A Relaxing Christmas

 We had a pretty relaxing Christmas this year.  There was nowhere that we needed to be and no one else but the three of us.  It was pretty nice! Christmas Eve I used my new Ronco Rotisserie and made shrimp.  Pretty tasty!

 It's my latest kitchen gadget.  It is an electric rotisserie unit that stores away when not in use.  And it actually works!  I first saw it used at our last Gourmet Luncheon.   Donna prepared our pork roast on it.  So Jackie and I had to run out the next day to Kmart and get one.  I cooked a beef rib-eye roast for Christmas day and it was lovely!
I also started a jigsaw puzzle on Christmas Eve.  I love those darn things!  Its hard for me to stop once I start working them, so I don't know that it was the best move, but, no one was coming over, so why not?

  I finished it on Thursday night.  And, of course, two pieces are missing!!  My guess is that they are somewhere under a piece of furniture and will be found when we least expect it!

Even our gift-giving was pretty 'low key'.  Just about everything was 'homemade' or handmade by someone. I didn't do any frantic Christmas shopping.  Some of the items I picked out over the summer. Some I have been making for a while.

Lauren finally received her High School Graduation Quilt for Christmas! She graduated in 2011.  Yes, that's how long I have been trying to get this quilt finished!!  I like the finished product, but I hated making it.  It was a Kaffe Fausset pattern from one of his books. So everything was done using templates!! ( I like templates about as much as I like embellishing...) And, Lauren had picked out the fabric and there was no 'theme' that I could see, so that kind of drove me crazy.  But the final product is quite sweet.

And pretty big for a lap size quilt!  But she loved it!

I also gave her 2 pair of knee-high socks that I knit.  Lauren always appreciates AND wears the socks I make for her, but a girl can use only so many socks, right?  So, she jokingly suggested that I make her  some 'intimate wear'.  So I combed through Ravelry till I came up with this.

  

A thong!!  Not my cup of tea, but she wanted it, so I knit it.  It didn't take long, except for when I started over three times.   I used Diversity Sock yarn by Plymouth Yarn. Its acrylic and nylon,  no wool. Very soft and stretchy, machine washable and tumble dry. Now I have to make a matching bra top!  We'll see how she feels about it after she wears it.  I may be starting down a new path..no more socks, just underwear!

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas , too!

Early Christmas Present For Me!

I found this bundle of yarn at my door this morning!  I am going to do my first KAL and the lighter blue is the yarn I will be using.  I found this KAL on knitpurlhunter.com.  It is toe-up, two at a time socks...just up my ally.I ordered the yarn from Fiber Wild  in Galena, IL. And what fast service!  I ordered this late on Thursday night and it was at my door before noon on Saturday! Now I'm all excited about the project!!

You might have noticed I have a few other hanks of yarn....I couldn't help it!  The CoBaSi (cotton, bamboo, silk) was on sale! And the Socrates is Alpaca With a Twist sock yarn that I have been wanting to try.  Ergo, more yarn!! Fiber Wild made it way too easy! I blame them...

I finished some quilt projects, recently.

This is a BOM from Common Threads from a couple of years ago.

I finally got everything embellished that's going to be embellished.  Man, I hate embellishing!!  Most of the buttons and such came from my mom's button box.

 This next one is a Buggy Barn quilt pattern.  I'd only done one other, many years ago and in a class so I was a little leery at first.  But these are really fun to do and not as scary as they seem!

 I think I blogged about this when I was making it.  So now it just needs (you guessed it..) EMBELLISHING!  More buttons for the bow ties. WILL IT NEVER END!?!

The next is a quilt from a fat quarter bundle from Common Threads, again. I have made this quilt a couple of times. The pattern is from a Fons and Porter magazine from a 2009, I think. Best part...NO EMBELLISHING!!!  I think I'll use this on my table as a tablecloth, every once in a while.

I've started another quilt project.  The pattern is called Swoon.  I really like how the blocks are turning out, but they are HUGE..24"! I'll post some pictures when I start to put them together. In the mean time, you can see it   here.

Christmas will be here soon.  Lauren made it home last Wednesday.  Our celebration will be pretty low key this year..just the three of us.  Maybe we'll spend the day in pajamas! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday, too!

