Reading, knitting, quilting

I never mind rainy or snowy days because they present good excuses for my favorite activities - reading, knitting, quilting, and shopping (although central Vermont doesn't have many opportunities for the latter). But yesterday, it was a lovely summer day and I did a little of everything, too. Paul visited a luthier in the afternoon and declared it had been a perfect day. I agreed.

Mad River Quilts was having a sale, so I drove down to Waitsfield and indulged in a little "Vitamin Q," shopping mostly for boy-oriented fabric. Lisa was selling half-yard cuts for $2 and whole yard cuts for $4, so I got a few to make quilts for Camp Agape. These quilts are oddly sized, 39" x 75". This will be my summer project after I finish quilting the moose quilt and the quilts I'm giving to the Vermont Charity Quilt Auction. One of the latter is waiting to have its binding sewn down while the other two log cabins need to be quilted.

I knit a little on my periwinkle scarf but I am finding the flame pattern very annoying. I have to keep reading the directions on every other row and, even then, I make mistakes. The flames are certainly not in line and every once in a while I find I have added a stitch. Ugh! It's not relaxing and I wonder if I should (a) rip it out and start over with a new pattern or (b) keep at it.

I was happy to see Sarah Addison Allen's latest book on the "new" shelf at the library the other night. The Girl Who Chased the Moon has Allen's usual magical elements and tells the story of a teenage girl and a young woman who both are trying to find their places in the world. It has the usual quirky southern characters that I enjoyed in Allen's other two books, Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. These aren't "heavy" books with a message but are light, quick reads for enjoyment.

These are truly the "dog days" of summer - we had potato salad and roasted vegetable panini for dinner!

"Among the Moose"

I've been spending a little time each morning and afternoon quilting the throw I mentioned, a wedding present for friends. It's really fun although I'm still not sure what I'll do when it's time to do the four cream center squares. So far, I'm just going around the red shapes and the brown border. I was thinking names, date, place but we'll have to see how I feel when I get there.

Yesterday, I also started knitting a lacy periwinkle scarf. It's another complicated pattern so I have to look at the directions on every other row. Eventually, I hope I find a rhythm and won't have to look so often, just as I did with the pink scarf. Both of these are slim and long, to be wound around the neck twice. This one is bamboo, so it's really soft. I thought I would give Sandy some yarn and the same pattern for her birthday. I downloaded the pattern from Knitpicks which is a great source for yarn and patterns. It's a gloomy day today - perfect for quilting, knitting, and finishing up a good mystery. The house needs vaccuuming - maybe tomorrow!

Ready to quilt

I've been working feverishly on a quilt to give friends who are getting married this summer. It all started when I decided to make them a set of place mats. I made a few blocks and liked them, so got carried away. I ran down to Dee's shop and bought a few more fat quarters and other things. I already had 2 yards of brown "Dimples" fabric I used for the border. The "placemats" are all set together in a 60" x 60" square now!

The rest of the brown has been cut and pieced into binding. I love "Dimples" by Gail Kessler because that line blends with just about everything. The warm brown has darker brown/black polka dots.

I put the sandwich together yesterday and quilted one small section. Today, I'll start quilting in earnest, but I plan to take my time as I did with Evelyn's quilt last summer. I get sloppy if I hurry, and I have more than a month to finish. This must be the summr for weddings. Paul and I are going to one next weekend, Chris is going to one July 3, and we have another to attend mid-summer. Chris and I are going to shopping for something for him to wear this week.

High tea at the Brown Palace

While on vacation in the Denver area, we celebrated my mother's 88th birthday a little early with high tea at the Brown Palace Hotel. We asked our waitress to take our photo afterwards. Don't we look contented? Mom, Dad, and Paul ordered the "standard" tea while I ordered the "chocolate lovers" one. Jenny had a special gluten-free tea with fruits, an assortment of sorbets, shrimps, and humus-stuffed celery. Hers looked almost better than ours. Our three tiers included two kinds of scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, assorted tea sandwiches (cucumber, roast beef, and turkey), and little pastries. There were some yummy chocolate macaroons that I will try to find a recipe for, as well as chocolate cups stuffed with flavored creams and petit fours. Tea was at 3 pm, so we didn't eat dinner later - just snacked around 8 pm. It was an elegant and fun end to a nice week.

