Design for Life

St. Paddy's day is always time for celebration at our house. We had a multinational menu with our usual Guinness, this time in a Finnish beer glass, a souvenir from one of our trips to Finland.

I've made some progress on the Hinterland Pullover. Here's how it looked on Sunday.

I've ordered Götz Little Kidz Paul for Zachary for his birthday. It's going directly there, so Pippa is having to act as my model for outfits. I got the pajamas all done but putting on the buttons. I may have to adjust the sleeve length, I think.

I'm planning a shirt and some jeans, and maybe a nice pair of slacks, if I have time. I'll have to send it off the end of the first week of april to get there in time.

We had Rocky in to the vet. He has some kind of a skin lesion that is infected. It doesn't seem to bother him, but the vet wanted to clear up the infection before sewing it up. He thinks he can do it with a local. We have his care worked out as far as taking him out at night and looking after him during the day. He has a little trouble eating and drinking without stepping on his dish and knocking it over, so we got the dogs a raised feeding station. We discovered during our trip to visit the Beaverton grandkids that this worked well, especially for the water, which all three dogs shared from Louis' elevated feeding station. (The black mat is designed to go under a litter box, to keep the litter from getting tracked all over the floor. We got it to give Rocky a little traction on the floor, and it does work for that.)

We have been working on the taxes. DH figured out that I've only lost about $150 on my publishing foray, which was a lot less than I thought. He also was shocked to find that my screwy bookkeeping actually balances.

We had another online get-together with fans of Madroña Vineyards. They had sent us a recipe for chimichurri sauce to go with macaroni and cheese and chorizo sausage, with a special wine, which was sent to each participant. We were supposed to take a sip of the wine with the mac and cheese, then try it with the chorizo added, then add the chimichurri to the whole thing and see how the wine changed. They used Annie's Mac and Cheese, but I made mine from scratch. I used Soyrizo, since we don't do meat. I made the chimicurri according to the recipe, although I cut the recipe in half. It was a delightful party.

Friday night, we had a Zoom date with our younger son and his wife. (They are the ones who live in Beaverton.) They had given us a two-part membership in Flaviar. We got to pick a tasting set. We chose the New World Single Malt. 

It turns out, they are coming to visit the middle of this week, so we can enjoy the tasting together in real life, instead of on Zoom.

I'll be doing the H-word for the next few days, and then I'll be busy with them. Anticipating that, I wrote two stories for The Dolls Storybook, so I don't have to do one this week. I have several ideas for the following week. I'm coming up on 200 stories, one a week, with no breaks.

For some cuteness, Johan had another chess tournament on Saturday. Two losses and three wins, an improvement over the previous tournament. He took second place in his age group. Not bad!

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. 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 our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left 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 the Empower Kerchief (a few more rows done in the dentist's office) and the Hinterland pullover (see above).

What's on my loom: Same as last week.

What's on my sewing machine: PJs for Zachary's Paul.

What's in my hoop: Same as last week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Caring for Pets––A Poem. The cast of The Doll's Storybook shares what is involved in keeping a pet. Be sure you know what you're getting into and can live up to expectations before getting a real pet.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Unthinkable by Jamie Raskin. I can really recommend it, especially if you want to know more about what happened at the Capitol on January 6th of last year, coinciding with a long eulogy to the author's deceased son. It was beautiful and gut-wrenching. Now listening to The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse, a thriller. Both are on the Audible app. 

What's in my wine glass: Ithafa Western Cape Shiraz, 2019. Excellent.

What's my tip of the week: Here's my recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup à la Morinu. I had planned to take a photo of the soup in a bowl, but it somehow disappeared. This is a high-protein, low-fat version of this creamy favorite.

Ingredients
• 4 T olive oil 
• 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1/4 t thyme 
• 1 t lite salt
• 1/8 t Pepper
• 4 cups water
• 1 2-cup bouillon cube
• 1 t psyllium husks
• 1 box Morinu silken tofu (shelf-stable, found in the Asian Food section, either firm or soft is OK)

• Parmesan cheese for serving

Directions
In pressure cooker pan, sauté vegetables in olive oil for a few minutes until slightly softened. Add water, thyme, salt, pepper and bouillon cube and bring to full pressure. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add tofu and psyllium and blend in blender or use immersion blender. Heat up until just serving temperature.
Top each serving with Parmesan cheese.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book 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. 

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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Dolls Have Taken Over My Life!

I did get away from the dolls for a little while this week, but not before Vroni unplugged my computer.

Or maybe she was trying to keep the plug from falling into the dog dish, on the floor to her right.

Common Treads met at Karan's. She and Margareth were working on blocks from "Moose's Misadventures," a class from Davidene's. 

Georgette had just started a needlepoint project. I'll try to get a photo when she has more done.

My better half has been trying to take advantage of the few remaining days of autumn to get the outdoor repairs done, primarily painting and staining the decks, so he isn't able to go for walks or hikes with the dogs, so I have been taking them alone. Saturday was a beautiful day, and fairly warm (60-ish), so we went to Toll Canyon. 

