Chalk drawings

When we walked back through the park these were some of the drawings,

Your blogger on the go

This is a mobile post as I meandered through the morning... We went down to Forsyth Park to take in the sidewalk chalk drawing competition sponsored by SCAD. (first picking up a homemade peach Popsicle at the farmers market)
the sidewalk squares had been numbered --the highest number I noticed was 594, so I'm not too sure how high they go. The participants pick up a package of sideway chalks and can start at 11 a.m.
There are different strategies. Some have a sketch to follow or have made a scale template or stencil. It is also common to combine water with the chalk in some manner.
This guy also brought his pet...turtle.
Later on I want to go back to see some finished drawings

Saturday Morning Stock taking

Having rediscovered clay, my sewing time has been somewhat curtailed, but last night I did start a table runner.  I just discovered the StringThing quilt along blog and almost jumped into starting a full-sized quilt, but caught myself just before I started cutting strips.  
The idea for the pattern is from a free download on the moda free patterns page, here
this is the quilt:  

 It is called Modern Workshop, by Oliver and S:
 (Of course, I didn't look at the pdf of the instructions until just now, so I can see that I am sewing it in a whole different way, which I actually had thought of doing, but dismissed, since I thought for a table runner it would be easier to mix up a more limited range of fabrics if I sewed it this way, )
I just sewed 3 strip sets that are about 20 inches long, using 2-1/2" strips of fabric,-- 3 grey strips and 3 colored strips in each set:  (I'm using grey for where the white is in the one above)

 --cross cut them into 2-1/2" sections.  When I counted them up, there were 24 of them, and so I just pieced one more from squares to get 25, an odd number so that the corners would work out the same. 
To 13 of them, I added a colored square to the ends, and to the remaining 12, added a grey square to the ends.

 I put them up on the design wall, and see that there are quite a few of them, so i might have 2 table runners when I finish.  now I need to sew a grey strip between each of the pieced ones!!
In working on a knitted project, I am happy to report that I have been happily knitting along on my very simple stockinette stitch sweater.  (alliteration :) )

 I have all the main sections finished and am now doing the front band that gets sewn all around the front edges.  I am now avoiding the blocking of the pieces before it gets sewn together.... should I wash them and lay them flat? or lightly press them?

If you feel the need to see close-ups of my first batch of mugs, you can switch over to "my life in clay" blog, on the links in the sidebar!!

It's a beautiful day

In the neighborhood.
Warm,breeze, flowers and birds...

The Yo-yo Flower Big Day

 On Thursday we had a "Big Day" for our sewing/coffee (mainly coffee) group.  This means that we spent a few hours dedicated to a specific activity.
The topic for the day was making yo-yo flowers.   We were under the guidance of Linda, who is our expert in such matters. 
Here you can see that you first gather all the necessary tools and materials:

buttons, wire-cutters, thread, coffee,

 including seriously cute felt needle storage booklets.

 These are similar to button flowers, but you can use all sorts of things for the flowers, including crocheted ones,

 L has a stash of leaves to add to the bouquet,

 You can even stuff the yo-yos for a bit more volume,

 Although some of us made lots of flowers, and some only a few, it was definitely a great time to enjoy the colors and textures of little objects that make us happy.

-N.b, ----What others are up to today on the needle and thread network

Spring in Saskatchewan

A few days ago, I was driving in the countryside north west of Saskatoon, and there were definite spring sights to be seen.

the view through the car windshield -- this is big sky country!

the path of last year's combine still visible on the field

a typical grid road leading to someone's farm

lots of water alongside the road,

interesting color combinations of gold, steel blue, and charcoal

and pussywillows

whether it's willow or dogwood, the branches add a touch of russet red

the blurry white things are geese touching down on their journey north, there were a few fields like this

what we call a "slough"

here you can see the industries of farming and oil production co-existing

and I saw a few fields with stacks of railway ties, as big as apartment buildings.  They are ripping out the rail road line.

 and that is a small tour of western-central Saskatchewan when the snow is gone.