A little progress

Its been a couple weeks since I posted and I wish I could tell you that I have been somewhere warm and exotic but I've just been busy with everyday life here.  The sunny days last week were not particularly warm but I could feel the warmth of the sun through my wool jacket when I went for a walk and some days more than one walk.  Anyway it was more pleasant to sit in the sun room and read or knit than go downstairs to my sewing room.  Baby steps in progress on these pinwheels.  I usually drag my feet on borders because I need to measure and pin.  Its going to be windy again but at least its not snowing!!  Our snow is gone except for the huge piles in parking lots.  To the sewing room.  --Ann--

A January blizzard in April

Alleluia chorus the sun is out and the sky is blue and the streets are sloppy!!

The rain came in ice pellets sometimes pea sized hail, enough to cover the ground in pearls.  The constant clicking on the windows sent me to my sewing room for most of the day.  I would knit a few rows on my sweater then move a few pinwheels and knit a few more rows while I planned my next move. That was Friday.























Saturday
April snow usually comes in big wet globs that splat on the windshield, that didn’t happen but then I didn’t drive anywhere either. During the night it turned into January blizzard, the clicking on the windows ceased but the wind continued as if it were breathing expelling great bursts of air with snow then almost gasping too catch its breath for another outburst.  The snow was fine like sifted sugar and at times I couldn’t see across the neighbors lot to the next street.

 

 I  updated the weather app on my iPad, it kept sending messages that snow would start at ..:.. down to the minute. I much prefer the format of the old app without the updates.  It was snowing on and off all day I really didn't care what time more snow would come because I wasn't going anywhere and neither should anyone else as nasty as it was outside. The app could have told me something important like what time it was going to stop!!  Or when the roads were going to be clear.
Back to my sewing room I sewed a few rows together and knit some more.

Sunday we cleared snow oldest son came over to help so I made a farm meal a roast, potatoes and vegetables.  It was delicious! There were more snowflakes in the air whether they were falling from the sky or airborne from other snowblowers I don't know.  A little blue sky could be seen through a thinning veil of clouds.  I knit some more and watched some movies.  Spring might be here the end of the week  --Ann--

Ready for more snow

Another big snow event is brewing in the upper Midwest.  The wind is howling, an occasional raindrop hits the window, the birds fight the wind then glide with it and grab the nearest tree and try again in search of a sheltered roost.

• I went to the grocery store yesterday check, 
• Knitting in progress socks check, 
• Sweater check, 
• More sock yarn check just in case.  
• Electronic devices charged and loaded with books check.  Just in case we loose power.
• Quilt blocks to arrange and rearrange then sew together check.  
• More fabric to cut just in case
• Coffee check
• Wine check 

I hope this is our last snowstorm until December.  - - Ann- -

one more story

I finished sewing the long strips with my mother's old Elna and I think I will set it aside and keep it for speed sewing.  This pattern is from an old Fons and Porter book from 1995 American Country Scrap Quilts back before they got into selling kits and lines of fabrics.  Its 2 inch strips sewn in pairs then cut into triangles with a 60 degree angle.  I'm sewing them together as pin wheels but I can see lots of other possibilities but to do the tumbling blocks I need to plan the values of the fabrics, the optical illusion of the tumbling blocks is very confusing but fun.

One more story about my Elna. When the boys were in grade school and home computers were becoming common the oldest boy though we needed one.  We were living in a small house and the boys shared a room that was about 8 x 9 feet and baby daughter was sharing space in my sewing room until she got to the point where she couldn't sleep while I sewed.  I moved my machine to a corner of the dining room/ kitchen.  I asked the boys where we could put a computer because we really did not have a good spot for it.  They suggested it go where my sewing machine was.  Hubby said I would get rid of them before I got rid of my sewing machine.  They looked at me.  I said not really but close.  I was open minded about the computer so when we went to the library I let them have some computer time because I really didn’t know what they could do with a computer.  The librarian opened up a game called Oregon Trail, first they had to name all the characters, they named them after us. Then we headed west and one mishap after another we were attacked, robbed, injured etc then baby sister died. The boys were both in tears when we left and we didn't get a computer for a couple more years, by then we were in a bigger house with a built in desk in the perfect spot for a computer and I had a room just for sewing.

Getting ready for another snowstorm here  --Ann--
Linking to Off The Wall Friday

sewing machine

Last week I finished reading  The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie a good story for those of us who are emotionally attached to our sewing machines.  The story starts at the Singer sewing machine factory in Scotland and the young woman who tests the machines.  The story is told through her and the women who owned one of the machines she tested.  It was a delightful story about something dear to my heart.
Later in the week I pulled a coil of 2 inch strips out of the stash all set for the next quilt and whether it was nostalgia or my need for speed I set up my old Elna who can run 1200 perfect stitches per minute.  And when I have 80 some width of fabric strips to sew in pairs I like speed.  It was the speed more than nostalgia.  I got about 10 pairs sewn and my speedy hum turned into a whoosh and the needle stopped.  I was told the last couple times I had it serviced that the bushings or brushes or something that makes the needle go up and down were getting worn and replacement parts are hard to find.  I may have completely worn her out.  Forty some years of sewing garments, lingerie, jeans, doll clothes, crafts and quilts and more quilts with no harsh words.  She was the best machine ever.  --Ann--

February 68th

It snowed ALL day yesterday so today looks and feels like February 68th.  Another 5 - 8 inches of snow!  Its hard to tell how much there really is when it comes sideways.  It was a great day to knit and read and cut quilt strips and knit some more as the snow blew.  I have knit this pattern  once, twice and love the way it fits. I'm knitting this with leftover sock yarn and some lace weight, 1) the blue / black from Scotland, 2) cream from Iceland and 3) dark red was just in the stash.  Holding the lace weight with an odd bit of sock yarn softens the color changes and I have 3 back up balls that I am adding to the mix.  I knit until I use up a ball and add another or knit for a while with a big ball and change the lace yarns as I go.  Keeping busy on a snow day.  --Ann--

sweater finish

Here we are in the first week of April and I should be giving my wool sweaters their favorite spa day instead of still wearing them.  You know the long soak in the tub then a spin in the washer to get all the water out then a relaxing afternoon basking in the sun on the patio before I carefully fold each one and wrap it in cotton before placing them on the shelf until next fall.  Winter is hanging on forever here, we comfort ourselves after the March snows by saying "it won't last long" but last Mondays snow is still here and more is in the forecast and the temps have been in the teens! Oh well its great weather for knitting.
I finished my sweater.  I love the feel of the viscose  and linen yarn and after blocking it was smooth and shiny and drapes so nice.  I wasn't sure I was going to like it as I was knitting because it was a little stiff and looked coarse not really like burlap but along that line.  I might just knit this sweater again.  Hope you are staying warm.  --Ann--

quilt top finished

 
Its snowing again.  Sometimes the flakes seems to just float in no particular hurry to the ground and other times they are rushing sideways.  I could sit in the sun room all day and watch.
Another quilt top added to the stack I need to get a bleached white batting for the pastel quilt, an unbleached seems to wash out the colors and the white makes them a little brighter.  On to something new! Over the weekend Easter Blessings I heard about 3 new babies who will each be needing a quilt when they arrive in the coming months.  - -Ann- -