Home Alone

 

I packed up the craft room all week and yesterday I packed myself up. I was off to Daughter's to kitty sit until Monday while her family is off to an ice skating competition with her high school team. 

After unpacking I am always totally discombobulated by all the quiet.  A cup of tea, my little radio and throwing myself into a project right away helps. I brought along the February quilt to applique. There's a lot of sunlight in the breakfast nook so I spent the afternoon happily stitching two whole blocks down. It's amazing what you can do when you are not constantly interrupted.

In all that wonderful quiet there are still the eyes....all those kitty eyes staring at me from all corners of the place to deal with. They are never sure what to make of me nor I of them. We keep our distance and it seems to work out. 

And....today would have been my mom's 87th birthday. She left us at 66 after a short battle with a particularly nasty form of leukemia. I can't help but think about how different my life would have been if she was still here. Those long, hard years with dad would have been her burden not mine or my sister's and she would have handled it with much more grace than I did. She was a young mother at 17 but didn't live to see a great grandchild. I've been through every stage of grief over the loss of my parents but the one that stuck is anger. Not at anyone or anything-just because.

Willy Nilly

 

I got a shipment of sock yarn yesterday but it's not for socks. 

It's to finish this #*@*$! warp. I need 370 ends, I have only 250 and I'm running out of yarn. I didn't realize how much yarn a long scarf would take. I'm not talking about a Dr. Who length scarf, I'm talking about something just long enough to wrap around my neck.  I call it the Willy Nilly scarf because I was inspired by the weaving of Teresa Dunne. Her wildly colored and patterned scarves are a sight to behold. 

The towel that is now on the loom is getting pretty long but I'm going to keep on going. It'll be nice to hang on the oven door this fall. 

And.......I need to thank Terri who shared with me her lovely short stories, drawings and songs based on her childhood in rural Ohio. It's all too easy in this busy world to forget about those simpler times so it's good to know someone who is still keeping those precious memories alive. Terri is also the author of A Cultured Girl, a Collection of Poems and Short Stories. 

Packing Up

 

After the trailer squabble, I told The Mister that if we are going to spend the rest of our lives looking at these four walls, those walls are going to get painted. The lower level also needs new floors so I've been packing up the craft room this week. That's the room that's getting the beauty treatment first as we work our way through the entire downstairs. 

It's been quite the job. I have a lot of artsy stuff. I do know when it's time to put all this stuff back I am going to have to be better organized. I found stuff I didn't even know I had. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

Whoo hoo...I'm finally back where I started after the big frogging adventure. I even did a decrease round last night. That's a relief. I'm ready for Riddari to be a done deal.

I've been arguing with one of the gray blobs over 3 inches of cuff ribbing. I knit and knit and it never quite gets there. I should be getting close. 

Ditto for the other gray blob. An elusive 16 inches is mocking me every day.

The same battle was fought and won with the handspun socks. Trying to figure out if the second one was the same size as the first one up to the heel was a nightmare. I measured, I counted and it never seemed quite right. Knitting can be so cruel.

On the other hand Audun has been playing fair and square.  Row 7 is now attached and row 8 is ready to go. As cold as it has been here this week, it's been a pleasure to pick up. It looks like spring out there but it sure doesn't feel like it anymore. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

Yesterday The Mister and I spent the entire day doing a whole house "blessing". After days and days of rain and mud, when we finally got a day of sunshine we went to work. Every inch of this place was "blessed" but good. I did get some stitching done over the wet weekend. The corner of Village Quaker is coming along. I put it on the dining room table next to my Alexa and stitched while listening to The Tortured Poets Department over and over and over and over. It's now engraved in my brain. I loved it so much I ended up buying it and I haven't bought a album of any kind since the Beatles broke up.

It all wasn't cute and cozy though, Sheep Heap got a ripping and a re-do. I started the border and that dark color just washed my poor sheep out. I ripped out his face and legs and re-stitched them in the border color. Much better. 

My other tiny needle was busy appliqueing down more parts of the February quilt. This is number six out of the nine blocks that I wanted and when I counted them I  realized I had made ten rings. One too many. I'm not sure how I managed that but it sounds like something I'd do. Better too many than too little I suppose. 

And....a big thank you to one of my bloggy friends who sent me this cool puzzle. I am the type of person who likes to do the same puzzles over and over and this looks like a keeper. Yes, I know that's weird but like all my unfinished projects, they are old friends I like to revisit whenever I'm in the mood. 

 

Calling All Quilters

 

I haven't been in a brick and mortar fabric store in ages so I need to know what's up with quilting fabric. I've been using old stash for ages and my last two online orders from two different big quilting sites have been a HUGE disappointment, The fabric is too thin and slick. It feels more like clothing fabric than a nice sturdy quilting cotton. Is it me or is this just the way fabric is these days? I hate it. 

I also want to know what thread type you use for machine quilting. I wanted to use a gray on Charming Stars and I only had gray in 70/3 polyester. I've only used this thin stuff for paper piecing. After several tries I managed to get the tension on the Juki right and it seems to be working but it's a much less visible stitch and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Thoughts? 

Thread issues aside, there was still more drama to come. 

I should have figured it. All that fiddling I did with the adhesive batting plus the majorly pieced backing equaled puckering on the back. I had to rip half of it out and then iron the heck out of it to get it lay right. I guess I'll have to iron out each block as I go to get it as flat as possible which is something I've had to do before and it really does slow things down.

It was all too much drama for one day so I decided I'm just going to hand quilt that hexie runner that's been sitting here waiting its turn on the Juki since forever. It was definitely a silver lining because I really enjoy doing this and I'd forgotten how much. 

