Happy Birthday, Rocky!

The Which Came First Shawl is inching along. 

I managed to get a few more rows done. I've been working more on the Whole-cloth quilt, but the progress doesn't show much.

I finished the dish-drying mat. Here it is in its appointed workspace.

Here it is in action.

When not in use, it stores nicely on the oven handle.

It took 9 ounces of Peaches 'n Cream yarn held double with US 10 1/2 needles. I have plenty left to make some dish clothes.

Besides knitting and quilting, I finished a couple more sets of letters. These will go to voters in Georgia to encourage them to vote. It's a nonpartisan effort. We aren't asking them to vote for any candidate, just to vote. I guess you could say that this is my workspace.

A friend from church has volunteered to write letters, too, but she doesn't have a printer. I'm printing the letters for her and will teach her how to fill them out and address the letters.

I recorded my part for the next virtual choir "performance." Members of choirs from several other churches are participating, so it should work out better than last time.

The tomatoes are finally producing. They are very tiny (Emil is only 19" tall), but very tasty. Each tomato has as much flavor in its little body as a big tomato has but much more concentrated. Mmmmm! Too bad Emil can't taste them!

Elsie is a little bigger than Emil, but she wouldn't have a problem eating a tomato. She is my honorary granddaughter, because she only has one living grandmother, and her mother is the identical twin of my daughter-in-law, so she's genetically a half-sister of two of my grandsons. She will get a doll from me when she's ready, and she has been wearing sweaters I made for her two older cousins.

Today our Rocky turns sweet sixteen, which is very old in dog years. Here he was at nine weeks, 4 1/2 lbs. in 2004. (Notice the blue nail polish.)

We've had many adventures together, and we will miss him when he's gone, which I'm hoping won't be too soon.

Here he is now. He getting grey. He isn't as frisky as he used to be. He's on two medications, but he still runs and plays and seems to enjoy life, and he gets onto the couch by himself.

Happy birthday, Rocky!

What's on my needles: Still the Which Came First Shawl. A few more rows done.

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

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Hair-raising Adventure, Part Two. The boys get their new wigs.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson and also listening to music while I write letters.

What's in my wine glass: Ana Diogo-Draper Tempranillo from Amador County. Excellent.

What's my tip of the week: I have trouble opening and closing the zippers on food packages, because I can't pinch with my thumbs as tightly as I could before I had my surgeries. To open these pesky packages, I often resort to using my hemostat to hold on. For closing, I've discovered that if I lay the package down flat on the counter, I can press it closed with the bowl of a spoon or some other utensil, holding down one end with my hand and starting at the same end, using the utensil to press it closed. Senior-proof packaging!

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.

Traveling for Free

This week I made overalls for Emil.

I used the Kidz 'n Cats version of the Oh My Gosh Overalls by QTPie Doll Clothing from Pixie Faire. You can see my alterations here. I got him out in the garden for some outdoor shots for the Ravelry Goetz Doll Lovers "Fun in the Garden" JAL (Join Along, which can include knitting, crochet, sewing or other fiber-related craft).

Here is a look at Emil's new wig.

His new hair reminds me a lot of Zachary's hair, as you can see here, sitting at his new desk for learning at home until it's safe to go back to school in-person.

There has been some progress on the Whole Cloth Quilt. You might be able to tell from this photo. I'm working on the last corner that has much left of the part inside the border. I move my hoop around in concentric rectangles, from the center to the edges, so I'm not quilting any folds in on the back. There's a rosette in the lower-right-hand corner that shows where the border garland starts. I'm really looking forward to having this finished!

I took some time away from my "Which Came First Shawl" to start a dish mat for draining dishes. We put plates, bowls, cups, glasses and other dishes in the dishwasher, so most of what I have to wash is mixing bowls, pans and other things that don't fit into the dish rack so well. This will give me a good place to put the dishes after they are washed and rinsed. I used the "Grandmother's Favorite" dish cloth pattern, a free pattern on Ravelry. I made it as-written, except that I used bigger needles (10 1/2 or 6.5 mm), held the yarn double and knit until I had 78 sts on the needles (instead of 44) before decreasing. I should be done in a day or two.

