On the Sticks, In the Sticks

Summer Storms

Yesterday morning, it must have been around 4am, I woke to the sound of rolling thunder and pouring rain. I love thunderstorms, and I love waking to them during the night and just lying there and listening. This one was wild. When I woke it was pretty close, and the lightning was flashing almost constantly. The thunder would start rolling near our house, but then you could hear it keep rolling and rolling off into the distance. I pictured it rolling it's way in a line from our house, down the valley, and bumping into other mountains along the way...it just kept rolling. Sometimes it even sounded like it started far away and kept right on rolling up this way!

Now, I have to be honest... there came the point when the storm must have been right overhead and I started to make myself a little nervous...picturing a tree falling on our house. I sent out a little prayer to the universe to just keep us safe. No sooner had I thought it, when it was like someone had turned down the volume. The rain, which had been pounding suddenly quieted, you could hear it happen. And the thunder, while still close by, sounded like someone had muted it, so I could go back to enjoying it again. Really!

It was a day of thunderstorms, as it turns out. One in the afternoon brought hubby home from work early. Another, after dinner, had him going out to check on the new gutters he just started putting up over the weekend. Well, that gave the kids a great idea. They came tearing through the house all excited, and came charging back out a  couple minutes later, busted out the back door and started jumping around in the rain in sheer delight! Is there anything better than playing in your swimsuits in the warm summer rain?!

Now how's that for happy?!

Saturday, Shane finished up Little League for the summer. He's going to go to a one week baseball  day camp in town starting at the end of this week. He can't wait! Here he is at the awards ceremony.

In knitting news, I still keep procrastinating on finishing up the Birthday Socks for Mom. A touch of Second Sock Syndrome I'd say. What usually works is setting a goal of knitting maybe 10 rounds a day. i need to remind my brain how simple it is. Then my mind thinks, "Oh yeah. That's not so much! We can do that!" And at that rate, with 10 rows being about 1", my mind realizes that it really wouldn't take that long to finish up these beautiful socks ( and get to move on to something else new and exciting!)

Or old and exciting. I was reading yesterday about the UFOlympics challenge. That link'll take you to the ravelry group. The challenge is to finish some of those UFO's you have hanging around. Between Aug 8 when the Summer Olympics start and Aug 24 when the flame goes out. The rules are all there. I'm in! Now...what to finish?!

"See My Socks" Shoes

Check this out!  I know some of you may already read Lime 'N' Violet's Daily Chum like me, and have already seen this, but for those of you who don't...will you check out these sneakers?!

now, at first you may not notice...I didn't...but these are CLEAR! Perfect for showing off your wonderful handknit socks! Is that cool, or what!                                                                                         
And, no, these are not mine. Unfortunately at $60/pair I not be getting some anytime soon, but I just had to show you!

Planting Sunflowers

My friend Christy gave me some seeds yesterday...arugula, cilantro, and sunflowers.
I've been wanting to plant a row of sunflowers along the front of the shed since we moved in here...just seemed like the perfect place. So, this morning, when I was trying to decide what to do next, I looked out at the shed and thought, " Just put the shovel in the dirt." I wanted to just go out and see how hard it would be to dig up a planting spot there.
It was so easy and I was so excited, I dug it right up and planted those sunflowers. Can't wait to see them come up!

The kids and I went and picked up some free fabric yesterday. Here's a sampling of some of the fabrics I picked out. I thought the kids might be bored, but this woman does lots of tag sales and had a barn chock full of interesting things to look at. She let the kids each pick out something for free.

Put on a happy face!

 (Ack! Don't you hate it when you write a whole post, press the SAVE button, and it erases your whole post?! )

Anyway...

I found this happy little face smiling up at me this morning as Zach and I headed out for our walk first thing this morning. Don't you love little signs from the universe like that?

