Finito!

 I have finished the cute top and have mailed it off to Florida.  Huzzah!

What Marjorie doesn't know is that I put a new green skirt like the one she made in the package also.  I am looking forward to her reaction! (hopefully she's excited about it...)

Now that the top is done, I can move on to completing the socks for Smallest that I started a while ago.  I should probably also work on some other things that are waiting, but the socks are great for carrying around.

Other things I know... Smallest has an African Violet army at her apartment and when she went back to Florida at the end of she summer, she left a bunch of baby plants that she had grown from cuttings.  I have now repotted them and they are living in my office at work because we don't have good window space at our house.  Hopefully I won't kill them.  I tend to have a brown or black thumb when it comes to plants.

We are heading to see Lauren in California this weekend.  She has an internship at Cake Bread Cellars learning about the wine business this fall.  Jeff's birthday is coming up, and I know he likes to see his girls, so this seemed like a great opportunity!  I've never been to the Napa area, so it will be fun.

I'm still doing PT for my ankle.  It is getting better, but this week's session was not enjoyable.  I'm hoping that next week will be an improvement.  There was needling this week, it was not what I was expecting.

That's about what I know.  I'll post a sock progress shot after the trip.  Lots of knitting on planes and in cars!

Margie

Moisture from the sky!

We had the most exciting thing happen yesterday, it was brief, but so satisfying.  It rained!  It's been a while.  Houston has started regulating when you can water, so we can water our crispy grass on Thursday evenings and Sunday evenings.  

Several years ago, we had the hose running in the back yard to do something and we asked The Boy to turn it off on his way to his room, which is by the door to the yard.  He did so, but then we discovered the next day that he had actually turned it all the way on instead of off and it flooded our neighbor's yard.  Oops.  It was a sad yard, so no harm was done (except to our water bill).  Well, on Sunday night, we had watered the yard and Jeff went to turn off the sprinkler before going to bed.  On Monday morning, I went to put some sourdough outside to proof and noticed the sprinkler was still running!  This time Jeff is the one who turned it all the way on instead of off.  Alas.  The grass looks happy though.

I had a good weekend of project-ing.  I have almost finished a two skirts for Smallest.  I mentioned these in the previous post.  I finished the one she bought the fabric for - and I made it reversible!  I need to get elastic for the waist, but it's otherwise done.  I am very pleased with it.  I made a video to show her, I'll see if I can post it. (and I did fix that pinch on the waist)

I've almost finished the remake of the first skirt as well.  That fabric is a pain to work with, so I'm please it's gone as well as it has.  I just need to finish the hem and put in the elastic.  So close!  I'm hoping to get the elastic today, but it might be tomorrow.

The top is coming together also.  I need to do an I-cord around the edges, but it's otherwise good.  I found a mistake in a bad place (messed up buttonhole 3 of 4) and while I fixed it, it's not perfect.  I would have to undo all the straps to really fix it perfectly.  Alas.

Other than that, I don't know much else.  We're going to see Lauren in a couple of weeks.  We went to a place called Puttshack with The Boy on Labor Day and had a good time.  

I'm trying to keep up with the Vuelta bike race, I'll have to see how much we can see on Peacock.  Exciting to have someone from CO in the lead!

Here is Ginny as a Purrito, just for fun.

Margie

Packages in the mail!

 I have accomplished moments things this week - I have sent FOUR packages in the mail!  Who am I?  One was to Jeff's older daughter, who left some things when she and her lovely husband stopped by for a visit.  

The second was to Middle, who had lost a ring when they were here a couple of weeks ago.  I feel confident saying the culprit was Ginny the cat.  The ring turned up, much to everyone's delight, so back to Middle it went.  I included some cute small earrings that I saw when I was getting my watch battery replaced last week, since they have many holes in their ears and small earrings can compliment larger ones.

The Guilty Party

The third was a table that Smallest had ordered, but not updated the address for, so it came to Houston instead of Florida.  It was going to cost me $85 to ship it to Florida (the price of the table!), so I suggested that we return the table and order a new one to be delivered to the correct address.  Smallest got me a return label and I dropped it off at a near-by FedEx office.

The fourth was the cute sweater and blanket for the postdoc in Atlanta who had a baby this spring.  I sewed the buttons on and shipped it off!  Hooray!  

Now I am working on a cute cropped summer top for Smallest, since she is also in a hot place.  It's the Darjeeling Top.  I saw it a couple of months ago and got the pattern, but it was in French.  I finally got the English version just before we drove to Florida to return Smallest to their program.  I knit like the wind on the drive, since Smallest wanted to drive a lot (she is learning to road trip like a McIntosh) but I only got about halfway.  I took a little time off, as thing have been busy, but I'm working on it again and I think I might be able to finish this weekend.  We are heading to Austin for a woodworking festival, so that's six hours in the car plus some other time as well.  I'll definitely be able to make a good dent in it if I don't finish.

I think I'll take the Lantana top along with me too.  I still haven't finished and really would like to.  I think I'm pretty close on that one too?  I've finished the back and the right front, I think I'm on the left front now?  Hmmm.... definitely worth bringing that along!

