Hooray for Summer!

Dirt and Fudge-stick-als. Mmmm.

Busy

I have finished the knitting on Babies and Bears. I have to sew on a clasp, but that shouldn't take too long.

I have also finished the border on the Beatrix Potter Quilt, but I haven't found an appropriate backing fabric yet.

I can't decided whether I should use one of the fabrics from the front, or something different.

I have a comforter with a world map print that I bought at a thrift store to use as a quilt backing but the colors are not at all compatible.

Brief and to the point today,

I'm off to see an old friend,

Jess.

Big Boy

I sing each Hug-a-Bug a lullaby that is their own.

I have sung them since they were born.

The words to the Younger Hug-a-Bug's song are;

"My darling baby boy, you are your mama's/dada's little joy.

The last two nights, he stops me and says that he is not a baby, he is a big boy.

That went too fast.

Jess

Hoppy Birthday

I found out this evening that today is Beatrix Potter's birthday.

This was a little surprising to me, since this afternoon I had an uncontrollable urge to make a quilt using a panel meant to become a fabric book of Beatrix Potter artwork.

The urge was so strong that even though I am in the middle of a new sweater project,and have no need for a quilt, I had to finish putting the top together before I left for work at Treadle so I could pick out trim tonight.

I did find trim, and obviously the spirit of Beatrix was watching over me because the trim matches perfectly.

The sweater is Cottage Creations Babies and Bears for a friend who is expecting a new family member any day.

The yarn is Smart, and I don't know if I have quite enough, but, as the sweater is made from the cuffs inward, I have the option of making a contrasting stripe down the back.

I also have some garden news; The Elder Hug-a-Bug found a large piece of bark that had fallen off of our backyard Silver Maple, and we built a fairy house from it. She really wants to find something for a cradle, as we just read Thumbelina and she likes the idea of a tiny cradle with a rose-petal coverlet. As it is, we have stone beds with leaves for blankets.

So far, the squirrels have left the house alone, and so now we are just waiting to see some pixie dust.

Have a magical evening,

Jess

Nest

I was poking about on Flickr one day and I came across this picture.

With rising costs of oil and natural gas, there is a growing number of folks who will be keeping the temperature in their houses quite low.

Jean Lee at NestMaine is accepting donations of hats and fingerless mittens and scarves and cowls and anything to help out. She is requesting that folks use up stash yarn and I took up the challenge.

I had some Prime Alpaca left over from my Jess Sweater and I also have bags, and baskets, and bins of stash yarn in single balls, so I jumped in and made a couple of pairs of fingerless mittens and a hat.

I send them off today, and I hope that they can fulfill their purpose.

On another note, I have posted a sum-up about my kids camp on the Yarnery Blog.

I had such fun with the class, but those four hours of working every day wiped me out.

I am clearly out of practice after these 2 1/2 years of being a 3/4 time stay at home mom.

Have a lovely Saturday,

Jess.

Kid's Camp

Day two of the Kid's Knit and Crochet Camp.

We had a little delay in our program today, as the yarn we dyed yesterday with Kool-Aid hadn't quite dried.

I had planned to start them knitting today, but I guess the yarn just wasn't ready to be knitted.

On our first day, along with the dyeing, we made needle caps with Sculpey and covered journals and started doing some designing.

I am very excited about this group of girls.

They are really creative and seem interested in trying new techniques.

I hope to have a big photo of all of their good work at the end of the week.

Have a creative Tuesday,

Jess.

Take Off!

You hosehead!

I would like to now welcome two new members of our family.
When I asked the kids what their names are they said "My Frog" (The Younger Hug-a-Bug) and let's call her The Hen With No Name (The Elder Hug-a-Bug hasn't decided on a name as yet).

Have a delightful Monday,

Jess

I am an ENFJ

You Are An ENFJ

The Giver You strive to maintain harmony in relationships, and usually succeed. Articulate and enthusiastic, you are good at making personal connections. Sometimes you idealize relationships too much - and end up being let down. You find the most energy and comfort in social situations ... where you shine. In love, you are very protective and supporting. However, you do need to "feel special" - and it's quite easy for you to get jealous. At work, you are a natural leader. You can help people discover their greatest potential. You would make a good writer, human resources director, or psychologist. How you see yourself: Trusting, idealistic, and expressive When other people don't get you, they see you as: Bossy, inappropriate, and loud

What's Your Personality Type?

Dinner

Day three of the food-a-thon on yon blog.

Today: Pizza and veggie salad.

On Tuesday when I went to the Farmer's Market along with the raspberries I also got zucchini and kohlrabi.

The pizza has slices of zucchini and fresh basil, the end of a purchase from last week's farmer's market, then Mozz, Parmasan, oregano and pepper.

I cubed kohlrabi and diced some carrots with the leftover zucchini that didn't make it onto the pizza. I tossed the veggies with some olive oil and apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper.

Kohlrabi is my new favorite food.

We have had it in four meals in the last week.

Mmmmm.

Have a great Thursday,

Jess

Give-Away Closure

Hi.

