Hello Gentle Readers. August began with several cool days and hazy skies. Smoke from the Canadian wild fires drifts south. This morning I woke in a dark room and could hear the wind rising. A thunderstorm blew through bringing brief but heavy rain. When the rain stopped, I put on a jacket and went for a walk. I know there is plenty of summer weather ahead but this morning there was a touch of fall in the air. I noticed an oak full of acorns and there is one large maple with the slightest streak of dark red.
Today I'm linking with Kat and the Unravelers. I finished the little Flower Garden Quilt. I began playing around with the pieced flower garden blocks last August at this same time. I appliquéd the blocks last summer. Sometime in March, I pieced the top. In May I marked the top, basted the quilt sandwich together, and began hand quilting. Making this piece brought me a great deal of joy. You might ask why the pink flowers have a different orientation than the others. I can't recall if I planned to do that or not. I made this quilt to honor the work of an unknown (to me) maker and for fun. Mission accomplished. The leaf motif quilted in the sashing shows up better on some prints than others but again, I enjoyed the hand quilting.
I have been knitting away on this shawl. I added two extra repeats (20 rows per repeat) to make a good size shawl and because I had plenty of yarn. I was so close to finishing the knitting yesterday but thought it best to give up at 10:00 p.m. This evening I hope to knit the border. I've enjoyed it but the last few repeats felt like a slog.
The shawl will forever remind me of The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny. I mostly listened to the novel while I knitted my way to recovery. My husband was given a hard copy so a time or two I resorted to it when I wanted to find out what happened next or fell asleep during the audio. The new narrator took getting used to but he was ok. This wasn't my favorite Gamache book. I missed the Three Pines characters, Clara, Merna, Ruth, the owners of the Bistro. In this book, they had only cameo appearances. The technique using repetition of words (ringing, ringing, ringing) to build suspense was overused. Though, nineteen books in a series is quite a feat and they probably can't all be four star reads.
I'm reading Where Hope Comes From by Nikita Gill. Many of the poems were written in response to the pandemic. I must not have read the blurbs that connected this volume to Covid 19. Still, many of these quiet wonderful poems have a universal application to other difficult times. Gill has beautifully illustrated the book with her drawings and art. What a talented woman.
I'm late to post today. Yesterday morning my husband had carpal tunnel surgery that went well. We spent a quiet day as he rested and I filled ice bags, kept track of meds, and knitted on the blue shawl. This time I was the responsible upright adult for 24 hours. As surgeries go, this one was a breeze. Picking up the prescription for pain medication from the pharmacy took longer than the procedure. It's been a bit of a spring and summer for us so we are looking forward to a break in the medical action. Once again we thankful for good medical care.
I hope you are easing into August and enjoying the last of the summer.
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