Thanksgiving And Other Things

Lauren made a new friend on Thanksgiving!  We spent it with my nephew Mike and his family in New Melle, Missouri. They had lots of kitties!! They also had Chickens!

  But best of all, we got to see my brother's and their families! (And eat lots of great food!)

Above, is my brother David and my great nephew, Lance taking pictures of the spread. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Just one question, if I'm the youngest of my siblings, why do I have the most white hair?!?

I've been trying to finish up some quilt projects since we got home.  I have been doing the Block of the Month at Common Threads Quilt Shop.  I finished it up yesterday.  Tomorrow is 'show and tell' at the shop.

Its called Snow Days.  Lots of pinwheels and lots of buttons.  I also finished up a past BOM that had Christmas stockings on it.

This picture shows it with the embellishments. I finally got the buttons and beads on it.  I HATE EMBELLISHING!!!  What a pain..Good thing its cute!

I'm still knitting away on some socks that seem to be going on FOREVER!  Even two at a time they are taking forever! Hoping to get the Christmas tree up this weekend, but I'm not making any promises....

Projects Are Getting Finished...Kinda

This is the Bedouin Bag by Noni.  I finished knitting this monster last night and now it is time to felt it.  I am a little nervous about this because I only have a front loading washing machine.  I googled and went to Ravelry to seek knowledge and, as usual, found lots of it and all of it conflicts.  So, at some point, you just have to close your eyes and jump in, I guess.

I started by setting my washer to heavy duty and hottest water, no spin.  Then, I put the bag in a zippered pillowcase and threw it in the washer with an old pair of jeans and a pair of old water shoes since hot water and agitation are key to the process.  I started the washer, and periodically, paused it to check on the progress.  It really didn't seem to be doing much of anything except making a lot of noise and turning everything green.

So I decided to take it out of the washer and put it in the sink with hot water and agitate it myself.  That was very hard on my hands and still didn't seem to be making anything shrink.  I could still see lots of stitch definition and it was huge and now weighed about 20 pounds!  

So,I made the decision to put it in the dryer with the jeans and the shoes. I had to take it out of the sink and into a large pan to get it back to the washer (since there was no way I had the strength to adequately wring out the water). Trying not to drip onto the hardwood floors...

I had to frequently check to see if I was making any progress.  At first it was slow because everything was soooo wet.  But, soon, it was beginning to felt.  So, here's the trick..wash in hot water, no spin, take it out and put in dryer till damp dry.  And VOILA!

In the above picture, it is stuffed with several bath towels.  It is still a monster bag, but at least it is a felted, monster bag.  I am supposed to put on the bag hardware when it is almost dry, but still slightly damp.  That consists of a magnet closure and a black leather handle that screws on.  To knit this bad boy, I used two strands of Cascade 220 worsted on #11 32" circular needles.

Earlier this week, I finished up a pair of socks.  I made this pair toe-up two at a time.  I really like doing socks like that.  Everything comes out the same size...Yeah!  I bought this yarn for some other project and didn't like how it was going so I ripped it out and made the socks.  Unfortunately, I have enough left over for another pair.... I started these thinking I would make them into knee highs, but then I realized I didn't know what to do with the rib pattern that I had established and still increase for the calf, without screwing up the rib pattern.  Too much THINKING, so I quit.  But I did learn how to do a 'sewn bind off' which I will use for toe up socks. 

I have a few more projects that I've been plugging away at.  Most are for Christmas, so I can't show them, yet.

We are off to St. Louis area for Thanksgiving.  My nephew, Mike and his family are hosting.  I am bringing my mom's classic dishes...orange-carrot- pineapple- jello salad and green bean casserole.  Just so she'll still be with us.

So Behind ...

Yikes!! I am so behind in my blogging!!  I haven't been reading or writing.  What's going on here?  I'm not even sure I have any pictures to share. I may have to take some before the day is over..how sad.

I'll start with Mr. Bob.  He had cataract surgery on both eyes in the last two weeks of October.  He's doing exceptionally well!  He couldn't be happier. He went from having very poor vision since FOREVER and always wearing glasses the minute he woke up to NO glasses except for reading.  WOW...

