Go West! Go East!

Well, the trailer rugs are done and on the floor. I finished the rugs with hemstitching on the first night and the next morning and trimmed the fringe to roughly the same length. I've decided that I like having all three of them in the trailer.

They're handy to have, because they collect any dirt or sand that gets tracked in, but they can be shaken out and even washed, if needed. It reduces the need for sweeping.

Our trip to Florence didn't take as long as the last time. It makes a difference when you know where you're going. We got hooked up at the Port of Siuslaw Campgrounds and Marina when we got there. During our stay, we spent the better part of two days at the beach with the dogs. First we went to the one north of town, Hecata Beach, where we went last time, then to one of the parks south of town, South Jetty, which is a fee area, but we were able to use one of our Golden Age Passports (we each have one). Parts of the route to get to the beach were difficult with the stroller because of the deep sand, but we pulled it rather than pushing when the going got difficult, and that worked better. I started the Walk for a Dog app at the first parking lot where we stopped for the rest room, then put it on pause and forgot to start it again until we were partway to the beach. Oops! We still recorded a pretty good walk, though. I think it would have been about a mile. 

Dusty loves the beach, because, with the Chuckit, a person can make the ball go a long way. There is nothing Dusty loves more than to chase a ball. It's fun to watch the ball disappear into nothing with Dusty running after it until he disappears, too, only to return with the ball in his mouth.

Rocky rode in the stroller for most of the "walk," but he got out to wander around on the beach after we got to it. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Interesting smells never lose their appeal, I guess.

He was ready for a snooze on the way back.

Dusty, on the other hand, didn't want to leave. He was having too much fun. He ended up swallowing a lot of sand from carrying the ball, but he got rid of it the next day.

We did manage to wear him out enough for him to appreciate nap time, though.

On Wednesday we took Jim out for lunch to celebrate his birthday, which was in July. He was supposed to be in Bend over that time, but changed his plans because of the excessive heat. We ate at a place called International C-food Market Restaurant (say it out loud, and it makes sense). It was outdoors, of course, or we wouldn't have gone to it, but the weather was very pleasant, so it was especially nice to be outside. They allow dogs in the eating area. Every table has a water bowl, and the waitpersons keep them refilled. In the photo, you can see Dusty under the table and Rocky in his stroller behind Charlie.

I had New England Clam Chowder, which you can get with a salad and toast. Charlie had fish and chips, and Jim had fish tacos.

Our final night for this trip was spent at Three Rivers Casino Resort (still in Florence), where they let you park your RV in their big RV lot overnight for free, just for coming in and registering. To stay longer, you need "points" showing you had participated in the gambling. We stayed in and watched Missing Link, which I had stored on my iPad. I had brought the DVD player that attaches to my laptop, but it was Charlie's job to pick out the DVDs to take, and he forgot, but I had forgotten the pickles, so I think we're even. We hadn't seen "Missing Link" for a while, so it was nice to watch again, and we enjoyed it. (Earlier in the week we watched The Secret Life of Pets, which I also have stored in my iPad.)

We saw a lot of interesting wildlife on this trip, including seagulls, seals and this egret, who was always in this patch of grass. He/she seemed to imply ownership.

The meals were mostly very basic. We had homemade TV dinners for supper two nights, this pizza (a basic Costco frozen cheese pizza embellished with fresh vegetables by me) and some salmon burgers with potato salad I had made ahead of time. 

Breakfast was bagels, bran muffins or cereal. I had brought eggs to cook, but the timing didn't work out for that. Lunch was sandwiches and fruit.

Two of the dolls got to go along, so I could take photos and work it into a story for next week. I handed out a few cards to people with children and dropped off a couple of my books at the Books 'n' Bears in Florence, walking distance from where we were staying for most of the week.

On the way home on Saturday, I discovered this stowaway walking on my leg. I got him onto this piece of used paper towel and gently slipped him into a sandwich bag I had in my pocket for dog poopies. When we got to Sisters to visit the dump station, I released him onto a rock.

I have no idea what kind of bug this is. I hope it isn't a pest.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. 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 our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left 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 the Hinterland Pullover and the emPower People Kerchief. I took the pullover with me and now have a few inches on the first sleeve. The Kerchief is still in hibernation.

What's on my loom: Waiting for...placemats?

What's on my sewing machine: Its cover.

What's in my hoop: Same as always.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Pippa and Pauly find a snake in the garden and ask Emil to come and talk to it for them in A Snake in the Garden.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Come a Little Closer by Rachel Abbott. Barely started and didn't get to listen during the trip.

