Well, the cover of the new book is ready to go to the publisher, unless I decide to change something. The inside pages are with my three proofreaders. I've decided to reveal the proposed cover, because, well, I just can't help myself.
It's my biggest book so far. It should be available in time for Christmas.
Meanwhile, I've made some progress on the whole-cloth quilt. I've been spending a little time each evening after supper working on it. I've reached the second corner, but I'm not halfway around the edge yet. When I get about three-fourths of the way to the next corner, it will be the halfway point. It's getting harder to do hand-quilting because my fingers are getting stiff; I'm determined to get it finished while I still can.
I had some medical appointments this week, so I did get a little knitting done on The Love of Spiders Shawl. I have several rows of the blue sparkly yarn done past where I was when I took this photo. The directions say the two rows of the main color (the bright green) will take 5g of yarn. I have exactly 5g, but I knit a little loosely, so I'm skeptical about whether that's enough or not. Just to be safe, I ordered what I hope is a close color in Stroll sock yarn from KnitPicks. I checked the websites of the yarn shops around town, and they don't seem to have anything comparable to the green yarn. It only has to be close in color, because it will be all by itself in the blue border, but it has to be similar yarn, both in weight and fiber content. This is super wash sock yarn. I don't want to use a yarn that might shrink when washed, while the rest of the shawl doesn't.
Monday night we had another Summer Choir practice. I missed the one the week before when we were camping. We have some interesting pieces to work on. I miss singing with the choir at church, which is off for the summer, so this is a nice activity. I will have to miss another practice in early August, for camping again.
We had another Madroña Vineyards pop-up meeting/party Tuesday evening. I had a busy day Tuesday, so all we had was leftover mushroom custard casserole, frozen hash browns and string beans with a splash of salad dressing. We had a nice time, though, and it tasted good.
Remember that tablecloth I made for the RPod? I had to buy the fabric already cut at three yards, too much for the tablecloth. I thought it would be good to have some extra throw pillows for the RPod, and it turned out that the large piece of leftover fabric was just the right size to cover an old bed pillow, so here it is.
I plan to make a couple more, but I want to use a bright turquoise, if I can find suitable fabric.
Speaking of color, we have this growing out in the corner of our yard where the driveway meets the sidewalk. It's called Liatris pycnostachya, also known as Prairie Blazing Star or Cattail Gay Feather. It grows naturally in prairies, meadows and open woods. It's starting to bloom now. The photo doesn't do justice to the color.
We had very high temperatures this past week, and wildfire season has begun, making our air quality very bad for several days. We didn't get much walking in, as a result. I exercised the dogs indoors by throwing tennis balls up the stairs for them to chase. However, Saturday the air quality was good again and the heat was tolerable, at least before lunchtime. The church had a group hike planned with dogs permitted to Sawyer Park not too far from us, so when I saw that conditions were going to be good, I signed up. Charlie has been recovering from a cold for the past week, so I took the dogs alone. I think we had about 20 people and five dogs, predominantly poodles, as there was one standard poodle along with my two, and a doodle as well. We had a good time.
Dusty hates bridges, and we had to cross this one twice. Rather than drag him across, I unhooked his leash and let him follow me. After we were across, I hooked him up again. I knew he wouldn't run off.
This was the view from the bridge, the beautiful Deschutes River.
Beautiful but potentially dangerous. There are places in the Deschutes River where there are whitewater rapids and waterfalls. On Saturday six people apparently drifted down the river to the south of us and went over the Dillon Falls, which is about a 15' drop into churning rapids. There was one known fatality. Three people survived and are in the hospital here in Bend. Two more are missing, and the authorities have altered their mission from "search and rescue" to "search and recovery," so it isn't looking good for them. They were not part of any commercial whitewater rafting activity. Here is an account in the news.
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What's in The Doll's Storybook: In While the Cat's Away the dolls are left alone for a week. They try to decide what to do while they have the house to themselves.
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