Monday, March 25, 2024

Moving Along

We've seen some progress on the Oregon Autumn Cardigan this week. I'm liking it so far. Working a color chart printed in B&W is a bit of a challenge, but I can check my color copy on the iPad or my phone each time I have to change colors. (Our printer only prints B&W.) Then I just have to go by light or dark.


The background color needs to be in the left hand, but it's even more important to be consistent. I have to look ahead to see what the background color is. Sometimes the background color in one section changes into the motif color, so I have to switch hands.

I picked up the fabric for Daphne's Log Cabin quilt this week. The large piece at the top in the photo is the backing (extra-wide fabric, so no need to do anything to it). The piece at the bottom is the main fabric. It will be the largest "logs," the outer borders and the binding. The hot pink will be the centers and the inner border. The other fabrics are for the dark and light "logs," which alternate around the center hearth of the cabin.

I cut out the 2 1/2" strips on Friday.

I began piecing on Saturday. I'm using the strip-piecing method. I sewed the pink center fabric strip to the first light strip, then cut into 2 1/2" sections. I lined the sections all up going the same way next to my sewing machine and then sewed these sections, one after the other, to another strip. (That yellow rectangle is a small stack of Post-It notes identifying my 1/4" boundary for seams.)

When I have a strip done, I take it to my cutting surface and cut them apart. This goes very quickly. Then I press the seams toward the new piece. You just have to keep track of which way the spiral goes around the center piece. It can swirl to the right or to the left, but you want to keep it consistent. This shows the pieces sewn to the first dark, ready to cut apart.

In this photo, I was ready to add the second dark. 

When I had all the blocks finished except for the last two strips Sunday evening, I had to finish at least one block, so I could see how the blocks would look.

Zachary's doll went into the mail on Monday. It was delivered on Saturday.

Overly ripe bananas often into waffles for breakfast. (We also use them for smoothies.)

Our waffle iron was a wedding present when we married in 1965. She looks prettier than I do, but she's younger than I am, and she has only had one job to do for her entire life.

I made lasagne one day, using my no-boil recipe. (You don't need special noodles for this; regular lasagne noodles will cook nicely in the sauce.) I often put black beans or garbanzo beans in my lasagne, but we needed to use some of our TVP (texturized vegetable protein), so I soaked that and mixed it in with the cottage cheese, eggs and silken tofu filling. It was yummy. We had vegetable soup the next day with a half-recipe loaf of Dutch-oven bread.

We had oatmeal one morning. I had some help with clean-up from my pre-rinse specialist.

The pups went to the groomer on Tuesday. The weather was still nice, so we walked, stopping at the off-leash area first, so they could run off some energy first. Here's a shot of Sandy actually getting to the ball before Dusty did.

We walked home after dropping the dogs off at the groomer. It made a nice walk.



They are pretty boys now.

It began to cool off by mid-week, and we had light rain off and on, so the walking trails weren't as enticing. We still got out with the pups almost every day.

Today is March 25th, otherwise known as Sandy's Gotcha Day. We had stuff going on when his first birthday happened (Charlie's cataract surgery) so we decided to celebrate today instead. Here's what Sandy looked like on March 25, 2023.


We've had a great year, and Sandy has learned a lot from Dusty, most of it good. One thing Dusty has learned from Sandy is, if you run after the ball but you don't give it back to the one who threw it, the game is over. Sandy drops the ball at our feet, so we can throw it again, and Dusty is starting to do that now.

Someone else who likes to play ball: Johan.


I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". 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 any of our books, including Emil, Mariah or Classic Tales Retold, please leave 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: Oregon Autumn Cardigan.

What's on my loom: Still folded up.

What's on my sewing machine: Daphne's quilt.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In this reedited rerun from July 2019, Charlotte and Mariah decide to put on a play. In Fuzzy Town––A Play, the dolls demonstrate how it costs nothing to be kind to others and offer encouragement. This might apply to social media, as well as in-person interactions.


What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer. For my physical-book reading, Still reading Elfen Königin by Holly Black, translated from English.

What's in my wine glass: Buenos Aires Malbec 2022 from...guess where!

What's my tip of the week: Learn new things and keep busy. It's good for us as we age.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 
Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook is available from the BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. Poems included are Valentine's DayKeeping PetsBack to School, Victor the VultureThe Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.
The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green GreatcoatThe Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.
Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is hereThe three stories in Emil are Best BudsGetting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.
The three stories in Mariah are Being LittleBesties, 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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