A Use for Yarn Scraps and a Small Quilt Finish

Yarn, like fabric, produces left overs after projects are finished. One of my friends has a great way to use them, making hats for the homeless.  The pattern makes a two layered, reversible hat. The first one is hers, then comes mine. The hat starts with a tube with closed ends.

You can see how it uses up bits of yarn.  Punch one end into the other to make a lining and fold up the brim; or change colors by punching the other end inside.

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Fun as well as warm.  Here’s mine minus the final decreases.

Mine isn’t so dramatic as my friend’s–I had quite a bit of left over red-rock yarn, but not enough for a big project. The yarn for the multi-colored stripe is really nice, so here is a close up of it–also more true to the actual colors.

I’d made a fancy shawl for my daughter of the multi-colored yarn a long time ago. It was spun from recycled silk. My hat isn’t finished because I want to buy double pointed (DP) needles to close the tube. Her instructions actually call only for 16-inch circular needles and knitting back and forth when starting stitches and ending decreases make it too small to fit the circular needles, then seaming the opening. I see no reason not to use DP needles and avoid seaming.

So this is my non-traditional entry for Scrap Happy.  Click here to get links to see what other folks are doing with scraps (probably fabric).

Meanwhile, on the quilting front. Back in spring I was participating in several of Elizabeth Barton’s classes on the Academy of Quilting. The first one was Modern Art for Quilters.  One assignment was to draw a grid. The sketch is here.

I made some value sketches too, then stitched it up in two color combinations. They were about 11 X 15 inches. At the time  was thinking ahead to the guild quilt show and the small quilt raffle. However, only one got finished in time.

Color Study #1

The delay was in deciding how to quilt it. I had always thought of the blue as background, so went with outlining blue pieces with blue thread. Then I faced it. I wish I still had the mallet I used to use when tailoring to flatten the corners and keep the top and bottom straight, but oh well . . .

Here is the  unfinished one.

Color Study #2

I’m thinking about making a larger version of this second palette.

I’ll be linking with the Tuesday Colour Linky Party (link in sdebar).

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Autumn at the Chinese Garden

I’ve visited several times since renewing my Lan Su membership, but for one reason or another didn’t take many photos. Last week I was camera happy.

First some overviews–it has been so long that I’ve forgotten names of some of the building.

I do remember the land boat (left), but not the pagoda’s name.

And the zigzag bridge–shaped because evil spirits go in straight lines, thus they can’t get across.

I was amazed at how much green remains in the garden. It has been a mild fall. On my street there are bare trees that had been yellow, red leaves still hanging and a few green trees delaying the color thing.

The poetry wheel is either new, or I’ve managed to visit at times when it wasn’t displayed.

Workshops were taught–I’m not sure how many styles of poem were among the lessons. The form the garden sports is the couplet: two lines with patterned opposites.  If the first word of one line is “many” the first line of the next is “one,” for example. The poems I read did not follow that pattern. Workshop attendees could opt to exhibit their poems. I took some close ups to share, but the words weren’t visible in the photos. You’ll have to use your imagination.

The sun was bright and beautiful, but it did wash out color on some of my photos. On the other hand, it made shadow designs.

There actually were quite a few people visiting that day–and they did photo bomb some of my shots. It seems amazing I got any without people.

Some bits of fall color:

And pomegranates in two places, a large tree and a potted tree.

The tour guide said the ones on the small tree were the largest he had seen it produce. It seems a plentiful year.  In the past there has been fruit still hanging late into winter, so I guess they don’t harvest them.

And in spite of it being fall, there are still flowers.

I hope you enjoyed your vicarious visit.

 

 

Japanese Garden

Another venture during daughter and grandson’s visit was the Japanese Garden. It is not a colorful season, like spring or fall would be; however, there is a subtle beauty to the various greens.

It is more meditative than a place to run and play, so we wondered about its appeal to a 3 1/2-year-old. The ticket clerk offered a treasure hunt map, which Logan guarded carefully for most of the visit.

He spotted the first item all by himself, but had to be helped to find others.

Spotted instantly by Logan, it was at the beginning of the path. ETA a description from the brochure: “The antique 5-tiered stone pagoda lantern [was] given to Portland from its sister city, Sapporo, Japan. The stones at the base of the pagoda are in the shape of the island of Hokkaido. The red stone represents Sapporo.”

The rest were less obvious.

A pointed finger led him to see the heron sculptures; I don’t think he ever saw the frog. (It doesn’t even show up in my photo–distant, small and moss covered.)

The deer chaser was fascinating.

We watched several rounds while the water flowed from the top bamboo to the lower one; the lower one filled up and tipped, making a sound. Luckily it didn’t take too long to fill.

