Knitting & Quilting

Knitting has been occupying more of my time than most anything else.

Had some Fiesta 

Baby Boom

in Sedona

100% extrafine super wash merino wool

I think the Sedona browns are a great pick for Hubby's next pair 

of 'justed ribbed' sox.

Toe-up for a change

[yes, I know the Goldenrod Pointells are still in a time out!]

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Last time DD#2 and I had one of our Sew Days we fooled around with a disappearing 4-patch.

Rather than listen to her suggestion, I cut the 4-patches.

Once they were sewn together, I saw what DD#2 meant.

Sew lesson learned.

Kept it for a practice sample

so I did some free-motion stitching and stitched up this

?table topper?

As you can see it is a very modified disappearing 4p.

Found the blue floral for the border and went to town.

Lots of fun, thread, time . . . . 

Here's the reverse side.

Ran a 'satin stitch' around the edge.

This satin stitch is not like any I ever made using my Viking Lily 550

that now resides at DD#2's.

I suppose I could have shortened the length so that I would not have had to go 'round twice.

It filled my afternoon with entertainment. 

And now I have something to pass along.

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Here we go again.

Have downloaded two audio books from our local library.

I've read Richard North Patterson  

And I've read Jeffery Deaver, Lisa Scottoline,

Linda Barns and Lee Child.

I downloaded them based only on the fact there were few audiobooks available to download

and I have read these authors and like their work.

Not certain what the stories are, at all.

We are just finishing listening to

this Steve Martin novel.

Lots of art world in this one.

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The temp is in the low 80's today

lots of wind

with the forecast of T-storms this evening through tomorrow morning.

By sunrise the temp is supposed to be near freezing.

Oops, in come the Amaryllis - - - - again.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Hugs


Yikes ! ! ! ! ! 
Just checked our local temp on my computer desktop ! ! ! 
It's four-fifteen p.m. and the temp is 
91 degrees F ! ! ! ! 

Worked, Working, Work

That's me alright.

Busy, Occupied, Industrious 

snicker, snicker

First, WORKED

on this this morning.

These Chisel pieces were upholstery samples

that we cut with our GO! chisel die.

I was playing to see what design could be made

aside from the obvious saw-tooth picket fence.

I'm satisfied with the results. 

Now,  what to do with it.

Pillow top?

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Second, item I am WORKING on

is this Vintage Hand Towel.

taken from

Canadian Living Knit A Pretty Vintage Hand Towel

All that's left to finish: hide those loose ends,

bind off strap,

and find a button large enough for the HOLE .

Well, then, of course, a pair of freshly washed hands.

#  @  #  @  #  @  #  @  #

The next is what I need to WORK on.

I'm using a Jelly Roll - unidentified -

will use randomly wavy rows between striped rows.

My Plan is pinned at the upper left.

-  =  -  =  -  =  -  =  -  =  -

It appears that the snow may have passed Jeff City right on by

this time.

Hope this 43 degree temp today does

transform to the fifty and sixty degree weather predicted for week's end.

Hugs

Fancy Threads

Our group [a sub group of our local quilt guild] consisting of about a dozen 

- all interesting in creating art quilts - 

have decided to refer to our group as FANCY THREADS.

Of course, we could decide to change this name at a moment's notice.

Yesterday was our monthly workshop.

Postcards

After hauling what seemed like my entire sewing room up to the second floor of our local library

where we have been fortunate to reserve a meeting room large enough for our group

- and, before you ask, there is a elevator that we use - it still feels like I am a pack mule -

we assembled tables and chairs and got our machines set up, then settled down for some serious postcard play.

Here are the two postcards I completed yesterday afternoon.

My very first and second.

These images have been lurking on my harddrive FOREVER.

And now I am so pleased to have used them on my first-ever attempt at postcards.

Susan made certain we had the proper postal measurements so if we care to, they can be sent through the mails as postcards.

There were five of us yesterday and I believe each of us completed at least two postcards and considered this feat pretty darn good for novices.

I used WordPerfect to create the postcard address side.

And, for the very first time fixed a plain piece of fabric adhered to freezer paper to run through my printer.

Luck was with me.  No paper jams.

But let me tell you I did make certain the the leading edge of each sheet was firmly adhered and that all stray threads were trimmed away.

I heat set the ink by pressing with a hot iron.

- - -

I have a couple more cards ready to work on this afternoon.

Boy, make one then it's on to two, three, four and more.

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While going through Google Reader catching up on my blogging reading

I found a really great tip 

from Bonnie K. Hunter's blog regarding Half-Square-Triangles.

I've already made up templates for both daughters and myself.

