I've Got The World On A String

OK, I should have said "yarn", but that wouldn't have been as catchy.



I finished my hat tonight. I am still trying to change the weather and make it warmer in Florida. I've knit wool socks, wool slippers, a shrug and this hat. It is warming up and today we could open the doors and enjoy the fresh air. So maybe it is beginning to work.



You may remember when I dyed yarn in October. I had dyes leftover from dyeing my personal color family. I used it to dye these 3 skeins of yarn. It was quite an involved and lengthy process to use Procion MX dye on wool, but I wanted to use these 3 pure dye colors. I was so happy with the results.

I have started knitting a scarf with the remainder of the yarn I dyed. Certainly by the time I finish it the weather should warm up.

Quilt Show At The Villages Part 2

There was too much to show you in just one post so I am continuing on this post with more quilts from the show.


Technically this a very simple quilt. Design wise it is complex and very well done.
Value, color, contrast are all accomplished in this one.



This is a traditional scrappy log cabin quilt and it definitely is a show stopper.
The red cornerstones really pop and create a path and movement for your eyes to follow.
The border is perfectly integrated with the rest of the quilt.



This Trip Around The World Quilt was entered in the novice category which was for people who had been quilting less than 5 years. The creator of this quilt had a great understanding of color and value. She used these things to create a very effective work of art.


The artist who made this quilt designed it herself. It is a stunning example and arrangement of Hibiscus.


In this close up of the quilt you can see that the stamen is 3 dimensional.

It really took a lot of self control to stay home and not go back to the show again today to see what I missed!

Quilt Show At The Villages

Today I attended a quilt show in The Villages.


This was the first quilt I saw as I walked in the door. It was the largest quilt and you can get an idea of the size by the people in the photo in front of it.
It was also very creative. I had hoped to get another shot of it without anyone in the photo but there were always people in front of it. The show was well attended and will continue on Saturday.



This Log Cabin quilt uses a coloration that is not as popular as the traditional designs. It was very effective and attractive.



This "color wheel" style quilt was very stunning. It attracted a lot of attention.



This very complex quilt was beautifully executed.

I just finished my 353rd quilt!

I keep a record on Excel of all the quilts I have finished, as well as all my works in progress.
When I added this as my first quilt I finished in 2011 last night I was surprised to see I did not finish even one quilt in 2010. I worked on a lot of quilts and created a lot of fabrics with paints and dyes.
That is the first year in over 30 years I haven't finished even one quilt.



This is a baby quilt and it uses Beatrix Potter collector hankies for the blocks.



Here is "Mom" looking at the quilt after she opened it.


And here is the owner of the quilt who was 3 months old today with her great grandmother.
I hope she will use the quilt, lay on it, play with it, build forts with it and love it enough to wear it out. There are many kinds of quilts. I usually make art/wall quilts but this is one meant to be used and I hope she will become attached to it.

What In The World Is This?

I finished the knitting on this tonight.



At this time it is hard to visualize what it is going to be.
When I sew two simple seams it will be a shrug or vest. I am hoping to finish this tomorrow afternoon.

I showed you an early in progress photo of it on my November 13th post.

On that post I mentioned our new knitting store and I'll share more information about it soon. It is everything a knitter could want and I am so happy it is open and a few miles from me. It is also close to a major Florida highway and very convenient for anyone who is traveling 1-75 south through Florida. It is well worth the short detour to drink in the yarns and suppplies. And while you are drinking in the yarns, books, patterns and supplies your spouse can get a drink or something to eat in one of the restaurants in the lovely strip mall.

This is the second project I finished with yarns I purchased there. The slippers I showed you a few blog posts ago were the first project I finished. I have yarn for a sweater and also a shawl waiting to be knit.

My Hot Date Was Fantastic!

Everything I wanted to happen did!
A.R. - you did not disappoint me.



I wanted to be sure he knew I was with him all the way.


I may not be able to compete with my son's shrine to the Packers, but I built this altar for the Packers!

I am looking forward to our next date in two weeks. I am confident it will be just as exciting as this one was.


Of course I had to pick the lizard cut for this puzzle as I think of lizards as green!

Another Hot Date Tomorrow!

Tomorrow my hot date is with a younger man and his initials are A. R.
What can I say about him?
Good looking, talented, intelligent, knows when to make a move - these are just a few of the things I can tell you about him.
He loves the Green and Gold and wears it well.
I suppose you are beginning the think I am fickle.
I really am not - this has been an ongoing relationship and it will never end.


I always have fresh flowers in this vase. Today I chose a green and gold floral arrangement with tomorrow's Packer game in mind.



Some people may think these are Christmas ornaments but any one in Wisconsin knows these are Packer ornaments.


I wore these shoes last week and they were good luck so I plan to wear them again tomorrow along with the the same freshly washed sweatshirt and pants I wore last Sunday. The weather will be nippy so warm clothing is in order.



Jeff and Cooper have the perfect chairs to watch the Packer game.


This is another wall in Jeff's Packer "shrine"!

I invite anyone who's team is no longer in the playoffs to cheer along with us for the Green Bay Packers!

