TNT: Almost an FO

I have no cross stitching to show this week because I've been on a mission. I spent all my free time finishing the hand quilting on the rings quilt. Yesterday I got the binding sewn on. 

Today I am happily sewing it down. I hated the backing I choose but I like how it looks with the black binding,

My poor old hands will only let me do one side at a sitting so in three more days this should be a done deal. Maybe. Now I am looking at the space between the binding and the sashing and wondering if I should go ahead and stitch something in there too. 

Reeling

Remember this? I bought it not really knowing what it was. 

Yesterday I found out.

It's a cute little knitted tube that's been dyed all willy nilly.

It's not two strands together as I had hoped. It's just one. It's kinky and it's weird. It doesn't feel like Hawthorne at all to me. 

The little reel stays together pretty well but I wouldn't trust it in a project bag. It fits nicely in a food container with a lid though. It was fiddly at first but when I got used to it I liked it. In fact, I just bought two more. They are on sale.

Pressed Petals FO

It seems like the Tour de Fleece is going on without me this year. The Rav group went ahead and started the event even though the riders won't be starting until the end of August. I just can't get up any enthusiasm if I don't hear Phil Liggett first thing in the morning so I'm taking a pass this year. I do, however, have a fiber story to tell.

Pretty Pressed Petals has crossed the finish line. 

It has been a very pleasant journey that started at the SVFF on a blistering hot day last September. 

Unlike so much of my handspun I knew it had to be something and not just live out its life in my sad handspun bin.

And now it is. The Pimpeliesse is finished-well almost. I haven't blocked her yet. It's too hot and I'm too tired because it was a grocery pick up day and I'm all worn out. It'll wait. As you can see I did play yarn chicken in the end but I won for a change. I've got a very small ball leftover. 

The singles from the fiber I dyed on my faux MDSW weekend are also finished. As soon as I have the energy and some daylight hours I will get this plied. It's becoming another Pimpeliesse since that particular pattern plays so nicely with wonky handspun. 

CommuniTea

I really missed the boat here. Way back during the first intense weeks of the lockdown I ordered some tea to get me through the duration and this came along for the ride as a freebie. I had vaguely heard of this communiTea thing but I really wasn't paying attention. I had other things on my mind back then like locating toilet paper and basic food supplies so I threw this in a box and forgot about it.

I opened it up yesterday and was expecting little tea samples but this is what I found. 

They don't tell you what the tea is until the day you are supposed to drink it along with the other members of the group. It's a big surprise party. Now I have no idea what's inside those little packets. There are ingredients listed on the back but they leave too much to the imagination for me. I'm also not a fan of tea with bits and pieces of weird stuff in it. 

Looking at yesterday's tea page you can see all the posts people made reviewing the daily tea. They pose their tea so prettily. I suppose all that is really cool but....

....this is what my tea looks like this time of year. It's iced and lives in my cute little tumbler /jug set. I've got no inclination of posing my daily cuppa but I have to say-I admire the type of person that does. 

A Friday FO

The dumpster did not appear in the driveway at dawn as I feared but the banging started at promptly 7 am.  Unlike yesterday we were not trapped in the house so we packed up our masks and off we went. I didn't care where we were going as long as I could knit. I really wanted my Pandemic socks off the needles. I am ready to move on.

The beach was too busy so we went to the wetland overlook. Pup can't get it through her head that the shady gazebos are off limits. It's where we used to spend our time there. Not anymore. 

The Mister has taken an interest in the birds. They put on quite a show yesterday. The big white herons were having some sort of battle. I don't think I've ever heard them make such a ruckus. 

There were also lots of creepy things swimming around in the water. I'd hate to have to jump in there for any reason. If Pup falls in, she's on her own.

We drove around long enough to get my socks done. I really like how they turned out. I hate to press my luck with another dye job but I think I just may have cracked the code. We'll see. 

In other knitting news the second Mosi sleeve is this long now.....

....and Pimpeliesse is now down to where the yarn is making big stripes again which I really like. A few more episodes of Ozark and she'll be done too. 

A Rude Awakening

At exactly 7:30 yesterday morning someone was banging on my front door. It was a dude. A long haired dude in cut off shorts who wanted to know if he could put a dumpster in my driveway for the day. He didn't have a mask. That ticked me off so I talked to him through the bedroom window. I didn't care about the dumpster since I knew the neighbors were doing an emergency remodel. Their dad is moving in with them to be cared for since he started showing signs of dementia. It's a sad and familiar story. He was our neighbor for years. He is a retired high school principal but after several recent heart surgeries he started acting peculiar not unlike Daddio after his hip replacement. I always swore it was the anesthesia.

