WIP Wednesday 6/4/2025

 I'm making good progress on my projects. Today I'm featuring two of them. First is the felt applique stocking I'm making for Zoey.

I'm not happy that that lollipop is crooked. I'm going to be redoing that! I did steam the stocking, though, and got the creases out. I'm still having problems with the brown ink bleeding. It's getting all over my hands too. I hope I can fix that after it's done.

The second thing I'm going to show you is the cross stitch train picture I started in February. I started it, then put it aside to get some birthday projects done. Last weekend I had the thought that I really should get back to working on it because Christmas is not that far away.

The first thing I discovered was that I'd used the wrong color on  the part I'd started. This is one of the train cars. It looks a little easier than the other cars.

Our weather has been really nice the last few days. Before that we got rain. I've spent a few days outside working on the yard and enjoying my deck. I've taken to sitting out there in the morning reading my Kindle and drinking coffee. I'm hoping wildfire season will be delayed, maybe even cancelled this year. Probably a pipe dream, huh? Anyway, I got the deck flower boxes planted with Marigolds. I got them from a local nursery rather than Home Depot or some other box store garden department. This is how they looked after I was finished planting. I think they're going to be beautiful.

Yesterday I installed the drip system. I thought it would take about an hour at the most. Three hours later I was having to quit because I ran out of parts. I need some more of the mini drippers. A few broke during the winter. I've ordered some. I did get it working enough to turn it on. Just need to hand water a couple things until I get them, which should be tomorrow.

Next week my husband is going in for heart surgery. He's got a ton of tests to do beforehand. I am getting anxious. I sure hope this works or I don't know what we'll do. He can't just go on living this way where he has no energy whatsoever to get things done. He can't even ride his bike. I'll be keeping the fingers crossed-figuratively speaking.

One more thing. I made Creme Brulee' last weekend. It's my favorite dessert.

The week before that I made a Coconut cake to take to a meeting. It required 6 egg whites. I didn't want to just throw away the yolks, so I did a search for recipes using 6 yolks and found a Crème Brulee' recipe. It was so easy, and so good. I used to make it before we had kids (using a slightly different recipe, of course). I don't know why I stopped. If you've never had it, give it a try. It's heavenly. It's a creamy silky custard with a sugar crust on top. To die for, I swear!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Current WIPs

My plans to post last Wednesday were overruled by life, so I will do it now. I have two WIPs to present today. First is the sock I'm working on . 

It's been going a little slow, partly because I'm not in a hurry, partly because I'm writing down every step as I go along so it will be easy to write up as a pattern when I'm done. I'm using the Mock Short Row Heel in this pair and found that no one has actually written up instructions on how to do it. Just video tutorials, so that will be part of my pattern. I might publish the heel instructions separately as a tutorial here too. In the meantime, the prototype will be a Christmas present. I'm starting extra early this year.

The second project is a Christmas stocking for Zoey. 

I'm not sure why I chose this one for her. The snowman is just so cute. I am having a problem with it. The ink is bleeding on the white pieces. I've never had that happen before.

 This kit is fairly old and out of print. I found it on Ebay for a very reasonable price. Apparently they used this brown ink way back when and it is known to run. It's all over the thread as well as on the white felt. I've done some Googling and found out this is "normal" and I can easily wash it out when the stocking is done. I found washing instructions on the Bucilla web site too. I'm happy to say they don't use the brown ink anymore.

I did not notice there's a fold in the middle of the stocking until I saw this picture. I will steam it out before going any further.

So that's what I'm working on.

I had an excellent Mothers Day. We went to Giorgi's for lunch, then took a nice drive. Usually we go up into the National forest to see the wild flowers, but I didn't want to do that because it was supposed to be a rainy day. My husband wanted to drive the Prius. I said "No off-roading". We decided to go over Thompson Pass. We took a northern route to highway 202, then east to a small town in Montana, then turned for home and drove over the pass. I've never been on that drive in the spring. It was incredibly beautiful! The fields in Montana were so green. The grass is short too. It looked like all of the state had just been freshly mowed, and the wildflowers! They were fantastic! On our way home, we stopped at a convenience store to use the restroom. When we got back in the car, hubby pushed the Start button and all hell broke loose. Warning bells rang and messages flashed on the screens, accompanied by the Check Engine light. There was a message that told us the hybrid system was malfunctioning and to contact our Toyota dealer immediately. Well, they weren't open at that time, so we chose to go ahead and try driving home, stopping at Applebee's for dinner on the way. We made it just fine with no problems.

