You may have noticed in my last quilt update, that the fish quilt had and official name… I’ve called it A Fish Called Rhonda, and I thought I better explain…

First, Rhonda is Mom’s name… and since she passed on her love of all things quilting, and we both love the movie A Fish Called Wanda… well… it just worked.

Now onto those fish….

I’m currently banging them out, two at a time (One fish, two fish?), and I thought you’d like to see how I’m doing it.

You’ll need:

• Three 5″ squares in background colour
• Two 5″ squares in a fabric for the fish body. (I’m using charm packs, which is why these particular squares are 5″, but if you are cutting, you can cut them 4.5″ right away.)
• Two 5″ squares in fabric for the fish fins
• One 5″ square in fabric for the fish tail
• Four 6.5″ squares in background colour, cut on the diagonal, giving you eight triangles.

Step 1: Pair your three background squares with the fin and tail fabrics, and create two half square triangles out of each set using the 2 from 1 method. This will give you four fin blocks and two tail blocks.

Step 2: Trim your fish body, tail and fin blocks to 4.5″. (If you cut your body blocks, instead of using charms, you won’t need to trim them.)

Step 3: Arrange your blocks to look like a fish, and sew together like a four-patch.

Step 4: Starting with one side, centre the long side of your background triangles and sew to your fish (corners will extend pass the edges). Press back and repeat on other sides. (I do opposite sides first.) Tip: Don’t trim the dog ears until you are finished – it can be tricky to get them positioned, and you may want to rip back and resew.

And voila… you have two matching fish that can be arranged in any way you like. I currently have six completed which means I need another 24 to finish my quilt top.

I guess I better keep fishing…er… sewing.

 

I told you those Dragonfly socks go fast…

Here’s the first one already done and the second is well underway.  I’m very happy with the yarn I paired with the pattern – they play so nicely together.

With this pair so close to being done, I’m already thinking about what to do next. I have two more pairs of socks on the gift list – both are man-sized, but both are worsted weight (more heavy boot socks for the guys). So do I plow ahead and finish them all, or take a break from the gift knitting and do something for myself…? Some decisions are hard!

On Friday, I took the day off, loaded up Dory, picked up Mom and hit the road. We were headed north to visit our favourite trio of ladies, and reunite the Johnson Five.

Our final destination was Sauble Beach.

Sauble Beach is a beautiful beach on the shores of Lake Huron on the west side of the Bruce Peninsula – about 30 minutes from where the girls live. My grandparents used to live just outside Owen Sound, and our summer visits always included a day trip to Sauble. I haven’t been since I was about 18, which I’m sad to say is more than 20 years ago!

The sky was clear, the temps were just perfect, but boy those waves were high! Admittedly, as a kid, those were always the best days to visit, especially with our inflatable pool mats.

Rowan brought her boogie board, but we had to keep a close eye on her. At 11, she’s got no fear and those big waves also meant strong currents. It doesn’t take long to drift from view.

She would have stayed out there all day if she could.

For the rest of us, soaking up the sun punctuated by the occasional dip was more than fulfilling.

And I was happy to stand on the shore of my favourite beach and feel like a kid again!

As you know, we live in a fairly small townhouse. We’re lucky that it’s just the two of us, and there are three bedrooms, so we each have our own space (Dave has a music studio/exercise room and I have an office/sewing/craft room). But the basement is open concept, so it’s shared space – he has his workshop area (for electronic/musical equipment repair), and I have my dye/garden/canning storage area.

I’m afraid to say my area was getting a little out of control – and since Dave has to pass through it to get to his area, it was time to get it all organized again. Luckily, it didn’t take long. And one of the things I did while I was down there was take stock of how much bare yarn was left.

Can you guess?

It was a lot more than I thought – three large rubbermaid tubs full –  at least a couple hundred skeins.

So  I decided it was time to tackle some of it. What I’d like to do it dye it all up, then find a local dyer who’d like to take the what’s left of my dyes off my hands.

I won’t be able to dye it all at once, but if I can do a bag or two each week, I should be finished by Christmas.

This week, I tackled a bag of Alley Cat BFL. I know some people love it, but the BFL is not my favourite. That said, it is nice and hard-wearing – perfect for man-socks. And when I was knitting socks for Sam’s boys, you may recall that I had to buy yarn. I just don’t have much that’s “manly” in my stash.

I did 10 skeins. With the exception of the Mouse Grey and Turkey Red at the bottom right, each multi-coloured skein I dyed got a matching semi skein from the leftover dyes (all mixed together). This way I can do heels and toes if I like, or have plainer skeins for textured patterns.