Before

After

Lauren was home in early October for mid-term break.  But, first, she went camping in the Upper Peninsula of  Michigan with her Geology class.  She had a great time, but it was a little nippy!

David and Marcia were here at the same time because it was time for some of his more extensive heart tests.  Everything is going well for him.  We are all so thankful.  Hard to believe its been 2 1/2 years since his heart transplant!

That same weekend, I went to Des Moines to participate in a surprise birthday party for my friend Pat F.  I used to work with Pat at the VA in Des Moines.  It was wonderful to see so many friends from the VA.  I hope we can get together again soon!

Birthday girl

I've been knitting , sewing and painting these last few weeks.  Of course, I haven't taken any pictures.  I promise I will try to get some taken of the finished projects.  There is a nip in the air and the holidays are just around the corner. Hope I can finish some of them for Christmas! 

A Beautiful September Day

Bob and I decided to act like retired folk today! We went to the McBride Raptor Center and then fishing on McBride.  So enjoyable! No time table hanging over us.  Just sort of going with the flow....

First stop was the Raptor Center.  Above, is one of the magnificent birds that live there. This is Spirit.  She has an injured hip, I believe.  She has been here for many years. There is a golden eagle and a peregrine falcon plus several varieties of owls and hawks and even a turkey vulture. They have all been injured or somehow human imprinted and unable to survive in the wild.

After the birds, we went fishing!

 Never caught a thing, but saw a lot of fish jumping!  So of course, we just kept trying to catch one! We did manage to take some goofy selfies, though!

We also saw a flock of pelicans on McBride! Of course, the picture doesn't do them justice.  But they were pretty awesome.  There were even some beautiful egrets in the area and one heron.  Great day for bird-watching!    So, I guess we'll just have to try again.  The weather forecast is for more great weather in the next few days.  This retirement -thing is pretty sweet!.

Updating My Blog

I haven't blogged for a while.  My mother passed away on August 31, and things have been crazy before and since.  The good news is that she was 93 and she was sooo wanting to join dad and it finally happened.  She was only sick for 3 days, so I guess that's good too. She got to stay at the nursing home in hospice care and not at a hospital where she would have been poked and stuck and pricked, so that's good too. And, it was good that my 2 brothers were able to talk with her before she passed.

The beautiful flowers were at the funeral service and are now planted in our little back flowerbed. Another friend sent some money and said to get something to honor mom and that we would see daily so I finally got a hummingbird feeder!  The hummingbirds found it the first day and have been feeding there everyday, all day! Mom would have loved to seen that!

Our family gathered for the funeral at our home. We are a pretty small group these days. It was good to be with every one.

Lauren was able to come home for the weekend.  Her friend, Julia, came with her.  I was so glad that Lauren didn't have to drive the 3 hours all alone with her thoughts...  Besides, Julia was our official photographer!

Guess Who's 20?

Yup...you guessed it!  Lauren!!! How can this be?  Wasn't she just playing in a sandbox the other day?  Having tea parties with her friends and playing dress-up? Wait...how old does that make me?!?  Let's not dwell on this.

Yesterday was her birthday. She wanted hiking gear and we threw in an IPad Mini. She was very happy.  We went to brunch at the Bluebird Cafe in North Liberty and then the afternoon and evening she spent with her friends camping at Lake McBride.

While she was gone, I made a cover/holder for the IPad Mini.  She may or may not use it. but I think it turned out pretty cute. I bought the pattern off of Craftsy.  It was pretty easy to put together and it has a few different sizes in it.

 This is the front.  I appliqued a squid.  Those are whales and narwals in the background.

This is the inside.  The squid fabric makes a pocket on the left with a velcroed flap.

This is the backside, when closed. The button is a smiley face..
This size also fits the Kindle Fire and a regular Kindle, I think.

We have been having some pretty dry days here for a while.  Temperatures haven't been too bad but we could really use some rain. Evidently it is ALL south of us in Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennesee.

In the mean time, our 2 tomato plants have actually lived!! Lauren wanted to plant some tomato plants in the back but the deer and other critters devour everything so we settled on ONE plant by our front door and a potted plant on the upper back patio. I thought for sure that the dinky little plant from Maple Ave. Nursery would not survive but it did.  The deer nibbled on it for a while but then they stopped and now it is humongous!!