Quiltsville's Quips & Snips ! ! !

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Spring time, the real Spring time, is getting closer and closer.

Hugs

Spring Time here in mid-MO

I'm hoping these won't be necessary this time.

Farmers' Almanac states 'significant amount of snow' ca 25-27th.

Some folks even quoted amounts up to thirty inches.

What do I know - I grew up out west.

Driving home from the Mall.

Temp sign at the bank at the Mall = 29 degrees F 

So far it's not sticking to the streets or walks.

Wonder whether the daffodils and tulips will look like after this.

However, the bushes are another matter.

Late snow had them bending to the ground.

We filled the bird feeder late yesterday afternoon.

Looks like they fellows are having a late lunch.

Postponed a trip to Hobby Lobby for a ball of Sugar 'n Cream to use in my vintage hand towel

After all, it's not like I don't have any thing else to work on.

Goldenrod

Spring time hugs

Full Body Scan

Well, maybe not.

But I did do a full system scan on my laptop AND netbook

- no virus ! ! ! 

Also updated my OS systems on both computers.

Windows Vista on the laptop

and Windows 7 Starter on the netbook.

All the Spring Cleaning they needed.

Both are healthy and ready to go.

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Last Tuesday evening at Guild I promised to have a sample of my journal cover ready for a friend by Saturday morning's Thimbleberries Club meeting.

She has stash scraps and wants to know how to use them making journal covers.

And, I would have done it - - - -  except for the fact I could not remember what I promised.

I knew I promised something but not what.

Had to ask her at Thimbleberries Club -  

so today I spent creating

a scrappy journal cover.

It's ready to go.  I'll deliver it to her tomorrow.

Turned out pretty durn good, even if I do say so myself.

 Front cover

Back cover

Lots of pieces here !

used my free-motion 'skills' when writing  :> )

Yep, that's me -- GerryART

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Temps here hit the very low 80s

Windows open for the first time in months! ! ! ! 

Spring is HERE ! ! ! ! ! 

Hugs

My first eMag is downloaded

We just bought and downloaded this Interweave eMagazine.

  Quilting ARTS inSTITCHES

This is pretty neat - 

it's the magazine in eMag format that includes pdf's and videos.

Now that it's on my laptop I can take it with me to read - 

 at Barnes & Noble

while I sip my steamy 

Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte

inSTITCHES eMag

Hugs

♥♥♥

airplane

Catch-up

Daughter #1 flew into St Louis yesterday !

Looking forward to all the activities that we hope to pack in during her stay.

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Yes, I am conquering Pointelle in Goldenrod.

Using lots and lots of quite concentration.

I'm beginning the foot portion on both sox

as I am knitting 2-at-a-time.

This is the easy part since only the instep requires following the pattern chart.

The sole is just the knit stitch.

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Do you remember when I won  Ariane's Crafts giveaway

of sixty 3.5" PINK tumbler blocks?

I finally got on the stick and 

ordered AccuQuilt's 3.5" tumbler die cutter 

and

a few yards of Kaffee Fassett's  shot cotton

from Gloriouscolor 

for the alternate blocks.

AND 

to use with the Moda SunKissed FQs.

Hugs

♥♥♥

Dorothea Benton Frank

Here's an author whose work I dearly enjoy. 

It's not at all similar to my last post re:  Mankell and nineteen bodies.

Her story's all about the Lowcounty of South Carolina and the people who live there.  

Her characters from one book often show up in the succeeding stories.

These DBF books usually end up on my bookshelf.  

I do re-read these stories though not as often as do Earlene Fowler's.

Synopsis as taken from Barnes & Noble

Dorothea Benton Frank is a native of the South whose novels vividly capture the wild beauty, laid-back atmosphere, earthy characters, and charming eccentricities of life in South Carolina's Lowcountry. Written with compelling honesty and emotional depth, her stories have touched readers from coast to coast, and propelled her to the top ranks of bestsellerdom nationwide.

Now this remarkable writer revisits some of her most unforgettable characters in this enchanting new story sure to make you laugh and cry. Return with her to Tall Pines Plantation in this long-awaited sequel to her beloved bestseller Plantation. . . .

When Caroline Wimbley Levine returned to Tall Pines Plantation, she never expected to make peace with long-buried truths about herself and her family. The Queen of Tall Pines, her late mother, was a force of nature, but now she is gone, leaving Caroline and the rest of the family uncertain of who will take her place.

In the lush South Carolina countryside, old hurts, betrayals, and dark secrets will surface, and a new generation will rise along the banks of the mighty Edisto River.

