Life in the New World

This week included new doggie friends. 

We were invited into the small dog section of the dog park at Ponderosa Park, which will be only a few minutes' walk from our new home. It's nice we can visit the small-dog section if there are people there, but we can also join the big dogs int he other section. Dusty needs lots of play time. We found some big dogs to play with on Saturday, when we walked to the dog park for the first time, rather than to go by car.

The pups have a appointment on Thursday to meet their new groomer and get new haircuts. They are starting to look a little scruffy and maybe not so clean anymore. DBIL is very tolerant of having them on the bed.

Our house inspection was on Thursday. No new roof needed, and the structure is sound, but not much has been done to the house since it was built, other than small cosmetic items. I guess we have a house. New to our list of needed items: two new windows, as one of a pair of matching windows won't close, and both were crank-type windows, not quick to open in an emergency. The fireplace and garbage disposal were not working, but the seller lit the pilot light on the fireplace and got the garbage disposal to work, so I think those things are good. We have a new garbage disposal in our shipment anyway, one we never installed in the old place. My 1982 Maytag washer and dryer will be in our shipment, and we will need to install gas in the laundry room, which is upstairs, a good location but more expensive to reach with the gas line. I don't mind having stairs, but I don't like carrying a big laundry basket down the stairs at my age. Having the laundry upstairs will make a laundry chute (like that in our old house) unneeded.

Here's a look at my new "fiber studio" with all the furniture removed. If it looks a lot smaller in this photo, it's because I don't have a fancy wide-angle lens, like the real estate photographer.

The alcove is 6' wide X 5' deep. I think my sewing center will go there. The loom will have to fit into the large open area, which is about 11' X 10'. There should be plenty of wall space for fabric and yarn storage units.

Here's the "spacious" closet.

I'm visualizing shelves in there. We'll see.

We checked our voter registration online, and we are registered to vote. We are scheduled to receive ballots at our current location. Our new home will be in the same precinct, but we can change our voter information up until 8:00 PM on election day, so I think we're good.

This week's story introduces Mariah. You can read it here. My favorite photo from the story is where they all realize that their right hands are all the same, with two fingers stuck together.

I made a bit of progress on the Spring Flowers quilt. There is only one half-star to quilt, plus the background in the upper two corners, across the top (in this photo) and partway down each side, so not too much.

I was surprised to see the Coastal Skies Shawl much bigger.

It seems as if the yarn has hardly gone down at all. I have to sit on one of the dining room chairs to knit or quilt, because all of the furniture here is so huge. Maybe that's what inspired this week's story, where Mariah tours the house and finds everything so big.

What's on my needles: A few rows on the Kisu Cardigan, a couple of rows on the Coastal Skies Shawl.

What's on my Sparrow 15: Still sitting in our bedroom at DBIL's house. I think the next time I use it will be on the steeks for the Kisu Cardigan.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, actually made some progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Welcoming the Newcomer, the first episode with Mariah. I'm scheduled through October 5th, the deadline for closing on our new home. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen. I've made some progress with the story.

What's in my wine glass: Lindeman's Cawarra Shiraz Cabernet 2017. Surprisingly good for a big bottle of fairly inexpensive wine.

What's my tip of the week: Good lighting is important throughout your home for safety and to make tasks easier to do properly. LED light bulbs are a little more expensive, but they use much less electricity and provide a lot more light than normal incandescent light bulbs. A Wikipedia article says "The luminous efficacy of a typical incandescent bulb is 16 lumens per watt, compared with 60 lm/W for a compact fluorescent bulb or 150 lm/W for some white LED lamps."

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.

Dancing in the Sun

I'm making use of the new LED light for my Featherweight, which is back out of its case and on the job.


The piecing of the first quilt top of the new year, "Seeing Stars," is almost done. Here's the photo I took of the first block, ready to put together.


The pattern is "Clara's Journey" from Connecting Threads.

The center nine-patches and the primary fabrics in the big stars are scrappy, but otherwise I've been consistent in the use of fabrics. All that's left to do is the borders, which will finish the outer small stars, with an outer border of the off-white background fabric.


The turquoise was sort of a daring feat for me. I'm branching out. (I still love traditional and vintage reproduction fabrics, though.)

The Sundance Film Festival has started again, and I've served one shift (on Saturday) of the four I have planned. I have another one this afternoon/evening.

I always take something to work on, in case I have some down time on the job. Saturday I was assigned "exit/re-entry, which gets pretty quiet after the film starts, so I got some knitting done. I've been making good progress on my Brick Cardigan. (The pattern is "Aleph" by Hannah Cuviello.)

We went to the opera yesterday, so I had the trip down to SLC and during the opera to work on it.



Our older granddaughter is coming for a visit and will be here when I get home from my shift. I see sushi and more knitting in my future....

What's on my needles: Brick Cardigan, good progress.

What's on my Featherweight: "Seeing Stars" quilt, center done, just the borders to go.

What's on my loom: Some warp for another scarf, but still folded up.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The President's Pilot by Robert Gandt, and Home from the Sea by Mercedes Lackey. Now listening to In the Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotsen. Still reading And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander, not on the iPad for once but a paperback version I picked up at a rummage sale.

What's my app of the week: Southwest, for flight information, etc.

What's in my wine glass: A Chianti this time, Livingston Cellars.

What's my tip of the week: There are a number of apps that let you make calls through the Internet without charge, which is handy if you live in the mountains and have poor or no cell service in your home or you're visiting a place where you have access to WiFi but don't have service. Some of these apps allow you to use your own cell phone number.


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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.