MIA no longer???

Yes, I've been MIA from this blog for quite a while. Life has been stress filled. I am still dealing with my cousin's estate and his falling down house, literally falling down.....I feel like there's no end in sight. Also dealing with an aging parent in and out of the hospital/rehab, now living in assisted living but still requiring much of my time. There's a horrible fire season here in the west, the smoke and extreme heat, all summer long, up until this last week......keeping my fingers crossed that we don't return to the 100+ temps but I won't be surprised if they come back.  And then there's covid. I find I can't focus on my art/craft so little has been created that I could share here and certainly no one wants to read about me complaining every single post. Oh......yet another issue, I tripped when out walking and tore my calf muscle, that stopped me from even considering weaving for a couple months. 

As many places in the country covid cases have skyrocketed here. The entire state is back to mandatory mask wearing inside and outside. We never stopped wearing our masks and still hadn't gone many places. Our governor is losing her patience with those of us living in SW Oregon - unfortunately the morons here (most of the population) refuse to get vaccinated or wear masks or social distance. The National Guard has been sent in to help our hospitals where ICU rooms are now doubled up and there's no room for those who have other health issues and have been responsible and been vaccinated. The governor has contracted with private firms to send in medical personnel to help in hospitals and care facilities in our region, hundreds are arriving. And just yesterday our county requested a refrigerated truck for a morgue. I'm not sure what it will take to get the locals to get vaccinated, wear masks and social distance........our county commissioners are certainly of no help in encouraging people to do so, they do just the opposite. So, in the meantime I'm scared and having anxiety attacks.  But enough of this.......

I have actually gotten some towels on the loom, off the loom, then washed and hemmed yesterday.  It's a set of 8 for a September wedding back east. I was inspired by their save the date card which was all in camo outfits/colors.  Above I've used brown weft...........

.....here I used olive weft...........

......here green...........

.....and here a black cotton flake weft. I hope they are loved and used. 

I would love to put on a holiday towel warp but that may not happen. Places where I buy my 8/2 coned yarn for towels are out of so many colors, it's just not available right now as many other things.  I do have some darker reds, greens and off white but am undecided.

 I also wove this yardage in 10/2 perle cotton for our holiday cards. What looked like white poinsettias on the loom no longer look like them after washing. Oh well.........

For over a year I've been thinking about no longer selling my handwovens and other items.  I did slow down on producing to sell, thus slowing down on selling, but it's time to stop completely.  This will happen between now and the end of the year.  There are too many other things I want to weave, sew, quilt, knit, draw, create and if I continue to sell I'll focus on that rather than everything else. Now if other things in my life would fall in line to give me the time to create! 

I don't know how often I'll post to this blog, but when I do have something to share, other than complaints, I will. Now I'm off to do something other than the mundane chores dealing with family issues - I'm going to make a couple batches of what I call my sunshine marmalade and maybe even a peach upside down cake as we were gifted some peaches. 

Pillowcases for Paradise

Last week our neighborhood chapter of ASG (American Sewing Guild) got a request for pillowcases for those who lost so much in the fire in Paradise, CA this past November. I picked up some fabric at the meeting and whipped these 12 pillowcases up today. Someone from our region will be going down to Paradise to deliver them.

We have many new transplants in our region from Paradise. I mean, what do you do when practically an entire town burns down. Not only does one lose their home but they may have also lost a job. The new owners of our Grocery Outlet are from Paradise, they owned a Grocery Outlet down there, it burned. The formers owners of the one here were looking to sell so it worked out for them to move to our area.

This morning I got a lesson in pruning fruit trees and a side lesson on my grapes and roses. Many thanks to two friends who came over in the freezing fog to teach. I learned so much and am ready to get out there and work..........as soon as I won't freeze while doing it. There were places around here that had sun by afternoon but my house was not one of them, it was socked in all day. But I'll take it any day over what's going on in the Midwest and back east......

This and that........

Been missing in action again - I have been busy, just haven't had much to share.  Been busy unpacking the last of the boxes (other than holiday stuff). My two studio rooms are set up ready to work in - all that's left is to put some pictures on the walls in those rooms, and the rest of the house.

