September 2003 Archives

I picked up a Chinese Brush Painting project book complete with paints and brushes and instructions at the college book faire Tuesday. I was intrigued by the simplicity of the colors and line/form of the drawings and wanted to give it a try...because, um, err, "I'm a painter!" (yeah, right!).

I picked up an Ortho Dial-N-Spray at Orchard Supply Hardware Monday evening so on Tuesday morning I could (finally) spray the rose bushes to prevent more white powery mildew. Yes, I know, it's been a while now (since early August!) but I frequently suffer from "I'm not absolutely sure what to do or how long it will take or what is involved, so I'm going to wait and think about it and eventually get around to it." And, that happens with more than just gardening...

What got me going on this was reading through several gardening books Sunday afternoon...books about roses and other flowers and plants! I'm re-inspired!

Friday evening after work, I pulled out the Cosmos that had been growing in the front yard. The stems were molding and drying up and each plant was full of ants - tons of ants. Yuck. Cosmos are so pretty when they're healthy! Anyway, I'm not sure (since I'm so new to gardening) but I think the plants may have just reached their end-of-life period - either that or the ants were reeking havoc.

So, I'm wondering what type of colorful plants and/or flowers I can plant in that area in the front garden so we can have something besides brown dirt to look at through Fall and Winter until Spring... Any ideas?

I picked up Mom's sewing machine from the fix-it place Saturday, but haven't gotten around to turning it on yet to practice... Hopefully, this weekend. I looked at two of the quilting books Mom gave me from her collection on Sunday, and bought 2 quilting books Tuesday at the college's book faire - so, I'm getting geared up!

Since I haven't been into cross-stitch for a while and don't expect to be anytime soon, a month or so ago I offered to make my best friend Tamela a blanket in place of the nude woman cross-stitch design that she had asked me to make for her last fall. (I did find a painting I liked and bought software that creates cross-stitch patterns from digital images, but haven't gotten around to buying the embroidery thread or cloth.)

Tamela loved the idea of a large blanket she could cuddle up in and looked through the pattern books I have for one she liked (Bowtie in the Ultimate Book of Quilt Afghans crochet pattern book by Annie's Attic). I waited until I finished Greg's blanket to start hers. I bought yarn in the main color one evening last week and will use leftovers from other projects for the other colors. Each 4-square block is a different color. The pattern calls for 20 4-square blocks but my gauge is larger than the pattern so I'll probably make 12 4-square blocks instead. I could use a smaller crochet hook to get the pattern's original gauge but then the stitches would be tighter and the blanket less cuddly.

The only problem I'm having with working on this blanket is that the stitches are all single crochet, which is boring to do...over and over and... Thank goodness the pattern requires color changes at prescribed intervals!

On Monday, I brought all but 2 of the lap blankets I've made since December 2002 to the college for display in the library. I finished Greg's reds-white-blues blanket Monday evening and it joined the others Tuesday. I thought there might be some interest in seeing the blankets I've made, especially for those people who have donated yarn to my lap blanket projects. I'll donate the blankets in the next month or so to a local nursing home or other care facility for distribution to the residents.

Size: 42.5 inches x 55 inches
Colors: Claret, Rust (?), White, Light Blue, Dark Blue
Pattern: Amish Star - Design by Dorrisa Smith (design modified by Greg)
Book: Ultimate Book of Quilt Afghans - 12 Afghans - Leaflet 872217 - Copyright 2000 - Annie's Attic
Date: September 2003

I finished the blanket for my boy Monday evening! He didn't want me to make it larger, so I just added the border and finished weaving in the remaining yarn ends. I'll ship it to him in Virginia in a few weeks.

Greg based his design (right) for this blanket on the Amish Star pattern (left).