slugs from their plots.

  My friend doesn't grow veggies and sticks to her mission rigidly. 

 In this position, the snail is 7" long!  It is a large snail!  

SOME YARN, A HOOK AND A FIREPLACE

It was a rainy day yesterday and I didn't have much enthusiasm for leaving the warmth and comfort of the fireplace!  I found a beautiful YouTube idea for a crochet block and off I went!

First, I gathered some pretty and soft yarn scraps

 and settled in for a long afternoon.

I do love to see the colors at work

 even when it is gloomy and grey outside!

 

A CHRISTMAS TREE TALE

 This ceramic tree I made in 1976 when I took classes with my Mom! 

 (I was pregnant with my first at the time, too) 

 If you remember, the tree was knocked down last year

 and broke in many pieces but I glued it back together 

because I couldn't bear to see it go!!!!

  And now it is sitting on the new desk shelf to brighten my room!

FRIDAY FINISHES AGAIN!

The mini quilt (well mini for me!) is a top finally. 

 I will be loading it up on the frame so that it will be completely done by this Christmas!  It is 30" square.

The NICU incubator cover/quilts are all done! 

 I will be handing these in this week.

I've been making more dishcloths; I enjoy making them,

 I like how they look when I am done and they are nice gifts! 

 I really liked the two-color one I made yesterday. 

The yarn carries up the sides so there aren't tons of ends!

 There is enough yarn for a several more!

Yup, it is this kind of morning around here!