Rainy day and sewing

 

Playing with blocks on a rainy day in the sewing room.  So glad it isn’t snowing!! —Ann—

Sewing yesterday!

I sewed yesterday for the first time since………it’s been a while……..first I cleaned and oiled my machine then the hum and the purrrrrrr….just sewing 3 1/2 inch half square triangles for about an hour then I went for a walk. The wind wasn’t blowing the leaves weren’t falling they were just laying there and so many colors. —Ann—

Reading list #4

1. The Harp and the Rose by Jean Grainger book 3 of the Queenstown series
2. Roaring Liberty by Jean Grainger book 4 of the Queenstown series
3. The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny for book club murder mystery 
4. Book of Ages  The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin  by Jill Lepore biography and letters written by Jane Franklin to her brother Benjamin Franklin. Some letters were just cheery letters from home, others were her viewpoints on the revolutionary war and society or social issues of the time. The author made a point of how boring history can be to read depending on the viewpoint of the writer, she also went on to say that historical fiction can give the reader more insight into how people actually lived in a particular place and time a more realistic history.
5. Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen a more appropriate title might be the Lies I Read in History Books.  The author tells how publishers have sanitized, sugar coated and whitewashed American history so as not to offend anyone and age appropriateness for the students.  It was a tough book to read because it did tell how Columbus actually treated the natives and how the new comers brought disease which wiped out whole tribes, and that all presidents before Lincoln had been slave owners. The book also went on to say how similar history textbooks are from one publisher to another and how history is rewritten from one decade to the next because of how attitudes of the public have changed.
6. The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt nonfiction about the women who worked for Walt Disney in the early years of animation to present day. I want to watch Snow White, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo again. And all the others too. The women didn’t get the recognition they deserved. The technology of the feature length animations was groundbreaking at the time. Fantasia was the first surround sound movie. 
7. A Time for Mercy  by John Grisham for book club lots of details about lawyers preparing their defense and tricks to dsitract the prosecutor.  Very interesting but also long I needed a break from it after every few chapters. 
8. The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams just for fun I needed a cozy mystery after four very serious books.
9. Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay contemporary story about two sisters one a chef and the other dealing with cancer with lots of references to Jane Austen books because she was their mother’s favorite author. 
10. The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict story takes place in England in 1930’s. Characters were real people, six sisters, a couple were fascinated by fascism and communism. A new perspective for me about what was happening in Europe leading up to WW2. 
11. The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald fiction but based on real people and events of 1925 when teaching evolution and creation as learned in the Bible went to court in Dayton, Tennessee. Annabel Craig is 23 years old, married to a lawyer and a self taught photographer who sits in on the trial taking photos. Very good. 
12. Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger #17 of the series another thriller. 
13. The Devil’s Bed by William Kent Krueger one of his earlier books, a political thriller.
14. The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay for book club we read this a couple years ago and everyone had forgotten the characters and plot.  The only thing I remembered was the head of staff at the Braithwaite House in Bath, England grew up in the house.  None of us at book club were fans of Jane Austen and hadn't read any of her books since high school.
15. Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen I tried reading it but only got 1/3 through it.  I don't understand the infatuation with her books.  There just isn't any action in the plot especially after reading William Kent Krueger books.

My no time to sew summer has turned into a no sew fall but these lovely summer like days I have spent on the deck reading or walking instead of downstairs in the sewing room. Time in the sewing room will come when fall turns to winter.  We haven't had rain here since August the weatherman was predicting a drab autumn because it is dry but mother nature had other ideas. This is the prettiest autumn ever and the leaves are still hanging tight. Some maples are a brilliant red others are red, orange, copper, yellow, gold and green all at once.  The colors are in layers with green closest to the trunk. Everyday they are a little more orange and red and someday soon the wind will blow from the north and bring a hard hard frost and all the trees will disrobe until spring and then I will cozy up with a book and a quilt or go to my sewing room. --Ann--

Small screen

 

Last week I posted about missing the big stuff because I’m looking at the small screen. Sometimes you need to look at the small screen to see the big sky with the northern lights. It looked like an ordinary dark night on the prairie but DD sent a couple pics from Aberdeen, SD ninety miles away of the northern lights so I went out to look too, all I saw was whites streaks in the northern sky, shimmer it’s called but with the camera in my phone I shot some color. The white foreground is from the neighbors exterior lights which they never turn off!—Ann—

Posing together

That’s as good as it gets for them posing together.  Now we just need October weather to arrive so they can wear their new sweaters. Miss M was really not unhappy here it was just the picture that wasn’t a blur, she can change expressions so fast.  Miss O was also captured in a brief pause in the fading evening light.  Cooler days are coming and I knit hugs into every stitch.  —Ann—

 

