WOOD ON WEDNESDAY

A few months ago, a friend gave me a 6' piece of her avocado tree that had died in our freeze last winter.  I cut off a 12" piece to turn her a memento vase.  The wood is full of holes from tree larva which give it the character I enjoy in a piece of wood!  And might I mention, not all of the 'worms' were dead!  Well, they are now! I just need to cut it off the lathe, sand and sign it but my work was interrupted by a phone call from said friend

 inviting me to go on an adventure! 

An older mutual friend is selling her house and needed to clean out her sewing room!  We bought a lot of fabric at prices that we couldn't resist and at the same time, we helped her out! 

I managed to find quite a lot of coordinating fabrics which I will sure enjoy working with in the future months!  

A GOOD DAY

Yesterday, I had a lovely lunch with friends at Corky Bell's!  

At home, I finished stitching the last of the blocks into 3 1/2 rows--more yarn has been ordered!

And for the first time, we had a turkey vulture eating from the crows dish at the top of our feeder cover!  He emptied the bowl over 15 minutes and flew off --sorry crows, he got it all!

 

ANTICIPATION

My faithful friend, Mary, came again to sit with me-she brought some fabric and foundation paper piecing papers so we could make a table runner soon.  I was so inspired to sew for the first time in months; I felt soengaged! The plan was to press and cut up the strips until we could get together next week to sew.  

The new medicine regime has been working and I have been able to think again-clearly think.  Hope was being restored again.  I had told Bill I was going to sell off all of my equipment in the studio because I was never going to be able to do it ever again.  It has been a 4 month fog not to mention the physical problems.  But with the reduction of the chronic migraine pain, reason was returning again and so was the inner spark of my personality!

 And then when I awakened yesterday, I was slammed with a full on severe migraine!  I lose my vision in my right eye for about 1/2 hr to 45 mins and when the vision returns, so the pain begins-imagine an ice pick behind your eye!  I added more migraine meds to two I am already taking and stayed in bed!  As the pain receded a bit in the late afternoon, I got up and cut out the fabric; I was grateful the brain fog had not returned, just the pain.  And just before dinner, my vision turned to sparkles, signaling round two.  It was hard to fight off disappointment!

This morning, I just feel a bit fuzzy and near tears (the usual migraine hangover symptoms) but I am able to follow thoughts still so I didn't lose too much ground!

I have struggled these last months on every level of my being--can you imagine stopping all of the things you do--all of our crafting-knitting, sewing, quilting, spinning, painting, wood turning,  not to mention running of your household, caring for pets, driving yourself places, teaching at church and traveling ?!!!

I had to ask who am I?  Am I only defined by what I do?  I am afraid I have placed way too much importance upon that foundation.  It has been a long road of ups and downs.  I hope these last two migraines are the final bookends to this adventure!

 

ALL FLORIDA SHOP HOP DAY #1

We had a beautiful day to drive to start our Shop Hop yesterday, we visited 5 shops and traveled 171 miles!

This year, you collect a printed block for each shop you visit.  These will be added to a quilt we will make to commemerate the Hop with fabric just released for the event.

This was my haul for the day-FQ's, charm packs, backing fabric, a couple of panels (the brown one in the back is a Steam  Punk one--a weakness for me!) and a new Accuquilt die!

We (Mary and I) had a wonderful day

 and look forward to Day #2 in a week or so!

  (when we recover! lol)

 

PUZZLE X 2

I think I have the pieces arranged okay but I'm not positive! 

 I hope to start sewing today!

We had a wonderful time of cutting and gabbing yesterday!  Mary is working her quilt in these plaid flannels.  Because there were only 5 different colors of 5 blocks wide, she is going to rotate the colors in diagonals.  We cut out enough pieces for 30 blocks (5 x 6 layout) and then a few extras for just in case.  Now each of us has to sew a few together to get the feel for this and then we will be loading it on the frame in no time!  

And it's July 1st!!!!!

 

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!

 

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.

 

All in a Day

 I took care of the outside things in the morning-filling bird feeders, watering porch plants

and then I finally filled the Mother's Day pot I received--about time!  

The tall plant is another crinum, the lime green is sedum

 and the blue flower is a dwarf morning glory--

all plants which bear the brutal temperatures right now in Florida!

 In the afternoon, a friend came over with her children for a visit to cool down in the pool!

How delightful it was to talk with this friend I haven't 'seen' in months! 

When the afternoon T-storm rolled in, we got out of the pool 

and had ice cream cones to soften the blow! 

And typical of me after a visit--down time in the recliner with some kitties and knitting!

I am still working on the shawl by Joji and it is entering the final patterning.

