Relax! Read!!

Haven't I told you how much I like to read?

I sure hope you like to read as well--

this is a whole new world out there when you

open a book.  You can travel to all parts of the

world as you lose yourself in the pages.

I'm always reading at least two books at the same

time--One book is on the bed stand--another

is on the coffee table in the family room.

Here is my latest reads....

We (hubby is a reader too) have discovered John D MacDonald with his

Travis McGee character--we've finished the first in the series--

"The Long Goodbye"--why it took us so long to indulge in this read,

I don't know!  So glad we began this series.

Elizabeth A Garcia--"One Bloody Shirt at a Time"--oh my, how

I love this read.  I've also finished the second ("The Beautiful Bones") in the series!

These reads take me back to Big Bend Texas and Terlingua--

I walk in Deputy Rios shoes....

"Luckenbach Texas--The Center of the Universe" by Becky Crouch

Pattison--daughter of Hondo Crouch, founder of Luckenbach--

We visit Luckenbach often--we attend the Cowboy Church on Sundays--

attend the afternoon or evening music concerts.

This book brings you the history behind the town, population 3--

a delicious read and music that comes out of the history

"The Lost Girls of Paris" by Pam Jenoff--

I learned about the lost girls of Paris through an episode of

"Foley's War"--an almost true look at WWII in Europe--

And now we step into secret agents lives

Mike Blakely's book "A Sinister Splendor"--a semi fictional

look at 1845 Mexican-American War--We know Mike and his

wife Annie through their music--they play many of the events

and functions around Hill Country Texas.  Imagine my surprise

when we were eating dinner with Mike/Annie and learned

he is an author--many times over!

Hope you will find a way to escape the mundane routine of

daily living.

Dyeing Gradients..................................

You seen these lovely gradient yarns--some very expensive.

I can understand why--it takes time to skein yardage to make

a smaller skein but continue to be in the same ball of

yarn.  I came across this tutorial on Simply Notable

web page--you can see it process with step by step

instructions.  She is using Kool-aide for her dye.

But, for me,

after Easter sales--give me a ton of those little

tiny dye tablets for egg dyeing--those will work just

fine--

In years past, I've dyed my silk roving with these

tablets--using the microwave to set the dye--spin it

up and knit a lovely scarf for spring wear.

Simply Notable has an April dye along for hand painted

yarn--using Easter egg dye--book mark this site as you will

find many useful tidbits of crafty things.

Decisions! Decisions!

Here is May!  Can you believe??  Summer will jump right out at us soon--

in the meantime, I'm sewing --sometimes!

It's the 'little' things that get in the way--

like a outside freezer door that was open just a tad and although,

it ran and ran for days on end, it also froze a ton of ice

and melted some of the products therein---

Surprise! when you go to the door and find it just a tad

open and peek inside--your heart sinks!  Oh No! 

What a mess!

Well, it did need defrosting--not now though!

salvage as much as we could and let the ice melt--

Or 

the blond headed daughter calls you up on

Friday evening as ask if you'll come to the ranch

Saturday AM to move furniture out of two rooms--

she is having tile laid in those two rooms--

okay, we can deal with that-- the next

weekend we'll be there moving furniture

back into the rooms!

  Life can get in your way when

you're having fun...............

The other day, I pulled out all my -un-quilted tops--oh,

bother!  so many to be quilted--what am I to do?

1.  I can stop making quilts

2.  Send the tops off to be quilted--big bucks!

3.  send the tops off to Quilts of Compassion --that's first choice!

4.  Learn how to machine quilt

5.  Hand quilt the smaller one

6.  Make table runners or lap quilts or baby quilts

In the meantime, I'm sewing these Blocks from Pat Sloan's I Love to Quilt series

"Flower Bouquet"

This journey began on January 2 and here is 

Block 14

These two blocks are Block 15

Pat has two layouts set up--

I'll decide later what to do with the blocks.....

Seventh Heaven Kaleidoscope.............................

Mary Corbet of Needle 'N Thread is offering a free

embroidery pattern for your stitching pleasure--

There is alot to stitching these Kaleidoscope and

she gives you a step by step method to achieve a

beautiful piece..

Elements of design, color, layout--she gives a clear

cut bonus to hand embroidered projects--

questions?  She has the answers on her website.

Happy stitching, y'all!

Agatha May Read..................

Another Agatha for May--Hercule Poirot to the rescue!

"Poirot, disillusioned by the "senseless cruel brutality" of modern crime, pays no attention to the sad case of Mrs McGinty, an old woman apparently struck dead by her lodger for thirty pounds that she kept under a floorboard. When, however, he is asked by the investigating officer to take another look at the case to stop an innocent man going to the gallows, he realises that things may not be as simple as they first appear to be."

What shall we knit to this mystery?  I don't know......

Maybe, book mark--simple and sweet

No Wrong Side bookmark by Katherine Vaughan

Another one by Katherine titled Jewel Cross Rib

Don't think I've ever knit a bookmark!

A Belfry of Hats!

Here comes the Kentucky Derby tomorrow!  This blog is about hats--a free study of hats all year long--not the traditional Kentucky Derby Hat, like this one......

but, woolen hats you can create all year long for the winter cold months.

I know it doesn't seem right to be knitting wool hats in the hot summer

months--what better time though?  You'll have a belfry of hats for

gifts or for charity or just for yourself.

check this out---

A month by month free hat pattern from Kelbourne Woolens--

of course, they are selling their yarn to go with the pattern...

I'm just a few months behind finding this site, but the patterns are

there beginning with January

January

February

March

April

Each of these patterns have different techniques--a learning experience for sure!

Let's Knit!

Socks inspired by the Women Warriors or Shield Maidens of Viking Lore

This pattern has been designed by  Adrienne Fong and can be found 

free on Ravelry.  Adrienne designed this for Sock Knitters 

Anonymous for the May-June 2019 Lace Challenge.

It is meant for solid or semi-solid, tonal or gradient

colorway, which will show off the lace.  Clues will be released weekly-

beginning today!  Then May 9 -15- 22--pattern is both charted and

written.

If socks aren't your "thing" how about this?

Beaded cushions and throw knit along, designed by Martin Storey for Rowan Yarns.  This KAL begins May 13 and can

also be found on Ravelry.

A Gorgeous!! lace shawl designed by Mary-Anne Mace is also

free pattern through Ravelry--have I told you how much I love

RAVELRY??!!

Biophilia is top down crescent shaped shawl that represents the affection for the

natural environment.  The  Motifs represent filament strands of

entangled seaweed billowing in the ocean currents.  Beads are worked at the

edge and drip from each picot.

The pattern has both written directions and charts.  Lace is on

right side and wrong side is purl.

T