CATCH MY BREATH!

The red Rain Lilies are starting to bloom!  They are very pretty and have a bit more sweet aroma thant he white striped ones.  We've had several T-storms which is what brings them out!

I took a visit to these guys--they were so funny playing on the trampoline!  I would call out positions and steps and they 'interpretted' my instructions!  

They were hysterical and enjoyed working together to add to the nonsense!  I was impressed with their athleticism!!

In the studio, I have only rearranged the blocks.  I think I am using this set up. maybe! lol

And today I had my sewing student comee and she made a pair of pj's!!!  She amazed herself and is looking forward to making some for her Mom, too!  (Mom asked for anonymity for her so I cropped her face out of the pic!)

 

FIRST HARVEST!

Enough for a small amount of beans and sugar snap peas for a first meal!  I do love the joy of workng in the garden!

I cooled off in the house by doing a bit of quilting;  it is in the 90's outside!  Lena was a very close sewing buddy which cramped my style but I still liked her company!

I managed to slice the rest of the four-patches and have tried my first arrangement.  I will try several more until I am sure I have it-notice the secondary pattern it makes!

I will leave you with a delicious aroma of the

 Confederate Jasmine!  Ahhhhh!

A DEEP CLEAN

I thoroughly enjoyed a day of play and fun all day.  These are the first Rain Lilies to open!  If we get a good rain, there are many other areas of deep red that will bloom, too.

In betweent the major cleaning jobs, I played with the bowl on the lathe.  

I had some more CA glue work to do--you can bet I was geared up!  Most of the pithy wood was turned away so the bowl was all solid wood inside!

I worked the outside edge first and then hollowed out the center which is left to help keep the spinning bowl (500rpms) balanced.

  It worked well and I was excited to see the bowl emerge!

I did have some cracks along the edge that needed a bit of filler again.  I let it harden overnight and will do some sanding today.  I hope to get the first layer of finish on it even!

I ended the day with a major clean-up of the floor!  There are a lot of wood chips when turning a large bowl!  The hickory is very dense but yields beautiful work!  

 

A BAPTISM IN FERNANDINA BEACH

My progres on the sock knitting during the drive today;  I am making a pair of very large men's socks!

Here is my youngest son's family-his daughter was baptized yesterday!

Here is all of the family-parents, grandparents, siblings , aunts and uncles who suppported her!

After church we went to the DownUnder Restaurant for a big lunch!  The kids liked throwing rocks at the water!

After our goodbyes, Bill and I went for a quick visit to the beach to see the ocean-on the boardwalk,

 we looked over at a gopher tortoise!

My first sight of the ocean in way too many months!!!  

It is such a beautiful, restful view!

I'll leave you with your own few seconds of ocean...

 

SECOND DAY ABOUT HOME!

I stopped knitting this sweater when we got home from Washington but pulled it out and finished it over the last few days!  It is laid out for blocking

 (it's wet-there is no stain on the front!) 

and I will be wearing it soon since it is cotton! 

Against all odds lately with me and sweater knitting not having a high success rate*, this one fits beautifully!

I have the last coat of shellac on the large Hickory bowl and  Monday I will be turning it around on the lathe to hollow out the inside!  Always a good turning point! 

*speaking of a low success rate, this sweater from a different pattern in a solid worsted weight yarn looks horrid where the increases are on the yoke.  I am in the process of ripping it out.  I am not sure what I am going to do with it.  I do prefer my sweaters knit form sock yarn or DK weight not worsted.

I will start a new pair of socks on the car ride today because we are on heading up to see our grand daughter's baptizism at her church in Fernandina Beach! 

 A road trip!

ALL ABOUT HOME

We bought some new hibiscus plants since the freeze a few years ago killed the bushes we enjoyed previously.

Some new pots, a bit of mulch

 and what a beautiful welcoming area now!  

I cut and stripped some bamboo canes 

to use in the vegetable garden as stakes.  

I needed some higher trellises for the peas!

I needed to come in the house and cool off a bit so I enjoyed a few hours cutting, piecing and stitching!  This is a repeat of one I did recently as a kit.  There was some of their fabric left and I supplemented it with some of my own! 

 This is a disappearing four-patch.

I painted the trellis arch by the bird bath--it just needs to be covered by the jasmine-which is vry short 

and not taking off like I thought it would!

And finally, this is a recent addition to the front yard--

yup, it says it all.

 

REPAIRS

This batch of rocks was interrupted by a stretched belt that no longer drove the shaft to tumble the rocks!  I had to wash out the barrels and got a sneak peak at them--these are the granddaughter's rocks from Washington!

The rocks are going to be so pretty!  

I had to take the tumbler apart to get the old belt off to order a replacement which will be here Monday.

Today, I am going to sew and putter to my heart's content--

I get to stay home today! 

 My eye is improving so that it isn't painful,

 just a bit achy which is a huge improvement! 

 I might even work at the lathe after I put my goggles back on! lol

 

TRIUMPHS AND TRAGEDY!

The borders are added to the Mini Petals quilt. 

 I have the backing for this so it will go on the frame next week.

I cut out some more squares for the disappearing 4 patches.

I had help along the way! 

I made another zippered pouch;  this time it is a larger size. 

 12" x 9"

The back is quilted for holding its shape better!

The inside is a pretty denim fabric.

So the putty had dried just as it was supposed to.  I sanded it and it will be very shiny after I apply the finish to the wood.

There were a few cracks that I needed to fill with CA glue (Cyanoacrylate Glue which is better known as Crazy Glue or Super Glue) and some sawdust because they were too thin to fill with the putty.

It was going well until I fumbled the bottle and tried to catch it before it hit the floor.  I missed but was bent over it when it hit the floor and splashed right up into my face and in particular, my right eye!  The eye and eyelids were glued firmly together! 

 I ran into the house calling for Bill to help! 

 After considerable water soaking, we could get the eyelids open but there was a bit of glue visible on my eye so off to the Vision Center we went!  The doctor used a saline wash and then contact lens solution alternately so he could work the glue off my eyelashes and lids.  It also took the lump off my eye but the good news was that the glue hit the white of my eye and not the cornea because Super Glue can eat right through that lens!!!  I went home with a script for antibiotic/steroid drops to use for a few days!  It is a tolerable pain-like a finger poked my eye and stayed there! lol   Never boring!

WOOD ON WEDNESDAY

This is a very large bowl--the piece of wood was so heavy, Bill had to carry it and put it on the lathe for me!  The wood is very complex but it is very hard and so it means a LOT of sharpening of the tools very often!  The wood did have a very large void that went deeply into the bowl so it would be a problem when I had to hollow out the inside.

So I mixed up some Terra Cotta colored two-part putty and filled the cracks and holes so that I can sand the outside, put on some finish and then turn the bowl about to hollow out the inside! 

 It feels good to be standing at the lathe again!  

 

DOTZ DONE

I can't believe I am done with this one already! 

 I have the supplies to mount it and will do so today. 

 I already have another Diamond Dotz project ordered!

Bill and I took advantage of the glorious weather yesterday for a lunch date!  It has been way too long since

 we've enjoyed a leisurely luncheon!

Yes, it was a wonderful time to enjoy each other's company!

I DO'S AND TO-DO'S!

This was 47 years ago today!  We will be celebrating with a lunch date at Corky Bells!

I snapped this pic at Broward Lake because it reminded me of a Monet painting!

I finished weeding and laying new mulch on one side 

of our front porch flowers!  

And managed to paint the wroght iron gates at the end of the driveway!  I'm trying to play catch-up on the chores that need doing outside before the really hot/humid weather hits!