What's in my wine glass: Monte Planus Breedekloof Pinotage 2020 from South Africa. Yum! At least fresh out of the bottle.

What's my tip of the week: I have a lot of trouble getting the tops off of cooking spray, so once I get them off I leave them off. However, whenever I take it with me when we go camping, I put the top back on, so I don't end up with cooking spray all over the inside of the cabinet in the trailer.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, 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. 

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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Hooray for Lifelines!

Oops!

If you look where the stitch marker is, you will see where I added a quadruple increase where it shouldn't be. I guess this pattern hasn't yet become mindless. The white line below that is the lifeline. I discovered the mistake a little late, but was happy the lifeline was in place. It's faster to re-knit the rows I had to frog than to try to pick up the stitches across the row where the mistake is. Why not just drop down and repair, you ask? Every stitch that didn't belong means extra yarn where it doesn't belong. The only way to get rid of all the extra yarn would be to cut it and weave it in. That's a lot of work, too, and then it might not look as good. But that's what lifelines are for, right? I have reknit the frogged rows without the mistake, moved my lifeline to right above where the mistake had been (using thread this time because I found the cotton yarn a bit too thick), and moved on. The marker now indicates only the center stitch.

After cleaning up my workroom, I sewed some buttons onto Pippa's overalls. The little knots were cute, but very time-consuming to untie and retie with costume changes.

I did a little more "repair" work that had piled up and then got busy making the rest of the clothes for Lotta, Daphne's birthday doll, so I can send her off in style. Pajamas were a necessity, now that she has a nice coat, so I made those next. (The bear will be going with Lotta, too. Pippa still has the tan bear, her special friend.)

I decided Pippa needed some leggings. These are made from some very stretchy exercise-attire fabric I bought the same time as the flannel for the PJs. Once I had the leggings done, I made her a blouse out of some quilting fabric I had. It's the same fabric as Pippa's blouse, but a different colorway. Lotta will get the shoes, too, because they go so well with the leggings.

Pippa had two knitted turtlenecks, because I had to make a second one to test my pattern. I decided to send one with Lotta. I had some denim-look leggings fabric left from a previous project, so I made another pair of leggings for Lotta, this time ankle-length. Pippa will keep her pink trainers. Lotta's shoes are identical, but white.

The blouse looks cute with a pleated skirt, so I made Lotta one like Pippa's, this one in some quilter's cotton fabric in a pattern that looks like fine burlap. I thought the color was perfect to go with the blouse.

It's great to have such a wonderful fabric stash.

My sourdough starter needs to be fed weekly, and I refuse to throw out edible food, so I decided to use some to make pizza dough. One loaf's worth of dough is enough for two pizzas. This one went into the freezer after baking.

This is the one we're eating. (That's chopped fresh basil in the background.)

The AeroGarden is coming along nicely. We've been using the salad greens, but the tomatoes aren't ready yet, as you can see.

Here's another view. I think we will have a lot of little tomatoes, once they start ripening.

We went to the dog park twice this week, including a visit on Friday right before the pups went to the groomer. They slept pretty much all day Saturday, and here they are Sunday afternoon, still tired. 

We had sleet for about an hour during the afternoon.

There was some accumulation. It looks as if someone opened up a giant beanie baby.

This week's story was the 150th story in The Doll's Storybook. I'm trying to figure out what to put into the next physical book.

What's on my needles: The Brioche Shawl Feathers Shawl, continuing progress.

What's on my sewing machine: Sleep mask for Lotta.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: You and Me. Jolena gets Mariah's help with a homework assignment that's supposed to prepare her for an English test.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Cornwalls Are Gone by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois. Now listening to Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor.

What's in my wine glass: Sangiovese Negroamaro.

What's my tip of the week: Yukon Gold or Finnish potatoes can be used for any recipe that calls for russet potatoes, but for most purposes, you can get away with not peeling them before cooking. They usually require little or no scrubbing. Great time-saver!

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. 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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Fiber Fantasies and Teeth

Ready for Tour de Fleece!

This year it starts on July 6th. I plan to spin a little each day the "Tour" is on. I started last year and had to drop out, because we had our house on the market and my life was bedlam. I'm going to try to finish what I started. It's a Merino/Tencel blend from AlohaBlu in "The Frog Prince," in homage to the Ravelry group, The Frog Prince and His Knitting Community Orphans, which was begun to replace the KnitPicks Knitting Community when it closed down because it was taken over by pirates...I mean spammers.

My wheel is a Kromski Sonata named Stanzi, after Mozart's wife. She (my wheel, not Mozart's wife) has a special flyer called a WooLee Winder. The flyer that came with the wheel had hooks or teeth. I had to stop periodically and move the spun yarn from one hook to the next. This type of flyer has a travel screw that moves the spun yarn automatically, which makes for smoother yarn.

