Eye'm-still-here Candy Friday...

...just caught up in too many things and too busy to post.  o let's get to it. First your Eye Candy.

A stormy sky...

A Naughty Nineties poppy in the rain...

and close up.

A single Royal Ann cherry on our Bing cherry tree:

And because I missed WIP-it Wednesday, here is a picture of the Merino-Angora singles that are ready to ply.

I might take this with me to Spin-In tomorrow so I can ply it and get it done finally. I haven't quite decided yet.

Up this weekend: Spin-In tomorrow! This means I need to bake something in the morning to share. Cookies might be good...

There are a few errands to run and we need to start prepping for the graduation trip next week. I can't believe it's already here! I'm really looking forward to seeing the Daughter get "hooded." She worked hard for this degree and deserves her day in the sun.

Because we'll be in the road with no consistent WI-FI access, blog entries might be short next week. I haven't quite figured out how to blog from my iPad (text is not an issue, but the image transfer is a big unknown to me). So you might have to wait for the pictures, but they'll get uploaded eventually!
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it's a Monday and I'm posting...

...woo hoo!   Well, I'm posting only because I'm waiting for software to download or install on my new Windows PC. Adobe stuff takes a long time to download the EXE files and then a long time to get the patches. Between this and my Mac, I;ve been downloading and updating software for a week.

My office looks like Computer Central and is a disaster area:

(L-R: Windows laptop, iMac Mac Mini and monitor, stacks of software to install, and Windows 7 laptop and its monitor.) I can't wait to get back to some semblance or order and get my desk space back!

I didn't get as much done over the weekend as I wanted. I just couldn't get motivated on Saturday. I ended up just doing laundry and doing a little housework. Mid afternoon, I gave up on the idea of quilting and decided to rescue a Merino-Angora top that had felted a little. I managed to get the majority of it drafted and then spun it on the wheel. I had already spun some on the spindle, but decided that faster and "done" was better than letting it sit and possibly completely felt. It felt good to get back to the wheel.

On Sunday I managed to get most of the machine quilting done for the commissioned piece. I also prepped the design for the machine quilting pattern I'll use in the border. I kept the quilting pretty simple to the main area to make the colors pop more. I should be able to finish the border quilting this coming weekend.

I did a little knitting while I watched Game of Thrones and In Plain Sight last night. Section 3 on the Blue Whale shawl is very slow. Each row is taking longer and longer to do. I've got about 13 of 18 inches completed. The back of my Seaweed sweater is coming along nicely I've completed 4 pattern repeats completed. I think I need to do at least 3 more before I can start the sleeves.

Alright, back to work...my download is finished (finally) and I can install the next Adobe product. Back with WIPs on Wednesday!

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Eye Candy Friday, kinda-sorta

...it's been an odd week. I've spent most of it migrating my work stuff to a new Mac. Today I'm reinstalling applications and migrating my work projects from one Windows machine to another. Right now I have 4 computers in my office. It's just a little crowded in here!!

I don't have much in the way of Eye Candy today. Pictures of green fruit aren't nearly as interesting as ripe fruit, and that's what we have in the yard right now. I could take pictures of the roses, but you've already seen those a few times.

There's always that old fallback, clouds. I never get tired of these pictures. I simply need to remember to take pictures before I leave for the gym rather than waiting for when I return. The light is much better at 6:15am than it is at 7am.

The only flower pictures I have are of the Mother's Day arrangement that the Daughter gave me:

It's from a different florist than we usually use, and that's a good thing. It is a very different combination of flowers and greenery in a flat, green container—very Asian-inspired. It really brightened my day. :)

Up this weekend: I need to finish machine-quilting the commissioned quilt. I'm part way there and I think I can finish it over the next two days. The next step is to square off the edges and sew on the binding. Then comes the time consuming part: finishing the binding on the back and clean up all the loose threads. This is my primary project for the weekend (that and grocery shopping).

Just 10 more days before the Daughter's graduation in Baltimore. We are really looking forward to it!
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Hold, please...

...I'm in the middle of transferring my applications, files, and photos from one work Mac to a new one. It's taking longer than I expected only because some applications have to be deactivated on the old Mac and "repaired" on the new Mac (Gee thanks, Adobe...) and 
my essential applications is working correctly. I hope to be back on a normal schedule tomorrow.
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Eye Candy Friday...