The yarn is Lily's Sugar 'n Cream, purchased at Joann's, which was another adventure. I bought several T-shirts (on sale), a couple of bandanas, a big cone of this yarn and some more bobbins for my Eversewn Sparrow 15 sewing machine (which I love almost as much as my Featherweight). I ordered online, and then I called from the parking lot. A store employee (masked) brought my order out, looked at my ID (without touching it) and put the bag in the back of my car. I wore my mask, too, so I felt fairly safe. Some people were going into the store, but they have a limit on how many can be in there, and I was happy to let someone else have my spot. Everyone I saw was wearing a mask, which is encouraging, because people have been slow to sign on to mask-wearing here because the cases of Covid-19 have been limited in this part of Oregon.

I'm making Kimchi again. I've found that regular cabbage works fine, you just have to chop it up more finely than the Savoy or Napa, which have thiner, looser leaves.

I made bread twice during the week, one loaf of sourdough rye for sandwiches and four little loaves to have with supper meals, regular mostly whole wheat, although I'm using 1/2 cup of the rye flour every time I make bread, because we have so much of it.

It was a busy week, with the Democratic National Convention going on. I signed up to participate in some of the activities during the daytime, including a women's meeting, where we got to see some celebrities, like Jamie Lee Curtis. I've never been to a national convention before, so I've never had the opportunity to participate. It was very educational. Having all the events online made it possible. We also had watch parties for the evening events, which was fun, communicating with people from all over the country.

The Roll Call was like sort of a "Covidcation," where we got to travel (virtually) all over the United States and the U.S. territories. We got to visit places we wouldn't normally go, especially not during hurricane season. It was a lot of fun, more interesting than political conventions normally are.

I'm continuing to write letters to voters I've never met encouraging them (in a nonpartisan way) to vote. I just write why I always vote. Once a week, on Saturday, we have a letter-writing party, so I set aside that time to write with other people in a Zoom meeting. I'm starting to feel like I know some of the regulars now. They are all so friendly.

I missed the text-banking on Tuesday because of the convention, but I plan to participate this week. For that, we are just calling people who are eligible to vote but haven't registered. We ask encourage them to register to vote.

What's on my needles: The big Dish Mat, about 75% done and the Which Came First Shawl (with few more rows done).

What's on my sewing machine: Finished overalls for Emil. I haven't decided what to make next.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Again, a bit more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Hair-raising Adventure. Billy doesn't think his hair makes him look like a real boy.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment. I've also been listening to music while writing letters.

What's in my wine glass: Primi Soli Trebbiano, an Italian white. The Trebbiano is the variety of grape, and it's very old. It goes well with just about anything. I usually prefer red wines, but this was a nice change.

What's my tip of the week: Making waffles? Sometimes I don't get the right amount batter for each set of waffles. I've discovered that the underside of the waffles usually look better, because the grooves get filled in, even if the top doesn't. I just flip them over after they are cooked, so the pretty side is up.

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.

Heads Up!

Here's a new cap for Emil:

I used the same fabric as what I used for the dolls' bean-bag chair. I still have some left after making the cap. The cap is a somewhat complicated project, but if you take it one step at a time, it's not that difficult. Here's the pattern I used: Lee and Pearl Ball Cap and Trucker Hat. The biggest challenge was seeing my stitches, because the color is so dark and the lighting wasn't very good in my workroom because I had the room-darkening shade down to keep out the heat.

I made a lot of progress on my quilt this week, and a few rows on the shawl I'm knitting, but it's getting hard to take photos that don't just look like last week, as both projects are slow-moving, especially with the other things I've had going on.

