JUST DYEING TO SHOW YOU!

I've been putting this dye-day off for months now!  But no longer!  I wanted to dye some roving I have to be ready for the Tour De Fleece and then the last skein of sock yarn.

I was aiming for red/wh/blue for the skein of yarn and unfortunately, the red bled quite a bit into the white areas!

The superwash wool roving is fuschia/black and silver.

The sock yarn looks pretty patriotic as it is knit up so that is good.

The roving fluffed up beautifully and will be a dream to spin next tomorrow (Jul 1)!

 

SHARK ATTACK

It was time to finish the shark plaque!  I covered my work space, gatheredd all my supplies and began to pour resin!

Most of the pieces went down well--I did get a bit sticky but a package of wipes sure helps keep that from getting out of hand!  I then finished adding the resin around the design and let it self-level and flow down the sides, too.

You can't tell, but the wood is sitting up on spacers so that the resin won't harden onto the work surface. 

You can see the depth the resin gives to the paint and the riser underneath the wood in this photo. 

 I set a large plastic bin over the top and let it dry for 24 hours.

After drying I added a picture hanger on the back and will let it dry  for another 5 days before I ship it out to my oldest grandson! Some crafts that I try I think, "There, I've done that!" but this one is not the last of the shark teeth art work!

QUILT GROUP PROJECT

I cut up a fat quarter for the center of the star blocks and assorted other colors for the stripes.

The stripes worked up a lot faster than the star blocks! lol  I do have a bunch cut out and will get them finished into either a table runner with placemats or a lap quilt. 

 I just don't know which right now!

 

TUMBLING TUESDAY

My rocks from the Washington trip are almost ready--

they are in the polishing stage now!

The assorted rocks from the freebie rocks are shaping up nicely--two that are really new to me are the tiger's eye rocks.and the pretty black/red ones called landscape Jasper.  These will both be finished next weekend.  I am looking forward to some other rocks a friend brought back from her trip to Alaska!  What a treat!

And the surprise is the glass tumbler!  I can get another one done in just a few days of tumbling;  I am going through all of my beach glass so that I can make any with sharper edges all rounded for using in an art project like this one!

 

A DAHLIA BUD

I cut out pieces for the Dahlia quilt but as it progressed, 

I wasn't happy with the first two colors.

I was looking through the stash for an orange and found this stripe of all the right colors for the middle!

Oh, yes, much more interesting for a center of this flower 

than all the same color!

I do have to go back to the store for a better color for the last row--a nice dark, dusty orange for the large template and maybe another row with the striped red/pink/white fabric!

I like this kind of gardening, too!

 

SOCKS ON SUNDAY

 This pair is finished and on my feet!  I have another skein of Hawthorne Bare Yarn that needs to be died so I will have another pair of socks on the needles!  

A NEW TUMBLE

I've bought a smaller,less expensive tumber to make  faux sea glass!  Watch the horizen for a new craft in a future post!

I put some of the sea glass I have found on the beach but the edges weren't quite rounded enough.  The same way I load the barrel with grit, this is loaded but instead of 4-6 weeks,

 this only requires 4 days!

I will also try breaking some of the collected  glass  to tumble so that I can round out my glass palette!

It is a cute little tumbler and fits right on the shelf above my rock tumbler;  both are pretty quiet which is much appreciated!  I hope to have some results from both batches to share on Tuesday!

 

BACKGAMMON!

 We have been enjoying backgammon! The winner plays the next guy, etc!  Nyki cheers us on but would love nothing better than swiping one of those pieces into the pool!

MUD SPRINGS

In between storms on Wednesday, we decided to go to a State Park nearby that Bill and I hadn't been to but Matthew had  been several years ago.  The paths were well packed and pretty easy to traverse as long as you were careful of roots!

There was so much to photograph but the boys set the pace and it was much faster than my usual meander!  Isn't this unusual?  There are three native moth caterpillars that make a 'restaurant' at the tip of a fern frond to avoid being eaten themselves!

We saw several clumps of this plant which was new to me.  They were not very tall-about 6-7" is all and it the plant was not in bloom, I wouldn't notice it at all. After a quick Google search, I found it is the  “Orange milkwort”, Polygala lutea, and the root of this little flower smells like wintergreen!  Very cool!

After a mile and a half to reach the Springs itself.  It is really this beautiful turquoise color!

The bottom is farther away than it looks (about 7-8') and the Spring pumps out about a 1.4 milliion gallons daily into the St Johns River.  The water is 72F all the time-no matter the season!

We didn't swim this time but we will the next time we go!

This was fun to look at and note the many birds we see on a weekly basis,

The water cycle of Florida.

We saw this guy on the walk back to the truck.

These vines has grown together in a very tight braid!  

This soft-shell turtle was also spotted!  She is large and came up from the water level to lay her eggs.

She has a very flat shell that is not made of the hard sections of her cousins.  She measured about 20" across--very large!

The forest has seen some fire damage--

most likely from a lightening strike several years ago, going from the undergrowth recovery.

What an amazing excursion!

 

STORMS AND SUN

I have thoroughly enjoyed the top-down yoke sweater--it really moves along in the beginning!  I enjoyed the colorwork--accent in offwhite linen this time.

I missed 11 flowers last night because of T-Storms!!!!! 

 (Cereus blooms only once, at night--11pm-12am is best) 

t thought about dashing out to see them anyway but chickened out--it was really bad out!  I can only hope for some of the other plants to bloom later this summer with a nice balmy night and not one with lightening and thunder storms!

Everytime there is sunshine--

there are these two dolphins in my pool!!!!

TUMBLER TUESDAY

The bottom of the sieve holds the rocks I brought home from Washington. The top are the rocks that were included 

with the purchase of my new tumbler last month. 

Grit 2 is churning now for both drums.

I am enjoying a nice visit from the three men of this family!  There was a storm brewing so we had a campfire a bit earlier than normally but still just as relaxing! 

The aloe are getting ready to bloom; 

 the hummers will find it in no time!

I've found a little time for knitting on the new sweater-a little time cuz we are being busy!  My pulled muscles in my lowerr back are finally letting up enough to move without pain! 

 Finally and just in time to enjoy some family time!

 

SOCKS ON SUNDAY

I have the second sock ready to begin the leg with a 3 x 1 rib.

Throughout the T-storms each day, I have a close companion!

I would've been farther along on the sock but I got sidetracked with the allure of another top-down sweater! lol