...I'm glad the week's almost over!  For some reason, it just seemed to drag on and on. I've been doing some research of HR topics and other things for work and I think that made the days seem really long.

Anyway, on to the eye candy. The pickings are a little slim this week, mostly be cause the garden is in an in-between state again. The fruit blossoms have dropped and the new fruit is very small and green. Other plants are still seedlings with little to show but leaves. Here's what I found today:

The flowers haven't opened yet, but they are still very pretty at this state.

I took a few pictures of the green berries in the front yard. None of the pictures are what I'd classify "Eye Candy," but this picture is interesting.

It wasn't until I reviewed my pictures in iPhoto that I realized I had caught a bug on the berry. Not exactly eye candy...oh, well!

Up this weekend: My number one priority is the commissioned quilt. It's pin basted, but I'm not entirely pleased with the alignment of the back and the front. I may need to redo this. Part of the issue is that it's 64" x 72", making it difficult to wrestle into place. I need to consider my options before redoing the pin basting.

Other than that, I might spin a little and knit a little. Oh, and calling my mother on Sunday! I've already arranged for flowers to be delivered on Saturday so she has them for Sunday. The Daughter is making the reservations for our Mother's Day brunch/lunch and I'm looking forward to that.
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WIP-it Wednesday and hello May...

...April sure flew by!

I managed to post my April recap, but didn't post anything else...that's how Mondays have been lately!

So the quick weekend report:

• I finished the wall hanging and mailed it on Monday. Yay!
• I finished the back of my commissioned quilt and will pin it tomorrow. Yay #2!
• I attended our Spin-In, which was held at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery cafe. This was a nice place to meet and very close to home.

I decided not to take my wheel to Spin-In because my knee was acting up. I rode my bike to the gym on Friday (the first time in several months) and I don't think it was happy about that. Anyway, I took my spindle and some fiber I bought at A Verb for Keeping Warm's booth at Stitches West. The fiber is a Merino-Yak-Silk blend and is a lovely purple:

I'm winding the single onto half a paper towel tube when I fill the spindle. At some point I may move this over to the wheel just because spinning on the wheel is a bit faster. We'll see how it goes.

I managed to knit a few more rows on both the Seaweed sweater and the Blue Whale shawl. So lots of time working on WIPs this weekend, but only one finish. I really need to finish something else otherwise I'm going to get bored, which always leads to a raging case of Start-itis!
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April 2011 Recap...

...started 3 projects. Finished 1 project and 7 books. Gee, I wonder where my focus was this month?

Finished:

• 4/30  Jane's Wall Hanging
• Books:
  How to Knit a Heart Back Home, Rachel Herron
  Ceremony in Death, JD Robb
  Vengeance  in Death, JD Robb
  Holiday in Death, JD Robb
  Conspiracy in Death, JD Robb
  Home Free, Fern Michaels
  The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Started:

• 4/3 Jane's Wall Hanging (sewing)
• 4/22 Seaweed Cardigan [Ravelry]
• 4/30 Royale top, 2 oz (Merino-Yak-Silk) top from A Verb for Keeping Warm [Ravelry]

Worked on:

• Commission quilt using the rail fence block, currently unnamed
• Turquoise Trail by Laura J Perin (needlepoint)

Works In Progress, did not work on:

• Happy Pumpkin Scissor Fob by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch)
• Jungle Songs quilt
• Natural Dyes batts from Yarn Wench (spinning) [Ravelry]
• Sea Foam Wrap (knitting) [Ravelry] 
• Tealing Groovy quilt top (quilting)
• The Beets Go On (renamed, was My Heart Beets 4U) socks (knitting) [Ravelry]
• Wisteria Angora-Merino top from Tactile (spinning) [Ravelry]

IDJ (It's dead, Jim):

1. Dogosaurus Rex sweater (knitting) [Ravelry]
2. Hexagon socks (knitting) [Ravelry]

UFOs:

1. Chasing Rainbows Heather--one Merino-Bombyx (2 oz) and one Merino wool (2 oz) (spinning)
2. Hopi by Susan Portra (needlepoint)
3. Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)
4. Stranded Hearts socks (knitting) [Ravelry]
5. Violet Needle Roll (cross stitch)