Week 15 & 16 - New, New, New - Glasses, Sofa, Piglets

I promised I'd show off my new glasses.  Sofia Vergara brand, blue, slightly larger than the last ones.  

TaDa!

I really like these, except it's taking forever to get used to the new prescription.  Mom got a deep aqua color for her new frames.  Stylin'!

John and I have been trying to come to agreement on a sofa for the great room for so long, I forget how long it's been.  A couple of weeks ago we went to Springfield to run some errands and while we were there, we stopped at Ashley Home Furnishings to take a look at what they had to offer.  By the time we left, we'd ordered a new sofa - deep grey leather, power reclining seats, oversized seats for the recliner.  Oh, my heavens, it is so soft and comfy!  

A perfect addition to the great room!  

John and our neighbor, JohnP, picked up piglets yesterday. 7 Berkshires.  

5 weeks old yesterday.  2 of them are ours.  We raise one for our son and his family in Utah and one for us.  Not sure which ones are ours yet, but they are named Pua and Pigg!  They get to live the good life until the end of October when they will go to Freezer Camp as all good pigs should!

This past week was our annual Cherry Blossom Festival here in Marshfield.  It's the 11th year (I think).  Family members of former U.S. Presidents, actors, writers, famous Missourians and various others come every year to present stories of their families, meet the locals, sign autographs, sell their books, etc.  One of the local bakers presented a cookie decorating class and I figured, hey, I have always wanted to learn how to work with royal icing, so I signed up for the class.  She provided the dozen cookies each with a pink royal icing start....we learned how to pipe branches and cherry blossoms.  Here are mine:

Well, I think spring is finally here in southwest Missouri.  We've had lots of rain but no snow for a while. Windy days and cool evenings and warmer days.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 13 & 14 - Caqtching Up

Evidently, I am supposed to blog every other week this year...that seems to be what I've been able to accomplish and what is easiest for me. And I'm perfectly happy with this concept this year.

Since last we spoke, I've completed Round 2 of Sock Madness and have been accepted into Round 3.  That round should start sometime after this Friday, (I'm thinking sometime Monday since Sunday is Easter Sunday). Here are my Round 2 socks:

I used a navy blue for the Main fabric and a pink/white/grey for the contrast.  The only difference in the two socks is that the right side one has 5 repeats of the leg pattern (I was following the pattern and the mods changed it to 4 repeats - I didn't know till after I'd already done the heel - no stopping then!)  I might take off the cuff on that one, rip out the one repeat, and re-knit the cuff.  Or, perhaps I'll leave them and live with a slightly longer sock!

I got to talk to my friend, Shelly, yesterday.  She and another friend are responsible for my being so obsessed with quilting.  I miss her so much. She still lives in southern California.  We get to talk on the phone about twice a year, if we're lucky.  I don't know why we don't talk oftener, why do we never talk with lifelong friends or even new friends oftener?  Time gets away from us, that's why.  Anyway, when we finally reconnect, it's as though we never stopped the last conversation.  We had been on the phone for just shy of 2 hours and I mentioned I needed to get some things done...She mentioned she had tons more to talk about.  I will try to reach out sooner than 6 months from now.perhaps at the end of next month when I know she's gotten home from several trips she has planned.  

Am working on a cute little quilt - a jelly roll from a very long time ago.  The fabric line was called S'Mores - yep, it's marshmallows made into snowmen in brown, green, pink, purple, and aqua.  I'm pairing it with black and it's going to be so stinking cute!  Will get a photo on here soon.  But in the meantime, here is part of one block.

John and I went to his 50th High School Reunion this past weekend.  His class had 30 folks graduate back in 1969.  They've lost several classmates but 10 of them managed to make it to Table Rock State Park.  It was windy and very cold so everyone agreed that 2 and a half hours was enough of a reunion!  We cleared off the pavilion and everyone went home.  I made some quilt squares and had everyone sign one.  Will send a square to those who weren't able to come to the reunion and ask them to sign and send them back.  Once I'm sure I've gotten all the squares returned, I will put them together into a quilt for John.  

Here is the group photo we managed to get.  

Yes, it was wicked cold out there...and starting to spit rain. 

I'm taking this next few days before the next round of Sock Madness to finish up some projects...some quilted, some knit.  Till next time!

