On the Road Again

 By the time you read this I should be back at Daughter's for my big nine day kitty sitting adventure. I've packed tons of stuff to keep me busy but what I really want to do whenever I'm away from home is EAT. Something about preparing meals just for myself makes my appetite go crazy. Hopefully I've packed enough stuff to keep my mind off food. My new watercolors are fun and should keep me busy. This is what I did with them on my last trip.

 The colors are bright but very "grabby". They stay where you put them so if you want a soft gradient look it's not going to happen. I started my new watercoloring book last week at home. I stopped when the page started looking like a bad Hawaiian shirt. I was underwhelmed by my painting skills but I did have fun.

 The Mister has to go to his brother's birthday party today so while I was down in the craft room he asked for a quick card to stick a gift card in.

I went a little overboard with the birds but it's a guy card and they aren't picky.

Nine whole days with the grandkitties. Wow.
Daughter travels with a stuffie that reminds her of her dear departed kitty. This time instead of a plane ride it's getting a road trip to Maine. She'll be in a yurt for a week at a wellness resort.

Before she left Daughter sent me this photo of Emi to prove she does come out from under the bed and act like a normal cat.
We'll see.

A Sign of the Times

That's a happy Pup. I'm off to my nine day kitty sitting adventure this afternoon but before I left town we got in a walk at the beach. I haven't been down there since the weather cooled off.

You can definitely feel a change in the air but I think my neighbors across the road are getting a little ahead of themselves. I should say that they also still have all their Christmas lights up but since they are the working parents of four small kids I will not judge.

 The field of Black-Eyed Susans at the park were more black-eyed than Susan. Mine are too.

The Crepe Myrtles are already starting to turn.

Weird birds were everywhere. These are not your usual sea gulls. These things were the size of an eagle and they were all over the place. I think those are Great Black-Backed Gulls and they must be making a stop on their trip somewhere. At least I hope so. They are making a huge mess in all the places they were hanging out. They are very scary close up. They have sharp looking beaks and eyes that look at you like they are sizing you up for a meal.

The Bay itself was rough and dirty. The beach patrol was on duty raking up all the junk that was washing up on shore. The beach was practically empty which is a good thing since the place was a stinky mess. They are closing the pier this weekend for a wedding. Good luck with that. I hope those giant seagulls are gone by then or it might be a wedding to remember. Lol....

In a Jam

 I always miss my fig tree at this time of the year.

Back to School time was always jam making time.

Daddio and I would pick as many as we could and leave the rest for the critters.

My tree was in his backyard because it wasn't very happy in my shaded woodland. It was very happy in his sunny spot and gave us lots of beautiful figs for many years.

Nothing beats pulling out a jar of your own jam in January. It's sunshine on a muffin.

I'm a big jam fan. I just finished up this fancy jar that was gifted to me last Christmas from Middle Son. It's from a local company. It was really good.

On a recent trip to Home Goods I found these two jars of fancy fig preserves. It's not the same as having made your own but they'll have to do. I love figs no matter where I find them.

Big Needle Wednesday

 These are the projects that went along for the kitty sitting trip. I haven't touched them since I got home. I'm all knit out at the moment.

I got one sock finished and another cast on while I was there. Everything else is taking it's sweet time.

On the last day of my three day visit the kitten decided to come and play on the steps while I was quietly knitting. Her name is Emi which is pronounced E ME. It's Japanese for Little Blessing.

I couldn't get close to her but it's a start. I've got a nine day visit that begins Friday so hopefully she'll remember this funny looking hooman is a fren when I get back.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 While I was away kitty sitting I got some little sheepies done on the little sheep sampler. Since it's not September yet the Sheep Virtues stayed home.

 I also brought along the crewel project which I am liking more and more. By that I mean the doing. The stitchery itself leaves a lot to be desired but I think I am getting better.

Dear Jane got all her pieces covered during the kittycation but I didn't take a needle to her as I goofed up the direction of two pieces and didn't bring any fabric to fix them. I am also not sure where to begin to put these pieces together. I am afraid this is another "Jane, what were you thinking?" piece which was not a good place to start when you're a bit rusty.

When I returned home yesterday I found this waiting for me in the mail. Thanks Connie for the surprise! I'd like to thank you in a more personal way but I can't find out where you originally contacted me from. Ravelry? Email? I've looked but can't find you to tell you how much I appreciate the card you made and the little carving. The booklet will come in very handy. I am one of those people who can never find a piece of paper when I need one.
Thanks again!