Just life

A perfect morning coffee on the deck, a cozy sweater, a sunny clear morning and almost no wind and knitting on my lap. Pheasants were crowing. Robins were gathered to discuss their departure date and flight plan.  Then my coffee was gone and I was sad so I went for a walk. Walking releases endorphins which makes you happy. Later I went outside again to read. I watched a flock of pelicans fly over in a perfect V formation where was my phone to take a picture?!? They turned and came back I grabbed my phone from inside quick to get a picture. I couldn’t find them in the frame. The pelicans were changing position in a very organized manner. How much do we miss because we are looking at the little screen instead of the big one?? —Ann—
 

Sweaters

 

I’m working on sweaters for the little girls. The yarn did not come from Ireland, I love knitting wool but this Berroco Remix Light is more practical for little girls.  It’s machine wash and dry!! Madeline is always a card in front of the camera. Olivia was not interested that day.  The pattern is Harvester by Elyssa Samatha Taylor, super easy front and back are the same no shoulder shaping so they won’t ever put it on backwards. And I just knit stockinette instead of garter stitch in the sleeves. Ann

Do overs

This post is old news.........I have been working on this sweater off and on all summer. I finished the first sleeve a few days ago then on to the second……everything was going smoothly I was on a roll a veritable knitting machine until I laid the second sleeve on top of the first, it was a few rows short. Do I knit a few extra rows to even them up, no, I tried it on, the second sleeve was tighter than the first.  Thinking back I could feel the caffeine in my fingers the day I knit 12 of the 4 row decrease repeats. So I ripped back and started over, I was knitting noticeably looser like I drank 2 glasses of wine but I didn’t then I noticed a mistake so I needed to rip a few rows. I laid sleeve 2 on top of sleeve one again to compare, without the needles in the sleeve the comparison was more accurate. Sleeve two was over an inch wider then sleeve one! Rip again and put my big girl panties on and do it right this time.  Knit firm but not tight. Well I ripped two more times—those do overs only involved a few knitted rows but still picking up 98 stitches but for someone who is numerically challenged…….I think I’ve got it now.  The yarn is a fingering Wool Addicts by Lang called Footprints it is 45% cotton, 42% wool and 13% nylon. It says superwash but my swatch shrank some. The pattern is Autumn Square by Hinterm Stein.  It has a little design detail, a square knit into the center of the garter stitch section in the upper bodice but each time I have gotten carried away with the simplicity of just knitting back and forth and missed the cue for starting the stockinette stitch for the square.  I like it without the square on my chest. Can't wait for cooler days to wear it. I did wear this sweater several days in Ireland.  --Ann--

Aran sweaters and yarn

 

We were on a tour so we went to lots of souvenier shops and just about all of  them were selling Aran sweaters many were machine knit I don't know if the machines in the top two pictures are knitting machines or what but what caught my eye was all the colors of yarn. Years ago Aran sweaters were either the natural cream or brown or dark gray now they area available in all colors.  I wish I had taken a picture of the many colored sweaters.  The kids sweaters were so much fun but all too small for my little granddaughters and I want the fun of knitting for them.  The sweater on the stand was hand knit as were all the sweaters behind the shoulder in that picture.  The shop at Blarney sold packages of yarn and I'm so glad I bought a package there because all the other shops sold odd balls and skeins, all of it Aran weight and seldom enough of one color to knit a sweater.  I will have 3 or 4 extra skeins. This is the same yarn that I knit last (click) winter but with a different label they even had the exact same color.  A pullover or a cardigan??  --Ann--

Ireland

 It’s been 6 weeks ago that we went on a tour to Ireland. The we was me and hubby, son, hubbie's two nieces with their hubbies and son.  The tour started in Dublin, hubby, son and I were a day late getting there because weather canceled our flight actually it was because weather backed up flights and our flight crew would have been on overtime and airline would have to pay a big fine. We rescheduled our flights drove home then back to the airport bright and early the next morning.  The trip was great after we got there. We spent a few hours at Glendalough which is like a national park with two lakes, trails to hike and the round tower and chapel ruins. There are ruins of stone churches and houses everywhere. We went to St. Patrick's Rock, Cashel dating back to 12th and 13th centuries. Blarney Castle was another stop once you start up the stone spiral stairs there is no turning back (absolutely no room to turn around) son got in position to kiss the Blarney stone, I did not.  I told the guide his grandmother kissed it in 1952 and they didn't have thick rubber mats to lay on then or a spray bottle of disinfectant.  Son didn't get backwards far enough to kiss the stone and didn't feel gipped.  Blarney Castle had information boards that explained the rooms and castle life.  There were also beautiful botanical gardens.  The scenery was beautiful and so green.  We toured the Ring of Kerry which is a scenic loop around a peninsula on the western coast and saw the Cliffs of Moher on a sunny day and the Burren then the clouds came in again.  The joke in Ireland is we had summer last Tuesday between 1 and 3. We had more nice weather than rainy.  --Ann--

Herbal tea in the morning

 

Herbal tea in the morning just doesn’t get me going like a good cup of black coffee.  How could I make such a rookie mistake!?!?!

