sox

another UFO finished!  can't even remember when i started these... but it's been a l-o-n-g time.  i know i dyed the white with spots yarn,  maybe the other one, too.  and they are on purpose fraternal rather than identical. 

fabulous fabric

 today counted as a "bonus day" in my book... like early spring... bright and sunny sweater weather.  seemed like a good day for a lunch with friends followed by a bit of retail therapy at the Pine Needle quilt shop in Lk Oswego.  met Pam at NW Wools, then Laurie and Elsa at Koji's on Barbur (name has changed and i can't remember what it is now)...  lunched on teriyaki chicken (excellent) and salad (not excellent as any salad that consists of iceberg lettuce and pale hard slices of what they pass off as tomato cannot be called good).  the company made up for it.  and then an hour or so of wandering amongst a huge array of most excellent fabrics.  i haven't found many quilt shops like this and it almost makes me hyper-ventilate.  so next quilt will feature that beautiful print in the photo and the one with gradation from purple to yellow (called, i think, ombre) and some bright pinks and warm yellows.  i need to go thru my stash to see what else i have that will work.  not sure yet, but thinking this will be "liberated log cabin".  i'll put in the name of the book that has it tomorrow.  right now i need to go watch the figure skating.

added monday, 1/30/12 -  today there came in the mail a belated solstice gift from Lynne and in it was a bodacious bounty of fabric!  unbelievably! - there are at least 2 and maybe more that will be perfect in the next project, and in fact, the pink with curved black stripe in the block on the left was in that package!  looking like it will be "liberated log cabin" taken from Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston's books.  also, getting inspiration from Melody's blog .  she really does some fabulous colorful art!

fibery things ~ catching up

well, i had 2 fabulous fibery weekends and neglected to say a thing about them!  on the 14th i went to a class at Northwest Wools,  JazzKnitting taught by Ilisha Helfman (author of the book, Jazz Knitting).  this was really an eye-opening, interest-expanding day for me!  and that's saying a lot from someone (me) who has never had a particular fondness for those really tiny, skinny (like US #0 and #1) knitting needles.  Ilisha uses an approach that i live by... no patterns or step-by-step-this-is-exactly-how-to-do-it way of doing it.  she showed us examples, gave general instruction.. and we started knitting... and it was great.  my first ginkgo leaf only looked like a ginkgo leaf if you consider that no leaf in nature is "perfect".  it would have been a stretch to call it a ginkgo leaf, but mine was perfect in its own right.  her work is really inspiring!  a good fibery day it was... and several of my friends were also in the class, which made it even better.

my second ginkgo leaf, which i love better than the first

and this one started out to be something else, not sure exactly what, but this is what it became.  i think it looks like a flower, so that's what it is and i love it.










and last weekend on Sat. i went to Knitted Wit's  trunk show at Kathy's Knit Korner in Forest Grove.  Lorajean was there with Michelle Bernstein of pdxknitterati and they had some beautiful fibers and patterns displayed!  before i went, i took a serious look at my yarn and fiber stash, so managed to resist all but one of Michelle's patterns (infinity entrelac scarf).  and besides my love for entrelac, i love that i can use ANY SIZE needle i want!

on Sunday, went to Linda's for her post-holiday holiday party for all who work at NW Wools or teach there.  yep... i'm not currently in either of those classifications, but am so happy that Linda "grandmother"s me in and i get to go, too!  so i spent the afternoon eating good food, enjoying the company of fiber folk, and spinning that braid of fiber that my talented and artistic 9-year-old grandgirl, Zylie dyed for me and gave me for xmas (see some previous post for photo).  on the way back home, we (Laurie, Crystal and i) made a stop at the Pine Needle quilting shop in lake oswego.  we got there about 15 minutes before their closing time, but Laurie managed to find just what she wanted and made her purchase just in the nick of time!  i didn't... and just might get to go back tomorrow.  i need to find a fabric with dragonflies.  i really do need to....

it 's about time - finished

 finished, done, complete, and ready to hang.

lower right

lower half

upper right

upper half

 so..... now what?

black bear

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/bear-gives-birth-minnesota-video_n_1222588.html

last night i followed a link on Huff Post and watched a video of a black bear in the wild in Minnesota give birth to her cub.  it was absolutely fascinating to watch!  the Wildlife Research Institute has a webcam and infrared light in the bear's den and they've been monitoring her (Jewel) and other bears.    i felt so fortunate to be able to see this!  at times it was difficult, because of the dim lighting and the shadow, to see it well, but i could tell when she was actually giving birth and hear her "talking" to her cub as she was cleaning it up.  it reminded me so much of the experience of watching my ewes and their new lambs!  and the whimpering and crying of the newborn cub sounded so much like human newborns that is was eerie!  so happy i got to see it!