I went to the American Sewing Guild meeting on Tuesday and friend Kathy taught us how to make fun visors. I love it and will be making more.

I did sew bathroom café curtains. I have family arriving next week and figured they'd probably appreciate a curtain in the guest bath. The bath is ending up black, white and gray with bits of other colors due to the black & white marble countertops. It's hard to see this fabric but it's little dashes of gray and black on a white background. Ignore the filthy windows - we haven't had time to wash them since moving in this house and I don't think the previous owners ever washed them in the 4 years they lived here. 

Here are the cafes in the master bath toilet area. I had bought a vintage table runner to make them but then found this cute dragonfly fabric in my stash - I love it, it makes me smile. We will need these once the plum trees outside lose their leaves.

And here's the café over the tub area. it also has dragonflies and is a coordinating fabric to the other one.

We have a couple apple trees at our new place so yesterday I made spiced applesauce for the freezer - it is yummy. I need to make more as we have a number of apples. I also made an apple pie. When the fridge Pillsbury Crust in the box says 'best by July 2018' believe it. It's edible, especially with vanilla ice cream, but really the crust is past it's prime - pretty heavy, not flakey at all.

And this final picture is yet another fire but this is old news. This was from Friday afternoon looking out our back door. If I hadn't known exactly where it was I would have thought it was just blocks away - it was on the other side of town, which isn't far but not a danger for us. Since then a fire broke out not far from our old house (which we still own, another story) but not close enough to be a danger but it is a danger for many others including friends. I have heard of one house that burnt but there are apparently others, no official news on the numbers yet. Hoping they get that fire out within the next few days and hoping those I know and others still have their homes once the fire is contained. And then today when driving home we saw a plume of smoke close to the fire from Friday - sounds like it got snuffed out quickly.  I am so done with fire season this year - it gets worse every year. And the story on the old house which we still own - it was close to the huge fire which is now ok on our side of the fire but kept anyone from looking at it. Just this past week a few realtors were out with prospective buyers, unfortunately none of them were interested in our house.......but at least it's getting shown now that the fire is under control and we aren't socked in with smoke.....just need the perfect person for a really nice home to go look at it.

A bit of progress.........

 Remember way back last December 25th when I opened the first package of the 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long from Inglenook Fibers?  Well, it didn't take me too long to spin it all, but it took a while before I found a pattern I wanted to use for the resulting knit shawl. I finally finished it up a few weeks ago but going outside to block it in this smoky hazardous air quality wasn't happening. Yesterday I decided to just set up a table inside to do the blocking. Here it is finished. The pattern is called Be Simple Variations - it's an asymmetrical shawlette.

 I decided to paint the loom room and sewing/craft room before unpacking boxes. I knew once it was all unpacked they would never be painted, I mean never. I painted a bright white which is great since so much of the walls will be covered up and there's only one window in each room. Unfortunately my loom room is a bit smaller than my last one so two pieces of furniture won't fit in and it's a bit tight but I'll make it work. Here's one view of the room.

Here's a view from the other corner. I still need to buy shelving for the closet to store all the books and magazines and whatever else. Above the closet is a 3 ft deep shelf - I'm going to put things I don't use as often up there like my table loom (workshops only), inkle loom, marudai, drum carder, etc. It will take a ladder to take them down but that's ok, they'll be out of the way when I'm not using them.  There is going to be a tv mounted up high so I can see it from my chair at the table and also from each loom. What you can't see is the view out the window is the side yard with roses all along the fence. 

 Here's the sewing/craft room - I've got two tables in there so I have space to work on 3 machines, my Bernina QE440, my Bernina 1350 Serger and my cheapie Brother embroidery machine.....which does a great job. I have another cheapie Brother but it's in a carrier to take to workshops.

Here's looking in the other direction. I didn't get a picture of the closet but it's the same as the loom room with the storage shelf above. Maybe it will be a good place to store roving.......not sure yet.

I plan on starting to unpack all the boxes into these two rooms this week. I'm anxious to be able to find things and get on with weaving. I've got several special orders to weave. I've got some sewing projects I want to get to with making café curtains for the bathrooms and then a special order of embroidered towels.

