favorite fabrics

I started machine quilting on another quilt but stop and study this one as I re arrange the quilt because it is still pinned to the wall.  My eye is always drawn to the rabbit fabrics, I might name this quilt Rabbits Run Like the Wind.  Our previous house was on the edge of town with a pasture out our backyard, on a couple occasions when there was snow I could see three jackrabbits near the fence line and they would race from one end of the pasture to the other and back again. It was the funniest thing.  Who do you want to be your buddy when the fox or coyotes are watching? The one you can outrun.  I can't decide which fabric is my favorite......they all are that's why they are in my stash.
 --Ann--

sweater finish

This sweater was fast to knit with sport weight yarn on size 6 needles or maybe I spent too much time in front of the tv recently but at least I was knitting and not with a bag of cheese curls, my orange fingers would have been lost in this yarn but I have a rule about eating and knitting.  I don't do them at the same time and neither do I eat when I watch tv.  Eating is done in the dining room or the kitchen not the living room or my sewing room.  That has always been the law at my house.  This is a cotton and linen yarn by Cascade called Hampton, the swatch went through the wash like everyday stuff no shrinkage!!  Scroll down to last knitting post for a link to the pattern.  I'm knitting the left over yarn into  a wash cloth so I will run it through the washer and dryer a couple more times before I start treating this like everyday clothes.  It feels so good I may never take it off along with my new skinny leg jeans.  A new sweater off the needles is more fun than cutting off the tags of ready made.  --Ann--

Mid Summer

Nothing says the mid summer like the bowl of strawberries I picked yesterday from the local strawberry garden.  The sweetness of summer................--Ann--

ta da da done #3

 It seems it is either miserably hot outside or overcast and rainy. Everywhere is green again.  Sew to the sewing room instead of running around.  I can get a lot done when I stay home in my sewing room. After considering lots of possibilities I did a free motion feather in the border.  It just wasn't wide enough for a baptist fan like I did on a similar quilt a couple years ago click.   Those fabrics are so cheerful on another gloomy day.  --Ann--

Deadheading

Florentine Silk

Adobe

Thornbird

 I helped deadhead the iris at McCrory Gardens yesterday morning  I'm trying to learn names but I can only remember so many a week.  Late last summer I helped plant 80 some varieties, many are blooming now,  next year they will be much thicker with blooms.  The lower petals stand out like a dancers tutu with the newer varieties, the older varieties drape like a formal gown.  I can't decide which I like best.........loving them all  --Ann--
P.S.  I got my first gramma scam phone call yesterday.  I said I don't have any grandkids so you can't scam me.  It was an all zero number he sounded like he was about 40! grow up and get a real job.

bingeing and knitting and the remote

Hubby went off on another fishing trip and left me to my own devices or devises (and the remote and credit card) or vices or vises.  Spell check isn't correcting me on the spellings.  So refer to the dictionary....  Left to one's own devices simply means doing what one desires or is inclined to do.  That fits, my desire was to start a new sweater as I reclined and binge watched Poldark (season 3 is available on amazon).  Devise is to plan or scheme, my plan and vice was ordering more yarn and after a couple hours of knitting my hands cramped like a vise which can also be spelled vice.  The pattern is Sunshine Coast (click) by Heidi Kirrmaier, I'm using a 70% cotton and 30% linen yarn called Hampton by Cascade Yarns.  I'm going to knit it longer so it covers my fanny and I can wear it with my new skinny leg jeans.  Yeah I went shopping in local stores too after hubby headed north.  Left to my own devices.....--Ann--

machine quilting

Machine quilting with tools is slow going compared to free motion quilting but sometimes the tools really enhance the piecing.  Only a couple more rows of pinwheels then the border. --Ann--

sweater finish

Stand up straight,  chin up, stretch out the wrinkles, suck in tummy, smile........I finished the sweater Deodara on ravelry with Cobasi yarn cotton bamboo and silk with elasticized nylon.  The swatch washed and dried with minimal shrinkage. I think it will be a dream to wear if we have any not so hot days this summer.  I did not do as many decreases in the waist at the pattern suggested because I don't have a 20 something waist anymore.   --Ann--

Iris

apricot drop

     

 I have been helping weed and dead head the iris at McCrory Gardens.  My friend in the red cap who did the iris arrangements for my wedding 40 years ago has taken charge of the iris garden. She has a group of volunteers who help for an hour a day which is just right, we are not so worn out from the work and the heat that we go home and collapse for the rest of the day. We are willing to come back the next day and the next.  She knows the names of all of them and which won awards.  I'm trying hard to learn the names it really should be printed on the leaf like the designers name on the selvage of quilt fabric.  All of these are MTB's (medium tall bearded) and are earlier than the tall bearded iris. After we weeded 2 weeks ago the paid help brought in fresh mulch it looks so nice.  Can't wait to see what is blooming next.  --Ann--

Dancing Gold

Ta da da done #2

 Nine patch and log cabins  I haven't thought of a good name for this quilt some times I stick with the simple and obvious.  Those hot days in May were great for machine quilting.  --Ann--

40 years

 40 years to the same wonderful guy!
church wedding, big bouquet of iris from a friends garden behind me, spider mums and carnations in my bouquet, single chins, thick hair, I made my dress and veil for about $40, it had such a tiny waist.
Its a wonderful life.
--Ann--

maple seeds

 The maple seeds have been whirling from the trees then leap frog down the street.  In past years they have either been green or tan but this year they are pink or maybe I just didn't notice. Nature does pink so well. They are probably all from the many Autumn Blaze Maples in the neighborhood.  In an older neighborhood where we lived 20 some years ago we had a maple that dropped larger seeds that were about 3 inches in length. These pink seeds are just over an inch in length.  The longer seeds would soar down like a helicopter, these do to but since they are smaller they whirl faster.  They always land seed first into the grass.  Throwing the seeds back into the air kept my little boys busy for minutes many many minutes.
Summer memories.  --Ann--