THANKFUL !

Happy upcoming Thanksgiving to all my US blog friends !  I updated my blog face which I should have done at the beginning of November instead of the end - oh well - I never seem to be on time for anything.

The bird in my blog header is a distelfink not a turkey - but he looks enough like a turkey that he can pose as one this year.

I wanted to show you a few finishes - yep FINISHES ! and for my knitting friends - a shot of the only thing I have been knitting lately.  This is Solace by a Finnish designer Janino - you can find the pattern on Ravelry.  It is knit with two yarns I have never knit with before Rowan Fine Tweed is the barley color and Shibui Pebble is the dark green.  They are lovely together even though the Pebble is quite fine - I would say a very light fingering.  In Janino's pattern - she recommends using a fingering and a lace weight together to make a light wrap.  it is a fun and easy pattern.

This is a darling ornament that my mom stitched from the 2013 JCS Christmas issue.  *I* did the finishing.  I am quite proud of it even though it's not up to a "Faye" quality finish - it was still rewarding to accomplish since I am definitely NOT a finisher. 

This is the back of the ornament.  I put the little bell on his hat and a bigger bell on the back.  The cording is twisted bakers twine which I found at Joann's.  It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it worked out OK.

The big news flash is that I finished my Autumn House.  It's off to the framers in hopes that it will be ready in 2 weeks to display at our EGA chapters Christmas luncheon and annual exhibit of finishes for 2015.  I can't say how proud I am of this piece.  Too bad you can't see much detail.  Maybe when I get it back from the framer I will inundate you with more photos.  I'm sure I can hear a HALLELIUAH !  she's done!  so you don't have to see any more photos of this WIP.  It is a Melissa Shirley design and the thread choices and stitch choices were all my own.  I worked on this piece for years but there were often many months that went by when it went completely untouched.  There was also a period of about 6 mos where I waited for more of the antique black used in the sky.  Ended up ordering from a different shop and got it in a week.  You never know what the hold up is with certain things that never come in. 

One last finish - this is one of those Shepherds Bush pre-made bags.  This one is Busy Bee and so adorable.  It was fun to do and I enjoyed it immensely.

I might have another finish for 2015 - just not sure if I can focus and get something finished or not.  I have about 10 Christmas/snowmen/winter things I'd like to start and I am trying to focus on Gather a Harvest by Hands on Design but that is fall and in my book fall is over when Thanksgiving is over so we'll take bets on how long I can focus on that one.

 

I am wishing for every one of you who celebrate Thanksgiving to really think about what the holidays mean here in the US. Take a moment to be "thankful"  for what is important to you and your families and friends.  How much we have here, the safety we've taken for granted for so many years, how fast you can lose all that and be in fear every day of your life.  My heart goes out to all our friends in France and Belgium and around the world where peace is no longer visible in their lives.

God bless the USA and our military all around the world, be with them during this Thanksgiving and holiday season.  Enjoy and don't forget to spend a few quiet moments with your needles and hooks this holiday if you can. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

Happy Friday to one and all.  I am enjoying the beautiful sun shine here in the deep south where we've had NO/ZERO/NADDA/ZIPPO fall weather.  We've been in the 80's all month long with a few wet and gray, drizzly days sprinkled in there.  Most people would love this weather but I long for cooler weather - 20 degrees cooler would be great with me.  Oh well - I guess we will get there but the 10 day forecast was more of the same.

Before the month is gone - I wanted to show you some of the fall and Halloween decorating around my humble abode.

Here is that cute piece I bought in South Ga. earlier this month.  Isn't he fun ! He is made from a propane tank (see previous post)  We'll put a candle inside tomorrow night to greet our little ghouls at the door.

 

 He sits at the edge of our front garden walkway smiling at all who dare to enter.

 Here is my pumpkin and gourd display this year.  It is in a small child's wheelbarrow a dear friend gave me this summer.  She said "promise me you'll do a pumpkin arrangement in it"  - so here dear Faye is your pumpkin arrangement.

 Speaking of gifts and dear friends - look at the FAB-ulous pumpkin that my DF Becky made for me.
It is so creative and so cool.  I love the real dried pumpkin stem and the way she glammed it up a bit with a few beads and a felted tendril.  You can never imagine how lovely this piece is unless you could see it in person.  It looks great on the pewter tray with my pottery pumpkins from the Old Mill Pottery in Tenn.

