Purple, my unlucky color

 















I've tried to send this about 5 times. It was a problem between the operator of the keyboard, her brain, and picassa. Picassa has stuck and extra photo after this so let's just see what happens now... well it was just an artifact, I suppose. It didn't show up...


1. Closest purple thing to you? A piece of synthetic amethyst rough that didn't make it into the picture.

2. Like being treated to expensive things? No, I actually shun expensive things. I've always known that they are not going to be a big part of my life. I do like to look at some pricey jewelry, as it sort of fascinates me. You know, Bulgari, and that sort of stuff.

3. Do you like mysterious things? Oh yes. The Mysterious is fascinating. I try to keep my eyes and ears open to it.

4. Favorite type of chocolate? Milk chocolate.

5. Ever met any royalty? Not yet and probably never will.

6. Are you creative? I believe I am but sometimes people are delusional.

7. Are you lonely? Almost never except when I think of how far away my daughters all live. Then it gets to me.

White. My best color to wear besides Blue...

  















1. Closest white thing to you? The lamp shade on my floor lamp

2. Would you say you're innocent? My kids would call it clueless but, yes, I think I'd rather call it innocence.

3. Always try to keep the peace? Mostly yes. I march and protest to try to keep it sometimes, but it's non violent protest.

4. How do you imagine your wedding? Quiet and small. A renewal of vows for me.

5. Do you like to play in the snow? Oh yes!

6. Are you afraid of going to the doctors or dentist? Not anymore! I haven't got a shred of shyness or fear left.

Beautiful, beautiful Yellow!

  















The color I wish I could wear.


1. Closest yellow thing to you? A sticky note

2. The happiest time(s) of your life? Now

3. Favorite holiday? It used to be Christmas, now I don't have a favorite.

4. Are you a coward? No

5. Do you burn or tan? Yes, I do both and actually I have freckles.

6. Do you want children? Have four, just the amount I originally wanted, but we decided not to try for.

7. What makes you happy? Being with my daughters and husband, what ever we do. I love to work in my gardening, and I love knitting Socks. I love seeing in colors and being able to see Beauty all around me, in the small things and sometimes in the big things, too, like forests of turning leaves, or the curve and colors of the ocean and it's waves.

Yeay! Orange!

  















1. Closest orange thing to you? My favorite teacup, which has a shaggy haired little woman with red hair, and her cat, on it . Actually she has orange hair.

2. Do you like to burn things? I do not like anything but my fireplace fires, and I do like campfires. Fire out of place just scares the beejeebers out of me.

4. Are you usually a warm-hearted person? Yes, I think so.

5. Do you prefer the single life or the security of a relationship? I love being married to my DH and we've been married a long time.

6. What would your super power be? I would like to be able to turn all hearts back to love and patience, kindness and gentleness. I guess I'd like to be a Peace Mage.

Pink! I adore Pink though none of my DDs like it.

  












1. Closest pink thing to you? In a little card which is a teddy bear holding an armful of pink roses. He's stuck on the front of the monitor.

2. Do you like sweet things? Yes

3. Like play-fighting? No. Never have

4. Are you sensitive? I'm overly sensitive

5. Do you like punk music? Yes..well, no. I had it confused with maybe Grunge? I like Grunge I guess you call it. That sad, soft rock that came out of Seattle.

6. What is your favorite flower? I'd have to say I own my favorite flower. It's a grandaflora rose called Apricot Nectar.

7. Does someone have a crush on you? Well, I don't think so. But sometimes you never know.

Blue, Almost my favorite color, too!

  Blue!







1. Closest blue thing to you? Blue cover on a spiral notebook

2. Are you good at calming people down? Yes, I normally do that but on the web sometimes I stir up trouble without meaning to.

3. Do you like the ocean? I love the ocean, with an undying passion.

4. What was the last thing that made you cry? With sadness? My little bird died With happiness? Seeing my DBIL again for the first time in four years.

5. Are you a logical thinker? Yes, logic gets the first shot.

6. Can you sleep easily? No.

7. Do you prefer the beach or the woods? I can't choose, even though I adore the ocean. I love forests and being in them. I could stay out there forever in Nature. I would miss my computer, though, I must admit. Knitting and quilting would take on new meaning! Brrrr .. Baby it's cold out there in Nature most of the time.

Green!

