Life Goes On

Johan’s I-spy quilt top is finished:

I dropped it off at the quilter and picked up my “Seeing Stars,” based on Connecting Threads’ kit “Clara’s Journey.”

Now I’m working on sewing on the binding. There were some nice quilts at Vintage Stitchers, but my phone died before I got there, so I don’t have any photos. I have stopped taking my camera, because my phone takes better photos. A quick stop at a nearby Simply Mac after the meeting put it to rights again. I should be able to fix it myself next time.

Common Threads met on May 3rd. Margareth brought this great weaving project for show-and-tell.

The second bobbin of Full Circle singles I started for the first The Frog Prince and the Knitting Community Orphans Spin-in was finished...

...and the two bobbins plied.

The Vicenza Shawl is almost done. I'm using Knit Picks Hawthorn in "Lovejoy."

The first performance of Beethoven’s Ninth went well. I somehow managed to get home in time to get ready and then meet up with my carpool. Sunday night we had another dress rehearsal in a new location. We’ll have performances the next two nights. 

The Knitting Community closed down. It was sad, but we will always have our memories, and the new Ravelry group The Frog Prince and the Knitting Community Orphans.

Daphne’s birthday was Saturday. It’s hard to believe she’s already six! Saturday was going to be filled with dance rehearsals and other kids’ birthday celebrations, so we had FaceTime on Friday. Both Daphne and Zachary were delighted with the little clothes for Daphne Jr., as well as the bed, chair and ottoman. Daphne was mostly offstage during our visit, but I got this screen shot of Zachary trying out the chair.

Most of the week was spent reflecting on Sunny’s life and what she brought to others. I know we need to spend some time grieving, and we’re allowing ourselves time to do that. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of sympathy and empathy from friends and family, both in person, through the mail and online. 

Some of the most important lessons in life I've learned from my dogs. Every dog I've had in my life has taught me something. I think that’s one reason dogs don’t live as long as humans. We need experience with at least several dogs over time to learn the lessons we need to learn about ourselves, our interaction with others and life in general.

From Sunny, I've learned (among other things) the following:

Life is short; greet every new day with joy and enthusiasm.

Greet everyone who arrives at your home as if he/she were an old friend you haven't seen in years, but bark at them if they walk by without coming in, especially if they have a dog with them.

No matter how fast you wag your tail, it will not fly off your butt.

You will never run out of kisses, no matter how many you give away, but only give them to those who appreciate them.

Work to keep your pack together.

Every side is your good side.

Kibble. Yum!

Dishes should always be prerinsed before they go into the dishwasher.

Here's just a little of what I've learned from Rocky:

People food is better than dog food.

There's nothing like a cuddle on the couch or a view of the street while sitting on the porch with a friend.

Always come when you hear "carrot."

A ball thrown to the middle of the pond must be retrieved, but on land, you just have to show your humans where it landed. They will pick it up.

Looking before you leap is greatly overrated. The joy of soaring through the air is worth the risk of what's on the other side of that log.

Dishes should always be prerinsed before they go into the dishwasher. Preferably with a friend to help.

We will never be able to replace Sunny; every dog is unique, and the variations in personality seem even greater in poodles. However, Sunny will have a successor when we recover financially and when we are ready to give our time to a puppy. 

As if life couldn't get any more complicated, on Sunday, after leaving the opera on our way to drop me off at rehearsal for Beethoven's Ninth, this happened:

Just one of those things. No one was hurt, fortunately, but both cars probably totaled. The blame was probably evenly divided between the drivers.

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

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vicenza-lace-shawl 

What's on my Featherweight: Waiting for the next project.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

What's in my wine glass: Lindemann’s Cawarra Shiraz-Cabernet 2014. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: When making a 4-patch or 9-patch, alternating straight of grain and width of fabric patches will make the block more uniformly flexible, in case you have to ease to fit other pieces. Of course, the pattern on the fabric doesn’t always allow it to get the effect you want, but when it does, it can make life easier.

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.

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.

Blocks, Boxes and Boxtrolls

There has been lots of progress since my last regular blog post. The latest quilt top finished:


The border gave me a little excitement. This is what I had planned:


It would have been fine, but after cutting out most of the pieces for the outer border, I discovered...oops!...the "2.88" on the remnant tag was the price, not the yardage. It was Monday, and Davidene's (our local quilt shop) was closed, so I made a quick trip to Elaine's Quilt Block in Salt Lake City, "quick" being relative. I came up with this.


Elaine's has a great selection, and their staff is so knowledgeable and helpful. This was one of the fabrics a staff member pulled out for me to try. I wanted a similar color to the first fabric, and a pattern that would disguise the seams required to make the notches.

