Maynerd would be proud!

I was making laundry soap this weekend and got to thinking about all the soap slivers I'd been been saving for no particular reason.  My grandpa Maynerd used to make his own lotion soap for his soap dispensers out of his soap slivers by melting it down in the microwave.  I was already grating up the Fels-Naptha and thought I'd try an experiment.

Here is the rainbow of grated soap ends.  I melted it down on the stove with two cups of boiling water.  I let it cool and the result had the consistency of Crisco.  Then I added more boiling water, heated and cooled it again.  I monkeyed around with this all afternoon and into the evening while I was cooking supper.

This is my dedicated soap pot and whisk I use for laundry soap.  When Dave came up for supper and was dishing up his plate from the stove, he pointed at the soap pot and asked, "What's that?"  I quickly said, "Don't eat that!  It's an experiment!"  By the time I was satisfied with the soap, it was quite aerated and reminded me of marshmallow fluff.  I wound up with over a half gallon of liquid/lotion soap.

I have to smile and laugh thinking of my Grandpa Maynerd.  I miss him terribly but I remember funny things about him.  He'd save lint from his dryer for fire starters and soap slivers to make his lotion soap and he always referred to himself in the third person when he spoke to us grand kids.  Every now and again, my mom and aunt Mary would do a blitz cleaning of his house when they knew he wouldn't be home and just clear things out.  I will never forget him telling me, "Your mother threw away Grandpa's lint and his soap!"

Here is the first peony of the season.  My mom happened to email me a picture of all her cut peonies.  I immediately ran out to check our bush and picked the one blossom we had before the rain showers tore it up.  We have 3 more buds yet to open and the shrub roses will be opening any minute!  The background is the new tablecloth I got at Homegoods.  I just love it as a tablecloth but I'm also half tempted to cut it up as fabric!

Mother's Day

It is May and everywhere you look, trees and bushes and flowers are blooming.

Apple trees and ornamental apple trees...

blossoms of white and light and dark pinks...

flowering bushes...I just wish the blossoms would stay longer than the few days in May.  The joy they give the senses never lasts long enough!

I finished a baby quilt from a set of purchased jelly rolls I'd been sitting on.  I love blues and aquas but also love that it could be a baby boy quilt.  I think boys are so much harder to sew and knit for for.  This will go into my baby hope chest.

I spent an afternoon last weekend making baby bibs from this pattern and fabrics I already had in my stash. 

Here are the same bibs with their contrasting backing fabrics.  These are just two layers of cotton fabrics and so aren't the sturdiest of bibs but for just catching drool or with bottle feeding they'd be fine.

For some really high power kid-in-high-chair-proof bibs, I'll have to look for some laminated fabrics.  I'm going to enter one of these in the fair and I'll send the woodland critter one to my cousin Christine.

Christine just had her second baby last month and her first boy!  I finished this sweater last month and finally sewed the sleeves on today.  I have a few more things I want to make for her before I get her care package off in the mail to her. 

I had to share the Mother's Day card we're taking to Dave's mother.  Lopi "wrote her name in it" and I can't wait to see Marianne's reaction.  She does not care for dogs but she loves Lopi.  So far Lopi is the only grandchild she's gotten out of us!  Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Reno 2016

Dave and I just got home from Reno late last night.  We survived the biggest little city in the world for the third time.  This of course is the famous neon sign downtown.

It replaced this much smaller and ever so humble original sign that was moved a few streets over.  Our hotel room window overlooked the Truckee River and the old sign.

I finished knitting a pair of socks while Dave's team practiced.  These are the Socktober socks I started but didn't finish in time in October.

I bought the yarn for these 3 years ago on our first trip to town and thought it was quite fitting to finish knitting them while in town.  I tried taking a picture of my feet with Reno and the mountains in the background.  You can see the old Reno sign between my feet.