I’m not going to rip. Those will be my sheep in the mist in a glen in Ireland.

Enjoying my cup of coffee before I go back to the sewing machine.  Ann

It’s a little ditty pouch for recharger cords or knitting markers or little things you don’t want to loose in your purse like a nail clipper or dental floss.

Labor Day record

 

Reading weeks on my kindle since July 22, 2018

And reading days since Dec 8, 2021

And the streak continues……..Ann……

Reading list #3 2024

Tis a lovely day for a Guiness.........

or a lovely day for an Irish coffee

1. A Dress of Violet Taffeta by Tessa Arlen story about a young woman with 5 year old daughter who is abandoned by her husband in  late 1800’s in England. She starts designing dresses to support herself and daughter eventually opens stores in London, New York, Paris and Chicago. Also a Titanic survivor. Good story and wonderful descriptions of fabrics and color.
2. Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb as delightful the second time I read it as the first.
3. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich children’s book probably 4th grade reading level just for fun.
4. Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson murder mystery takes place on an island near Stockholm, Sweden. 
5. Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Rose nonfiction to keep my kindle streak going. About the importance of art in our lives for our wellbeing. Lots of studies and physiology of how the brain works and responds to the arts. Interesting.
6. The Women by Kristen Hannah for book club best book I have read in a long time about nurses who served during Vietnam war and their return to America.
7. The Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland I read this years ago and very few moments reading it the second time that “oh yeah I remember this” almost like I was reading it for the first time. It’s about a painting probably painted by Vermeer, the Dutch artist. Each chapter is about who owned the painting, how they related to the painting and how they acquired it.
8. Manitou Canyon by William Kent Krueger book # 15 in the Cork O’Conner series.
9. The Paris Novel  fiction by chef, food writer and editor, Ruth Reichl, delightful story about a young woman going to Paris after the death of her mother. A bit of a fairy tale in that the people she meets in Paris each contribute to her finding herself and understanding her mother. Short happy ending book.
10. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig for book club I just about quit reading it because I was going to miss the discussion but I said one more chapter and the action / tension picked up so I read to the end. The story takes place in 1909/1910 in Montana about a widowed father of 3 boys attending country school. Country school was the best 4 years of school of my life. 
11. Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier another book about Vermeer and his painting.
12. Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger #16 in the Cork O’Connor series, lots of twists and surprises.
13. Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes a mix up of gym bags and a drastic change of circumstances forces two women to literally walk in the others shoes. It’s a story of friendship and overcoming hardships and relationships. Very good
14. For All the World by Jean Grainger story takes place in Ireland at the beginning of WWI. 
15. Murder in the Marigolds by Fiona Grace a very short book murder with a horticultural theme just for fun. 
16. Lilac Ink by Jean Grainger Ireland about a young woman with polio in1938 overcoming obstacles and finding happiness and a letter in a bottle.
17. Last Port of Call: The Queenstown Series book 1 by Jean Grainger the story begins in 1912 in Queenstown, Ireland  reverted back to the original Irish name of Cobh with Ireland's independence from Britan. The story is about a young woman and her daughter who inherit the big house and turn it into a bed and breakfast to support themselves. Cobh is the departure point for many Irish leaving Ireland.  Rereading these books after visiting Cobh a few weeks ago.  
18. The West's Awake  by Jean Grainger book 2 of the Queenstown series. This series made me sympathetic toward those fighting for an independent Ireland.

I took a much longer break from blogging than I intended but then not much has been happening on the creative side.  We took a trip to Ireland with son and nieces and families.  It was a tour group and traveling with family was wonderful. We hope to travel together again in a couple years.  We toured the southern part of Ireland this trip.  My previous trips were all in the North to visit relatives so saw lots of beautiful new scenery. More about that in coming weeks.  I have been rereading the Jean Grainger books and trying to visualize  Cobh /Queenstown 110 years ago the only building that I'm sure is still in exactly the same place is St. Colman's Cathederal.

So far it’s been a no sew summer

 It’s been a no sew summer for me at least since I finished quilting the last baby quilts. I need to stay home for a couple weeks to start a new quilt, I look at my books and choose some fabric and then we go again when we come home I look at my mess and am not inspired so I clear the table and start again……this has been happening for weeks. My fabric stash and ideas can wait the little girls will only be 3 for a few more months then they will be 4.  And off we go again.  What do I do on those 4 hour drives coming or going? Knit socks!! Unless of course I am driving. The roads are long and straight in South Dakota. These are socks since June and I’m using up the wee bits of leftover yarn.  Savoring the moments—Ann—

Drama in the sky

 

Sometimes the drama in the sky is better than what is on the television.  The top two pictures are the full moon rising at 11:30 ish. Then there are the rain clouds in all directions and sometimes a rainbow. —Ann—