No More Cold Feet!

I have not had a pair of slippers for years. When my feet were cold a week ago I decided to do something about it.

These are the skippers I knitted and then felted. I forgot to take a picture to show you how big they were before I felted them. They are knitted with Noro Kureyon yarn.

I only have a front loading washer here so felting was more difficult than doing it in a top loader. I am really going to enjoy wearing there if we get more cold weather.

I am hoping that by making these it will keep the weather warm so I will have no use for them!
Just in case that is not enough to change the weather one of the next things on my knitting agenda is a warm hat and scarf!

Another Color Family - Rerun

I am posting this rerun so that you can see why I am dyeing these color swatches.
They will be cut up and shared with the other members of our groups. Each of them will paste up my samples as I did with this group you see here:


After taking Carol Soderlund's Dyeing I class several of us decided to each dye a color family and trade squares with each other.
I am now working on pasting up these families.



This is the color family I finished pasting up tonight.
There are several pure reds, yellows and blues that can be combined to produce a color famiy and each combination gives you slightly different colors. It is really an exciting process.

I continue to marvel at the colors as I paste up each family. Such delicious discoveries.

For anyone who is seduced by color I can't recommend Carol's classes enough. In addition to quilters people who weave and knit also love her classes. There are also those who just love to dye the fabrics - who may or may not make anything with them.
What an exciting passion to have.

I Had A Hot Date Tonight!

This is our second date this week.
We tried to watch some TV but kept getting distracted.
This date was so intense I never once looked at my iPhone or iPad.

A friend warned me not to get burned since I had experience with a member of my dates family in Santa Fe a few years ago and did indeed get burned.

We usually get along well together and tonight was no different.

So what did we do on our date?

The same thing we did earlier this week. We've been seeing each other for over two years now.

I don't know if I have mentioned my date before. His name is iRon.


We got another 147 swatches iRoned and only have 49 more to go.

I just got a message from my sister-in-law Mary. She also loves iRon. Maybe that is because Bill monopolizes iPad.

This is her message:
Can't believe you too love iRon! I lock myself in the laundry room with him every chance I get to help relieve stress. I'm also a fan of S.Starch. He is really good at removing all my worry wrinkes instantly. Who knew we would be competing for the same guy. Oh well, I will concede. You have the upper hand and probably more experience in this area!

Dyeing Color Family - Ironing Time

Today was a cloudy and rainy day
The rain was so welcome as it has been so dry here.
I thought it was a perfect day to do some ironing.
I had a large basket of cloth napkins and place mats that needed ironing.

After some thought I realized ironing these dyed color samples had a higher priority and they certainly would brighten my day.



The first thing I did was set up the ironing board in a spot where I could watch TV.



I alternated ironing with other activities today. I have now finished ironing 149 of the pieces. That means only 198 to go.

Stay tuned!

You can enjoy the top color swatches in each group of 7 when you work this puzzle.

This Family Backs The Pack!

Those of us who live In Wisconsin as well as those who have lived in Wisconsin as well as those who would like to live in Wisconsin all love the GREEN BAY PACKERS.

They are our "home town" team.

Our eyes will be glued to the TV tonight at 7 CST (8 EST) watching the NFC Divisional Playoff against the Atlanta Falcons.


I got my clothes ready to wear yesterday and I am wearing them right now. It is probably the first Packer game I remember where it was cool enough for a sweatshirt in Florida!


This is a picture of my grandson Jeff when he was team captain at a Packer game. What a lucky boy to have had that experience.



My granddaughter Dana modeling the Packer outfit I knit for her when the Packers played in the Super Bowl in 19??.


I would consider my son Jeff the ultimate Packer fan.
He was about 12 years old in this photo. He and his friend had the perfect "job" at a golf outing held each year in our area - shining the shoes of the Green Bay Packers and other sports celebrities.
He took a camera one year and had his picture taken with all of those Green Bay Packer greats of the era.
For his 50th birthday his office staff had this enlargement made and framed with this original photo of he and one of the greatest Packers ever, Bart Starr. He was not only a great football player but he is a great man.



This is one corner of his exercise room/Packer Shrine!

If your team is not in the playoffs you are most welcome to cheer along with us for the Packers tonight!

I DID IT!!!

For several years I have been collecting sock yarn dyed by Emily Parson.
I had sockaphobia and was scared to death to knit a pair of socks.

Recently I decided if I wanted warm and colorful socks I'd have to bite the bullet and just do it.

Drum roll, Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here they are:


Socks are meant to be twins - identical twins.
Mine are more like fraternal twins!

I still need to tweak the size a little on the next pair. I can now see though why so many people are addicted to sock knitting.

Tonight I started on some warm knit and felted slippers which are really a simplified sock. My feet have been cold in the evening and these will be the perfect solution.

I am also hoping that as soon as I get them done the weather will change and I won't need them!

Welcome To My World, Won't You Come On In - Needlefelting

I am working on 4 more pieces for this series. Each time I work on them something different starts to happen.
I go back and tweak them when I think I can improve them.