Here is my evil looking button eyed cat by Scarlet House.  It is shown for lighting purposes along with my Old Salem box from Liberty Hill.  Faye from Carolina Stitcher did the lovely finishing on it.

Here is the back of the pin pillow which is filled with walnut shells I presume.  Creative finishing as usual by Faye.

Here's where the cat is living currently.  The coloring in this photo is much more accurate than the other two.  Plus there's a good shot of the pottery pumpkins.

Makes a nice little vignette with my Scarecrow in the Pumpkin Patch hooked rug. 

Where's the stitching, knitting, hooking progress you say???  Well - I certainly don't have much to show for the month.  I did finish that pina ghoulada ornament but haven't completed the "finishing" yet.  I did find a suitable backing material last weekend and a rick rack trim so I am making baby steps towards getting that done.

Here is tree #1 in the Fanciful Forest club I was doing with the Needleponter which is in Washington State.  I have enjoyed this one but I changed the stitch on the tree to my own choosing.  I am setting up basketweave in the background using Floche ( my first time) and then I will do Dotted Swiss background.  Mary Corbet did a whole blog post yesterday on Floche by DMC. 

  So I am learning some new things with this club.  This club is an exclusive by Pippin Studios in Canada.  The Needleponter is their US distributor.  They have some great special collaboration pieces exclusive to their shop by Pippin .

Finally - a beautiful double mum in two colors given to me by my dear husband.  I love looking at it every day by my back door. 

 

Hopefully next post I will have some knitting and hooking to show.  Maybe some stitching too.

 

Here's hoping you plan to have a wonderful Halloween even if its only to watch a spooky movie or two and eat some of your favorite candy and take a few happy stitches.

 

 

 

OK IT'S OCTOBER

On a recent jaunt thru south central Georgia - I found a wonderful prim shop called Alice & Jay.

On my way to Auburn on a business trip I spotted all these great Halloween things sitting out on the highway in a little tiny town called Sasser.  I thought to myself - now on the way back I must stop and check these out.  The shop was FULL of prim furniture and all sorts of things they make on site in their metal shop.  They also have another location down near Thomasville Ga.

 

Here is the cute witches that caught my eye.  They are made from old discarded propane tanks.  How clever !  I couldn't decide what I wanted, decisions decisions.

This is not a great photo but I ended up getting the jack-o-lantern with the hat.  I'll have to show the one I got before October is over.  I need to finish some decorating at home and get some photos.

I said I wasn't going to show my Autumn House again until it was finished.   However I am so elated that I finished that hateful black bargello sky that I thought I should show a photo.  All I have left is the borders and I really need to move on with finishing this up.  It's on my EGA Chapter challenge list and I want it done !  If I finished it up this weekend (HA!)  I could actually just sit it out and use it this month and then get it framed in November.  Good idea, get it done !

This is a crummy photo and don't ask me why I was so taken with the ornament from the recent JCS magazine.  It is called Pina Ghoulada - fun !  I just love that eyeball button you put in the bottom of the glass and the little spider dangling from the straw.  I was simply amazed that my buddy Cathy at Inspired Needle had this color linen in stock along with the linen needed another ornament I loved in that same issue, the one with the witch button from Italy.  I have barely started that one and I hope to try and do the finishing myself since all the finishers I work with have closed off their services till 2016 because of the load of holiday requests.

 

Not much else new in my world - I have been knitting but just working on that same Sailing shawlette I showed in the prior post.  I'm itching to start something more fallish in color.  I paid a visit to a great yarn shop in Savannah this week and picked up some beautiful Shibui Pebble which I had never seen in person  for a new shawl I've had my eye on.  Maybe next time I come to visit - It will be started. 

 

Hope you all will stop by and tell me what you've been doing to get ready for fall or what's in your WIP basket.  Enjoy all the sights and sounds of Autumn. 

SAY IT ISN'T SO !!!!!!

Is it really time for the first Pumpkin Spice Latte frenzy of the season at Starbucks !

 Sad thing is mine had to be "iced" because it's still in the mid 90's here in the deep south. Never mind all the blah blah about the zillion calories and the fact that nothing in it is real flavoring.  I just don't care - give me my PSL and iced is just fine thank you !

