out standing in the field

This is the best time of year to take a trip in my little area of the country.  It's many shades of rich green, crops thriving, everything's growing in the sun.  I love the long views whenever I am on a little rise.  Sometimes the best viewpoint is on a bridge at an interstate exit!  I was out at "the farm"-- it was owned and operated by my grandparents when I was a child, then my dad, and now my brother and his wife, Mary.  They do a wonderful job of maintaining and improving the land with their forward-thinking farming methods and conservation.  I caught this picture of the soybeans and the area set aside for wildlife.

And the roads are set out in neat grids, so they are often straight.  In this picture, I can see the trees way down the road that are a couple miles away.

Mary loves roses, and has developed a nice rose bed with several varieties, these are just 2--

They have to be very hardy to survive the wind, storms, snow and cold!

On another note, this is a quilt that my mom just finished.  It's about 80" square or thereabouts, made from 5" squares.  It's for her great-granddaughter, Aurora.  She has hand quilted it, with a shape or letter or number or object in each square.  The dark pink in the star and border is a paisley, which she quilted following the lines of the paisley shapes.  Now she just has to get it out to Washington for Aurora!

And I've done a little hand-stitching, too, working on a UFO that I wrote about here last year.  I basted the whole works to a background fabric, and I have been stitching the outside edge to the background, like an applique stitch.  I'm over halfway around.  Then I need to decide what to do.  I think I want it for the center of my dining room table, so I might put a very thin batting (or heavy flannel) under it with a backing fabric, then do some big-stitch hand quilting to hold the layers together.  I'm in no rush, so I will give it a bit more thought before I land on what I want.  The directions for the hexagon design were part of a sew-along from Sue Daley's blog over at suedaleydesigns.com.  It was called the Forget-Me-Not Sew Along, and you can get the instructions there at no charge.  I only did a portion of the sew-along, deciding that I didn't need a huge project!

a correction and my apologies

Correction to my pattern "Ten":

On the back of the pattern cover, with the yardage requirements, add 1 1/2 yards border print fabric.
On page 1 with the cutting directions for the border print, cross off 6 1/2" x 72".  Change to 8 1/2" x 54".

I am very sorry for the errors, and I apologize for any problems that result.  If you have a problem or complaint, please contact me at myemmalinedesign@gmail.com or 612-750-1085.  I will make things right for you.  These patterns have only been sold at Bear Patch, so I can backtrack most of them via our computer database.  However, there are always some that can't be tracked down, so that is why I am putting the information here.  Again, my apologies, and I feel terrible about this since I found out yesterday.  Anything printed and sold from here on out will have the corrections made.

Sometimes the old saying, "Haste makes waste" is all too true!   Working on the Quilt MN fabrics for a pattern every year brings a firm deadline.  I am sometimes printing the patterns on the night before the deadline!  This year, I thought things were good because I was ready about 3 days early!  I do the printing myself, and collating and folding and packaging, too.  Because I am on that deadline, I never have enough time from the point that the fabric is available.  I usually have the basic ideas in mind or started on the computer, but I often change direction once I have the actual fabric in hand.  So that does not leave me the time I need to have test sewers work on the quilt.  I really like coming up with new quilt designs, and I like to be able to share them, but the part about getting everything down on paper in an understandable format is the bad part.  I can only hope that this is the worst it gets!

On a much happier note:
I completed a knitting project!  Another winter scarf, this time for myself, although the hot and humid weather makes it seem strange to be working on it!  I wrote about it in a previous post.  I like it posed on the deck railing!

 That means that I get to start a new project, and this one is by request from some young moms I know (that would be Brita and Molly!).  I'm giving it a try and we'll see if it turns out to be worthy of Miss Ada.  It's the Azel Pullover and I'm using a chunky yarn and large needles, so that goes fast.  It's multi-sized, and I chose to start with the smallest size because Ada is 1 year old.  I hope she's walking, because this would not be a good thing for a crawler!

I'm enjoying a few days with my mom and sister in Iowa.  My brother, sister-in-law, nephew and friend, niece and husband have also visited or been visited, so it's been a good time.  Jan, my sister, is returning to her home in San Francisco today, so that's no fun.  But we did something special every day, and made the most of our time back in our hometown of Lake Park together.

Mom's house is on the shore of Silver Lake, with a good place to relax on the deck and watch the lake life.  And here's a picture of her very self reliant hollyhocks, too.  They always re-seed themselves and take care of themselves all summer, too!

We took a little drive to the Round Lake Winery, (on the shore of Round Lake!) about 10 miles away.  It was a great afternoon to sit outdoors and share a bottle of their 2012 Merlot.  It was a very good year!  They are making some good wine out in the middle of the corn and bean fields!  Here's a toast to you....

summer days

Hi!  I have some summertime pictures to share with you--

Last weekend I got to spend some time with my mom.  July 3rd was my dad's birthday, so it was good to be there for one of those "firsts" after his death last January.  We did some fun stuff and some work stuff.  There were some overgrown plants and weeds that we mostly worked on, so the yard is looking fine.

And we took a little excursion north into Minnesota to the little town of Round Lake.  It's maybe 10 miles (I'm guessing) and we found the Round Lake Vineyards and Winery.  I never knew this place existed before, but we think we would go back again.  We tasted some of their products, and enjoyed the beautifully landscaped area just off the lake shore.  And we brought a few souvenir bottles home, too!