We drove up to Virginia City for an afternoon.  For whatever reason, we thought it would be a 45 minute drive out of town.  It never occurred to us that it would be an up the mountain drive.  We are just midwesterners used to flat terrain I guess.  Unlike our drive around Lake Tahoe two years ago, it was a fraction of the distance and this time there was a guard rail and no surprise blizzard.  It was a gorgeous day for a drive and the views were spectacular.

Virginia City is kind of a tourist trap.  It was once a mining town and now is a tourist street with the old Western storefronts and wooden sidewalks.  The businesses are mainly overpriced trinket and Western shops, candy shops and eateries.  We bought a few pieces of candy at one shop and 2 cans of pop at a different shop after we priced stuff on the entire street and really that is all we bought in town.  We did visit St. Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church while we were there.  It was a gorgeous little church off the main street.  I bought a rosary in the church gift shop, the proceeds of which support the parish.

When I say we had nice weather, I mean it was cool Katie weather.  It was downright chilly.  It even snowed one day.  I could just sit and watch the mountains and weather out the hotel window all day.

We returned to the Reno Bead Shop.  Three years ago we walked down here from the bowling stadium and enjoyed dry 80 degree weather.

This is such a fun shop with treasures around every corner.  We drove to the shop this trip and spent only a few minutes because we were limited for time.

They have a classroom in the back where all the seed beads are hung.

I was there to get turquoise buttons.  Turquoise is such a great souvenir of the west/southwest and buttons could be used in some knitting.  I was hoping to find some a little larger but this was all they had and I chose the 10 bluest buttons in the lot.  They also had buttons made of corral and I couldn't pass them up either.

And of course, the compulsory Jimmy Beans Wool!

This was actually the first stop we made after leaving the airport.  What a guy I have for a husband!

I stayed under my budget and managed to get yarn for a lace cardigan, 3 different worsted cottons for diaper covers, some Koigu for booties, a JBW needle gauge and a baby pattern book on my list. 

Glad to know there is a name for it.

And of course we spent a lot of time here at the National Bowling Stadium. 

I had to laugh because I looked up during competition and saw that Vicky Pollard was one of last year's champions.  I wonder if any other Little Britain fans were in attendance and noticed?

Sunny Daisy Chenille

What a beautiful weekend we had!  Our first warm real spring weekend.  Dave hung shelves in the garage and cleaned and organized out there.  I did laundry and cleaned and organized the laundry room and bathroom.  We took a trip to Menard's for wood for some home improvement and garden projects.  My reward for all this productivity was to retreat into the sewing room to work on another chenille blanket.  This one is a more neutral baby theme with yellow and white daisies. 

I had to run to Joann's to pick up some blanket binding.  I could swear I had a package of pale yellow but I guess I didn't.  As a bonus, I got this glass Eiffel Tower bottle nic nac on sale for my downstairs French powder room to go with all my other French nic nacs.

I was also thrilled to get my Queen Vic pint glasses in the mail!  I pledged to TPT this year because it is all I watch and of course my favorite show is Eastenders.  I am so happy to report my migraines seem to be manageable and almost, dare I say, under control.  I have not missed work because of them in a while and it felt good to be able to donate to public television.  I've wanted to for the past two years but financially had not been in a place to do so since the migraines made everything so unpredictable.

Here is my blankie cut and bound before washing.  I chose yellow, a pale lime green and gray for my flannel colors.  I really liked the gray in the background of the floral fabric and wanted that to come through so I put that as the outer color. 

Here it is after it has been washed and the magic of chenille has been made.  You can see the yellow and the lime peeking through.

Here is the finished blanket.  They are such thick sturdy blankets.  I'd lay this over broken glass for a baby to play on.  Jimmy Beans Wool also has fabric and if anything absolutely jumps out at me, I'd like to make another one of these.  You can't have too many!

I had smallpox last week so I spent the time pushing my right tonsil back in and knitting.  My cousin is having a baby boy sometime this month I think so I had to get busy making a boy gift for him.  I had been eyeing this sweater for a while and dug around in my stash looking for something appropriate.  This is some llama yarn which I though was quite appropriate because I remember Christine used to love that Sesame Street song Me and My Llama.