 

1. Closest green thing to you? Hanging plants outside the window but this green Henley shirt.


2. Do you care about the environment? That's the most important thing to me, outside of Love.

3. Are you jealous of anyone right now? No

4. Are you a lucky person? I don't win things, no, but I DO feel lucky in so many ways. So, I guess I'd have to say, "Yes".

5. Do you always want what you can't have? I have just about everything I've ever wanted.

6. Are you Irish? I have a lot of Irish on my maternal side. And my grannie could sing like a little bird. 

Red! A lovely color, altogether!

RED













This MeMe was snagged from Rissa, who got it from someone who wears Red Shoes, who took it from Susanna, and around and around it goes. hehe..

I haven't got enough pictures to finish the black and purple topics tonight but tomorrow promises to be sunny and great for pictures.





1. Closest red thing to you? My little red poodle is in my lap.

2. Has anyone ever cheated on you in a relationship? Not that I know of. Let me just go ask him....

3. Last thing to make you angry? A Newt named Gingrich

4. Are you a fan of romance? To a certain extent. I like Romantic Comedy films.

5. Have you ever been in love? Real Love? Once, and he's still around. Hopefully this doesn't change for a long, long time.

6. Do you have a temper? Oh yes. I have a temper.

HeeHee

I'm a Sunflower?

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

Though I love Sunflowers, I really would have thought I was an Epyphyllum.

Log for today, and a few extra little shreds of Info.

I listened to the rain with my eyes closed for about a half an hour. Then I walked a couple of hundred feet over one mile(5,520 ft- to be exact) today. That's up from 3/4th of a mile two days ago, washed the clothes, finished one bed sock, finalized with DH what we want to do with the kitchen, dug up the penny can and cashed it in (joke!), prayed for all the people who have to go to work, or who are trying to raise kids, or are trying to just survive in a war zone, and now I'm going to order more trekkerXXL sock yarn for DH's new socks to make him another pair of boot socks, which he LOVES to pieces! I also looked through the pattern for fingerless gloves for DD2, looked at all the sock needles to find the ones for the cotton socks for DD1 and DD2, and next, before I call my friend, I'm going to try to get Gretchen, The Beautiful, onto the needles at last.

I'm going to call my friend for a nice chin wag, read my book, Birds Without Wings , and then I'll knit three rows on the market bag which will bring all 280 stitches up to the handle. You all really don't want to see anything but the finished bag, I'm sure, nor those few little threads of Gretchen starting her life.

That will take care of the rest of the day. Wheew! Hopefully DH will bake those pumpkin pies he's been wanting to do, so there may be some PIE! Yum!

When we were out and about in the back country of Salinas, we found a gate.. On that gate was a little banjo playing cowboy. I thought my DD4, who plays five string banjo, would enjoy seeing it.

Banjo man on a Fabulous Gate near King City

U is for Umber, Ubiquitous pigment of the Centuries

I am a fan of a much ignored color team. So I'm making a midnight wramble through some silliness about a color of undervalued beauty.

Behold! Umber, in it's glory! Let's celebrate it and all it's close cousins, raw or burnt, Sienna or Ochre, tan or brown.

But mostly Umber. we really couldn't live without it. Much of the earth is gradient shades of umber. Many birds species have some shade of umber on their feathered little bodies. So many animals, including the reptiles, have umber colors on the patterns on their fur and skins, as a disguise from preditors, or to slip unnoticed upon their prey. Wingless neon animals are hardly ever seen these days. Dun colored cows have a claim to practicality as well as to beauty. Holsteins stand out on a dusty hill, but the little Jersey just blends right in.

In the world of art, no old world master could have painted masterpieces without Umber, even "Night Watch" needed it.

I'm happy to be seeing yarn that is made with umber colors running through it, with deep sea blues and lovely almost sea greens trotting right behind. Umber might be the color that gets ignored, or even despised, but it is no less important in the scheme of things. Umber is a serious piece of our contentment, when we think about it correctly. It's a rest for the eyes.

Here's a vegan Picture!

  

Happy Thankgiving Y'all!

We are potlucking with DH's family. But my most recent favorite Thankgiving Day is the one that we spent in Joshua Tree and ate vegan tamales! Hope you all have sweet memories of Thanksgiving Day, 2006.

Antarctica and the Arts: The Blog

Here's one you will love, especially you, B and L!

Antarctica and the Artist

I've just put it at the top of the fun stuff side bar. Enjoy!