Wonderfully evocative, infused with humor and poignancy, and rich with the lyrical cadences of the South, Lowcountry Summer is vintage Dorothea Benton Frank, a deeply moving novel you'll want to savor and share.

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Today is my youngest brother's birthday.  
Happy Birthday, Brother! ! ! 
Spoke with him yesterday via Gmail Google Call.

Had a video chat via Gmail Google Video Chat with my older brother.

It's nice to connect with siblings using the Internet.

Tomorrow is lunch with Friends.

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Hugs

Henning Mankell

Sound of you were interested in Henning Mankell's book

The Man from Bejing.

You may want to read this synopsis

From the internationally acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries comes an extraordinary stand-alone novel - both a mystery and a sweeping drama - that traces the legacy of the nineteenth-century slave trade between China and America.

January 2006. In the small Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, a horrific scene is discovered: nineteen people have been tortured and massacred an the only clue is a red silk ribbon found at the scene. Judge Birgitta Roslin has a particular reason to be shocked by the crime: her mother's adoptive parents, the Andréns, are among the victims. Investigating further, she learns that an Andrén family living in Nevada has also been murdered. Travelling to Hesjövallen, she finds a diary, kept by a gangmaster on the railway built across America in the 1860s, full of vivid descriptions of the brutality with which the Chinese and other slave workers were treated. She discovers that the red silk ribbon found at the crime scene came from a local Chinese restaurant, and she learns that a Chinese man, a stranger to the town, was staying at a local boarding house at the time of the atrocity. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed such a horrific crime, but Birgitta suspects that there is much more to it, and she is determined to uncover the truth. Her search takes her from Sweden to Beijing and back, but Mankell's narrative also takes us 150 years into the past: to China and America when the hatred that fuelled the massacre was born, a hatred transformed and complicated over time and that will catch up to Birgitta as she draws ever closer to discovering who is behind the Hesjövallen murders.

Certainly not for everyone.

Hugs

Pair thirty-seven, I believe

Just a ribbed pattern 

with gorgeous colors.

It's a Berroco Sox yarn

in a sock weight

75% Superwash wool - oh, so practical

25% Nylon - oh, so utilitarian

Boy, oh, boy

do I ever love these sox!

Just downloaded this audio book from our local library.

I believe this author just may be the next Stieg Larsson [The Girl Who trilogy ]

I downloaded this book to my laptop so that Hubby and I can listen.

T-storm acomin' ! ! ! ! 

Hugs

Keeping busy

"I don't believe for one minute that this glorious goldenrod color yarn is 

jinxed in regard to being knit into a lovely pair of socks using  

Cookie A pattern .  .  .  .  Pointelle."  

Gerry

Here ^ left sock and the right sock.

Of course, such a designation depends on whether one is looking at or wearing these sox.

Each, at the moment, being worked on their separate needles.

They are knit to the point where the heel flap begins.

Later today they will be put on one circular needle 

and the heel flaps will be knit to matching lengths.

At least started to this end.

And, that is as far ahead that I am predicting the progress on this rascally pair of sox. 

By the Way, if when clicking on this photo to enlarge any of you find a slight mis-stitch

PLEASE DON'T TELL ME ! ! ! ! ! ! 

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Our Sew Day consisted of finishing up a project DD#2 and I started a month or so ago.

Between the weather and her work schedule this was the first time we've had to play.

Five Tea towels bought at Wal-Mart and a 

Stash of leftover border prints was, for certain, laundered and pressed.

We worked as a efficient production machine 

- let me say right here ! 

that if for one moment you are picturing us as one efficient machine

you have the wrong picture.  :>)

Deb took it upon herself to start cutting the towels in half

so that put me at the machine hemming.

Chain stitching the towels made the job simple.

Deb began picking border pieces and pressing a quarter-inch seam allowance 

on each edge and end.

I moved on to sewing the borders to one end of each towel

Of course Deb was finished before all the borders were sewn 

so she folded each towel as I finished

pairing up the various borders.

To finish the project she picked her five faves and I, mine.

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Our newly formed art quilters group met Sunday.

Using the most casual polling method

we've decided we are going to call our little group

Fancy Threads

This can change at a moment's whim!

This month's workshop - thread sketching Trees.

This is my 

'Palm On A Southern Pacific Ocean Island During A Late Autumn Afternoon'

I've only just begun and plan to stitch several shades of greens to the fonds.

^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^

Now I must run along and accomplish something more today than 

eating a Westport Club - grilled wrap lunch at Roly Poly.

Hugs

♥♥♥

If you were

 Impressed with yesterday's photo

How 'bout this one ! ! ! 

Hugs

♥♥♥