High Fiber--Happy Birthday, Daphne!

Today is Daphne's birthday! It's hard to believe it has already been two years!

Here's one of her new toys. It's a castle slide, just right for a little princess with an imagination and lots of energy. Baxter, the dog, enjoys watching her play on it, especially because it means she plays outdoors longer. Her little brother is thriving, and I hope to have more photos next week.
Also on the grandchild front, I finished the diaper bag for BS, the grandson we're still expecting. It's the Montana Eco Tote by Tahki Stacy Charles.

I used Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes Bulky in Porcini and Navy. I used Pellon interfacing to give it some body, and a colorful dinosaur fabric for lining and pockets.
The expected new baby is also getting a quilt, of course! Here are the fabrics I selected to go with the dragon appliqué I improvised from an image I found online.

All of the fabrics to the right of the dragon appliqué block are from Connecting Threads, where I found a great sale on batiks. The others were from my stash. Here's a closeup of the dragon's face:

I used reverse-appliqué on the eyes and nostrils. The irises were tricky. They are tiny circles, and it was difficult to get them round. It would have been much worse without my clip-on magnifiers!
Here's the dragon quilt top finished. Julie, of Mountaintop Quilting (thorum@xmission.com) will quilt it for me.

The block design came from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. It's their "Log Cabin Hidden Stars." I used the blocks that worked to give a starburst effect around the dragon. I'm a fan of Anne MacCaffrey's Pern sci-fi/fantasy novels, which involve both dragons and stars, to it seemed fitting. The backing I found also has stars on it. I'll show that off when the quilt is done. I should mention that both BS and his daddy are from the year of the dragon, and Daddy is a big fan of dragons.
My quilting mini group, Vintage Stitchers, took place at Rebecca's last week. Rebecca had a bunch of fabric she wanted to get rid of. Julie sat down and organized the fabrics after the rest of us had gone through it. She used to own a quilt shop, so she loves to handle fabric.

Brenda brought her finished quilt top, which she embroidered by machine. This has been a long project, but it's beautiful!

During this meeting I CO another Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ, you will have to scroll down) for BS. I'm using KP's Swish DK, so it will be a little larger than the previous one I made for him. I also have some Comfy Worsted for a third BSJ, which will be larger yet.
The snow is finally gone at our elevation, but there is still some higher up. (I say "finally" not because it has lasted longer this year, but because our trip to Wisconsin and Indiana gave me a taste for spring, and it was difficult to come back to late winter and "mud season.") We had nice hikes on Monday with some friends and Saturday just the four of us. Here are my constant hiking buddies:

The tulips in our front yard bloomed just in time for Mothers' Day!

Speaking of Mother's Day, hope everyone had a great one!
What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms, Fiji socks and another BSJ for BS.
What's on my iPad: Finished A Single Thread by Marie Boswick and am now finishing Death Comes to Pemberly by P. D. James, both from Audible.com. Also reading The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, a free eBook in the iPad library. (If you want an audiobook, the free one is available from Librivox.org, read by Karen Savage.)
What's my app of the week: Pages, which I used to design the quilt top. I took a screen shot of the blocks from the book, which is on my iPad, cropped the individual blocks and then transferred them to a document in Pages. It worked great!
What's in my wine glass: Roccalta Sangiovese 2010. Great with the Italian no-boil lasagna recipe we're having tonight!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook. I used the iPad for the photos with links. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber--Done With Winter?

 Well, spring has finally arrived at my house. I should have tulip photos next week. In the meantime, I'm making progress on the dragon appliqué.


The body is almost finished. The nose is just resting on the appliqué. I have to sew it on and do the nostrils in reverse- appliqué, as I did for the eyes. Then the irises and the mouth, which will be done with embroidery. I picked a darker fabric for the tummy because I liked the speckles. I'll get Julie to quilt the grooves across the tummy. (Abs?)
My friend Janet has been busy.

