Lace Sweater #3

Yep!  My sister and I are back at it again with another Lace sweater!  This is the pattern we're working on.  It's called Sayuri and it's by the same designer we both like, Valentina Bogdanova.  Her patterns also include pictures of the unusual knitting stitches in her patterns, which I really like.  And, so far, her sizes work good for me....watch...this one won't!  HA  

I started on 9/9 but I had to stop and order another circular needle.  Mine was a 24 in and I really could just use a 14". I was stretching the stitches which I didn't like.  Some knitters use what's known as 'magic loop' but I've never mastered that technique so it was buy a new circular needle!  HA

Looks a little strange but this was working on the short rows for the back.  Makes your sweater lie better...

So now I'm starting on the 2nd chart and will be knitting 63 lace rows!  YIKES...along with a new stitch called spikelet!  Hmmmmmmmm

The color of this yarn is Dusty Coral...

 

This is the yarn/color my sister is knitting.  It's going to be for her daughter.  

wish us luck!

What we're doing on the rest of our summer vacation!

 

Yep, this is what Bob and I are working on (again)...guess I shouldn't say "again"...it has been five years and for the most part the painting has held up fairly well.  

Of course, it always seems like we are doing this work in the hottest day(s) of the year.  Bob measured the temperature on the deck and it was 114 on the top of the rails and 118 on the deck floor!!!  TOOOOOO hot to paint!

Bob repaired quite a lot of the wood in areas awhile back....this year, he's been working on the three King Posts we have.

The wood was rotting pretty bad back in 2017 so Bob totally repaired the tops of the posts.

And he really did a great job.  But this year the base of all three posts were rotting out.  The cedar held up pretty good since 1996!

So my hubby finished rebuilding the base of each post!  I forgot to take pictures before he repaired them..dang.

I wasn't happy that he had to climb up the ladder to do the repairs on the outside but I guess you can only nag them for so long....and they're going to do what they want to do anyway!

This was actually a picture from 2017 when he was painting the bottom wood he replaced.  So now I have to repaint the deck.  

I did get the two king posts along with the rest of the beige painted on the north side of the deck.

And finished the 3rd king post and this area..Bob will power wash the deck and do the 'roller paint thing' on the deck floor, when I'm finished.

Do you see all those white spindles???  Well, I get to paint those too!!!!  Although, I can sit for the most part (until I need to paint the opposite side!  HA).  I'm not sure how many spindles there are but there are alot!  

So that's what I'll be doing in the coming weeks..although, probably not until Wed. or Friday, this week, depending on the weather.  I did tell Bob I'm only painting when it's below 75-78!  Which it will be on Friday - mid to high 60's!  But sunny...my kind of weather!   I am also having a root canal done on Monday and some scans on Tuesday...

Only problem, I may be painting into October!  Fine with me!  At least it won't be hot, hot!  I hope!

Beaded Wren more progress

 

I finished beading the leaves on my wren.

Well, in this picture they are all beaded!  HA

I laid the piece onto a deep green fabric, which I think I'll use for the binding...unless I decide to wrap on a canvas or have put in a frame!!!  Decisions...decisions!!! All the other birds I beaded are in frames...I think this is the hardest part!  

Language of Flowers Workshop - continues

 

Yep, I'm still at it with Hilary's online class!  I have to say it's rather fun adding the detail to a tracing.  It certainly makes me look closer at the subject I am trying to draw by adding detail.  

This is my second inspiration piece.  I'm trying to decide which tracing to use for my actual quilted/drawing piece.  

This is my 2nd tracing.....

And this is what's now in my journal!  Which is a 9"x12" journal.   I do like the detail in my first tracing (below) and can see it would be a perfect piece the free motion stitching.

I like the detail in this drawing...guess we'll see.  I was trying to pull some vintage type fabrics from my stash.  Haven't decided what colors to use to compliment the lace/vintage fabrics.  Problem with this drawing, the flowers are white in the picture...guess I could make them pink or blue or????

Late post for Labor Day 2022!

 Darrin and Kris had family over for Labor Day...Darrin loves to smoke meat so he out did himself again on Sunday!  He smoked a pork roast..actually two of them....and it was delicious!  Kris had corn on the cobb, corn fritters (really good!), stuffed mushrooms (excellent), orange fluff salad, Dawn make a tomato salad (yum) and squashed garlic/butter potatoes, which were great too.  I made corn salsa w/chips and a lemon pie.  All good food and family! 

(L) Nancy, (Kris mom), Amber, Dawn and Kris.  Nick was up north with Braylon to attend her brother's wedding.

Nancy and my hubby, Bob...

Ryan, my SIL Jeff's son, Jeff and my son, Darrin

My lemon pie...it really tasted good...doesn't look so good but was delicious if I say so myself.  And the crust didn't get soggy at all (even the next day!).

And I got to wear my latest knit sweater!  It was only in the mid 60's!!!  

