Glanalaw - delighting in pure song

I've finished a new quilt!  This one is serene blues and greens and I call it Hidden Pond.  Machine-pieced, hand-quilted, as usual. Find it here in my shop .  I'm already at work on the next one!

It's been raining almost constantly for the last two days.  The geranium in the hanging pot outside the front door is one of the few bright spots in our yard right now.   I've been hanging out indoors, putting the binding on this quilt.  When Marple doesn't steal it from me that is.

Well, I did it.  I drove a truck with all my worldy goods (plus Conrad) and towed my car almost 600 miles across country.  Nobody died and nothing crucial broke, so I count it a success!  (The not-crucial things were two glass candlesticks and a couple of fingernails, plus assorted bumps, bruises and scratches.  But those are all just part of the game.) I loaded up the truck on Thursday afternoon, with the help of two dear friends who made fun of my spinning wheel and complained about my brick-and-board bookshelves and informed me (after the 6th large box of books) that "they have e-readers for this, you know!" and were generally incredible.  Thanks, guys :) And on Friday, we drove.  It was a long drive.  I don't ever want to do that again -- but at least I know I *can*, if necessary!  Conrad was extremely good, though miserable.  He did his best wounded-and-disgruntled Toothless the dragon impression, and turned his back on me w...

Tomorrow, I pack the U-Haul and close this chapter. Today, I escaped from everything.  Went on the river with a bunch of dear friends.  Kayaked, splashed, sang, swam, climbed a waterfall and jumped off again.  Just enough sun, just enough rain, plenty of exercise to leave me pleasantly sore.  Memories I'll cherish.   A perfect day. (Photos borrowed from a FB friend.)

Here's just a glimpse of what my life looks like this week... boxes and more boxes!  I'm packing up all my (many) worldly goods in preparation for a 600-mile trek from grad school back to my parents' house. Someone please explain to me how I managed to aquire quite so much stuff in the last two years...  Anyway, I'm loading up my U-Haul on Thursday and heading out on Friday.  Many mixed feelings... I'm so glad to be done with grad school, but I really don't want to leave all my friends here.  And I really hate moving. Conrad has been alternately worried by the unusual activity (afraid I'll leave him behind, I think, although if he knew the ride he has ahead of him he might be glad to stay!) and fascinated by the boxes.  Especially when I decorated a stack with cat treats and let him at it. And I've found a little time to work on this quilt, in the evenings after long days of packing.

This project was a special request through Etsy.  The customer wanted a knitted version of her dog, and sent me photos to work from.  I've never done anything quite like that before!  (I was reminded of Eve in the book "Saffy's Angel" who paints portraits of people's dead pets...) Anyway, we found a pattern that would work and I knitted him up, altering the markings to match the real dog.  He turned out pretty well but the pattern was a pain.  Up to this point the only stuffed animals I've made are my little elephants, which are quite straightforward and easy.  This guy had 13 pieces which I had to knit and then figure out how to sew up and stuff, and position properly so it would look anatomically correct and not fall over and so on.  I'll admit the finished product is pretty cute but I'll think long and hard before doing another piece like this.  (And charge more if I accept it.) I chose a tweedy yarn to capture the dog's slightly m...

So apparently the final semester of grad school is not at all condusive to blogging.  I didn't mean to vanish for the last several months!  School is out now and so I should be back here more often, with lots of pictures of food and crafting and moving trucks.  Stay tuned!