In an effort to post more to my blog - I wanted to show you my finished distelfink.  I posted this on FB also and I got some inquiries about the pattern which is a Lori Brechlin folk art piece reproduced with her permission by Kris Miller of Spruce Ridge Rug Studios in Michigan.  It is hooked on linen with a 6 cut.  I am so pleased with how my bird came out.  I added some detail to his wing because it was too plain and boring.  The dots were drawn in but I think adding some colors from the tail feathers brought him to life. His body is really a great color in person, a cool plaid.  It was a rainy Labor Day weekend in the deep south so it was fun to sit and hook and watch a movie I've seen a dozen times.

This is my progress so far on my "Sailing KAL"  - the White Gum DK yarn is hand dyed by Meg the designer of Atelier in Australia.  I ordered the yarn off her Etsy site and there will be more in my future.  It is just lovely to work with just slides off the needles like butter.

I'm sure I've shown this pillow before - it is one of the Mirabilia Mermaids stitched by my dad.  It made a nice accompaniment to my "come sail away" shawl.  My DH is eyeballing this shawl - he said is that a woman's shawl???  I said well almost everything can be unisex these days, hummm - Maybe I should have said Oh yes and it's for *ME* !

 

I have started at least 4 stitching projects in the past 9 days.  I feel like I was let out of jail when I was released from my camp loopy knitting obligation the end of August.  I have started the Little House Needlework SAL on FB with Vonna's group.  I ordered Acorn Hill an older pattern and got some beautiful vintage Lentil linen to stitch with Belle Soie silks.  yummy!  I started a cute Halloween ornament Pina Ghoulada from the JCS mag and ordered the supplies for 2 more in that same issue.  I found more I liked in there than in the Halloween JCS.  I started the BBD Away we Ride - another Halloween-ish design.  A new SB piece that just came out.  I have been on a buying frenzy and it has GOT to stop !

 

Have any of you been under the influence of "fall feelings" lately?  Have you been finishing up fall things or starting new ones?  I'd love to hear what you've been up to.  Thanks for visiting and commenting on my blog,  it's always great to hear from you !

SUDDENLY SEPTEMBER !

Tried my best to make this post yesterday while it was still August.  I was actually ready to bid farewell to August.  I had some fun in August with a vacation to the Smoky mountains in Tenn. and my mom's birthday to celebrate and a partial rug hooking workshop.  I'll highlight some of the fun in photos for you.

This is Peace and Plenty - A Not Forgotten Farm design.  I had started it years ago and lost some of the wool when we moved.  I also found out the bird was a distelfink not a turkey and my whole color plan fell apart.  It was rolled up and put in the wool cupboard for years.  I really got a nice boost from Carrie Martin at a recent rug workshop.  I rehooked all the tail feathers, started the bird body and hooked the sunflower which I like very much.  The squirrel, urn and Plenty was hooked in a prior workshop.  I will now be able to happily continue on with it.  I got a lot done in 1 day, I was leaving to go on vacation so I missed 2/3 of the workshop.

This is my Old Glory finish - It was a SAL on FB with the LHN group.  It was the patriotic SAL which bled over into the summer SAL.  Just no time for stitching this summer because all my spare time was taken up with Camp Loopy knitting challenges.

Here is my beautiful perch on the balcony at the condo in Tenn.  This is where I put the last stitches in Old Glory.

Gorgeous view of the Smoky mountain range  - Wish I was there now.  We actually didn't sit on the balcony much.  It rained a lot but at least it was a break from the oppressive heat and humidity we've had in NE FL this year.

Here is my dear ones at the Apple Barn.  See the beautiful apple tree and barn in the background.  Always have to pay a visit to this place and pick up some jellies, jams and apple BBQ sauce. oh and fried apple hand pies. 

This wool pincushion was a "taste of " wool applique project in our duClay EGA chapter .

It was led by my DF Katie and each pin cushion was completely different.  Almost all 16 people left that day with a completed pincushion.  DF Becky made the beautiful beaded pins for each chapter member to adorn their pincushion.  We have some great gals in our group, so giving and so willing to share.