What a full day!

Eye Candy

 Can you guess what this is?

A Pineapple flower!

 Yes, the top of the pineapple I grew and then planted last May (2016) is flowering and I should be eating it by next May! 

 Yes, every pineapple you eat, requires two years to grow! 

 Savor it!  

(If you tried fresh pineapple and didn't like the acid taste-I will tell you to rub the freshly cut pineapple in salt and let it sit for 5-10 mins,

 then rinse it and slice it up for eating! 

 Magic happens!)

 The Lifesaver Cactus is blooming again-this is number four!  

 It is about 1 1/4" across the points;  no smell but very rubbery looking!

 The plant has these long fingers that spread and grow and drop off and root-it is very interesting!

And a friend from far away thought of me and sent along some miles of machine quilting thread! 

 I have them sitting out because they are so pretty

 and the thoughtfulness just warms me up!

Luxury Sock

 This is the delicious sock yarn with cashmere that I purchased from Wandering Cat Yarns just after Christmas.

I finally cleared my knitting projects so I could cast on a pair of socks!  

I only managed to cast on and knit the toe during Tuesday's Knitting Session today but I did it!

Now to decide if they will be plain shorty socks or a bit more detailed!

We are all discussing what color this yarn is-

denim blue or lavender-ish?!

I'm enjoying it slipping through my fingers no matter what!

A Phase!

The  shawl is off the blocking board! 

It has lots of pretty short rows of stockinette and eyelet rows! 

I can't wait to wear it!

KnitPicks Stroll yarn in Koi Pond yarn-one skein of fingering weight yarn-the whole skein

on number 6 needles. 

After blocking the shawl, Elena and I went and picked up my Mom to go and visit our local antique stores.

I picked up this plate, paperweight and kaleidoscope. 

 The plate is to replace the one Lena shattered so I will use it for my painting palette.

This is the second one to add to the collection I want to begin.

I already love glass and it is amazing to see how intricate they are! 

The kaleidoscope is very similar to the one I already enjoy-now there will be two for the grandkids to enjoy with me!

Slow days are nice, too!

Taking a Tour

On the way to St Augustine this morning, I finished the Crescent Phases shawl by Quince and Co.

I made a few mistakes in the short row schwoops but did my own thing until I ran out of yarn.

Blocking will happen tomorrow morning!

 Today we played tourists and went on the Trolley Tour through Old Towne St. Augustine!

We had perfect weather and the company was the best! 

 I took very few pictures but thoroughly enjoyed the view everywhere we went!  

Lunch was a feast at the Cruisers Grill where we were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine and brilliant blue sky!

The street with all the Live Oaks was a delight to my eyes!

 After the tour which we enjoyed all day, we visited the ocean for a quick therapy session!

This is the fishing pier at the visitor center.

 The moon was out which made an interesting picture for us!

And on the way home, we had the pleasure of a beautiful sunset for most of the ride!

The day couldn't have been more perfect!

Shorty Sock II

I introduced Elena to KNIT TIME with Mom and Linda today, even though she is not a knitter!

While there, I finished the pair of shorty socks with the reinforced heel bottoms which will give the extra cushioning on the bottom of the heel for these shorty socks for my daughter where she always wears a hole.

You can see the slight difference where I used the slip stitch patterning usually found on the back of the heel to solve the problem! 

I only used the patterning on the center 14 stitches and did short rows to lengthen the area because it was also shorter than the stitches on either side.  

As soon as I had it down, I ripped out the first sock and got to work!

Today during knitting time I bound off and now have the third pair of socks for 2017.

I then moved on to some shawl knitting!   I hope to have this off the needles and on to the blocking board soon!

Special Guest!

 On the way to the airport this morning, I reached the cast off point for my second improved sock so I ripped back on the first one to repeat the better ideas!

(I quit tonight after my long day and just couldn't finish that second one....)

 After collecting Elena, we headed north on the scenic route of A1A to South Beach Grill for lunch.

 And after lunch, we headed to the beach;  it's just what this central NY woman needed to blow the cobwebs of travel away!  (this is Elena, my best friend in NY;  we shared 18 years of life there- growing families and encouraging each other in the Lord and kept a long distance friendship while I have lived here for the last 10 years!  She always promised she would come and visit me when her kids were out of the house and her youngest two are now both in college!)

 We walked the intercoastal and on around under the Matanzas Bridge to the ocean.

The tide was out so we had lots of tidal pools and shells to inspect while catching up on each other's day to day life!

When we got home, we had a nice rain which ended with a double rainbow!

Since we have been way too dry lately, it was indeed a double blessing!