We only went as far as the watering hole, because I was afraid to venture further into the forest alone with the dogs, because of the likelihood of encountering moose or other wild animals. It's difficult to grab two off-leash dogs quickly when you're alone, and Rocky doesn't hear as well as he used to, so I didn't want to take a chance. It's a nice hike, though, even staying on the road. You might encounter a bicycle or two, but no cars, so it's safe for the dogs to run. Dusty needs a lot of exercise at his age, so it's good for him to be able to run free.

I finished the iPhone pouch for my niece.

You can't tell from the photo of the finished pouch, but it's lined with batik. I gave her the choice of three fabrics for lining. She chose the one in the middle.

I'm making progress on the Tyrolean coat for Vroni, using the Kitty Cat 3 pattern, which is a hooded cape in two lengths, as a jumping-off place for the coat. The coat pattern is Jacknits Town and Country Coat but without the collar. I plan to make the hat from the pattern, as well, because I think it can be made to look like a Tyrolean hat. Just the sleeves to go. Here's how it looked yesterday.

The dolls did manage to rope me into doing some sewing for them. Now that I have a pajama pattern that fits the Götz Happy Kidz/Classic Kidz dolls, I've made one for Mandy.

The first pair of PJs fit Dolly, so now they can all be cozy.

A couple of weeks ago, I cut out Capri-length leggings for Dolly and some full-length leggings for Vroni. I finally was able to get them sewn up. I'm trying to get done with the stretch fabric, so I can put my Kenmore zig-zag machine away, although I'm finding it useful for finishing off the seams items made from woven fabrics, too. I still had the batiks out for my niece to choose for lining, and picked one of the ones left over to make a top for Dolly.

The pattern is the slender version of the Tennis Dress from Joan Hinds' Best Doll Clothes Book, but with the short sleeves from Simplicity 1484. 

Then I used the same pattern, but altered the chest measurement and armholes to come up with this top for Vroni, with my puffed sleeve pattern for the sleeves.

Finally, I made a longer version for Mandy, for a dress to go with the hot pink leggings I made awhile back. This one has long sleeves.

I was ready for a nice pot of tea, when I found them plotting what they would convince me to make for them next.

I wonder if I need to open a college fund for each of them.

What's on my needles: Still Vroni's Tyrolean Coat.

What's on my Featherweight: Um…guess.

What's on my loom: Still waiting.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is still awaiting her next task. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Kill Me Again, by Rachel Abbott. I’m about halfway through Amy Corwin’s novel All She Loves on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Gato Negro Malbec, very nice.

What's my tip of the week: I have a neat little acrylic board with sandpaper next to an open area. The sandpaper section is great for drawing on fabric, for appliqué, etc. 

The open area and the back are great for applying glue to buttons, Velcro or fabric. The glue will wash out, and you can sew through it when you're using your machine. If the needle gets gunked up with glue after a while, you can either remove it to wash it off with water or clean it in place with a little rubbing alcohol. The acrylic board can be cleaned the same way, but I try not to get the sandpaper wet.

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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Holiday Preparations

Raggedy Andy's jammies are done.

I got out my Featherweight on Saturday and found a pattern here for a one-piece suit for 15" Raggedy Andy.j The only changes I made were to make it out of all one fabric, line the shirt instead of using facing, putting buttons down the front and add the "drawstring" tie. Andy was so tired from fittings he couldn't stand on his own for the photo, so I had to use a doll stand. Good thing he had his jammies on, because he took a nap as soon as the photo shoot was over.

I found small tool bags for the boys' doll clothes, and a tapestry bag (purse) for Hannah's clothes. The bag for Johan's Raggedy Andy didn't have much in it, but he can use it to hold other small toys, along with Raggedy Andy himself.

I got back to working on folding my quilting fabric and finished all but the homespuns, flannels and children's fabrics. The batiks, solids, '30s reproduction fabrics and 19th Century reproduction fabrics each have their own section, with 1/2-yd. and larger pieces folded the depth of the shelves and smaller pieces, like fat quarters and fat eighths, folded all more or less the same size. Strips, squares, triangles and odd pieces still big enough to use are on the top right-hand shelf in baskets and boxes. It should be much easier for me to "shop" for fabrics for a quilt now.

My yarn stash is also tidied up and put away, but it isn't as pretty. The Palette is organized by color, but the rest is just arranged by type of yarn, with a separate section for kits or packages of enough yarn for sweaters. I have all my yarn in plastic zipper bags now, ever since my bad experience with moths. (For a while, they were all inviting their Facebook friends to come and enjoy the best place to eat in all of Utah.) The plastic bags sit in upcycled plastic lettuce green boxes (minus the tops), which keeps them from falling out of the cabinets.

I finished cleaning my fiber studio, the tree is up, and all I have to do before family arrives is make the beds, vacuum and cook. (Oh, and wrap presents. Lots of little presents, because all of the kiddos will be celebrating Hanukkah together as well as Christmas morning with stockings from Santa.)

