Here is the "Stepping Stones" top. It is now finished. I am just waiting to get the backing from Alley Kat, I think she mailed it today, hopefully. Wonder what she picked.......After I quilt it, I think a very thin black binding would be perfect! By the way, Mark is holding the sides, was too long to hold lengthwise.
I am totally addicted to dried apples. I have been these 3# bags of Macintosh apples. They are smallish and core and peel easily and am using my funky mandolin. I cannot control the wideth, so I put in the insert and they come out paper thin, crunchy and melt in your mouth. They are better than candy and much much better for me.
Still knitting away. Got my box from Knitpics...a ball winder; two packs of small tip protectors; a ball of wonderous fingerling to make me another pair of socks and...ta da...the Harmony wooden interchangeable needles. The only bum deal is, they don't have the sizes on the tips anywhere, so I guess I need to get one of those needle gauge thingies.
They are offering this new class at Alley Kat called Zentangle...I had to look up. Heck! My first husband did this sort of art in the early sixties until he passed...mostly in pen and ink. I have always doodled this way most of my life. I think I will make a small Zentangle wall hanging and send up there before the class so she can have as sample.
Took lots of fabric back down to the basement. It tends to migrate upstairs and needs taking back. I traced and cut out most patterns from the A is for Apron book. I am going to make them out of TROPICALS!!!! They are gonna be so kool....the first one Im going to make is Mango Tango and I have this yellow orchid and uke fabric. Will post photo when done.
Well, its late, gonna hit the rack. Have a great and productive week everybody.

This photo taken Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010 at about 11 a.m.. you can see how high the snow has drifted against back wall of garage and it is only about three feet below this window. It is mighty cold out there and the wind is howling plus the snow just wont quit!

This is view from floor level so you can see how deep snow is on back deck at about 11 a.m. this morning. I am going to take another one tomarrow a.m. to see how much more has piled up.

Close up of Stepping Stones by Judy Neyemeyer. Bali pops were used for this. She calls for three packages. I am glad I did not have to buy this...doing as sample for the Alley Kat in Marquette.

Tried to get all of the quilt in the photo. Do not have a real desing wall. Our house is 1 1/2 stories so the outside walls are slanted, what a waste of space!!!!! The only hope is to try and fit one down in the basement someplace but all the wall space is pretty tied up with cutting table, built in table for Bernina I use down there, Gammil, walls of fabric......

This is the fourth doll head I have done. It is a trip how they all look so different from each other but kinda alike. Will keep on making them till I am totally happy with results.

This is second head I made. I dont know why the second head did not load up, it is on disk in camera and I can see it on camera. Hmmmmm

Here are all the ladies lines up. First is on the left, last one o the right. I was unable to attend the class on Saturday due to huge snow storm...still storming...not supposed to quit until Wednesday or so. So, looks like I will be getting in a lot of knitting and sewing and maybe go down into the basement and maybe quilt a quilt top I have had done for years. We desparately need new quilts on our bed. The ones we are using now are so fragile and are literally falling apart.

Hope everyone has a good and safe week. Drive carefully if it is snowy where you are.

AUSTIN TEXAS!!!!!!!

