Field Trip

My sister works with a woman whose Mom owns an Alpaca farm and knit shop; so what a treat for a girls day out! 

 My sister, sister-in-law,  Mom and nieces had a wonderful day together!

We picked out yarn and fiber.

We had this little girl give us the tour........she made me miss you know who!

We tried to convince them to come to us but they would get close and then skip away! 

We loved this guy's smile!  Family and fiber..........it doesn't get any better than this!  Thanks, Con!

I am a Duo

Mom and I do our quilting thing apart for most of the year but it is wonderful to be able to share it in the same room!  I didn't bring my own sewing equipment because of flying this year, but my sister loaned me her machine and Mom and I are sharing the rest of the tools.  It works just fine.

Jelly rolling a quilt top-this one is mine (fabric from ConnectingThreads)

and Mom's(fabric from JoAnnFabrics)

We went to her knitting group Saturday morning and enjoyed the like-mindedness of other knitters! They are making baby hats, preparing for the cold ahead so we each made several to add to the collection.

Today, we worked on a new purse for Mom.  I got to spend a lot of time with my nieces, too, which is glorious!  Here one is getting a refresher course in knitting!

It is good to work as part of a duo for a change!

Fiber Pursuits

We went to Matthew's  the other day so the guys could do a golf game in his neck of the woods.  I spun some more of my ivory corriedale cross roving.

And spun up this little skein from a sample of wool Marsel got from the sheep to shawl demo they attended a while back.  I blended the wool with a bit of the white fluffy alpaca and it turned out very nicely.  It will knit up into a sweet pair of wrist warmers.

I knit up one of these lacey dishcloths and

...made half of this kind.  The fancier yarn works up to make a plain jane look fancier than she is!

Packing and Dyeing

I thought of a last minute project to take with me on my travels........I never worry I won't have the right clothes but not having enough yarn does give me pause!

I dyed some of the white sock weight yarn I have spun previously and am bringing it along to knit up a shawl from a free pattern on KnitPicks called Haruni. 

 Lace projects are good for travel in that you get a lot of project for a small amount of yarn.  The only drawback can be the counting needed for patterning but hopefully I will keep it under control! (The counting NOT the talking!)

Flying, Flying........

We will be visiting family in central NY.  Next post will be from there..........Lord willing!

Colors of August

For a tour of the colors all across the world, go here and enjoy .  I haven't played along for several months and didn't want to miss again!

 Hibiscus-about 8" across...

Paddle cactus, 14"....

 crepe myrtle,

rose cactus with anole, 

bottle brush bloom, 

this color has been a big hit this month! 

the humble marigold, 

ground orchid, 

mexican heather, 

sago palm and new growth in the middle that is really cool! 

plumbago, 

fancy coleus, 

morning glories... 

caladium, 

podacarpus in berry, 

mexican petunias.

We are color rich this month........

Simple Pleasure

I sewed a paper-pieced pot holder today, because I could, because it has been around waiting for completion for a     l o n g    time!  And now it is ready to be useful.   (8" square)

Teaching and Learning

Most of the time the older teaches the younger........what to do with a dragonfly, for example.

But sometimes, the younger teaches the older.......on the finer points of  'shrimpin'.

Form is everything!

Pretty good first throw!  You have to have a good teacher to amount to anything, you know!

Our pond doesn't contain any shrimp but it does have some catfish!

Matthew caught this on his throw......we released it.

I see some shrimpin' in our near future!

Spinning Yarn

I finished the first skeins on the new Joy sliding hook flyer!  Can you see how much more the bobbins hold! 

I have 457 yards in these two skeins.  This is about 7 ounces of corriedale cross,  spun into fingering weight yarn.

 I still have lots more roving to spin! Yippee!

I had gone to bed last night, forgot something and headed back to the kitchen and found this going on in  my absence.........he reached up and grabbed the leader yarn;

and laid down and moved the treadles........I can't wait to see if there is a pile of spun gold in the morning!    (There wasn't...!)        

I finished knitting the Bronte's Mitts, washed and blocked them. 

Oh, I wish I could describe how soft and silky the alpaca yarn makes these!  Just luxurious!

Finished Quilt

I finished the first kids quilt of my fabric stash.

I used this panto I drew myself.......it is just an echo of the old car on this vintage fabric.

Just what this quilt needed.  Might we say, "Very satisfying....!"

To Begin ...

I didn't make it to the store for some batting so I dug in the closet and found pieces to put together for this quilt!  Sometimes, waiting just isn't an option.  I even drew my own car pantograph which I will show you tomorrow when I finish this!

While digging in the closet, I came across these old bowling balls that Bill found for me a while ago-they will be painted and placed in the flower gardens.  I use a metallic paint by Plaid for the undercoat and then use additional layers for decoration-flowers and such.  I have two which I have done previously and they held up well in all the weather conditions that both NY and FL has thrown at them!

Bill worked in the breezeway and put in most of these.

And installed this temporarily so I can do laundry in the evening now if I want, too! 

(We passed the inspection to finalize the plumbing so he is working toward the final electrical inspection next month!)

Today's mail brought a new purchase-a larger sliding hook flyer for the Ashford Joy.  It took a bit of playing around to get the equipment to work smoothly but the purchase of  a pound of roving  gives me plenty of 'breaking in' fiber.  The bobbins are larger, holding 3.5 ounces instead of 2 so I can finally get larger skeins from my spinning.  Hoping to have some skeins to share soon.