October in a nutshell

 

I need to do a better job coordinating between my blog and Instagram.  A lot has happened this month, and I just realized none of it has been posted here.  If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen these pictures, therefore you may be excused :)
Otherwise here's what I've been up to:

1. More Taryn's blocks were sewn. I can't wait to hand quilt this one.
2. There was some actual weather here this month.  It's unusual for us to get any kind of storminess in October, but the rain has been a welcome relief from the dry dusty heat.
3. The herbs I picked back in August are dried and I plan on putting them into little jars and giving  some away for Christmas.  Need to find some cute labels.
4. I followed a couple of different tutorials for a zippered pouch to make a large project bag and a small notions bag.  I used some Japanese fabric from my stash and a floral from Rifle Paper Co.
You can find the instructions at Noodlehead and Jedicraftgirl.  I haven't fiddled with zippers in quite a while, but I managed to survive the trauma of installing 2 of them.  Now I want to make a few more of these bags as gifts.
5. Just finished reading Uprooted, which was good but just missed being really good by something that I can't put my finger on. Maybe the POV it was written in, or character development, I don't know, but if you've read it I 'd love to hear your thoughts. The yarn is Quince and Co. Osprey in Carrie's Yellow.  I'm thinking of adding yarny embroidery to the ends of the scarf I'm making.  Not sure how that's going to work on garter stitch, I think stockinette might be better, but it's worth a try.
Until next time!

Fall Finish

Hey you guys I finished my shawl! First big knitted object for me and boy did I learn a few things along the way. Like a garter tab cast on, M1L and R, and spit splicing (always wanted to try that).  A big shout out to my Mom for helping me through a few rough patches.  I spent this entire past weekend on my butt knitting the last 2 sections, making fringe and blocking.  The Shelter yarn was really nice to work with and smelled particularly sheepy :) 
I'm still working on my nine patch quilt, and a crocheted blanket, but am itching to cast on the next knitting project, which will either be another shawl or a hat.  I ordered some yarn to make an Arika too, but maybe I'll wait until it arrives and finish up the quilt first.
The last two pictures are of a notions bag, which is made out of some kind of recycled vinyl, and is virtually indestructible.  I love that aqua sewing machine.  The fabric was bought at my local fabric store which I just heard is going out of business at the end of the year.  That puts the next closest fabric shop about 45 minutes away. Bummer.
Hope you all have a good week.  I have NOTHING going on this week, first time in a long time, except an appointment to get the septic tank pumped on Friday, which is kind of crappy hahaha. That's how exciting my life is. 

Petite log cabin

Yet another scrap quilt from my bottomless pit of a scrap bucket.   It doesn't look like your typical log cabin style quilt, but that's the method I used to construct the blocks.  I squared them up with my 9.5 inch square ruler, added sashing with "points" and a scrappy border.  It measures out at 43x43, which is fine because I already have a gazillion throw size quilts, and it's nice to make one for the fun of it and not worry about the size.  Before the binding was finished, I was already pulling fabrics for the next quilt. It seems my sewing mojo has returned.  I even dusted off the old featherweight.

In between quilts, I'm working on my Farmhouse shawl.  It's a very relaxing knit, nothing too challenging for a newbie knitter like me.  I have this month to finish it up as it doesn't cool down properly here until October and I'm looking forward to wearing it. 

Summer Smitten Blanket and other crafts

I started this in the middle of June thinking it would make a great summer project. Well I was right.  It went with me to my mom's chemo appointments, on the train to Portland last month, and any time there was a road trip.  In fact this thing has been practically living in the car.   Since it was one color,  and you crochet one square at a time, it was quite portable and there weren't many ends to weave in!
I used Knit Picks organic cotton worsted which was amazingly soft, not anything like the kitchen twine I've struggled with when making dishcloths.  The pattern was free over on byHaafner, and there's a handy little chart you can print off if you like that sort of thing.  I found it helpful, although it was easy enough to memorize once you made a few squares.  All the details are on my Ravelry page.

   There hasn't been much sewing going on around here.   I broke down and bought a quilting hoop and a nimble thimble and am trying my best to hand quilt, but it's slow. The leather nimble thimbles are a great idea, but I seem to be in between sizes.  The medium was too big and kept slipping off.  When it finally flew across the couch and hit the dog, I decided to order a small.  Now that one is too tight.  This is a bit like Goldilocks testing out the beds.

I bought some goodies in Portland at Knit Purl and have started knitting the Farmhouse shawl, and it's so fun!  Probably another reason why the quilting has taken a back seat.

 

Anyway that's my summer so far. Hope you're enjoying yours. Seems to be wrapping up doesn't it? Bring on the Fall.   Can't. Wait.