I've been playing with making different kinds of quilt blocks this week. I found Bonnie Hunter's site, called Quiltville. Bonnie's got a great site full of quilting how to's, free patterns and more. You really get a sense of both her love of quilting, her love of sharing it with others, and the real sense of community among quilter's, just like there is among knitters.

These two blocks-in-progress are pieced together from what Bonnie calls "crumbs", leftover fabric scraps. (Now I know what to do with the little scraps I've been making. Before this I was regretfully throwing them away, thinking "Oh, I'll never use these." I like the idea of recycling them like this much better!) It's quick, simple, and fun! Three words I like!

You piece scraps together until you get a big enough block, then you can cut it into a square (the easiest way is with a rotary cutter and plastic square ruler, say 4, 5, or 6"...but it really could be even bigger if you want). These two blocks are waiting to be cut.  Piece enough of these Crumb Blocks together and you've got yourself a quilt. If you want to learn more, follow this link, or when you're on the Quiltville site, scroll down on the left side until you see the Free Patterns section. Look for "Crumbs, Crumbs, Crumbs".

Another block I tried is from the Quilter's Cache site. I did this with directions for How to Speed Piece a Nine Patch. You start with two squares of fabric, and within several minutes end up with two blocks like this...

I love this butterfly print, and I love the two fabrics together.

Seeing as how a trip to the LQS (local quilt store) could be rather dangerous (in much the same way that a trip to the LYS could be dangerous...to the pocketbook!) I came up with the idea the other day to put a request on the local Freecycle site. My "WANTED: Quilting fabrics, fabric scraps and a quilting hoop" brought several offers. Today I'm hoping to take a ride to pick up some fabric and a hoop. Yay! That and get new tires put on the car. Bet the kids are going to love this...BORING! :)

Have a great day!

School's Out For Summer...

People often ask what we do for the summer...do we take a break from homeschooling? are we on summer break from homeschooling? I used to sort of stumble my way through an answer, trying to decide whether get into the whole conversation about unschooling or ...not. :) More often now, I just say "Yup!" and let it go at that.

I was thinking today...I'm finishing up my final quarterly report for the school district for the year, so technically, I guess that does mean we're on summer vacation. Yay us!

Hey, wait! Summer vacation looks the same as the school year did. Those crazy kids are still learning! :) Don't cha love it?!

I wish I had some pictures. Last night the kids went out for their first toad-catching event of the year. it was 9pm...Mom and Dad proclaimed it was time to get in bed...and instead, out the door ran those scallawags, listening to their big sister siren call,  " Toads! Frogs!", while Mom and Dad were left inside mumbling something about, "Okay just a little while", smiling at their cuteness and delight. All in all they caught five toads.

  
Hey, how's this for cute?

My friend, Caitlin pointed me toward a really nice blog called Confessions of a Pioneer Woman by a woman, a city girl who married a cattle ranching Marlboro Man, and writes and photographs her life and adventures. She's a homeschooler, too. Go check it out!

Inspiration

This morning I went looking for inspiration in the form of "free quilt block patterns" on Google. Here along with many other links that I didn't check out yet, is what I found ...Quilt Blocks Galore...a wonderful, colorful website maintained by Marcia Hohn, full to bursting with beautiful, free quilt block patterns.

I printed out directions and templates for one block called "Country Checkers". I'm looking for a small something to quilt that can be portable.

In recent months, I've also really enjoyed reading Alison Hansel's blog the blue blog. Alison, of Charmed Knits fame, writes about her adventures in knitting, quilting, sewing, and her kids, especially her adorable little daughter who often models many of Alison's latest creations. Her "blue blog" is where I've seen a lot of inspring quilting going on lately as well. Maybe that's where the bug bit me!

Having fun!

What's In the Works...Old WIPs

Here for your viewing pleasure is the socks that I've been working on for my Mom. Taking them out reminded me how much I was enjoying working on them before good ol' Procrastination took over. We're taking Morgan for his first dentist appointment this morning (he's so excited that it's finally his turn!), so I should have some time to work on the socks there. I love the colors. This is Regia "Square Color" in a springy colorway that just comes with a #, not a name...#1132.

