It's not all knitting...

but it's crafty!
As I mentioned in passing, I was coerced into joining a "NewBee" via Twitter friends. The first month's blocks are complete and mailed out...
They may not look square, but trust me, they are. 12.5x12.5 inches! I'm no quilting expert, but I think I did okay!
Speaking of quilting and fabric (whoo boy, my fabric stash may soon outpace my yarn one...don't tell the Tall Guy!), I just discovered Spoonflower.com yesterday (in time for free swatch day). If you have any great fabric websites you'd like to share, please feel free!

In the meantime, I'm continuing to churn out the baby knits as friends are coming up on their due dates...
Technically, you're spose' to turn down the cuff, but I like the full length look myself!

Saturday adventure

Last Saturday, the Tall Guy and I took a road trip to Richmond. I'd never been there, except when passing through on the way south and was pleasantly surprised with the city we found!

The reason for our trip was to go to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art for a special exhibit of Tiffany Glass. We realized at the last minute that it was leaving on Sunday, so we made quick plans and headed down.


The museum itself was quite nice and I'm pretty much in love with most pieces that came out of the Tiffany collection (I'm a glass medium fan in general).

Here's one of my favorites:


(Photo credit noted: from the VMFA website, saved to my server)

And some other great examples are here. I love it all...

After we finished at the museum, we wandered down the street and found ourselves in Carytown. We had a nice lunch at an Italian Deli, did some window shopping, found a yarn shop(while shopping around a bit, I didn't actually buy anything!)

And the Tall Guy bought me a new necklace! Pretty cute, huh?

Stormy morning

The Tall Guy and I got ready for work this morning as the sky went black and thunder rumbled. By the time my teeth were brushed hail was coming down with full force! It was quite an exciting way to start the morning! Of course, without coffee, I didn't even think to try to take a photo. Right now, we're both working from home as we wait for the Red Line delays to go away and we can make our way into the office.
I don't know about you, but early morning thunder storms are always a funny way to start the day. You would think with the crazy summer we were having, we would be ready for anything! Earthquakes, tornadoes, snowstorms...we've had it all this year!
I was going through my photos this morning and ran into the below video... Yes. Our dog is insane. Especially when you've just put her "Frontline" flea and tick repellent on her. Never a dull moment around here, folks!
Happy Thursday!

Babies, sewing and a special guest hello...

All my friends are pregnant.
Okay, that's not quite true. I should say, it would seem that a majority of my female friends that live in my neighborhood are expecting. As in, four in five months! The first one in a few weeks and downhill from there!

As a result, I'm doing a lot of baby knitting. At this point, it's sort of scattered, a pair of booties here, a hat there, but it's coming together so that all of my friends will be getting nice little bundles of handknits in bright, cheery, gender neutral colors. So much fun!


In my spare time (ha!), I've started playing with sewing again and have even joined a "New Bee" Quilting group. I sewed this bag a few weeks ago to test out my skills.
The verdict? I need to practice more, but that's okay!

And... Annie says hello.
This is her "New Hampshire" bandanna. My sister wears a lot of tie dye and I make fun of her for this alllll the time. She retaliated by putting some of her style on my poor dog. Annie seems to like it a bit more than the Harley Davidson one my dad bought for her. Bright orange isn't really her color.

A few more Midwest comments

Have you ever had frozen custard? It's amazing. I mean, I've never met a frozen dairy treat I didn't like, but this stuff? Tasty!


The Tall Guy's uncle, upon hearing my lack of frozen custard knowledge brought us straight to Kopp's.
It comes out of machines like this: I love it.
And, finally, my last comment about my Midwest adventure:

After passing through security at the Milwaukee Airport, you see this sign where there are a number of benches etc. At that moment, I fell deep in love with Wisconsin. Not only do they have an area for you to put your belt and shoes back on, but they made up a name for it. LOVE.

Playing tourist

It seems that most people that actually live/work in the DC area never actually go to the hot spots in the Nation's Capital (unless we're talking about a new bar or restaurant!) The Tall Guy's sister and her husband were in town earlier this summer from Seattle so, we took advantage of their time in town to do a bit of exploring. We have a friend that works on the Hill and he hooked us up with a tour and gallery passes. Very cool indeed even for those of us desensitized to the "Big P politics" in DC.

Midwest adventures

The Tall Guy and I took a trip out to the burbs of Chicago and Milwaukee recently.


Mostly, the trip was about visiting family, but I must say I have the best husband and Mother-in-Law around because guess where this girl got to go? You got it....
I must say, if you're ever in the neighborhood, you need to stop in to The Fold...what a great yarn shop! Though, truth be told, I'm not sure how anyone would be in the neighborhood, the shop is in the middle of a corn field and is miles from the nearest town. But, it's still worth the drive out of your way. I came way with a variety of good stuff and a canvas tote bag to boot!

After The Fold, we drove up to Lake Geneva and stopped in Williams Bay for lunch at this place.


After growing up on the Maine border my entire life, I have never seen such a contraption. I had to go to Wisconsin. Bizarre, no? Yes, it's a claw game where you catch a lobster that they'll cook for you. In Wisconsin. I'm still perplexed.

Howdy! How's your summer going? I can't believe it's August already. Pretty sure last I checked it was May!
Things have been moving right along around here, so don't mind the lack of chatter!



These are a few pics from the garden... we've had the most luck with hot peppers and tomatoes this year.