So what have I been doing? Well, last week I started writing letters to people who didn't vote in the last election, asking them to vote. I'm now up to 60 letters finished, and I'll have to order some more stamps, because I'm working on another 20. I have found a use for all those Gwen Ifill stamps I bought. I can afford to pay for my own stamps, at least so far, but Indivisible Oregon has money to pay for stamps for people who want to write letters and can't afford to buy the stamps themselves. We had a Zoom letter-writing party on Tuesday, which was fun.

We are not asking people to vote for any particular candidate or party, just to please vote, and explaining why we plan to vote. It takes only about five minutes to write each one, because we get the form letter already printed. We just personalize it with our own reason for voting. (I talk about how I do it because I want to have a say in what kind of life my grandchildren will have.) We write the person's name at the top and then sign with our first name and last initial. We address the envelope by hand, as well, using a return address of an office in the state the letters go to, so they will be collected if they are undeliverable.

On Tuesday evening, I spent a couple of hours text-banking. I've done phone-banking before and find it a bit challenging. I'm really better with writing what I want to say, rather than talking, so talking on the phone isn't my favorite thing to do. Text-banking is easier. We have a canned message to send out to a number of people, then we respond to replies. We have standard replies we use, based on the responses, and if someone responds with an issue that needs further help, we just transfer them to one of the staff people to answer. We were texting people who were eligible to vote but had not registered. Again, it's not a particular party or candidate, just asking people to do their civic duty.

Daphne has been at dance camp all week. On Friday, they had a recital, which we watched live on Facebook. The dancers wear masks, unless they are performing a solo. Some of the participants received awards, and she was one of them.

Here she is with her award:

I removed all the hair from the boys' heads and put on their new wigs.

I have The Doll's Storybook stories scheduled through the end of the month. The wigs will make a debut in this Friday's story.

We're getting a little bit from the garden. A few more peas, with tender pods that can be eaten along with the peas, and more radishes.

DH has planted more radishes. They grow very quickly. Remember the Thai basil floral arrangement? It's still looking lovely. I'm amazed that it lasts so long.

We are still attending church services on Facebook or YouTube (it's available on both).

The choir will be performing again virtually in September. We had a meeting on Wednesday to go through the piece we will be singing. This time we will be joined by choir members from several other congregations in Bend. We expect to have about 26 people singing. It will still be some time before we can meet again in person.

What's on my needles: Still the Which Came First Shawl. A few more rows done.

What's on my sewing machine: Overalls for Emil.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Jolena brings the other dolls some face masks to wear. Their teacher wants them to start wearing them to class in Masks. Daphne said she really liked this story, and several parents have tole me it was nice for their children to read about dolls wearing masks.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment. I've been enjoying listening to the story, but I need to concentrate when I write letters, so I've also been listening to music.

What's in my wine glass: Placer Andaluz Tempranillo Syrah. A nice blend.

What's my tip of the week: I find the cap on the cooking spray to be difficult to remove every time I have to use it, so I leave it off, except for the one in the trailer, where I feel it provides protection for the nozzle when we are moving. By leaving the cap off, I can grab it from the cabinet with one hand, spray the pan (which is in the other hand) and put it back in one movement.

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.

Some Old, Some New and Some In-between

A few more rows finished this week. I'm well into the "Chicken Wire" part of the pattern.

I also worked on my whole cloth quilt. This was a kit from Keepsake Quilting. They don't seem to have the same pattern anymore, but here's a link to one that's similar. I don't know if you can tell that I've made some progress. I have two needles with thread in the lower left-hand corner, barely visible. I use two or three needles at a time, so I can continue to work without having to move the hoop after reaching the edge of the hoop with one needle. I always start quilting in the middle of the quilt and work toward the outside. Same with basting. As I quilt, I remove any basting stitches that are likely to get caught up in the stitching.

Speaking of quilts, you may remember this quilt I finished a little over a year ago, which I call "Spring Flowers." I started collecting the fabrics for it in 1999, Susan Branch's "The Language of Flowers," which was already difficult to find then.

I had an interesting little adventure related to it this week. I have a Twitter account where I do most of my political activity. I came across the fabric designer and was so excited to find her, I tweeted this photo to her. A number of other people saw the photo and commented on it, so now I have some new Twitter friends I can share artistic pursuits with when the election is over. I recorded details of how I made the quilt here.

