There is no joy in Yarnville

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Yarnville — for Snapdragons has flown out.
It’s true, folks. This morning I flew out on a real-for-sure business trip, less than 48 [...]

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Pointy points

Things are looking up. Most of the points are pointy.

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Thimbleberries and optimism

After yesterday’s disappointment with Flock of Triangles, I moped for about thirty seconds, then I rallied with an idea for another quilt, made out of Thimbleberries fabrics and involving triangles, but only in the easiest possible way, that I have handled before and am sure I can handle again. There are a lot of quilt [...]

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Denyse Schmidt 1, Snapdragons 0

Well, Denyse Schmidt has won this round with me. After oh-so-carefully cutting out all those hundreds of 90-45-45 triangles for her Flock Of Triangles quilt, and oh-so-carefully sewing the first pairs together, sewing pairs of those pairs together has defeated me. I cannot get the edges to line up. Sewing together triangles, if you didn’t [...]

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Fire talk

Let’s cuddle up in front of the fire, and sip hot cocoa, and talk about the winter to come.

Here is a nice story that someone told once on a message board that I read. This person (I really don’t know who it was) grew up in Norway. He said that every morning before school, his [...]

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Little quilt studio in the Big Woods

They had been dancing around it for several years, but what it came down to was that my dad wants to fly fish–a lot–and my mother wants to make quilts–a lot. They tried some half-measures. For the fishing, they first took vacations to Colorado and then bought a small fishing cabin up here. For the [...]

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Snow and cedars

Happy Thanksgiving! After an epic eleven-hour journey, I arrived at my parents’ log cabin late last night, in the middle of a snowstorm. We all fell into bed, exhausted, and had long winter naps. They moved up here this summer, and this is the first time I’d visited them. From about the sixth hour of [...]

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Diana’s minestrone

Oh Woe Are Us. It is mid-November. The beautiful leaves are nearly over. The gardens are dead. It is chilly without snow. It is dark at 4:30. We need… soup.

This recipe comes from my friend Diana, who got it elsewhere but has tweaked it substantially. This is really good stuff, hearty, nourishing for body and [...]

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Saturday Dinner

My parents stayed at my house this weekend, and I decided that it was time to prove that I really am a Good Cook, even without the goat cheese trick. What is the goat cheese trick? To make any recipe that involves goat cheese–because it’s guaranteed to be delicious, no matter what your culinary skill [...]

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Little Pink Socks!

I am good knitter! I finish socks!

Elfine’s Socks, knit in Socks That Rock “Rhodonite” on US1/2.25mm circular needles, toe-up, Turkish cast on, foot worked over 61 stitches, short-row heel done without redistributing stitches… is there anything I’m forgetting?

Oh yes: I love my little pink socks little pink socks.
Have started the next pair: toe-up Monkey socks, [...]

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The dining room

Today’s big news is: my new dining room furniture arrived!

I am still getting used to it. I have people in the house this weekend, so I haven’t really had time to sit and stare at it, but it’s generally good. Before, I had a rickety second-hand set, with dings and squeaks and all of those [...]

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Can’t blog–must NaNo

I am blogging this (naughtily) from a NaNoWriMo write-in, at a coffee house on campus. Is it quite the same thing as playing hookie? I am at 14,638 words and still blathering on happily. To entertain you–some marvellously successful pictures of a bunch of white stock that I bought this weekend. Today’s sunset happened at [...]

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The most wonderful time of the year

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
Always.
Spring is the most wonderful time of the year, because of the sunshine and fresh air, and all of the wonderful growth after so much stagnation.
Summer is the most wonderful time of the year, because swimming pools feel so nice and because one begins to see God (and [...]

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Ain’t misbehavin’

I don’t stay out late
Don’t care to go
I’m home about eight
Just me and my radio
Ain’t misbehavin’,
Savin’ my love for you
Or maybe I ain’t misbehavin’ because I don’t NEED to go out… because I have a YARN STORE in my HOUSE ZOMG PONIES!!!!!!11111eleven!!!!

I win. Admit it. I win.
P.S.: fennel is a lovely vegetable that tastes of [...]

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Fennel and potato gratin

I hope that you enjoyed the lovely fennel bulb yesterday, because it’s gone today. I didn’t buy it entirely on a whim: I wanted to test Ina Garten’s fennel and potato gratin recipe, thinking that I might possibly make it for my parents when they visit. They’re demanding an Autumnal meal when they’re here next [...]

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More vegetables

I like to like things, and I like to look forward to things. I look forward to precisely this time in Autumn almost all year–those one or two crisp, sunny weekends when the foliage is in its full glory and one hasn’t yet seriously thought about the long, miserable winter to come.

Decorative pumpkins, with the [...]

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Jammies & Na-X-Y-Mo

November! It’s November! And that means it really is the chilly season. October, even, is iffy around here–but November is always cold. What a relief to have the whole changing-of-season suspense out of the way. The Fall colors are beautiful right now, and temperatures have been hitting freezing at night. Time for new pajamas!

Yep. Target [...]

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