I've been in Austin for days now and I'm lovin' it :-) I haven't been here to visit the kids since September 2002. Things have really built up around here, the trees in the neighborhood have really matured.
On Saturday we hooked up with one of Mary's friends and her 7 year old daughter. We went to this really really expensive yarn shop...boutique...they had some really neat sock yarn but no way Jose on those prices. Then we walked around a bit and then went to this really huge thrift store. I got about 7 pair of jeans in really good condition for $39. Three pair I can wear now and the other four pair I can wear in about a month or so. The ones I can fit in now are 16s!!!!! and the others are 14s!!!!!!!!! I am really jazzed. I got Eddie Bauer; Ralph Lauren; they are all brand name jeans. Oh! and I got this really neat RED corduroy shirt, I have three now...one turquoise, pink and now red. I love these things and the prices have been right on all three.
I don't know what night we are going to circ de sole but I know we are going. I am really jazzed about that too. Me and Mary are going to Fredricksburg which is a major tourist destination but we will go on a week day and hopefully miss big crowds. I think it is based on a time period and has lots of fun shops to look at. I am also working on my second pair of socks out of this really neat bamboo yarn, I love it. I only have less than a half inch on the ribbed cuff and then i start on the heel. I should have them done in the next couple of days. I really love making socks! Mary has this great book on making two pair at a time and we are going to this "half price book store". Hopefully I can find it, I can see how great it would be to make two at a time althou I have not had a problem with the "second sock" syndrome.
Mark spent the weekend at Libby's in Chicago. They really had a nice time together. He just wanted to spend time with his girl and he got that good quality time with her. I am happy for them. It has finally started to snow in earnest up in the UP...it sure has come late this year. I have never flown in the snow so that should be interesting. When I flew down here I knitted the whole way and it really kept my mind off flying...I was pretty mellow instead of being freaked out. I am not sure what I will knit on the way back up. Maybe I will get some more sock yarn.
Mary has given me her old laptop. Her newer one is about half the size of this one. This one weighs about 5# while her new one weighs about 1.5#. It comes with a bog and charger and everything. They gave me some anti virus software for my HP at home and Vista wouldn't take it and it came in real handy for this one....loaded right up. Now this is one current protection. It did take hours for the many Windows updates. But it is working great!
OMG!!!! I just got a call from this place Mark put in an application months ago. Thay just called and have a different position available for him, I hope it works out. He needs a job to feel better about himself and with it comes full benefits. I am praying on this one...pray for us....we need this sooooooooooo bad!
well, lots to do

My First Pair Of Socks!!!!

I started these socks at the end of Jan 2010 and then I got a call that they had a cancelation and would I like to get my bariatric surgery early...ah...yes. So the socks got put on the back burner.

On October 2nd they had a grand opening for the new fabulously incredible shop and class area at Rainbow Gifts and Alpaca Farm. The place is simply amazing. Full of all sorts of yarn and goodies to temp you, not to mention the gorgeous clothing made out of Alpaca by a "fair trade" company in Peru. A gal there, Maryann, who has been knitting for 50 years helped me with the heel cup and I was on my way from there. The following Wednesday I finished the sock. Yipee!!!

I deligently worked on the second all by myself and finished Saturday night, Oct. 30th 2010.

Ahhhhh....my first pair of Alpaca socks. So koozy and warm. If they get wet in your shoes or boots they will still keep your feet warm. Neat huh. I cannot wait to start on my next pair but I am rather busy at the moment.

I started dyeing fabric for sale today. I dyed 33 (thirty three ) yards today. That is the most I have ever dyed in one day. Tomarrow I start the rinsing out and washing. Those colors I am not completely thrilled with will get over dyed. I am starting a journal on the colors. I number them, 1,2,3, etc. so a customer can reorder the colors she likes. Three pieces of fabric and three different colors are done in one tube together. Even thou they can order the same number, it never ever comes out exactly the same. I have to make a wall hanging out of my hand dyes as a sample. I am hoping to pick up another shop in Wisconcin. So far, I have the Alley Kat in Marquette; hopefully the one in Ironwood...both in the UP. I just need 4 or 5 shops to keep me busy with my fabric dyeing and maybe a class or two here and there.

Well, I am pretty tired and I need to get up fairly early to start the rinse out process. Will post photos of what's goin on down in the basement tomarrow. A lot of work, but so worth it in the end. I hopefully will make some $, the customers seem to love my fabrics and the shop owners make some $ too and have access to some pretty nice fabric to work with. Will also take picture of the sample when it is completed, needs to all be done by next Thursday, when we go up to Ironwood. Sleep well, I am hoping I will.

Looking out living room window, that is snow on garage roof...and my beautiful geraniums that are two years old now. they bloom all year, especially in the winter.

more snow, mark enlarged the garden. he doesnt like to mow so one of these years im gonna go out on the deck and the whole back yard will be garden.

snow on the back deck. i know it isnt much but it was only oct. 20th!!!!!

we pulled the garden and then mark enlarged it, so it is now three times as big as before. it will be great next year. i still need to finish the raspberries. i think i have cut back and taken out the dead wood of half the patch. it is hard going back out there once you stop but i need to get this done before the ground freezes. we also dug up the fairy circle out front. i have bags of iris, they had never been divided before. i think i will plant along the fence. i am going to plant the baby asiatic lillies that wont bloom for a couple more years back where the big ones came from. they are all out front in the fairy circle in the middle cause they are the tallest. i think i got most if not all the weeds...grasses. i could not believe all the roots going thru there. i separated and replanted everything and hopefully will produce beautiful flowers next spring and summer. i am going to plant garlic all around it to keep out the deer plus, i think the ground is soft enough to get a nice crop of garlic from. also a space for beets .the garden is a bit to clay like for stuff like garlic and beets but the broccolli and cauliflower and sugar snap peas and beasn did incredibly well. will plant lots more next year.

