Strippy Striped Bag

Wow, our morning glories are really putting on a show for us right now. I should've gotten the whole mass of them, but here's a couple in the autumn light.

I finally (whew!) finished my newest bag. It's a strippy bag with striped pockets. I doodled and dawdled around on the thing until I just wanted to call it done. It's a softer look and I love, love, love the lining with the dragonflies buzzing around inside (so softly).

Knitting continues on the shawl and another pair of socks (for Jimmy). I'm really looking around for some sweater yarn to cast on for a sweater.

Fall is fabulous!

Mountain View

We took a little trip up to Mountain View, Arkansas last weekend. It's always a great time when we head up there... a little music, a little food, a little fabric, a little flea marketing....all good things.

If you haven't ever been to the Ozark Folk Center, it's a great place for traditional crafts and traditional music. And lots of herbs!

Now, I've got to get busy and get this quilt top together.

Morning Glory

This morning the first flower unfurled...just beautiful!

On the crafty side, I've made a couple of these crocheted washcloths. They are very fast to make and feel great on your skin. It's the washcloth from the Summer 2008 Interweave Crochet by Kim Werker. I know I'll be making many more of these...

Tisket, Tasket

Wow, three weeks just flew by! I've been in a quilting mood lately....I knew it would kick back in one of these days. I think I'm more of a 'winter knitter' type person, because when warm weather gets here, I lose all interest in knitterly things. But I'm sure as soon as fall peeks out, I'll be picking up the needles again. Or maybe even a pair of socks before then.

But right now is all about the quilting. I've started a new bed quilt using a basket block. It's going pretty quick since they're 12 inch blocks. The handle is appliqued, and I'm just eyeballing it, so they don't all look exactly perfectly alike, but that's just more charming to me. Especially since I know a big ol' furryhead will be laying all over it most of the time!

I'm also working on a new patchwork bag, but don't have any pics of it yet. And while I'm still waiting on the morning glories to start blooming, I'm enjoying the blue hydrangeas.

Blue Heaven

Hydrangeas are my favorite flower, followed by gardenias, daisies, and morning glory. Blues and whites...love 'em. Last year my hydrangeas were very pink, and while they were still pretty, I really wanted blue hydrangeas. I added a good amount of 'something I can't remember the name of at the moment' to the soil around the hydrangeas and this year, voila...blue!

We've got a good morning glory vine going in the front yard around our old gas lamp. Hopefully, you'll see some beautiful blue blooms from it soon! They make me swoon as well.

Red

Red seems to be the color of the day. Red impatiens (with a few orange for zest!) and a 'very close to finished' tweedy vest in red.

I think I'm really going to like this vest (when I get to wear it next fall!) I've got to seam the sides, and add the neck and arm bands. I love the color and the texture and I think it'll be very "fallish". But right now, it's a pile of wool on my lap during warm spring days.

I'm feelin' the itch to quilt ... cotton!

April Flowers

28 days later.... (I can't believe I haven't posted for almost a month, but I really haven't had anything to say). I'm still working on the tweedy vest and the purse, so there you go.

However, spring is springing all over our yard. And it is a beautiful sight to behold. I do not know how anyone can witness the glory of spring and doubt the existance of a creator.

I hope I'll have a new spring purse to show off shortly!

Good Friday

It's a beautiful day today, Good Friday. I have the day off, which is wonderful.

We've got lots of spring "springing" around here for this very early Easter. The daffodils are pretty much done, and the tulips are about to pop out. The dogwood is very close, and the lilacs are greening out. We've got a couple of irises this year, but nothing like last year...they were everywhere. This year was the daffodils turn. The forsythia (below) was a good show too.

On the knitting front, I finished Jimmy's socks! Yah, my first completed pair of socks...woo hoo! And these were man-sized socks! I've still got to get some action shots on the owner's foot, but here are a couple of prelim pics.

And the tweedy vest is growing a little faster...I'd probably be done with the back by now, if it weren't for the "sickies" that keep invading this house. But today is for knitting...and I plan to finish the back and start on the front today. With a break in between for some cupcake making. Yum.

The pic above is a little washed out, the actual color is slightly deeper in person. You can see where I've just started the armhole shaping.

Happy Easter!

February in the South

Yep, all over the front yard.

Tomato Harvest

Our tomato plants gave up the ghost in the dry, dry, dry and hot, hot, hot (well, they probably loved the hot, but not the dry part) weather we've been enjoying (not) around here. So we picked what we had and pulled the plants up to get the bed ready for cooler weather and lettuce.

We lost the first crop of tomatoes to the squirrels. Then we made a fortress and saved the tomatoes...until the dry, dry, dry. You get the picture. Gardening is hard work, don't let anybody tell ya any different!

On a different note, I was tagged by Karen and I'm still pondering what to say about myself. It's hard to think of odd facts about yourself, because they don't seem so odd to me. Usually.

Happy Flower

I bought a plant last year that had the sweetest little blue flower that I enjoyed all summer long. I couldn't remember the name when I bought it, so I wondered if I could find it again.

So this spring, I kept looking and looking for it at our local garden center, but never did find it. Then we were strolling through the Wal-Mart garden center and there it was! It's a Convolvus Blue Daze, and very similiar to morning glory, it closes up it's beautiful little flowers in the evening or when it's going to storm.