We have the worst air quality in the nation - the fires just keep burning and it's not just the fires close to us but it's the entire northwest. It doesn't matter which way the wind shifts, there's always smoke. They are making headway on our Taylor Creek Fire - it's now 38% contained. The Klondike Fire, only 5% contained, is getting close to meeting up with the SE corner of  our Taylor Creek Fire. For safety reasons (for fire crews) both fires will now be under one command. It's going to be a long fire season - what's really scary is that we haven't even entered the worst part of fire season yet. We've always had fires but nothing like they've been the last 10+ years - now it seems to be the norm to live with smoke the majority of the summer.

Taylor Creek Fire keeps on keeping on.........

First off - I apologize for the sideways photos - I don't understand it but when I take pictures with my phone they turn up sideways on the blog. They weren't sideways when I downloaded them onto the computer and edited them but they show up sideways here. I'm at a loss.  So, just be patient and turn your head for the first four of them.......

The fire rages on coming closer and closer to our old house, which we still own, which we would love for someone to buy but no one will go look at it with a fire close by and this sign on our road.  The sign message changes to also say only property owners with proper ID will be let through and that's only into certain areas depending on what the fire is doing.

This is an official 'Fire' sign to direct the fire fighters in the right direction - this was posted on our road too. The fire camp, a mini city, used to be set up close to us but now it's moved a mile or so to the east - guess that's a sign when they move further away from a growing fire.

These types of signs are all over the roadways thanking the fire fighters, wishing them a safe day. What a horrible job it is - they're working with very heavy packs, heavy clothing, in 100 degree weather, long hours, many dangers and poison oak on top of it. We are so grateful they are here from all over the country to help us. This morning's fire report didn't mention if any homes have been lost but as of last night there had been no losses due to all the structural protection crews out there laying hose and protecting those homes as the fire has burned around some of them. I'm taking it as a good sign that there was no mention of any losses. The good news this morning is that there is 30% containment - not on the lines being built close to our old home but on the lines protecting many homes to the south. Updated estimated containment date is October 19th - that's a long ways off. My guess is it's the west side that will be the issue for the long term (at least I hope) and the fact that there are plans to let it join with another fire 7 miles to the southwest.

Yesterday evening we went out to our old house to set up sprinklers on the 60 ft long deck. Flying embers are a huge concern and things like pine needles on roof and gutters and wood decks are just ripe for lighting off. The good news at the old house is that the fig trees are producing a bumper crop of figs this year - maybe I'll be making fig jam later today, will definitely be dehydrating some.

We took a long weekend away on the coast to get out of the heat and smoke. Blueberry farms have opened up so we picked 24 pounds of blueberries. The berries are just starting to get ripe, depending on what happens with the fire we'd love to get over at some point to pick more while they're still available.

Here are 3 batches of jam. I've got more blueberries in the fridge for more jam making, freezing and a blueberry buckle recipe someone just sent me.....definitely need to pick up some vanilla ice cream to go with it when I run into town for more pectin.

I'm getting closer to setting up my weaving and sewing rooms at the new house. Yesterday we painted the ceiling and walls of the sewing room. I still need to paint a shelf in the closet and the door trim and Sam needs to install the new baseboard. Then we move on to the weaving room. I am so ready to unpack what looks to be almost an entire bay in the garage of boxes that goes in these two rooms......hmm, hope it all fits......

Fire season in full swing.....

Been MIA again - just too much going on and in my down time I haven't felt like blogging.....such is life at times........

 So, first up here's what I'm spinning now. I had some handpainted roving I bought years ago that I had pulled apart at the color joins which leaves most of one color with bits of other colors on the end. So, I've spun 2 partial bobbins of the one that's mostly purple with bits of teal and pink.......

......and now I'm working on spinning the bag of mostly pink with bits of purple and teal. In theory what I should end up with once I finish all the spinning is several skeins that will coordinate with each other. What will I use them for, who knows.....

