Pausing

 I sat in my sunroom (however it is not a sunroom until afternoon and it’s overcast and snow is forecast) to drink my coffee I watched the squirrels in the trees. They have a nest in the spruce tree. They were not posing for my camera I wondered do they enjoy the Christmas lights or do they grumble that the lights keep them awake at night. I’m a night owl and always up until midnight so if the lights bother them they might have packed up and moved years ago. I think they enjoy the lights. Coffee finished I went downstairs to machine quilt and emptied my bobbin as it was winding I saw this rabbit in my shrubs and juncos and blue jays and the busy little squirrels in and under the trees. It’s always good to pause and take in nature. Back to machine quilting. —Ann—

First check off the list…..

 

The tree is decorated!! On to the Santas but first dust the shelves then remember where all the little display enhancements are……drink my coffee first……preparations……..—Ann—

Off the needles!!

 

Finished. This is the fastest I have ever knit an adult size sweater but when I’m using #10 needles it does go fast. I washed it twice because the first time it didn’t shrink in length the way my swatch did which was a scant half inch of a 4 inch swatch. So I threw it in the dryer for 5 minutes then 5 more minutes. The sleeves are still too long but I can fold up the cuffs. Maybe next time it’s washed it will shrink a little more. Always guessing with what the yarn will do. —Ann—

Temporarily off the needles

 I purchased this yarn in Ireland last summer, a worsted weight called Soft Donegal by Studio Donegal. Hubby was off hunting last weekend what should I do??  Cozy up and knit of course….the same pattern as the pink sweater https://straythreads-straythreads.blogspot.com/2025/03/ also a Donegal tweed that I purchased in the south of Ireland the summer before that I knit 3 times before I loved it. I knit this on #10 needles in a 14 gauge that means big stitches so it knit fast. Hubby left on Friday and came home Monday and I was well into my 3rd ball of yarn. Don’t think I’ll have it done for Thanksgiving but will definitely finish it while we are still eating leftovers. Happy Thanksgiving.  —Ann—

Blissful sewing

A morning of blissful sewing! An appointment was changed to the afternoon I was as giddy as a schoolgirl hearing the announcement that it was a snow day.  There was snow on the ground but as I sewed I listened to the rhythm of the dripping snow melt from the roof. I thought this would be quick to sew, I did start it back in September and it would have been if I had cut all the strips the same size but I found leftover strips to use and then life happens with lots of distractions.

I’m calling this quilt Racoons in the sweet corn. The racoons are circling the patch a few have eaten their fill or are going to share the news with their friends and relatives.  —Ann—

Off the needles

These sweaters are finally finished a couple false starts on the sleeves because I’m numerically challenged. Why is it so hard to knit 4 sleeves the same? I have no idea but sometimes it’s hard to knit two sleeves the same circumference and length.  They are finished in time for birthdays. It is hard to believe my two little 4 pound peanut sized granddaughters are 5 years old.  —Ann—

Bigger slippers

 

I knit some bigger slippers for the little girls……so far so good they actually fit me before felting and then I over felted them and they were too small so knit another pair actually knit two pairs.  I had to order more yarn oh darn!! The weather has changed felted wool slippers feel pretty good.  —Ann—

Extra yarn

I packed extra yarn for the week at the river, I might have packed too much. The yellow bag had my projects to work on while hubby drives. It is a 4 hour drive to the river. And the brown and blue bag…..well I don’t want to run out of things to do.  I may have packed too much just in case I finish the 3 sweaters……I have yarn for stocking caps, I’ll let the girls pick which yarn they want for the pink pom poms, I’m going to use the white with the kid haze for the ribbing then one of the pink yarns in a mosaic pattern, more on that when I get to it. I brought a ball of the green yarn from Ireland so I could start swatching.  I plan on reading lots of books to the little girls too and a couple for me. —Ann—

Reading list #4 2025

A week without a bunch of activities………a week at the river.  Summertime temperatures, reading on the deck, knitting and coffee maybe some wine later.

