The other day neighbour Krista sent me this picture…

Poor Wren was using paper towels to tuck in her princess dolls, because she didn’t have a doll blankie. That just won’t do when you have a quilter for a neighbour!

I had some small HSTs leftover from one of my Berry Sampler blocks, and it didn’t take to long to put them together into a star medallion. Add a  couple strips of contrasting fabric… scrounge up some leftover batting, and a short time later…

… one perfect little doll quilt.

I tried it out with one of my dolls first, just to make sure everything was right. Then I sent if off to its new home and a very happy little girl.

Krista sent me this picture not long after

I think that was definitely time well-spent.

There hasn’t been a tonne of knitting going on. But there has been some man sock progress…

I’ve turned the heel and I’m working my way down the gusset. I’m knitting the sock plain so the rest of this should just fly by…

… of course, I’ve probably just jinxed myself!

I’d been putting off finishing this quilt top because I didn’t have a back for it. You may recall that this one went a little off the rails, and the piece I had set aside for a back wasn’t going to be enough.

But when I was at Lens the other week, picking up a few things, I stumbled across this.

Four yards of an adorable prehistoric print! Sold!

So that meant that I had to get the last column of dinosaur prints together, and finish that top. I spent one afternoon finishing the last six sets of toes, and then the next completing the top.

I had found a really nice grey print that looked a little like stone to “encase” each column. And incase the dinosaur theme wasn’t clear enough…

The teal border fabric really hammers it home!

I hope to quilt it this weekend, and bind it all with more of that lovely grey. Look for an FO post next week!

One of the other things I commissioned my brother to make me this summer was a squirrel-sized picnic table.

You may have seen them in your facebook feed –  pics have been popping up all over the place.

As soon as we got home from his place last month, I set it up on the end of the garden cart. That way  I had a good view of the diners from my couch, and they had a lovely view of the garden while they ate.

I didn’t have any peanuts, so I put a little bird seed out for them. They have no problem raiding the feeders, so I figured they’d just love a little bit of easy-to-obtain seed.

I was wrong. The seed sat there, untouched, for weeks.

On grocery day (Friday before last) I finally got a bag of peanuts. I immediately put a few out for them. And I waited… and waited.

FINALLY, on Wednesday, something caught the corner of my eye while I was knitting…

I moved in for a closer view, and of course, he took off. But I settled down and waited, and it wasn’t long before he was back again.

Success at last!

I’m sure he’ll tell all his friend. I see lots of squirrel watching in my future.

It’s that time of year again…

I get about a cup full of fresh juicy goodness every morning.

I’m trying not to eat them all – I need to save four cups to make a batch of jam!

Elsewhere in the garden…

My “fancy” daylilies are beginning to bloom. L-R Autumn Joy, Night Embers, and Crimson Pirate.

My Casblanca Lilies have also bloomed. They are the biggest and showiest of all my lilies.

Neighbour Krista gifted me with a HUGE Mandivilla plant the other day, and it’s just starting to show of it’s pretty pink petals.

These little black-eyed susans first popped up in the front garden last year, and I’m so glad they came back. They aren’t very big, but they are so cute!

Most of my toad lilies bloom in the fall, but for some reason these pale yellow ones always bloom mid-summer.

And look at my beautiful little snapdragons! I don’t know why, but dragons have always been one of my favourites.

I took this picture of Burton in the daisies the other week, and I sent it to a couple of friends.

One of them said it looks like Burton is doing a sexy photoshoot in the jungle… and now I just can’t unsee that! And I can’t stop giggling.

Dave’s not the only one with a hot summer birthday. My best friend, Samantha, celebrates her special day just a few day before Dave.

As such, there’s now a package making it’s way to her by mail. There’s a few fun things in there, but I think the best of them is this:

As you man recall, she’s a big fan of flamingos. I found this cute print online pre-covid and it’s been sitting around just waiting to be made into a tote for her.

It’s not a huge one – about 12″ square. But, it’s the perfect size to toss in a wallet, some sunscreen, and a drink bottle and head to the beach at the trailer park where she spends her summers.

The handles and lining are a nice soft pink tie dye fabric I got in a “surprise” bundle. It was certainly a surprise that it was the perfect shade to go with those flamingos!

Today’s FO is a tag-team effort.

A few months back, an add for an Annie’s crochet pattern came up in my facebook feed.

Sadly, I don’t crochet. But Mom does…. I wasn’t  too hard to sweet talk her into it… she loves her grandkittens. And they really needed that round pink one.

I gave her some yarn leftover from my Agatha cardigan that would match our livingroom decor. There wasn’t quite enough of it, so I also gave her some same yarn in a darker shade so she could make it two-tone.

On the weekend she finally gave me all the finished pieces so I could put it together and stuff it.

Now… it’s cute…. but it needs some work still. It’s definitely the stuffing that makes the project in this case. I thought a round pillow form would work for the bottom….

But it’s definitely too poofy. And I stuffed the back too much.

Peno agrees… even though it’s made of 100% merino, as you can see, right now she’d rather lay on the worn out futon beside it.

But it’s ok… I’ve got a plan! On payday, it’s off to Lens to get some foam. A little custom cutting and this little boudoir bed it’s going to be just purrfect! Can’t let all Mom’s hard work go to waste!

As planned, I took the weekend to finish up Rainbow in the Dark

I couldn’t be happier with it. It’s just how I imagined when I first started sketching out my idea on graph paper. That plain black makes those colourful scraps pop!

It’s 72″ wide x 84″ long. A nice size to toss on top of a bed, or snuggle up under with a friend.

We still had LOTS of rainbow thread left so I used it for the quilting. It’s hard to see on the colours, but it looks great on the black.

Incredibly, I wasn’t able to get any more plain black cotton for the binding, as planned – my LYS was completely out! But Mom came through with this subtle grey on black print, and to be honest, I love it even more than plain black.

The back is nothing fancy, just a simple grey check with blue and red pinstripes. There’s so much going on on the front, I love the calmness of the plainer back.

And now this big beauty is in the mail and on it’s way to my friend. I hope it brings a little cheer when it shows up at his door.

With Dave’s socks done, I needed another pair on the needles (I must always have at least one pair of socks on the go – it’s knitting law).

A while back, Sam had commissioned me to make a pair of man socks for a good friend of hers.  Sam can knit, but she’s not that fond of making socks (one sock she can do, it’s the second one that’s the challenge). She’s definitely not willing to attempt a pair of man socks.

The friend had requested royal purple and crimson red for his man socks (I like a man who likes colour in his socks!), so I dyed up some custom Alley Cat.

Nothing fancy for the knitting – just a 2-2 garter rib. This way the yarn can really shine. The foot will be plain, but I’ve still got a bit to go until I get there!