Afghan finished

I have finished the aqua Mile an Minute afghan. I used some mill-end yarn that I got from AC Moore's a few years ago, so I don't know the name of the colors, just that it is probably Caron. I love to do the MaM pattern and have made a great many over the last 20 years!! This will probably be the last large afghan (approx. 50" by 60") I do until Fall, as it is already in the high 80's here. It was 88 degrees yesterday! During the summer, I work extra hard on Prayer Shawls for the Elkin hospital, as most of the volunteers quit for the summer to work on gardens or whatever. I'm not allowed to play in the dirt and have to stay inside out of the sun...so might as well do something useful! This week, I received my volunteer pin for last year. I am up to 3200 hours now. I am really proud of that pin!

Sheep quilt block

When I'm not being beat up by my drum carder, or trying to finish the last strip of the Mile a Minute afghan, I have been working on the Square in a Square quilt blocks (one shown above). I bought this sheepy fabric quite awhile ago, but decided that now was the time to work on it! I love to do the Square in a Square block because all I have to do is rip strips of the fabric and use the rotary cutter and special ruler. I am planning to use a white/gold print between blocks, a border of cream, one of the gold print and finally some of the sheep fabric. I have made 10 of the 30 blocks that I had planned to make. Will machine quilt it on the Gammill (someday). And by the way, my brilliant son looked at my camera and figured out what I'd done to it...it is working again! Thanks Donald!

Hope everyone has a grand weekend!

Carding wool

My son had a clean-out this past weekend, and found this silly T-shirt. He was going to throw it in the Goodwill bag, but I asked for it instead (we wear the same size). I guess he'd been too embarrassed to wear it. I think I'll wear it when I go out of town, maybe. The second photo is of some carded wool. It is Romney and came from Oregon several years ago. After it is carded, I roll it into a ball to save space. The third photo is my Louet drum carder. I have been carding a little every day all week, and that thing has beat me into submission! I feel like I've been through the "last chance workout" on The Biggest Loser!! Needless to say, I put off using the drum carder as long as I can. I still have several washed fleeces to card, so I may be at this for awhile. I'd rather be spinning!! Since the sun is out today and it is supposed to be in the 70 degree range, maybe I'll wash the one fleece I got from Thistle Cove Farm this month. To be honest, I don't care for washing fleeces either....like I said, "I'd rather be spinning". Have a blessed day!

A Lamb Named Keebler

A short time ago I discovered a wonderful blog called "Punkin's Patch". It can be found at www.myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com It is all about farm life and well cared for sheep and I enjoy reading this blog very much. She has given her permission to use a couple of her photos (kindly, of course), so I thought I would show them here and recommend you visit. My camera is being difficult these days, so I don't know when I will be taking photos of my own.

I have been carding wool this week. It is a difficult job, for me anyway, and I just want to get done with it & get to the spinning part. I have several clean fleeces and some small quantities of wool that I have put off carding. I also need to wash this newest fleece from Thistle Cove Farm. This is also a job I don't care for, but even I won't put away a fleece dirty!! Once they are washed to my satisfaction, I store them with a bar or two of "Irish Spring" soap. I hate the smell of it and I guess the bugs do too, as I have not yet had any problems with bugs! I've also tried a Dial lavendar soap and also country apple soap from Bath and Bodyworks, but neither can be found anymore.

Weekend time again.....enjoy!

Two quilt finishes

I finished the binding on two quilts yesterday. The first photo is of a little quilt, approximately 24" by 32" & is simply quilted by machine. The second quilt is 60" by 60" and is a walmart quilt-of-the-month from Feb. 2004. The fabric is also that which was presented that month to make the quilt. It has been pieced for awhile, but during cold weather, I don't get much quilted on the longarm machine. Too cold in the studio!! When this current rain stops, I hope to get more done!

Little Sumo Guy

Another Goodwill find. At first I thought he was a Buddha, but upon closer examination, it's a Sumo! When my daughter lived in Japan, she used to send me video tapes of the Sumo matches. Even though a great many Americans consider them laughable, the Sumo wrestlers are some of the most talented athletes anywhere. A friend of my daughter's, who is also a Martial Artist, said that they are to be the most feared of all the Martial Artists. Even though my daughter has been back in America for several years now, and I do not have access to Japanese TV, I still miss watching Sumo. I think I'll call him Musashimaru, as he was my favorite. Oh, by the way, I think this statue was intended to be an incense holder.

Happy Easter!

More photos

The first photo (obviously) is some pretty horses at Thistle Cove Farm, the second is the dulicmer maker, and the third is sheep shearing.

Sheep Shearing Day!!

Yesterday, Saturday, was a fun day. My daughter and I went to a sheep shearing day at Thistle Cove Farm outside of Tazewell, Virginia. We drove two and a half hours to get there, and it was well off the beaten path! Well worth the effort to go, though. I finally met my internet friend, Sandra Bennett. She and her husband own and operate the farm. My daughter took several photos and I will have to sift through them and post more later. The first photo is a long-distance view of the farm. The second photo is of a blacksmith, demonstrating his work, and the third is of Sandra and myself. I am particularly pleased with the last photo. Sandra gave me a very lovely fleece (hot off the Shetland sheep!), and I purchased some roving from Leslie Shelor of Greenberry House, Meadows of Dan, VA. I also bought a small lap loom from a nice lady named Lura in Ashe County, NC. It was a bright and sunny day, cool and windy! After leaving the farm, we stopped at a very nice restaurant in Tazewell and enjoyed a sit-down lunch. It was a very nice day!

Little Quilt

I quilted this little quilt yesterday, as it was so rainy and dreary that I wanted to do something different. I quilted it on my old Singer. It is older than the Featherweight, it only goes "forward". But it is a joy to sew on and I love it (just not when I have to thread it!). This little quilt is 17" by 24". I am a member of "smallquiltchat" group on Yahoo and decided it was high time to make a small quilt. No plans for it at present. It was just nice to sit and quilt on a small machine, rather than stand and quilt with the Gammill machine. TGIF! Work on something you enjoy today!

A quilt-top finish

Yesterday, I finished piecing this "string" quilt top. It is loosely based on instructions in a book of scrap quilts by Eleanor Burns. It looks something like a "heartstrings" quilt, but I am not a member of that group. I continue to make quilts for distressed kids, even though I am looking for another place to give them. I am not a member of the Foothills Quilters Guild anymore. I thought this would be a good way to use up a lot of the shorter "logs" leftover from the latest Log Cabin quilt top I completed last week. My basket of "logs" (2 inch wide strips of fabric) still runneth over, so guess I will have to start another one. The best part of the Log Cabin quilt is there is no pattern!