1. The Girls of Ennismore by Patricia Falvey an Irish version of Downton Abbey the story begins in the early 1900’s Ireland’s fight for independence is also part of the story.  Good story. 
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir science fiction saving the earth from above normal temperatures from a star outside our solar system. I skipped over a lot of the technical stuff but the drama was good. 
3. Folded Corners by Jean Grainger #5 of the Knocknashee series 
4. Through Streets Broad and Narrow by Gemma Jackson Dublin Ireland 1925 about a young woman struggling after the death of her father her struggle to survive her poverty.
5. Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen about a young woman still reeling from the death of her husband finds a postcard from her great aunt and drives to Lost Lake hoping to find here aunt and remember her happy childhood there. Good story.
6. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny three mysteries in one. The unfolding of the story of members of the investigating team being shot, unofficially reinvestigating the murder in the previous book ‘why would he move the body’ and the murder of a man obsessed with where was Samual Champlain was buried over a century ago.
7. Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller takes place in a small town in Georgia some residents ban books in the library. Lula Dean puts up a little library outside her house with the books she thinks people should be reading. Another resident puts the banned books inside the jackets of the acceptable books. The books change lives and the town. Very good and very funny at times.
8. Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams takes place in 1920’s to 1940’s a woman pilot in the early years of aviation. For book club.
9. Camino Winds by John Grisham book 2 after Camino Island another thriller with a hurricane, a bookstore, some writers, a murder or two, nursing home fraud and lots more.
10. Heat Lightning by John Sandford —Virgil Flowers mystery takes place in Minnesota. Murder  and theft of heavy equipment going back to Vietnam 1975. He covered a lot of ground in Minnesota Mankato, Minneapolis, Bemidji, Red Lake, International Falls and back again. Those places are not close together.
11. no more tears the dark secrets of Johnson & Johnson by gardiner harris the good the bad and the ugly of drug manufacturing makes Camino Winds seem more fact than fiction but in that book it was the nursing home making fraudulent claims against medicare and medicaid. Not the drug manufacturers with fraudulent claims of what the drug will do and negligence with side effects. I’m going to walk and eat my veggies to avoid prescription meds. Two major law suits against J&J were won by the plaintiffs in South Dakota. 
12. Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah always a good story. About a little girl who has been living in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest wonders into a town searching for food. A child psychologist is called in who is the sister of the local police chief to help the girl. Love and patience is the cure. Very good.
13. Camino Ghosts by John Grisham 3rd book of the series resort developer wants to build a resort on an abandoned island once occupied by escaped slaves, the last living descendant claims ownership of the island and will not accept any amount of cash.  Her ancestors are buried there. Very good story.
14. The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg just for fun kids chapter book. Two middle school age boys who have spent more time with adults than kids, they are helping the mother of one of the boys ready the contents of an estate house for sale, a retired opera singer, a small sketch by a famous artist, an art exhibit of “forbidden art”, nazi plunder and more intrigue everything gets sorted in the end. I may read all of  E.L. Konigsburg’s books
15. Night Road by Kristen Hannah for book club good discussion it’s about family, grief, and forgiveness. 
16. The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg a 12 year old girl has a miserable experience at summer camp, her great uncle rescues her from camp she learns that the towers her uncles constructed years ago were going to be demolished she comes up with a plan to save the towers. Some of the same characters that were in The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World only younger. Delightful story. 

On the needles

 

Little sweaters for the little girls I’m using Cobasi yarn which is cotton, bamboo and silk it is spun so it has some stretch to it and feels wonderful and machine wash for the busy mom. I have to take turns working on them so I will finish them at the same time or close. Can’t pick favorites you know. 

This is the exact same sweater and yarn I knit last spring. Why am I knitting the exact same sweater? Because I gave the first one to a cousin in Ireland, the one with the two little kids in the fused appliqué a few posts ago. She was so wonderful to us. And I needed to make some room in my bag for new Irish yarn. Why are all those markers hanging on the sleeve? I was spending too much time counting my decrease rows and I couldn’t remember from one day to the next how many I had completed. Im still counting but at least it’s quicker. —Ann—

It’s so quiet

All of us were busy painting and Olivia says “it’s so quiet” and it was, everyone was concentrating.  Fun weekend with the little girls—they will argue that they are big girls—I’m just not ready for big girls.  They brought over their bag of stuff—things to do at grandmas— they had paints and brushes…….I reached for some art paper from the closet and I found the prang paints that I bought special for them because the colors are so much brighter.  Is there anything more discouraging to a young artist than anemic looking paint on cheap paper?!!? Nice mixed media paper I cut the sheets in 4, bright pure paints eventually I will get them better brushes.  I showed them how to drip water into each color to moisten the paint. They were very serious about each drop of water. I was painting water on my paper for a sky, Madeline asked why I was doing that I told her and showed her how the colors would mix and spread on the wet paper.  She said that’s a good idea so she tried it. Later I was mixing a green on the lid she asked again what was I doing she thought mixing paint that way was a good idea too and tried it.  To see their little creative minds at work. Then they asked me to cut out more paper dolls to paint so I did. —Ann—
 

Lazy borders

 Quilt top together and I even sewed the backing! I did not have enough of any one fabric for borders that’s what happens with fat quarters so I kept it scrappy.—Ann—

New project

 

Hubby was off on a fishing trip…..I had uninterrupted time in my sewing room.  First I made the appliqué for a cousin sewing lots of stops and starts, going slow and turning lots of corners like driving around town.  Getting to the sewing on this buggy barn pattern was like hitting the open highway in South Dakota where the roads are straight and long with a full tank of gas or rather a freshly oiled machine the roar became a hum.  I also found a new use for my knitting blocking tiles…..put the buggy barn piles on the tiles and I can slide the tiles away as I sew the big segments together, everything stays in order.  Another little trick I learned long ago was to put a sticky note just below my markings on my big square up tool so I cut every block the exact same size—no oops.  Those white spots are the reflection of the ceiling lights. —Ann—