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 11 & 12 - Getting Away and Coming Home

Sorry it's been so long between posts.  I have a wonderful excuse; I've been out of town, visiting our son and his amazing wife and the grandchildren!  We had planned my trip back in January, well before I decided to retire.  So it was nice to have the luxury of not worrying about getting bumped off the flight if necessary.  Fortunately, I didn't get bumped, there was no sweet offer of flights and/or money if I wanted to vacate my seat for a person who had more important things to do than I...

I flew to Salt Lake City a week ago last Saturday.  No problems, not even any remarkable turbulence!  Plenty of time between flights.  Young John picked me up and we got mostly caught up on the ride back to his house.  That began a wonderful week of family, and grandchildren, and getting to know my amazing daughter-in-law even better.  I don't know how she does it, even with carpools and accommodating friends...I'd be totally nuts if I had to wrangle the schedules of 4 children and myself!  

While the family went to church.  I got unpacked. Tidied the kitchen for Jill, and then knit on my Sock Madness Round 1 socks.  Since Sunday is Family Day there, when the kids came home from church, everyone changed into their 'comfies' - this usually means flannel jammy pants and comfy t-shirts.  No visiting friends, no going out to dinner, just staying home as a family.  Now, that doesn't mean they stayed indoors and got onto everyone's nerves.  The kids went outside to ride bikes- without friends.  Then they came in for 2 hours of Quiet Time - each in their own room, no talking, no coming out till Quiet Time is over.  Wow, what a concept!  It was lovely.  With so many kids in the house, it does tend to get a bit - well, LOUD! While quiet time was on, I sat in John and Jill's room with them and chatted while they emptied their bureaus in preparations for the delivery of their new bedroom furniture the next day.  

When Quiet Time was over, the thundering stampede arrived in the master bedroom.  Claire and Hewston found a package of fake mustaches in a throw away bag and here is the result.

Apparently, I needed a blond mustache cause of my grey/white hairs.  Giggles all around.

The grandchildren are all involved in so many activities.  Dance team and lessons for Char, Dance for Will, Dance for Claire, Piano for Will and Hewston, Scouts for Hewston, Young Men and Young Women (church groups) for Char and Will.  Wowza!  Char has dance classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, for about 3 hours after school.  Church groups on Tuesdays for Char and Will.  Again, I say that Jill is an amazing mom to be able to juggle everyone's schedule the way she does. 

William's school has a monthly Birthday Lunch so kids who have birthdays that month can have their family come to lunch with them. Jill and I picked up Claire from kindergarten, then drove over to Chick-fil-A (William's choice) and got lunch.  We drove over to the school and had lunch with our Big W.

That's his friend, Boston, behind him.

Thursday, Will's actual birthday, he requested chili for dinner.  Jill made some yummy chili - and here is our birthday boy with his birthday chili! And Hewston is the photobomber!

Then Jill and I were off to a painting party at her church.  The womens' relief group at her church put on a lovely painting party - probably 30 women were there.  I've always wanted to do one of those and jumped at the chance when Jill asked me if I wanted to go.  Not everyone painted what our lovely young teacher was teaching - but it was fun and I'm proud of my first ever picture.

I'm definitely going to try to get to another one here, now that I'm retired, I will have more time since most of the time, the paint parties are over 40 miles away and in the evenings.  I can sleep in the next day!

Char had a 2-day dance workshop down in Provo on Friday and Saturday.  She really IS an amazing dancer- very gifted.  Of course, I really don't have any expertise in the field, but I've seen her dance and she takes my breath away!  Saturday Jill had carpool so I rode with her to take Char and her friends to the workshop. 

Isn't she a beauty?

John was going down that evening to pick them up.  About  4:30 Jill gets a call from Char...she's crying and upset.  It seems she was in a workshop and they were learning 'tricks' and the girl next to Char was way too close and, well, the girl kicked Char in the eye.  Char fell backwards and hit her head. When she got up and got back into position, the girl evidently was still too close and kicked her in the eye AGAIN!  Poor Char had a swollen cheek, a black eye, and a knot on the back of her head - probably had a mild concussion too.  She stayed at the workshop the rest of the evening - did not dance but observed.  And there was another mom there who had room in her car so she called Jill to see if all 3 of the girls could come home with her instead of John driving down there....why, yes, please!  I saw Char when they came home from church on Sunday.  Poor girl has shiner!

That's actually the day it happened.  By the time I saw it the next day, the corner of her eye was a lovely rainbow of black and blue and purple and the red along her cheekbone was red and orange.  I left her with some frankincense oil to clear up the bruising...girls her age don't like bruising for any longer then they need it.  