We also went to see Barefoot in the Park at the Okoboji Summer Theater, and enjoyed a Sunday morning pancake breakfast Mini-Wakan State Park on Spirit Lake.

We needed to do some watering at my brother and sister-in-law's place while they were away, so we puttered around out there awhile, checking on the dog and cats, too.  The original old barn still stands, but is being overtaken by vegetation!

My mom's house looks westward over the lake, and this picture was taken in the evening before sunset.  It was much redder in person, due to the smoke from the large wildfires burning up in Alberta and a few in Manitoba.  Iowa is a long ways from either area, so this smoke really travels.

Back on the home front, check out these cute bicycle cookies!  

We went to a fundraiser for some friends who are doing the Red Ribbon Ride next week, and these cookies were part of the treats.  We wish them luck as they work to complete their fundraising and training.  If you have any inclination to make a donation, you can find Terry and Sue Robinson on the website and show your support.

And the upstairs renovation project is nearing completion, with some electrical work done to install some new lights and change some plug-ins.  These fixtures are from IKEA, and I like the sorta industrial look with all of the wood in the house.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time working on finishing woodwork.  I filled in nooks and crannies of the wood floor butting up to the logs with some wood filler, and that turned out well.  Then, I chipped out a lot of old nail hole filler that was originally done with a filler that was the wrong color, but has been ignored for years and years.  I decided this was as good a time as any to correct that problem, since we have sawdust and crap all over everything anyway!  So I chipped out the old stuff from 100 or more holes (seems like 1,000!) and sanded each to remove any traces of the old stuff.  Now I will dab on a little stain to cover the sanded area, and then polyurethane, and then refill the holes with a better color.

But aside from the woodwork stuff, I did put together this cute little pincushion.  It stands up on little legs, and looks like a tiny ottoman or Miss Muffet's Tuffet!  Read more about it on the Bear Blog.

trip to colorado

Saturday AM I embarked on a trip with my parents to have a little vacation in Estes Park, CO. This is a place that they have visited often, particularly in September after tourist season. Yesterday I drove about 450 miles in Iowa and Nebraska (Go Big Red!) and today another 250 or so to end up at the Saddle and Surrey Motel which will be our lodging for the week. This is their favorite place to stay, the rooms are very comfortable, extremely clean, and include kitchenettes in some. It feels good to be in one spot for a bit.

On our last leg of the trip, from Loveland to Estes Park (about 25 miles of winding road) we warily watched billowing smoke not far from our road. Thankfully, the fire was over another ridge so did not cause any problems for us, but I am sure someone somewhere is thinking otherwise. I hope it is not near any towns or areas of population. The people we talked to in Loveland said it had only started this morning. It definitely is dry around here. Smokey Bear says the fire danger is Extreme!

We will be setting out for a walk this afternoon and connecting with my Aunt and Uncle who are also vacationing here right now. It is a beautiful sunny sky and 75 degrees. Yay! That is my favorite temperature!

a weekend away

Greeting from northern Iowa! Spending the night at my parents' house in Lake Park, my little hometown. We are in the northwest section of the state, just a few miles south of Minnesota and about 90 miles east of the South Dakota border. We were in Jackson last night and today, spending time with my sweet mother-in-law and helping with a bridal shower for niece, Ashley. It was a fun event and I am glad I got to be there. It reminds me why it is so nice to come from a small community, where things like a bridal shower are an event open to all who can come. Ashley was beaming, as she should be, and enjoying every minute.

So, I have to share something special with you--another blogger has posted a little bit about me and one of my patterns, it is fun for me! It is on the Selvage Blog, and I feel honored to be included. There are some amazing ideas to be explored there! I have not yet seen her book, but hope to get it soon. Those little selvage pieces are just kind of fun and quirky.

Back to Iowa--I am surprised at the amount of snowbanks still hanging around here! Even with the warmth lately they aren't yet completely melted. Should be good for the fields!

Happy Easter to you all!

Hello!

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post!  I'll blame it on the Olympics, which require me to sit in the recliner with knitting in hand.  Lots of fun watching the competition, but what I like best is the stories about the athletes and the interviews with them.  It's hard to comprehend the level of dedication they need to do what they do, and for years and years.  Makes me feel like a slug!  I have fallen by the wayside of the road to physical fitness.  The last time I felt really in shape was when I did the AIDS ride from Minneapolis to Chicago, that was quite a few years back.  But my 3 months of training for that was a drop in the bucket to what these Olympians do.

Spent a couple days in Iowa last weekend, stayed with Mom and Dad, visited Jarry, Mary, Spencer, then back home again.  I love driving through the farmland, I really like the view of the horizon with rolling hills, a grove and buildings scattered here and there, an occasional watertower.  And wind generators!  When I lived there (NW Iowa) the wind was just a given, not really remarkable.  Well, now it is serving a purpose other than drying the clothes on the line!  It's almost like before it was invisible but always present, and now it is a visible presence as the turbines turn.  The corn and beans look so healthy, except for the fields pounded by a recent severe hailstorm, which look very sad.  I guess those who engage in farming are used to the risk of Mother Nature, but for me it is troubling and just not fair!  These photos highlight Shadow the wonder dog, Nora's sweet kitty, and Mary's beautiful rose.