Sundry Items

Beginning the month of the beginning of the end of 2023!  Does that make sense!??  Only 6 months till Christmas! YAY!  

Right now we are smack dab in the middle of HOT summer!

definitely summer!!  Temps have been in triple digits--no rain either!  Hopefully, the downward temps will make a comeback.

And here I am in July still working on the June dishcloth pattern!  Bummer!  It's an easy pattern so no excuses for not finishing!  The yarn is handspun brown cotton from my hands.  I planted, ginned, carded, spun the cotton and now will get to finishing up this neat pattern.  I like the name "energy bar"==I have the recipe, but haven't made it yet.  You can find the free pattern from The Kitchen Sink Shop

I'm knitting away on another Musselburgh hat by Ysolda Teague

It's just idiot knitting--easy to do without thinking of what you're doing!

I like using small bits of yarn to create this wearable hat--think this is the third or fourth one I've done; still haven't made a dent in my fiber stash!

I like making this type of hat!  So fun to pull yarns from the stash, cast on 80 or 88 stitches and knit.  This hat began with ribbing of K2,P2;  sometimes I just knit to give a rolled up brim.  I used two small balls of handspun alternating with a fancy yarn, which is mostly acrylic—like the look!! 

Okay--it's summer so his socks don't need to be finished for another three months!  I'm close on one--It looks big--he tried it on and it fit just perfectly!  Now, if I can get the other sock to match the first.  Usually, I knit both at the same time--but my brain got all twisted around and I just couldn't get it going the right direction to put two on the two circulars.  It's all good!  He'll have nice warm socks for the winter--IF it ever gets here!

 

Forgetting!!

On our road trip, we’re at our daughter’s house—we haven’t been there for several years.  It’s easy to forget what you create—I give freely so was happy to see so many fruits from my hands throughout her house. 

I’d forgotten about these quilts. And that’s the way it should be!

On the spare bed was this monster!  Several blocks made for a good cover. 

Some of these blocks were challenging to construct from my mind’s memory. 

Oh!! How I love this quilt!  Don’t remember making this—but, I know I did!  Memory comes back—it was a year long project from The Quilt Show.

Love the closeup! 

This one is recent—that I remember!  

Gee whiz! How could I forget this one??

And in her bathroom—I see this hand spun, hand woven cotton towel!  

Well, I’m happy someone is remembering my work!!

 

On The Road

 We're on the road to our brown headed Daughter's house in Colorado!  We haven't taken a road trip to this area for at least 8 or 9 years.  For us old folks, we take our time on the road,  spend the night along the way--always interesting to stop in a town you are unfamiliar with--finding a restaurant that has good food is on the top of the list!  Look for parking lot with the most cars/trucks.

 The drive can be long and tediously, especially through a city with clogged highways.  We love taking the back roads through the countryside; two lane roads, lonely at times with no vehicles coming or going.  Rolling down the windows to feel and smell the fresh air is a must.

Speed signs appear to slow you down as you enter the city limits of a small town--maybe population 200.  Many dilapidated buildings lie by the wayside and you wonder what type of employment is in this area.  

We don’t use a paper map any more.  We rely on the voice through the app on our phone to give us the correct direction.  Heaven forbid, you take a wrong turn—her voice(we have a female giver—never use a male voice!) is stern”make a you turn now!!”  Some days I want to pull out that paper map and find my own way—but, there is frustration of refolding that map the way it was.  

We do have a handy dandy book that points out historical sites—

We do not stop anymore since we have the book to reference! 

Years In The Making!

Perfectly!! Aged!! My friend says all fiber and textiles must be aged!  Actually, a good excuse if you haven’t finished a project for awhile.  

That’s what you can say about this piece—well aged.  In fact, years in the making.  Once, I took up this project again, it was a challenging goal to complete. Yes!  It must be finished!

The final touch—I had plenty of half square triangles ready, why not use to add another row?  Perfect!!

Looking good!!  That’s it!  I pronounce this quilt top ready for the long arm!! Ta-da!  After years waiting in the wings, this was tackled! 

