Two Quilts for a Children's Home in Johannesburg

I made two QAYG quilts for Little Island Quilting. She donated over 100 quilts to an orphanage in Mexico City and is now collecting quilted blocks and finished quilts for a children's home in Johannesburg. She has passed 100 quilts for this good cause but is still accepting contributions. Even if her efforts take a new direction, I am sure she will find a good use for these child size blankets.

They measure 50" x 62". A lot of the quilting was done by hand using perle cotton and large utility stitches. I am using fabric that I purchased when I lived in Zambia. Originally, my intent was to make whole cloth bedspreads but 20+ years have elapsed and it is time to get some use out of the box of fabric.  

The Warm Weather Months

I am keeping up with my daily journal and have kept another separate log book for our travels in the trailer (and, prior to that, the pop-up camper). But I have neglected the blog. It's time for a quick update.

After our ukulele excitement, we got really carried away and bought guitars. It has been very fun to learn some chords and a couple of strum patterns and now I can honestly say that I play a couple of instruments. I go to a weekly ukulele group in town but almost all of my practice time at home goes to the guitar. We went to two bluegrass festivals in the area this summer which is sort of humbling. I will never catch up to the professionals but the music was fantastic and both of the venues were nice. 

Darrington Bluegrass Festival

Hovander Homestead Bluegrass Festival in Ferndale

Ray was home for the summer, working down at Cap Sante Marina as a dock attendant. He walked miles and miles, every day. He is now back at school in Seattle in a four bedroom apartment next to campus with three roommates.

Dave and I did a few trailer camping trips. The first trip of the summer was up to Lake Osoyoos in British Columbia. We also spent a week in Nevada with my brother camping by a couple of different lakes and met my sister on the Oregon coast in October.

Canada

Nevada

Oregon

I will skip the knitting photos. Imagine four pair of socks, a couple of sets of gloves and a small pile of hats. Same stuff every season...

Now fall is in full swing. Our fruit trees were good to us this year. We will have all the apple pie that anyone needs. 

Road Trip to Arizona

Towards the end of January, Dave and I took our new (used) camping trailer down to Arizona. We were hoping for some warm sunshine and planned to meet up with a group of friends, all Alaskan snowbirds. We also knew about a gathering of fiberglass trailers near Quartzsite that was happening around Valentine's Day, so we put that on the schedule as a possibility.

We spent most of our time at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, in the Tucson area and then a week at the Quartzsite event. There was a ukulele teacher there who rekindled my interest in playing and practicing. Dave caught the bug and when we got home, we increased our ukulele inventory. We also met some nice people and made some new friends. 

Recent Knitting

The projects seem to pile up, even when I don't feel like I've been very devoted to knitting. I don't take pictures of all the hats. 

When I was in my early twenties, my boyfriend and I went to visit my elderly (80ish) auntie who lived alone in a seedy apartment building. She told us, "I am having fun with my new barometer". It seemed like such a sad and remarkable statement at the time. Now, fast forward almost 40 years and I can happily report that "I am having fun with my new pom-pom makers". 

Pattern: Wanida
Yarn: Plucky Feet
Color: Cryin' Icicles

Pattern: Socks on a Plane
Yarn: Plucky Feet
Color: Make a Grown Man Cry

Pillow for Katherine
Designed from a picture she sent me
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift
Colors: Madder and Sorbet

Gloves for Anita
My own generic pattern
Yarn: Madeline Tosh DK
Color: Baroque Violet

Sock yarn blanket squares
13 finished
Many more to go

Spring

I've not paid much attention to the blog lately, mostly because I have a paper journal that I write in every day. I also haven't been taking many pictures. Like many things I enjoy, my interest in photography waxes and wanes. 

I do like having the blog, though, so it's definitely time to put up a post. Here are some recent pictures. The first one isn't even mine. My friend, Jeni, took this last Sunday on a rainy day in the tulip fields.

Skagit Valley

Ray at UW

Family Outing - Everybody likes Uwajimaya

Pancake breakfast with the grandparents