This morning I woke up and there was a new text from Toyota on my phone. My car had texted them that something was wrong with the hybrid system and would I like to schedule an appointment? I called them. My appointment is on the 20th. I've been reassured it's okay to drive the car, so it can't be too serious. I am feeling a little bit weirded out that my car is sending texts to Toyota without consulting with me first though.

Live long and prosper. \\//

FO's

 I did quite a bit of crafting during March and April. It helped with the stress and anxiety that's been going on in my life. Today I'm sharing two of them. 

My daughters birthday was near the end of April and I decided to sew her a market bag. 

It's a very large bag. I found the pattern for free on the blog iThinksew. The name of the pattern is Martha's Market Bag. As I've said before, my daughter is a huge My Little Pony fan, even though she's 40. I found the Pinky Pie fabric on Ebay. It was just a yard, but thankfully it was enough. I got the aqua fabric from an online fabric store, whos' name escapes me. The project was challenging because I don't have much experience making bags. I used to sew a lot of clothing when I was younger. Especially after I got married because my husband is very tall (6'5"). Regular pants and long sleeve shirts don't fit him. We had to shop at specialty stores that sold clothing for Big and Tall guys, and they were very expensive. We couldn't afford to shop there. So I sewed his clothing for him. Making bags is a relatively new thing for me.

I used heavy interfacing in the bag so it would stand up on its own. I really wrestled with it too. I was so glad when it was done. Sarah loves the bag and wouldn't be adverse to me making her some more. I call that a win.

I also finished Choo Choo Santa for my daughter-in-law. 

Her birthday was last January, so I sent it to her as a belated birthday gift in the same package the bag went in. I worked on this a lot. It was a very intense project with over 100 pieces to stitch together. 

I've taken close up photos of the stocking from top to bottom starting with the hanger loop, which I modified. It was supposed to be just a piece of red felt but I fancied it up some. 

I recently joined a Facebook group devoted to making Bucilla felt applique kits. I was inspired by photos of some of the members hanging loops they've modified. The group has been great, and I've learned quite a bit that has improved my skills, such as taking a small stitch on the back, after each sequin is done. This helps to keep it firmly sewn to the fabric.

This is the top with my daughter-in-laws name on it. The first train car shows too. 

You may be wondering how I got the name to look so nice. Usually I use my MS Word program to create the name, then print it out, pin it to the stocking, and embroider right through the paper. When I'm done, I carefully tear the paper off, leaving just the stitching. This time I did a little something different. An alphabet comes with the directions on how to make the stocking. I got a piece of tissue paper, traced the required letters, then pinned that to the stocking for embroidery. It worked great. I liked it better than what I usually do. It's a lot easier to stitch through tissue paper than regular printer paper.

Doing it with tissue paper got me to thinking. I wonder if there's tracing paper that can be put through printer. Then I could use my word program like I usually do and print it on the tracing paper. Lo and behold, I found some on Amazon. I'm looking forward to trying it out on the next stocking, which I've already started, by the way.

This is a close up of a couple of the cars. That bear turned out so cute!

This is the engine with Santa. I made a change here. Instead of using the clear beads with the sequins on Santa, and the beads on the Christmas tree, I used some white pearl seed beads from my huge collection of Miyuki size 11 seed beads. The other white pieces have the clear beads that came with the kit.

One of the things I learned from the Facebook Bucilla group is how to mark the stocking with my signature, so to speak. I never thought about doing that on my stockings. I do it to all my Cross Stitch projects! It's a logical thing to do, so I cut out this little blue heart, did some really bad embroidery of my initials and the year I finished it, and sewed it onto the back of the stocking. I wish I'd had more time, I would have redone it until it was decent. It was 1:00 am when I was done with this one. I had to put it in the mail in the morning. I decided it would have to do. I was just too tired. I went to bed.

As usual, I made a lining for the stocking. It turned out so beautiful. The stitching at the top where I sewed it in is so even and neat and the lining fit perfectly. I'm quite proud of it.

Since the theme of the stocking was a train, which is something my daughter-in-law is very enthusiastic about, (She even has an extensive electric train set.) I bought fabric with trains on it. Here is a close up of one of the trains.

I finished my Feather and Fan blanket too but haven't had a chance to photograph it yet. I did take a picture when I was blocking it though. I used my bed because it's so nice and big, being a California King and all.

I'm planning to take pics tomorrow, so stay tuned.