There is time yet to start one more tonight. I find this a very freeing way to work. I now have a large collection of sleazy cheapie fabrics that I would never have even considered buying. All of a sudden I am at the fabric store buying 1/4 yards of them.

I also use wool roving, yarn, ribbon. ravelings from the edge of these pieces and just about any other fiber that I think will work. Some of my favorites are silks and sheer fabrics.

Welcome To My World

It has been a while since I have had time to do any fabric or fiber work.

I have set up a studio area and I am working a series of small needle felted pieces.

These 12 are at various stages of completion. When I am finished there will be about 34 of them.

Each is being done on a fabric swatch and the colors flow through the spectrum.
The designs change as ideas flow in and out.
It is my goal that each will stand on their own as a small precious piece of art and that they will also make a cohesive statement when viewed together.

I am also doing a little reorganizing and purging while I work on these.

I've got another puzzle for you. Hope you enjoy it.

Two Home Themes

Honey I'm Home AGAIN!

Thanks to my son Jeff I was picked up in along white stretch limo for the trip to the Milwaukee airport. I took a picture of it and the driver with my iPhone. What I didn't realize is that my iPhone also takes video's and I mistakenly took a video.
The trip to the airport went faster than any previous one as I was able to pass the time emailing on my iPhone!

The security lines were the longest I have ever seen at that airport.

I snapped this picture of a new eatery while I waited in the security line. The Milwaukee airport has a lot of interesting shops including a used book store that has been there for years.


The plane loaded quickly even though it was a BIG one. The center seat next to my aisle seat was empty in an almost full plane which makes the trip much more comfortable.
We arrived 20 minutes early and I was home again by 10 p.m.

I have a few more "home" pictures from my trip to Racine Tuesday.


This is the house I lived in from the time I was 4 until I was 10. There was a huge pear tree in the back yard and my parents canned enough pears and pear sauce to last our family of 7 people almost all winter. I often wondered if the tree was still there as it was huge 60 years ago. I drove down the snow covered alley and it is no longer there.


I also drove past the home of a long time friend who reads this blog and took a picture of the home their family lived in. It is obvious that someone who cares about this home lives here. All the homes in the neighborhood still look great. The snow was the perfect frosting! My friend has not been back to Racine for at least 30 years I believe.

Can You Go Home Again?

I went to Racine, Wisconsin yesterday. As I was driving home I took the opportunity to take some photos (through the windshield) at stop lights.
I know some of my long time friends who have not been to Racine recently read my blog so I thought I'd share a few pictures.

This is at the corner of 4th and Main heading south. I am leaving these photos much larger than I usually do so those of you who "remember when" can click on them and see if there is anything you still recognize. Maybe this will bring back memories of what used to be "there"!



Monument Square and you can see the Zahn's building at the right.



Washington Park High School looking just like it did when we went to school there over a half century ago!



Danish Kringles at Bendtsen's Bakery. They make the best Kringles and ship them all over. Perhaps you saw the feature about them on Road Tasted with Bobby and Jamie Deen?

I took more pictures and may share them at another time.

Studio Bookcases - Before and after!

About a week ago I mentioned I had watched the Nate Berkus show on TV and his subject was making bookshelves more attractive.
This one was not bad as I had done some work on it recently.
But before I knew it I was up there redoing it again.


This is what the book shelf looked like before I reorganized it. I didn't show the other part of the bookcases as they weren't looking good when I took this photograph.
Someone asked to see a photo of the revised arrangement. Here it is:



This is the revised bookcase. I have to admit it does look a lot better.
I also hung some different art around it.
I had hoped to hang some pictures in front of some sections.
It wouldn't work as the shelves have a particle board base and if I had tried putting nails or screws in the edges to hang things I would have made a big mess of the shelves.
The new 3M hooks wouldn't work as the edges are not flat.
If anyone has a solution to my problem, I'd love to hear it.

This puzzle cut is the closest to looking like books on a shelf.

Siblings Who Lunch

Last week my brother and sister in law took me out for lunch.
We went to Mangia Trattoria in Kenosha.
From start to finish it was one of the very best lunches I have ever had.


Bill had GAMBERI AL SAMBUCA~ Wood burning oven roasted spicy shrimp flamed with Sambuca
Had I been a little more alert I could have photographed it while the waiter was flaming it. He shared one of his shrimp with me and it was fantastic.



Mary had a favorite of hers, PANINO DI POLLO ~ Diced chicken breast with mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions and basil on grilled Tuscan bread



I had GNOCCHETTI CON STRACOTTA D’AGNELLO ~ Braised lamb with onions, garlic, tomato red wine sauce and topped with goat cheese
It was out of this world. The portion was so generous I took half of it home and enjoyed an early dinner as I couldn't wait to eat it again.

We all enjoyed Dolci della Stagione ~ Apple crumble, cranberries, chopped walnuts, vanilla gelato and caramel for dessert. I didn't get a photo of that, but I hope you can imagine how delicious it was.

Mary, you now have a second chance to enjoy your lunch as you work this puzzle of it!