Wilderness

 Bill land I had to go to a doctor's appointment in St Augustine and on the way saw this flash of pink in the trees in this retention pond.  The level is up by 10' at least due to the wonderful seasonal rains we have been experiencing every afternoon.

 This is a grove of cypress trees and there was definitely pink in the trees!

We drove past the mystery and went to the doctors where they apologized for the goof in scheduling and informed us that we have to come back on Monday as the doctor wasn't in the office.  

We headed right back to the pond to do some investigating!

We thought at first they were flamingos!  But they are not. 

 Aren't they beautiful, though?!  They are Roseate Spoonbills and like the flamingos get their pink coloring from eating the crustaceans that eat the algae that gives them their beautiful coloring!  A flock of spoonbills is called a bowl of spoonbills!  There is your fun-fact for the day!

They were tall birds but not as tall as the Sandhill Cranes we have in the yard.

 Here was another guy in the crowd-he is a Woodstork and another first bird sighting for us.

 And there were lots of these pairs of American Black Ducks .  We didn't have anything to offer them in the way of crackers, etc, and they did expect it as the ducks came right toward us for feed!  What a nice wilderness expedition right in the middle of these buildings!

Afterwards, we drove south to Crescent Beach and took a nice walk on the beach until the rain chased us back to the car. So we drove back to SouthBeachGrill and had a lovely early supper!  What a gift of a day!

Quilting Marathon

 Sandy and I loaded on her quilt first thing this morning (8am) and then she began to quilt it-this is a 90" x 90"
quilt that she paper pieced, each block is 30".  Note, this is also her first bed sized quilt to piece!

 While Sandy was quilting away, I was working on using up the scraps from the Washington nursery!

 This is the top I ended up with-I will be quilting this in the near future as my grand daughter's arrival is SOON!  (36" x 42")

Nine hours later and she has completed the quilt!!!  

Isn't it grand to hit a goal?!

This quilt is her gift to a grandson that is getting married in a few weeks!

Heirloom Baby Sewing

 This is a cute bonnet and booties set from a Martha Pullen sewing retreat I went to many years ago.  I still had all the supplies in a box so I enjoyed the fancy sewing for a change!

I assume the booties will fit for a week or so-the Minota foot size is legendary!

 The little bonnet has such cute details front and back!

 I include this little poem with the set, isn't it a neat idea?!

I am also chugging away on the Quant; I had used variegated yarn before so the 'sewing in the ends' for each row is growing a bit stale using the two solid colored yarns!  But I will persevere because I have one more to go after this one is finished!  I am sewing in the ends every four rows so I won't have a million to do when I am done with the knitting-I am trying to encourage myself with this anyway!

Yarn and Fabric

 The buttons are on the Hyacinth cardigan!  Ready to mail it out!

 The next privacy cape is finished!  I have two more to make!

 I started a new project-a Quant, but since the yarn is only a fingering weight, I had to reconfigure the pattern and  my first attempt was a lesson in frogging!  (It is hard to gauge the width of entrelac-it is wider than you think!)

 I got it on the second try.  I will be making two of these for my nieces in their school colors!

 Another project in the finished bin.  This is the baby surprise jacket-it doesn't look like much when it is first bound off.

But with a few precise folds, it becomes a little cardigan!  I had pretty anchor buttons in the stash-just the right touch!  I knit this thinking  my youngest son's wife is carrying a boy-BUT the sonogram yesterday shows that it is a girl!  This sweater is going to a friend and I will be getting out the girly yarns!

2012 is going to be the year of GrandDaughters!!  What a blessing!

I am a Seamstress

Ah, time well spent in the sewing room-a lined dress from the stash. It went together in no time flat and no heartaches.

 I will be wearing it to church with my new shawl!

The Last Straw

 I moved the loom to the sewing room-so eager to get this project underway!

 Then it all went wrong, again and again.  I cut the 'end' loop in the middle-not the end which means the nice long warp that I made was not anymore.