I am also planning to do a WIP post on Wednesday. Until then...

Live long and prosper.\\//

Update on WIPs

 Life has been rather difficult for me of late. I'm struggling but getting through it. My cats have been the worst. Merino is not using the litter box. He's been violating all the furniture. In concern, I've taken him to the vet several times and spent hundreds of dollars on tests only to be told he's healthy as a horse. The consensus is it's Anxiety. He's being bullied by my other two cats quite a bit, plus winter. My cats hate winter. Merino has stopped going outside entirely. So he's been started on Gabapentin. My couch is covered in aluminum foil to keep the cats off. So now he's going all over the floor, his beds, and any box he can get himself into. I'm so glad we got rid of the carpet in this house and installed bamboo.

On one of the trips to the vet, he peed all over my daughter IN THE CAR! It took 2 upholstery cleanings and 2 thorough sprays of Clorox Scentiva (fabric sanitizer), but I was successful in getting the smell out completely. The house, on the other hand...ugh. I am soooooooooo tired of cleaning up cat messes. The Gabapentin better work or I'm going to have to take drastic action because this is not something I can live with.

When we got home from the vet that day, he was soaked in pee. I had to give him a bath. I've never given him a bath. I prepared myself for possible dying by blood loss, filled the kitchen sink, and pushed him in. Oddly, he didn't struggle or scratch me! He succumbed to the attack and let me bath him. However, he made the most horrible sounds I've every heard from a cat. He was very very very pissed off and told me that in no uncertain terms. I told him if he's gonna get himself pee soaked, he's gettin' a bath. It's his own fault. I'm thankful for the lack of blood loss too.

Between that and what's happening in our government, I've found myself fighting off Panic Attacks. I'm pretty scared right now. I never thought I would be on the edge of living in a possible dictatorship ever in my lifetime. Our own government has turned on it's people. It's shocking!

That being said, I'm steadily working on 2 projects right now. They're actually keeping me sane. The feather and fan afghan is over halfway there. I have actually started on the second skeins of yarn for all colors.

I've had to move the project into a large "temporary" bag that I bought from Ikea because it doesn't fit in any of my knitting totes now. I have 3 of these bags. They've come in very handy.

I've also been working on Choo Choo Santa. Man, are there a lot of tiny pieces to deal with! I don't think I've had a kit with this many pieces before.

It's been fun, though. It's going to be so cute when it's done.

We had some pretty cold weather since my last post. The new furnace has turned out to be very good. Our winter power bill is considerably less that last year. Now a warm period is moving in. Since last weekend we've had temps in the upper 40's and lower 50's. The coming Sunday is supposed to be almost 60. I can hardly wait. The snow is completely off the deck, so sitting in the sun is on my mind.

On Saturday, we're going in to our local Toyota dealer to talk about that blue Prius we've been talking about purchasing. They've had one on order for several weeks, but it arrived in the US this week. It's in port on the Oregon coast waiting to get through customs. I'm hoping to put a payment on it so it's mine when it arrives here. I've contacted the dealership and let them know I'm wanting it.

I took this picture this morning.

For the first time, the sunrise was coming in the house through the window. Zoey enjoyed it so much.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Catching Up

I'm going to catch up on the needle crafting first. Current WIPs.

I am making good progress on my Feather and Fan afghan. It's been a joy to work on.

It's been a very nice break from the really complicated stuff I've been knitting. I really like the yarn too. It's very good quality. It is Mary Maxim's Maximum Value.

I ordered a Bucilla Felt Stocking kit to make for my daughter-in-law. It occurred to me that her stocking has Frank on it, instead of her new name. So I've set Zoey's stocking aside for the time being. The new stocking is a picture of Santa riding a train. It's pretty cute. Here's where I am with it. 

This is the first kit where the name comes first. I find that interesting. There's a lot of tiny pieces in this kit too. It's going to take some time.

Next is the counted cross stitch project I'm making for Christmas.

The picture is 24 by 9 inches in size in 14 count, which is rather large. The train, though, doesn't have a whole lot of detail so it should go quicker than my usual projects. The fabric is a pale gray. I gridded the fabric, as you can see, using leftover thread from the finished stocking of last month. It took me 3 days. Worth it though. It makes counting the stitches so much easier.

I have good news. Hubs and I decided to apply to start collecting our Social Security and we both have been approved. I got my first payment 2 weeks ago. Yay! Yarn money! We're talking about buying me a new Prius and using my SS to pay for it. 