Much of the house is unpacked now except for my studio space. After some additional shelving goes up in the bedroom closet and laundry room I'll be ready to tackle the loom and sewing rooms. I can't believe how long it's taking to unpack after this move. I'm so ready for everything to be in it's place so I can get back to weaving and sewing. I was lucky to be able to find the roving to spin so I can work on something fun in the evenings.

On July 5th I, and several others left for Reno - some were going just to Convergence (weaving conference), and some of us were going to Convergence and also the Complex Weavers conference. I won't say a lot about the trip because I wasn't thrilled with it. I didn't like a casino venue........at all. I haven't been to Convergence in years as it hasn't been within driving distance - let's just say it was missing the WOW factor that I remember from years past. I did have some good seminars at both conferences and went on a nice artist studio tour one day. I apologize to those who love Reno, I did not and that's all I'll say. I did take photos of some of the exhibits and will eventually post some of my favorite pieces once I get them edited.

Fire season is in full swing. Last Sunday a thunderstorm moved through SW Oregon and started over 160 fires. Luckily many of them were put out relatively quickly but there are many that are growing. I've been watching the fire that's near our old house, less than 15 miles from where we're now living. It's very close, there are many on different levels of evacuation notice, not at our place so far. It really blew up yesterday. No, we are not living there now, thank goodness, and everything is out of the house except for some Christmas trees in the garage.........but we do still own the house and it is for sale, the property won't be worth much if the house burns down and all that's left is scorched earth. I've been listening to the ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) scanner channel online, it's fascinating to listen to firefighters on the ground, pilots in choppers and tankers, but it's also scary to hear when they're pulling out and accounting for all personnel. All the work firefighters and the supporting staff do is so appreciated - it's hard and dangerous work. I hope all stay safe and that they're also able to save homes as there are hundreds in dangers way right now between the fire near our other place (Taylor Creek Fire) and other fires in the area. Please send positive energy in Oregon's direction - the state needs it right now...........

Not much to show..........

Not much to show for my time. Been here and there, haven't gotten much done in the studio........would be very grouchy over it except that I've been doing fun stuff. Above are two drop spindles with Japanese paper yarn. The one on the left is mine, on the right friend Kathy's. Next up to weave some simple little weavings (couple inches) to use as embellishment on journals. I tried one using a Weave-it type loom but it will be easier just making a cardboard loom with straight pins.

The heat wave is wearing on us and it's not even at it's hottest yet. It's over 100 today, tomorrow the forecast is 115. Fires are popping up all over - it's darned scary out there. As I was driving home from my spinning get together this afternoon I could see smoke to the west of our house. I found a little info on a new fire that had just started. We're fine as long as it doesn't blow up........with this wind and heat I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. The retardant tanker (DC-7) has flown over the house twice - looks to take 50 minutes to get from Medford (to my east) to the fire and back. I'm taking a guess our little airport here in Grants Pass is too small for it to land and fill up but I'm not sure. It should be flying over again shortly - if needed. It's so hard not to know what's going on - the fire is in steep terrain, are they making headway before it gets big? is it growing? did they knock it out quickly? The unknown can be so scary..........

Update - ODF (Oregon Dept of Forestry) once again did a great job of knocking out a fire before it became a problem - it's not out but it's contained and is in mop up stage - kudos to them.

It's been a grand day

It's been a grand day even though it's been raining pitchforks and shovels as my friend JoAnn would say. After getting orders boxed up and to the post office, yes people are still shopping for gifts, I edited many photos of a total of 8 scarves so they could be listed in my etsy shop.

An ice-dyed, stenciled dragonfly scarf is one of the new scarves listed.......

.....and an ice dyed, starfish and sand dollar scarf........other scarves listed but not pictured here are hand-dyed, stenciled and handwoven/discharge dyed.

Oh yes, I did go out wearing these leggings and no, I'm not 20 years old. Of course the only place I went was to the post office wearing a knee length coat over them. They're kind of fun for wearing around the house but a little out there for me.

And this was what I've been looking at all afternoon while knitting and listening to an audio book - perfect activity for a chilly rainy day. I'm really thinking I need to do this more often, usually I'm so driven.........it's time to relax a bit.......

Rain!!!!

