Eye Candy...

...on a Saturday. After  processing the photos and uploading them to Flickr, Facebook, and Instagram, I forgot about the blog. Oops!

The yard continues to bloom. The bee blossom bush has delicate pink flowers:

The clematis is going strong:

We have some beautiful snapdragons:

Even the cilantro is blooming:

New to the garden this year are salpiglossis flowers:

Up this 3-day weekend: A little spinning, a little quilting, a little stitching, and who knows what else!

WIP-it Wednesday...

...and a progress photo of the Charred Teal Shawl.

I am obviously not burying the ends as I go. I have tucked them behind the piece to take this photo so they don't distract from the knitting. I really love this color combination!

This is the most convenient project to work on after dinner. Most of the other projects require a piece of equipment or frame (loom, knitter's loom, stitching stand and frame, sewing machine...you get the idea) and are best kept in my studio. I just have to be patient and wait until Friday afternoon to work on something else!

WIPs Roll Call

Worked On:

• All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting)
  Borders attached, backing pieced, and binding prepped. This project will go into hibernation until it's cool enough to wrestle a quilt through the sewing machine.
• Charred Teal Shawl [Ravelry]
  Working on pattern section 2.
• Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)
  Working on the seaweed below her tail.
• Sunset handspun [Ravelry]
  Finished plying; need to take photos.
• St. Charles (needlepoint)
  Working on the outside border.

Works In Progress:

1. 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [Ravelry]
2. Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]  
3. Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [Ravelry]
4. Tiger Lily handspun (spinning) [Ravelry]
5. Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch)

UFOs/Hibernation:

1. Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [Ravelry]
2. Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint)
3. Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]
4. Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]
5. Finishing work
6. Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [Ravelry]
7. Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)
8. Tucson Twilight (needlepoint)

WIPs To Be:

• An attic windows quilt for me.

Well, hello Tuesday...

...I have no idea what happened at the end of last week.

• I didn't process any photos for Eye Candy Friday, so no post there.
• I finished sewing the top for the All That Glitters quilt. I also prepped the binding and seamed the backing. This quilt is ready to sandwich, which won't be happening until the end of summer when the weather cools down. It's just too hot to quilt right now.
• I worked on the St. Charles needlepoint project. One of the areas called fro French knots. While I normally don't mind this stitch, it was a royal PITA in this project. I don't know if it's because it used 2 strands of overdyed floss in a small area or what, but the knots kept slipping behind and the ones that didn't looked sparse.
  
  I made the executive decision to rip out the knots and just use continental stitch. I'm much happier with the result. And truthfully, the areas are so small that I don't think it makes much of a difference.
• I worked on the Charred Teal Shawl [Ravelry]. I'm now in section two and it's looking very nice. I need to take a WIP photo of this soon.
• I chain-plied the Sunset singles [Ravelry]. My wheel was wobbling a bit, but I kept at it until I finished the plying. Then I unfolded the wheel and replaced the piece of grippy shelf liner that I used to keep the two parts from slipping. The old piece had gotten compressed and let the wheel wobble. It's better now. Someday, I'll get a replacement hinge for the wheel.
• I put the Mermaid of the Pearls cross stitch project back in rotation. It's been hibernating way too long. It's time to get moving on this project. 
• I finished reading the latest book in the Jane Yellowrock series.

WIP-it Wednesday...

...already!

I don't have any new WIP photos, but I do have a photo of a WIP-To-Be.

A couple of weeks ago, on of my favorite online stitchery stores was having a 20%-off sale on everything. So, I checked out the newest mermaid pattern from Mirabilia, Aphrodite Mermaid. I decided that while I loved the colors, I wasn't wild about the hair on this mermaid. I looked at the Mirabilia mermaid patterns that I knew I hadn't bought yet and settled on Mermaid Undine. Since everything was 20% off, I also bought the silks and the beads needed for the project.

I'll have to invest in some fabric when I'm ready to stitch it. Given that I have Mermaid of the Pearls on hiatus at the moment, that won't be any time soon!

