Falling In Love

I saw this clearance quilt kit 

and knew I was in trouble.

I waited several days 

and I still kept it in mind.

 It came in the mail

 and I have stroked the fabric

 and made plans for cutting

 and  I will keep the blocks 

in order and organized

like so many of my quilting blog friends!

I promise.....

Another Dishcloth and Stuff

Another dishcloth alllured me to a simple knit-

it is the Garter Twist Dishcloth

from KnitPicks.

I finished the grout on the birdbath!

I am so excited.

I want to paint the rest of the surfaces; 

I will have to visit the paint store to find just the right color!

The repairs have been done to the old birdbath and I even sanded the pedestal

so when I do get some paint,

everything is ready!

Since I had all the supplies out for mosaics,

I made one of the three stepping stones I had planned 

a while ago.

I break up old yard sale saucers for the pieces.

Look at the beautiful sunset!

(I forgot to post this this morning-

and so it goes!)

Simple Pleasures

A nice flat dishcloth

in a new-to-me pattern

called Fisherman's Simple Rib.

 The contact paper peeled off without a hiitch

and the design laid nice and flat and firm!

A victory and an exciting beginning to this project.

On to grout later today!

 The LeMoyne Star quilt is all sewn together.

It looks a bit like a mosaic from this angle!

Right now the top is 63" x 81"

I have plans for the borders because I want to end up 

with a queen sized quilt which will mean borders

that total 10" on each side.

It looks good on paper now but I need a trip to the fabric store 

to pick up several colors to complement the scraps!

A Home Day!

 How sweet it is to have a day to be home!

I took advantage of the morning and set the tile adhesive on the birdbath.

Other than the awkwardness of setting the contact paper/tiles in place,

it was a piece of cake!

 I probably used too much adhesive because it squished up between the tiles in a few places

but I will let you know tomorrow how it worked out 

removing the contact paper after the adhesive sets!

 During E's nap, I did some piecing on the 

Winding Ways blocks.

A much better piecing order emerged with the hour of work 

so I won't ignore this design on the wall anymore!

I also pieced all the rows of the LeMoyne Stars.

I hope to sew all the rows together to have a top done soon!

I still have to figure out how I want the borders on this

but that is joy for another day!

Detection

The boys and I have been doing some metal detecting

around the yard.

We have found quite a bit of scrap metal 

but some is very interesting!
The more decorative pieces I will add to the others
and make a plaque of the interesting shapes!

This bottle is pretty and still has its lid.

This one is an older bottle because it pre-dates the screw on cap.

We admire the beauty of the objects 

and the boys love getting dirty and digging holes!
And so do I!

This is a large (8") disc of heavy metal.
It sure made the detector go crazy.
It will go to Bill's scrap metal pile.
Another day, another beep....

Full Week Already

 I've had to say so long for now to my parents-

here they posed for pics with great grands, 

my youngest sons two children.

 Mom and I sat and knitted while it rained outside the car;

we even played some cards!

All while waiting to pick up the boys after a visit.

I've never seen a 'cruise' ship in the St Johns River ;

we decided that it was an older model now in private use.

Wouldn't it be fun to have our own knitting cruise!?

 The Fringe Tree is in full bloom-

it always goes like this in a few days after being bare all winter.

 A sure sign that it is nearing the time for my parents to leave.

Bittersweet goodbyes but

the flowers are so sweet and fragrant.

 Will had his cast removed!  He was a bit apprehensive but he did fine!

 And he is adjusting to his new brace which he will wear for the next month!

And we refreshed ourselves at the beach-still has a bit of a chill in the wind but the sunshine was beautiful.  The boys played in the bit of surge on the shoreline-the wind was still strong and the rip currents were at their worst.  We had a very sweet time at the beach and had a hard time leaving!

And a new child's sweater is cast on for Eli,

who is pictured above.

I started it on the ride to the beach and knit on the way home, too.

I love how a top down sweater really moves along,

like beginning a shawl!

