by Kat | Jun 21, 2019 | General, In This Moment
Summertime is always the best of what might be. — Charles Bowden
Happy Summer Solstice! After torrential overnight rains, this morning the clouds are giving way to pale blue skies. The humidity is gone, and the birds are singing! I have shut off the AC and opened wide the windows, welcoming in the cool air. After a week of rarely seeing the sunshine, this is the perfect start to summer!
Celebrating:
Our ninth “anniversary” of sorts! I use the word anniversary loosely because we are not married – but no less committed to each other (and perhaps more so!) Anyways, we had the most hilarious conversation this morning where we struggled with the date a bit – how many years now? After much conversation and checking of calendars – Happy 9 years of co-habitation! The highlight of the morning thus far was the email informing me that I have 1 year of BritBox awaiting me! Steve does know me so well – sometimes is scares me! Ha! Anyways, I have plans to celebrate tonight with our usual Happy Hour, which tonight will be a Happy Anniversary Hour! And, I think the weather is going to cooperate nicely and allow for a bit of a bonfire tonight!
Making:
Yesterday I got all the pieces cut out for Vivi’s quilt top (thanks to Middlemarch – which is the most engaging company) and this morning my plan was to start sewing squares together… But perhaps it would be a better thing to get this yarn skeined up and soaking since the weather is perfect for drying yarn! I also need give my Screen Door a quick soak and a bit of blocking. Yesterday, I pulled out this project and managed to get past the sleeve divide. And, this weekend I want to make some more of this incredible jam. It is insanely delicious – far less sweet – and much faster than this jam. I did NOT strain the jam as suggested in the recipe. As you can see, there is no shortage of “making” going on here.
Watching:
The latest season of The Handmaid’s Tale and a new series, Das Boot – both on Hulu. I also finally caught up with the latest season of Bosch on Amazon. And, best of all – the latest season of Endeavor on PBS!
Loving:
Michelle’s Summer Friday Prompts! They are a wonderful thing to contemplate and I am carrying them with me through the week in my morning meditation time. This week’s prompt was ironically timely – and I am profoundly grateful for the prompts. It is always a good reminder to look beyond the bad and think about the future – and to find something to be grateful for.
Asking:
For your valued input! I have been thinking about the future of Unraveled Wednesday – is it stale? Does it need a reboot? How many weeks can we really be excited to talk about our making and reading? I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions! (and if you don’t want to leave a comment here you are welcome to email me at kachrist37 (at) gmail (dot) com – of course you know to swap out the (at) and (dot) with an ampersand and a period.
That is what is happening in my world right now – Have an amazing weekend and I will see you back here on Monday! (And, I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions about Unraveled Wednesdays!)
by Kat | Jun 7, 2019 | General, In This Moment
Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June. – Al Bernstein
June days are simply magical. The light gently wakes me, inviting me to greet the new day. The birds fill the air with their melodies and the low buzzing of the bees join to make the loveliest of harmonies. The lavender is full of velvety purple wands that dance in the breeze. The morning in the garden is my favorite time of the day. And, this morning I was greeted by the first Stella d’Oro daylily – a bittersweet sight because it means the deer will soon be here to snack on the blooms. But that first bloom was a glorious to see!
Triumphing!
Yesterday afternoon I finished the last sleeve of my Marsa Alam and this morning it is enjoying a Spa Treatment and will soon be laying out to dry. Pearl buttons will be sewn on this weekend (thank you all for your input!) Pre-blocking this is perhaps the best fitting sweater I have ever knit! The sleeve/shoulder fit is incredible – and can I just gush about Holst Coast yarn a minute? It might be my favorite yarn ever! The stitches are beautifully even, the ribbing looks nice, the hand of the sweater is incredibly inviting, and it is next-to-skin-soft. And, lets talk about value – I purchased a 500 g/3800 yd cone for about $24. Shipping from Denmark is not bad, and it only added about $10 to the cost of the yarn – and you get the most wonderful updates from Holst and PostNord. (Also, PostNord got the yarn to the USA in less than 24 hours, but it took the USPS more than a week to deliver it to my door…) My Marsa Alam used 324g of yarn – so yes, I have more than enough left-over yarn to use to make a Screen Door, which I cast on last night and flew through 8 repeats of the easy to memorize pattern! Knitting wins are such a good feeling!
Getting Ready!
