The Art Institute of Chicago

We are back from a quick trip to Chicago. This was the last weekend that the golden orb spider silk weaving would be on display.

We picked up P from school on Friday and were on our way.

I had forgotten how much there is to see at the Art Institute of Chicago.

P and I spent a bit of time looking at the Thorne Rooms.

There we are!

We wandered around the museum for hours until we couldn't absorb any more. There was much that we didn't see. I guess we'll have to make another trip to Chicago one day!After a quick walk over to the lake we hopped back on the train to go back to the airport area where we had stayed the night and left our car for the day.

Quick trips can be fun!

Quilted

I am grateful that I have created a job that I love, that I can set my own hours and work at home or even sometimes when I am out and about. 

Gratitude

I am grateful for homegrown foods. It might be time for dinner in a pumpkin again.

Gratitude

I am grateful that she enjoys artistic endeavors and likes to spend time working on projects in the sewing room with me.

Happy Halloween

Pumpkins by P and D.

Thoughtful Sunday

"...from November to March
the winter winds are harsh
on the fields and the marsh
they're covered up with snow
when you trudge to the shed
you have to scratch your head
because the dad-blamed pile's getting low
on wood (hardwood)
firewood (dry wood)
there's not a stove in the world
that's going to do you any good
with out wood (stovewood
)we could (you should)
be out cutting more wood..."

"More Wood", Dillon Bustin, 1983.

(We listen to this on the Voices of Winter cd with Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills, and Cindy Mangsen)

Fun Fabric Challenge

Last week I got this stack of fabrics from Jennifer Paganelli.

I was ready for a new project so I eagerly jumped in with my rotary cutter. These large floral prints called for larger pieces than I have been working with.

I paired the prints with a great Robert Kaufman solid. I think it is a Carolina Chambray - the warp is a golden yellow and the weft is a dark chocolate brown. The result is a very pretty solid that goes great with these colorful prints.

I finished sewing the top together this afternoon.I spread this out on the floor to pin baste and got another photo of the quilt in different light. I love how it looks like there are two different solid fabrics here. I cut the triangles both ways on the diagonal to give this effect.

It is a subtle thing but I think it adds interest to the finished quilt.

The Playhouse Project

We have just about finshed the outhouse/playhouse renovation. In the last two years we built a foundation in a new location, laid a floor, gave it new shingles, new siding, windows, fresh paint, a front porch....

Just in case you are wondering there are some orginal parts there - just look at that little cresent moon.

The door is original but B took it completely apart and put in a large glass window. It is shorter than it used to be because the bottom of the door had rotted. Actually, the whole outhouse is shorter due to rot. But P is not as tall as the rest of us so that worked out pretty well.

P, of course, chose the paint colors!

B found the windows in our barn and installed them so that they swing open. He also designed and made a clever handle that can allow the window to be held partially open.

The curtain rods are made from some of B's old wood arrows. He carved the holders for them too. The curtains are made from fabric from a friend's sewing room clean out. Thanks Karen!

I love the old knobs.

B fixed the door with a ball and socket latch so you just have to pull it open and shut and there is no danger of getting locked inside.

Yesterday we completed our work by putting a front porch in place. The porch is a big slab of cement that used to be part of a retaining wall by the barn.

It is fun to see the outhouse and lots of found objects have a new life as a fun and functional playhouse.

Her "fairy garden" is next to the playhouse so bringing the flowers up to and around the house is the next step. We'll do that in the spring.

B has said that he will put in a flip up table and a small corner shelf. The old wooden chairs for the playhouse are chairs that the boys used when they went to the coop preschool that all three kids attended. The chairs were replaced before P started school but she has enjoyed using a few of them here.

This is what it looked like a couple of years before we started the renovation.

Milestones

Today is a day to mark some milestones.

First, today is my four year "blogaversary". It is hard to believe that it has been four years since that very first blog post where I shared my recipe for "Little Red Hen Bread". The last four years have been quite a journey.  I have "met" many wonderful people through this blog and have even met some of you in person! Thank you to all of you who continue to visit and leave comments for me. You really help keep me going.

Second, this is my 1000th blog post. One thousand! It's kind of hard to believe.

Third, I am halfway one fourth of the way to my tiny star goal.