Finished

It’s ready to be mailed! I’m going to let my cousin finish this, she can either make a pillow which is what I was thinking when I started it or make a small wall hanging.  Easier to mail small.  Savoring the memories of Ireland. —Ann—
 

Progress

 I like this better……and then as I was clearing my table to clear my head I found some more greens that play better with the other greens than the little patches at the bottom corners. My first stitching in months, I started with the presser foot then switched to the free motion quilting foot so much easier and fewer puckers. I also layered a sheer yellow piece over the black and white buildings, toned them down. 

I had a productive day.  —Ann—

Small steps

Look at those little shoes!  Each little part was a small step. I worked on one person at a time, I think I found the perfect fabrics for each. The hair was found in a pheasant print. A light spot between the barns was perfect for the sunlight on the boys hair and the tall grass was perfect for blond pony tails.  The shoes were fussy because the parts were so small.  It fuses best if I remember to remove the paper from the back.  It’s been a long time since I used the fusible.

Still not ready to stitch but close, I see some things I might want to change I see little things in the photo that I don’t see as I’m working on it.  In the actual photo ( previous post) there is a little ridge in the grass on the left side, I can duplicate that ridge if I cut an “up” curve. I’m not sold on the lightest green in the foreground either. I’ll think on it before I stitch.  —Ann—

Another no sew summer

 

My no sew summer has come to an end. So far I am just choosing fabrics and enlarging the figures but soon I will be sewing. My monkey brain has been all over the place, work on the background then on the figures then I see I haven’t changed the calendar in my sewing room jump up and then stand there….what was I going to do?  Go back to the table look around ahha the calendar! Cutting these parts out isn’t so hard……oh time for coffee……maybe write a blogpost haven’t done that for awhile……maybe the caffeine will help me focus.

I’m making a pillow for my cousin in Ireland that’s her daughter and grandkids.  They took me to the beaches around Portrush.  Savoring summer memories—Ann—

Ireland

 

I call all of my relatives cousins in Ireland it’s to complicated to identify first cousins, second cousins and then the removing bit…….we all have the same great grandparents however to a couple they were grandparents. This is the house my grandfather grew up in, there were 11 children in a good Protestant family. The house is no longer in the family someone bought restored and modernized it the sky lights in the roof are new.  The moat was dug out on the lower level, some windows had been covered because property taxes were assessed by the number of windows in a house.  The house is probably 300 years old and was originally an abbey. We just walked around the outside, a young family lives there now we were invited in but I didn’t want to ruin my memories of when I was there in 1981. 

This is the only family photo of them all together probably the last time they were all together, my grandfather came to America a short time after the photo was taken, he is standing between my great-grandparents.  They were all dressed up for the occasion the dresses and shoes the girls are wearing are beautiful.  I met seven of the eleven siblings many years ago. Two of grandpas brothers, Harry and Robert, (second row left and right) came to America a few years later they also farmed. A sister, Jess, (sitting on left) came to America she worked in office jobs and was actually a roommate with my grandmother which is how she met my grandfather. That great aunt also worked as a nanny in South America it’s rumored that she sent cheerful letters home keeping the higher ups abreast of Americas preparations to enter WWII. We will never know for sure.  My great aunt Elsie ( standing on bottom step) is the one responsible for my love of wool. She came to America for a visit in the mid 1960’s and knit a sweater for me I’m sure I wore it to school every other day.  The youngest boy, my great uncle Sandy, came to America in 1968 and stayed for almost a year he visited all the American relatives he talked about the big snowstorms for decades. I met Sam ( boy sitting) in 1981.

Scenery along the coast

The monkey puzzle tree at a cousins farm.

A walk up the lane at another cousins farm, I walked all the way up that hill 44 years ago. The terrain looked a lot wilder this time, maybe the sheep had grazed it shorter years ago.  I saw a couple golden hares one struck a pose on a stone fence.

A cousin took me to the local yarn shop I found some treasures.

A trip to Ireland isn’t complete without a couple pints of Guinness.  —Ann—
 

Where have I been………

 I will give you a hint……

The shamrocks

The Open at Royal Portrush on the north coast of Northern Ireland what I know about golf could fit in a thimble but it was exciting and amazingly well organized to handle 48,000 or so people a day for 4 days. I went opening day hubby went all 4 days.  I spent my days with my cousins and had a wonderful catching up.

That’s Rory McIlroy on the first hole.

 

We went to some beaches some were sandy with sand as fine as sugar others were rocky and my little cousins fished for golf balls with their little nets. On other beaches we gathered shells and sea glass. It was just fun watching them be kids. 

We had lovely days at the beaches —Ann—