There have been a lot of changes in the Prius the last 3 or 4 years. It's now a fancy sports car and they go for $40 Grand. I don't know if I want to spend that much on a car. 

In the meantime, my car needs some minor repairs. A couple sensors have gone out. Doesn't prevent me from driving it, but if I want to keep it that way, I need to get them fixed. By the way, if we do get a new one, it won't be red. I want blue. So far, our local Toyota dealer has only had silver, grey, and dark grey ones. Last week they had 12 in stock, all in those colors. Ugh. They sold quick.

Looking around town, I have to say the economy is doing better than the media and government have been saying. There's lots and lots of new cars on the road. I can't believe how many Tesla's are around now.

Remember when I was sick around Thanksgiving and ended up with a cold and a cough? I had just found the solution to the chronic cough I'd been living with for 8 years. I had all of what? 3 weeks of peace? I kept hoping the cough would go away, but it only got worse. Last Monday I saw a doctor. I have a bad case of bronchitis so he's given me antibiotic, cough medicine, and prednisone to help with my breathing. The cough is going away. I'm looking forward to it being gone.

I got myself a new plant, which is living on the bathroom windowsill. It's an Echeveria "Perle von Nurnberg" which is a succulent that will get purple as it gets bigger. Right now it's just a baby.

The weather is cold and snowy. Winter started snowing on us about 5 days ago and we've got almost a foot out in the yard. It's been snowing all day long. The days of the coming week are going to drop in temperature. Highs in the low to mid 20F's and lows to -7F. Now we'll find out if the new furnace is worth it.

That's it for now, except I took a selfie. Yes, that's me.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Under The Tree - Bucilla

 I have finished the current felt applique stocking! Hurray! It's titled Under the Tree and is from Bucilla. I think they have the cutest felt applique stocking kits.

I made it for me. You're supposed to put the name on the back of the big ornament hanging on the upper left corner, but I didn't like that, so I put it on the stocking itself.

Here's a close up of the toys at the bottom.

I lined it. I used some cotton quilting fabric I found in my stash. I used the stocking itself to make a pattern. I traced around the outside edge onto a piece of newsprint paper. Then I drew a quarter inch seam allowance around that.

I cut two pieces, sewed them together on my sewing machine, then installed the lining in the stocking, carefully hand stitching around the top edge. I am very very happy with this stocking!

While I was stitching the lining into the stocking I had a thought. I got to wondering if there are people who enjoy doing this as much as I do and if they've created a group. I decided to look on Facebook and I found one! Actually, there is more than one, but I just joined one of them. It's been fun looking at all their finished projects. Someone asked the group to tell us all how many kits they have and whatnot. I have 6 kits in my stash. I thought I was a bad girl for having so many! I'm an amateur! Some of the group members have over 200 of them. I feel so much better about myself now. Heh heh.

I already started another one. It has a snowman on it. I plan to put Zoey's name on it. I've also ordered another kit to make for Opal. It has Santa driving a train on it. 

I've been working on the ripple afghan! I've got the first set of stripes done. I'm using 3 shades of purple and white. I'll take a pic later as I progress more on it.

We have had sunshine the last couple days. It's been so nice to see, even though it's friggin' cold outside. They're predicting snow for the coming weekend. 

Finally got all the Christmas decorations down and put away. I feel pretty good about getting that done. I haven't been feeling all that well the last few days. I've been coughing a lot. This cough feels like a possible lung infection. I should go see a doctor before it turns into pneumonia. Ugh. I hate winter.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Ramblings

 Boy, this year went by quick. Not what I would call a very good year. I don't see them getting better any time soon either.

We have no snow. I can't remember the last time we didn't have snow at the end of the year. It's happened before. I just don't remember what year it was. Not that I'm complaining. I'm perfectly content to get rain while the mountains get snow, and the mountains have lots of snow on them. We've had a lot of rain in December.

I had a good Christmas. It was peaceful, and lots of chocolate was involved. I've got a new back pack, hiking poles, a portable dvd player, and a little kitchen composter. Everything is purple, which is such a surprise. My daughter Ruth made me a beautiful fairisle hat. I started laughing because it's the same colors as I used for her gift, which is a pair of fingerless mitts. Those same colors are in the picture below.

I am currently working on my Clapotis shawl. You can see some unraveled stitches.

It's supposed to look like that. I am about 2 thirds the way through. I'm on the decreasing section.

