A Little of What is Going On

I have gotten some further on this sweater.  I have the body done up to where the sleeves go and I have 13" done on the two sleeves (I am knitting them like two at a time socks).  The sleeves are supposed to be 18" so it will be a little while before they are ready to be attached to the body.  I have read and reread the pattern for attaching and it really doesn't make any sense to me.  But I will follow it, word for word, and see what happens. 

Thursday I had a 9:30 appointment with my cardiologist and a 1:00 appointment with my oncologist (with lunch in-between).  And because I HATE waiting for my turn, I took my knitting with me.  I was the only one in the waiting room that was occupied.    

The The above are blocks 1 & 2 in the I Love Home BOM (only 4 blocks).  There is supposed to be fabric around the houses but I haven't really decided on what fabric I want to use so this is as far as I have gotten.  Also, I seem to have misplaced Block 1 so I am kind of at a standstill on that one.

I am also doing the same blocks in hand embroidery.  I have not done hand embroidery since I was a child so that is going slowly.  I have block 1 done and am started on block 2: they are my TV watching thing to do in the evening.

                        Sadie                                        Abby

Sherlock

The above are our three doxies.  They are the sweetest puppies, except when it is time to come in from the outside.  And this morning the bottom one, Sherlock, caught a rat on our deck.  Hubby said that he had a hard time getting it out of his mouth and by the time he got it the rat was good and dead.  I've never seen a rat here but I am really glad the dog got him. 

A few weeks ago I was feeling pretty good and we decided it was time to visit our son in NC.  They have three children and we hadn't seen the last one or the others in two years.  It was fun to watch those children running around: such energy. 

(Our daughter, who lives near here, came to stay with the doxies.  I really appreciate her for taking care of them and keeping me from worrying about them.) 

Also Eric's sister and brother in law came down from NH so there was fun all around.  Our son is Provost at the local college so we got a great tour of the campus.  It was fun to hear how proud he is of the school and students.  Our daughter in law teaches an online class and fills the rest of her time with 3 rambunctious children and a lot of country cooking.

And finally, a small look at our yard decorations.  We live on 5 acres that is mostly covered with trees.  A few months ago I had a group of trees taken down so there would be some clearing around the house.  But that left a bunch of very short tree stumps that I was afraid Eric would run over with the riding lawn mower.  About that time I saw a really cute Gnome and decided putting one on each of the stumps would attract Eric's attention and he would avoid the stumps.  They have become a "thing" here and we now have 9 Gnomes.  We still have a few unadorned stumps but the filled ones alert Eric to watch for them.

This Gnome sits on our deck railing, looking over the "flock" of Gnomes in the yard.  I see him as the head man, kind of like Poppa Smurf.

I really enjoy seeing our "flock" of Gnomes, they make me smile.

I am going to try to write a little more often.  It take me longer to get things done so frequently I don't have anything to say.  I currently am pretty healthy, still get weak occasionally, so there isn't anything to report on the health side. I am getting ready to work on some other projects and will share them when there is something to see.

Love to all,  Gari

Humming Right Along

I guess one could say that I have been missing from the blog.  Usually that means that I haven't been doing anything of note and for the first week or so that was true.  I was tired most of the time and just rested.  But then I became rejuvenated and began working on a couple of projects.  The one I have focused on is the BOM Sweet 16 by Esther Aliu.  Block 1 is completed including the applique.

 This is Block 2.  For some reason it took me a while to place the "lady fingers" on the cake.  On they went and then off again, over and over.  This is the final result.  The cake is now placed on the fabric for the dome but I don't plan to finish that until we are ready to put the quilt together.  This block, however is ready for appliqueing.

 While I was positioning the pieces for Block 2, I drew the pieces for Block 3.  Working on both of them at the same time made me feel that I was really getting something done.  It is always fun for me to cut the fusible out, so much like cutting paper dolls (yes, I am old and used to cut out paper dolls and their clothes).  In this picture I am putting the pieces of each cake together.  Then each set went into a baggie, ready to move on to finding the fabrics for them.

 And here you can see my choices.  They are different from Esther's original.  My husband LOVES chocolate covered donuts so here you have one.  Esther had the chocolate on the longer piece but when I was younger I used to buy maple frosted "long johns" and had to put one on here.  I do have to say that making these makes me hungry.

 And true to the plan, these are the pieces for Block 4.  And, although I didn't get a picture of it, I have chosen the fabrics and will soon be working on this block, and drawing the pieces of Block 5. Esther has released Block 7 so I am really trying to play catch up.  Not easy but I am enjoying the chase

The above is a Christmas cactus.  I am told that the little piece came from one of my most beloved relatives.  I have been nurturing it along and we now have two new "leaves."  One is at the end of one shoot and the other is coming from the base.  The pot is only 1 1/2" tall so I am really working with a baby and I am loving it.

 And last but certainly not least, here is Abby, "sleeping" above me.  I have decided that she likes the down pillows as much or maybe more than I do.  She starts sleeping at the foot of the bed and then when I am asleep, she sneaks up on the pillows behind me.  I love my dogs, they make me laugh all of the time.

I hope everyone has a great week.  For me it is going to be quiet and slow work (quilt work, knit, quilt work, knit) oh, and the arrival of my new Instant Pot pressure cooker.  Never used one before so that may take some time out of my craft/art time.  Gari

Linking with Patchwork Times.

Knitting Fun

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  I have finally finished my “leftover” socks.  There is yarn from 5 different earlier pairs of socks and I still have leftover yarn so there will be more leftover socks down the road.

