Pleasures and Sadness

Pleasures

Grandchildrens buddy birthdays! JE is 6 and CH is 2!

Portugese chicken spit roasted on hubby's new grill

Replacing a dishwasher - no more crud!!

Finishing gray shrug made for a friend - glad she will get it before summer

Staying in pajamas all day on a Sunday

Teaching machine sewing at adult ed

A happy birthday to my little sister


Sadness

Virus setting low our Pittsburgh family

Passing of a friend, my first knitting teacher. She taught me a lifelong craft - a joy to be savored for the rest of my life, and introduced me to 'knitters'. These caring, knowledgable people are everywhere, and always willing to teach and share. While P was on a 'sabatical' I taught her knitting/crochet class at adult ed for two semesters until she returned. It got my foot in the door and enabled me to meet the correct people and I now teach basic and advanced machine sewing in the same school district. Thank you, P. RIP

On, Off, UFOs and To Be On, the Needles

Off

Heirloom Christening Blanket for Godson Thomas made by Bonnie

On

Elsie's almost finished gray shrug
CH's 3/4 finished afghan
Baby surprise jacket - technique project
Pilerine Pointue - by Susan Esser - ponchette

To Be On

Gray Capelet on the cover of Spring Vogue
Harlequin Jacket - Jane Slicer-Smith - Knitters Winter 2006


UFOs

Medrith Glover's Voluminous Vest - ran out of the yarn and need to rework neckline

Today's Thoughts on Happiness

Sunshine and 64 degrees
A friend's two newborn baby daughters - after a long time waiting
Corned beef, cabbage and potatoes - perfectly cooked
I finally cooked something in the crock pot which turned out great - I made notes!!
Smiley's yarn trip with knitting pals
Yesterday's walk on the boardwalk with a friend

Random Thoughts

How can Bon be 37 years old? Happy Birthday, Bon
Spring is in the air - the chipmunks are chasing each other around the yard
I'm finally knitting a Baby Surprise Jacket
The inside of my car looks as if I live in it - it needs to be cleaned out - maybe tomorrow...
Change of weather/season allergies stink
Took a walk in the sunshine on Sunken Meadow boardwalk
Smiley's - here I come - sale next Wednesday!
Time passes too quickly
Going to the sewing room to cut out JE's skating outfit

Fundamental Pleasures

JC's birthday - he's 9!
Sun shine - melting the snow
Successful registration for Sew Expo classes
Pizza on a Friday night in Lent
1 fat tuxedo cat - snoring....
Teaching sewing classes on Monday and Wednesday nights]
Learning to use a long arm quilting machine

Old Cat

Rest in peace Old Cat - you are missed.

It's What Month???

Recently I've received a few "when are you going to update your blog" inquiries. After checking back it was a surprise to see the last posting was in March. So, with summer almost over, I'll give my blogging the old "back to school" organization plan. To those who have lived in our house, remember vitamins, vegetables and healthy eating. Hopefully blogging will do better!!

This top is "Shrug This" from One Skein Wonders done in Lion Brand Cool Wool on the left - added about 4 additional length inches. Same item in a silk blend on the right - only added about an inch to the length.

Our family is well - some projects for the growing children have been completed.

A new pumpkin hat for Miss JE and a candy corn hat for her birthday buddy CH rounded out the Halloween knitting. Children are still deciding on costumes - soon the machines will be humming and the fabric flying so all can be finished in time. My favorite sewing has always been the costumes - so creative.

Miss JE's sweater has been completed and it's even more adorable when worn by a special cutie. I loved the smocking - something I've never done before. I believe it's a Sirdar pattern, color obviously purple.

The socks turned out well - two knit at the same time on two circulars. A new tecnique for me from Antje Gillingham's book "Knitting Circles around Socks". It worked and I happily completed the two - no longer suffering from 'one sock' syndrome.

Sewing class will begin soon and I'll be teaching a lined vest this semester. It's going to be interesting to see the look on the faces of people who have never used a sewing machine before - planning to make a lined piece of clothing!

Fresh off the needles (last night) One More Row pattern by Jill Vosburg "Hearbeat Sweater". The yarn is Summer Soft by Filatura Lanarota, a worsted weight rayon/acrylic color 202.

Some charity baby hats, a 'flag bag' for scout flags for our son-in-law, FINALLY finishing repairs and reworking of nephew Phil's quilt from Grandma, and two pink modular knit baby carseat blankets rounded out the recently completed craft list.

The past few months have been exciting. Our youngest grandson, CH was christened and within a few weeks, he and his parents moved further west - out where the snow and sun are one.

We visited JC, JE, BD and their parents and had fun seeing our first professional soccer game with them. This August they spent some time with us and had a great time experiencing the south shore beaches.

We've all installed webcams on our computers so that we can see the family and just how quickly the children grow (ok, some new laptops come with them built in). BD was quite surprised to see me on his mom's computer - didn't quite understand it yet. JC is missing his two front teeth (they fell out naturally) has started school - already in 2nd grade. The time goes so fast! JE has orientation on Wednesday and class starting on Thursday. She's ready to go! BD will be spending time with his mom and missing JE and JC. Out west, CH is eating cereal and trying other new foods. He spends lots of time with mom and dad and has made a friend in his daycare program. He's sporting at least 1 new tooth!

BBQ season has been in full force and we're just back from New Holland, PA where Chris was a judge at a BBQ competition. Good food, good people, good time.

The next few months will mean more commuter traffic for Chris, now that school is in session.

Some fall plans for me include sewing classes, knitting classes and reorganizing our genealogy files (recently completed is my portion of a database documenting the Kings County Deaths index for 1881).

Summer has been a corn lover's delight - we thought last year's crop was good, but this season it was even better! We're looking forward to the cool nights and have decided to keep fuel costs down by using our coal stoves this winter. A bit more work, but so cozy! Till next time....