Remember the batik quilt I showed you in my last post? And how I said I want to find out more about machine quilting so that I can do that rather than hand quilt the top? Well, in the meantime, I started feeling like i would like to quilt something, maybe smaller, which got me thinking about, then hunting down two quilting projects I did in the past.

First thing yesterday morning I found the patterns I had bought for two different cat quilts. These I acquired many years ago, when my former MIL and i went to a quilt show...I think it was in NYC. Then I found a single square I had made and quilted from one of the patterns... 

I made this single square and quilted it in the early 90's and meant to do more with it, but instead, it got tucked away a lot, brought out and admired every so often. I realized just yesterday that all it really needs is a binding around the outer edge to finish it, and there is a perfect place for it on the wall right next to our bed. Ah, sweet Inspiration!

Well...I had a few minutes to myself in the afternoon, went downstairs and brought up the sampler quilt that I had made around the same time, brought it out of it's plastic bag home, and spread it out on my bed. After all this time, I finally felt inspired yesterday to start quilting this huge, beautiful quilt. Much to my surpirse and delight, it is totally ready for quilting. What I had not remembered after all this time,is that I had even drawn the quilting lines on all the squares! Wahoo!

So last night, after the kids were in bed I brought it up again, grabbed thread, needle scissors and settled into the loveseat to begin my lates foray into the worl of hand quilting. I think I feel so inspired to hand quilt this one (as opposed to the batik one) maybe for two reasons...1) It's a Learn To Quilt quilt and it's always been my intention to learn to handquilt on it...and 2) it's a sampler...all the squares are different, and I love the variety. It'll keep me entertained since it's not all the same. That's important for my "stick-to-it-iveness" :)
Sorry, this isn't all of it at once. I was going to lay it out on my bed for pics this am, but a little one was still occupying it, so the picnic table was the next best spot.   

I was so anxious to try the quilting last night that I went ahead and did it without a quilting hoop. I still need to acquire one. If you happen to know someone with one that they no longer need or want, 14" or 18", I'd be really happy to put it to good use, and maybe make a trade of some sort. I'm going to put that out on Freecycle too.

Playing Catch Up!

Hello all! I haven't abandoned ship...I've just been so busy doing real life, that I literally have not been reading my Bloglines or (obviously) posting to my blog in a month!

Let me see if I can catch you up a little on what's been going on here.

I've been working on a pair of socks for my Mom for her (significant) birthday. Her birthday just passed, and she loved the socks as they are so far...just need to finish 'em up. We both love the color. I picked it out because the colors are so springy. (Ooops! I just realized I don't have a recent picture of them...so I'll have to show you them later...but hopefully not too much later!)

I visited a quilt store here in town that I had never been too, and of course got sucked right in by the beauty! I bought the fabric for this beautiful batik lap quilt, which I proceed to finish the top for in just three days! Which means it was both fun and easy!                                                                                      

The pattern was free with the purchase of the fabric. Aren't the colors so beautiful? I found some light brown fabric with and allover dragonfly design on it in my stash for the border and backing, and had some cotton batting for the fill, leftover from another quilt I made years ago. Now, i've been looking up info about machine quilting, because as much as I love the idea of handquilting, I know I don't want to do that for this project. I want to finish it and be able to use it!

Here's another shot of it, closer up...Yum!





















There's plenty more to share, about projects in the works, homeschooling, gardening, wildlife, etc. but i'm going to let that be all for now.

Hope you all are well and enjoying the springtime (that has finally arrived here in the northeast!)

What's On Your Needles, Tempe? (And where ya been?!)