Buddha and the Animals was a bit abstract and took some convincing.

His mother pointed out the number of animals on the map and the number of small stones in the sand garden, and he was finally satisfied.

The Jizo was spotted by only one adult in the group and required retracing steps.

Doesn’t he look like he is giving a lecture about it?

Hunger pangs decreased interest in the map; food not being allowed in the garden, we worked on getting to the exit and a picnic area near the International Test Rose Garden.

The two gardens are among the sites in Washington Park.

 

 

 

Last Lan Su for awhile

The Lan Su Chinese Garden is closing after Thanksgiving for some major repairs to the lake–the lining needs to be replaced and they are creating places for the koi to hide from the herons that pass through for dinner. That pushed me to make a visit before it closed, and the timing led to some spectacular color.

The star red tree–front.

From the back

Through the arch

With that little penjing as an accent. I remember the first time I saw one of those miniaturized trees changing with the season. After my surprise, I thought, Of course!

There were other more delicate colors, as well as an exhibit of mums and floral arrangements.

And the most persimmons I’ve seen on the tree. Maybe I should say the most I remember seeing–I didn’t go back and check old photos.

There were indoor floral arrangement demonstrations too, and we watched two. But my photos of their arrangements didn’t turn out. Two very different styles, and fun to see both. And mums everywhere.

And the ritual landboat shot–with persimmons to the left and lotus in the foreground.

The view through the keyhole arch was spectacular too.

 

 

Lan Su Chinese Garden, Late January

Two years and I have missed the plum blossom tree in full bloom, being too early and/or too late. This year I am determined. . . . Not quite yet though.
Not a bad show–and the best I’ve gotten so far– but not full bloom yet.

Now it is supposed to be the first bloom of winter, but the tree to the left either didn’t know that or decided to upstage it.

Actually the guide said that this tree was blooming over a month early since the winter had been so mild.

The floor mosaic honors the plum blossom tree too: Plum Blossoms on Cracked Ice. (My blocks for the Cracked Ice quilt reminded me of this floor, hence the quilt name.)

Other flowers were blooming.

These photos are to say to all folks stuck in snowdrifts that spring will come. The upper left flower is called Wintersweet, and it does have an amazing fragrance. The lower left is one I’ve been calling forsythia; however, it is winter jasmine. Today’s guide was very good about naming the plants–too bad I don’t remember all of the names. The bees were enjoying the other yellow flower–one whose name I didn’t catch. And the lower right is the red rose that has been in bloom every visit since I’ve been watching it.

And here is the ritual view of the landboat.

Note that there are no longer any persimmons hanging on to the tree to the left. I’m thinking I need another ritual shot besides the land boat. How about this bridge?

These two views capture four of the five elements of a Chinese philosopher’s garden: water, stone, architecture, and of course plants. What is missing is poetry. Another visit.

And one last view of the plum blossoms.

Lan Su Chinese Garden in the Rain

I finally got to the garden in the rain. Actually it wasn’t on purpose. It wasn’t raining when my friend and I went to the bus stop. This is Portland, after all.

Look hard: see the red rose in the upper right? Still blooming. And the next photo is a close up of the white flower in the foreground.

Other flowers were blooming also.

It looks like the lotus boat is a permanent fixture, not just during lotus harvesting season.

And the ritual shots of the land boat, persimmons tree, and weeping willow:

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I wonder how long those last persimmons will hang on.

There are enough covered passage ways that we didn’t get too wet while visiting in the rain. But the tea room is one of the best sheltered places–quite a few visitors thought so; it was crowded. And rain did limit some of the spots where I like to take photos. I’m waterproof, but my camera isn’t.

And though it was raining, it wasn’t raining hard enough to hear the sound effect of the drip from the tile to the banana leaves. I think there are more visits in my future.

Oh, and in case you couldn’t see the red rose, here is a shot with a little zoom: It is said to bloom 8 out of 12 months; I’m counting.

 

 

 

September at Lan Su Chinese Garden

There were two surprises in this September visit: no changing leaf color even though I’d begun to see a little yellow and red in my neighborhood and more flowers blooming than in August.

Here is the tree that that last  big peach fuzzy flower grew on:

See it between the two parallel arching foreground branches? I’m glad for my zoom lens. Wouldn’t it be nice if I knew more names of flowers?  Guides mention them and there are booklets with some identified. But always there are more flowers than identities.

There is a red rose that they say is in bloom 8 out of 12 months of the year–I’ll have to check on that.

Apparently September is the time to harvest lotus blossoms. There is a lotus boat amid the lotus patch.