This is the afghan kit I got from Mary Maxim. I'm anxious to start it. I did the gauge swatch and I think I have gauge. I say I think because it's a little hard to measure a wavy swatch. Heh heh. 

I'm not quite sure what my knitting goals are for the next year. I still want to improve my tension and skills knitting mittens. They take me such a long time to make. I'd like to get to the point where I am with socks, where I don't have to think about it much while knitting because my hands just know what to  do. Lets see, I think it was around 12 pairs of socks before I got comfortable with them.

I want to get the afghan done, and maybe do a sweater or two. I also want to write some patterns out that I've designed. So many choices, so little time. I got the coolest sock idea. I need to come up with the prototype. Hmmm.....

Speaking of writing patterns, I've been educating myself on how to create knitting charts because I have 2 stranded patterns to write up. I was going to do it in MS Word until someone told me about Knitbird, which is a free program for creating knitting charts. I've downloaded it and tried it a bit. I'm very very impressed. It will do nicely.

I'm also working on a felt applique stocking I started last year. It was supposed to be done by this Christmas.

I had stashed my old stocking away because I was going to be done with it. So there was panic when I opened the stocking box and there was no stocking for me. Thankfully, with my daughters help, I found it. 

I've got all the little parts done. Just need to assemble everything now. I'm going to embroider my name on it first. It'll be easier to do it now than after it's all sewn together.

No plans for New Years. Staying home and knitting. Probably will watch movies all evening on Netflix. I've never been one to watch the party in New York Square waiting for the blinking crystal ball to come down.

Thursday I will be taking my husband to the hospital before the crack of dawn for his heart surgery. He's getting an ablation in hopes of fixing his arrhythmia. I am so nervous, and I'm not even the one getting the surgery. Who's idea was it to put two r's in that word. Arrhythmia. 

Live long and prosper. \\//

What I've Been Working On

Well, contrary to my plans, I was not able to block Margaret yet. The weekend was rather busy. So I've been knitting and stitching instead. I went back to working on the felt applique stocking.

I'm getting close to it being done. I'm making the tiny little felt ornaments that will be attached to the tree. Putting on the gold beaded garland was fun. I need to dig in my fabric stash and find something to line the stocking with.

I cast on for another sweater for Zoey. She chose the colors. I'm knitting it in the round and putting a nice little garter rib stitch pattern in it to liven things up just a bit for me.

Somewhere in the house I have a kit for making dog collars. I wonder where it is? I could make collars to go with her sweaters. Hmmm...

The Honeycrisp apples are growing nicely. They're big enough I can see them from the kitchen window now.

Sweet Hubby is getting ready for school to start. He's been registering for classes, preparing a class to teach, and filling out piles of paperwork. He is going to teach his very first class this year, as a graduate student. It will be interesting to see how he does. I've never thought he would have the patience to be a good teacher. Especially after his stroke. I'm hoping I'm wrong and he does very well. I know he's excited about it and that is winning half the battle.

U of Idaho is paying him a small stipend, which will cover this years tuition. I am so happy because we don't have money coming in. We've been living on our savings ever since he got laid off 2 years ago. This will help immensely cuz the savings is dropping in amount fast.

It has become quite obvious to me that U of Idaho is grooming Sweet Hubby to become a professor in the computer science department. He's been told they'll hire him when he graduates, which, hopefully, will be next year. He's going to be working on his thesis this school year as well as taking classes and teaching a class. He will be busy.

It's a nice warm summer day. Not overly hot. I don't even have the air conditioner on. It was predicted a week ago that it would be horrible hot and smokey, but ha ha. We got storms over the weekend that dropped a lot of rain clearing the smoke out and cooling things off. The air is very clear today. We are having much cooler weather this summer than we usually have. I'm enjoying it. I hope it stays this way.

Until next time...

Live long and prosper.\\//

WIPs For Today

Thought I'd post a couple WIP pics. I've been working on this cardigan for the next layette set. I just need to find some buttons for it.

I started the hat for it.

I don't know if I'm going to continue making these for this whole year, but for now I'm content to make another set.

I need to finish the black and white set I'm making for the nephew and his wife, who are expecting any day now. I just need to get the edging on the blanket fabric.

I've also been working on the Felt Applique stocking. It's coming along nicely.

Don't have much snow out on the ground. Maybe 4 to 6 inches. Kind of unusual for this time of year, but not unheard of. I remember having a winter when I had my shop (early 2000's) where I needed to have my parking lot plowed only 3 times the whole winter. We have had several dry cold days. Even a bit of sunshine, which felt so good. Snow/freezing rain is supposed to move in tonight. I'm ready for spring.

