Family Fun in MN (Image Heavy)

We just got back from a wonderful 10 days in Minnesota that included a weekend of family reunion festivities on the St. Croix River. All 24 of us gathered at a house we rented through VBRO. My sister's family stayed with their son who lives about 10 minutes from our place. It was a perfect spot although the river was swollen from the recent rains and had a current way too strong for swimming.

Thanks to Keith we were still able to go for boat rides, and the kids enjoyed playing in a blow-up pool and some formidable water guns.

This screened in porch  came in very handy during a few rain squalls that passed through the area.

With 9 kids eight and under, our place was hopping!

Everyone had a hand in decorating the Taylor Reunion tablecloth.

Max was a big hit and got lots of loving from his cousins, both first and second.

We cooked hamburgers and bratwurst on the grill and then had watermelon and s'mores for dessert.

We even celebrated two birthdays!

And watched a different type of family gathering.

Our weekend concluded with a Father's Day Brunch at the home of Brian and Kate. The kids had great fun tie-dyeing t-shirts.

And fingers!

What a fun weekend! Stay tuned for our adventures during the rest of our stay.

June's Sunbonnet Sue (TAST)

At the moment, Sue is languishing in the bottom of my embroidery sack, but here's what I've done on her so far this month. It was fun making a bullion rabbit; I wonder whether this one likes to eat flowers as much as its cousins that live in our yard do?

 

The buttonhole wheel was the June 11th stitch. Mine are half-wheels which seem to create a lacy effect on Sue's hatband. Catch-up will be the name of the game very soon!  And yes, her dress is supposed to be pink, too ~ more frogging!



The next time you see this tablecloth, I hope it looks very different! Till then, Happy Summer!

On the Needles and Off

The Honeybadger Socks are still on my needles, but I am working my way back toward the second heel and glad to have frogged them both, even though it was painful. A poncho for Sophia just came off my needles! (It appears as if I'm on a blue-green kick lately!) This was a kit from Mary Maxim that included the yarn. (Details on Ravelry) Another time I'd try smaller needles to obtain a firmer fabric. Sewing on the lace was a bit challenging, and it'll be interesting to see how well it fits.

 

The second Blathnat sock is in my knitting bag, waiting patiently. Don't know how much knitting will happen in Minnesota, but I am prepared.



Looks like fun, doesn't it? See ya!

Junuary? BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

So far this month we've had a bit of company and a bit of rain. In fact today's paper said we've had our usual amount of June rain already along with cooler than usual temperatures. The rain held off when our friends, Brian and Marci, were here from DC. Because she'd read The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, we went to the Panama Hotel for tea. Don't they look cold?



After lunch, we went to the Japanese Gardens in the Arboretum where the wisteria was in full bloom and the turtles were out.



How many hours do you think it takes to make a garden look like this?

 

On Memorial Day we had another fun visit with friends from Germany: Udo, Sabine and their twins, who just turned four. We'd hoped to have a backyard picnic but it was too chilly to sit outside. Udo stayed with us for several weeks in 1997 when he was studying at the Fre Hutchinson Cancer Center.



Despite all the gadding around, I've still had time to knit and sew since the gardening has been at a standstill. (The weeds haven't!) Judy L is encouraging people to post their knitting projects each Friday, so since there are lots of UFOs floating around here, I took a pair of socks out of "time out". This was one of my first attempts at working on 2 socks at the same time and was down to the foot on both when I realized the stitch pattern was wrong and put them away. Sock #1 is now back to where it was, and I frogged #2 down to the cuff this afternoon. It hurt, but now they're back on track.



And yes, we've been visiting Max regularly. He's growing way too fast and is such a happy guy!

Who needs the sun?

A Productive Week!

This was a good week for finishes for some unknown reason. The details for the knitting projects are on Ravely with the link on the sidebar.

We'll be seeing our niece soon. Guess what she's expecting in September?

Our neighbor girl is graduating from high school on June 19th. She won't be wearing this hat over the summer, but it may be handy when she becomes an Idaho Vandal.

My "recovery" from SSS (second sock syndrome) is coming along slowly but surely. I won't confess when these socks were started though.

This is May's Sunbonnet Sue block for the TAST challenge. There's lots of eye candy at the Tuesday Stitchers blog if you like crazy quilting.

We finally made it over to Anderson Park in Redmond last weekend to see the latest yarnbombing. (It was supposed to be removed yesterday.) Altogether I counted 49 trees in "sweaters"!!!

It was a bit of a relief to read that the artist uses a knitting machine!

That's it on the creativity front. We also had a fun week with company, but I'll post about that later. Enjoy the weekend!