Western, that's me! California Girl

Say, Rho, thanks for this little quizlet. It was fun. Hope you are feeling better soon. Hugs!

Sock report. One sock is half finished. You have GOT to love worsted weight yarn. I think I'll put some fuzzy stuff on them someplace, too. Or maybe little ears? Well, maybe not that.

I got out "Gretchen", the lovely Pi shawl from the Fiber Denn, which I can no longer find on the web. Well, I looked over the beginning part and I'm going to start it right after Thanksgiving. Pugknits! Sniffle! I guess I have to come to your State to see your colors? I love you Gal!

Accents or the Lack of....

Well, it sure is right. I'm from the West and been here all my life. My father's a Westerner too, but Mama was from Ohio.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

The Formula K knitting vehicle!

I just couldn't resist this once I saw it in Knitting Review Forums post.

Socks are one inch and growing.. sock that is, I have only one set of size 5 DPNs despite DHs formidable efforts at procurement. Every little bit helps on the road to the finish line.

Knitting formula

The formula grand prix feeling everyday.

Autumn Postcards 3

These are all celebrating the beauty of Fall colors.

It is wonderful to see all the ways that Autumn, or it's Holidays, have been expressed by different people. I love these exchanges. You can't believe the camping out at the mailbox that goes on amongst us when a new set of cards goes out.  

Fall Postcards 2

The card on the left came from Canada, and has a copy of the poem, "On Flander's Field" printed on the Back. The poppy is all cut and sewn from fabric bits. The card on the right is from the United States, and has little stars that jiggle around inside of the blue mesh.  

Fall Postcards pic 1

These are all the Halloween cards. One participant sent two, one autumn leaves and this one later, because she really loved Halloween and loves making postcards.  

Australian Quilt

Sue Dennis did this stunning quilt called "Tumbling Treasures". The idea behind the quilt, she explained in her description, was that she loved to see what came out of her rock tumbler, and she always was fascinated by what was hidden under the earth beneath our feet. She used batiks and hand dyed fabrics and just did a smashing job of hand embroidery on the mid section as well. The quilting was very beautiful. This goes beyond my rock hound madness. It's really something to see as you round a corner in the show. Great Quilt!  

A Japanese Quilt called Kaze

This was one of the Kimono fabric quilts that came to the show from Japan. I am putting it up because MM said she was experimenting with red buttons on the new shirt she is making of Japanese cotton. I thought immediately of this quilt from the show.  

Feeling a Bit tired today but......

I scored some fabric, two big skeins of Paton's Wool, and four golden tapers for Christmas Decs. Yes, please don't scream but Christmas is coming like a freight train my friends! Do you like my new hairdo?  

Knitting my socks.

I will be off for awhile trying to get the video card to behave by feeding lots of cups of tea to the tech, and making him some cookies. But the time will also be spent casting on four pair of socks. This should keep me busy.  

A Birthday story for my twins.

We once had some skunks under the playhouse, an eastern barn like structure which was a left over from our youngest daughters' childhood. We didn't know skunks were living there until one night, in the moonlight, I saw something strange hanging from one of the boards along a short fence that ran along our raised bed. It was sort of swinging a little bit. At this point, I could only tell it was partly black.

At dawn I went outside and got a little closer look. The tiniest skunk I'd ever seen was hanging there by one back leg. I went to get a paper grocery sack and cautiously approached. The little ball of fluff was tired and just hung forlornly by his trapped leg. It was caught between two boards, and that held him fast. Since it was almost morning, I could now see well enough to get a good hold on him so that he didn't sink some razor sharp teeth into my hand. He was grinning at me, I held his skin so tightly. We were both terrified! I was hanging onto his whole back with one hand and trying to figure out what to do next. Happily for me, I'd also gotten a good grip on the base of his tail. In my ignorance of all things skunkly, I didn't know that he couldn't spray me if his tail was down and not UP. It was purely luck that time.

We appraised one another, me, thinking he couldn't possibly be all alone in his night foraging, and he, desperately tired from his ordeal. He just relaxed a little. I looked at his leg. It was fine so I dropped him into the sack and called my friend Wilma, the skunk lady of Project Wildlife. "Just bring him on over," she said.

Once at Wilma's house, the twins and I learned the finer arts of skunk capture, because, as Wilma pointed out, where there is a baby, there is a mother. It turned out to be true. Mother was under the playhouse, as quiet as a mouse, with her younger sister and their combined brood of 11 more little ones. We found this out later when we started watching the place with a will!