And—another one, after being “aged” ended up with the complete treatment!!  

Wave the magic wand—accomplished!! Hearts galore!!

And talk about well aged!! This goes back to 2003!  I know to me it doesn’t sound that old—our granddaughter was 12–now she’s 31!  I had good intentions to make this quilt for her as she did all the coloring.  She loved to color and it a great job too.  The pieces were heat set by hot iron.  Now, I’m ready to piece it together. 

She helped me decide what part went with each body—the body parts were all separate and could be combined for any character.  It was fun to decide what head got what!

Well aged indeed. 

 

Whew!!

 For years I’ve been a member of paperback swap.  You post a book, you get a credit.  When someone wants your book, you pay the postage and mail the book.  I posted many many books, credits rolled up and up!  I didn’t order books for the longest time since I was using apps like Libby, Scribd, Kindle, Audible—it was time to look into my PBS account.  Referencing my Facebook reading groups for recommendations, I began to search PBS for authors that I’ve not read in order to use my last 11 credits.  Of course, I can post more books to receive more credits—I do have tons of books to offer!  For now, I want a clean slate.  

Here is my PBS pile to be added to my TBR list—oh, so many initials!! 

I’ve not read anything written by Charles Finch, Mark Pryor, Mark Schweitzer, P J Parrish or Laurie R King— this should be interesting summer!  I'm hoping that I can find an author that will lead me to a series of books with the same character.

Mysteries to fill my days as I sew quilt mysteries.

Let’s Sew!

 So let’s sew!! Some opportunities popped up for the summer!  Sew, on these hot humid days, pull out each clue, gather fabrics (of course, I’m using from the scrap bin) get the clues and sew!!   

Mystery books are my summer read (will post a list at a later date) as well as my mystery sewing projects! 

Halloween is sponsored by Fat Quarter Shoppe

This Sew along began June 6==there is plenty of time to catch up 

Finish this and have an interesting piece of Halloween art!

Twilight begins June 15 sponsored by Primitive Gathering 

Don't know why I'm drawn to this quilt along--such small pieces!

I've not even finished one for 2022!

Evergreen QAL begins July 4--what a way to begin Christmas in July!  Each Tuesday a new

clue will be revealed--sew for Christmas in July!!

Another fun mystery short project for the summer table!

Fort Worth Fabric Studio mystery begins June 26 and run for 4 weeks.  I’m just finishing the patriotic table runner 

Scrumble This!

 Scrumble!  What exactly is a scrumble??  Prudence Mapstone designs 'freeform" scrumbles--using knitting and crocheting techniques; mostly small pieces that create a larger scene.  We 'met' Prudence through a couple of UK gals who attended our annual January Spin-in several years ago.  They had enjoyed a workshop with Prudence and her Scrumbles earlier that year.  We were fascinated by this form of using small amounts of "leftover" yarns!  

I worked a few scrumbls to fill the tip of my houseshoes.  The scrumbles are stitched onto mesh form.  

Here are a few of my odd scrumbles that I intended for  purse; even had the purse form but alas, this is as far as I could make it.  Sad!  These scrumbles just languishes in a small bag--who knows maybe someday (!)  these will become an art piece

I do have a couple of Prudence's books--just in case I want to take up Scrumbles again

She has several other books available!  Visit her website, on Instagram, and other social media sites

What prompted me to think of those long forgotten Scrumbles?  The fiber exhibit at Kerr Arts and Cultural Center  Yes!  Some of the pieces reminded me of how useful Scrumbles can be, although the pieces might not have used the idea of scrumbles.

"Firewheel Meadow" Suzann Thompson

Embellished with crocheted flowers, Leaves and Buttons

An outstanding example of Scrumbles

"Afternoon" Suzann Thompson

Knitted quilt, once again embellished with crochet flowers and leaves, buttons, seeds, netting. embroidery and vintage crochet

"Winterling"  Suzann Thompson

More scrumbling involved--although, the artist probably did think about that technique when she created her pieces.

Rasberry Chocolate Roses

Suzann Thompson