I have a stack of fabrics that have been patiently waiting for me to begin cutting and assembling them into this quilt. Why that quilt? Genevieve is turning 4 next month and my plan is to make that for her birthday! With my new sewing set up, I think that I can manage to do the machine quilting myself. And while I love the overall stippling effect on the linked quilt, I think that will be a bit beyond my very-beginner abilities. However, I think that concentric circles might be lovely… sort of like the stitching I did for this piece:
Inspired by…
Something I saw on Pinterest last night, which made me go to see the original post on IG. Oh.my.gosh. I have the tamrack pattern – I picked it up in Grainline’s pattern sale earlier this year but had not been inspired to make one, thinking it would be a good fall project. And then I saw the magic that cjoy2 did with her tamrack (also her artwork…) WOW!! It is not bulky, I love the length, and it is incredibly creative – yet simple! She hand-stitched around the butterflies in the most wonderful way! And, her binding around the edges… it is brilliant!
Flattened!
I absolutely LOVE the MBR’s Rose Pants. They are wonderfully easy to make and to wear. I want to make a pair from a light denim – but denim and pleats or gathers seemed, well – bulky in an area I don’t need any extra bulk! So I had been wondering how hard it would be to remove the pleats/gathers from the front… well, wonder no more thanks to this post, which led me to this post. I have enough fabric to make a muslin trial run pair of shorts with a flattened front! Wish me luck!
And, that is all I have to share with you all for this first Friday in June! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!
by Kat | Aug 7, 2018 | General, In This Moment
The luxury of having an indulgent morning is really quite lovely. It almost outweighs the condition of my hands and nails when August arrives each year. Yes, all the weeding, digging, cultivating, and watering are taking their toll on my hands and nails.
Sitting still while waiting for your nails to dry is saved from sheer boredom by the company of a wonderful book.
Happy Tuesday, everyone!
by Kat | Jul 23, 2018 | General, Making
It was one of those perfect “height of summer” weekends that started with a laid-back Friday Happy Hour that included Whipped Feta Dip… mmmm so good! This will be in the rotation again!
The farmer’s market on Saturday was full of all the good things! Peaches, Plums, and Sweet Corn all made their way home with us. Plus, we had a bit of a bonus at a local grocer who had some elusive but oh so delicious Michigan blueberries in stock! This meant lots of cooking over the weekend… I am not a pie baker, and while I have an aunt who would crank out pie crusts in volume, this is my least favorite thing to do. But, “cheater” pie crusts, FTW! Unroll, fill, and bake made it so easy! I made Plum, Blueberry, and Peach Crostatas. And, really… they were all so easy!
Saturday was also Genevieve’s third birthday! The day was extra special because Christian was in port and not too far away so it made for the perfect little family celebration for them!
I picked an almost overflowing bowl of tomatoes and a couple handfuls of beans.
Plus, there was an entire meal of Sweet Corn. Ahhhh, summer! How good you taste!
Lest you think all we did was eat and drink and sing Happy Birthday all weekend, there was plenty of other stuff accomplished too! And, today Steve is home and will soon be in “internet heaven” when FIOS comes to install giga-bit internet here. Be still my heart, lol.
BUT, drum roll please…I even have an almost completed Beekeeper Cardigan! The knitting is done, I just have the seaming of the sleeves to do! Just the thing to occupy myself and stay out of the way today! Ha!
There was even some much-needed rain… all in all, the perfect weekend!
I hope your weekend was full of as many good things! Happy Monday!
by Kat | Jun 4, 2018 | General, In This Moment
I am not sure one could pack more into a regular weekend than I did this weekend!
I re-purposed 2 skirts into Esme tops. This was surprisingly super quick, and I am feeling most accomplished for reusing unworn garments into something I will wear. The pile of unworn items is shrinking as they are re-purposed, which makes me feel so very good!
The farmers market had an explosion of good things which prompted some monumental tasks that included making Judy’s Famous and Oh So Delicious Oven-Roasted Strawberry Jam, pickling radishes, making Bourbon Soaked Cherries, and making stuffed peppers to freeze.
And, much of this happened during a sudden water outage Saturday afternoon thanks to a water main break in the neighborhood. How this can happen with the temperatures in the 80’s is beyond me! But, no water in the midst of all.the.things caused me to put off peeling and cutting up about 4 lbs of apples for apple crisp until today.
We also enjoyed a delicious Friday Happy Hour, had some steamed mussels on Saturday of which there were leftovers which made an incredible pasta on Sunday.
All this took place with the ‘normal’ weekend things going on as well and I feel like I lived the Make Hay While the Sun Shines motto to the fullest (even though the sun shone very little over the weekend!)
Obviously, there was little to no knitting time so my Eavesdrop is about the same as when you last saw it. However, all that time in the kitchen helped me make good progress on an audio book, which helps my Summer Book Bingo card tremendously!
I almost feel like it should be a “no list” Monday, and outside of those apples – maybe it will!
How was your weekend?
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