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!

Back around Dave’s Birthday, we stopped in to see his aunt and uncle. They have a spectacular garden (years of work by Dave’s aunt). Somehow, the conversation turned to colour in the garden talk of favourite colours. His aunt loves white flowers.

It would be very hard for me to have a garden with only one colour, but if I absolutely had to choose…

It would be yellow!

Why yellow? To me yellow is just the happiest colour in the world.

It’s hard not to look at yellow and smile (unless it’s a puddle of pet pee on the floor.. but hey…)

And when it comes to the garden…

So many flowers have at least one version in yellow….

… not to mention  yellow comes in an infinite number of shades!

What colour would you choose for a mono-chrome garden?

This week’s been a little quieter than normal at work, so I was able to sneak in a few extra sewing hours.

As a result, the Honey Patch top is complete!

It’s just a cute little lap quilt made from a charm pack (the little four patches), and a quilt kit I bought simply because I liked the fabrics (the pattern was too busy). The only other thing added was the sunflower fabric, which was part of one of the grab bags I bought from Missouri Star Quilt Co. a while ago.

For the binding, I have another piece of black floral from the kit… and check out that lovely gold fabric I found in the clearance bin – another perfect find for the backing.  I’m not sure how quickly I’ll get a chance to quilt this one, but hopefully I won’t have to wait too long to show you another finished quilt!