This is just one of several T-shirt quilts she has made for graduating seniors in her life. She uses the "Turning Twenty" pattern. She just got back her Daisy Chain Quilt from Julie, who did the quilting. It's very different from the ones I did using '30s reproduction fabrics. Julie chose a more modern quilting design. (Are my knitters still with me?)

I've done some knitting this week, a few rnds on my Dogwood Blossoms sweater, a few pattern repeats on my Fiji socks and almost done with the diaper bag, but what I want to show you this week is a spinning-to-knitting project that involves a friend.

You may remember this yarn I spun from fiber from Greenwood Fiberworks. It was very nice to work with. The finished yarn was a gift to my friend Barbara. (One of several Barbaras who are friends of mine.) She is making socks out of the yarn.

She makes socks pretty much without a pattern most of the time. She just makes them. She can follow a pattern, though, but this yarn has its own pattern, so it's nice for st st.
On the baby front, Zachary will be a month old on Tuesday! Where has the time gone? Here is a fairly recent photo.

I keep hoping for a photo of him with his eyes open. His dog brother, Baxter, thinks this is normal, because he isn't walking yet, but I'm wondering if he will still need this much sleep when he's a teenager.
His sister, Daphne, is growing into a real little girl.

I'm about recovered from my visit there, but am missing the kiddos a lot! Daphne will have her second birthday in less than two weeks. Wish I could be there!
We've had snow several times since returning from Wisconsin and Indiana, but it doesn't stick. Maybe I'll have photos of the tulips for you next week.
What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms cardigan, Fiji socks, diaper bag.
What's on my iPad: A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick from Audible.
What's my app of the week: WeatherBug. Hoping no more snow for the season.
What's in my wine glass: Montevina Zinfandel 2006. Tasting...yep, it's a zin! (I wonder if I could be a zin Buddhist.)
Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber--Back To Normal?

The two days it took to get home from Indiana provided great knitting time!



I made good progress on the Dogwood Blossoms sweater, about 1" of the pattern. I put it on two circs, so you can see the pattern better. It's great entertainment, making the miles whiz by! The two markers in the middle mark the front steek.
I didn't take the diaper bag with me, but it will be quick to finish. I'm on the I-Cord handles. You'll notice I'm making the handles using only the interchangeable needle tips, in this case my Zephyrs from Knit Picks. I use the working end of the tip to knit with, knitting off of the end that connects to the cable. It works better with no cable for this job. No need to slide the sts down a long cable.
 

The pattern is the Montana Eco Tote from Tahki Stacy Charles. The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes bulky in Porcini and Navy. The fabric is for the lining. I'll be putting in interfacing, to keep the bag fairly stiff. This is the same felted bag I made for Daphne two years ago. She shares it with her little brother now.
I also have started an appliqué project. It's a dragon block for a quilt for the recipient of the felted diaper bag above. It should keep me busy after I finish the diaper bag.
 
 My light table is a piece of heavy frosted plexiglass on top of a former bathroom cabinet we had replaced. DH removed the top and put in a shelf a few inches below to hold two fluorescent under-counter lights. Works great! My cutting mat goes on top of it, so it doubles as a cutting table for quilting.
For you Daphne fans, you now get double the pleasure! Here is Daphne with little Zachary. She was trying to show him how to lie on the floor and how to roll over.



What's on my needles: Lots and lots! The Dogwood Blossoms cardigan, my Fiji socks and the diaper bag, not to mention various UFOs.
What's on my iPad: Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama, the audiobook read by the author, borrowed from the library. It's a very interesting and entertaining book.
What's my app of the week: Photogene, which is a simple app for processing photos. With the visits the past few weeks, I've done a lot of photo processing!
What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec 2010, one of our favorites.
Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber—Traveling Stitches

Yes, we're traveling again. We had a nice visit with DS1 and DDIL1 before heading back to Utah.

DDIL1 and I visited the Little Scrap Quilt Shop, in Kokomo, Indiana. We found a nice selection of fabrics and notions, and learned that they will arrange classes of your choice if you line up two or more friends to take the class with you.