I have a love/hate relationship with this project.  This is an early photo of my Camp Loopy project for August.  This is the beauty that killed me and kept me from finishing my 3rd Camp Loopy in  a row.  My other friends all finished theirs and August just didn't go my way.  This was a beautiful well written pattern by Laura Aylor called Woods in Winter.  You might not can see too well but the whole border has a row of staggered leaves.  It is a 37 row repeat and every single row is different.  I had to use highlighter tape and still mark every row.  I did not mess up but it became apparent after vacation I was in danger of not finishing but I kept pressing myself to stay on task.  some nights a row or two was all I could muster and this past week, there were several nights no progress was made at all.  The outcome was eminent - I was not going to finish this year.  I was very disappointed but I have decided what is past is past and I'm ready for some fun fall stitching and hooking.  I'm going to give this project a rest for a while and pick up my Sailing KAL - I'll show a photo next time of the gorgeous bright blue yarn I purchased from the designer down under.

Here's my dearest buddy after having lunch one day on vacation.

He wanted to stop by a stream on the way home but it was too slippery and too steep for him to get down in the water.

 

I hope to come back more often, I see more and more people not posting to their blogs any more. I enjoy mine and I enjoy yours too.  Thanks as always for visiting and commenting.  Hope you have a simply marvelous September !

SAILING THRU SUMMER

Again - I am struggling to make a post on the last day of the month.  July is gone and I can't say I'm sorry to see it go.  My MIL passed away several weeks ago and my DH has been taking the loss pretty hard.  To make matters worse - on the day of her funeral - my 50 year old co-worker had a heart attack.  Thankfully he was able to get treatment and surgery and is recovering well and came back to work this week.  In the interim - I have been trying to keep his work afloat as well as my own.  It has not been the easiest time I've ever had but so much to be thankful for and I am thankful !

On to what little bit of fun I've had in July.  Most of my needlework endeavors have centered around getting my project for Camp Loopy 2 completed.  I did complete with a week to spare. 

This is Nangou - I used 4 different colors of Shibui Staccato fingering weight yarn.  I have used this yarn before and I enjoyed both the pattern and the yarn.  The challenge this month was a minimum of 600 yards and mine should be a little over 600 yards.


 my next challenge for Camp Loopy 3 is this Mrs Crosby Hat Box - lovely Sport weight yarn.  I am doing a design called the Woods in Winter by Laura Aylor - the challenge for August is the hardest - for me anyway - it is a minimum of 800 yards in your project.  Every year I have trouble meeting this challenge but having pretty yarn helps.  I hope this pattern wont be too difficult - I usually go with a very easy pattern for the last challenge.

There's been a little needlepoint here and there but certainly not much time for that.  Here is a my first club piece in the series called Fanciful forest by Pippin Studios.  It is an exclusive for the Needlepointer shop out in Washington state.   I fell in love with the simplicity of Pippin designs after I saw several of them on shop blogs after the big winter needlepoint market.  As usual I am very behind and I have 4 trees stacked up but this first one is enjoyable and easy to pick up and put down and right now - it is all the brain power I can devote to np.

This is a combo shot.  It is a photo of my LHN Old Glory piece.  It was a LHN FB SAL with Vonna's group but I missed the deadline of 7/4 for completing.  So .....   There is still Labor Day and if I don't get too itchy for fall stuff before then - I will keep trying to finish this piece.  Problem is  - I don't allow myself much stitching time at all when I am supposed to be dedicating all my free time to Camp Loopy projects.

Oh and that beautiful blue yarn just winged it's way to my mailbox last night from the land down under.  Atelier in Australia is the hand dyer of this lovely yarn.  MORE BLUE - what is the world coming to.  I am working on another of Meg's designs called Big Blue and it is lovely blue yarn too.  This beautiful yarn is for a KAL that just started in July on another of Meg's designs I fell in love with called Sailing. Hence the blog title - and the name of my new project "Come Sail Away" one of my favorite STYX songs.  Meg also dyes yarn and this is White Gum DK - I discovered/remembered when I got this yarn and saw the needle size recommended that apparently in some countries - DK = our worsted or maybe a light worsted if there is such a thing.  Anyway - I couldn't wait to cast on and give it a try and start the Sailing KAL.  It is lovely yarn and an interesting pattern which I am enjoying so far.

 

Not much to report in the rug hooking world - I am still working a little on my bunny runner and my patriotic Uncle Sam hat canvas.  I am looking forward to a rug hooking workshop in 2 weeks with Carrie Martin - A national teacher from Louisiana.  I will be revisiting a Not Forgotten Farm pattern called Peace and Plenty.  I need to rework the distelfink on the pattern and this is a good time to do that. 

 

Hope you are all "sailing thru summer" in grand style.  Doing whatever makes you happy whether it's vacationing in your favorite spot, staycationing at home, I hope you have time to pick up a needle or two and make some happiness in your hands.