need to go upstairs and work on a sample i am doing for Alley Kat, in Marquette. it is "stepping stones" by judy nyemeyer...i know i spelt that wrong. it was tricky at first but am really enjoying it. i was not much of a papaer piecer but i love her pattern. i think it will go together beautifully. she also gave me an original pattern to make with my hand dyes...another sample of her pattern done plus help sell my hand dyes. i am also doing some overdyeing at same cost. i really like the look even thou it takes me an extra day. i am so thankful mark bought me and installed that top loading washing machine in the basement. will try and photograph some of my projects and post them soon. till then....take care

Mark got a new doo

I wish he would of smiled...he has a job interview on Thursday, so today he cut off his braids and tomarrow he shaves everything off except his mustache...and he said if they want him to shave that he will. he has NEVER shaved his mustache before, ever...

It really looks nice, like I said I wish he would of smiled. Luckily the lady that cut his hair, is the one who always has and didnt charge that much...what she charged him before before he moved to hawaii...and that was in 2000. He will need to get it cut at least once a month is not more if he gets this job. Oh please, oh please, oh please let Mark get this job. He has been out of work long enough and needs to go back to work and out of the house for part of the day. I love him very much but he is getting restless and is not used to not working. Makes him cranky to saw the least.

Otherwise, all is well here. They said we might get our first frost tonight or tomarrow night. Not good for my garden. Will have to see what happens.

September is just around the corner!

We had an empty 10 gallon fish tank on the deck with about 6" of rain water in it with various bugs floating on the surface. This American Gold Finch thought he could swim, obviously he cannot and Mark found him just about dead. With some gentle words and lots of gentle rubbing with clean dry towel, it took him about an hour to rally. He eventually ate from my hand and then we opened the door and he flew off.

My lovely giant full blossoming HollyHocks. I had in a single, paler pink and another full headed white. I am so happy with these. I think we are going to make an area out front on the left side of front porch a small garden. I am transplanting the roses, asiatic lillies, daffodils and plant a bunch of hollyhock seeds in the back. Hope this new little planting works out well. I have to totally dig up my fairy circle and divide all the iris and asiatic lillies. Plus Mark is going to rototil and get rocks out and all the weeds. Kind of a new beginning for the fairy circle.

Just one days picking...he bush beans are about done and the Kentucky Wonder pole beans haven't even flowered yet, well, I think I saw the hints of some. But those sugar snap peas just keep on acomin.....

I know this looks terrible. The third time I had surgery on the same area, they just kept taking more. Basil cell carcinoma rarely is malignant and rarely if ever matastisizes but it is very invasive. I have lost part of my upper lip on the right side. Part of what you see used to be on the inside of my mouth. This photo was taken about two days after surgery, the black eye hasn't even started to show yet. I had the stitches taken out on Thursday. We will wait a year to see what it looks like. Major bummer is that I cannot close mouth totally and have to use a straw to drink. I know this is a no no for bariatic patients but is the only way I can drink without wearing half of what I attempt to swallow. I massage it with very good lotion three times a day to soften the scar tissue so I don't have a hard lump. There is also a bit of excess tissue at bottom of right side of mouth. Oh well, will see what it looks like in a year.

I wish my hair would stop falling out, pretty soon I wont have any at all. Double whammy...surgery and then bariatric at that. Hard to get all the nutrients in the beginning when you don't feel the least bit interested in food. I am taking a biotin supplement for hair and nails, my nails are growing like crazy but I will do what I can for the hair. What is growing back is pure white and very wirey...uh oh......

Well, I just cleaned the kitchen floor after finding wet area behind freezer, smells like mushrooms. I steam cleaned it real well but still smells. Mark will have to check out tomarrow. I baked him some peanut butter cookies as a little surprise for when he gets up in the early a.m. I am going up to take another shower, all sweaty after cleaning and stuff.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I am going to be dyeing lots of fabric...hopefully in fall colors. Kat from the Alley Kat told me she sold all my hand dyes and wants more and is planning on taking some to her booth she will have at the Marquette quild show. I better get with it and send in my entry form...due on the 31st!!! Yikes!!!!!!