Grand Celebration!

Things are kind of getting back to "normal" here.  We are back in our time zone and feeling relieved after hearing from friends and relatives, who live in Florida and weathered the horrific storm there.  The wildfire smoke has cleared here, but others in our state are still dealing with that. However, along with these scary occurrences, there have been some happy times.  

Last spring we went to a preschool celebration that sent these five off to kindergarten.  And yesterday was the first day for this little guy!  How can he be five already?

At the end of August, we traveled to Minneapolis to surprise my sister on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary.  We enjoyed being with all of our relatives and finally getting acquainted with the youngest family member who's already almost 3. It was a very special five days!

Our grand nieces and grand nephew

and my sister and brother-in-law's family ~

We all enjoyed a wonderful celebration at the Minneapolis Landscape Arboretum.  (If you ever have a chance to see it, go; it'a an amazing place.)  The"kids" had assembled a basket of 50 things that reminded them of their parents. What a special gift!

Along with all of the visiting, we even managed a little exercise! 

No trip is complete without a stop at a yarn shop, right?  And this is an extra special yarn shop as it has been recently opened by our nephew's wife.  Stop in if you are in the area; it's a fun place!

 

This hat is made with a kit from that shop.  It was a fun knit but sure had lots of ends to hide! (There was enough yarn for another hat, but I'm still hiding those ends.....)

I finished two other projects:  socks for our grand son in his requested color and a shawl that I started in the last century and had to restart because I couldn't remember where I was in the pattern sequence.  (That should teach me not to procrastinate, right?)

And last but not least is my cast-on for Dee's fall KAL.  I so appreciate the November deadline!

The pattern is Nutkin and the color is Apricot Pit (?) which was the most fall-ish color in my stash.  That's it for now, but I just want to say that my heart and prayers go out to all the folks impacted by the recent hurricanes as well as the folks struggling with wildfires.  Be safe, too!

What Happened to November?

 Since my last post, this month has been crazy busy!  First, was the weekend of Veteran's Day that started with the quilt show.  So many pretty quilts, and too many to show them all.  My favorite was the cat one. (Are you surprised?) It featured Laurel Burch fabric, and all of the cats were done with tiny seed beads!

Here are a few close ups: (If you double click on the photos, you can see the details.)

The sign tells you that it took the designer/quilter a year to do just the beading.

I fell in love with these dolls, too.  Have you ever worked with felted wool?  I have not.

The very next day we had a surprise family Birthday Brunch for Dick.  His brother and our SIL flew up from CA for the occasion.  It was a fun and busy weekend.  We were so full that we took the cake home.

Much to our surprise when we saw it next, it looked like this:

Since the birthday bash, we've been busy practicing for our Christmas choir concert on the 11th, doing lots of knitting, and of course, a little Thanksgiving cooking.

We took these over to the GK today; Stella grabbed hers and ran into her bedroom where she hid them in a drawer.  Maybe she'll try them on some day?

 Max put his hat right on; it's a bit slouchy now but should fit for another Christmas season or two!

And of course I finished another two cowls.  You will be glad to know that the last one, at least for now, is on my needles.

I don't bake cakes but I do make pies, and we are still eating this one.  With only three of us at our Thanksgiving table this year, we had a lot left over, but it is very yummy.

That's it for now.  If I have a chance, I will post a few more photos from the quilt show.  Till then, have a good week!

Another Grand Time!

We just got back late last night from ten days at Sylvan Lake, catching up with Jill and Michael and our grandkids. We had a wonderful visit, saw lots of people, did lots of laundry and cooking, and best of all, had lots of fun playing with the 3 little people.

I read lots and lots of stories but didn't mind a bit. These two are like little sponges, soaking up every last bit of information off each page.

Daniel has changed a lot since early July when we left for home. He is such a happy boy with smiles and giggles for everyone.


This morning while sorting through ten days' worth of mail, I came upon two wonderful surprises: my last puzzle piece made by Pat Winter and a wonderful Halloween card created by Pam Kellogg. Thank you both very much!

Isn't it pretty? Pat also sent some of her lovely ribbon and some siggies. I will have fun with them! If I only lived closer, I'd take a class in her new studio but will have to remain content to do that vicariously through her blog.

Isn't this just the coolest card? Not only is
Pam a talented cross stitch designer, she also makes very creative cards. This one is just perfect to share. I wonder how she knew that Jill and I once saw an owl just like this on top of our spruce tree. We watched for a long time until it flew silently away.
Happy Halloween!