I have a skirt to make for Smallest also.  Maybe two.  She made a skirt this summer after seeing some fabric I had bought, but as it was her first clothing adventure, the construction leaves a little to be desired.  I still have the fabric and might use it to make her a new skirt instead of the dress I intended it for.  It would be a fun surprise, and she wears the current skirt all the time.  She had bought fabric to make a second skirt but didn't have time, so that's the first skirt to make.

You can see how it's fraying at
the hem, but she LOVES it.

Work has been busy lately, and I had many trips this summer.  I still have the trip this weekend, then a trip with Jeff (yay!) in September for his birthday, and then a trip later this fall back home.  I think I will be traveled out!

I like your purple border, Catherine!  Colors in quilts are tricky.

Margie

Boundary conditions

This past week I made a bit of progress on the heart quilt, though not as much as I hoped. I decided what the border was going to look like and picked the fabric (some strong contenders lost out because there wasn't enough fabric). It's a fade from the strong purple I've picked for the back; it will work better on one half of the front than the other but I think I'll like it. Pictures below.

I also:

Ironed the front

Ironed the back fabric, measured it up, and cut/sewed it so it's no longer a ~40" x 80" rectangle but a ~60" x 60" square

Measured and cut up the batting

Washed the purple border fabrics

---

Whenever I next get a good block of time, I will hope to get the two border fabrics prepped and sewn on (one on each side), so I can finally make my quilt sandwich and be done! The only problem is that the next good block of time will be in about three weeks. Someday...

Here's also a picture of my cat, because he is sooooo cute.

- Catherine

(better half)

(worse half)

(cutie)

Catching up

You have posted so much!

What do I know... if I were closed, I'd stitch your green stuff!  After the heat in Texas this summer, moving closer to you sounds better and better.

I've been working on the blanket (this one) and sweater for another baby.  I finished the blanket last week.  It was fun to do.  I would make one in a chunky yarn and make it a little bigger to give to big people.  Could be fun!

I had to do some CITI training for responsible conduct of research (so timely with the resignation of Stanford Univ's president for being naughty) and I discovered it was easier to pay attention if I knit while listening and reading the slides.  It was not a pattern requiring a ton of thought.  I got the body done and need to do the collar and sleeves now.  I want to block it before doing the collar, so maybe I'll do the sleeves first.  The pattern is Elwood.  I'm making the 6 month size, and I got gauge on my swatch, but it seems larger than expected.  No worries, as babies grow fast.  It will all be fine.

I took the blanket with me on our recent trip to camp in the Canadian Rockies and that helped get it over the finish line.  We only had a fire one night so nothing smells like smoke.  

What's coming up... I'm heading to see Smallest dance in her summer intensive at the end of the month (and return the roommate's cat).  If I haven't finished the little sweater by then, I should definitely finish on that trip.  After that there are some sweaters to be made, I bought some fabric and a pattern for a dress that I need to do.  Smallest and I might make her another skirt.  I should post the skirt she made back in June.  If you don't look closely at things, it looks really good.  It was definitely a first project skirt.  She loves it though, and that's the most important part!

The Boy is in Japan with his dad and it looks like they're having a good time.  A relief!

Here is a random carrot for your entertainment!

I forgot to mention my accident while hiking.  I twisted my ankle the first day we were hiking in Banff.  I could walk on it afterwards, and got a brace to wear for our further adventures, but I did follow up with my doctor and I tore a ligament.  Hopefully there will be some healing this week, otherwise there may need to be some surgical intervention, which I'm not super excited about.

Happy Penultimate day of the Tour de France!

Margie

The demolition continues

It's been a busy two weeks, so not much to report. I did find a few spots to take the scissors to my quilt, and am making some progress on tearing seams apart. It's just so many seams! I will try not to be discouraged. Tomorrow I will take a closer look at what I can just cut apart, or I will be at this forever.

I am also not forgetting the other quilts on the docket. I do have a brief pocket before our next guests arrive where I could try to make the heart quilt into a full sandwich. Hmm... 

I did make a bit of progress on the cross-stitch during arts and crafts time with Mom. There are two dark green leaves in the middle (the first one is started, see?) and then all four dark green leaves have a lighter green leaf partner, and then I'm done with that one! Yay. I still feel uncertain about what to do with it when I'm done. It is fun to work on, but would be even more fun if I knew its destiny. More things to ponder!

And, my new team member starts in less than two weeks, meaning the double duty I've been doing since ~March will soon come to an end (and there will be more time for crafts!). I CAN'T WAIT.

- Catherine

Unmaking

A whole week at home! As much as I like working on my flowers, I'm prioritizing projects that I can't do on a plane. We have guests coming in a few days, so it's not good timing to get out the heart quilt; instead, I am working on disassembling my T-shirt quilt so I can reclaim the shirts and build a new quilt (see? Sorry the photo is weird). You can see that some of the intermediate fabrics are just completely torn up, so this is long overdue.

Given the state of things, I do need to be a bit more thoughtful about which seams I'm taking out and which I could just cut up - I don't think I'm going to try to keep the batting, so scissors will help me move things along!! I've fully reclaimed two of the small squares (see bottom right), one of which is a piece of T-shirt. 

As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I also have more shirts waiting to be put in a quilt, and some of these shirts probably have lost enough emotional attachment that I could let them go. So, I really need to think carefully about which pieces I'm salvaging! Looks like I will need to do some better planning this week.

- Catherine