Just before I left, Claire decided she wanted to learn to ride her bike without training wheels.  Jill took the wheels off and John went out to work with her.  I think he talked to her and instructed for about 2 minutes and she took off!  

There's nothing like watching your own baby teach HIS baby to ride a bike!

Just before it was time to leave for the airport, John took this picture of all the grands and me.  

I didn't get any chance to see Emily - she's down in southern Utah at college. But I spoke to her a couple of times briefly on the phone.  John and I are darned lucky to have the children we have and who have given us the grandchildren we have.  They are kind, loving, smart, creative, and drive everyone crazy. And I wouldn't trade them for all the yarn in the world!

Speaking of yarn, I finished the Round 1 socks for Sock Madness and sent in the required pictures...I have been accepted into Round 2.  Won't know exactly when that round starts till after Round 1 ends (noonish on Thursday) Then it's time to wait for the specs on Round 2 and wind my yarn...Here are my Round 1 socks - Demogorgons Lair.

Fraternal socks - not meant to match - thank goodness.  

Thanks for stopping by.....sorry this was so long!  

Week 9 & 10 - In Which I Become Unemployed

The last couple of weeks have been a blur, frankly.  To me, lots of things have been happening and I just sat down to review them all.  Some folks would say it was a typical couple of busy weeks. You be the judge.

The MOST IMPORTANT NEWS...As of this past Saturday, I am officially a Retired Person.  After just shy of 15 years, I finally decided to leave the library.  Life's too short to have to deal with some people in one's life (there are a couple of personalities there that I'd tried to live with and it just wasn't happening for me) and this was a mostly easy decision for me to make.  Add in the fact that my library pay for parttime work is equal or just a tiny bit less than my Social Security check for fulltime leisure....it was a no brainer decision!  I sent a text to my brothers to tell them that Mom's 3 kids were all now unemployed - I was the last one to retire.  One of them sent me this note:  "I prefer not to think of it as being unemployed. Think of it as "working smarter"; you're being paid while you sleep in until noon.  Or even if you sleep until noon next Thursday, you get paid for every day. We should have known this back in the 70's."   Dangit, he's right!

I spent yesterday knitting and sewing....today will likely be more sewing.  I figure I have enough projects to last me till about age 100 so I really don't need to worry about being bored.

Two weeks ago, the Qualifying Round of Sock Madness started.  Everyone who registered (I think someone mentioned there were over 1500 folks from around the world who registered for this annual sock-knitting contest), received the qualifying pattern at the same time.  We had exactly 2 weeks to knit a pair of socks, following the pattern exactly with no modifications AT ALL!  If we did that, and sent in photos with specific areas marked so the mods could judge if we really did follow the pattern with no modifications, we made it into the actual competition.  Here you see my pair:

I used a yarn with the name of Llamacorn....I'd had that yarn for a year or so and never found a pattern to use it with...this pattern wasn't necessarily the perfect one but I made it work and the moderator who judged my pair only said "Wow, a lot of colors when magnified to 150%!" You can see where I used black marking thread to show where the smocks are on the sock. 

So now I'm waiting to be put on an actual team and have the First Round pattern appear in my inbox...Then I'll be knitting like a fiend to complete the pair and be one of the the set number of qualifiers for the next round.  I rarely have the expectation of going past Round 3...I'm just not that dedicated a knitter nor am I that fast...I'm hoping the next round starts before Saturday morning - I'm leaving for a week in Utah and will have some quality knitting time on the plane!

Mom has been knitting, too.  She decided she wanted to knit herself a sweater with some money she got for Christmas.  It's been over 70 years since she last knit a sweater ( for a boyfriend who she was no longer seeing by the time she got the sweater done).  She picked out a lovely little cardigan-type of sweater that is knit all as one piece except for the collar piece.  No buttons or buttonholes.  She's been working on it since January and this past weekend she finished it.  Isn't it great?  I'm so proud of her!

And she, rightly so, is proud of herself, too!  

Well, I'm off to start work on my 2nd day of retirement!  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 8 - Where the Devil did Mother Nature Go?

Okay, now,  I realize I'm spoiled...I make no apologies for that.  John has spoiled me our entire married life.  There is very little that I want that he has denied me.  So when I say I'm done with winter, I'm really done with winter. The only problem here is that John has absolutely no power to fix this.  I'll forgive him this time!  Besides, I think the police are on the trail on this one...they don't need John getting involved.

The weather here in southwest Missouri has been ever-changing.  Mid-60's one day and two days later we have snow and wind chills below freezing.  Take today.