(I knit the first sweater for his sister so I bought some more of the same 

yarn to knit him a matching sweater.)

The pattern is Felix's Cardigan

by Jacki Kelly.

Trying My Hand

Trying my hand at mosaic work.

I ordered a bag of mixed tiles (3/8") a few years ago, 

so I could try to do my bird bath.

 It's the same syndrome as the blank canvas when you are painting-

it is very intimidating when you don't knI ow what you are doing!

After looking tons of Pintrest ideas a few at a time as they came into my email,

I learned enough to dig out the box of tiles and give it a try.

Because one of my biggest hurdles was the amount of time

I would need for one sitting,

I was very interested in this way to organize your tiles;

you cut out and draw your general idea on the non-sticky side of Contact paper.

Then you peel off the paper and begin applying your tiles.

The sticky keeps the tiles in place and it is safe from kitty paws and kids alike!!!!

Genius.

I have worked on this for almost a week doing a round at a time.

It is now ready to apply to the bird bath-

stay tuned!

Classic Toes

I started a pair of socks!

It's been a long time since I worked on a sock

 and it is so enjoyable to have one on the needles again!

This is a K1,because I hate to start the row with a P1,

 K4, P1 repeat across ending with a  k1.

On size 2.5mm needles (US1)

These are a men's sock for width, 72 stitches across the foot;

a pair for my brother.

Working it Out!

 The headbands are working out fine at their new dimensions!

There is enough yarn to knit two more at least!

The texture is amazing and really plays off the colors.

Now to  have the fun of giving them away!

Hang Your Head

I ripped out all the headbands!

When Cassandra and Ella visited this weekend, 

they tried on a few and they were all too big!

I did mention that because I knew that silk didn't have the stretch and 

resiliency of wool, I would knit it shorter than the pattern required.

It wasn't enough of a reduction!

I knit two for them to retry-

making them narrower and shorter and they fit!

I missed pics of them but will be re-doing the 

rest of the yarn and will have plenty more to share!

Standing at the Frame

 My neighbor brought over a wall hanging she just finished

and needed me to quilt it for her.

 Will wanted to photo bomb me like Nemo does....

And then he wanted to be in it 'all the way of me'.

Consider yourself all in child!

Isn't it a cute wall hanging, too?

Full Circle!

 Nemo always likes to be there for the final stitches.

The denim circle rag quilt is completed!

I learned my lesson with the last rag quilt by filling my washer and dryer with tons of lint.

This time, I did some pre-wash 'fringing'! 

 Look at the mess I made when I shook the quilt out before tossing it in the washer!

 The finished quilt is fringed just right and looks just the way I hoped it would!

It is such a pretty lap blanket!

Even the back is pleasing!
I might even add on to this to make it larger than the
30" x 36" it is now.

Heads Up!

 Last month's project from DarnGoodYarn was these headbands....I had enough to make two from the one skein.

And I had enough left over from the TWO planters to make two headbands from that skein, too!

Simple knit in seed stitch and I graft the ends together. 

 Silk doesn't have a ton of stretch but the combination of stitch 

and the right needle size gives a nice cloth for this-

oh, and the fact that I knit them only 17-18' long so they have to stretch to fit! 

 (it wouldn't do to have a sag factor for a headband!)

In a Bind or Two!

Among all the usual activities on my schedule, 

I managed to get two quilts bound 

and tossed into the washer/dryer!

Nice to have a helper, Nemo, weigh the quilt down as I sewed....

Bottled Up!

 One night's knitting produced a wine bottle gift bag.

 This month the shipment from DarnGoodYarn

was a bulky weight silk roving yarn.

 I rolled it into a ball, put on a movie and knit away.

It took a little to get used to the 'slower knitting but faster results' of a bulky yarn.

I had to look hard to find a bottle

that would work for a model!

There were also some pretty bottle jewelry 

shipped with the yarn but I couldn't find a bottle neck it would fit

so I decorated some of the bottles in my 

collection!