Up to this time we had assumed that the skunks we saw fighting it out under the elms where outsiders who just came in under the fence. We would chase them all out, slam the gate, and dust off our hands. But, the next night we cornered another baby, and off to Wilma's he went the next morning. By this time we knew where more were, because about three others were spotted running under the playhouse.

Wilma told me to get them out by spraying water under the place of hiding and catching skunks one by one and dropping them into a line of waiting bags. They give up once they are inside bags. Happily this turned out to be true. What we didn't know is how many of them there were.

I started with the hose, and floated the backyard with tremendous amounts of water but no skunks. More water, no skunks. More water, and suddenly we had skunks everywhere!

Three of us were working this mother lode of skunks. I would catch one, the twins would hold the bags, and I would drop it in. The drill is that the skunk is grabbed, the tail swung up and into the bag goes the critter with it's tail clamped to it's body. I had my big leather welder's gauntlets on, and we got most of them into several bags. Soon it was Eleven down, including the mothers, and Two still running around like the really pissed off little skunks they were. I caught number 12.

I had been ignoring a constant pleading from R, one of the twins, to please. PLEASE let her catch one. I figured well, she has seen it done so why not. She's a big girl. She can do this last one. I handed her my gloves, and she dashed off after the last of zig zagging baby. I was right behind her with the open bag and her sister was standing close by, too. R reached down, got the correct grip on the sodden, exhausted little brute, and swung him up. She did not secure the tail.

He let it all go! S and I watched in horror, like viewing a slow motion film, as the arch of yellow stuff hung in the air for a nanno second before striking us in the hair and face. R, as surprised as we were, did not drop her skunk. I have to give her credit for that bit of cool.

We delivered the skunks to Wilma, who was expecting only about three more. Wilma kindly told us what to buy for our next week of shampoos and skin washings, and R got the "honor" of going into our local Savon and buying the Super CD, a product which I can whole heartedly recommend to you as an antiodorant. Though she didn't smell like a rose, R was the one who smelled the best of all three of us, and knew not to complain about getting the duty.

Soon, an expectant mother Possum had moved in, and we evicted her with her darling, beady eyed brood of ten clinging to her back. All of them went into One Box and the stench from Mother's ultimate weapon was really not that bad at all. These creatures went to the Possum lady, Sally. It was only a few weeks after that that we raised the barn. Four pylons and some leveling made it the perfect home for our new rescue duck, Jemima. All this on a suburban lot. It doesn't get much better than that, as they say.

Happy Birthday to you, Dear Jimmie and George.

And many more! Have some cake! :)  

Whoot! A Quilter's sort of MEME

From Shelina in a "double blind" - because I don't remember how it happened - link from Rissa's blog, I got this Quilter's MEME which you might enjoy. I bolded the things I've done.