Packing it in

We've been really busy lately helping the oldest daughter pack up her apartment and move.  While that was going on the boy/man came home briefly from university ( in between regular and summer classes) and we cleaned out his bedroom and packed away his childhood. But before that could happen, I had to tidy up the garage to make space for sports equipment, video games and high school yearbooks. I've dropped off so much at the Goodwill lately, they must see me coming and think my house is a never ending bottomless pit of All the Stuff.
I tell you what, my 50 something body can't take too much more of this moving and packing, especially since the weather is hovering around 100 degrees or higher for the next 5 days.
Ah summer, how I want to love you here in Northern California, but I want to experience you in Alaska, or Maine, where I imagine a light sweater is needed when the sun goes down,  people eat supper outside, and you can still wear long pants and shirts with sleeves in them.
There have been beautiful sunsets here though, and the grasses have dried to that rich California gold color.  I get to pick wild blackberries on my morning walks, make fresh lemonade from the lemons off my tree and float on a raft in the pool looking up at a sky so blue it makes you ache inside.
All that kind of makes up for the upper lip and boob sweat, the constant hum of the AC, and the inability to do anything outside between lunch time and 9:00pm without melting your face off.

 Enough complaining about the weather. Guess what? I finally joined the Instagram crowd (I resisted for a long time).  I still prefer blogging because I love the written word, the stories, the connection.  It's quicker to post something on Instagram, a nice picture, two sentences punctuated by a dozen emoji's and you're done. But man you can really get sucked into the looking and spend hours of time on there! I'm just figuring out how to navigate around and so far it's been fun.  I don't have too many posts up yet, but if you want to visit, I'm at  lifeofreilly58.
In between the packing I'm grateful this week for some quiet moments to practice my knitting, and  continue sewing more of my drunkards path blocks.  I've been able to build up a nice little pile so far.  However this is looking to be a 3 year quilt, as I started these blocks last year and it doesn't appear I'll be finishing any time this year.
Anyone got a summer project started?  Besides my white crocheted blanket, I've been itching to try some embroidery and I have 2 new books to read.  I'm down for anything really, as long as it doesn't  involve packing tape and a truck :) 

Heating up slowly

geranium in "watermelon"

repairing the binding on an old quilt

American Robin

new quilt pattern

We've had the nicest rain showers this last week, with thunder rumbling in the distance for dramatic effect.  I haven't had to water the garden as often, which is nice, but the weeds love the rain too, so the battle continues. We are slowly moving out of our nice Enjoy It While You Can spring weather phase and will soon be entering into the blistering hot, Kill All the Plants summer phase, which I endure for about one month, then by July I'm in the house with the air conditioner on drinking buckets of iced tea.  I really want to try and embrace summer this year (I say this every year), take part in more outdoor/summer activities, but it's hard for me.  I inevitably melt into a sweaty limp puddle at backyard barbecues and theme parks, clutching a cold drink in a death grip, crazed eyes darting about for a seat in the shade, my hair plastered around my head like a wet dish cloth.
So attractive.  Meanwhile everyone else continues to party on, seemingly unfazed by the heat. Sigh.
Must buy more pool floaty toys. And cold beer.  And a short haircut.

On the sewing front, I haven't been very diligent lately.  I made a few scrap improv blocks and will probably make some kind of quilt with them, but for now they're just hanging out on the design wall patiently waiting their turn.  Instead of sewing I've been obsessed with listening to knitting pod casts and really learning a lot.  However the patterns I'm drawn to are made with fingering weight yarn and toothpicks, and I'm struggling. Maybe for now I'm better off learning with worsted or dk weight and bigger needles?  I'm both impressed and intimidated by people who jump right in there and whip up a pair of socks a week after they learn to cast on. Knitting feels painfully slow to me, and you have to really pay attention.  Example : K2, yo, knit to marker, yo, sm, k1, sm, knit to last 2 stitches, yo, k2 stitches, touch your nose with your tongue, and scratch your belly with your big toe.  Repeat rows two through nineteen, 175,678 times or until your eyes cross, the phone rings or the dog jumps in your lap in which case you're basically screwed. If your lucky the damn markers will stay where you put them and you can find your place and start over.
 Possibly I have some kind of knitting attention deficit disorder. Or knitting commitment disorder. Whatever it is, it makes me doubt myself.  I run back to the comfort of my crochet hook and think "do I really need another craft, maybe I will just stick with crochet and quilting?"
Again, must buy more cold beer.
Anyway last week I had a give away for a quilt pattern and a stack of 5" squares from my stash.  Pam at CreativeCrazyGirl won, and I hope she can use the extra scraps in her stash, and maybe try out that pattern!  Thanks to everyone who took time to leave a comment.  It's nice to have so many lovely blogging friends out there. Hope you all have time to make something fun this weekend :)

Life in the jungle

My mind is a jungle of ideas.  My garden is, well, a jungle. I'm still running back and forth between inside and out, trying to accomplish everything at once.  Though Easter Sunday forced me to slow down.  A quiet brunch with my tribe and an afternoon nap. Some knitting on the back porch.
Those little snowball blocks up there are slowing me down as well.  I started out sewing them on the machine, but they were pulling and bunching up at the seams, so I tried a few by hand and I was really pleased with how they turned out.  I highly recommend gathering your supplies in a little basket and hand piecing out in the spring air and sunshine.
In case you want to make some, here's what I'm doing.

From an assortment of dark/medium and light squares cut some 3" blocks

Now cut 1 3/8" blocks, 4 of the same color (light or dark) I know it makes my eyeballs hurt just typing that number, never mind cutting them to that size.

