Quilt Block Swap for July

I got my quilt blocks in the mail yesterday. They are beautifully done. It looks like Dorie did it all by hand stitching. Dorie, that is an amazing amount of work. I'd like to learn how to do that. Do you, or any one else have any reference books for hand sewing/embroidery that you could not live without?

Dorie hasn't received mine yet, so I will wait to post them.


You can click on the photos to see them bigger. The colors are pretty accurate as I took the photos outside today.

The Heat Wave Has Broken!!

YEAH!! It cooled off so nicely last night around 11:00 PM. I feel much better today. Having temperatures hovering around 100 F is not good for anyone!! I had a migraine set in on Sunday evening. The only thing I can figure caused it is the heat.

I've finished listening to a good audiobook about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. In fact it is called "1906 A Novel", by James Dalessandro. It is a good book, detailing the corruption of city officials at that time. Many parts of the book are true. Now I've started "You're Wearing That?" by Deborah Tannen. The narrator has such a soothing voice that I can't get through very much of it before it puts me to sleep. It is really good though explaining the mother-daughter communication snafus that we run into, at least I experience them.

Little bits of knitting going on here and there. Finishing up the doggy sweaters. Just little details. Started a vest for CIC out of 3 strands of different colored sock yarn. It is cute. I'll post a photo after I get further on it. Two new quilt blocks are done, ready to be sent out tomorrow. Will post those later as well.

Babies Grow Up

When I was a kid, my brother and I took plane rides to far away places, without our parents. Well, ok, it was twice, maybe three times, but they were far away!! We lived in California at the time, just north of San Francisco. Our grandparents would travel between California and Minnesota every year for the honeybee crops. Twice we flew back to Minneapolis to spend the summer with them, one of them being the year I was 12. I was going to help my cousin Chris with her toddler and new baby (her husband was in the family business as well as her parents) Chris was 24. That was a memorable summer taking care of my cousin Rachel and her brother, Jeremy, doing dishes, and just helping all around. One summer I remember flying to Portland to stay with my mom's sister. I think we were younger for that trip, maybe around 9 or 10. Anyways, this is all leading up to.......I purchased a one way ticket to grandma's house in California for my dd (12 years old). I did this last night, and now I am almost having regrets!! I guess I need to explain the one way ticket thing, don't I. We are meeting my parents near Mt Lassen National Park the second week of August for a camping trip. DD is going down the weekend before for parts of 6 DAYS!! We will meet up with them again mid-week. I don't think I've ever been away from my daughter that long before. Usually a night or two does the trick, but this is 5 nights. I hope I can wait out that long with out breaking down. Sure dd and I clash a lot, but we also have some very meaningful moments, especially lately.

On knitting news, I whipped this baby out. I love it!! Close your eyes Jean!! My model rolled the hem up because her hair was pulled up. You could wear it either way, turned up, or down. It's a pattern from Jen. She designed it!! It is easy to remember and turns out so well. I used STR lightweight, Star Sapphire is the colorway on size 3 needles.

Summer of Lace

The most recent Amazing Lace Challenge: Is your camera feeling abandoned, neglected, and ignored after the poetry challenge? Do you find bad pictures of yourself showing up all over the internet and wonder how they got there? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, Challenge #4 has just the answer. Get ready to take some photos! My question: If I bound off my lace project right now, what could I use it for?


Hmm, that got me thinking about my Feather and Fan Stole that I have put down to work on other projects, like the F&F for my sister-in-law, socks, doggie sweaters, etc. I have picked it up briefly here and there, not really making any progress with it at all. I came up with two things it could be.

The first would be a dresser shawl, it's too big to be a dresser scarf.
















The second thing it could be, a lap blanket for my grandmother, the same grandmother who taught me to knit as a child, and she even uses the feather and fan pattern to make baby blankets. I happen to like this option better than the dresser shawl.

For the Birds

We had rain today, I thought it might mist a bit, but it turned into a real rain for about 2 hours. This afternoon as it dried up, I looked out my kitchen window and saw this little guy. I don't know what kind of woodpecker he is, (maybe a Downy Woodpecker) and I haven't seen one in the neighborhood for a while, though I do hear them often.



You can click on the picture and see him a little bit better. He's on the top of the little tree just above the van.


I went outside to see what else there might be. I heard lots of different calls, and saw robins, chickadees, bushtits and pine siskins all over the front yard/neighborhood. The birds must have liked the rain and the afteraffects of it.

Updates

I've just updated my reading list, so you can check back to it here.

I also realized I hadn't put any photos here of the quilt blocks I received as my swap or the ones that I sent, so you can check them out here (received) and here (sent).

The weather has changed again on us, it is depressing and tiring. It cooled off a lot, which is nice, but the sun hasn't been out. When the weather does such a dramatic switch like that, it seems to make me more tired than usual. I think it has something to do with the drop in pressure, but I'm not a meteorologist or a doctor, so I really don't know what it is.

A couple of new things in knitting news: I just joined a group for knitting pink scarves for breast cancer, that's the Think Pink Rose on my side bar. I have lost several friends to bc and it is one of my biggest fears. It seems to be the most aggressive forms affect those who are "too young" to get regular mammograms. So, please get your mammograms if you can!!

And I am knitting a couple of doggie sweaters for a friend. I hope they turn out cute. I met one of the doggies yesterday. She is so cute, and does lose her heat quickly so needs a doggie sweater quickly if our weather keeps cool like this.

Freedom

What is freedom? By definition, 1: the quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another: Independence........2 a: a political right......

To me, it means I can worship the way I want to, read the books I want to read, talk to the people I want to talk to, learn anything I want to learn about, no restrictions. Are we really free? It sure looks like it, but sometimes I wonder.....

Thank you to all of those who have fought for our freedom, and especially those who are fighting now. Happy Independence Day.

Here are a couple of cute cards that were forwarded on to me.