Have You Ever?
1. Taken a quilting class
2. Paper pieced
3. Hand quilted
4. Hand pieced
5. Created your own pattern
6. Published a pattern in a magazine or book
7. Gone on a quilting retreat
8. Gone to a quilting convention
9. Met someone who wrote a quilting book
10 combined your quilting with some other craft
11. Done any three dimensional quilting - like fabric origami
12. Made something using Thimbleberries fabric
13. Made something using batiks
14. Dyed your own fabric
15. Made a landscape hanging
16 Made a New York Beauty quilt
17 Made a baby quilt
18 Made a wall hanging
19 Made a journal quilt
20 Submitted your journal quilt for viewing
21 Made a fabric postcard
22 Made a artistic trading card (ATC)
23 Exchanged artistic trading cards
24. Mailed your own postcard
25. Made a lap quilt
26 Made a twin size quilt
27 Made a full size quilt
28 Made a queen size quilt
29 Made a king size quilt
30 Donated a quilt to charity
31 Sent a quilt out to a quilter
32 Thrown away a UFO
33 Given away a UFO
34 Cut up a UFO and made something else with it
35 Ripped fabric instead of cutting it
36 Made a quilt exactly like the pattern, with no changes whatsoever
37 Done any Sashiko
38 Quilted your own quilt
39 Did free motion quilting
40 Put any embroidery or beads on your quilt
41 Given away your quilt to a stranger
42 Swapped fabric
43 swapped blocks
44 participated in a round robin
45 participated in an ostritch round robin
46 kept a journal about your quilting
47 written a letter to someone who made an antique quilt
49 kept a blog about your quilting
50 participated in a gift exchange
51 sent a quilting random act of kindness
52 joined a newsgroup about quilting
53 made a quilt using a pattern from QuiltersCache.com
54 joined an online block of the month
55 made a block of the month quilt (I started a baltimore beauties in classes but didn't finish it.)
56 subscribed to a fabric of the month club
57 bought fabric at an online store
58 bought fabric from ebay
59 own more than one sewing machine
60 have a room dedicated solely to sewing
61 hide a fabric purchase
62 finished making a holiday gift before July
63 spent more than $200 in one quilt shopping trip
64 made a quilt using a book from the library
65 worked with someone else to make a quilt
66.joined a quilt guild
67 become president of a quilt guild
68 taught a quilting class
69 helped someone else get the quilting bug
70 taught a child to sew
71 made a Dear Jane block
72 Made a miniature quilt
73 watch QNN - quilters news network
73 subscribe to a quilting magazine from your own country
74 subscribe to a quilting magazine from another country
75 buy fabric from another country
76 swapped completed quilts with someone else
77 asked for quilting help online
78 gone to a quilt shop to ask for quilting help
79 bought fabric at a local quilt shop
80 traveled more than 100 miles to go to a quilt shop
81 used nontraditional fabric for a quilt - something other than cotton or flannel
82 made a quilt using instructions given to you on a blog
83 make comments on someone's quilting blog
84 meet a quilter in person after only having talked online
85 had a quilting retreat in your home
86 own quilting software
87 made a quilt you designed on your quilting software
88 done any quilt research - history, interviewing quilters, etc.
89 had any quilt related subject published anywhere
90 donated a quilt to a museum
91 bought a quilt from a thrift store (I once bought a box at a Church jumble sale that had a Grandmother's Flower garden in the bottom.)
92 made a quilt using fabric from a thrift store
93 made a quilt using photos
94 made a pastel quilt
95 made a quilt using brights
96 made a quilt using ethnic fabric from another country - African, Asian, etc.
97 made a quilt using leftover blocks from other quilts
98 had your quilt in a magazine, newspaper, newsletter, TV, etc.
99. submitted your quilt to a quilt show
100. won any ribbons with your quilts
101 had more finished quilts than UFOs
102 made a quilt using reproduction fabrics
103 took a break from quilting that was longer than a year
104 made money with your quilting
105 had a job in the fabric / quilting industry If retail sales count, yes.

Wearable Art.... Just for fun

Traje de Luces. Isn't it Kicky?  

Closer view of Wetlands Watch

Who ever gets to look at this quilt everyday is one lucky person. It's so perfect and so beautiful. I hope that you have enjoyed the quilt pictures, and there will be more of them. I know a lot of you are looking for knitting, but I am also a quilter and I think I'm getting quilt fever! I will never stop knitting. It's just too much fun, so this won't turn into a quilting blog. I don't think it will anyway. You never know in life, though, do you? Buhahahaha!  

Wetland Watch

I've never seen finer work in raw edge quilting. This is such a beautiful quilt, and the photo on the site below just didn't do it justice. This one is truer to the colors. Joanne Baeth created this gorgeous quilt  

Close up of Pursonality Purse

I loved this adorable quilt, and this Knitter's Purse just made it that much more special.  

Quilt with purses

All forms and means of quilting was at this lovely international show. There were quilts from all over the world. If you look down in the left hand bottom corner of this quilt called Pursonality, and made by Linda S.D. Hartnett, you will see an item of interest to Knitters! Also, at this site are all thewinning quilts  

Beautiful Quilt and beautifully machine quilted

My daughter asked me to take a picture of this beautiful quilt by Sandy Thompson. It's called, "Easy Road". This is a really beautiful wall quilt. And that, for the time being is the quilts. I took 94 pictures and will share them a bit at a time. Meanwhile I bought some heathered blue wool-ease to make some special socks for a special friend. One coat, one baby quilt and three pairs of socks. Also, DH wore his trekkers a whole day with his boots and pronounced them, "Perfect!" He will get some more of them  

Postcards!

The theme this time was Autumn and Fall Holidays. This is the one that I made and sent. I learn a little bit about this darling art each time I make a card.  

The border....

My daughter and I spent a lot of time looking at this quilt and it's amazing border. We just loved it.