They have a nice space for the classes:

The owners of the shop were busy rearranging things when we were there, but they had things together enough that we could get some photos.

Of course, some FQs threw themselves at us before we could escape out the door. It helped that the special of the month was: buy one FQ, get the second one at 50% off, and the color-of-the-day 15% discount was orange, which was present in some of the ones we bought, especially in the one I bought a whole yard of! Not to mention the 5% discount for cash or check...they were practically free!

Here's what I left with. No plans for any of it yet, just additions to my stash:

Marie Bostwick will be there to sign her books (available at the store) on May 4th, from 4:00-6:00 PM. Here's their nice display of her books:

DDIL1 and I have been listening to the first of a series of Bostwick's books, which I bought from Audible.

DDIL1 has a neat way to display the blocks from the quilts she's currently working on on her workroom wall:

We both got a lot done while listening to the book. Here's the progress on my Dogwood Blossoms (link below) sweater:

I'm using Knit Picks' Palette , which is one of my favorite yarns. I changed some of the colors, and I'm altering the pattern, making it a boxy cardigan with dropped shoulders. It's fun to play with patterns and designs!

Before leaving Kokomo to return home, Patty and I had lunch with Beth, one of my online friends from the Knitting Community and Quilt With Us.

As you read this, we will be on the road again, heading home. Lots of knitting time makes the miles fly by!

What's on my needles: Still the Dogwood Blossoms sweater, second sleeve almost done, and the Fiji socks.
What's on my iPad: On The iPod app, still A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin from the library. We'll resume listening on the road. I've finished reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's book All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin. Loved the ending!
What's my app of the week: USA Today, one way we have kept in touch with the world on our trip.
What's in my wine glass: Block Red Wine in a Box from Australia, Shiraz, from Trader Joe's. Usually I don't like boxed wine, but this one was a delightful surprise.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the iPad and MacBook. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber—Bye, Bye, Babies!

Time to say goodbye to little Zachary:

After the first few nights, he settled into a nice schedule of his own, only waking his parents at 3:00 AM, Mommy to feed and Daddy to change. He has long periods in the daytime when he's awake and alert, and seems unusually responsive to people. He clearly enjoys interacting with his grandparents.

And goodbye to Miss Daphne, too, of course:

I will miss playing with her in the back yard.

It has been a busy week, ending with Zachary's Bris on Sunday.

We had guests for an open house. Some brought presents for Zachary and Daphne. Then family members arrived, including the other grandparents and one aunt. Other family members who couldn't be there attended the Bris by Skype. The Bris was only for family.

Tomorrow we leave to go on to visit DS1 and DDIL1 in Indiana before returning home. I should be able to get some knitting done in the car. I know what I'm going to do for the quilt for the baby still to arrive. More on that later!

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms sweater, and the Fiji socks.

What's on my iPad: On The iPod app, still A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin from the library. We'll resume listening on the road. I'm still reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's book All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin. Almost done! Not much reading time, though.

What's my app of the week: Pocket Pond, one of my favorite apps! Daphne is old enough to really appreciate it now. She can feed the fish and add the fish, lily pads and dragonflies. I have the free version.

What's in my wine glass: Long Lake Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. A nice wine we can't get in Utah.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the iPad. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

Stork Union Allows Easter Bunny To Deliver Baby

After circling the house for two weeks and unable to find a place to land, the Stork Delivery Service gave up and allowed the Easter Bunny to take over for an early Easter morning Delivery.

He arrived at 13 minutes after midnight on Easter morning. His weight was 8 lbs 4 oz and he measured 20.5 oz. Both mother and baby are doing well. I wish the same could be said for the grandparents! (Now I know why women can't bear children after a certain age...one I'm well past!)

Once the Easter Bunny stepped in to take charge, the delivery happened within two hours. Daphne was unfazed by the event. She woke up Easter morning to find her grandparents in charge. We had been pinch-hitting for the 'rents for two weeks already, so it was pretty ho-hum for her. However, during our second visit to the hospital on Easter Day she showed more interest in the new member of the family.