Speaking of political activity, I've been writing letters to voters through this program. This isn't really political, because the letters don't promote any candidate or party. We are just asking people to join us in voting and explain why voting is important to us. We receive form letters to print off with a place for us to write in the name of each person, our reasons for asking them to join us in voting and a signature (first name and last initial). At the bottom of the page is a link they can use to check their registration and details about voting in their state. We write out the envelopes by hand, as well. This pretty much ensure that people will open them. We will save them until just before the election, some time in October, and then mail them. I don't really enjoy talking to people on the phone, even if it's just asking them if they plan to vote and if they need information about their polling place. This is something I can do that's peaceful and relaxing, like knitting or quilting. I'm sure there are other similar programs elsewhere, if you're looking for something to do.

Our tiny vegetable garden is starting to produce. I thought these peas were beautiful. 

The peas and their pods were delicate and tasty. If anything, the pods were sweeter than the peas. They went into the salad, along with one of our radishes.

DH came back from Trader Joe's with some hamburger buns. I thought we still had Boca Burgers in the freezer, but I couldn't find them, so I pulled out a package of Quorn Meatless Crumbles and Made Sloppy Joe's, which was a little more work than just microwaving a couple of Boca Burgers, but was still tasty with "french fries" cooked in the air fryer and a nice salad.

Besides food from the garden, the Aerogarden has been producing more herbs than we can use. On Tuesday I cut off some of the flowers from the Thai basil and stuck them into a vase. They are still pretty today, and the scent (from the leaves) is lovely.

Some of the Thai and regular basil went into the trays of our dehydrator. When it was dry, I stored them in plastic bags to use later. You crumble them up when you're ready to use them. That way, they have more flavor, so I'm told.

I've continued to be dissatisfied with Billy's hair, and Emil's to a somewhat lesser degree. I glue Billy's down around the sides and back and keep a rubber band around his head when he isn't in use, but it's a real nuisance, and sometimes I have to retake photos because his hair looks bad. Someone on Facebook had a doll with Billy's face and a wig, and he looked perfect. She said it was "Johnny" from Monique Trading Company and told me the size. I ordered wigs for them a couple of days later. The wigs arrived on Friday, and I tried them on on Saturday, to see if I wanted to go all the way and shave the boys' heads. Here's Billy's new look.

Emil picked a slightly darker shade of brown for his.

Emil's hair isn't that bad, because the rubber band that holds his special glasses on also holds the hair down. I think the wigs will work. I may have to trim Emil's in back. Either it's a little longer than Billy's or his head is smaller. I'll work the transformation into the stories.

We've continued having family meetings via Zoom on Sundays. It's good to catch up with the family members who can make it. (That's our granddog Louis under the table, upper left. Fluffy the cat is in our daughter's lap.)

Dusty had his stitches out on Wednesday.  He had three little adenomas (like little moles or skin tags) removed from his sides when he was in La-la land having his teeth cleaned. He's all healed up.

The weather has been a little cooler. Nights are always cooler here, but the days tend to be warm. I'm still getting up between 5:00 and 6:00 to open up the house, but it feels like autumn is on its way.

What's on my needles: The Which Came First Shawl, well into the third section.

What's on my sewing machine: Some repairs and now doll masks.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Getting What You Want, the dolls learn about compromise.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson.

What's in my wine glass: La Crime Purpura Tinto Seco. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: Soaking cut-up potatoes for a couple of hours in plain water, then draining them and drying them off, helps them fry up crisply in the air fryer, a healthful alternative to regular fresh or frozen french fries.

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.

Heating Up and Cooling Off

Another week, another few rows on my "Which Came First?" shawl. I'm on the third color, "Red Dawn" by Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock.

It has been slow going, because I've been committed to completing my whole cloth quilt, which I've been working on, on and off, for several years. I did get quite a bit done this week. 

