Shirley Anne’s Heart

Posted By drsao on July 29, 2012

When I miss attending one of my favorite group  gatherings, I always WONDER what I missed.    I know I miss a lot, since we always have lots of sharing,  caring, discovery, adventure, sewing, and laughter when I am there!  So in case you are wondering – here is what YOU MISSED on Saturday……

We are such a warm, inviting, and friendly group that we even managed to have a BENCH outside the church for our newest member, Bonnie Tucker, to enjoy.  She did.    LOOK!

She spotted this bench immediately!  As everyone began yelling for me grab my camera, Bonnie enthusiastically FLEW toward the bench!

I had to get a close up so you could see her happy face better!

The bench reads TUCKER’S PLACE!

This section is ENTITLED – WHO HAS THE COOLEST SHOW AND TELL?!

 Who gets your vote….is it Vonnie who has a beautiful diamond engagement ring?

Is it Bonnie who has the most incredible – wonderful – beautiful – amazing SEWING WAGON (aka Gardening Wagon) on the face of this earth?  CAN YOU TELL THAT I LOVE THIS!!!  Now, I am not trying to bias the vote away from Vonnie’s diamond ring, it is just that this SEWING WAGON got me excited!

When Bonnie came inside her wagon served as special storage area!

Or was it Carol’s new Singer 301 Sewing Machine that she bought from Linda (and how in the world did Linda escape without being in a picture – that is a mystery to me!!!!!)

OK – so I guess my QUILT SHOW AND TELL can be in the contest too.   I am proud to say that I finished the binding on my grandangel, Jannae’s ART QUILT.  She is 8 years old now but she did the crayola artwork when she was 5 and 6 years old.  She will get the quilt this summer – FINALLY!  

(And yes, you are not imagining it – my hair is ACTUALLY a bit green on top….you see I was in the COLOR ME RAD 5K  a week ago and I still can’t get the paint out of my hair!)

Sao’s Quilt – Jannae’s Art Quilt

But, just for the record, it WAS even worse right after the race!  I am just thankful that the paint came off my face!  My clothes started out all white – and so did my hair!

I thought you might enjoy some of the other sights and goings on at our meeting – I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Sao worked on her Hexie Quilt – Catherine cut my DESIGNER HEXIES from playing cards!

Catherine is CREATING purses – special treasures – to be displayed in a theatre near you – SOON!

Patsy gifted me with the BEST EVER KNITTING FABRIC…..love it!

I wish that I would have taken a picture of Patsy’s picture of her Harley – it is really cool.  Maybe we should all get Harley’s and create the first ever HARLEY QUILTING GROUP?

Carmen and Vonnie are reunited – after a brief REINTRODUCTION!

OK,  so let me tell you about the DISCOVERY PART of the meeting.  You will not believe this – but I discovered that I needed READERS….as in MAGNIFYING GLASSES for use when doing close work. Goodness – how did I not know this!  I am 68 years old – you would think that someone – like my optometrist – would have told me (or maybe most people just figure this out on their own without being told!) After trying on Catherine’s and Bonnie’s glasses, I found out that I needed glasses with 1.25 correction –  and so after the meeting I headed for the DOLLAR TREE and got my  glasses!  I not only see better, but I think these glasses make me look rather studious!  Now I just have to find some cute colorful ones so I can match whatever I am wearing.  LOL.  I just realized that I always wear black!  🙂

My Readers

Category: Jannae's Art Quilt, Quilts Finished in 2012, Virginia Scrappers | 2 Comments »
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Posted By drsao on July 28, 2012

Catherine and I had a RUN AWAY FROM HOME FOR A DAY EVENT yesterday.  We went to Warrenton, VA and I cannot BELIEVE how much we packed into a few hours.   But first, before I share our day, I have to show you my new license plate – Grandma SAO – that is me….Shirley Albertson Owens.  My Mother’s favorite bird was the Cardinal and my favorite color is red.  Mother’s 91st birthday  would have been July 30 – so  this license plate is in her honor. 

New License Plate

But enough about my license plate – we headed out for Warrenton BRIGHT AND EARLY – full of chatter and bacon, egg, and cheese croissants!  

Ready for some fun!!!

We HAD to stop off at the BAKERY first to order some FRESH HOT BREAD.  Oh, the sights and aromas were so wonderful.  I wanted EVERYTHING I saw….but I resisted!  I did have some wonderful 9 grain bread – their SAMPLES are giant slices from the freshly baked loaf….in fact we were so FULL from the bread sample that we weren’t even hungry for lunch!

FIRST STOP – the bakery.

Then we enjoyed the artistry – the colorful creative works from artists from impoverished parts of the world.   This was definitely a place to enjoy EYE CANDY!  It was kind of fun too because if you LIKED LATTITUDES on Facebook you got a discount on your purchase!

FAIR TRADE LATTITUDES

One of the reasons for this trip to Warrenton was to get some of Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint…….I can’t wait to try it.  Here I am ready to enter THE EMPTY NEST for another exciting adventure.

Ready to see Annie Sloan’s CHALK PAINT

My eyes went right to EMPORER’S SILK (red) and I am looking forward to painting SOMETHING red.  Red is my favorite color!

Look at all of the colors!

The thing that intrigues me about this paint is that there is NO PREP needed – no priming – no sanding – just paint something UGLY and it becomes BEAUTIFUL!

Lots of choices!

Next we went to Kelly Ann’s Quilting.  I was looking forward to meeting her because I FELT LIKE I already knew her from FACEBOOK.  She was on vacation but I have to say that her shop was in Good Hands.  I LOVE THIS QUILT STORE.  It was so much fun to explore.  I love how it was decorated too!

Kelly Ann’s Quilting

I got the new Swirly Girls CIRCLE RULER – and I can’t wait to try it.

