Wrapping Things Up

The Sunday Morning Wrap is finally making some progress.

I've been taking it along when I go for doctor's visits or whenever I go somewhere where I will be sitting for a while. My Ravelry project for the shawl is here, if you want info on the yarn and needle size I'm using.

The Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along is finished. As you may remember from last week, here it was, blocking. It took a long time to dry because it's a tube with the ends joined together, so it's four layers.

Here it is after blocking.

And the other side.

Olivia's winter jacket and boots arrived from Maplelea in Canada this week. The package was held up at the border in Niagara Falls for several days while U. S. Customs officials tried to sort through whether a tariff was required on doll clothes. (No tariff was required, but there may be one on my next order, whenever that is.) Then it went through two other delivery services before it was handed over to USPS. After making it through severe weather across the country it arrived in Bend late on Saturday, after delivery hours, and with the Presidents' Day holiday coming up, so it finally came into my hands on Tuesday. I've been waiting for the jacket to arrive before taking the photos for the story that introduces Olivia.

The jacket and boots are a good fit. I haven't tried the snow pants yet, but they look about right. The mittens, if I need them, will take something to keep the fingers from snagging on the elastic. They're big enough, but the Happy Kidz's fingers must be spread out more than the Maplelea dolls' fingers, and MY fingers are too stiff to hold the elastic open and manage the little finger and the thumb at the same time. I think I could wrap them in paper or plastic wrap, and it would work. Maplelea clothes and accessories are very well made and fit the Götz Happy Kidz pretty well.

The T-shirt quilt was ready to pick up on Friday. I think the backing looks like water, so I chose a quilting pattern that looks like waves and bubbles. I have lots of the backing left, so I'm going to use it for the binding.

I still have the two rows of footprints to appliqué onto the back. I have figured out that I will need to sew the binding on the right side, do the appliqué and then sew the binding down on the back by hand after that. We'll see how that goes.

On Saturday we went to the concert put on by Central Oregon Symphony. (You can watch/listen by clicking on the link.)

Three amazing young people, ages 15-17 performed. The youngest, Emily Liu, played the solo part in a selection from Edvard Grieg's Concerto for Piano in A Minor.

Lily Sullivan, the oldest, played the violin solo in a selection from Johannes Brahms' Concerto for Violin in D Major. Then Jesse Krenz played the cello solo in a selection from Edward Elgar's Concerto for Cello in E Minor. All three were amazing! After intermission, we heard more from Elgar in his Enigma Variations.

On Sunday, the Bishop came to our church. We had some special music, and it was fun. Here are Jo (violin) and Suzanne (piano) practicing before the service.

We had an unexpected event during the Bishop's sermon. A little boy came and sat under the altar. It took his mother, our priest and another parishioner to get him to leave. The Bishop said, "All are welcome," which was the subject of his sermon.

I made more carob brownies during the week. Since I'm forbidden chocolate for the time being, I find I have a real craving for it. I made some Spotted Angel (a casserole with silken tofu, yoghurt, eggs, rice, onion, zucchini, black beans and cheese) and some stir fry using soy curls, which are actually pretty good. One batch of brown rice made enough for the Spotted Angel and to go with the stir-fry.

It's time to make bread again. I will do that today.

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 More Classic Tales Retold or 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, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses or More 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: Still working on the Sunday Morning Wrap and finishing up the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.

What's on my sewing machine: The binding for the T-shirt quilt.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Since it’s Black History Month, I thought it would be good to rerun Being 

Colorblind. I originally published it in 2020, and the dolls were wearing masks until they got home. I didn't want to have the masks distract from the story, so I took new photos. The story has also been edited slightly. I always find things I want to change when I rerun a story.

What's my tip of the week: Our recycling service doesn't take the plastic jar lids from things like peanut butter and mayonnaise, and I hate to throw them out, so I wash them and use them for coasters under oil, vinegar, salad dressing and other things that sometimes drip and make a mess in the cabinets or on the counter.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, 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, because the publisher gets a cut. 

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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