After completing that, I still had energy to do a little more, so I dyed up the last eight skeins of Barn Cat Sport.

This is my favourite yarn for baby things, so I dyed it with baby sweaters in mind. Clockwise from top left – Saffron, Oxblood, Mouse Grey, and Pistachio. Not your traditional baby colours, I know…. but just think of a baby in a little red Paddington coat, or a cabled grampa sweater in that grey…. these ones are going to be fun to knit!

We just seem to be motoring through summer, don’t  we?

August is always a bit of a funny month in the garden.  It seems that almost everything that blooms has already started, and many of the plants are finished for the season. It feels like there’s nothing new… but then…

My Stargazer lilies start blooming. They are a big oriental lily like the Casablanca lilies – and in such a pretty shade of pink.

The Butterfly Bush has also started to bloom – and as you an see – the Monarch’s are happy. It’s doing exceptionally well this year, which is nice. Last year I thought I might lose it.

The Crocosmia is also blooming. These were bulbs from the Dollar Store a few years back, so I’m thrilled to see them doing well.

My pale purple Delphinium is also blooming again, which is an unexpected surprise. The pink one is showing lots of new growth, so it may bloom too!

The orange Day Lilies are done, but this beauty – Night Embers – just keeps on Blooming. So far no sign of the purple Day Lilies I planted last year. Oh well – maybe next year.

My first sunflower has bloomed! This one is Moon Shadow. It’s just a small sunflower (bloom is about three inches), but isn’t it pretty. And look closely in the petals on the upper right side..

A little Blonde Sac Spider! Such a tiny little treasure!

And last… the harvest continues. I’m afraid to say, the berries rarely make it into the house, but Dave has the tomato crop all to himself! Though I do enjoy growing them!

Hello Kitty!

Goodbye Kitty!

 

With Switcheroo off the needles, I needed a new project on. I went digging the stash and came up with another skein of Twinkle Cat – this time in Lodestone.

The shades of purple, grey and green in the yarn made me think of dragonflies, which naturally made me think of the Dragonfly sock pattern.

I’ve knit this pattern before – way back in 2012 – and it’s one that I love. So, unlike Switcheroo,  I won’t get bored with it. In fact, it’s practically flying off the needles. As you can see – I’ve already got the leg done. The first sock is going to be done in no time.

And like Switcheroo, it’s going right in the Christmas box. After this, there’s only two other gifts to make!

I wanted to sew the other day, but I wasn’t in the mood for anything too complicated. So what could be simpler than sewing the sashing on the Rainbow nine-patch quilt?

Super simple. And in no time, I had all nine rows together. Sadly, I can go no further until I get some more of the sashing fabric. This stuff was left over from Sam’s Bunnies, and butterflies, and birds quilt, and there wasn’t quite enough of it left to finish off a quilt of this size. It’s ok though, it’s from Lens and I’m pretty sure I can get some more… or at least something close to it.

And I’ve finally given it a name… Rainbow Block Party.

Here’s where it and all my other quilt projects stand:

 

• Rainbow Block Party – As you see above. As soon as I get more sashing fabric this one will be rolling.
• Happy Camper – I got my grey corner triangles cut so maybe this weekend or next I’ll assemble the top
• A Fish Called Rhonda – In the midst of making fishes and lovin it.
• Celtic Dreams – Still only one block complete, but I hope to assemble another one soon.
• Leader and Ender quilt – Nine patches are stacking up as I work on my other projects. I do so love my L&E blocks!

 

It was a long weekend here in Canada, so I took the extra time to push through and finish the Switcheroo socks.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the pattern, but for some reason I just didn’t enjoy knitting it. It does create a pretty bit of eyelet lace that works well with busy yarns.

And the yarn is pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself. It’s our Twinkle Cat (sadly you can’t see the sparkle in these pics), in a colourway I called Briar Patch. As you can see, it’s a wonderful mix of dusty rose, mauve and brown. I have another skein and I’m so glad… these socks are destined for the gift box, but I still have yarn to make something for myself!

With Honey Patch out of her box and in the to quilt pile, I was finally able to start something new.

Do you remember that ocean fabric I show a while back?

Well you may recall I was saving it for a block I wanted to try out…

A simple, but cute little fish made from HSTs and a square. I finally sat down and did the math to create these cuties from the fabric I had. It didn’t take long…

I am stupidly excited about this block….Now I’ve got to get to working whipping up a whole school of them!