Goliath and Me

 I pulled the beginner quilt off the frame and ripped out the areas that were unacceptable.
The good news is that with just a few snips, the bobbin thread came right out of the back.

 I had a pile of thread but I didn't go crazy pulling out the 9 blocks that were rats nests on the back.

 I purchased new bobbins and a new bobbin case for Goliath.  The old one had lost his spring and the bobbins were backlashing on me;  hence the nests and broken threads.  Once I got the right tension on the new bobbin, it worked like a dream!  I not only loaded the quilt back on and quilted those blocks, I pulled it off the frame and put the binding on, too!

 While my motor skills need work, the machine is humming right along with me not against me any more!

 In fact, I loaded this little quilt of Millie's that was languishing in the cache on the frame and finished it for her in no time.  It's amazing what you can do when everything is just right.

I even got it done before the Fourth of July!  This machine and I are going to get a lot of quilts finished together.......!

Color; To Lift Your Spirits

 Bill and I planted some annuals and crotons on either side of the sidewalk to brighten our front door area.  Nice to add the color in the front right now!

 The amaryllis is sure a show stopper.

 We also planted some ornamental grass.  It is just going to thicken and be interesting in his little corner!

 I'm so proud of the Hollyhocks...they are finally established.   I hope they continue to reseed and I will have a nice large area filled with them!

 We also bought some new Hibiscus;  they frost knocks back our beautiful plants every year.  They do come back but it takes so long and the hibiscus is an inexpensive plant here so we splurge and add the instant tropical color to the yard!

 We aren't the only ones who love this plant!

 I thought this plant was just red but when the blooms opened up, we find we have tropical fruit!

 You can just get lost in the beauty of these blooms-they are about 8-10" in size!

 Here is the close up of the annuals.......aren't they pretty?

 This last one is a type of Impatien...........now, aren't you smiling?  Have a good day.

On the Needles

 The legwarmers are ready to mail to Ella!  Nice way to use up a partial skein of sock yarn!
I cast on 50 stitches with 2.5 needles.

 I made a hat from a pattern on Craftsy.  It was a good knit but I did have some count trouble with the picked up stitches along the cable band.   I will try it again and see if it goes more smoothly next time!  (yarn is KnitPicks chunky and the pattern is  the Weekend Cable Beret by Julia Marsh.

 I cast on a new shawl;  I haven't made one in a long time.  This one has a knit band on the bottom and then you pick up stitches and knit up into a crescent shape using short rows.   It took forever to get this far.   Not a joy on any level.  RIP!

I pulled out some sock yarn and now it moves right along!   Both of the samples have the same number of rows, one chart's worth.  The lace weight has 2" and the sock weight has 4".  I have found my yarn for this pattern!

Creative Exchanges

I had a friend come over and play today!  Loree lives in southern FL but gets to come up to visit her other home here nearby every so often.  She usually lets me know when she will be in town and wonder of wonders, this time our schedules clicked!  She brought over her fabric dyes from Jacquard and she showed me some basic techniques-what fun!

 We painted two panels each and then it was time for lunch.  (greek pizzas)

 After lunch, I showed Loree how to piece the Ohio Star block.   She is an art quilter and wanted to add the traditional block skills to her repertoire!

We had so much fun and she nailed it!  

 After she had to go home, she had left me with instructions on how to permanently set the colors on my fabric.   It had dried so I ironed it on high-now it is ready to be a part of my next wall hanging!

The other panel I did was just a blend of colors that make me happy.  I blended, splashed and sprayed-it is a great way to spend a day!  I look forward to our next visit!

Holes

 I traced around the base of my sewing machine so I could cut out the table surface to recess the machine.

 The sawing went pretty well considering the blade needed replacing!

 Bill helped me build the support box for under the table and we got it all screwed in place!

 Yes, this will be so much better for piecing and for my sewing comfort!

Coat number one in place!

 We took a golf cart ride to unwind after all the work.  Bling joins us for our rides each evening.

 He watches all around but isn't interested in jumping off.

In fact, the ride really helps him to relax also!

 On the ride, we checked out Bill's burn pile before the evening set in.

 We spotted our sand hill crane couple.

They gave up after two failed nesting attempts.  There is always next year!

Making Friends with Goliath

I am loading up a real quilt to get to work with quilting.

I wanted to learn free motion work first and with many learning curves, I am quilting.  It is a good thing I remember the huge learning curve I experienced with my first small frame so I am not discouraged (mostly) but the tweaking and such does interfere with the calm.  I have to take chocolate breaks very often still!

The End of the Visit

 I made these little slippers from a Purl Soho post.  I used an old wool sweater which I washed and dried to felt the fabric and then cut out my pieces before hand sewing them together with woolen yarn.  

 Eli didn't look too impressed-he kicked them off pretty easily so they were just fun and not practical.

 In the early morning, I enjoyed being outside before the kids woke up.

 This is when I did  my knitting and ripping out-this is a good idea but the socks were too bulky with this yarn so I will try again with another skein.

Ella said she wanted something so I pulled out the leftover skein of sock yarn to make her this leg warmer...the other will come soon!  She likes to skip and dance like Angelina Ballerina and now she will have leg warmers to do that even better!

 Once they were awake, things were pretty busy.  Eli is learning to hold himself up on the blanket.

Ella is a picky eater but chocolate pudding for dessert still makes her swoon!  (I agree!)

 In the early evening when the sun isn't too hot, we took beach walks.  From this beautiful chaos, Caleb and Cassandra find shark's teeth right and left.

 I found zip in the shark department but I did find the coral.

 One afternoon, Cassandra and I made some resin for the sharks teeth so she can use them in jewelry.  Ella like stirring them up while we worked with the chemicals.

 I brought my dremel so we could drill them out when dry.   It uses so little resin to make these molds, she will be able to make lots of jewelry!

 One day we took a drive to the northern end of the island to find this lighthouse!  It is the oldest in the state.  Unfortunately, it isn't open to the public very often so we stood outside the gate to get this picture!  At least we had fun finding it!  (Thanks to a blog friend who told me about it!)

 We also enjoyed watching this pair of wrens sitting on their nest of 5 eggs....it is inside the aloe plant under the large bottom leaf.

One morning we heard chirping and both parents were frantically working to keep up with filling all 5 little beaks!

 They were very diligent parents!

Until disaster struck....another reason to hate these things!

Let's end with a beautiful view of the ocean.

 Caleb and Ella enjoyed chasing the waves in the surf.

And getting chased in return!