I am here with my 118th post to say that I have finally finished the Rocket I planned to give away with my 100th post.


It is about to do some major storming at our house, so I will try to get to the Post Office tomorrow morning.

I hope that E likes it Krista!

Talk to you all in Blogland soon,

Jess

Update: The rocket is en route. ETA 2-3 days.

Kids Camp

I am preparing a fiber arts kid's camp for the Yarnery for next week.

That means that this week I get to try out all of the projects and make sure that I know how to teach them.

The first day we are going to dye yarn with kool-aid, and make needle-tops out of Sculpey.

Then while the yarn hangs to dry we will cover journals with cut-up felted sweaters.

We'll talk a little about how to design, and we will work on translating sketches into art.

Somewhere out there in the internet someone is designing these totally cool plaques to hang on children's bedroom doors.

I borrowed the idea and the kids will all make their own. I think this will be a good project to stretch out through the week. In slow moments the kids can add little embellishments here or there.

This one was made with two rectangles of felt sewn together and embroidered, and the tree and cloud were needle-felted with roving. I need to get some dowels and cut them to size for the top to support a hanger.

I taught this Kids' Class last year also and I had a lot of fun.

I am doing some of the same activities, but I also have some fun new ones. I have a pair of repeat students, so I hope that they won't be too bored...

On a completely unrelated note, there are fresh raspberries at the farmer's market.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of this when it was whole:

This was my first attempt at a graham cracker crust, and I don't think that I put enough butter in. It didn't hold together very well.

The filling was fat-free yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and corn starch. Then add the fresh whole raspberries from the farmers own hands and you have a terrific, if not totally healthy, dessert.

Have a terrific Wednesday,

Hope it's not too stormy,

Jess.

Yummy Summer Lunch

I don't know what it is about hot weather that inspires me to bake.

Maybe I feel so hot that it can't hurt to have the oven on...

In any event, I can't think of anything that can beat a turkey and fresh basil sandwich on fresh homemade bread. With the exception, of course, of eating my sandwich with fresh cut-up pineapple in a cute ice-cream cup from Germany.

It should be another stormy night here,

Keep cool and safe,

Jess

Flying and Noodles

The Elder Hug-a-Bug and I have been enjoying a boy-free afternoon as the remaining members of our family are napping.

First, my little lady spent about a half-hour trying to catch the wind so she could fly away like Mary Poppins

Next we made noodles for tonight's dinner, and more besides.

I must have forgotten how many noodles come from a double recipe...

Stay cool,

Jess

Naturalized Garden Update for July

Jus a brief post today

I have been doing some work in the garden the past two days and I am pleased to see my Naturalized Shade Garden is coming along.

I would be happier if there were not a chain-link fence behind it, c'est la vie.

As I was gone for 12 days to Germany the weeding of our garden took a backseat to other needs in our household, so I have been working on that for the last week.

Still not done...

I'm going back out there now,

Have a terrific Thursday!

Jess

Tuesday at the Park

There is a terrific park near us called Thompson Park and we, the Hug-a-Bugs and myself, spent the morning there.

After a good long play in the playground we went for a little hike.

Every day I am more in love with our surroundings here in MN.

Hope you are enjoying your weather,

Jess

DISASTER!

I have just realized that I when I purchased 15 skeins of Soft Shetland 5 years ago I must not have been careful about dyelots because I found stripes on my Rogue.

It looks like I have more of the lighter dyelot in the stash than the darker and I can salvage the project but I think I have to take a break from this one before I rip it out.

The first different dyelot stripe is just above the pockets.

Boo Hoo.

Maybe I'll keep knitting and dye the whole thing when I am finished.

I have to go and lay down now.

Jess

July from the Fifth Lamp

Back to the Blog

Thanks for humoring me during my vacation photo-a-thon.

I took about 830 pictures on my trip and have weeded them down to about 720.

I may throw a picture or two in from time to time as I feel the urge.



This is the Dom in Cologne. The choir performed here for about 15 minutes and it was very very cool.




Back to business as usual.

I got a lot done on my Rogue sweater while I was gone.

What with riding in planes and busses and boats and trains I got the body done to the armholes.

As a warning, I will say that if you are on your second plane ride after a 10 hour flight (10 hours with no knitting because the security agent told you to pack your needles even though everyone who didn't ask got to bring theirs because the other security folks didn't care about knitting) think twice about shaping armholes. I had to rip out both upper fronts and I don't mind telling you it was painful.
As a complete non sequitor, the weather here in Saint Paul is HOT HOT HOT and the Hug-a-Bugs had a terrific time in the backyard pool this afternoon.


Have a good night,
Jess

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Pt. 3

The final installment of my pictorial essay on Germany is this: Natural Beauty.
o.k. this last one is kind of a cheat. It is a rose stand at a farmers' market

Hope the fireworks didn't keep you up too late last night,

Jess

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Pt. 2

The second photographic obsession, which was deeply enabled by my surroundings, was public art.

I won't try to describe the beauty and whimsy that surrounded me each day.

More tomorrow,
Jess