It's a little warm working under that quilt, so DH bought me a little portable evaporative air cooler. This will only work well in a dry climate. It's about the size of a tall coffee can. The blue tape is there to show up where the water level was at 10:00 AM on Sunday morning, so we could see how much water it used. It can be used as a fan, too, and has lights you can turn on, I guess so you don't trip over it at night if it's on the floor. It's by Imikeya. The instructions are not worth much. They neglect to tell you to put water in the top. (That seems important to know.) The tiny thing won't cool your house, but it does cool an area where you might be sitting or working. Apparently you can also put ice in the water chamber to make it even colder. I haven't tried that yet.

Now I can close the window at night and put down the room-darkening shade. We're still missing the screens for two windows, so we get bugs. Fortunately, we haven't had any mosquitos.

We're lucky to have pretty cool temperatures most nights.  We open up most of the windows and outer doors when it starts to be cooler outside than in. DH puts down the locks on the windows when he goes to bed, so the windows can stay open a couple of inches. I've been getting up at 4:30 or 5:00 AM to open up again and then close everything up again when the temperature outside starts getting close to the temperature inside. During the cooling period, I have fans set to try to move air through the house, in through the upstairs front and out through the downstairs back, and I run the vent fans in the laundry room and one bathroom. With the new windows, even on a hot day it's tolerable, especially with my new little cooler.

The pups are lazy when it's hot. Here's Dusty, relaxing on the couch. (That little pink spot is the stitches where one of his adenomas was removed last week when he was out for teeth cleaning. There were three of them. The stitches will come out on Thursday.)

Masks are mandatory in Oregon if you can't stay 6' apart, and I think that's too close. Even with the mask requirement, some delivery people or sales people come to the door with no masks, ring the doorbell and then wait right in front of the door. We made a little sign with instructions and taped it by the doorbell. I hope this works. Fortunately, we have a side light I can look out and see. I don't open the door anyway without putting my mask on, but we're starting to see 10-15 new cases in our county now. People are just too lax here.

The Doll's Storybook will be getting a new cast member, probably in October, or perhaps November, if delivery is delayed. This is Götz "Lotta," but she will get a new name. I already have a Charlotte (Lotte), and the name is too similar.

Lotta is one of the new Little Kidz line, smaller than the Happy Kidz. Here you can sort of see the size difference, though the Happy Kidz doll is on ice skates, which gives her added height. The Little Kidz are proportioned and shaped like younger children (all girls at this point.) The face is a younger version of my Mandy, but this doll has blue eyes and blonde hair. I think this character will give me an opportunity to do something new in the stories. I haven't decided yet how that will go.

This week's story is a poem about brothers. It's called Little Billy.

The plants in the garden have grown since last week, even with the cool nights. It's hard to get a photo of the zucchinis, which should be ready to eat soon.

We have two eggplant plants and a winter squash plant, in addition to the zucchini plants.

The pea plants have pods on them. I think they will be ready to eat soon.

Some of the radishes are ready.

The little tomatoes (I think these are "grape" tomatoes, but the other plant is "patio.")

Our first set of chard plants were eaten down to the ground as babies, so we replanted. Now some of them are a couple of inches high, so maybe we will have some before our first frost if we're lucky.

We're using our home-made compost now. We have decided not to put eggshells, avocado peels and pits, and orange or tangerine peels in anymore. They will break down eventually, but we're operating on a small scale, and it takes too long. The used tea bags (without tags) and used unbleached coffee filters, filled with used tea and coffee, melted away. We remove any stickers or price tags on the produce before throwing them in the compost container.

What's on my needles: The "Which Came First?" shawl.

What's on my sewing machine: I may be sewing again, starting today, now that I have a way to stay cool in my fiber studio.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Little Billy.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson. Not much progress this week.

What's in my wine glass: Torero Mendoza Tempranillo 2019. Not terrific, but not expensive and perfectly drinkable.

What's my tip of the week: Warm air rises and cooler air sinks. You can use this to your advantage when cooling your house, with or without air conditioning.

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.