Changes ...

Oh my, isn't summer flying!? The garden is changing; the flower bed well past it's peak now. The energy burst of summer is waning, the light is changing subtly, almost imperceptibly. My mind is now imagining the upcoming months of slowing down--that's the reality in view. I won't go so far as to imagine frozen crystals yet, but it's clearly on the verge of the horizon. Change.

But let's not get carried away! It was quite warm and humid today and we've still to experience "Indian Summer." Change.

Next month I will be having a deck built around the front and side of the house. Very exciting. Change.

I'm still working on the watercolor quilt, but at the moment that amounts to collecting new fabrics and cutting them 2"x2". I bought some nice dark hues over the weekend. Change.

I've started a new 'scrappy' quilt. Totally random colors and shapes. I'll make a bunch of 'squares' and then sew them together. I'm sewing them on my vintage White Rotary "77". Change.

This is what I have so far:


It will be a time of change for while now.

Proof of concept ...

I really like how these yarns are knitting up and I love the hand! Feels so soft and pliable--that was the plan and I'm glad it's proving so!

Smith Millennium Bridge is done ...

My local quilt shop's Row by Row piece is as done as I'm going to get. I could tinker with it for a while, adding more quilting here and there, but I rather like the sparse look and since it's a wall hanging, more quilting isn't crucial. Today I fussy-cut a cow out of a fabric in my stash and added her into the picture. I think she looks rather introspective and I toyed with the idea of putting a halo around her head! :)



I'm pretty pleased with the binding I made using an ombre fabric, allowing a dark edge on bottom, lighter on the top edge and gradients on the sides.

A new toy? And more pretties ...

Nope, it's not a toy; that is 100% certain. It is a very hefty, extremely well-built (weren't they all back then?) vintage White sewing machine!

I said (to myself) I'm not going to be a willy-nilly collector of antique and vintage sewing machines, and I'm not. It may not be so apparent now that I have an antique, a vintage, and a modern machines, but I'm quite adamant that I'll only pick up machines that are special.
This White is one I've had my eye on for well over a year, having seen it in numerous pictures, and this one came along at a very nice price. I'd say there are only 2 or 3 other machines that I would snatch up if I came across them. That's not too bad, is it?
It sews so beautifully and there are a number of very small details that make sewing on it (as well as my late godmother's Singer 66) a dream. For starters: The relationship of the spacing around the feed dogs to the presser foot, in relation to the needle. I can see, very directly and clearly where the needle will first enter the cloth, it's not couched way back where it's hard to see. No quessing required! I love these old work horses.
I've started another scrap quilt on it. I'm still working on the watercolor quilt (on my modern machine) but it's in a go-slow phase.

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Pretties and beauties and awe

These Echinacea smell so lovely, as this butterfly will attest:

This "Easter" lily is from 2014. I put it in the ground last year and it came back! I put this year's lily in the ground as well. What a nice reminder is this trumpet's perfume!

Is this not the most beautiful turquoise!? Newly acquired top this afternoon. It comes from Aker, a new sheep farm in Enfield, NH:

The dandelion-dyed skein finished yesterday, also showing the beginning of the Umbilicaria-dyed spinning. Quite apparent these are natural dyes. The soft hues, swoon!:

And this is my plan for the scarf using all these skeins I'm currently spinning up. A series of varying length rectangles knit in intarsia technique: