The Adventures of Sisters in the Spirit

Dorothy Alexander and Gabrielle Tonner cordially invite you to attend the birthday party for their friend Daphne Jr.’s Uncle Zachary, who turns four on April 8, 2016.

Here are Dolly and Gabi, seeing how they look in their new aprons. I raided my quilting stash to find fabric to coordinate with their outfits. The pattern was here.

The website is closed, but the pattern is available until the domain runs out. It says that patterns from this website are available on Craftsy.

Dolly and Gabi have a lot of cooking to do.

I must confess, I thought they were looking at a cookbook, but it was actually a quilting book. Guess they were talking about their next quilting project while they were baking the cake.

With the food ready, it’s time for the girls to put the finishing touches on their party attire. (We’re wearing lots of purls; let’s wear our pearls!)

Was that the doorbell? Welcome to our party, everyone!

(They asked me to tell you that both dresses are based on this pattern. I knit them as written except that I eliminated all the seams except setting in the sleeves, one seam down the center back of the skirt and the shoulders on Dolly’s. Gabi’s was designed to have only the two shoulder seams. Can you tell I don’t care for sewing up?)

Here’s a recent photo of the young man they were honoring:

Happy birthday, Zachary!

Common Threads met this week. We had a small, but cozy group. We are sort of “Sisters of the Spirit.“ Georgette had fixed a real breakfast: french toast and fruit with yoghurt.

Karan had finished her Fair Isle scarf in Easter colors.

She told us she did the scarf because she wanted to try Fair Isle (good job, Karan) but didn't want to make something big, like a sweater. (Seriously, Karan?) Fair Isle in cotton isn't easy. The puckers are hard to block out, and she doesn't have puckers.

I worked on my "Sistine Chapel." Lynda was working on a sock. Kathleen is knitting the same scarf. (I think she only works on it during our Common Threads meetings. Georgette modeled the dress she bought for her son's wedding, so we could advise her about the length. (It was fine.) She's started another needlepoint project. I'll try to get a photo when she has more of it done.

Speaking of "sisters," The Frog Prince group on Ravelry is moving along. As I write this, we're up to nearly 60 members. We're opening discussions comparable to the KALs on the soon-to-end Knitting Community. I'm trying to add a few tips a day from the "Tips and Tricks for New Knitters" discussion in the Learn to Knit KAL. We will try to include tips for experienced knitters/crocheters/weavers/spinners as well as new knitters.

Well, maybe not "sisters" plural, but Rocky's sister, Sunny, is shown here getting her lunch during our first real hike of the season, at "The Living Room," a viewpoint overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. (Yes, we hiked up from Salt Lake.)

What's on my needles: Still hand-quilting the “Delectable Pathways” quilt. Working on the Aran sweater for Daphne Jr. and socks.

What's on my Featherweight: Finished aprons for the dolls, and jeans and a cowboy shirt for Dolly. Ready to start on the I-spy quilt for Johan.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Lady at Willowgrove Hall by Sarah Ladd. Now listening to Saint Odd by Dean Koontz. Still reading A Lady of High Regard by Tracie Peterson on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Corbett Canyon Merlot. Always a nice choice.

What's my tip of the week: Doll clothes are easier to make if you line the smaller pieces instead of making facings. You don't have to save fabric, after all. I learned this on the Red Riding Hood dirndl, and used it for the aprons.

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.

Dog Days of Summer

Vintage Stitchers met at Marilyn's. She met us at the door wearing this apron Barbara made for her:

She was working on a quilt for fall that will include this machine-appliquéd pumpkin block: 

Rebecca is using some lovely fabrics to make a Drunkard's Path quilt using the hand-appliqué method.

Carol didn't like her Dresden Plate blocks, so she cut them into squares for this table runner:

Julie has been working on a Storm at Sea quilt, but it's for someone else, so she did't want me to publish a photo. You'll just have to image it huge, but without the borders Eleanor Burns used in her version.

I finished my Uintas Shawl. Here's what it looked like hot off the needles:

Here it is blocking: 

My Ravelry project page is here. I wrote up extensive notes about the project, and they're on that page, if you decide to make this shawl. The pattern, Washington Park Shawl, is available through Ravelry. It was designed by Debbi Stone for the Rose City Yarn Crawl in March, and presented as a mystery KAL. My DDIL2 gave me the pattern as a gift. I picked some Knit Picks Palette from my stash. I chose Sky and Whirlpool, two skeins of each. Although they were different dye lots, it didn't matter in this project. You could make this using four different colors, although I only had 2 g left from the ball I used for the border, cutting it rather close to finish with one 50 g ball of yarn. It ended up 65" wide and 24.5" from the top to the tip of one of the points close to the center.

In family news, our Sunny celebrated Dog Day last week by pretending to be a cat. She caught and tried to eat the mouse we have been trying to evict from our house all summer. The mouse (not in photo) was not available for comment, as it died at the scene, but we were able to keep Sunny from eating it. From now on, our girl dog will be known by her Native American/Chinese name: Mousie-Tongue.

And today (August 31st) is our Rocky's 11th birthday. Happy birthday, Rocky!

What's on my needles: Pink Monkey Socks, Fair Isle Flower Socks. Maybe this week I'll CO the March of the Fiber Animals Cardigan for DH. September 1st is my goal for CO. 

What's on my Featherweight: First Ladies Quilt. Still.

What's on my wheel: Languishing.

What's on my loom: Multi-scrap scarf, no progress since before the trip.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Georgette Heyer's Penhallow, one of her mysteries. The victim was so evil, I wanted to kill him myself. No happy-ever-after for anyone, but delicious dark humor. Then I listened to Gerald and Elizabeth by D. E. Stevenson, one of my favorite authors. I read the book years ago, but had forgotten how it went. A delightful story. Now listening to Mercedes Lackey's Blood Red. All of these were from Audible. Finished James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's Private in iBooks. It was very good. Now reading Restless Hearts by Mona Ingram on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Beringer's Pinot Grigio, a nice choice for hot weather.

What's my tip of the week: Need a design wall you can put away when you aren't using it? I use a queen-size Warm & Natural batt with a hem at the top and bottom for battens that can be used to support and keep the batt flat. I hook the top batten over hooks on a closet in my work room. When not in use, it can be rolled up and stored. You don't need to use pins for small blocks, especially if you aren't walking by closely. Not all quilt batting holds together this well, so be careful in your choice.

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.