Making Memories

Because a special knitter is visiting, I cast on a shawl we were both planning to make:

The pattern is the Silverleaf Shawl, and the special knitter is our DDIL, visiting with our son and the boys. Here's what it's supposed to look like when finished:

We've been having a fun weekend. They're leaving this afternoon to go home. We had some nice weather on Saturday, so we decided to go for a hike along the river. On the way to the trail, we had to stop for one of the locals.

We were in two cars. Our son and DDIL were ahead of us and took the photo. People are very good about stopping for deer and geese here. We have lots of both.

After we parked and started on the trail, the younger grandson spotted the playground across the bridge and wanted to go play for a bit first. They had some fun.

We had some nice views along the trail, like this view of the river and the geese feeding.

Lots of people were out walking, because it had been raining and now the weather was nice, besides having days off for the Memorial Day weekend. We walked 2.37 miles in an hour and 45 minutes, not counting the play time, when I had my Walk for a Dog app on pause.

The kids were planning to visit a local friend and have lunch with them, so they left after the hike, and we took the pups to the dog park associated with the trail. They both had a good time, but Dusty especially enjoyed himself, because he found someone to throw the ball and some real competition for going after it! He managed to outrun the thrower's ball and outmaneuver the man's dog (to the right in the photo) every time.

Dusty had a lot of fun playing with the grandsons. Here he is with the older one, playing in the family room.

You can see the toy still in the air in the second photo.


Earlier in the week I finished the doll sweater I was making. Now I have a couple of people testing the pattern. I'm planning to make a slightly shorter version with a little lower front neckline and two garter stitch rows between the pattern and the stockinette stitch shoulders. Here's the latest finished cardigan.

This week's story in "The Doll's Storybook" was "Paper Fun."

The dolls come back from a walk to find out they have been locked out. They amuse themselves with some paper in the recycling bin left on the porch.

Sunday night we roasted some vegetables for tostadas. It was nice having a sous chef.

Tostada shells spread with refried beans, sprinkled with shredded cheese and a little salsa with the roasted veggies on top made for a great supper dish.

What's on my needles: The Silverleaf Shawl.

What's on my sewing machine: Waiting.

What's in my hoop: The Whole Cloth Quilt. No work this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Paper Fun." The dolls find they are locked out of the house. What do they do while waiting to be let in?

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to A Lady Unrivaled, by Roseanna M. White. Now I'm on A Name Unknown by the same author. It isn't one of the previous series.

What's in my wine glass: Lots of things because of company, but the latest is David Hill "Milan's Block" Pinot Noir 2017, a local wine. Extremely nice, but a little more expensive than most of our options.

What's my tip of the week: If you grind your own coffee, you can save time and load up the coffee pot with less mess if you use a measuring cup to measure the beans. A 1/2 cup measure will make 8 cups, 1/4 cup of coffee beans will make 4. One of each will make 12 cups.

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.

Growing Older or Not

We had an important birthday this past week. Daphne and Zachary had rehearsals for their dance recitals on Tuesday, so she had her cake on Sunday.

Opening presents came after rehearsals, so it was already bedtime, but the doll was a hit, as you can see:

"Marie" was immediately renamed "Elizabeth." The little wardrobe was a hit, too.

Elizabeth got her pajamas on when Daphne was ready to go to bed.

It was a big thrill for Daphne to have a doll who is also a dancer, and the fairy costume is delightful. Meanwhile, Grandma continues with her second childhood.

It was a busy week, with trying to get some walks in while the weather was nice and taking the pups to the groomer.

The cardigan I was working on for Jolena turned out to be a bit snugger than I had planned. (Did she grow?)

Since this is a pattern I plan to share, I decided to go up a needle size and make another one.

It's hard to tell the difference, because it still needs blocking after the rest of the body is finished, but it's going to be a bit bigger.

We have been looking at colors for our house, which will be painted in August. We picked a colorway from a house a block away (right) and found a paint combo online that was similar (left). Now we just need to find the paint samples to go with it.

I'm trying to get a bit ahead on the stories in The Doll's Storybook, because DS2 and his family plan to come for Memorial Day. I hope the weather is nice again. It has rained all weekend. The story from Friday involves an experiment to show how the sun works to move water from the oceans to the clouds, so it can rain, and a useful way to use the sun to get fresh water from salt water.

I also set up a Facebook page for The Doll's Storybook, so people who are on Facebook can find the stories easily.

The H-word is in my plans for this week. (It's OK to feel sorry for me. It has to be done sometime.)


What's on my needles: The blue cardigan, pattern in development

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Sunshine in the Rain." Mandy explains how the sun causes it to rain and using the sun's power to take the salt out of salt water.


What's on my sewing machine: Wardrobe items for the cast.

