Fixing Mistakes

First an update on the Taina Shawlette:

You may remember this from last week:

I got that far, then turned the page and discovered that I had misunderstood the directions. Then I went and looked at some of the photos of other people's versions of this project and realized what I had done wrong, so I frogged 84 rows. I'm not back to the row number I was on when I found my mistake, but now I understand the instructions. (As I always say, I'm getting to have that fun all over again!)

The second trailer rug is more than halfway done. I put cardboard strips between the two rugs, so with some luck, the borders won't draw in so much. I really need to get a temple.

Bye-bye's eyes arrived, and I sewed them in place. He tells me the world looks very different from 1975, when he lost his eyes. He's a Steiff bear, and these eyes are very close to what he had when he was new.

I cleaned another one of the Fisher Price My Friend dolls. This is Mikey. He was the cleanest of the four dolls, so he was easy to clean up. I used baking soda on a damp washcloth rubbed on his vinyl. Then he went into a lingerie bag and ran through the washer with a load of clothes.

Two more to go!

The proof copy of Emil came. After seeing it printed, I'm thinking of changing the cover. It looks a little plain, when compared with Mariah. I think it's because there's nothing in the background of the photo.

I'm thinking of using this photo of Emil.

I was also disappointed in some of the photos on the inside pages, which came out darker than I expected. I don't know if this is something they can fix when they print the copies or if I need to increase the exposure on the original photos. The printed photo on the left is the same as the photo on my laptop screen, to the right. 

I also discovered that I had accidentally used the wrong font type and size on the credits at the beginning of the book, and one of my chapter titles was a bigger size than I had used elsewhere, including the first book. It will be a lot of work to fix it, but I know I will be happier. I'm really glad I got the proof copy.

Our air quality has been very bad because of the forest fires in our state, but it rained late in the week and Saturday our AQI began to fall.

We were able to go for a walk on Saturday, our first walk in 10 days!

We started out with Rocky in the stroller, but he clearly wanted to get out, and he ended up walking more than half of the way. He has been getting around much better, and he has been off the pain and anti-inflammatory medications for nearly two weeks.

I'm not letting him go out at night without a flashlight and a leash (and someone at the end of the leash), so maybe he won't get injured again.

We finally got a set of matching kitchen chairs. We had two chairs at the table, and they didn't match. These chairs actually fold up, but we think they look nice enough for regular kitchen chairs. Now we won't have to "borrow" chairs from the dining room so more than two can sit in the kitchen.

The choir has been meeting for practice, socially distanced, masked and all vaccinated. Yesterday we sang in person. It's a lot more fun than recording an individual video for someone to put together.

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

What's on my needles: Taina Shawlette.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Mending.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app.

What's in my wine glass: Red Diamond Mysterious, 2016, from Washington State. Another wine with a black label with red trim that I love.

What's my tip of the week: Mask wearing fog up your glasses? A tiny drop of baby shampoo on the inside of the lenses, rubbed around and then wiped off, will help you see clearly.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from booksellers worldwide. If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and that's 50% of the price when you buy there. Other bookseller take a much bigger cut. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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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Happy Birthday, Rocky!

The Which Came First Shawl is inching along. 

I managed to get a few more rows done. I've been working more on the Whole-cloth quilt, but the progress doesn't show much.

I finished the dish-drying mat. Here it is in its appointed workspace.

Here it is in action.

When not in use, it stores nicely on the oven handle.

It took 9 ounces of Peaches 'n Cream yarn held double with US 10 1/2 needles. I have plenty left to make some dish clothes.

Besides knitting and quilting, I finished a couple more sets of letters. These will go to voters in Georgia to encourage them to vote. It's a nonpartisan effort. We aren't asking them to vote for any candidate, just to vote. I guess you could say that this is my workspace.

A friend from church has volunteered to write letters, too, but she doesn't have a printer. I'm printing the letters for her and will teach her how to fill them out and address the letters.

I recorded my part for the next virtual choir "performance." Members of choirs from several other churches are participating, so it should work out better than last time.

The tomatoes are finally producing. They are very tiny (Emil is only 19" tall), but very tasty. Each tomato has as much flavor in its little body as a big tomato has but much more concentrated. Mmmmm! Too bad Emil can't taste them!

Elsie is a little bigger than Emil, but she wouldn't have a problem eating a tomato. She is my honorary granddaughter, because she only has one living grandmother, and her mother is the identical twin of my daughter-in-law, so she's genetically a half-sister of two of my grandsons. She will get a doll from me when she's ready, and she has been wearing sweaters I made for her two older cousins.

Today our Rocky turns sweet sixteen, which is very old in dog years. Here he was at nine weeks, 4 1/2 lbs. in 2004. (Notice the blue nail polish.)

We've had many adventures together, and we will miss him when he's gone, which I'm hoping won't be too soon.

Here he is now. He getting grey. He isn't as frisky as he used to be. He's on two medications, but he still runs and plays and seems to enjoy life, and he gets onto the couch by himself.

Happy birthday, Rocky!

What's on my needles: Still the Which Came First Shawl. A few more rows done.

What's on my sewing machine: Waiting for the next assignment.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. More progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Hair-raising Adventure, Part Two. The boys get their new wigs.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson and also listening to music while I write letters.

What's in my wine glass: Ana Diogo-Draper Tempranillo from Amador County. Excellent.

What's my tip of the week: I have trouble opening and closing the zippers on food packages, because I can't pinch with my thumbs as tightly as I could before I had my surgeries. To open these pesky packages, I often resort to using my hemostat to hold on. For closing, I've discovered that if I lay the package down flat on the counter, I can press it closed with the bowl of a spoon or some other utensil, holding down one end with my hand and starting at the same end, using the utensil to press it closed. Senior-proof packaging!

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.