Well, as I sit here, I'm just finishing up the pair of socks I started while teaching the Knitting Socks class several weeks back. The weather turned warm, and suddenly, these socks that were perfect - warm and woolly - became too hot and woolly to knit! So I sat myself down this morning to finish them up. Just a couple more rounds and I can sew up the toe! Yeehaa! I wouldn't be surprised if the weather gets chilly one more time...it is only April after all...and I'll be able to wear them.

Last week I was at the library, about to check out, and snagged this book... Scarf Style, edited by Pam Allen, from Interweave. My first thought was that I'm not much of a scarf knitter...love to wear them in the winter, but they take so long and they're so boring!

Well, let me tell you, I was wrong on a couple counts...namely the Backyard Leaves by Annie Modesitt, the Turtleneck Shrug by Teva Durham, and this one,

Color on Color by Katherine Alexander , which, as you can see below is now on the needles at Chez On the Sticks. The picture here doesn't really give you a good idea of how beautiful this scarf is. And fun!

It's knit using Paternayan Yarn, which I think is normally used for needlepoint, and comes in what they call "knots" - 8 yd lengths.

It's knit section by section, sometimes changing colors, sometimes picking up stitches from this side of the piece or that, and knitting off in a new direction. I've used St St, Reverse St St and Garter stitch so far.

See?

(I kow it looks really bunched up now. but i believe in the power of blocking!)

There are lots of other really beautiful and interesting scarves in the book...it's well worth checking out...these are just the three that really caught my fancy.

The other thing I'm just beginning is a pair of socks for my mom. As soon as I finish the sock above, I'll be working on these new ones. My hope is to have them done by mid-May for her birthday. I keep wavering on them - how I'd like to knit them up - but it's self-patterning yarn, so I think I'll keep it simple with either a 2x2 ribbed cuff, or 1x1 for the first inch or two, then straight st st. Sounds boring when I say it, but the yarn is so yummy, I don't think they can possibly be boring!

As to where I've been? The weather has carried me off to be outside mostly. Raking, still filling in the new drainage ditch from last fall, and thoughts of starting the garden have slipped in the last few days. I think there will be some peas and spinach going in sometime this weekend. So, my blog reading and ravelry attendance have both really suffered, but the kids are sleeping in late this morning and we don't have anywhere to go, so I think I'll sneak in my time while I can, and catch up.

Go out there and enjoy the day!

We are here, we are here, we are here!

Sorry! I know it's been a while since you've heard from me, and a few of you have been wondering if everything is okay around here at Chez On-The-Sticks. Yes, all is well! I have just found myself at times so busy and at times too tired to blog. my husband was away during the week for the last month or so, and while all went well, at the end of most days, I was plopping into bed, as you can imagine!

Spring has finally arrived in our little corner of the world and I am so excited! As I always cheer to myself (and often aloud to those in the general vicinity) "We made it through the winter!!!" And as the last days of winter wound down, and the first days fo spring passed, I kept looking out the bedroom window and saying "once that last bit of snow is gone from the yard...we won't have any more until next winter!" Yay! Ah, New England life! :)

I'll have to get busy taking some pics of my recent FO's and WIP's, as I just realized I don't have any. Soon! I taught my very first knitting class recently to some of the other moms at our homeschooling group. It was so much fun! I taught Knitting Socks. Everyone picked out what yarn they'd like to use, knit up a swatch, then we used the patterns in Ann Budd's new book, Getting Started Knitting Socks. I liked using this book, because it has patterns for basic socks for gauges 4st/in up through 8st/inch for lots of sizes. It also has really clear step by step directions for basic techniques like the heel flap, turning the heel, differrent ways to pick up and knit the gusset stitches, and doing the Kitchener Stitch. The class went for four sessions, once a week and everyone completed at least one sock during that time, and many started another sock.  It was so fun, and as my mom pointed out, i taught them so many different techiniques in that one class. That's one of the things I love about knitting socks, is that there are so many different things to do within that short period of time. I find that when I'm getting bored with one thing, it's just about time to do something else!