Saturday's Gifts...

Almost everyday can be a Saturday to us now that we are retired but Saturdays still hold a special place in my weekly routine.  It is definitely a mental thing, a place where I reside because my activities aren't that different from the rest of the week, it is just my attitude toward the day that shifts!    I savor the day.

This is what greeted my wake-up activity this morning.  PuffDaddy had stirred up my plastic bag strips until they filled the room.  I tried several times to clean them up but he enjoyed them just too much!  I wove the rest of the way on the loom as he jumped and played with each strip-I have the lovely little pricks on my thigh to show each of his attempts at catching the strips before I wove them!  Such fun!

Bill has secured the permanent vent pipe for the dryer.

He built up the doorframe to the breezeway, and cemented the floor where he broke through the wall.
PuffDaddy doesn't just help me as you can see!

I pieced up one of the 'use it up' piles for a quilt top.  I had enough to make a pillowcase to match.  I have to buy some more batting or this would be on the frame already!

Bill enjoyed his hobby-landscaping with the tractor.  He gave me the tour. 

He has widened the dam/road seperating the pond from the creek.  The blocks of cement are from the old pumphouse that was torn down when we put the pool area in place!  (Bill saves everything.....)

He has expanded the road out back to the swamp/lake depending on the time of year. 

This area is the little rowboat launch and a fishing hole for Bill and his grandkids.  It rained off and on all day which made the work out there comfortable temperature-wise and while it is muddy, the sand stayed where he wanted it!

I am ready to bind off the stitches on the thumb and begin the second mitt! 

Yup, I love the puttering of a Saturday.

Improved

I was upright for a good part of the day; one ear is all better tonight, the other will be better by tomorrow, I am sure!

I finished the third little quilt, quilted with a bumble bee pattern.

I loaded up the loom and did a bit of weaving with my plastic bags.  I just fold up the bag and cut the strips with the rotary cutter-much easier to cut and since I use the serger to construct the bags, I don't have to worry about the selvedges for the woven strip so it goes very nicely just laying each strip in by hand. 

When we got home this evening after going out for dinner, I come into the living room to this....it looked like they were weaving while I was gone!

PuffDaddy thinks the strips are in the basket for his pleasure!  Sure , why not.

I have a good start on the Bronte's Mitts, alpaca is such a pleasure to knit!  (See the little inspectors ear?
He was hoping I would leave the ball of yarn unattended so he could take it for a spin......!)

Off the Needles

I have been a lump today......the pool has imparted a new phenomena-swimmers ear!  It woke me up several times in the night and has throbbed most of the day.  I have learned to swim underwater without plugging my nose-okay, this might be old news for most of you but is a very NEW skill for me.  My parents are great examples of learning new tricks even if you are an old dog, so I try to be open to new skills!  I have never suffered swimmers ear before and I find it is not a welcome visitor!  Marsel has shared a home remedy she learned from her beloved audiologist, RaDora, and after Bill went to the store for me to buy the ingredients, I have been able to administer the 'cure' and get some relief.  (equal parts white vinegar and alcohol dropped into the ear to kill the bacteria that has fermented there).  In future,I will put some in my ear when I feel that I have collected a bit of water, which I have felt for the past few days and it finally bloomed into real discomfort.  Live and learn, right?!

So, while I have been sitting, I did a bit of knitting.  I have finished the Percy shawl (free Ravelry pattern).

It is blocked and drying in the sewing room.  (Particulars=KnitPicks Shimmer lace yarn, #6 needles)

My needles are empty but only for a few minutes.....

...........alpaca yarn and Bronte's Mitts (Ravelry free pattern) here I come!

A Typical Day

I enjoyed sewing room time today.  I made two purse inserts from fat quarters instead of yardage.  I had to make a few adjustments to the cutting out but now I know that it is doable with 4 fat quarters for each insert. 

And worked on quilting for my neighbor.  She made these are three little quilts with leftover fabric from a kit-aren't they the cutest little quilts?! 