Took down the Christmas tree and decorations last week. Ruth helped me. The fur kids were running around and knocked it crooked. Several of my beaded cover ornaments fell on the floor and broke. Decided, after cleaning up the broken glass, since it was leaning over anyway, might as well take it all down. I won't have problems repairing the broke ornaments. I'm going to put the covers on plastic ornaments instead of glass this time. They've got some really pretty ones now that look every bit as good.

The birds have come back to the bird buffet. Mostly finches, chickadees, Flickers, and magpies. Snow on the ground seems to be their reason for showing up.

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIPs

So, lets start July with a post about my current WIPs.

I've finished the knitting on layette set 31. Just have the little things to do. Buttons, pompom, blocking, etc.

I've been working on the crochet edging for the matching blanket.

I've started the cardigan for Layette set 32. Using a new pattern, just for fun.

I've made a little progress on the felt stocking. It has a teddy bear on it now.

I've also started a new long term cross stitch project. I dug around in my stash and found this kit by Eva Rosenstand.

Just a little done so far. It's going to be a challenge. There are no large blocks of color in this one. Lots of color changing ahead.

My sprained knee is healing slowly. I feel like I've had it for months, but it's only been just over 2 weeks. The most frustrating thing about it for me is that I can't sleep on my side. It's just too painful. If I sleep on my back, though, with a pillow under my leg, there's no pain, except in my back. Not being able to sleep on my side has given me a bad case of insomnia. I'm getting a lot of reading done, though. I'm just burning through the books. I've read 6 novels in just 2 weeks. I started reading Hunger Games a couple nights ago and I'm almost done with it already.

Our weather this weekend is cool and overcast. We did get a little rain yesterday while I attended a local rally in Coeur d'Alene and I got wet. I was there with a small group to help people register to vote while a protest rally for ending the separation of immigrant children from their parents coming to the U.S. for asylum was going on. It was an interesting event. There were quite a few people there, a few interesting speakers, and we helped a few folks register to vote. There was a potluck afterwards and the food was very good.

I got bad news from Barnes and Noble. They are no longer supporting the model of Nook I just happen to own. I have the original e-ink model. I love reading books on it. It's super easy on my eyes because I'm not looking at a screen made of led lights. I made sure all my books are downloaded on it before June 26, which is the last day they were supporting it. I've pretty much read all the books, so no big deal there, but I won't be able to download any new ones. I guess I'm going to have to switch to a Kindle Paperwhite if I want to have a supported e-ink reader. Right now I'm using my Samsung tablet with the Kindle app, which has a regular led screen on it. My eyes get pretty tired reading it, but it's better than nothing.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Oh My Goodness!

Dogwood and Hummingbird. I've finished it! Only took 2 days. Why didn't I finish it months ago?

I got frustrated with it when I started doing the back stitching on the back of one of the Hummingbirds. It was so confusing to stitch because the lines are diagonal across the squares and the back stitch thread is barely a different color than the stitches I had to stitch over. I had a hard time seeing them. I had a terrible time keeping straight which ones I'd done. I decided to put it away for awhile. Ended up being 2 years!

Last week I joined a couple Cross Stitch groups on Facebook and got inspired to finish it. I looked at the pattern again and figured out a way to stitch it without getting lost or confused. It feels so good to get it done. Now I just need to wash it, block it, mount it, and frame it. I should be able to enter this one in the fair this year. Huzzah!

I've also done a bit on the applique Christmas stocking.

I'm enjoying it immensely.

Yesterday, bad back and knees regardless, I took on the task of weeding the front flower bed. My daughter Ruth helped. I am so thankful she did because if she hadn't it would have been a huge job for me. With her help, we got it done in just a couple hours.

This morning my sprained knee hurt quite a bit more than it did the day before because of the yard work I'd done, but I think I'll be okay. I was expecting the backs of my thighs to hurt a lot, but they don't. Yay! The front yard is looking pretty good now. Tomorrow I plan to do a little work with the weed trimmer. Then it will be done. Maintenance from that point should be easy if I keep up with it.

We've had such nice weather all this week. They're predicting rain on Saturday. I'll be glad to get it. It gives me an excuse to put off the yard work in the back yard for a day. I could use the rest.

Well, I need to get dinner started.

Live long and prosper. \\//