I've decided to call the new quilt "Crystal Stars." (I was going to call it "Ocular Migraine," which DH thought was perfect, but I that was rather negative for such a pretty quilt.) Friday I picked up backing for it, this time at Davidene's.


The backing reminds me of toffee. The top is based on Connecting Threads "Sumptuous" quilt kit. The colors in the kit don't exactly go with my bedroom, and it wasn't available as a pattern, so I reverse-engineered it from photos. Most of the fabrics are from Connecting Threads, though, so I don't feel too guilty about copying. If I had it to do over, however, I would have made the double Flying Geese (the ones that point at each other) as quarter-square-triangle units. These are the units I used:

There were also some plain blocks.

The Habitat For Humanity quilt went off to the Overall Ball, held Saturday night:


The label on the back ended up looking nice:


I haven't heard what it went for, but the person who invited us to make it ended up with it. She said someone from out-of-town was bidding on it, and she couldn't have it leave Park City! They were going to have a professional photographer there to take photos. I'll post one if they share them with me..

In knitting news, I've made two squares for an afghan some of us are making for Susan's family:


Knitters/crocheters, there's still time to participate, if you want. My Mr. Foster is also coming along. I caught him monkeying around, even though his brain is still just a bag of fluff in my knitting bag. Not that all that fluff will make much difference.

I had a rough time with the mouth, but cherylbwaters on the Knitting Community had posted a link to a video by Cat Bordhi showing how to do a wrap-and-turn (W&T) that's less visible.

Tuesday I got to chauffeur Joanie around. She had a hair appointment and also wanted to visit a friend who was in the hospital (the one who usually drives her around). We stopped in at the Wool Cabin to make some small purchases.


I picked up some yarn to augment my leftovers that will be used to make a couple of bunnies from the patterns from Little Cotton Rabbits. You can see some of the FOs from their line of patterns on the left wall in the photo. There's an elephant, a fox and a bunny. (We also both fell in love with the Aran pullover on the wall!)

Vintage Stitchers met at my house last week. Barbara had this cute baby quilt:


Marilyn and Brenda had taken a class using their embroidery machines. They made tissue-box covers. The stitching reminded me of Sashiko. Here's Marilyn doing a Boxtroll imitation:


Common Threads met at my house the following week. (I'm trying to do my hosting duty before the snow falls and we can't park our cars on the road in our neighborhood.) Ginny showed off this skirt she made as a gift for a dance teacher.


Sunday we had the Blessing of the Animals in honor of the Feast Day of St. Francis. Rocky and Sunny bless us in so many ways, so they deserve a blessing. All the nonhuman participants this year were canines, so it was a Dog Day Afternoon for all of us.

We got to use our fireplace for the first time this season. Rocky says it's sweater time, and he's enjoying the sweater I made for him for last winter:


We went to see DS2's film "The Boxtrolls" the day it opened. I'm biased, of course, but I think it's the best movie Laika has produced so far. Great for kids and adults, with good messages throughout. Some critics have said it was too scary. For them, perhaps, but several friends of mine who took grandkids as young as five said the kids were excited, but not scared. Here's a photo of the crew. DS2 is on the far left in a lime green jacket.

We stayed for the credits, of course. It's blurry, but if you find the longest title (left side), DS2's name is to the right of that. His title is listed as "Senior Technical Director."

However, this is the best thing he has produced so far, IMHO. (Also our DDIL2, who, I assume, was taking the photo.)

(Our sons love their mother so much, one of them married a quilter and the other married a knitter. Like our daughter, also a knitter, they're so much fun to talk to and share ideas with. Lucky me!)


What's on my needles: Progress on my Mr. F.

What's on my Featherweight: The backing to the Crystal Stars quilt.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listened to The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. (I kept seeing Bogie, Greenstreet and Lorre in their respective parts.) Just started listening to Julie Klassen's The Dancing Master. Still reading Joseph Lallo's The Book of Deacon from Book Bub.

What's my app of the week: BackTube. I haven't had much time with it yet, but you can download videos (like quilting and knitting) from YouTube and play back over and over offline. There's some advertising, but otherwise it seems to do what it's supposed to do.

What's in my wine glass: Trader Joe's Petite Reserve Merlot 2011. I've rarely had a bad wine form TJ's, and this was as good as it gets.

What's my tip of the week: Nothing takes out a stain caused by red wine like a slosh of white wine. While we're on it, if you're quilting and prick your finger, you can get the dabs of blood out with your own spit. (Only if it's your blood, so I hear.)

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.