I've spent the last couple of evenings working on the pile of quilts that are just awaiting bindings. The green and red one I started in 2002 when I lived in Rhode Island. I loved how it went together and it languished in the Flimsy Bin till only recently when I made a pledge to finish more this year than last year. This one came back from the quilter in February and then it went into the binding pile. Since the knitting seems to have taken over my 'handwork' area, I simply do not find time to sit and sew on binding. I recently read about putting bindings on by machine on another blog I follow. Her philosophy has always been the same as mine - sew the binding on by machine and then tack it be hand. She changed her mind when her pile awaiting bindings got to a total of over 30! She experimented with sewing the entire binding with her machine and then posted a video on her blog. I watched it and decided to try it myself. I'm not perfect and this quilt binding is never going to be shown to the public so it works for me. And with more practice, I'll get better. So I've finished this quilt, Christmas Wreath.



And the next one is a BOM that I did with a shop near here a couple of years ago. Most of you know that I don't do pastels - it's quite difficult for me to pick pastels over brights. But, for some reason, this BOM grabbed me and wouldn't let go. So I did it and it sat in the Flimsy Bin for about 6 months. I sent it off to be quilted and then it sat in the Binding Bin. I hauled it out yesterday and sewed the binding on by machine...again, it won't win any prizes but it is certainly good enough for using at our house during the holidays. Here is - Victorian Christmas. And a closeup of my favorite block - I think I might use this as my avatar during the holidays.

This weekend promises to be warm and sunny - and probably humid. What can I say, this is the Ozarks, darlings! Humidity is part of the package! I have plans to work on a couple more sewing projects (quilts and maybe an apron or two) and maybe throw in some knitting to break it up. Hope you and yours have a lovely weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

Storybook Farm

I've long been a fan of McKenna Ryan, the quilt designer. She does some pretty amazing quilts. My LQS will sometimes do one as a BOM (Block of the Month) with the pattern and fabrics already chosen, oftentimes using the exact same fabrics the designer used. One such pattern was Storybook Farm. I love this quilt. It's only about 54" by 57" but I loved doing it. It came back from the quilter last week and I finished the binding over the weekend.


My friend, Shelly, and I are doing another one of her designs, again thru my LQS, called Once Upon a Star. It's a holiday quilt with mannatees, baby seals, penguins, puffins, polar bears, and a walrus. Will show it off once it's done. And then last year we also did her In Full Bloom BOM...actually, I think we neither actually finished it, rather we bought it! Shelly, I believe has started it at least. I'm hoping to get started on that one soon, too.

For Mother's Day, John got me a bunch of plants for the front garden and planted them. Of course, we had a horrendous hail and rain storm (several over the course of a week) and some of the plants were destroyed. But here is what it looked like when he first planted it.

There are snapdragons, vincas, petunias, and impatiens in there. As well as a lonely lavender plant in that front right corner. I'm hoping it will grow enough that I can make some lavender wands for the linen closet. My friend Julie put a tutorial up on how to do these...they look fairly easy and I want to try them.

Today is a bit muggy but the sun is out and John just got home from work. He changed into his 'mowin' clothes' and went out to tidy the circle drive.

On the Sock Wars IV knitting front, I'm still alive. I have no earthly idea how this has come to be...have heard nothing from the girl I 'killed' last week - I believe she is on vacation and has no clue she is dead yet - and have heard nothing from my current assasin in Florida...I live in fear of opening the mailbox each day! Will keep you posted.

Thanks for stopping by!

Just a Tuesday Update

Sock Wars IV is still going on and the really amazing thing is - I'm still alive! I've got one 'kill' under my belt so far and just received the SIP's (socks-in-progress) from my target on Sunday. Actually, they arrived on Saturday but I didn't get the mail till Sunday. The sock on the right was only half done. I've finished that sock and gotten the second one started. Hopefully, I can get it done before the end of the week and sent off before I get killed. My socks of death are nowhere to be found as of this writing - not that I'm complaining. There were 282 folks who started out in this battle and there are less than 1/2 of them left, me included. I have no hope whatsoever of winning this one...but it''s nice to be in the top half of the list at just a bit more than 2 weeks into the battle.

These socks are pure joy to knit. They are called Air Raid by Emily Miller. The socks are knit in a lovely lace pattern and I can certainly see me knitting them up again for either myself or someone else. The yarn is delightful to use - Pagewood Farms Alyeska in Spring Meadow colorway. YUM!

We are heating up here in the Ozarks....temps in the mid to high 80's with humidity rising. June is our wettest month of the year and we've already had some sprinkles today, along with some clouds and thunder this afternoon. John got my front garden planted with the vincas, primroses, impatiens, snapdragons, lavender, dahlia bulbs (for late summer blooms) and even 2 tomoto plants (he plans on moving them to a vegetable garden once he gets that dug and ready but needed to get them planted temporarily - hence the front garden). I'll try to get a picture next time I post.