All in all it was a really nice family day!!!  I love those days..just doesn't seem like we have enough of them...but kids are busy

Language of Flowers Online Class

 I believe I mentioned I was taking the Language of Flowoers online class by Hilary Beattie!  I am excited about this online class...it combines design and quilting, so the best of both worlds.  Only issues is Hilary would like to encourage us to learn to draw!  OMG!  I have a hard time drawing stick men..let along draw flowers!  HA  But I'm giving it a go!  NOT!  

Hilary is so good at showing us how to use an inspiration picture and transfer it to a piece of paper!  She also gives us the option of using tracing paper...so guess which I decided to use!  HA  I've always said I can trace with the best of them!  HA  So here's what I've been working on the past few days!  

This was traced from my inspiration piece above.

And this is how I traced the pic above to my journal and then added definition!  I'm happy with how it came out.  Now to work on another piece.   I know I can enhance areas when I get to quilting but I'm a long way to that section of our class!

Yes, I did try to draw this original pic!  OMG....I just can't decide where to start of how to start.  But I might before this class is over with in a year!  

Here are some of my 'attempts' at drawing...no, I didn't even take 5 min. to draw any of this!  HA

This was my inspiration piece!

And this is as far as I got!  I couldn't figure out how or where to start to draw!

My next inspiration piece...

No it doesn't look anything like the above picture!  HA  Another one that I just didn't know where to start or where to end!  HA

But I can still "trace with the best of them"!  HA

Beaded Wren Progress

 Well, I finally got to attach my beaded wren to the quilted background!  Next, I wanted to add some color so rather than me messing it up with disperse dyes or hand painting, I decided to just add some applique leaves!  And, of course, bead them!  

Here's my progress so far!   I took a friend to the eye doctors and it gave me the opportunity to attach my wren to the background!!!  

I cut out some green leaves, which I think gives the piece some color, obviously!  It needed something else.

This is before I added the beads.

I think the leaves and additional beading add a little more to the piece.  I'll off set him when I decide border, canvas or 'what' to finish the piece.

Rilynn's Visit 2022!

We had a wonderful 2 days with Ron, MaryJo and Rilynn!  The kids were so great to pick up Rilynn (their grand daughter and 'our' great grand daughter) and travel to Michigan so Bob and I as well as Bob's ex, Mary Jane and her hubby, Jim, could see 3 year old Rilynn!  The kids arrived at our house on Thursday and headed over to Mary Jane's on Friday night.  The kids have to leave on Sunday a.m. early to travel back to Ohio and then on to their home in Indiana! 

I asked Rilynn if she wanted to help me bake a cake!  YES!  She was so good!!!!  I love when the little ones get to play in the kitchen!

Rilynn also helped make the frosting, which she seemed to like!  Cake was really good too!

Friday we decided to go to the Sloan Museum of Discovery and I'm so glad we did!   If you have little ones or grands that are between 2 - young teens, do make an effort to enjoy this museum.  If you're a Genesee resident, there's no admission charge!  Check out the web site for more detail.

And we're off to the exhibits!

 There was so much for kids to do for any age!  Rilynn had a ball from the get go! 

They had a great slide BUT kids had to climb up and down these 'hills' to get to the entrance!  And Rilynn did it!!!!

As you can see in the quick video below!

This was part of the Hagerman Street Gallery.  Kids could go to a market, drive an ambulance (which Rilynn loved!), climb a house...lots of activities for kids.

They had a 'make it - take it' room.  This was Rilynn using scissors for the first time!  She was so cute!  But Grandma Mary Jo did a great job showing her how to use them!  AND we forgot to bring home her 'make it' craft!  We were fortunate that Rilynn didn't know she could take it home or forgot about it!  HA

One of the most fantastic exhibits was Water World!  OMG...this would be an adult engineers delight!  Kids were going crazy with all the different interactive gadgets to play with.  

Yes, they could get wet but we put on an apron they had to protect kids clothes, for the most part!  HA

 

I love the expression on Rilynn's face on this hands on activity!  They put a ball on a downward pipe, which is then sucked up and is 'spit' out into another tube!  Priceless!

This next video is showing kids frequency based on sound level and frequency buttons.  Rilynn really enjoyed playing with the buttons!  Little ones don't have to know why it works just that it works!

Rilynn really enjoyed this exhibit too.  They had foam balls and netting that was put in a vacuum and the balls/netting would follow inside all the tubes!  You can see the video below...So cute!

And we can't forget those Kodak moments with Great Grandpa!  Rilynn was never shy with either of us from the time she got out of the car until she left!  She would climb up on Bob's lap for him to watch her games or videos with her!  Talk about sweetness!

We can't thank the kids enough for bringing Rilynn up to see all of us!  Kids are now over at MaryJane's and Jim's and I'm sure they are both enjoying this little girl as much as we are!  Hope they have some great pics to share.

I'll cherish the time we had and will be looking at the pictures for quite sometime!