It was REALLY FUN to see all of the SWIRLY GIRLS PATTERNS on display – Susan and Chris have been BUSY!

!

Isn’t this cute – the yarn shop with a little knitted COZY on the pole outside!

THE YARN SHOP

WIth a name like the RED THREAD – it has to be good!

Beautiful fibers!

I got some beautiful sock yarn for the RAVELLENICS (I am on TEAM LOOPY 2012 – – and we are knitting for the duration of the Olympics!)  OK – so YES, I am going to try to knit socks.   Since I have a TEAM counting on me, I just HAVE to succeed!

My sock yarn being wound

FOOD BANK THRIFT SHOP

And we could NOT leave town without visiting the thrift shop.  Catherine found oodles of treasures including this antique pet carrier!  I don’t know what she will do with it – but you can bet that it will be WONDERFUL.  Look at her smile – she has BIG IDEAS!!!!

Antique Pet Carrier – can you believe it!

As we were heading back to Richmond, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this SHIRLEY TRUCK!  Too funny.

I love Warrenton – and I can guarantee that this won’t be my last visit!

Category: CATHERINE, Life Comments, VA, Warrenton | 3 Comments »
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Posted By drsao on July 13, 2012

Today the first clue was released for the Stephen West Mystery Shawl Knit-A-Long hosted on Ravelry.com.  The knitters were chomping at the bit waiting for the clue to get posted online.

While waiting for Clue 1 I transformed my skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light yarn into nice little balls!  The colors are Hickory – the light yarn – and Bark – the darker yarn.  I bought the yarn at EAT SLEEP KNIT.

http://www.eatsleepknit.com/

Waiting for Clue 1

CLUE 1 is here!

I sure have learned a lot today by “listening” to the GROUP CHAT on Ravelry.  Until today I had no idea what an I-Cord was…..and I  have now learned to make a rolled edge and use two colors of yarn by twisting the colors.    I have learned the proper way (and another PROPER WAY – The German Method) of wrapping a stitch.  THAT IS A LOT.  Thank goodness there are YOU TUBE demos for EVERYTHING!!!

Despite all of this HELP I had to restart twice…….I was having trouble negotiating two tails of yarn – TWO LIVE TAILS and two SHORT BEGINNINGS OF YARN TAILS – plus 40 inch circular tubing on my needles.  If I had a BETTER SENSE OF HUMOR I would have taken a picture of the tangled mess!  🙂

Getting Started – SECOND TRY

 OK -so I finally got started FOR REAL and I even figured out how to pick up a wrapped stitch – but it took me all day to figure it out…….and the bottom line is that I have to RIP ALL OF THIS OUT and start over tomorrow.  BUT at least I am learning new things!

It is growing…..or NOT

I actually thought about just keeping this much WITH THE ERRORS in it and when I wore it I could make sure that I MOVED AROUND A LOT so no one would notice….but ALAS, I know the MISTAKES are there……so – YES – I am going to start over.   🙂

This is what is on my KNITTING NEEDLES THIS WEEK!!!!!  🙂

Category: Knitting, Mystery Shawl 2012 | 2 Comments »
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Posted By drsao on July 11, 2012

Catherine and I had a SEW SEW DAY today!  I think we accomplished a lot!

Catherine is working hard on the bottom of a bag!

I made some cute little flowers with a flower loom that Catherine brought for me.  It was fun!

sao made cute little flowers

I actually didn’t knit this today – but I brought it out and photographed it.  I knit this for my DH Max many years ago.  I just remembered that I had never taken a picture of it.  He hasn’t worn it more than twice – but then there might be a very good reason.  THE SLEEVES ARE HUMONGOUS.  Catherine tried to be nice and suggest that they looked good that way.  LOL!

Max’s sweater knit by sao

We took a little break to visit a local antique store.  Catherine was contemplating buying this mirror…….

We had fun at a local antique store

Then grandangel, Cooper, entertained us with his magic show.

The Magic Show

Amazing trick Cooper – Catherine and Hannah Faye are spellbound!

Cooper makes the card float in midair!

Then Catherine demonstrated HER magic trick…..she made a hole in Grandangel Leanna’s jeans disappear…..it was pretty amazing.

Catherine made a hole in Leanna’s jeans DISAPPEAR!

Now that is amazing!

Midnight is enjoying watching Catherine’s creative spirit!

I worked on my Scrappy Hexagon Quilt during all of these magical moments – but I was too busy taking pictures of other things……..:)

Category: Max's Sweater, Sew Sew Days July 2012 | 1 Comment »
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Posted By drsao on July 11, 2012

I think the knitters attending CAMP LOOPY have been refreshing The Loopy Ewe website URL constantly for the past three days – anxiously awaiting the RULES for Project 3 at Camp Loopy!

This time we have to use at least 500 yards of yarn, knit with at least two colors, and use a pattern that is new to us!

I chose the Whipporwill Shawl by Carina Spencer (available on Ravelry.com).

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/whippoorwill

Whipporwill Shawl by Carina Spencer

I ordered my yarn from The Loopy Ewe…..and will be using Madelintosh – Tosh Merino Light in Parchment and Nutmeg.

Parchment – Madelinetosh Merino Light

Nutmeg – Madelinetosh – Merino Light

I really like these colors and will enjoy knitting with this yarn – it is sock weight I believe!  I also HOPE that I can follow the pattern.  I am pretty good at crocheting – but not so experienced as a knitter.  I am making progress though.

We CAST ON (I almost said CAST OFF – lol) on July 27 and will need to be finished by August 27.     I think I can….I think I can….I think I can…..

Category: Camp Loopy 2012, Knitting, Whipporwill Shawl Project 3 | 2 Comments »
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