What's in my hoop: The Whole Cloth Quilt.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to The Lost Heiress: Ladies of the Manor, by Roseanna M. White. Then listened to the finale of Dean Koontz's Jane Hawk series, The Night Window and Roseanna M. White's The Reluctant Duchess. Now listening to the sequel to that book, the third in the series––I have to find out how it comes out––A Lady Unrivaled.

What's in my wine glass: Motto's Backbone Cabernet Sauvignon 2014. A new one for us; very nice.

What's my tip of the week: When hiking in the heat, a spray bottle with plain water can be useful. Spray it on yourself if you get too warm, or on the dogs if they like it.

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.

Finishes

It's done!

I finished in just under 20 years. It could have been done in under six months, except for those "Oh, Look! A Chicken!" moments that got me sidetracked. The fabrics are the "The Language of Flowers" line of fabrics by Susan Branch from Quilters Only by Spring. I started this by buying the fabric in 1999, but small cuts of some of them can still be found on Etsy and perhaps other places. I had seen the pattern and fabric in an episode of “Simply Quilts” with Alex Anderson. The only things I did differently were to add the four appliqué blocks in place of the blank setting squares and to add the borders. For the appliqué, I used a pattern I found in Patricia Cox’s book American Quilt Classics. That quilt was called "Spring Bouquet" and was a kit that came out about 1930. I photocopied the bouquet motif and blew it up to the size I needed, then made templates from the photocopy. I worked on the appliqué blocks from 2001-2004. I put off doing the piecing of the Lemoyne Star blocks until I could be sure I could get the points to match in the center. After trying many different methods, I elected to hand-piece, using Jenny Beyer's methods.  

I had bought enough of the central fabric for the backing and had enough to piece it so the seams don't show, matching the motifs. Here's a sample of the fabric:

It has been in and out of my quilting hoop ever since. The only machine stitching in the quilt is the front side of the binding, and that only because I just wanted to get it done. It is 100% cotton and ended up 87" square after washing and drying, shrinking a little over 5%. I plan to use it on the living room wall during the Spring and Summer, switching back to the Pine Burr quilt for Fall and Winter.

Speaking of "Spring Flowers" and "The Language of Flowers," we were surprise by flowers this week. When we first saw the house last September, there were some Johnny Jump-ups in the front flower beds, and some in the lawn (!), but no other flowers.

This week we discovered this out in front:

It's our neighbor's tree, but we see it out the corner windows of the living room. It's very pretty, but we don't have to clean up after it when it drops its petals or leaves.

We also have this flowering bush next to the front porch stairs:

Then there's this in front of the living room windows:

There are beautiful flowering trees all over the neighborhood, visible from almost every window, but none in our yard, which would require upkeep from us.

Remember our new RV driveway and pad? DH had to move a raised bed that was in the way, and he discovered some strawberry plants coming up in the bed. He transplanted them to the other side of the yard, where they are doing well.

He also planted two fruit trees, and apple and a cherry. Each has various varieties grafted onto the tree, so we will eventually have several varieties of each fruit.

While I was busy in the fiber studio, sewing the binding and a sleeve on the Spring Flowers quilt, my cast of characters watched me work. I call them "free-range dolls," because they can be anywhere in the house.

This week's story required another trip to the trail, where Jolena and Mariah rode their bicycles and talked about fasting for Lent and Ramadan. I got some use out of the bicycles.

The story is called, "Going Hungry."

My next quilting job is to finish hand-quilting my whole cloth quilt. DH bought the pre-marked top for me by Benartex from Keepsake Quilting. It's the Welsh Beauty pattern. 

Like so many things, I started it, worked on it for awhile and then got distracted by other projects. I have quite a bit of it done, though. More than I thought. this is the center motif.

I'm also working on a doll cardigan I'm designing. It will have cables separated by rows of lace pattern.

On Saturday, we took the dogs to the dog park and then walked them a few hours later, because it was so nice out and we needed exercise, too. It really tired them out.

(This is why I have to sit in the rocker instead of on the couch.) We try to walk every day when the weather is nice enough.

Zachary got a haircut. I think it makes him look older and amazingly like Daddy.

We also had this shot of Daphne, whose birthday is tomorrow:

She looks amazingly like our daughter. Kids do grow up, don't they?

Meanwhile, it has been getting warm here, and the younger grandkids and their dog have been enjoying the sprinkler in the backyard.

What's on my needles: The yellow Cables and Chains Cardigan for Jolena.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Going Hungry." The dolls discuss fasting for religious reasons compared with not eating because there isn't enough food.

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

What's in my hoop: The Welsh Beauty whole cloth quilt.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to The Lost Heiress: Ladies of the Manor, by Roseanna M. White. Now listening to A Splendid Defiance by Stella Riley.