time piece

today's the day to finish up the time piece.  stay tuned.  these are the borders i'm putting on, and i still need to put more watches and watch pieces on... getting close!!!

weather ~ we all have it!

and sometimes it comes in black and white... mostly white.
and sometimes it's quite inconvenient... like the past couple of days here in my queendom.  we had some snow a couple of days ago... not a big problem really.  we knew it was coming and were prepared with food, alcohol, dog cookies, and propane for the generator in case we needed it.  watched the tv weathermen go all orgasmic over the prospect of SNOW, and the lower ranking of reporters sent out to remote spots around the metro area, especially to the higher elevations to report on the expected traffic problems.  it got really funny during the first day and evening when these pitiful reporters were on camera telling us that a few minutes ago there had been snow falling, tho now suddenly it had stopped and even if there were no traffic problems at the minute, they did expect the roads to be slick any time now.  (temp in the mid 30s F).  and the weather guys were right... there was rain, snow, rain... all of it in various places around the portland area.  some got snow... some did not get snow.  sunday there was some on the ground around here and a bit of a freeze over night.  on Jim's walk with the dogs they got as far as the end of the driveway and he slipped and fell.... nothing bad, but enough to end the walk.  and then last night we got hammered!  we must have gotten 8 inches or more... HUGE!  but the temp was still hanging right around 32ish F, which was enough to keep the snow sliding off the roof all night long which is an eerie sound... sort of like a truck sliding off the metal roof on our dome home.  so there were huge piles of it around the perimeter of the house.  later today rain started, and wind and lo and behold... mid-afternoon lights went off along with computers, phone and anything that requires electricity.  so Jim spent a couple of hours collecting extension cords and rigging everything up to use the generator which we've had for 2 years and not had to use.   the priorities were the refrig and the small freezer which lives in the kitchen... so they got pulled out into the middle of the kitchen so they could both be plugged into the same cord.  by then it was 5:00 and i was going thru the options of what we'd have for dinner that didn't require cooking... slim options.  and Jim was muttering that he'd probably get it all set up and within 30 min. the power would come back on.... yep.. just in time to watch Rachel Maddow... the power was back, we had hot food rather than cold sandwiches and lived happily ever after... with the honking big cord and freezer and refrig still in the middle of the kitchen... just in case we lose power again.  gotta say tho... it's nice to have that generator if we need it.

and the pink flamingo on the patio gives a touch of color to the scene!

and yes, i do know that some places on the planet have lots of this a lot of the time and i freely admit that we are a bunch of weather weenies here in the PNW.  we're not used to it and don't  want to get used to it, and we'll go on ad nauseum about snow when we get it.  and i restrained myself and only posted 2 of the 94 photos i took of snow.

fred rooster and other art

this is fred rooster who came to me from a very generous santa, and who awaits springtime when he can be in my garden in all his glory.  i'm acquiring a nice selection of "art" for my garden... much of it from good will (but not fred!)

and then at Good Will i found this fabulous heavy metal (i think it's cast iron) shoe/planter.  i especially love the lace effect on the side at the back and on the front.  and then there are the tassels!  oh my! be still my heart... this is perfection!  (Jim just groaned...)

fred will remain on the hearth and the shoe will be on the kitchen window sill until spring arrives and i can find the perfect spots for them in the vegetable garden or in a flower bed.

for anyone (Anna) who might question the name of the rooster... he was given that name by his creator.  i am not responsible.

my gardens will look SO fabulous!

and we have our flight reservations for Vamos, Crete in april!  and our friend Gary will house/dog sit for us!  now that we're definitely going again... i'm getting excited!!  another Greek Easter!

"time piece" update

 seems i haven't posted an update on this piece in quite awhile... so here it is.  have lately been doing some outline stitching which i would have thought would be rather tedious but am actually enjoying doing it.  i have more watches and watch parts to put on it here and there, but after they're on it becomes very difficult to do any ironing, which i need to do if i want to put more fused bits on it.  i'm enjoying this process very much... just hope i'll know when it's finished and stop.  it will have border of some kind and a backing and will hang in the living room.

yesterday my wonderful neighbor, Carol, came to give me a cranio-sacral treatment.  she worked for several years to become a certified therapist.  this is the second time she's done a home visit to give me this therapy, and i get really good results from it.  as i have an ongoing issue with low back pain, that's what she concentrated on... and it worked really well... in the afternoon, i went on a full round of errands, including the dreaded costco trip which involves lifting heavy stuff into the cart and then loading them into the car and at the end of the day i didn't have the usual heavy ache in my back that requires time on the sofa with an ice pack.  hoping it will last!!  she's coming back next week for another treatment.  to be without back pain is a wonderful way to be.

the new year

here's my thought for the new year!