To Market, To Market...

 

It's that time! The Mister is always wildly excited about our community Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. He hits the coffee stand and then enjoys a bit of browsing. 

This time of year it's mostly plants and baked goods. He came home with cinnamon buns and whoopee pies. I came home with impatiens and petunias. 

We strolled our goodies back to the car via the boardwalk and enjoyed an early morning calm. A dead calm. After weeks of rain, wind and flooding it was nice to see things settling down. We even had a minute of sun later that afternoon.

I had my first fire in a long while after dinner. I sat all by myself feeding it with old wood and watched the sun go down. A rare moment of quiet to end the day. 

With Gratitude

 

I want to thank everyone of you who participated in my spring giveaway. Twenty four of you lovely people helped me re-home 48 bars. Your kind words of appreciation always make my day. I'm always sad when it's over. 

I mail out a few everyday and I have just a few more to go so if your soap doesn't show up by the end of next week let me know. Canadian friends-I know yours do take a bit longer. I''ll have those all out by Monday 

And...if any of you who didn't participate and would still like to and don't mind potluck, I still have plenty on the shelves. Just tell me if you would like scented or unscented.

Thanks again. I'm already looking forward to doing this again in the fall!

Many Happy Returns

 

We left Pup at home yesterday and went down to the boardwalk for our first visit to our brand spanking new library. We missed the ribbon cutting because of a birthday lunch with The Mister's family but it was just as well. They had over 400 people there which is not our thing. 

It's big and beautiful. It did not disappoint. 

There are lots of nooks and crannies for relaxing with a book. The deck has lots of chairs and overlooks the water. 

The main floor view is nothing compared to the one off the children's level. The entire top floor is a wonderland of things for kids and teens to do. 

There's a projection alcove for group meetings that need AV support and even a podcast booth. There are rows and rows of computers for the kids to use. 

On the adult floor there is even a Making Room. They have a fancy sewing machine, a serger and this embroidery machine. There's also a 3D printer and tons of laser things I don't understand. The person in charge of the room tried to explain but I still didn't get it. 

I walked around the whole time with my mouth open. It's a technological marvel from the conveyor belt return to the checkout pad that checks all your books out at one time. I'm sure I only saw a fraction of what it has to offer. It was hard to leave. Next time I'm bringing my knitting and claiming a lounge chair. 

A Fool's Errand

 

I went to the hardware store to get some dirt to plant a pink rose bush I bought on Monday and came home with all of this. Deer food I suppose but I can't help myself. 

I had a bunch of black pots from when I planted all the shrubs earlier this year so I am tucking all the annuals in them and putting them in among my poor disfigured hostas. 

This is another experimental year. My neighbor cut down all her trees so now we get more sun than we ever have. I tried tomatoes last year but the deer ate those too. They usually leave the plants up close to the house alone until late summer so I'm hoping my pots of pretties survive. If not, it's another lesson learned. 

They don't usually come up on the porch so the leftovers went in small pots. If this works, I'll buy some pretty pots for next year. Right now I'm using whatever I had in the shed.

Some things I planted years ago are coming up I am happy to say. I bought these at the MDSW one year and the deer don't seem to like them. They've spread quite nicely.

I also remember planting these bulbs. They were a surprise to see pop up this week since I usually associate them with early spring. I want more but can't figure out what they are. Any ideas?  They are very small.

Wednesday WIPs

 

I wasn't just fighting The Battle of the Pool Noodles last week, I was also fighting The Battle of the Riddari Chart. See that yoke? It's not the same one I showed off last week. I had to rip it way back because the chart shows beige when it means white and light green when it means beige and I got them mixed up. There was no way I could tink all that back so it ended up being a terrifying frog job. All's well that's ends well I guess but I am still smarting from the wounds. 

See that sleeve? You might wonder why I had more of it done last week. It's not the same sleeve. I had to rip it all back too. I got to the cuff and I was way off with the stitch count. It was too wide and floppy so off to the frog pond it went too. I can never count decreases right. This pattern says decrease every 1 1/4 inches eleven times and I guess my understanding of it was off. Way off. 

The only drama with the handspun socks is that I want them done because.....

...Soxieknitter gifted me this pattern and I'm itching to start it. It's Cosy Quilt Socks by Natalie Sheldon. I've got the yarn. Now all I need is to get those other socks off the needles. 

And.....I'm still on row 7 of Audun. It's going slowly because it's been HOT here this week and I'm not loving having a lap full of blanket. The few squares I did join this week I did standing up with the blanket laying on my kitchen island which actually wasn't too terrible. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

I don't have much to show this week because weekends are normally my quiet stitching time and this weekend I was busy fighting The Battle of the Pool Noodles. I am happy to say I was victorious. Once I had enough backing it was an easy roll up. I was beyond impressed with the whole thing. It's a game changer for sure. 

After doing my victory dance on Sunday afternoon I did settle down and finish that corner on the Village Quaker. I also started the last border of little houses and doo dads that will finish the whole thing off. 

The really interesting thing I did this week was dig out an old needlepoint kit I had. The Mister always calls my cross stitching projects needlepoint and I wanted to show him the difference. What happened is that I now I want to work on it but I couldn't figure out how to read the squares of colors. The Mister, who did latch hooking, showed me what I needed to know. 

It's a very pretty project and I doubt I'm going to be able to do justice to it but does it really matter? I'll just play with it until I get bored and then it will end up in my pile of orphan projects. 

Remember her? It's been two years since I put a stitch in Apply Dapply. I always have these romantic notions of sitting on a cold winter day before the wood stove with a cup of tea and happily stitching to whatever's on the radio-and it never happens. My brain lives in 1940. I don't.