I can't believe I'll be seeing these sweetie-pies and their cousins in just a few days!

The Park City Singers Holiday Concerts went well. The party last night was fun, too. Just Christmas Eve left to prepare music for.

The next blog post will be after Christmas, so I should have some interesting photos. Until then, I wish you all a blessed holiday season, with peace and time with loved ones.

What's on my needles: Still the “So-not-my-palette Cardigan,” more progress on the second sleeve. I really want to get done with Christmas preparations, so I can relax in front of the fire with my knitting.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away, now that Andy's jammies are done.

What's on my wheel: Still put away for now.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Christmas music, and Still listening to An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor, not very far yet. Finished reading  The Cryptographer by Alice Wallis Eton. It was an interesting story, but I have to mention that is some very descriptive sex, which I always find off-putting. Now reading A Lady in Hiding by Amy Corwin.

What's in my wine glass: The Bota Box Shiraz. Surprisingly good.

What's my tip of the week: If you're training a new puppy after having raised puppies before, and you get advice from "experts," don't let them talk you into changing the wording you've always used for commands. Sometimes you can't wait to remember the new command. It's better if the first thing out of your mouth is the command you want to use. A few years back, dog trainers tried to "simplify" commands to one word each. "Lie down" became "down," so, of course, "down," meaning don't jump on someone, had to change and became "off." I've never had a dog that couldn't tell the difference between "down" and "lie down." I tried to change the commands, but in the excitement of puppy doing something naughty, I couldn't remember the right command. Our dogs have learned "no!" or "ah-ah" for stop whatever they're doing. We use "leave it" for "don't touch that," but they also respond to "not yours," because I had to learn to use that when Sunny and I were visiting clients for pet therapy. As they grow up, dogs will learn others' commands, too, if they are different from yours. They even learn some words if we spell them (e.g. w-a-l-k or t-r-e-a-t) or use another language (jalan-jalan, which is Indonesian for walk). The point is, puppy needs to feel that you're in charge. If he/she doesn't get that message, you're in for trouble.

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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Folding Up Shop

A good part of the week has been spent pressing and folding fabric.

I have them categorized by '30s repros, 19th-Century repros, solids, kids prints, batiks and everything else by color. Yardage is folded separately from small pieces and fat quarters. I'm using small plastic baskets to keep the smaller pieces organized. I still have a lot to go, but I hope to finish in time to clean up for Christmas visitors without having to stuff fabric away unpressed and unsorted. To make matters worse, I just found more fabric. Wish me luck.

Whenever my back got tired from my "pressing business" I knit a few rounds on the second sleeve of my "So-not-my-palette Cardigan. I'm looking forward to making the front and neck ribbing.

Common Threads was supposed to meet at Georgette's on Thursday, but Karan filled in because of the snow. Georgette brought the refreshments to Karan's house. Karan lives at a lower elevation and has a flat driveway, so it's better for snowy weather. Not everyone has their snow tires on yet, so the substitution was much appreciated.

Karan has finished the center of her appliqué quilt top. I think she still has borders to add, but it's otherwise done.

Karan and Margareth are making potholders to use as gifts.

Margareth is turning out to be an excellent quilter. She seems to be good at everything she takes on.

The pajamas for Hannah and the twin boys arrived. Here's Buddy modeling his moose jammies with the moose slippers. Both boys have the same outfits to sleep in. 

Here are his slippers.

Hannah chose poodle jammies and slippers.

Important note: I did NOT make the pajamas or the slippers. They all came from The Doll Clothes Store, a good source of reasonably priced doll clothes and accessories. Buddy and Dude came from My Sibling Dolls. Hannah is a Götz doll. She came from a shop in Amsterdam (found on eBay) called Two 4 Toys.

We managed to get in a hike and a few walks with the pups before the snow hit. Here's DH with Rocky.

I had Dusty on a long leash for training not to chase bicycles, and there were a lot of them. Evidently he has learned not to chase them if he has the long leash on. Plan B is coming.

The pups have been resting up for the next adventure.

The snow on Thursday wasn't a big deal, but we were able to build a couple of piles of snow on the front deck for the dogs to use as a litter box when the snow is coming off the roof in back making our backyard unsafe for them.

What's on my needles: The “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” second sleeve is coming along. 

What's on my Featherweight: Waiting for the next project.

What's on my wheel: Still put away for now.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to music for Park City Singers. Davenport House by Marie Silk is in my Kindle app on my iPad. The story is good. The writing is a little stilted and contains some grammar/usage errors. It's getting easier to read, though. Maybe I'm getting used to it.

What's in my wine glass: Trapiche Malbec, 2014 vintage.

What's my tip of the week: You can glue a small magnet on the end of a wooden dowel long enough to reach the floor when you hold it in your hand at a comfortable height. If you drop a pin and can't find it, just graze the floor with your handy magnet tool, and the pin will jump onto the magnet. Or you could just let my DH walk across the area. Pins and needles are attracted to his feet.

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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.