Friday's Flower Linden

Today's flower is from our Linden tree. It is also commonly called a Basswood tree. The specific name is Tilia Americana. The flowers are used for herbal tea, and this infusion is particularly popular in Europe. I have not attempted to make tea from the flowers.







Our proud tree is covered with tiny flowers. With all of the rain this season the blossoms are producing in record number. The tiny bells smell a little like fabric softener. The smell is intoxicating.




The timber and has very little grain, so it is a popular wood for model building and intricate carving. Also the acoustic properties make it popular for electric guitar and bass bodies and wind instruments like recorders. It is also the wood of choice for the window blinds and shutters industries. Real wood blinds are often made from this lightweight but strong wood which is well suited to natural and stained finishes.
I encourage you to take some time today and gander at all the different flowers in bloom. Take a deep breath and discover God's awesome creation.
Have a marvelous weekend!

Doing it Continetal Style

Knitting is such a great hobby. It has so many great steps involved. First and foremost is the fiber. The texture and colors fascinate me. The skein above is from Woolen Rabbit. It is a called Opulence. The fiber is a Merino/Silk yarn. Rhubarb is the color. It feels like butter.
My knitting can be improved. I am striving to better my workmanship. I will have to admit that I am a thrower. I knit English style. That's how I learned to knit. I feel very comfortable in my style of knitting. But I know there is more out in knitland. Sometimes I get aches in my hands. I also tend to strain my neck and shoulders. I am perpetually trying to find that perfect spot I can sit in. I am aware that there are other styles of knitting. In the video below Lorilee describes needing to know how to have more than one style in your knitting repertoire. It's a good idea not to do the same movements over and over.





I really want to master the continental style of knitting. It looks so easy. I started to daydream about all of the stockinette stitch that could been knit lightening speed fast. Then I started to think of all the other projects that I would like to make. How about the yarn? I would need to get more in my stash for all of the beautiful sweaters I want to knit. Hmmmm. The wheels were turning. After watching the video I knew I could do it. I pulled out some cotton yarn and a set of bamboo straight needles size 6. I have to say that it is harder than it looks. The tension feels awkward in my left hand. My middle finger is clumsy. It feels so foreign. The first thing that I noticed was how loose I was knitting. Normally I knit pretty tight. I mentally have to tell myself to loosen up when I knit.





This is what my swatch looked like after 4 row of doing it Continental style. To me it seems loose. If you look close you can see some mistakes too!




Then I switched over and knit English style and see what the difference would be. I knit 4 more rows. The only deviance is how tight the stitches are on the needle.



I am wondering how many of you knit Continental style? If you do how long did it take you to feel comfortable. Also what do you think the benefits are? If you have any hints please share them!

Fireworks with Kansas

On Thursday evening we ventured out to Summerfest. It's held in Milwaukee Wisconsin the week before the Fourth of July and runs for 11 days. Every day several bands perform. We went to see the 70's band Kansas. My DH always enjoyed listening to their music. We left right after work. The drive only took about an hour. We arrived on a mission to get some good seats for once. Usually we stand way in the back and crane our necks to see the band on stage. Imagine our surprise to actually get some good seats on bleachers about 20 rows back. I will have to say that the people watching was at an all time high! Milwaukee started to light off the fireworks and everyone on the bleachers stood on top of them. I couldn't see anything! Yes, I know I'm only 5.3' but that was ridiculous. I do have to say that the fireworks were awesome. They were lit off right over the water. It lasted for a hour. Then at 10:00 Kansas hit the stage. They sounded great. Kansas sounded a great as the recors. Oh no, did I just date myself with that statement? Big smile The only problem was I couldn't see even the top of the band members heads. We ended up standing way in the back and were able to see Kansas just fine. Sorry, but not any of my Kansas pictures turned out. My daughter laughed when she found out we were going to be out past midnight. Actually she teased us endlessly that ole Mom and Dad would be out until 1:30a.m. I don't know, I'm not that old yet! Or am I? Hmmmmmm.




I continued car knitting on Wicked the way to Summerfest. It is great mindless project to knit in the car. I am finished with the body of the sweater. Yeah! I do have to make another decision about the bottom of the sweater. The pattern calls for a seed stitch. I would like it too look a bit more finished. I'm checking on Ravelry to get some other ideas. I am determined to wear my sweater to the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair in 2 weeks!

Knee High by the Fourth of July

One of my very favorite things about summer is sweet corn! I like mine buttered with lots of kosher salt. Easily I can munch down 2 ears. When I make it at home I roast it on the grill. I peel off the leaves and save them for my horses to feast on. Then I place the corn directly on the grill grate. It only takes about 15 minutes to roast it this way. It's fast and you have no mess to clean up. This yarn is from Crazy Monkey Creations and is called Panda Toes. Click here to go to her Etsy store.The colorway is Ripening grapefruit. I think it looks like Sweet Corn. Want a bite?