Not sure exactly how much snow we got, but the temps are positively frigid...and continue on a downward spiral toward zero degrees.  Overnight temps are expected to hover around 2 degrees with a wind chill of around -15 degrees.  I am hoping they cancel school tomorrow...that means the library will be closed as well and I can have another day off this week. 

We also had a snow day this last Thursday.  I spent the day making a small decorative pillow for our entry.  The embroidery machine has gotten a true workout this week.  I'm planning a bigger pillow for later in the spring - assuming we ever get a spring.  

Here's what I made this week.  It measures 4" by 8"...

And then I worked up another Row by Row block - this one from 2016.

It's from Bittersweet Quilts in Joplin, Missouri.  I wish now I'd swapped out the dark blue in the kit for a lighter blue so you could see the galvanized milk can better....but I might be able to highlight the can with the tackdown stitching for the applique...

The time is gong slowly with regards to my retirement.  Only 2 more weeks.  And then I'm going out to Utah to see the kids and grandkids for a week.  John will stay home and make sure Mom is ok while I'm gone.  

If it's March, it must be Sock Madness.  We got the qualifying pattern this morning and I am going to sit down and start knitting once I finish this blog post.  This is my 12th year competing and the 13th year of the competition.  I look forward to it every year, even though I have no expectations of getting much past round 3 each year.  There are 7 rounds, with more and more folks being eliminated each round.  It's fun to challenge myself to knit patterns that have never been seen before (some of them have been written specifically for the Madness) and I always - always - learn at least one thing new each year.  

Once I finish this qualifying pair, I'll post.  I'm using a colorway called Llamacorn.  Intriguing, isn't it?

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 6 & 7 - I Did It!

Yes, I did it.  I handed in my resignation to the library. On March 16th, after I close and lock the library, I will no longer be employed.  And I can't wait.  I've been there for just shy of 15 years.  And I am soooooooooo looking forward to no more alarm clocks, no more dealing with people with ideas of superiority, no more having to drive (or not) to work in the winter.  

I plan on spending a lot of time quilting and taking over most of the cooking. Those of you who know me, know that I have rarely cooked during most of the almost 46 years I've been married.  But if I'm stopping work, then it's only fair that I take back some of the meal planning and preparations since John will still be working.  I see lots of crock pot meals and casseroles in the future of this household.  

Last weekend I stitched several more rows from past Row by Row kits.  Here are the ones from Salt Lake City 2017 and Phoenix 2018.

Last week we had Presidents' Day holiday on Monday and Tuesday is my regular day off...I took advantage of that and signed up for a 2 day workshop in machine embroidery.  I had so much fun!  In 2 days I completed 6 projects.  Lookee!

What you see here are an adult apron with a mixer ad mixing bowl applique, a tea towel and towel holder, a hot pad, a bread basket, and a recipe card cover.  I'm not a turquoise and pink kinda girl but these are really lovely items.  I see some more items of this sort coming off my machine in the future.  

Additionally, I worked up a decorative pillow this morning.  

This was so fun to make.  It's only 4 inches by 8 inches.  I did one for Christmas and have plans to do one for Easter.  I'll show you once it's done.  

Have a wonderful week, my faraway friends. Thanks for stopping by.

Week 5 & 6 - Elephants and Turtles and Whales, Oh My!

The last couple of weeks I've spent taking items out of the studio, in preparations for John to change out the lights in the ceiling to LED lamps.  Those suckers are BRIGHT!  And make it so much easier to see when I'm sewing or knitting at night.

The Sewing Drought seems to be over.  Yesterday alone, I made up three rows from the 2015 Row by Row experience event.  The theme that year was H20 - or Water.  Se there were a lot of fish and water scenes.  Here are 3 of them.

Really fun to make.  I have several other kits with fish or undersea themes or boats.  Together, they will make a lovely little quilt.  Now to get time to finish them off!

It's cold and icy today.  The temps are above freezing so what little bit of rain we got this morning had turned to ice and is now melting.  They say we will have more ice later today.  I don't mind, as long as we don't have work tomorrow - then I can sew and not have to worry about driving in it.  

Our furnace is on the blink again.  Fortunately, it's still under warranty so it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to get it repaired.  Punxatawyney Phil didn't see his shadow on Groundhog Day so they are predicting an early Spring....as far as I'm concerned, Spring starts on March 20th, regardless of that silly groundhog's predictions.  

Sorry for the short blog post this time.  Mark this down on your calendars, as it's a rare occurrence - Sally didn't have a lot to say this week!  

Thanks for stopping by.