Sorry this doesn't include any quilting...am working on a large project and no pictures of the progress would do any justice to it. Maybe soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Carson and the Cows

The past couple of weeks have been a bit unusual, especially for Carson. He wants to get in there with the cows so badly! He spends hours just sitting at the end of the dog run...watching the cows on the other side of the fence. He has never been a patient sort so the pictures are a bit unusual...he's sitting there, hardly moving...the anticipation and need to be with them is almost palpable. The cows? They totally ignore him...


I've been knitting some the past couple of weeks....Sock Wars IV started last week. I've mailed off my weapons of death to my target...and she should have them by Tuesday. I'll post a picture once she's 'dead' - in case she's lurking I don't want her to see them yet...

I've also been doing some test knitting for a girl in Canada. She altered a crochet pattern for this little bag shaped like an acorn so folks could knit it. As some of you know, I adore acorns - don't have a clue why they intrigue me, they just do. What was it that I told my friend, Sonya one day - oh yeah, "acorns are my signature nut!" Anyway, this little bag is just big enough to put a small knitting project in - like socks. It is fast, fun, really easy to make, and way-too-cute.

I used the buttons from John's old Navy peacoat. It was kinda spooky when I had it turned about 1/4 of the way to the right, it looked like a cricket head staring me in the face! I've never been a test-knitter before and it was kinda fun!

Expecting more storms this week - today we are experiencing rain and thunderstorms (I LOVE thunderstorms!)

I worked on 4 quilts yesterday...got the bindings sewn on and will get some pictures up as soon as it stops raining and I can get them outside for pictures.

Thanks for stopping by.

Walking in the Tall Grass

John and our neighbor finished all the fencing this past weekend. They had to do some complicated rigging of fence on the far east side of our property where there is a wash. The ground is very uneven and it was hard to set T-posts and string barbed wire with the dipping of the wash and the running water that resulted from the recent rains. Thankfully, they are both prior military so they are used to rigging whatever they require for the job and the result is what you see below.

The only thing they had left to do was install a small 'man' gate on the south side of the pasture, just west of our bedroom window. That went in right quick! And at 8:10 p.m. on Sunday nite, John opened up the gates to allow the cows access to the north pasture and the tall grasses!

Sorry for the bleary view...can't get a really good picture that late at night with no flash that will go out that far.

On Monday morning, this is what I saw out the back door, from the deck:

They had all managed to find their way into the north pasture and were grazing in the tall grasses. Who said California was the only home of happy cows?

Just wanted to share our little piece of heaven with our family and friends.

Thanks for stopping by.

It's called Derecho

It appears that the weather we endured on Friday is fairly rare. It's called a derecho, which comes from the Spanish meaning straight. Yes, the winds were straight-line winds ranging from 70 mph on the front side of the storm to 80 mph on the back side. No wonder the tornado sirens went off for over 2 hours! As I said, we only had one treetop come off...here is the photo. See that 'v' between the left hand tree and the others? That's where the top snapped off. Here's a close-up. We didn't even have any damage to our old barn. What a blessing.

John and our neighbor worked all day yesterday on the fencing. They completed the west side and the south side of the north pasture. Here are some pictures of the completed fencing.Here you see the north fence, the west fence, and the southern fence of the north pasture. The south pasture connects at the end of the field, right there in line with the barn in the third picture. The road on the left of the first picture is Wilderness Dr., turn left at the corner of our property, and follow the road in the center picture to the end. You can barely see it down there...that's our driveway on the left. And the house sits smackdab in the middle of that 10 acres. Nice and green now that we've had some rain - more expected this week, too. John spends the hours between getting home from work and sundown mowing the circle drive and the meadow you see to the right of the 3rd picture there.

I finished the first sock of round 4 in Sock Madness. Even though I'm no longer competing, I decided to try the sock since it contains some elements I've not tried before. Here is the first sock.

It's called Lucky Diamonds. The designer used a toe-up pattern, with an afterthought heel (not sure I like that yet) and two different colors of yarn - one striping yarn and one solid. I'm not altogether fond of tons of moss stitch which is what constitutes the centers of all the diamonds - k1, p1 that seemed to be endless! I've decided that this sock will suffer from Second Sock Syndrome for the time being. For those of you who've never heard of this - it simply means I'm not going to knit the other sock to the pair. I've had all the moss stitch I can take for the forseeable future!

Happy Mothers Day to everyone reading this. I've heard from the kids in Utah - everyone is happy and healthy and that's all a mother could hope for! John made me breakfast and gave me some plants for the front garden, along with a prmise to plant them later this week.

Thanks for stopping by. More later.

Tornado? We are fine!

For those of you who may have heard about our severe storms this morning, we are fine. Both of us went to our respective jobs this morning. I got to work and the electricity went out. John had some power outage as well in Springfield. Niether of us experienced any tornadic activity, although the sirens went off here and I spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom with the Director, another employee, and the custodian. The winds were up to 80 mph. Once the sirens were off, we went about our business at the library, without power. At least all the books are shelved! We've got power back on, all the computers are working, and most of the staff is breathing normally again. It's just part of living in the Ozarks that you will have tornadoes and winds and rain from May thru November.


Noon: Same day - I'm told we have a tree with the top snapped off just west of the garage....John is on his way home from work since they have no electricity...checking on family members...so far, so good!