What's in my wine glass: Révélation Cabernet-Merlot Pays d'Oc de Badet, Clément & Cie 2017. A nice French wine.

What's my tip of the week: When trimming a quilt prior to sewing on the binding, borders can be used for accuracy, especially if the fabric was stretched, as happens when using a hoop for hand-quilting. For this quilt, I discovered the outer border was at least 3" wide all around, so I lined up the seam between the inner and outer borders, getting the two ends of the seam right at 3" and then pulling firmly but gently on the quilt or the backing to get that seam lined up straight along the 3" line. I always start with a corner, to make sure I have a 90º angle. 

Once I have the first corner cut, I use a longer ruler to trim the long side to the next corner. then I repeat until the entire quilt has been trimmed.

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.

May Days

It has been another busy week.

We were waiting for Spring to put in the pad for our trailer and the driveway to it. Monday, workers arrived with some heavy equipment to dig through the sod and make an almost-level foundation. (It had to have some slope in it for drainage.)

On Tuesday, they came back to put down the asphalt. It was very stinky, like roadwork.

It had to be left for a week to "cure." Here's what our new extra driveway looks like.

Meanwhile, I had all of the clothes finished for Marie, Daphne's new doll, except a heavy jacket or a coat. I didn't think I had any appropriate fabric in a suitable color, so I decided Marie should get a very heavy knitted jacket, and that would do until Christmas. I put Mandy to work on it. 

The pattern is Jacqueline Gibb's 61 Comfy Cardigan Set, although it wasn't going to be a set, because I already had a hat I wanted to send. I worked it according to the directions, except that I worked the sleeves in the round, reducing the stitch count by two, because I was eliminating the underarm seam. Having the sleeves already "sewn up" complicates the knitting after the sleeves are joined to the body, but I took care of that by putting all of the front stitches (sleeve fronts and body fronts) on one circular needle and all of the back stitches (sleeve backs and body back) on another, connecting the stitches on the sleeves and body that would have been bound off by using a 3-needle bind-off.  After I reached a point where the stitches could be worked comfortably on one needle, I eliminated the second circular. (Can you tell I don't like sewing up my knitting?)

Mandy did her share. Here she is knitting the button/buttonhole/collar band.

Jolena was our model, because she is almost Marie's twin, with the same face, and hair and eye color. Mandy helped Jolena try it on in front of the mirror in our hall tree.

Then Jolena changed into a dress that would be going to Marie and posed with the cardigan over it.

Here are the clothes that are on their way to Marie. (That little blob on the pajama pants is a rubber ducky.) I mailed the package off on Friday.

I also ordered two bicycles for use in this week's story. Here's Lotte with the one I ordered from Target.

The other one is a used American Girl Doll bicycle. It had some damage, but I think I can make it work for my purposes. Two dolls can go for rides together, with helmets for safety, of course.

Last Friday's story in The Doll's Storybook is called "Gossip." Not too surprisingly, it's about what can happen when dolls pass along stories they have heard but not verified.

Wednesday, May 1st, was Dusty's birthday. He has friends at the dog park, so we decided to share the celebration with them. I made a cake (recipe in the Tip of the Week) and took it to the dog park to share. We tried to light the candles, but it was too breezy.

I took along a list of ingredients, in case one of Dusty's friends had allergies. The cake was a hit with the dogs at the dog park.

On Saturday the weather was warm and sunny, so we decided to make our (almost) daily walk a little longer than usual and went to Pilot Butte. The view from the top is amazing.

What's on my needles: Back to the Coastal Skies Shawl for a bit.

What's on my sewing machine: Sitting idle for now.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, with quite a bit of progress made. The inner border is quilted. Just the outer border to go.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Gossip." Someone is telling tales about Veronika. Why? How do you handle it?

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to Marion Chesney's The Love Match, now listening to The Lost Heiress: Ladies of the Manor, by Roseanna M. White.

What's in my wine glass: Montevina Skyland Ridge Barbera, 2016 vintage. One of our staple wines.

What's my tip of the week: Doggy Birthday Cake (no sugar, no added salt and no chemicals).

Ingredients:

Cake—

1 1/2 C Whole milk

2 Eggs

1/4 C Unsalted butter, melted

2 C Unbleached flour

2 teaspoons Non-aluminum baking powder

Mix milk, eggs and melted butter in a medium-size bowl. Mix flour and baking powder in separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to liquid and stir until mixed.

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.

Frosting—

4 oz Cream cheese

1/2 C Unsalted creamy peanut butter

1/4 C Unsalted butter, melted

Combine all ingredients until creamy.

Slice cake horizontally into two layers. spread frosting over one layer. Top with other layer and finish frosting top and sides.

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.