Monday, July 7, 2025

Finishing Things

Now that the swags in the border of the whole-cloth quilt are finished, I'm filling in the rest of the border up to the edge. Some progress happened during the week. I started the week with only the corner completed and most of the swags done. Now I'm a couple of feet in from the corner and moving along.


We had another Madroña pop-up "meeting," basically a wine-lovers online party. I had to sneak out early, though, because we had another rehearsal for this year's Sound Fourth concert that night. We had a Madroña Grenache Rosé with the pumpkin pasta leftovers. I only had a little of the wine because I was driving myself to practice.


We got in some walks during the week. We had been admiring the lovely ground cover at one point along the trail where the homeowner had put up some pairs of jeans filled with potting soil and plants. You may remember this photo of the arrangement in my June 2 post, showing the little astronaut the homeowner had made out of the porthole in the fence for his dog to look out. The plants at the base of the display were of interest.


They have grown and filled in since I took that photo, and the ground cover is impressive now. We wanted to know what it was, so I took a couple of photos and did a search. It's called Spotted Dead-nettle. It's related to Coleus, and it's a perennial. Now we have to find some.


Thursday evening we had our final rehearsal before the big performance. This is how it looked when I walked in.


Friday was the Fourth of July. The concert was at 3:00 PM, but we had to be there at 2:15. This was my view with still 20 minutes to go before the concert began. By "curtain-up" the seats were mostly filled.


There are always a few glitches, and this year was no exception, but it was a lot of fun and the audience really seemed to enjoy the performance. I'm getting pretty good with the kazoo, which we used in the "Colonel Bogey's Grand Old Flag" piece, which is a combination of George M. Cohan's "It's a Grand Old Flag" and Colonel Bogey's March from the 1957 film "The Bridge on the River Kwai."


When the fireworks started later that night, Dusty went and hid, Charlie went out to the trail for a better view, and Sandy and I got up on the daybed in the workroom, where we watched the fireworks through the window. It was hard to get a good photo with just my phone camera through the glass with the dark sky and the moving lights, but Sandy and I had a good time watching. The fireworks don't seem to distress Sandy, which is a blessing.


Earlier in the evening, Charlie and I started watching "1776," one of our favorite movies. After the fireworks were done, we watched the rest of it. Dusty came out of hiding only after the fireworks stopped, which was very late at night.


We're going camping for a few days this week, so I've been preparing food. I baked this sourdough loaf on Saturday.


I also made my no-boil lasagna and another batch of carob brownies to take with us.


Soren turned 13 on July 5th. He's a teenager!




I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.


If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales RetoldOur Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.


Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on The Love of Spiders shawl by Melanie Berg, but very little progress this week.

What's on my iPhone: Finished listening to music for the Sound Fourth Concert on Friday. Now just starting The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting on something.

What's in my hoop: My whole cloth quilt. Finished the swags. Now filling in the rest of the border.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Working Dolls Dolly and Gabi return from a long stay at the yarn shop, showcasing The Writer's knitting and sewing patterns and helping sell a few books. 



What's my tip of the week: If you have two dogs, you can use one to help you train the other. Both dogs barking? Find a moment when one isn't barking and praise him. The other will notice and quiet down. Feeding both dogs and one won't eat? Praise the other for eating. They notice their brother/sister is getting praised for not doing something or for doing something, and they want the praise, too.


Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 


The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a StrangerThe RescueUnmaskedFuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's DayKeeping PetsBack to School, Victor the VultureThe Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green GreatcoatThe Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best BudsGetting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being LittleBesties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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