The gardener would wade into the “lake” in hip boots to pick the lotus flowers.  (Not only is this lake shallow, but the lake in the actual ancient philosopher’s garden would have been shallow as well. These gardens’ purpose is to bring the country into the city.) The boat is not for the gardener but for the harvested lotus flowers.

The remaining pods have their own beauty.

 

More Rockies Photos

The Rockies in the U. S. are higher than those in Canada; however, the Canadian Rockies look higher because the glaciers carved the valleys deeper. Bow Summit, with its view of Lake Peyto, gives a sense of the path the Peyto Glacier took.

The cloudy, teal color of the lake water results from light on rock flour–small grains of rock scraped by the moving glacier. The teal color is more vivid on some days than others.

Emerald Lake

Lake Louise

Moraine Lake

At Moraine Lake, the rock pile that created the lake can be climbed–and several members of the tour did.

Moraine at Moraine Lake

Wild life is a fun feature when out in nature.  We had a couple sitings of Big Horn Sheep families.

The driver stopped the bus, but there wasn’t time to get out. We also saw a couple bear and a bison herd. Some group members, while walking through town, saw a black bear eating berries about ten feet away.  A little close for their comfort, but the bear seemed not to notice them and just kept eating.

At the entrance to Banff is a bridge made from rock smoothed by the glacial river.

Also at Banff was the Cave and Basin Hot Springs.

No longer is it open for bathing. There are endangered snails that live there that would be harmed by the pH change from even dipping hands in the water. Because of the temperature of water from the hot springs, there are some tropical fish up in the cold Rockies.

The days in Banff and Jasper areas included lectures and field trips, Ben Gadd in Banff and Kirsten Schmitten in Jasper. From Jasper we took the Rocky Mountaineer train to Vancouver–those photos are yet to be sorted out.

One more mountain view.

 

More Baby Photos and Antics

I love this age  (16 mos) where the child is figuring out the world and language.

Problem Solving 101: Logan dragged a toy chest across the room so he could climb on it to climb onto the coffee table. Unfortunately he wasn’t very rewarded as coffee table is off limits.

Game Rules 101: We were playing with a medium sized ball, a rudimentary version of Catch.  I started to say “Logan’s turn; Grandma’s turn.” Soon he switched to his tennis ball. Then he maneuvered to a different chair and asked for help getting up, ball still in hand. Then he made it clear he wanted to keep playing our version of Catch. And I remembered that we had used that ball in that chair yesterday when I “invented” the game.

I would like to get more action shots, but as soon as he is aware of the camera, he begins to pose. So I am lucky to get one. One adventure was to climb from a ledge in the fire place to a chest to the window sill where he could reach the rod that opens and closes the venetian shades. He was so proud we let him continue for a while.

Posing soon began.

Only problem with this game is that when he crawled away, there was a big paint chip on his foot. We couldn’t think of anything to put on the sill that would protect the paint but not cause him to slip, so we moved the chest. Now he heads there and gets as far as foot on brick ledge, then looks very puzzled.

It helped that a play mat had arrived and he could help unpack it. Distraction works wonders (sometimes).

The one and only busy shot.  Next came the posing.

Notice his hands.  He was signing, “More.” I have learned I can distract him when he is fussy with the camera–each photo is followed with him signing, “More.” It is a good thing we have digital cameras these days.

And then you have heard the saying, “You have to hold your mouth right.” He is demonstrating.

That tongue is making a difference in the success of the task at hand!

Now to see what tomorrow brings.

 

 

Lan Su Chinese Garden

It has been two years since I visited Lan Su Chinese Garden (in Portland, OR) in December.(Photos from that visit are here.) That visit was on a cloudy gray day (in fact that whole week my house guests were here had some rain each day). This year gave them more sun than rain, blue skies, and at the garden, clear reflections in the lake, and a heron for a special treat.

Tea House

No visit is complete without a stop at the Tao of Tea, which serves a large variety of teas in the tea house. Floral teas were our choices this time, accompanied by moon cakes with red bean  and mung bean fillings. We would have tried green-tea filling, but changed plans when hearing it would take an hour.

As before, the persimmons still clung to the tree, this time enticing a blue jay to feed.

Both birds were feeding, but I wasn’t fast enough to snap the heron with his gold fish. The heron stayed around for a couple hours posing for happy visitors with their cameras.

I caught this view

I think he knows he is gorgeous.

SIL caught this great silhouette

What a profile!

As before there were a few flowers in bloom, but they were different varieties than I remember from two years ago.

We were there between 2:00 pm and 4:30 pm; it was beginning to get dark at the end, which put an end to my picture taking.