I have an out-of-proportion love for this little flower! It makes me so happy to look at it every morning as we sit at our breakfast table. How a little flower can lift my heart so baffles me, but there it is. A sweet, happy little gift of pleasure from the Lord.

I call it my Happy Flower and I hope I'll gaze on it every summer of my life.

Summer Sojourns

Well, I didn't mean to take a blogging break, but that's about what it amounted to. And it's all Summer's fault! We have been enjoying the warm weather in a bunch of ways around here. The garden is in full swing, we've gotten lots of zucchini and beans, cucumbers are now getting plentiful and tomatoes are popping out everywhere. The lettuce is about done for until cooler weather, and we're still waiting for the carrots to stop looking like miniature carrots.

Jimmy got a new lawnmower over Memorial Day weekend and he's in love. It's a Husqvarna...too bad a free sewing machine didn't come with it!

And we've been back in the water doing some kayaking. About 10 years ago I had a couple of kayaks and just loved them. I had to sell them after my mom died so I could pay bills, but I've always wanted to get some again. Right now, we have a nice inflatable kayak for two, but we're drooling over a couple of recreational kayaks to paddle in hopefully by next year.

Not to mention, I'm rearranging my sewing room! Yikes!

And also not to mention...I'm typing this post on our new laptop. It's a Dell Precision M60, and we got a great deal from my husband's employer. Lots of fun, but I haven't transferred any pictures or my photo editing program, so I need to get that done.

The summer is just flyin' by!

Summer Wind

It's starting to feel a lot like summer around here...and now I have a new summer bag!

I LOVE this bag! It's one of those times when the picture in your head matches the end product exactly. I could not be happier with how this turned out, and I'm thinking about making a couple more and making it into a pattern.

I used 1 charm pack, 1 fat quarter (binding and handles), and 1/2 yd. (lining) and batting remnants to make it. Happy, happy me!

The daisies are starting to bloom as you can see above. Daisies and hydrangeas are two of my favorite flowers and they are both blooming right now. We've really enjoyed our garden this year. We've already had a crop of lettuce, and now we're getting zucchini and beans. Tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots are on the way!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone, and especially to those who have lost service members. We owe a great debt of gratitude and remembrance to those who gave their lives for this wonderful country.

Springtime in Arkansas

A few looks at the color in our yard. Spring in Arkansas means you can almost see it growing. That's especially true for the beans and cucumbers!

Gratuitous Dog Pictures

We used part of Shepherd's back yard for our garden this year, so we extended it on the other end. We finished the fence this past week and he's been getting used to the new area (he does not like change!)

He was laying in the ivy so I tried to get some pictures of it, but of course the minute I get the camera he gets up. But we did manage a couple of good ones...!

Happy Easter!

He is Risen! Hallelujah!

Abundant Life

Well, I certainly didn't intend for that to happen! Another week and a half with no blogging, and what's more, no blog surfing. We had a sick computer for about a week and just got it back yesterday (it's feeling much better). And the week before that we had an unexpected death in our family.
There hasn't been much on the knitting or quilting front either...just a few minutes here and there.
But, spring is springing all over our yard. As I write this, I'm looking out at an apple tree in blossom, a dogwood about to blossom, forsythias almost finished blooming, and a bed of tulips!
The daffodil show is over. The pear trees have already bloomed and are leafing out, and we're getting ready for planting. The seedlings are perking along, and we've already planted a few things from the funeral (two hydrangeas, some pink hyacinth, and an azalea or two).

I'll have pictures galore soon, but right now I've got a few blogs to catch up on!

Springtime & Red Hat

Well, where did that week go? Woosh...the days are flyin' by! I'm right in the middle of changing jobs (to one with fewer hours, yah!) and Jimmy is busy, busy, busy at work right now, so it just seems like last week was a blur. And spring is springing! Daffodils blooming, pear tree blooming, tulips popping up, seedlings growing...

I did however, manage a finished object. A red hat. For me. (Next up, a blue one, for Jimmy.)

(this, above, is the truest to color)

(I couldn't resist putting it on Sheppie, he says "The things I put up with...")

Pattern: none (basic 4 x 4 rib)

Yarn: Yarn Bee Icelandic Jewels in Ruby Colorway

Needles: Knit Picks Options 6.0 mm US10

Now that I have my nice floppy, loose KnitPicks Options cords, I finished this hat up with the magic loop method. Love it! I've cast on a blue one for Jimmy using the same yarn. This is nice "no thinking" knitting.

Seed time

It's actually flurrying here today...if I look out the window I see a tiny flake float by every once in a while. And it's cold, cold, cold. But, every gardner knows what February is for...starting seeds! (well, maybe it's later if you live up north-ways, but in these parts, we'll be putting plants out in about six weeks.)

I've grown vegetables from seed, but I haven't really done it with flowers, other than sewing zinnias and cosmos directly in the garden. So, we're excited to see how we can do with some flowers.

Jimmy is working on the expanded vegetable garden area already...lots of digging right now. Lots of hauling dirt and soil amendments soon. Spring shall be here before we know it!