Too much to do and not enough play time

No pics today.  I know, I know, bummer.  I have been bored silly and finally made a list of things that I really need to get done and that fixed that boredom.

I have been production sewing my spinning wheel bags to get orders finished.  This week I am working on the last 4 orders that I have.  I will finish one today, whew!

The soft orangey/purpley sweater that I have been working on is sitting here staring at me.  I ran out of yarn and this is the beauty of spinning my own yarns.  I am spinning more.  Gotta love that.  I knew on some level that if I made the longer tunic length, I might run out of yarn.  I did.  Thanks, little voice.  I do love spinning the Blue Face Leister and did have some left over after Great Basin.  I might spin more than I need to.  :>)

I received the new set of Drops patterns the other day and one or two in the same issue grabbed me and fast.  They don't name their patterns so here are the numbers, 134-1 and 134-55.  Oh!  Maybe I can find pics on the web to post here.  Hang on....

Ok:

Is that not a wonderful pattern?  This is 134-1.  I have a bunch of gray handspun that will work very well for this sweater, in fact, I have it all set up in a bag already.

Here's 134-55:

And, I just happen to have some brown handspun that will be perfect for this pattern.  hmmmm.  It's that not enough time thing slapping me in the face again.  Just gotta knit faster.
J

Two not just one!

Fun huh?  I do say that a lot too.  The next one won't be so fast to do.  Another blue bird, yay!!

So, that's pretty much all I have been doing.  I did finish the front of the San Fran shirttail though.  Now I am on to the sleeves.  I will do those first before I put the whole thing together.  I am going to love wearing this one just like I love wearing the other one that I made.

The next spinning project that I have lined up is to spin some custom thrums that I had carded a bunch of years ago.  After that, a brown Knowltons fleece.  mmmmmmmmmmmm

Tomorrow the man and I are off to the Gem Faire.  Neither one of us have anything in mind.  ha!  He gets sucked in to the chunks of fabulous stone and who knows what will grab me.  There is this guy who sells bronze chains and findings and charms oh my.
J

Software is strange sometimes

I changed over to Internet Explorer and got my pics to load today.  I don't know why Safari wouldn't cooperate yesterday.  I have never had to change browsers to get this to work.  Smoke and mirrors.

I have more pics to show:

The San Francisco Shirttail is growing.  I have the front almost done now.  The next step is to join the back to the front at the shoulders and then finish the neckline.  Then, on to the sleeves.  I have more of Jill Vosberg's patterns and will probably work on another one soon.  The gods know how much yarn I have in my house. 

This is what I am spinning at present.  Gorgeous, no?  I have enough for socks or maybe a small shoulder warmer, or fingerless mitts, or ??

I have gotten back to my stitching.  These are the first two blocks of twenty for "My Whimsical Quilt Garden".  I love this project.  I just finished the third one, but will show that tomorrow.  So cute.  It's a blast to throw crazy, bright fabrics together.  Piece O Cake is having a sale on their fabrics so I couldn't resist a few of their scrap bags.  Can't wait to see what I get.  I have been out searching for more dots and turquoise for the birds and was successful, so I have a great stack to choose from for the rest of the project.

This should probably be on LOL Cats.  She was laying down and was looking up at me and the camera didn't function like it was supposed to.  She finally got tired of me telling her to "look" and got up to give me this WTF look.  She has been sneezing for 3 days and congested.  I don't know what was in that last storm, but the both of us have been all allergied up this week.  Sick of it.

Show and tell is over for today.  Well, almost anyway, WWH meeting tonight with a huge show and tell, so will drag some stuff there for a change.  :>)
J

Peaches and surprise

The surprise is mine when I read the last post.  ha!  I did get the lawns mowed plus the dog run (large) that day.  I am still all about moving railroad ties and moving the black soil.

Aren't they gorgeous??  What I do with them is peel them, remove the pits, then I go back and slice them up (like each half into 4 or 5 pieces).  Then I mixed up some acid, today I used a bit of citric acid in a quart of water.  I used a quarter cup of acid, but it might not have needed that much.  It's very concentrated so maybe a couple of heaping tablespoons in a quart of water would have been enough.  I have used lemon juice in the past and it really doesn't take that much just to prevent discoloration.

I then load the peaches into zip lock bags, say enough for a pie, so half the bag is full.  Then freeze them.  I also put about a peach worth into sandwich size bags to try on cereal.  I will let you know how that works out.