My WooLee Winder is primed with this much to start, when the "Tour" begins next Saturday. I hope to finish the 100g this year. This is how much I got done last year:

Need I say, I haven't done any spinning since the "Tour" began last year. I hope to remedy that this week!

Mandy, who has no teeth, finished the cardigan she was "making" to go with her dress. The sweater and dress come together in a pattern by Sharisse Dunn of Sugar Grove South. The pattern is called Church Picnic.

It was otherwise a busy week. We picked up our hearing aids at Pacific Northwest Audiology on Monday. We have already made the first payment, even though we could have waited. I already forget that I'm wearing them. There has been no change to the tinnitus yet, but that can take a while, and they have some programs that can be used if needed. We go back again in two more weeks. I do notice rustling paper and plastic, as well as the tires of bicycles on the trail before someone has to yell something for us to get out of the way. I can make adjustments with my cell phone, so I'm learning a new technology, as well as getting in the habit of cleaning my hearing aids every night and putting them on again in the morning after I shower.

Dusty was scheduled to have his teeth cleaned on Wednesday of this week, but the vet called us Friday night and asked if we could do it Saturday, as they had had an emergency cancellation. We could, so Dusty went in for the better part of the day. Here he is getting some needed (!) affection from Alex, the technician at Alpine Veterinary Clinic here in Bend prior to his procedure.

Here he is allowing the vet to show of his pearly whites when we picked him up. (That's Rocky in the background checking to see who else had been there since we dropped Dusty off at 9:00 AM.) No extractions needed. Dusty gets his teeth brushed every night at bedtime. Miniature poodles are prone to tartar buildup, so it's important to take care of their teeth. Rocky had his teeth cleaned about the same age and not since. He probably should have his done sometime in the next six months while he's still in good health. When he's older and possibly has age-related conditions it may not be possible to have a cleaning.

While Dusty was having his teeth cleaned, Rocky and I went out for our walk. I was thinking Dusty might not feel like putting in two miles after being knocked out for part of the day. I had planned on going to the end of the regular trail and back, as usual, but Rocky had other ideas. He insisted on going to the dog park. When we got to the street that leads to the park, he dug in his heels and wouldn't continue on the trail. Instead, he tried to drag me up the street, so I gave in. He had a nice romp with some other dogs, and then happily came home with me. We managed to put in two miles.

After we picked up Dusty, we stayed at home for several hours, and then Dusty told us he wanted to go for a walk, so Rocky and I did a second two-mile trek. Dusty was calmer than usual, but otherwise back to normal.

On the way back, we took the trail that leads into the wilderness on the other side of the trail. That made it possible for the dogs to be off-leash for a bit.

Here's our route, using the Walk for a Dog app.

Here's the app's history page for us. If you look closely, you can see that the extra two miles brought us up to over 54 miles in the past 30 days. I'm aiming for 60, which should be possible at two miles a day. It's a little complicated, because every day, we lose the walk we had 30 days previously. If we didn't walk, we don't lose anything. If we only walked around the block, we don't lose as much.

After Sunday's walk, I'm up to 55.26 miles, having gained two and lost one from May 31st.This is helping me regain my fitness, which had diminished due to some health problems and the strain of the move, which had made exercise difficult. It's good to be moving again.

Our new home continues to offer us surprises. This week's was the bushes on the side of the garage. Friends online have identified this as a rhododendron. I think I really need a touch of this with some dark purple in a quilt or a sweater.

When I look at them, I think of that song, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody." I wonder what surprises our yard still has to offer. At least these are good surprises.

Saturday night we sunk our teeth into this pizza. We get the cheese pizzas frozen at Costco. They have almost nothing on them. Then I doctor them up. This one has thinly sliced zucchini, pickled garlic, sweet peppers, red onion, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, green olives, crumbled faux sausage and fresh basil. Here it is before it went into the oven.

Here's how it looked when it came out. (It didn't shrink. I cropped out the ugly pan in the photo above.)

While we're on the subject of teeth, Zachary lost a tooth last week.

The other two grandsons, Soren and Johan, got together with their cousin Leo, who had just returned from living in Moscow (the one in Russia, not Idaho) and played with something called Ginormous Grow Frogs. Here they are showing off their teeth. (That glass of white wine in front of Leo isn't his. It belongs to DDIL, who was taking the photo.)