It's raining!  I'm doing the happy dance. This doesn't mean fire season is over, it's going to get dry and hot again in a couple days, but it is a huge relief......the rainy season can't be far off.........

And yes, that's a huge wood pile now getting wet in the rain - but it will dry out again. The wood shed is filled and that is 2-3 cords of overflow. We'll get it covered after it dries out again.

More freebies.

I've got a few more giveaways for anyone in the US or Canada - just leave me a comment with what you're interested in and a way of getting in touch with you. I also still have a few other items from my post of June 25th that are still available - the Hummingbird applique pattern, the Notion Nanny pattern and the Welcome Quilt pattern.  I'm working on passing on things that someone else may be interested in rather than letting them languish in my studio.

This pattern has been spoken for - it's no longer available
Sewing Bird pattern - pincushion. This is really cute - I made several of these for gifts

Veronica Pocketbook - I never made this one

The Urban Knitter book by Lily Chin.  I got this in a raffle basket and won't use any of the patterns but maybe someone else will. It's autographed.

I spent a good portion of my day ridding the studio of paper. Tons of old catalogs will be heading to recycling along with a huge bag of old weaving guild newsletters. I found I never have gone back to look at them so no need for them to clutter up the space. I also had several notebooks from Convergences and ANWG conferences - I've never opened them since putting them together. I now have a nice supply of empty notebooks and many page protectors that I can use for weaving project records. Hmm, what shall I tackle next.........

Not happy about big copter flying over - can't see any smoke plumes and haven't been able to find out if there's a new fire.....hoping not.  It was the giant snorkel copter that sucks water in to drop on a fire rather than using a bucket.  It went over yesterday but was gone quite a while before coming back so I was assuming it went to a fire west of us in Agness......but this was a very short trip before it came back over the house.  And it's such a big copter it shakes the house, there's no missing it flying over. Have I said yet today that I hate fire season..........well, you haven't heard it but yes, I have said it to Bailey, our golden, he and I discuss the heat and fire danger every single day. Approximately 7 more weeks of fire season.......it may very well be longer than that but we often have at least one good rainfall toward the end of September that makes me breathe a little easier.

On the front lines

Here's neighbor Merle on the front lines of the Old Blue Mtn fire yesterday - it's the one near friends of mine.  He and his buddy own a fire truck, a water tender and bull dozer - this fire truck is working around the clock with him and his buddy working 12 hour shifts. Merle is in his 70's and works like a 40 year old, or maybe that's 30. Carol said he came home last night smelling like a smoked fish after working in that bowl for 12 hours - he was up and out before daybreak again today. I haven't seen a fire update yet this morning, hoping all went well in spite of the winds that kicked up yesterday afternoon and evening. I feel much better when the water tender is sitting up the hill from me filled with water.......  Have I said yet today that I hate fire season???  Well, yes, once so far, it's still early....

Rain !!!

As I was laying in bed contemplating getting up I started hearing the oh so rare drops of rain hitting the ground. This is usual for us in the summer and very welcome - by the time I got this picture taken and started writing this post it is letting up but that's 30 minutes of light rain - so much better than the dry lightning fire starting storms that have been coming through.

Many new fires started around the region the past couple of days from lightning strikes - one near a friend was thought to be under control at 100 acres but when the winds picked up yesterday afternoon it took off - this morning I heard on the news there are evacuations on order..........but exactly where? my friend? or at the other end of that road? The past few days fire reports are vague and spotty on the news, nothing much on the websites - maybe they're too busy getting on these new fires but sure would be nice to know what's happening. The Northern California fires just over the border are very scary, yesterday three firefighters didn't have time to get out of the way of the wall of flames and had to resort to using their fire shelters (a special blanket to cover with while laying on the ground as the fire passes by). They were lucky and made it through that experience.  Have I said yet today I hate fire season???

Today is the start of the county fair - I have to figure out a way to cover my wheel for the walk from the car to the building we're demo'ing in case it's still raining.  I'm only 15 minutes away but it's nice to know that Sam and Bailey will be holding down the fort at home in case of fire - I hate living under this threat all summer long......yeah, yeah.....whine and snivel - we could be dealing with the flash floods other areas of the country have been dealing with yesterday and today, very scary stuff.