WIPs Roll Call

Worked On:

• Charred Teal Shawl [Ravelry]
  Still working pattern section 1.
• All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting)
  Cut out strips for the narrow inner border, the wide outer borders, and the binding. Ready to sew them on.

Works In Progress:

1. 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [Ravelry]
2. Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]  
3. Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [Ravelry]
4. Sunset handspun [Ravelry]
5. St. Charles (needlepoint)
6. Tiger Lily handspun (spinning) [Ravelry]
7. Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch)

UFOs/Hibernation:

1. Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [Ravelry]
2. Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint)
3. Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]
4. Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]
5. Finishing work
6. Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)
7. Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [Ravelry]
8. Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)
9. Tucson Twilight (needlepoint)

WIPs To Be:

• An attic windows quilt for me.

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Top-of-the-Waves Tuesday...

...and the weekend report.

1. For an early Mother's Day, the Daughter took us to lunch at one of the restaurants in the Stanford Shopping Center on Saturday. Afterwards, we walked over to the eucalyptus grove on the Stanford campus to check out the Stanford Pow Wow.  The dancing competitions were in progress when we got there, so there were a lot of people in their native dress.
   
   There were lots of jewelry artists with some beautiful silver and turquoise pieces. The one artist we wanted to see was the one who made the Husband's ring. However, the artist did not attend so I guess we'll have to go back to New Mexico to get my ring!
   
   There were also couple of rug artists, one of whom brought his loom. It was very interesting to see how the loom was set up and the type of yarn he used for warp. He used all wool for the weft, some of it handspun. I wish I felt confident in using my handspun to make a rug!
2. The rest of Saturday was spent doing laundry and some other chores. In particular, I needed to clear the area where the cable TV set-top box sits in my studio. We scheduled Comcast to come in today to upgrade our cable TV and internet, plus switch our phone to Comcast and add some security. Overall, it's a lot more services, but we're reducing our costs by $50 per month. I've been wanting to get rid of AT&T for our landline for a long time.
3. I managed to get the borders cut for the All That Glitters quilt. I'd really love to get the top finished on this so I can start another quilt.
4. The quilt I want to start is an attic windows quilt for myself. I've been collecting novelty fabrics of things that relate to some part of my life. For example, I have some fabric with Hereford cows on it. This represents the Hereford cattle ranch where we lived when my father was the foreman of the ranch. The quilt has been percolating in my brain for several years and it's time to let it out.
5. While I was putting things away in the studio, I found where I carefully (!) stored some small cross stitch projects that I wanted to do. HA! I'm hoping to put at least one of them in rotation.
6. I worked a little on the Charred Teal Shawl [Ravelry]. I did not touch the weaving or needlepoint. Maybe next weekend!

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Eye Candy Friday...

...blog and run.

This morning's sun hid behind some clouds for a bit:

A rogue foxglove has sprung up in our courtyard:

Up this weekend: Looking forward to spending some time with the Daughter for Mother's Day!
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WIP-it Wednesday...

...and some finished objects.


This is the Teal It To The Bees hat [Ravelry]:

Specs:
Started 4/13/17
Finished 5/4/17
Pattern: Slouchy Beehive Hat by Flora Cheung
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Pagoda

And this is the Puget Sound handspun [Ravelry]:

and the close-up:

Specs:
Started 4/21/17
Finished 5/7/15
Merino-Tencel top (4 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks
314.5 yds 2-ply, 16 WPI


WIPs Roll Call

Worked On:

• Charred Teal Shawl [Ravelry]
  Started on Saturday.
• Sunset handspun [Ravelry]
  Ready to ply
• St. Charles (needlepoint)
  Still working on section 5

Works In Progress:

1. 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [Ravelry]
2. All That Glitters Christmas quilt (quilting)
3. Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]  
4. Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [Ravelry]
5. Tiger Lily handspun (spinning) [Ravelry]
6. Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch)

UFOs/Hibernation:

1. Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [Ravelry]
2. Bear Paw pottery (needlepoint)
3. Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]
4. Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [Ravelry]
5. Finishing work
6. Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch)
7. Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [Ravelry]
8. Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)
9. Tucson Twilight (needlepoint)

WIPs To Be:

• A peacock or mermaid quilt for me.