I hope you ate lots of black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. We sure did. (I threw in a fistful of greens after this photo.)
I made some bran muffins to go with it.
The Kultainen käki sweater is coming along. The front neckline stitches are on waste yarn. (Good thing I remembered that my BOR was in a different place from the instructions.) I'll be ready to steek soon.
I'm trying to get a head start on birthday presents for the Wisconsin grandkids. I plan to make Log Cabin quilts for them. Zachary likes blue, and his will go first. I picked out the fabrics below. The darker fabrics are on the right and the lighter ones are on the left. The red will be the center square (traditional, for the fireplace in the "log cabin"). I'll also use it as the inner border, which I will have to cut before cutting the "logs," because I don't want to accidentally cut it all into 2 1/2" strips and then not have enough fabric left to cut 1 1/2 strips for the border. The outer border will be the same as the longest "logs" from the dark section, the fabric with the dog/cat footprints. I'll have to cut those first, too.
While I was at the store, I picked up this jellyfish fabric for Daphne's quilt. They had 2 1/2 yds. left, which was exactly what I needed. I'm glad I decided to see how much they had while I was in the store. It's perfect! She likes jellyfish. The center squares of her Log Cabin blocks will be purple, and the light and dark strips will be shades of purple and compatible colors, because...she likes purple.
This Götz Little Kidz Springtime arrived before the kids left to go home, so she was admired and made to feel at home. She was a gift from a special friend who knew I needed her. This is what she looked like right out of the box.
She says her name is Pam (short for Pamina, like in The Magic Flute). She has already found her way into a new story, which will come out on Friday. It turns out, she's a good actress.
This little guy arrived at the same time, a Ruby Red Fashion Friends Alex. He's close to the size of the Little Kidz, but from a different company. He will be the rest of Zachary's birthday present, along with some clothes for Alex. It looks like the patterns I have for Little Kidz will fit pretty well, like this cardigan and hat. (I'll give him these; I can make more for Pauly.)
He has a wig, which looks more realistic than rooted hair, especially for short hair styles.
Here he is with Little Kidz Paul (my Pauly). You can see the skin color is much lighter, but then, he has been in his box for a while.
Alex is a good-quality doll, but I find that the joints aren't as flexible as the Little Kidz dolls. It's unlikely that he will show up in a story, because if I wanted to use the story later in a book, I would have to get permission from Ruby Red.
With the kids gone, the dogs have had to fall back on each other for play. I'm very happy that Dusty is still young enough to enjoy this rough-and-tumble activity.
Our daughter's birthday was this week. We got her some earrings just like my Kalevala Kuutar earrings.
Kuutar is the moon goddess from the Finnish epic poem, Kalevala. In the poem, Kuutar spins golden yarn, holding the spirals of eternal life in her hands. They look better worn than in the box.
Last week I reported that I graduated from physical therapy because my balance was back to being better than normal for my age. I'm still doing the exercises. It can't hurt. This week I saw the neurosurgeon. We looked at the CT-scans of my brain. He told them they looked great. We discussed the phantom scent I've experienced, and he thinks it will go away on its own unless there is damage to the olfactory nerve. As with the injury to my tailbone and the related pain, "Time will tell," was his comment. I hope it goes the same way. It already seemed to be improving, and by Saturday, I thought I caught the scent of something different and even imagined I could faintly smell the nutmeg in my eggnog. My ears are still popping, but my hearing has improved so much it's hard for me to wear my own hearing aids, even turned all the way down. They had been adjusted to my hearing shortly after the accident, which was already too loud by the time I started wearing them. Now I'm using Charlie's, turned up slightly, although they work pretty well without it. (He never got used to using them, so they have been sitting in the charger.) I paired them with the iPad, because my own were paired to the phone. If I find I'm not using my own at all, I'll unpair both pairs and pair "my new" hearing aids to the phone.
Charlie has his cataract surgery on Thursday. He only has one useable eye, so it's crucial they get it right.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: Billy's Boredom. Billy talks with each of his sisters to find out how they deal with boredom in this rerun from 2019. (Watch for the new story next week.)
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