Spring at Last

Last week found me quilting again.

All the cutting is done and I've finished 11 of the 24 pieced blocks for BS2's baby quilt. It will have one appliqué block depicting a little horse, to represent the baby' shorthand year, "Year of the Horse." The blocks are from the quilt "Twin Stars" from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. I'm not using a jelly roll, though. All the fabrics except the background came from my rather sizable stash. The background fabric came from Davidene's Quilt Shop in Park City, Utah.

The first sleeve of the Mary Tudor cardigan is moving along. All the Increases are finished and just one more pattern repeat to go before the cap shaping. (I'm using Palette fingering weight yarn.)

We had a fifth Thursday, so there was no Vintage Stitchers or Common Threads. Joanie decided to host a special "Fifth Thursday" group for a few knitting friends. Here Kay is showing us the scarves she has been working on.

We had an interesting week other than my fiber fun. Monday we had a visit from of young (maybe two years old) bull moose.

He pruned our wild roses for us. No charge! (Note: Moose are large, dangerous animals. They can kick and stomp, causing injury or death. Do not approach a moose unless there is a barrier between you and the moose, as was the case in this photo.)

We also hiked Toll Canyon, which is close to our home. It has nice hiking trails and a year-round stream that provides water for the pups.

We hiked to the "Living Room" on Friday. This trail provides a great view of Salt Lake City. It got its name because flat rocks have been arranged like couches and chairs overlooking the view. Someone even made a "remote" out of another flat rock, only small, with the buttons marked with felt marker. Sunset is a good time to come here. It's a serious uphill climb, although there's no rock scrambling involved.

There were some beautiful wild flowers along the trail, like this penstemon:

and this wild rose:

What's on my needles: Mary Tudor cardigan, working on the sleeves.

What's on my Featherweight: BS2's baby quilt, 11 blocks done. Also Delectable Pathways, still waiting to finish hand appliqué.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotsen from Audible. I'm so glad I discovered this author. Now I'm listening to A Kiss before Dying (not dyeing, which sounds like more fun) the first novel written by Ira Levin, who wrote Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives (also the play "Death Trap," which we saw recently at Pioneer Theater). I got this audiobook from Audible as one of its Daily Deal offerings, which has introduced me to some new authors. I've finished reading Debbie Macomber's Friends and Then Some in iBooks from Book Bub and am deciding on a new book to read.

What's my app of the week: iRadio. This feature (similar to Pandora) is great when I'm working on a project that requires more concentration, making an audiobook impractical.

What's in my wine glass: Fisheye Shiraz 2013. The big bottle, as always, nice value.

What's my tip of the week:  I learned this from someone on the Knitting Community and plan to use it on my next colorwork project. If you turn your project inside-out, you can knit on the right side and keep the stranding on the outside. This keeps the floats from pulling in and making the knitting puckered.

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.