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• And I also finished knitting 8 washcloths, 4 for my sister,

  

  Waunita/Jonni and 4 for my daughter, Lisa.

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I do want to share why it sometimes takes me a lot of time to get things done.  Abby seems to feel she is needed in case I drop a stitch.

But the need to be close to me ends when I offer for her, and the other two, an opportunity to go out to the “play pen.”  We had this fence put in because I am not strong enough to take all three dogs on leashes for a walk.  And they have a lot of fun chasing after the squirrel that likes to gather the little acorns under the tree. 

And now I need to get off this computer and see if I can find all the parts of my cardigan and figure out where I was in the pattern.  I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll see you all here next week, I hope.

PS: I am linking to Patchwork Times where you can see some more knitting fun.

                                  Gari

Many Things

 I will start this blog post out with a picture of our really cute great granddaughter, Scarlett, who turned 1 year old today.  She is so much fun to show as she loves the camera as much as the camera loves her.

 I have been knitting.  Here you can see the two front pieces of the cardigan I am currently working on.  And I hope you can see where I have started the increases on both sides of the slip stitch.  These increases will be the beginning of the wide collar.  I have to say I am really impressed with my ability to knit both fronts with the opposing increases.  On the other hand it has been pretty easy and I again will credit having learned to knit two socks at the same time.
                                                                                                               

And speaking of socks, here are my leftover socks.  I have completed one heel and half of the other.  I hope to be done with these this week as I really want to wear these very colorful socks. 

I think I will be making more of these, they are really fun to do. 

I have done a little sewing.  

~

These are some simple blocks

I am making for some easy sewing, trying to get back to it.  I have several applique blocks I need to be working on but I need to get my cutting table cleared off before I can work on them.

The centers of these blocks are these

charm squares that I have had for

quite some time and didn't come up

with an idea for them.  They are being

sewn onto some 2 1/2" strips.  I am

trying to make them as different from

each other as possible.

This is my design wall.  The interesting thing about it is that it hasn't changed since Spring.  Well, that's not quite true.  Some of the blocks that were on it have fallen off and I haven't yet been able to pick them up off the floor and put them back.  However, I am feeling so much better that I am hoping that I will soon be more productive in my quilting again.  I did take the bobbin out of my Handi Quilter and start to  see if I could figure out why the thread is being cut while I was quilting.  And then I will begin to work on the quilts that became UFOs when I became sick.  And then I will have something new on my design wall, I hope.

But for now I will leave you with this terrific picture of Abby, the sweetheart who sleeps under the covers of my bed.  She has to have her nose outside the covers and I think she thinks she can't be seen.  But on this morning she could be seen twice, on the bed and in the mirror.  I had a pretty good laugh before I could get up and start my day.

Please forgive the mess this post appears to have.  Blogger is making it very difficult to write my post and I have been unable to upload a post from Live Writer.  But despite this: have a great week, I plan to.  Gari

                                                            

Finishinfg Touches

 This is how I start my day.   Whether Eric leaves to teach his classes or sleeps in, as soon as he is out of bed I have the doxie horde with me.  And then it is hard for me to want to get up.  They don’t always lie around like this, sometimes they are all over me.  And you know I hate that.  Also they tend to come and go, jump down at the slightest sound and then bound back in acting like “we found you.”  It’s a great way to start the day.



And when I finally get up and ready to face the world I walk out into our living room to what is our Christmas tree this year.  Although not an original idea, it was one I saw online last year and spent most of the year trying to get it implemented.  First we had to find a wooden ladder, which was not as easy as I thought it would be.  Then, because this was going to be our Christmas tree, I decided to paint it forest green.  We bought premade shelves and I have since decided they also need to be painted but that will wait for later.  Anyway, after the ladder was properly prepared Eric took over adding the lights and then arranging the village pieces.  We are both thrilled with it.

Oh, you may have noticed the big empty space at the bottom.  We decided that with our three doxie babies, who have to get into everything, we would do better to not set up any of the village down there.  We do have three large animated Pooh pieces that may make an appearance before Christmas gets here.

For those who followed the Birthday Month experience, you may remember that the last gift was on “back order” so the month didn’t get completed.  Well, here it finally is. 

The last few years that I worked I used the word “whatever” quite frequently.  It seemed that decisions were made that I thought were either illogical, not well thought out, or just plain stupid.  However I was not consulted for my expertise nor would my unsolicited input be appreciated so I would utter “whatever” and attempt work within the new guidelines.  I became known for the word.  So when Eric saw this clock he knew it was made for me: I agree.

I have nothing creative to show.  I will show what I have made as gifts but they will be shown after Christmas.  This has not been a year for creative gift giving so my offerings are quite small and humble.  But I couldn’t let this season of gift giving go without something made by me.  I am so grateful for my family’s response to my illness that I needed to respond with a little something that wasn’t bought but made.  And the thing I am most grateful for is the gift that God has given all of us who would receive it, that of his son’s sacrifice that assures us of eternal life with Him.  That gift has made everything worthwhile.

Health Update:  I was supposed to start an increased medication this week but turns out my white blood cell count was low (800) so it was put off for at least a week.  Other than that I appear to be doing well.  This pause in chemo therapy seems to be common but it was the first time it had happened to me.  I am having some pain problems with my hip replacement.  I was going to talk to the surgeon about it but my appointment this week was postponed (he had three emergency surgeries) until next week.  I just hope it will take care of itself rather than me having to go back in the hospital.  I REALLY don’t want to do that ever again.

Eric starts a 3 week semester break tomorrow: I will probably be spending more time in the studio for a while.   Have a great week and a Merry Christmas, just in case I don’t get back here for a while,  Gari