Here in the Midwest the farmers have an expression "knee high by the fourth of July". It is a gauge of how well your corn crop will be. It means that the growing conditions have been good so far. I have known that saying since I was a child. Every year I make sure to keep a watch on the progress of the corn growing. The corn is almost to my waist. That means a great corn crop for our farmers! Hallelujah!



This is a shot of the field corn crop growing across the road from us. By the time it is ready it will be about 12 feet tall. If Bruce was growing sweet corn it would only grow about 4 to 5 feet tall. One of my all time favorite songs that I sing almost everyday is from the musical "Oklahoma". 'Oh what a beautiful morning' has a line that says; "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye, An' it looks like its climbin' clear up to the sky." The lyrics are very true!



The weekend has been absolutely beautiful. The weather is warm and sunny. Also very low humidity. As I thought back on our past 4th of July weekends I can't remember one as perfect as this one. We did a lot this weekend. So much so that this afternoon we are relaxing a bit. I have lots more to share with you.
I hope your holiday weekend was wonderful! Until next time.................

Lots of Lace

Gust is coming along little by little. I am really enjoying the process. I am amazed that little ole me is actually knitting lace! So far so good. I had done about 13 repeats of the 12 row pattern. Each repeat takes about an hour to knit. I know I'm slow. Thanks o.k. I really don't want to hurry. Whenever I hurry that's when I make mistakes. Come in for a little closer look.





The pattern is so interesting and has great texture. It really looks like waves. I have never blocked anything before. I suppose the lace will totally change after It's soaked and blocked.






I won an on-line contest on Ravelry last week. This was my score. I opened up the box and was so surprised to find my winnings wrapped up in this cool wrapping paper. Thinking of the blog, I had to take a picture to show you.





I recieved this very informative book. Sew U by Wendy Mullin is a guide to sewing your own wardrobe. What a great book. Now if I could only find a book on how to make your own Time Machines.....

Quilted Postcards

These are Quilted Postcards. You basically make in mini quilt that is 4" by 6" just like a postcard. I came up with an idea of butterflies and sketched it out. I looked around my sewing room to find the perfect fabric to use. I took the fabric that I used for the backround and backed it with a piece of flannel and machine quilted it. I wanted it to look like the butterflies were in flight. The next step was to fuse the butterfly applique to some fusable webbing called Steam a Seam. At that point I ironed the applique to the backround and machine stitched the little bodies onto the applique. Then I ironed on another piece of Steam a Seam to the back of the mini quilt. For added firmness I placed an index card in the middle of the mini front and the fabric I used for the back. I ironed all of the layers together. At that point I finished the edges with a very tight zig zag stitch and used variegated thread. For the finishing touch I glued on some Swarovski crystals for the antenna. Here is a close up of one of the finished Quilted Postcards. I took them into the post office to mail them. Even the postal workers were impressed! I had to use a 42 cent stamp to mail them.



I swaped with 14 other people. I made several extras to mail to friends and family. It was a huge hit! Here are some of the others I have received



This one is from Sally and the first one that was mailed to me. Isn't it pretty? I have received almost all of the cards from the swap. I took a shot of what I have so far. A few of these are my test ones. Sally was kind enough to send me one of hers before I started this swap.



I have to share some interested facts on one of the fabrics I used.



This is a vintage Hoffman fabric from the early 1970's. I found it in a fabric store that has been around for over 40 years. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the shop's basement. It was loaded with all kinds of fabrics that were out of date. I saw this funky fabric and had to have it. Can you imagine all the cool hippies making clothes out of this? My friend and I bought the entire bolt.



This is a shot of the top of the bolt. Notice the price. Yup, $2.69! That's what I paid per yard! You can't go wrong for the 1970's price!

Prime Peak Time

My lace project Gust is coming along slowly. I had to frog back several times. You know the saying; Good things come to those who wait, well that is so true. I am enjoying the challenge. I really have to concentrate on the directions so I don't miss a yarn over. Last week Jennygirl suggested I put in a life line. I have followed her advice and I am feeling a bit more confident with my lifeline inserted after each repeat. So far I have finished two repeats. Here is the progress of Gust. It is so beautiful! The yarn reminds me of a few of the flowers that are blooming in my garden.




This pretty Peony is still blooming. This plant is in it's prime peak time for the season. I actually dug part of this plant from the house were I grew up. These peonies grew on the south side of my parents home. I always looked forward to the spring when I knew these pretty flowers would make their debut.




I also noticed that the delphinium's have just started to bloom. They blues are so gorgeous. The colors are reminding me of the yarn I'm using for Gust.



This peony is one of my favorites. I just adore the deep pink color. The blooms are almost finished for the year. I am always amazed at the size of these flowers. The blooms are larger than my entire hand!
This is not the most flattering shot of this...but here it goes.... Susan if you are reading this is for you! I put my Wicked sweater on some scrap yarn so I could try it on. It seems to be fitting real well. I am really getting bored with all of this same stitch. It seems like I've knitted miles upon miles of stockinette stitch! Yes, I will finish. My question is how do you get through those tedious patterns? I think for me I need to work on something more complicated to keep the knitting mojo going!