There are lots of tomatoes but they are very slow to ripen, so we haven't had any, yet.  Here is one that will be ready soon.

The potted one on the patio is from Costco.  It was quite large and developed when we bought it. But now it looks kind of scrawny compared to the front plant. We have had 2 tomatoes so far from this plant.

That's Cooper looking over the rail.  The other pots are basil, parsley, and rosemary.
That's the farm report for now.

July Is Slipping Away!

Wow!  I can't believe how quickly this summer is slipping by me!! Here we are in the last weekend of July and no blogs!  Yikes! Its not like I have been so busy there was no time to blog.  Quite the opposite.  Time just got away from me.

I'm still working on a couple of projects that I started earlier.   Not much progress in the quilt room.  I've been working on the Midnight Stars quilt, a blue and white applique on a feathered star quilt. It's done nothing but frustrate me, so no pictures yet.

I finished  two sweaters.  I showed you the green one last time as it was being blocked. I made that one out of Berrocco Comfort. It is an acrylic yarn.  I made another one out of Summer Linen by Universal Yarn Company.  What a difference there is working with those yarns!

 

Here is Lauren in the acrylic Comfort yarn. This was a DK yarn knitted on #6 circular needle. My gauge was about 5.5stitches per inch.  Sometimes, it seems to get looser as I knit...

Here I am in the cotton/linen.  It hasn't been blocked yet. This is also a DK yarn but I got about 5 stitches per inch on #6 needles.  Interesting!! It looks like my knitting was VERY loose....( This is the Buttercup pattern. ..BTW)

My brother David and sister-in-law Marcia were here last week for a doc appointment at the U of I.  He is 2 years post heart transplant!! Hard to believe!! And, he continues to do very well!!  As a treat, Marcia and I 'kidnapped' David and took him on a surprise visit to LeClaire, Iowa to visit Antique Archeology.  Otherwise known as the "American Pickers". He really got a charge out of that!

While we were there, Lauren and Bob were in Chicago to help celebrate grandma Strug's birthday.  She celebrated her 92!!

Here is Bob and his sister Carol with Grandma Strug.
Also this month, Cooper had surgery on his bladder for stones.  He is recovering nicely.
Hard to believe school starts soon!! Even harder to believe that Lauren will be a junior in college this year!  Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Happy 4th of July!

Lauren's home from her Geology Field class!!  And she had THE BEST TIME..EVER!!!!!!( her words.)  Really, she was so excited when she got home. Her enthusiasm was bubbling over!  She couldn't say enough great things about the experience.  Loved the camping, the hiking (wants to hike EVERYWHERE), the flora, the fauna, the people, etc., etc.!

I was so relieved.  You may recall how I shed a tear or two when she pulled out of the driveway because it was very obvious to me that she DID NOT WANT TO GO. But, it turns out that most of the fear was from not really knowing anyone and just the UNKNOWN.  But, as usual, Lauren stepped up to the plate and forged ahead.  It also helped that everyone on the trip was great, too!!

 Here are a few pictures that I stole from her Facebook album. Not necessarily in chronological order.

  Here she is on a mountain somewhere on Wyoming! Lots of suntan lotion, water, hat and well broken-in hiking boots was the fashion of the day.

Lauren with the presidents at Rushmore. The Beloit group explored the Badlands, the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Devils Tower...so many awesome sights. Then into Wyoming to the Big Horn Mountains, Sheep Mountain, Crazy Woman Canyon, Sinks Cave, and the Seminoe Mountains. Just to name a few...

Here's Devil's Tower behind a goofy Lauren.

This is their campsite at the Seminoe Mountains. (I think) Anyway, it is how they camped every night!

Lauren's caption with this photo explaining how many trees are in Wyoming...

This is the final mapping of the area in the Seminoe Mountains.  This is a week's worth of work using tools and methods of geological mapping.
Lauren was very excited about future geology trips...Colorado, Hawaii.  Who wouldn't be excited!?
So, I guess we better enjoy our time with her while we can...