I got everything threaded in the read but could get the tangles out.

I lost the tool for threading for an hour-Nyki was napping on it!

Four hours later I emitted a huge scream and gave up.  I have a loom for sale.  With all the tools of the trade.
I am no longer a weaver.  It is just not for me-I lose all my joy de vivre when I try to get this ready to weave!

No kidding-if you want to buy a Harrisville floor loom, 36" , 4 heddle/ 6 treadles, leave a comment-we will work out the details.

Off to do some knitting and get my blood pressure back to the normal range..............

Wrapping it Up!

 The cursed shawl is finally in the finished pile!  Remember, I knit it to the edging the first time and the needles had been too small and the fabric was like armor!  Nothing for it but to rip out and knit on larger needles.........and then I ran out of yarn!  I had to spin some more and dye it, too!  I went with the dark blue to finish my gradations thing!  Looking at this now, you would never know the frustrations, would you?!

 On to simple knitting; I made two dishcloths-in garterlac, one with 8 stitches in the squares and the other with 7-I made two from one skein and the cats have the little ball that was left over!  These go in the gift pile.

 The repair crew showed up to remove the limb from our wires!  They were astonished that this wasn't a priority call since the branch was obviously charred and burning was a threat!  Oh, well, we kept the power and they got the branch off the wires!

 And they got the work done just before an afternoon of thunder storms!  It was a very nice rain.

I am working on the baby surprise jacket, a magical pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I am using commercial cotton yarn from the stash.

Endings and Beginnings

 I have finished the Hyacinth Cardigan -it is now blocking!  I do have to wait until I can purchase buttons to say it is all done though!  I have some more stash busting yarn to make another-it is just the right kind of sweater for the south!  This sweater is going to be gifted to my newest daughter-in-law as soon as the buttons are on-shhhhh!

 Millie's vintage blocks quilt is done, too.  I won't be loading another quilt right away as a friend needs to come next week and quilt a top she has made for her grandson!  It has a deadline and she is pushing the limits of time which just adds to the excitement!

 I quilted it with a Baptist fan variation.

And it is just as well I can't do any quilting this week as I have signed on to a woven towel exchange and need to get out of the weaving funk and get it done!   I have gotten the warp done-I have black and whited the picture because I am saving the real colors until I am finished!  (No peeking this way!)

How do you like my warping station?  It worked great and so much better than trying to sit on the floor and do this as in previous projects!  It also prevented an abundance of help from the cats!  I will be threading the loom today!  I need to figure out a way to raise it up for that-it might just go on my bed again!

Brain Exercises

 My Kindle has a cover........nice to keep it protected in my purse and it is easier to hold now, too.

 Marsel wanted a cover but she wanted hers a little different-

 it also doubles as a stand!  It is a good exercise to make a pattern and get it to work!

 PuffDaddy and Sissy have been trying to make friends........Puff is nice to all but Sissy has trust issues!
They really were playing tug-o-war!

This is a privacy cape for nursing........there is a new mom at church so I found the supplies in the stash!

Moving Day..

 We packed up all of Matthew's worldly possessions and headed to Orange Park for the new apartment.
Bruce, Marsel and kids drove down on Friday to help move and we had a wonderful time on our working weekend!

 The proud new owner!

 The kids enjoyed the down time and the huge spacious living room!

 Bill surveys the future fishing adventures here with Matthew!

 View along the ST Johns River  looking north.  You can see the residual storm clouds.

We had a fast and furious thunderstorm-it was quite beautiful to watch it from the safety of Matthew's balcony!  Marsel had fixed a pot of chili for our day's end reward-we enjoyed the meal and the laughs...both Ashley and I spilled on the new carpeting!  It is now officially a home!   The day was hard, long and wonderful! (and exciting, Matthew!)

Caleb had to work and then he was in a 5k run in Jax but we had a quick hug for both him and Cassandra squeezed into this day.