Georgetown Loop Railroad

We're back from a quick (one week) trip to Colorado to visit my parents and sister. Last Thurs., we took Mom on a trip to Central City and to Georgetown, about 45 min. west of Golden, to ride a restored mining railroad to the tiny town of Silver Plume. From station to station, it's only about a mile, but due to the loop and curves, it's 3.1 miles via the narrow gauge train. The railroad doubles back on itself in order to have a gradual rise in elevation. There was snow visible on the mountain tops. We went over a very tall iron bridge in the process. Even though we were in a covered railroad car, it was rather chilly and we regretted that we'd left our sweaters in the car.















There are two trains running between the stations, and each stops in the middle to pick off/drop off visitors to the restored Lebanon Silver Mine. We didn't opt to take that tour, having seen a few other mines in our day (and being a little chilly). Here's the other train coming our way. Our conductor, Willie, got off to work the switches.

The stop in Silver Plume offered a gift shop and a museum of older railroad cars. The one marked "sleeper" had wooden siding and a bunch of roll-away cots. Not my idea of comfort!

It was a really fun excursion. Afterwards, we went into Georgetown (population 1,000) for lunch at an Italian bistro and did a little shopping in some very nice gift shops.

Central City, where we stopped before going to Georgetown, is a cute town, too, having seen a boom during the gold rush when the population was 30,000. It now has a population of 450, but many of the restored historic buildings are populated by "one-armed bandits." Neighboring Black Hawk has more casinos, but the center piece of Central City is thankfully still the Opera House where I saw "Tosca" several years ago with my parents and Tante Willy.

Feels like summer

Driving home from the mall this afternoon, it felt like a summer Sunday in mid-July. The mall was pretty quiet for a weekend and very few people were on the road. The sky was a pure blue and the temperatures on the warm side. But it is only May and who knows what can happen with the weather. The first year I lived in Vermont, 1978, the heat was on on Memorial Day.

Ever optimistic, however, I planted my tomatoes and parsley yesterday in a new, small bed beside the back porch. It looks good, all mulched, and green. The Early Girl tomato plants are fairly mature and have blossoms, which I hope will lead to an early crop. Downtown, at the community garden, I have planted a long row of green bush beans, a couple of small rows of Swiss chard, hills of summer squash and little pumpkins, and a few small-sized sunflowers. I wanted to have just a few flowers to cut. The garden column in the paper says that all this stuff should wait until June, but I just can't! And the weather prediction is for more days like today most of the week so I think I'm safe.

I started making a special birthday gift for this year's Dear Jane Secret Pal. It's almost all hand-sewn so is good for days like today. I had to go to the mall to get some pink embroidery floss for said project and to pick up my newer Viking machine which was in for its annual check up. Good to have that baby back! I have several quilt tops that need quilting.

Later this afternoon, we'll head down to the library for a friend's book launch and signing. Afterwards, I have a barley salad cooling in the frig for dinner with cold cuts and rolls. Summer food!

Gorgeous weather!

All the leaves are out, the temperatures are in the 70's, and the humidity is thankfully low. This kind of weather is what we brave the miserable winters for! I sat out on the porch earlier with my knitting and expect to do so before dinner, too, with a glass of wine. Ah, spring! Yesterday I dug up my community garden, which is about 3' x 6'. Maybe tomorrow I'll spread some manure and plant. I have also dug a place next to the porch for some tomatoes and parsley, and have some thyme and lettuce in planters outside. This is about a week earlier than "normal" for Vermont, or at least the past when Memorial Day was the time for planting.

Today I drove up to Burlington to meet Pauline on Church St. for lunch. We sat inside at Leunig's but they had the windows open to the street, so it was like being outdoors. She has a tan already. I bought a dress at Clay's since we have several events to go to this summer and was pleased that I fit in a "L" rather than my previous "XL." After leaving the city, I headed over to my favorite quilt shop, Yankee Pride. I want to make another Sashiko-style tote bag and maybe some placemats using a line of fabrics called "Dimples," and got some in black and dark brown. Because the lady who helped me had an interesting accent, I asked her about it. Just as I suspected, she is Dutch, so I told her I was, too. We have the same name, which was fun.