Place 4  matching tiny light blocks on the corners of a 3" dark/medium block
Place 4 matching tiny dark/medium blocks on the corners of the 3" light blocks.
Here's a tutorial on how to sew them.
I didn't mark my little squares first before sewing.  Instead, I folded them in half diagonally and pressed across the fold with my fingernail.  This leaves a faint press line that you can follow when sewing.
Arrange the finished blocks alternating light corners against dark corners (I have 4 sewn together in the bottom right side of the picture)
I have no idea what I'm going to make.  I feel like if I give this project a name or commit to a specific size, it will spoil the magic of making them.

The yarn is from Quince & Co.   I've been wanting to try out the color Carrie's Yellow, and finally went ahead and ordered some. When it won't get out of your head, you might as well give in to it.
I'm thinking maybe a very long 1x1 rib scarf to go with all those neutrals hanging in my closet. A simple scarf from beautiful yarn.

Here's a few links of things I've been into this last week, in case your bored:

"Cooked" on Netflicks
"In Defense of Food" on PBS
This U-Tube video is a typical day at my house, but replace the cat with a small dog and me saying "All I want to do is crochet" EDIT: Looks like the video was removed. Too bad, it was funny!
 
I bought this pattern, and this one, and this one too.  Haven't made any of them yet.
 I REALLY want to go to Squam for my birthday in September.  Anyone going???
The jungle grows.

Learning

I've been doing a lot of walking the last two weeks.  My mom gave me a Y shaped leash so I can take both dogs out at the same time.  Now I don't have to leave one behind with a pouty face while I'm gone.  It took them a while to get used to it however as they are both leash trained to heel on my left, and the Y shape has them walking out in front of me.  Luna (75 pounds) literally runs Charlie (25 pounds) off the path when they are hooked together like this (she's such a brute) and I've been tangled up in it more than once and fear for my ankles.  The first 10 to 15 minutes of our walk is a sniffing, peeing, whinning(that part is me), comedy routine, but they are slowly getting the hang of it.

I'm sewing the binding on my green quilt, honestly this thing feels like it's taking forever, and just completed the last block on my Hillside houses wall hanging.  So more quilt finishes to come.
Meanwhile I bought a real good used copy of Cooking from Quilt Country, and I'm learning a lot  about how the Amish and Mennonites live in Indiana.  There are recipes for things like Brown Sugar Pie, pork and beans, homemade lemonade in a crock and of course German Potato Salad.  I've been searching for a good pie crust, using real lard, and I think I found it in this book.  Add in photos of Amish quilts and I'm really enjoying myself.

The knitting is going to be a cushion cover.  I'm using Debbie Bliss Sublime dk and some bamboo needles, and this is just my speed.  I started another project (Be Simple Shawl, I love that picot bind off edging)) out of fingering weight on metal size 6's and the slippery factor was too high.  I need to attempt it in worsted weight first. Must take baby steps I think.
Hope you are all having a great week!
Some of my new followers are no-reply bloggers, and I would love to write you back, so if you leave a comment, make sure to check back later in the comment section for my reply.

Baseball and Yarn

At Scottsdale stadium

Buster Posey (catcher) and Tim Hudson (pitcher)

Brandon Belt signing autographs before the game

We're back from Spring Training in Arizona.  The weather was beautiful, the hot dogs plentiful and we had a great time (even though the Giants lost all 3 games. Pooh).
The hotel was amazing too!

We rented one of those cabanas for the day and hung out by the pool...

Every evening between 6 and 7 the bagpipes were played on the golf course.

There was shopping and restaurants all within walking distance, and if you ever find yourself in Scottsdale, I highly recommend you splurge on a dinner at Mastro's Ocean Club. At first I thought how can you dare call yourself "Ocean Club" in the middle of Arizona?  I should not have doubted.
 I had a delicious piece of blackened Halibut and they serve a decadent side dish of lobster mashed potatoes that will make you weep, it's that good. I wish I had some right now.
On the way out of town, the family was kind enough to indulge me in a brief stop at Jessica Knits, where I picked up some souvenirs.

These two skeins are produced by local Arizona artist Mary Gavan.  On the top is a lace weight raw silk, in the color Pewter and was made up in the store into this shawl.  The drape was beautiful. The bottom skein, which is actually more of a pink than it looks here, is a sport weight rayon/cotton in Sandcastle.
I'm also in a Ravelry group which is making a scarf using the colors of your favorite baseball team. The pattern is called Crackerjack, and these are the colors I bought for the San Francisco Giants.
The idea is to knit 2 rows using the color assigned to wins or losses.  For example a home win could be orange, and a road loss, white. There are 4 possibilities, therefore 4 colors are chosen.  The striping would be determined by the wins/losses of the season and you never know how it's going to turn out. Sounds like a fun project to work on all year long doesn't it?
I'm unpacking, washing clothes, grocery shopping, and cutting the grass this week.  Next time around I'll show you the hand pieced quilt blocks that are making me jump out of bed in the morning.
Until then, here's a little crochet and Charlie.  The dogs were very happy to see us come home.