Red Hot Socks

I listen to books and podcasts when I am home walking, quilting and knitting.  I also listen to them when I'm on the road.

 

One podcast I enjoy listening to is Tapgurl On the Go. 

 

Carmen was a customer of our former yarn shop and she makes me feel happy that we were a small part in creating a knitter.  Listening to her makes me miss Texas.

 

She recently had a KAL called the Summer of Socks where she encouraged her listeners to knit from their stash, socks or other projects using sock yarn which ran from May 26 through midnight September 1. 

 

This is my stack of socks.  Two pairs are birthday socks, one pair is for Christmas and the top pair I just finished for me.

Just under the wire.

My sock drawer has been missing a pair of red socks.

These are called the Polyommatus argiolus Sock by Hunter Hammersen.

 

Please notice that one is a left sock and one is a right sock.

 

The yarn is Tough Love Sock from Sweet Georgia in the color way Cherry.

 

I also made the Global Nomad Cowl using Fishknits Warm Heart 2-ply in the color way Jelly on Toast.

The purpose of Summer of Socks was to knit up some of the sock yarn in my stash.

That I did accomplish but I also added more to my stash.

It really is hard for me to resist sock yarn.

Oregon Coast

This past week I used my new Rand McNally atlas and headed up the coast of California and Oregon for work.

 It really is hard to call something work when you get to play with fabric during the day and in the evening you walk the beach.

I made my home base in Bandon, Oregon for two nights.

The sunsets were spectacular!

 

The stairs down to the beach were a little daunting.

Next time I head up highway 101 I hope to drag Jim along.

I might be working but it would be even more fun to have him along to enjoy the experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandmother's Flower Garden

I have been working on a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt for 20+ years.

Two of my children were born after I started this quilt.

Yes this makes me feel VERY old.

I finally decided to say UNCLE.

 

This quilt is done using the English paper piecing method.

 

 

I started this quilt before precut paper piecing templates were on the market and so I found the cardstock flyers you receive in the mail to be a great resource and the perfect weight to use for paper piecing.  

 

 

My finished hexagons are 3/4".

 

 

 

Currently the quilt measures 76 x 95.

 

I would like to use it on the guest bed which is a queen so I need to add a border.

My plan is to applique the sides down to muslin because I don't want to lose the shape of the hexagons.

 

And just to prolong the project I think I need to hand quilt this one.

 

I do hope I live long enough to finish and enjoy this quilt.

Thread Spool

 

 

Why is it that when ever I empty a spool of thread I feel a sense of accomplishment?

 

Years ago I use to save the empty spools and one day Kelsey's fourth grade class teacher ask for empty spools of thread for a project and Kelsey got extra credit and then some.

 

I emptied this spool of black working on an Abbey Lane Quilts Beatle Bag

 

 I fell in love with this bag when I saw it at market in October 2013 in Houston.

This is the second Beatle Bag I've made so I am on the higher end of the learning curve.

One thing I did differently this time is instead of using soft and stable for the inner pockets I used Décor Bond.

The pattern does come with the plastic inserts and more inserts can be purchased for multiple bags.

 

The next Beatle Bag is going to be for ME!!

Just need to figure out what fabric I want.

Do you think there is purple involved?

 

Harvest Days

Thankfully I am not dependent on fresh vegetables from our garden each evening for our dinner.

We live in California and we take full advantage of the myriad of farmers markets.

We are harvesting plenty of lemon cucumbers (they look like lemons but they taste like cucumbers) and banana peppers which I've been making into tasty cucumber salad.

And also zesty lemon cucumber pickles.

Our green bean bushes, which we have 6, are not really producing.

 

Pictured are the first handful of green beans I've picked which pretty much was all that was growing.

This is my first year growing green beans and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

We have flowers that do not then become beans.

 

I am willing to trade pickles for advice.

 

Airports

I recently spent an unexpected 6 1/2 hours at the Seattle airport.  I must say if you're going to get stuck at an airport it's not a bad place. There is free Wi-Fi along with plentiful free charging power outlets for your mobile devices.

 

Sadly there is no cupcake/cookie outlet but there is a kiosk selling all sorts of chocolate.

 

There is also a wonderful cheese shop making very tasty grilled cheese sandwiches,Beechers Handmade Cheese.  They also have cheeses and salami to purchase and take home or to your next destination.

 

In my search for cupcakes I stumbled upon Metsker Maps.

 

Last post was about rubber bands, this post is  about maps.

 

I LOVE maps.

 

Yes my geekiness comes out again.

 

I am now the proud owner of a Rand McNally 2015 Road Atlas.

 

 

I have added southern Oregon to my territory to rep and now I have a map to show me the way.

 

It makes me happy!