During the first visit, it seemed that the hospital room was more interesting than baby brother: A queen-size bed with a "slide" at the head of it, a step stool that made a cool chair, and a rolling bassinet were just more interesting. At first she still pointed to Mommy's tummy when you asked where Zachary was. Then she seemed to get the idea. I think she will be more interested in him when he's the one novelty in her normal surroundings.

Needless to say, not much knitting has been accomplished. No quilting at all, but then I didn't bring any quilting to work on, due to space limitations in the car. However, I've finished a couple of pattern repeats on my Fiji Sock using KP Stroll Glimmer in Fiji. The Pattern is from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks. It's the "Scrolls" for eight-stitch patterns.

The sparkles don't really show up, but the yarn is gorgeous!

I had my latest KP order sent here. I was amazed how fast it arrived! (Closer, and no dog sleds needed this time of year.)

Not in the photo is my KP mug. It went into service right away, and I have already had several servings of tea in it! In the photo are Full Circle Rovings Quarry, Fawn, Espresso and Pigeon. Now I have one of each, a couple of which I have spun already. I like them a lot. I thought I would make something with all of the colors, because they go together so well. Also, there is some Comfy Worsted in Maize, which I plan on using with the same yarn in a red color (back at home, so I can't tell you the name of the color, maybe Pomegranite) for a Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) for our other new grandbaby due in June.

The remainder of the yarn is Swish DK in Dove and Squirrel for this cute Bunny Suit for Daphne:

The pattern is from Better Living's Kids' Knits and Crochet, which I have looked online for, but not found. I purchased the book in Australia in the late '90s. I will post it if it turns up on Ravelry. I made this outfit for Daphne's cousin (now in college) back when she was little. this one will be machine washable, though; an improvement on the original. The Squirrel will be the main color and the Dove the contrast. I like it much better than the yellow and white version. The natural colors are similar to the ones I used on the first version.

I'm too pooped to do my usual "What's on my..." but I'll mention that my wineglass is running over with Matthew Fox Shiraz. Seems pretty good, but I'm well into my cups as I'm writing this. Give it a try. Tonight (based on when this is posted) we will be opening a bottle of champagne in honor of his nibs, Master Zachary.

Whew!

High Fiber—Waiting for Baby

I'm knitting little things:

It's a pair of socks for me, out of Knit Picks Stroll Glimmer in "Fiji." The Dogwood Blossoms sweater is too difficult to work on with Miss Daphne in the room. She had to take each ball of yarn out of the bag, and a couple of times pulled the sts out of my needles. The socks are easier to hold onto and walk around with. The pattern is from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks.

We're still waiting for the stork to arrive. He has made a few passes over the house but hasn't landed yet.

The family has been enjoying some spring-like weather. Rocky and Sunny are enjoying the yard and playing with Daphne.

She likes to work. Here she is weeding the garden. She's picking dandelions out of the flower beds.

Speaking of Daphne, the Peapod Cardigan I made for her a few months ago still fits:

I'll keep you informed of the arrival of the stork, when it happens.

As a public service announcement, Karen Combs has had some quilts stolen. If you have seen any of them, please let her know. Her website with photos of the missing quilts is here: http://karencombs.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/quilts-stolen/

What's on my needles: Fiji Socks, as in photo above.
What's on my wheel: My wheel is languishing at home, but I have my Golding Tsunami with me with some Ashford merino and silk in "Mulberry."
What's on my iPad: Still reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's book All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin. I read a chapter every night at bedtime on the Kindle app.
What's my app of the week: iBooks, where we have The Berenstain Bears' New Baby, which we have been reading over and over. Daphne knows how to turn the pages.
What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw (aka "Two Buck Chuck") Shiraz 2010, since DH made a run to Rochester, MN, to Trader Joe's.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the iPad. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.