Gosh! June Is Almost Done!

I had one more skein of sock yarn in my stash waiting for dye. So I picked some correopsis tinctoria and did a very small dye pot with copper sulfate as the mordant. It is a pretty light reddish brown. In fact, what washed out mostly was reddish color. Isn't that better than another golden yellow color? I did a fabric bundle with some different flowers and the strained correopsis in the bundle and threw it into the leftover dyepot. I got a nice reddish brown cloth with splotches of darker reddish brown. It was nice too. Sometimes surprises are often what makes me happy.

Yes-it's sunflower time. This will make all the finch folk happy when the seeds come on. I don't have as many sunflowers as I have had in the past years. And surprisingly, they are not as tall in past years. We are in a drought already. After the cold and wet, we immediately went into July heat and no rain.

I also finished the pink skein of yarn. It is beautiful, even if I say so myself. I love it. It is 50/50 romney dyed with Gaywool Salmon and faux cashmere dyed with leftover cups of Gaywool dye on a dye day on the deck. CJE and I called it Clown Barf, since it was so many different colors of pink, red, green, blue, and yellow. I haven't taken any photos yet.

I am presently spinning some more turquoise merino for the handspun sweater. I have one skein left and decided I needed to have two skeins, just in case. I am halfway done on the sleeves. Then onwards to the body.

I am also chugging along on the afghan for my nephew and his lady love. I am sick of it, but I am trying to get it big enough before I give up on it. I finished number 1 sock on the traveling socks in my purse. I immediately cast on and started ribbing before I put it back into the purse.

I have also started stitching on a story quilt that I have been putting off for quite some time. When we cleaned out my grandmother's things, my sister-in-law showed me a ragged beginnings of a crazy quilt that she did not know any history or anything. She had found it in my grandmother's things. I recognized the fabrics from clothing my grandmother had made, but I know my grandmother hated quilting. She was very vocal about this. So that means it had to be my great-grandmother who started this. It would be the kind of thing my grandmother would hang onto because of the recognizable fabrics and that her mother started it.

I found this scrappy thing the other day, washed it, and the embroidery threads gave up the ghost. But I think that is part of the appeal to me. The ragged-ness is something I like. The weird part of it all is that the scraps are all wool pieces of fabric. So I started a story quilt yesterday, and today I did a little bit of stitching while it was cool out on the screen porch. A new journey!

This is a spinning wheel a friend's husband made her. Isn't it gorgeous? It is cherry and yellow wood. And yes-that is a clock mounted on the post! I sat down to do a little bit of spinning, and it is really nice. This guy is a genius. He makes all these things for his wife to keep her happy. Even a wooden needle holder for her embroidery needles! I am totally blown away! That thing in the background to the right is her embroidery stand! And on the end table is all her needlework stuff-bowls, containers, etc. that he made her.

In that glassed case next to the fireplace is all the beautiful stuff he has made. I am so amazed!

Oh-oh! I forgot! The whole wall behind the sofa is this custom quilt rack that he made for all her quilts. Too much for me to fathom.

So CJE and AE are moving CJE's mom out to their place. They will now have both moms there to monitor and take care of. CJE has been moving everything of hers out of her studio so her mom can move into it. Now her two floor looms and other stuff are in the house in half of the family room. All her music stuff and stash and "stuff" is moving into a storage unit in town about 4 miles away.

I guess nothing else new. Oh-Patty tested negative for her six month follow-up heartworm test! Yeah! Noodles is moving really slow these days. We wouldn't want to overheat ourselves with all that fur.

I guess that's all. Just trying to stay cool and busy. My strength is gaining, although I am tired by the afternoon. I have been up early most mornings to utilize the cooler time to water and sit on the screen porch.

Talk at you in July. Happy 4th!