Originally, I calculated that I would need about 500 star blocks for the quilt I have in mind. After a month of tiny piecing, I was thrilled to have made 250 stars. Thinking that I was just over half way, I recalculated to see exactly how many more I need.  Well, I found that my original math was WAY off and I will need 1011 stars. So, I have many more to make. I will surely be needing to cut into some bigger pieces of solid fabrics to complete these stars. I've almost used up all of my small pieces.I'll let you know when I reach 1000 tiny stars - that will be a milestone to celebrate!I hope you all stick around and come back to see the finished quilt someday.

Wordless Wednesday

New Knitting

I am making good progress on my new knitting project!

Apple Time

We're making applesauce!

Thoughtful Sunday

"The cat's among the pixies now."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J K Rowling, 2003.

Peapod and Midnight

One of the good things about working on multiple projects is that the finishes can happen in close succession!

This week I finished a pair of socks that, according to my Ravelry notes, I started back in May.

I liked the pattern that I used for these mitts so much that I adapted them for socks.

The pattern is Quinault by Marjorie Walter The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll in Peapod.

Also finished this week - plain crew socks for BThe yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Midnight.

And I have already started a new knitting project!Yay for finishes!Yay for new beginnings!

Misty Morning

Yesterday a friend and I went on a misty morning photo walk in the cemetery.

Millions of Cats

I feel like we live in Wanda Gag's Millions of Cats.

Last spring P was commissioned to make ten cat families each consisting of a mama cat with three babies. The babies are filled with rice and are made following P's Super Easy Cat Bean Bag tutorial.

The mama cats are bigger and are not stuffed. They are made with a hole in the bottom and have a snap closure so that the babies can be stored inside of the mama cat.

We won't discuss the fact that the mama has to give birth to the kittens each time they are taken out for play.

We worked on them in spurts over the summer. I did the hand stitching on the bottom of the mamas for her and last night we put snaps on them all. These will then be going to a friend and will be put in the family Christmas store at her church. Children will be allowed to come to the store and shop for their families.  I hope they think they are as cute as we do. P doesn't want them all to go...

We used scrap fabrics for the kittens and I used some of my 1930's reproduction fabrics for the mamas. P loves the reproduction 30's fabrics and has picked out some of those for more doll clothes! It has been fun to have a sewing project to work on together.

Thoughtful Sunday

"Sometimes one must travel far to discover what is near."

The Treasure, Uri Shulevitz, 1978.

A Fine Finish

This week I worked on the same projects as last week. I did finish spinning the roving and now have five hanks of pretty wool. You might not think this is a finished project but trust me, it is - at least for now. I'll enjoy it like this as home decor for a while.

I'm still working on socks, cats, and tiny stars. I'm formulating a plan for the stars that will require hundreds of them. We shall see how that goes. I have made a pretty good dent in the solid fabric scraps though!

American Chestnut

My plan was to post this picture today with a quote. I thought surely Laura Ingalls Wilder had written something about roasting chestnuts in her books but she did not.

So, instead I'll tell you a little about our American Chestnut trees.The American Chestnut used to be a prominent tree in the eastern United States. They were all but eliminated by the chestnut blight in the early 1900s.  Typically new trees don't live long enough to flower and fruit. Several organizations have been trying to reintroduce blight resistant trees to the original growing range.

When we first bought our property more than twenty years ago we started planting trees from the soil conservation service. One year they offered American Chestnut seedlings. We bought a small bundle of those and two of them have grown to adulthood. For several years we have seen flowers and one had the prickly fruits grow on the trees. Previous years we have found lots of flat nuts. They were not fertilized and did not grow into plump fruit.

Our two trees are not very close to each other so this spring when we noticed that the trees were flowering we clipped a flowering branch from one tree and tossed it into the tree that has had the prickly burs on it in the past

.Our experiment worked!

This year we have plump chestnuts!

Now we need to decide if we will roast them or plant them.

Week in Review

The sewing room was buzzing with activity this week but I finished nothing.

I was listening to audio books while:

knitting two pair of socks - I'm on the second of each pairs
pinning up some roving - just over half finished with that ball of roving
making little stars - I have about a hundred of them so far
!helping P with a commissioned sewing project - we're 3/4 the way finished

I enjoyed listening to Jim Dale read the entire Harry Potter series so much last fall that I am listening to it again. I have heard the first three books but the fourth was not at the library when I went so I had to find something else.

Earlier this week I heard The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman read by the author and am currently listening to Year of Wonders A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks also read by the author. I love listening to Geraldine's voice.Do you like to listen to audio books? If so, which books have you enjoyed?