LAST HOURS OF JUNE

Once again - I'm shocked that so much time has elapsed between blog posts.  I didn't want to let June go by without documenting a few things on my needlework journey.  Of course there is more stitching that was done.  My poor LHN Old Glory which was a FB SAL with the Little House Needlework group almost bit the dust.  I discovered a pretty serious error that required pulling out the whole bottom half of the piece.  So I just put on my big girl panties and ripped it all out and I'm back on track now.  Maybe I'll pop in with a patriotic post this weekend and show you my progress.

We had our annual trip to St Augustine Beach.  I had an "almost Vonna" encounter.  We were SOOO close to each other.  She even told me where they were having lunch in St Augustine but we were at the beach and they were in town.  Oh well - maybe one day we'll meet down in my neck of the woods.

Here is a cloudy after rain photo of our view of the pool and beach.

Here is my perch on the balcony where I tried to do some stitching and knitting.  It was WAY too hot.  Even for this Florida girl - The np piece is by Ruth Schmuff - a class I took at the Black Sheep.  So cute and such a fun summer piece.

Here is the first Camp Loopy finish.  It is Melodia - a shawl - it needs to be blocked so the eyelets open up and the edging might behave better too.  I had to get a photo done and put up on The Loopy Ewe.  I've been doing a lot of work travel so I was happy to finish this a week ahead of the deadline which is today.  I've done Camp Loopy for several years now with a group of friends called the Bee Eyes.  So far we are all on track - YEAH!!!!!!!!! 

This luscious selection is for Camp Loopy 2 which starts TOMORROW or maybe at midnight should I still be up.  It is usually so exciting I need to get a few stitches on the needle at midnight.

Last but not least is my patriotic rug by Polly Minick of Minick & Simpson fame.  This is from one of Polly's books, sorry I can't remember which and I just call it the Uncle Sam hat.  It is a good rug to work on at guild meetings because there is SO much mindless background to be done.  I don't mind backgrounds - they are necessary and they can certainly make or break you rug in my opinion.  So careful attention to the background is something I have learned from several teachers one of which is Polly.  I love Polly's style.

 

Well friends - I hope summer is treating you well and I hope all of you in the US are looking forward to a great 4th of July celebration.  Hope you find some time with your needle and hook.

LET FREEDOM  RING !!!!!!!!

JUST ANOTHER BAND OUT OF BOSTON

Memorial Day has come and gone, like someone said yesterday on Facebook - it's not all about BBQ's and boating.  I hope you remembered all those who gave everything for our freedom and said a prayer for those today - in our time who are still trying to protect our country and our liberties that so many sacrificed so much to preserve in generations past.

I have a few shots from our hook in last weekend to show.  I did plenty of socializing - I don't know why I didn't take more photos than I did.   However if you pop over to my friend Karen's blog over at Shady Hill Rug Hooking , she did a great post with photos of our hook in and she even got a good shot of my Antique Blue Basket rug. For some reason there wasn't much of a display of finishes this time.  As always we had a great time and we had a big crowd this time from all over north and central florida which is the way it should be at an annual event.

This is a beautiful little design that my mom hooked.  It was color planned by Vivily Powers and it hooked mostly with a 6cut.  It is a Susan Feller design but I don't remember the name of it.  I love the simplistic stylized look and my mom did a great job.  It is going to be made into a pillow so once that happens - I will show how it finished out.

This is probably the last photo you will see of the tangled bunny tote for a long time.   At least I got the bunny finished at the hook in and started putting in some of the dark maroon backround, you can see that under the bunny's belly.  Now it's time to put bunnies away and get out my patriotic rug for summer.  I have a ton left to do on my Polly Uncle Sam piece so it won't be finished in 2015 but I'll show you a progress shot in June.

I'd like to introduce you to my Bee Eyes - my buds who I knit with among many other things, we're all "hookers" too. Fortunately we were all at the hook in with our choices in hand for the upcoming Camp Loopy summer season of knitting.  In my last post I gave you a link to the Loopy Ewe - the shop who puts this event on every year.  There's still time to get your yarn from Loopy Ewe and get started on a project by June 1st.  From left to right - DF Karen, me, DF Starr and last but certainly not least on the far right is DF Henri.  As you can see - we are very happy to BEE again this summer.