This week's story combined some photos taken during our visit to the northern part of the state a few weeks ago. I had to bake some bread to make sandwiches, so the dolls could have a picnic. Mandy used my cell phone to find pictures of animals to share with her younger siblings.

Finally, I made some progress on the shawl I started more than a year ago, the Coastal Skies.



What's on my needles: Coastal Skies shawl, using the pattern Knockout Round.

What's on my sewing machine: Still costumes for the cast of The Doll's Storybook.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. No progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Myrtle the Turtle. Mariah and Billy learn about turtles, frogs, limericks and more from Mandy during a picnic in a state park.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Murder at Archly Manor by Sara Rosett. Now listening to The Wicked Godmother by M. C. Beaton.

What's in my wine glass: Rosario Estate's Viñas Chilenas Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, vintage 2018.

What's my tip of the week: Don't buy peaches in June unless you plan to cook them. Another tip: I have a great recipe for Peach Crisp.

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.

Walls

We don't have a lot of wall space in this house.

I like the walls for "hosting" some of the quilts from my collection. My "Peggy's Sistine Chapel" quilt (pattern from Mary Sorensen "Delectable Pathways") is finally up on the wall, but not where I had planned. I wanted to put it up over the stairs, but DH says it's too close to time to move to go through the trouble of using a ladder on the stairs. However, little Johan had pulled down the quilt I had on the wall in the hallway, and I hadn't put it up again, so it seemed like the perfect solution. Here's a closeup.

All the appliqué is needleturn, and the quilting is hand. The Delectable Mountain blocks are paper-pieced by machine, but the pattern has regular piecing as an option, and there is an identical but smaller version, in case you want to go to all the work but not end up with something so big (59" X 79" for the larger size, or 38" X 51" for the smaller size). Mary has some great DVDs that teach needleturn appliqué. Her website is maryappliques.com.

The reason there isn't a lot of wall space is because we have so many windows. My friend Cleo has spent her "life" surrounded by walls of glass, so her walls are entirely windows.

You may have seen Cleo in photos of the dolls. She's just the right size for them.

Cleo is a paperweight. (Remember when we used to need those?) She was given to me about 1952 by Aunt Gertrude, a lady in her 90s who used to tell me tales of her youth, which included a story about riding four horses, all at once, through the streets of Paris.

After her life as a paperweight, Cleo was a pet for a succession of well-loved dolls. The Götz girls love her. She was named after the goldfish in Pinocchio.

Aunt Gertrude was a special friend. She often invited us to the Hotel Vendome, where she lived, in Boston, for dinner on Sundays after church. We would eat vichyssoise and use finger bowls and cloth napkins. Sometimes I would order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (not really on the menu), and the waiter would arrive with it on a silver platter with a silver lid over it. He always had a cloth napkin over his arm, and he would unveil my sandwich for me by lifting the lid and winking at me, grinning with his teeth sparkling white against his almost ebony skin. He called me, “Madmoiselle!” 

Along the lines of food, we had pizza at The Pie in Salt Lake City before going to see Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Pioneer Theater Wednesday evening.

The walls at The Pie are decorated with graffiti, some of which you can see behind our pizza. We're going to miss the theater and opera here when we move...and the pizza.

Speaking of moving—and walls—here's a look at where my loom used to be.

We plan to get one of those pod things to fill up with our stuff and have hauled away to Bend. Then we can live in our house like in a hotel with cooking privileges while we show the house to prospective buyers. I took another load to stuff down to Savers in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Tuesday I'm taking a load of quilting magazines to Davidene's Quilt Shop. We plan to have a garage sale.

With all the moving stuff, some of the residents have come out of hiding. This little guy was probably living in our walls.

Lotte says, "That's OK. We can read the book together."

While cleaning up the living room, I decided I should host Common Threads one last time. Margareth was working on this appliqué project...for the wall.

She plans to take my schefflera plant, which is huge. She has a vaulted ceiling. Lynda left with my Thanksgiving cactus and one of our cacti.

What's on my needles: Still the Coastal Skies, a little more progress made.

What's on my Featherweight: Still fabric and miscellaneous things to sort through.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, but a lot of progress made this week.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is put away but this week I added some fiber (“Frog Prince” from AlohaBlu) for Tour de Fleece, just in case I’m where I can spin when it’s time. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz, with the next one in the series due out soon.

What's in my wine glass: Bolla Romagna Sangiovese 2015, good with spaghetti and other Italian food.

What's my tip of the week: There are few things more disconcerting than needing toilet paper and there's only one sheet on the roll. Rather than nag family members to replace the paper, I like to keep an extra roll handy on the back of the toilet. When that one is installed, I get another one to replace it first opportunity.

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.