Doing peaches this way lets them taste just as fresh as the day they were picked.  I just don't pack stuff in sugar anymore.  I may use Splenda Half and Half, but don't do that until I have the peaches into the pie crusts.  I add a half cup of either the Splenda or sugar, dot some butter (2 tablespoons or so) and some flour sprinkled on (1/4 cup) to thicken the "gravy" sauce so it won't drip out of the crusts when it bakes.  I use Pillsbury or Kroger (acutally better than Pillsbury but they could be made at the same factory for all I know, cheaper is sometimes better).  I bake them for 10 minutes at 425 degrees and then turn the heat down to 350 for an hour.  Perfect.

Still spinning and knitting and sewing but will wait until tomorrow maybe so I can add pics.

Sunny skies all week.  yay
J

Lots of work to get done before winter!

Today, mowing of lawns, moving of soil, start to move railroad ties.

Railroad ties were such a great idea, but if I had lined them with heavy plastic, it would have been a better idea.  The problem is that they leach creosote into the soil and the dampness encourages ants to tunnel and eat the ties.  The creosote discourages plants.  So, my plant production has dwindled to nothing over the years.  I will cut up and discard the damaged ties and move the others to the perimeter of the yard in front of vines.  I have silver lace vines on my west fencing in the back yard and then grapes on the west side.  And, also, Virginia creepers on the back that are getting a great start and a couple of Trumpet vines as well.  Beings the ties won't be touching the vines and a bit away from the roots, they should be fine.

I have also been working in the garage to rearrange and organize all of the stuff that accumulates out there.  I have had some yard sale stuff under a tarp for a few years and it needs to go someplace else.  A lot to the Thrift Store.  I hope all this activity today will make my 2 pound weight loss for the week.  :>)

So far I have lost 10 pounds in the last month and a half.  It's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around because my thyroid deficiency has stopped all weight loss for the last 5 years and caused a lot of weight gain in the mean time.  It's been so frustrating to try to lose weight and it just     won't      go.   Finally!!  I feel like my metabolism is back to my normal.  whoohooo!!

The knitting continues.  I have been working on the new mitered squares sweater and the dark blue sweater.  And, I finished the new green blocks for the 2011 civil war quilt.  I picked up the new month edition from last month and will get started on those blocks today.  I am now 3 months behind on the 2010 civil war version, but will take a look at that today as well.  And get the next block of the Whimsical birds quilt going.  It's so nice to have traveling and fiber fairs over with.

I don't have any new pictures of anything.  The yard is messy and there isn't much progress on anything else.  Maybe next week.  :>)
J

Festivals and Fairs are over for the year whew!

Well, the last two weeks have been very busy.  The first weekend I spent at the Helper Arts and Music Festival.  The event was a little different this year.  More vendors, less noise.  No damn train going around and around bothering all, not much music at the main park or at least we couldn't hear much, no Helper Arts Idol contest, so only a few bad singers or bands (these were very close and did include karaoke type singers), and not many hurricanes blew through.  We did get cloudy afternoons which were wonderful.

I picked up a couple of vendors who came to Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair.  A very nice Navajo couple who came from Arizona and were on their way to Reno to another Fair, and a couple of great ladies who made drums and glass objects and also painted kids' faces.  The latter were already signed up to do the Magna Arts Festival (I know, an oxymoron for sure) which they did do, but they came to our Fair to check it out.  I think they will sign up with us next year.  :>)

I have been working on a new sweater.  I know, another new project.  doh for me.  But, I almost have the front done already.  Isn't it cool?  I have made this pattern before and am loving doing it again.  I have it folded in the picture.  This version is a tunic length (I made the shirt length before).  It's one of my Wasatch Watercolours colorways Ophir Creek spun in Blue Face Leister.  Oh, yummy.

Great Basin went very well indeed.  We had a grand total of 29 vendors this year!  wowsers!!  Everyone said they had a fantastic time.  I did well as a vendor and I think everyone else did.  I am so proud of my Board of Directors.  yay for them, oh, and me!!!

I have been continuing to work hard in the yard and have now lost a total of 20 pounds in the last 6 months.  10 around 6 months ago and 10 in the last month and a half.  I am feeling it too.  So much better.

This week?  A busy one.  Today I attended a steak dinner for my Father-in-Law Jay.  All the family was there except for my man and my BIL LareLare and his partner Jeff.  I miss them.  Tomorrow is a short trip to Kamas to spin and knit with friend Deb.  I hope all the birds up there come and see us.  Tuesday I am judging all day at the Utah State Fair with friend Janet.  My hair appt. on Wed.  sheesh.  By then, I should know if I got a job or not.  This job sounds fun, so am trying to not think about it.  My luck hasn't been very good this time of being laid off.  

I have got quilting to do too.  Oh, my.
J