Oh, Dear...

Remember me? Dear Jane has been in time out so I could finish that paper piecing project of Daddio's. 

 Now that it's in the machine quilting queue I dusted off Dear Jane to take along on my three day kitty sitting gig.

 I thought I would have cute kitten photos to share but the new baby won't come out from under the bed. I can hear her romping upstairs but then she hides when I come up to take a peek. I'm used to that. That's just how all my feral babies behaved when we first brought them inside.

So instead of playing with a kitten I am sitting quietly in the dining room and working on the C-5 block of Jane and letting her get to know me on her own terms. I'll be here for nine straight days starting next weekend so maybe by then she'll have figured out I'm a friend.

And for one more Oh, Dear....Google isn't letting me sign in under my Araignee account when I go to leave comments. I am either Anonymous or Debbie with no other choice. It's really annoying because it also doesn't want me to sign in to my own blog all of a sudden. One day it just decided it didn't know who I was anymore.  If I disappear, blame Google. Why can't they just leave these things alone?

All Packed Up

I knew I had to spend a lot of time kitty sitting at Daughter's at the end of the month. I'll be in and out for the next two weeks. I love to watercolor at her house because she has a long dark granite island with a sink in the middle that's perfect for making a mess.

 Thanks to my binge buying, I have way too many watercolor choices so I had the big idea of making little sample cards to take along so I wouldn't have to pack any of my tubes of paint. My card kit company does this and it works just fine.  Mine didn't work. I couldn't get the dots to dry even after several weeks.

Then while watching some YouTube videos I saw some folks using the coolest thing.  It's a watercolor booklet. It's just what I needed.

 It's lightweight and small so it's easy to pack. Those squares are watercolors. You just run your brush over them and you get paint. Crazy, huh?

 All those gooey dots didn't go to waste.

I used them to make a bunch of splashy backgrounds for flower doodles to take along.

I also bought one of those adult coloring books that's just for watercolor for the trip. Sometimes I just want to paint and thinking about what to paint just gets in the way of the fun. I've got a lot of time to fill so I'm all about the fun.

An End and a Beginning

 The towel on the loom is almost done. I've only got a few inches left to weave.

 My rule has always been to warp something new while I was weaving so the loom wouldn't sit empty but due to all the remodeling of the upstairs craft room that didn't happen.

 I thought since I had so much of these pretty colors left I might make a different towel with the leftovers but that didn't work out. There wasn't enough left.

 I went stash diving to see if I could come up with something close and I found these. They are not a match but I think they've got the spirit.

Unlike the one I am working, on this towel will just be a plain twill. I'm still not sure about all those holes. I can't wait to see what happens to them after a wash.

Sunflowers

 After my epic machine quilting fail I had to prove to myself I still had what it takes.

 I have my Sunflower quilt all kitted up so it's easy to just to grab it and get started.

 It's a fun block that goes together quickly.

 Now this is a machine I can deal with. The Juki quilter not so much. I did figure out it was the tension setting but I'm still not ready to try it out on a real quilt. I need a few more days of practice to work up the courage.

 In the meantime I'll just keep making sunflowers.

Beating the Heat

It's been brutal here all week but The Mister and I got a nice break.

 Son and DIL had rented a lake house up in the mountains for a week and gave us an invite for a couple of days.

That's Deep Creek Lake. I haven't been up there in ages. The last time I was up there I was with my parents and I was hauling around a carload of kids.

The weather was beautiful. Cool and dry. It was even a bit chilly with a wonderful breeze. Perfect for sitting outside and knitting. I was outside for two days without a bug bite. In August. Can you believe it?

 Pup also got to be outside for a change. I think she even got a bit sunburned. We haven't been outside for any length of time back home. It's just been too miserable.

 The Grands had a great time in the lake. They were jumping off the dock and collecting piles of rocks.

 I had a standing joke about seeing bears. Everywhere you go there are bear warnings.

This is the only one I saw. Poor guy. It made me sad to see him all stuffed like that at the Nature Center but the Grands loved him.

 We went to the Deep Creek State Park for a hike. Little Grand led the way with the map he picked up at the nature center. It was too cute.

Back at the cabin all they wanted to do is beat me in chess. Playing chess with a 4 year old is an experience. Especially since he knew the rules better than I did.

We took the long trip back home yesterday and as soon as we got over the first mountain range we went from 76 degrees all the way back up to 94. Ugh. They are promising us a nice weekend and they better deliver. I need to open the windows. My stuffy house was no fun to come back to.