The dumpster was one thing but the racket was another. It really got on my nerves which have been frayed to the breaking point pretty much anyway. Yesterday was a lost cause but at least I had my puzzles. I finished this one the night before. I loved working on it even though it was hard.

Since it was a perfect summer day I thought I would start on the flip flop puzzle next. The pieces are still pretty small but bigger than the basket ones. 

I had the border done in no time. I think this one is going to be too easy. Once I broke it down into colors it just seemed to be putting itself together. 

I spent way too much time on the puzzle but I did get one more hexie block appliqued down and row 4 sorted out after dinner. I would have thought that I might get it done this week but to my dismay the dumpster didn't go far. They moved it out of my driveway when they left for the day but put it up in the road. I'm thinking today may be another day of nerve wracking crashes and bangs. I hope not. 

First Harvest

Hello from my bug proof shroud! I love this thing. It may be a bit hot but it keeps the bugs away. Except for the one bite I got on of all places my ear (from a mosquito that got in the house) I'm itch free in spite of spending a lot more time outside......

.....doing this. My little bucket garden is still going strong.....

.....as is my cart garden. Look at those cucumbers go.

We had our first harvest of kale and chard last night. 

Since I had some aromatics that needed using up it went right into a pot of lentil soup. We ate the whole thing it was that good.

Cukes, kale and chard aren't the only things going on. Look at my baby mater. Squeeeee........

Tiny Needle Tuesday: Time to Wind

My floss showed up so it was time do some winding.

I have to admit I was a little taken aback by this bobbin thing. I watched a few videos and then it all made sense. 

It took forever to wind it all on but it wasn't a terrible job. I listened to a lot of podcasts. 

Ta da......it's a little underwhelming with all the empty spaces but at least now I can see what I have. Hopefully by next Tuesday I'll have some stitching to show off. 

Lemonade

My Sunday off from the chores didn't exactly go as planned. First I woke up with an awful headache and then I realized it was Father's Day. Instead of sewing my day away I took a bunch of painkillers and had a long nap. When I woke up I went digging in the cake mix box to see if I could come up with something for The Mister. 

What do you do with an odd assortment of cake mixes and some other odds and ends?

You make a dump cake/poke cake hybrid. I had a box of pineapple jello and the whatnots you see in the photo. I dumped in the cut up pineapple pieces along with the jello and then poked it and poured in a glaze made with the lemon juice and the leftover pineapple juice from the can.

I frosted it with some Cool Whip that I had stashed in the freezer and in spite of my doubts...it was pretty darn GOOD. You'd never know I had to wing it. 

Sew Sew Sunday

I had to have a talk with The Mister last week about Sundays. BC (before Covid) Sunday was the day he sat on his behind watching sports. Now everyday of the week is all go and I'm over it. Yesterday we did all the chores so today I can spend some quality time doing what I want. What I want to do is catch up on some of the sewing projects I have going on. I did finish the latest Dear Jane block. 

I have this many now. I goofed up the color on this one. It should have been green or brown or even blue. I'll have to sort that out with the next blocks because I'm feeling Dear Jane is coming to an end and I need a logical conclusion.

For now Dear Jane is on the back burner until I get this finished. As much as I enjoy hand quilting to a good audio book I am over this project and need to move on. It's not like I don't already have something else waiting. 

New Stuff

I've been keeping my delivery people busy. In fact, there is a big box on the porch at this very minute that just showed up. This was just a little package. They are 360 protractors that I saw someone using on You Tube. I'm still scribbling in my art journals and these little things are supposed to help me get my mandalas even. Mine are always lopsided. 

I've got a new puzzle.  It's another tiny one I'm afraid. The Mister turned his nose up at it but I like the little ones. 

How about a new floss organizer? I thought I would try the bobbin system. I've yet to find a way that works with my messy habits. Dealing with floss is my least favorite part of stitching. 

I had fiber show up. I ordered this the first weekend in May and it just arrived. There was a glitch in the supply chain due to the lockdown but it wasn't a problem for me. I've got plenty of fiber to keep me busy. This will make a nice fall spin. The TdF isn't until August 29th this year and I'm kind of happy about that. It was always too hot here in July for it anyway. 

Daughter sent me a Knit Picks gift certificate to make me feel better about missing the MDSW. It took forever and lots of emails to get it here. The poor Knit Picks folks were having a terrible time keeping up with everything due to the virus. They were very apologetic. Again no problem. We are all doing the best we can. Anyone know what this is? I don't. I bought it and now I have to figure out how to use it. 

Finally, I bought some plain old fashioned sock yarn. I certainly don't need more at the moment but it's just so much fun to buy, isn't it?