I am so excited!

DD1 called me yesterday to say she is engaged! I am so excited!



No longer DD1SO, he is now fDSIL (future dear son-in-law). That is future SIL, he is already a dear. One of the hardest decisions for the reception is easy, since he works in a restaurant, they can have the reception there.

I have been knitting

I have completed a couple of things that I haven't shown yet. Here are a pair of mittens for my cousin. They are knit with linen stitch. I loved making them so much I decided to make mittens for myself as well (trying fair isle knitting). I hope she likes them. They are not quite the same size.



I started this shrug while I was on vacation in Iowa; it was good for knitting on while visiting. I like how it turned out. I wear it most mornings now that the house is chilly in the morning. It is an "at home" outfit, not for going out, even though I saw a character on TV wearing one very similar. (She was an information officer, not a fashionista.)



Several friends in my knitting group made this scarf, and one member had purchased the yarn and started it, but got frustrated. Each medallion is knitted from the outside to the center with 4 double-pointed needles. You pick up stitches from finished work so there is no sewing together when you are done, but in process it is a prickly twisted crumpled mess. It turned out pretty, though, didn't it?



These are not my colors, so I didn't want to keep it. I attempted to give it to the person who had given me the yarn, but she would not accept it. Someone else in the group was happy to take it, though.

Now I am working on slipper socks for my dad, and they are frustrating me. The only pattern I could find that might fit him* is felted, so you cannot tell as you go if they will be right or not. I am so glad someone asked me for knitting, so I really want them to turn out.

(He wears a size 12, but 13s feel so good he usually buys 14s. His joke, not mine.) 

I am trying to be good and not start something new until the slippers and the blue entrelac scarf are done...

Around the house

There are all kinds of things going on around the house.

P is starting beginner band, doing percussion. (Grandpa is so proud!) Here they are finding out what music looks like written down.



We are getting a new porch! This is the view out of the front door. That first step is a doozy.



This was in the back yard on Monday. The bird was moving so fast I was not able to get a non-blurry picture. The bird book says it is a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I had never seen one before! Just gorgeous, and doing such a good job of eating insects out of the tree.

Guild Show

Sorry to be missing last week. I was a little busy, preparing for and setting up our guild show. It actually went very well.



This is what it looked like early in the week. I framed 5 items, and collected everything I could think of that we might need in setting up the show; the frames and s-hooks, of course, but also tape, scissors, wire, wire cutters, pens, numbers for the opportunity drawing baskets, picture wire, hammer, screw driver (that one I didn't use), and on and on. I was fretting a little bit, and having trouble sleeping, but everything came together fine.

Here are some additional pictures of our displays:





Here are the opportunity drawing baskets. I won one! (I felt so guilty.) I will let you know how those did, I still haven't heard.



I spent 7 hours at the venue over the 3 days (Friday set-up, Saturday and Sunday, show and tear-down), and I think I sat down for 5 minutes during that whole time. I went to bed at 9 PM last night! I am very proud of our display, and of our guild, though. We do good work!

Our display was in conjunction with one quilt guild, and another guild had a show less than 5 miles away. DH came to both with me on Saturday. (I have said it before, and say it again, he is a keeper.)

We also bought a new washer and dryer on Saturday... that will be delivered on Wednesday. It was a busy day.

As you can see, I found my camera. It had fallen into a knitting bag of a project that was not active. As soon as I picked up that project, I found it. (I knew it would show up!)

New blog

There is a new blog in town by Anna Scott, the editor of a well known magazine. I just checked it out, and it is beautiful!

Just a little giddy

I have been waiting to post this until I took some new pictures, but I cannot find my camera. I looked for it yesterday from 2 PM until supper time. I got a lot of cleaning done, but I did not find my camera, so this post will be pictureless.

The Homewood Embroiderer's Guild will be participating in the Hearts 'n Hands Quilt Show on October 6 and 7 as a guest! This is working out really well for our guild. (You are all invited to the show. It will be at Columbia Central School at 94 Richton Road in Steger, Illinois.)

I was looking in my FUPpie (Finished Unframed Projects) drawer for things I could prepare for the show... and I had quite a stack. (I was going to show you the stack...) I also had quite a stack of coupons from Joann Fabrics, and I thought... this might work. DD2 and I went to Joann's, and the frames were all 60% off! I got 6 frames for $60; the most expensive one was $24. (My daughter says my Dutch is showing.)

I haven't started pulling them apart yet, but it won't take long to frame 6 of the pieces from my fuppie pile.

We have close to 150 pieces to display at the show... come out and see us!

Iowa pictures

Here are the pictures I promised from Iowa. This is my dad (in the middle) with his two brothers.



From left to right this is me, my mom, my aunt (dad's sister) and her husband. This was taken in a steak house that had very good steaks.



My dad wanted to show me the Middleburg Cemetery, where his parents, aunts, and baby sister are buried. It was a lovely day, and a very beautiful setting; very peaceful and quiet.



Here's my grandparents' gravestone. The date of my grandfather's death is 1935. My dad hardly remembers him... even though he does have a memory of being in that place during the funeral.



Here's the gravestone of his baby sister. She only lived for a month. Even after 80 years that was very sad. There were several gravestones with little lambs on them, all of infants.



Here is a picture of the bustling metropolis of Middleburg (or should I say smallville?); picture taken from the cemetary. There was a store there when my dad was young, a couple of churches, and maybe 1/2 dozen houses.



I was a little surprised that I didn't remember how beautiful NW Iowa is; rolling hills and "fruited plains." On our way there and back we went through windmill farms:



(The box on the top of this windmill is as big as a car!)

The family was very happy we were back. Here's P modeling a Halloween ensemble, a witches hat, a spider bracelet, and a self-propelled broom.



He greeted me with a litany of disasters that happened while I was gone: P & C and momma got locked out of the garage and were late to school (that one was my fault); math homework was a bear one night (it took two adults and a boy to solve the story problem); and "someone" dropped the toothpaste in the toilet. Hopefully everything will be better now I am back. It is nice to be missed.