 They are 36" square.  I am quilting them with dragonfly and bumble bee pantos.

I am working on the border for the end of this little pattern........I have learned that I do NOT like to make the nupps (on this pic, the diamond patterned little bumps for design emphasis); they really disturb the peacefulness of knitting for me!!!  Live and learn.

The pool is clearing up........looking better every day!

Chemistry Lesson

Some products are made for the pond and NOT for the pool.....

It is clearing up this morning!  (Lesson learned.....if it is not made for the pool , we are not going to experiment with the pool!)

Sewing Room

I started a privacy cape for a gift......need a overall buckle to finish it.
                           
Still working on the small quilt on the frame.

But I made this table runner as I continue the stash buster projects and wanted to quilt it now....so I am doing it free motion on my sewing machine.  Hmmm, there was a learning curve to use different muscles this way again!  It is definitely more stressful on the body so I only work on it one motif at a time!

 (I draw the feather wreath and then stitch it-see one has most of the wash away lines removed.)

I am making progress on the Percy shawl.  It is slow going but it is growing. 

Sunset

We do have the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets in northern Florida.  This was the awesome show on the way home from church Wednesday night.  Bill graciously pulled the car over so I could try and capture the colors!  'Red sky at night.......sailors delight' is really a transliteration of a Bible verse-did you know that?
Read it yourself in the book of Matthew 16:1-3

In All Their Glory

My Dad said I needed to be patient....there was so much vine growth and no buds.

Well, he was right!  The morning glories are doing their thing every morning......incredibly beautiful!

We went to Lake City; the guys to golf while I sit and enjoy the solitude and cook a feast for the returning warriors!

The kitties were in their fiber frenzies........when I used the restroom,

they wreaked havoc on my knitting-I was too shocked to take a pic of the livingroom completely strewn with 800+ yards of laceweight yarn....An hour later, I had wound the yarn into three balls; usable but no longer continuous.  The great news is that the knitting, while abused , was intact.  Naughty kitties....

I spun up two skeins of corriedale/romney cross.  This is destined for the loom-a sampler of the different yarns, some overshot and a purse....

Caleb won the golf game; he has come into his own on the course; we stuffed ourselves on the roasted chicken dinner and headed home!  Lovely day, guys!

A Week of Projects Together

We brought the garage sale find upstairs after we made the repairs in the garage.  It was too hot to try and paint outside so we came into the air conditioning!  We had lots of help from the kids and the kitties!

After a trip to JoAnns for fabric, we got it in place in A's room!  The fabric on the bed it the soon to be made quilt for her, too.  Sew, Marsel, sew!

Bill and David did all the trimming of the front yard bushes and shrubs.  Looks great guys!

I finally finished all the fringe and got the bamboo shawl washed and hung to dry.

After a heavy downpour, this little guy did some drying out!  So cute!

Some good girl time!

I actually got to do some knitting on the car ride home.  Kitties did a bit more sleeping because they were tired out after their fun visit with their fur cousins, too!

Thanks for the great week my Georgia family!

It's Good!

It is so relaxing to be here......my daughter has the knack for making you feel right at home.

We have fun every afternoon at the neighborhood pool.

We had a visit to McDonalds while Bruce and Marsel went to a charity dinner.  Love to get to do the grandmother thing and tuck the kids in at night! 

I have knit up my 12" square for a group afghan.  (Targhee wool handspun yarn)

I started a new shawl, Percy, a free pattern here.  I need to get some stitch markers on the needles cuz it is easy to lose my place with interruptions!  (Using #6 needles and knitpicks shimmer yarn)

Bill and Abigail shared a silly time.....

The cats are getting along fine after a bit of pussy footing the first few hours! (Sorry for the pun, I couldn't resist!)

I loved the new yarn from Sugar 'n Cream Stripes....it worked up great for the pinwheel dishcloth.

Off to help with dinner......

Doing That Georgia Thing

Heading up for a week's visit. 

Will be posting from there!  Nyki and Puff Daddy are going with us so hoping they will travel well together!