Where Did It Go?

This year, 

the week after Labour Day

flew by:

preparations for new counter tops,

now installed,

repairs to the underbelly

of the house

so pipes won't freeze 

come January.

The wind blew in rain and wet snow

on my birthday.

Diesel went missing,

still gone,

likely forever.

Diesel Cat

On the heels of his disappearance, 

a trip to Calgary

despite the weather,

for a dental check-up,

 an over-night visit,

 a meeting

and a workshop 

that all who made it enjoyed.

Tree down behind our meeting venue

Back home in a

twenty-four-hour turn-around;

then to work,

followed

by another trip --

this time to Sherwood Park

north of here,

just outside Edmonton.

 Another over-night

sandwiched

between two very full days

working a booth 

at the Creative Stitches Show.

Home again to face

fall yard work,

and company over-night.

Much to catch up:

correspondence,

errands,

connecting to neighbours

and friends.

There's always knitting

and working a bit in the studio.

There is always knitting.

This week?

A Monday evening meeting;

a Wednesday evening art Preview:

"10 x 10: The Unknown Artist".

Then a Thursday work-day

and travel that night

once more to Calgary.

Two nights this time;

another

Creative Stitches Show.

Suddenly -- Canola! (C) 2014

One of these days the merry-go-round will stop

and I will get off.

Quietly linking to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

September

Bless Mother Nature; she still thinks it's summer.  Today it hit 29 C with nary a breeze.  I'm writing this post in the late afternoon on the bench of my Outdoor Studio, where I have been knitting the small short sleeve of a child's sweater.  

I began the day with an almost-90-minute jog (actual distance yet to be determined) and then puttered about indoors.  I packed my case and organized my larger pieces on hangers for the trip south tomorrow -- and to the gallery Wednesday.  I dug out my overnight case.

In anticipation of the Duct Guy next week -- cleaning my furnace ducts -- I sorted the mountain of green fabrics resting on the corner of my cutting table, and generally improved his access to the ducts in the floor of my sewdio.

In the process, I pieced the September Block for the Cinnamon Block-of-the-Month:

"Grandmother's Favourite"

I updated the blog for the Anglican Parish of St. Cyprian's...because I'm the one who does that.  :-)

Then I went outside, where I've been pretty much ever since.

I'm moving in slow motion.  

My neighbours are away and while I like them a lot, I'm happy to be on my own this "Last Official Day of Summer" (no matter that the summer-to-autumn change-over doesn't happen, calendar-wise, for another few weeks).

And I'm pondering...the "new" year; my friend C, who's birthday is today;  the activities of the week ahead; the outcome of the gallery visit; the outcome of the 2013 SAQA Benefit Auction (which starts online a week from today); the outcome of the City of Lacombe exhibit, "10 x 10: The Unknown Artist", which goes up at the Lacombe Memorial Centre (5214 - 50 Avenue, Lacombe, Alberta) ten days from today...

You get the picture.

September.  Full of autumnal goodness, yet clinging to summer's warmth...

View of sis' garden shed from her deck

Crazy Stewy, the Resident Squirrel

Diesel enjoys late August sunshine

Labour Day Hors D'oeuvres - my tomatoes!

Late summer geraniums border the Outdoor Studio

Here's hoping your move into Fall* is smooth and silky...

*with apologies to my friends in the Southern Hemisphere, who are getting excited about Spring!

Day Interrupted

I set out each morning with a list -- in my head -- of things I want to do that day.  Sometimes I write the list in one long, run-on sentence in my Morning Pages, but more often than not, it's merely in my head.  I'd like to think this reflects some ability to be flexible (never my strong suit; just ask my kids!), but in reality, I like to proceed from point A to point B and so on down the line without much to interfere with "my" plans (yes, that's God you hear laughing).

Today I began well.  After my usual morning routine (Morning Pages, devotions, prayers, breakfast, e-mail, weather report online, Joyce Meyer Ministries broadcast online), I put some more ribbons in the dye pot.

This approach differs from yesterday's in this: yesterday I put the dye bath directly into the pot.  Today, I took up the instructions from my morning e-mail, courtesy of Dharma Trading, to "Play Silk Rainbow With Dharma Acid Dyes".  Now, the dyes I've been using are from Jacquard, but I bought them through Dharma...so there you go!

Because I was dyeing small skeins of silk ribbon (wound off the spool onto my niddy-noddy and secured with scraps of 100% wool), I used the smallest jars I had on hand -- baby food jars I've used for mixing MX dyes in the past.  All had been washed free of the MX, so were ready to use for this project.

Per the instructions, I filled each jar a bit more than half-way with hot water.  I put a skein of ribbon in each. For the dye, I turned to the un-exhausted brown dye bath I had left from yesterday, and put a teaspoon in each.  In the largest jar, I added a few drops of the deep purple/navy dye bath left over.  In one of the smaller jars, I put a second teaspoon of the brown.

Things were proceeding nicely when Diesel got up from his nap to eat...and I noticed some swelling around his throat.  I felt the area -- possible abscess!  I called the vet -- it was about 10:30 a.m. -- and was able to get him in for 11:30 a.m.

What about the dye bath?!  Blessedly, it had to simmer for only 20 minutes, have vinegar added to each jar (I decided to put 1 tsp. in each) and simmer another 20 before being allowed to cool.

I carted Diesel off to the vet at the appointed time.  In the interim, it appeared he'd self-drained the wound, so he was thoroughly checked over, given an antibiotic by injection, and I brought him home -- with a bottle of oral antibiotic to be given 3 times a day till finished (about 5 days).

As soon as I got him home, he ate and went out for a few hours.  Now that he's returned and had his supper, he's getting his own back.  Clearly there's no way I can sew up the second side seam of this sweater tonight:

Ah well.  There's still beading to do on "Wonder"...

Last evening, instead of beading, I finished another row on the Atlantic Sampler, and now it looks like this (well, the bottom half of it, anyway):

Only 3 rows to go...and the deadline (gift date) is just over a month away.

And those ribbons?

Here's how they turned out (middle right side):

Wait!  What's that fabric? (I can hear you asking...)  Well...remember the goodies I gave away during my three-week Blog-anniversary celebration in February?  Pat was a winner of one of the surprise mid-week treats -- and she returned the favour by sending me a packet that included several batik charm squares that (purely coincidentally!) match my new ribbons!

Also in the package that arrived from her today were these yummy fabrics -- "fruit-flavoured" batiks and some landscape fabric and one that's just plain sewing goodness.  And the lovely gift card she painted and created herself!

Aren't I spoiled?!  Thanks Pat!

Now where did I put that to-do list?