 I was so excited to use my new teapot I picked up at Salisbury Cathedral and my new ration book mug from Bletchley Park.  I have the vest portion of the sweater finished and pieced as well as one of the sleeves.  I just have to knit the other sleeve and then sew them both on so hopefully I'll have it finished on Thursday.  And I'll have enough yarn to knit another for my eventual baby wardrobe.  I love the overlapped shoulder styling of this sweater and with this color of yarn, it reminds me of military sweaters or fatigues.

Dave bought me this plastic storage tub when we were at Target the other day as an impromptu birthday gift.  My big gift is going to Jimmy Beans Wool when we're in Reno later in the month but this is just awesome because the plastic is molded as knitting!  It might also have been a hint to put my knitting crap in here instead of leaving it all over the couch when I'm done for the day, but still I'll take it!

A week and a half ago we had such sunny but cool weather which may have done me in as far as my tonsils go.  We took the dogs on lots of walks and did a lot of yard work.  I dressed appropriately though and even wore my new hat!  I finished my Stephen West Windschief hat using some Malabrigo I got on our last trip to Fargo.  I have enough to knit a matching pair of gloves and I think I'll knit them as my Reno knitting project.  You can't really see the colors in this photo but they are vibrant and varied.

Here is a crappy picture of my hall plants.  I re potted my umbrella tree and my mini palm.  I keep thinking I need to have children so I can lavish my attention on something other than my house trees!  I am so proud of them!  I have also become a fool for Homegoods because I got both of those pots there.

It is just Wild Kingdom around here because I saw these Tom Turkeys near our house.  I took the picture moments too late because they'd been magnificently puffed up and looking like a Thanksgiving card.  They deflated and then led about 18 females across the road.

We also have a resident woodchuck in our pond, or at least we think he's a woodchuck.  I just love the coming spring season and watching all our neighborhood critters.

Spring Hoska

Dave and I went over to his parents' house this weekend to help bake hoska one last time this year. 

We picked the right day for the job because it even started snowing and blowing while we were dividing up the dough for the six loaves.

There are literally pounds of regular and golden raisins in these loaves and they're constantly popping out onto the floor so Lopi isn't allowed to come over while we're braiding hoska.

They look so beautiful all puffed and risen.  Marianne uses a wash of 2 egg yolks and a can of evaporated milk.

Here are four of the baked loaves.  We always have to cut into one of the first loaves on baking day.

The morning after, Dave and I made Czech (French) toast for breakfast!

Since coming home from England and sampling all the different fruit curds we saw, I've wanted to try making some raspberry curd from the last of our berries in the freezer.  I used Martha's recipe which used 8 egg yolks and then you mix in one cup of pureed raspberries.  I just love the colors.

The curd was especially good on toasted hoska!

New Bag For An Old Bag

I went and saw a neurologist earlier in the week about my migraines and then enjoyed my crippling monthly headache.  I've got 5 days of my new daily preventative medication in me and after I scraped myself back together, I enjoyed an evening of sewing making this Amy Butler Rural Messenger Bag for my upcoming trip.  This fabric came from Modern Textiles in Fargo and I spent a careful Sunday evening last weekend cutting out and matching pieces.  I'd gotten a bamboo corner turner, the best chalk pencil I've ever used and the best fabric pen I've ever used at Modern Textiles and used those for the first time last night too.  I'm mentally working out a pouch/carrier with a vinyl window for my cell phone because I'm going to take it as my camera but I'm scared to death I'll drop it or lose it.  I'm not above looking like a dork so I'm thinking of something I can wear around my neck. 

We had beautiful weather Saturday and Sunday so the pond is threatening to melt and break up.  We took the dogs for walks both days and kept remarking that we'd not seen any Canada geese yet.  Last evening I saw the scout party.  This lone guy was surveying the ice and this morning I bet there are a half dozen of his cohorts out there.