DH and I were very excited to be seeing one of our favorite bands right in our area this past weekend.

Yes I'm talking about Boston !

Fans of Boston will recognize this as their long time logo - the bands name in the shape of a spaceship.  A number of their album (showing my age) covers used this logo. I'm glad they still honor it although it is updated from the 70's.

Here is the great Tom Scholz.  Founder, front man and creative genius behind Boston.

Brad Delp singer and co-founder died a few years back, so that is a sad loss but the new singer does an admirable job.  Here is what google says about Tom Scholz:

"Tom" Scholz is an American rock musician, inventor, engineer, and philanthropist, best known as the founder of the band Boston. He is also the inventor of the Rockman guitar amplifier.

That is Tom pictured on the big screen.

 One of the many amazing shots during one of their songs.  can't believe my little I phone did so well

We don't go to many concerts any more - ticket prices are mostly outrageous and most of our faves, we've seen before.  Going to this little small amphitheater over on the coast in St Augustine FL is one of our favorite venues.  It's small and intimate you can see that we had dead center seats.  There really isn't a bad seat in the house.  It was a beautiful night for the end of May, cool breezes blowing and after a lovely shrimp dinner at our favorite seafood restaurants - it was a rockin' good time with Boston.  At our age and the age of the bands we love - we enjoy every show like it might be the last.

Not much else to show but I hope to have more in the next post.  I just started a patriotic SAL on the Little House Needlework Facebook group led by Vonna of the Twisted Stitcher blog.  Vonna is a great cheerleader and I jumped right in on Old Glory.  Had the chart and linen and most of the threads I needed to get started.  I should be able to juggle that small piece along with Camp Loopy.  Hope you all enjoy the last week of May to the fullest.  Thanks as always for visiting my blog and for commenting.  I enjoy reading them all and hearing from you.

MOTHERS AND MAY

I hope all my blog friends had a wonderful Mothers Day, celebrating with family and/or friends who might be mothers.  I'm not a mom but I had a wonderful weekend with my own dear mom.  We attended the EGA meeting and stitch in on Saturday and went to brunch with my DH prior. 

Sunday my folks and I went to the beautiful picturesque Club Continental on the St Johns River for brunch.  It is a private club, an old estate home that the Palmolive Soap family built back in the early 1920's.  We love going there for special occasions and Mothers Day with my dear mom is certainly a special occasion.

I wish my dad had gotten more of the lovely fountain but I got it in my shot of them.  My DH was sick and didn't make it for brunch.

 I'm schlepping along on the Laura J Perrin np piece.  I had a counting error but am back on track - just hadn't had much time to work on it.

I had bigger fish to fry so to speak.  I found out my DF Linda's daughter and only grandbaby were coming to Florida to visit.  The sweet little baby girl and I share the same birthday so I wanted to make her something special for her birthday.  The little dress is a Knitbot pattern called Sweet Pleats.  You can't see my pleats (shoot I might have the taken the back of the dress) but I'll have to say they were sure fussy to make.  The dress is made out of worsted weight linen from Quince and Co. - Kestrel in the color sand.  I presented the gift today and both mom and grandmother were so pleased.  Now I am praying it fits over the baby's head (sigh) !  What I know about babies - you could store in a thimble.

Guess what time it is ??????  It's almost Camp Loopy time.  Yes that annual mad knitting scramble to complete a designated project in a 1 month time period.  Three projects in the good ole summertime.

A local group of friends - we call ourselves the Bee Eyes (you know BI - bad influence) and we have been knitting together for Camp Loopy for a few summers now.  Here is my first choice for June.

Sheri the owner of the Loopy Ewe  sets the parameters for each month.  This year we are all going on a virtual safari and the projects will all have something to do with, the first project has to have a minimum of 400 yards of any type, weight yarn.  It has to be something that invokes visions of a safari to you.  My choice is Fable Fibers Story, I have some in stash but have never knit with this yarn before.  If at all possible - I try to use a new-to-me yarn for Camp Loopy every summer.  Sheri give s nice discount if you order yarn for camp and if you complete all 3 projects she gives a nice bonus skein of yarn in the fall.

 

So - there is not really much new in my world.  I have been stitching some but not enough to show any progress photos.  I am close to being done with LHN Queen of Hearts but decided to just wait and show a finish photo.

 

Hope everything is right in your world and you are looking ahead to living easy in the good ole summertime!