New treasure from the sea

We couldn't stand the horribly hot weather here in the valley anymore and took off for a short trip to the coast on Saturday afternoon returning last night just in time for thunderstorms..........with dry lightning.........many new fires started to the east, 2 very close to friends of mine. Spotter planes will be flying these next few days looking for more. Not sure if there will be any in our area - we didn't get the brunt of the lightning but we did get some. I can't tell by the smell of smoke because it smells like smoke everywhere from the big fires in the region. More dry lightning forecast for today. (since writing this I looked at the lightning strike map - strikes just a few miles to the west of us, hopefully no fires will come out of those)

Not many treasures to be found on the beach this weekend but we did discover a new cockle shell.......well, at least new to us. Usually we see thousands like the few on the left side above. But look at all these very colorful shells we found this time - I looked them up in my shells of the northwest book and found they are Japanese littlenecks, also called Manilla Clams. They were introduced to the northwest from Japan in the 1930's and apparently are very tasty. I'm sure this isn't the first time they've been found on that beach but it's a first for us.  Several pieces of seaglass were found including 2 colors I rarely see - lavender and pale seaglass green. Sam found a fairly big yellow/gold agate - it's below the piece of lavender seaglass.

It's going to be a bad fire season........

Fire season for SW Oregon officially started 12am Monday morning but do people stop burning, heck no, no thought at all given to the fact that we're in a second year of drought and they're predicting this could be the worst fire season in many years.......that's coming off the bad fires we had last summer (pic to the left).  I read the emergency response reports in the local paper - I didn't stop to count how many were for fire agencies being called out to illegal burns and smoke reports this week since fire season started. The past 4 days we've been in a red flag fire warning due to the high winds.

One of my neighbors, Firebug Jackie, as I so lovingly call her has not cut her tall brown grass yet - at this point I'd be happy if she didn't do it all, she usually waits to do it outside the window we're allowed to cut brush and I end up calling ODF on her..........I gave up several years ago reminding her about it in person, she has no common sense and pays no attention. Her property is between us and the road - our only escape route if she starts a fire would be driving right through the thick of a fire.

On the eastside of our valleys there's heavy smoke from two fires burning out of control in Bend, they're 200 miles to the northeast of us. The smoke is hanging heavy in Medford but the wind is keeping our section of the valley clear - I was over in Medford today and it's ugly. There are many evacuations over in Bend now and more on alert - hoping for the best with no homes or lives lost.

We have approximately 4 months of fire season ahead of us. Already I wake up in the morning wondering how I'll make it through the summer always looking for smoke plumes on the horizon or smelling the air for smoke........I'll be a nervous wreck all summer long.......ready for the funny farm long before the rains come.........hmm, what is the funny farm like anyhow? might be ok.........

Whoo Hoo

Fire season is officially over at 12:01 tonight.  We had a decent amount of rain this past few days - I predicted the major rain and end to fire season by the end of the month, nice to have it end a bit early. It's been a long fire season this year......not only here but all over the west.  That is all I have to say today..........

More handspun.......

The other evening I plied this handspun, got it washed and blocked yesterday. It's from Ashland Bay roving - Merino in the Baltic colorway,....I thought it would look nice as a shawl with jeans.  Small glitch - I only have 801 yards and the shawl I was thinking of knitting takes more than that. I could always spin more after I place my next Ashland Bay order as I'm out of this color right now.......or I could look at other shawl patterns which is probably what I'll do. But first I'm working on some small holiday gifts that I won't be able to show until after the holidays.

 

This is looking out the window behind me as I sit at the computer - what looks like a fog bank is really smoke, it un-nerves me seeing it but I'm assuming the burn-outs on the Big Windy Fire are under control and it's nothing to worry about. I sure will sleep better after the rainy season starts.  Countdown to rain - 20 days........beginning to worry that is wishful thinking......

New knitting book published

Friend Lucy from my weaving guild has published a book on knitting, it had previously been an e-book, now it's in print and available on Amazon.  Check out Lucy's blog to see what she's up to and to find out more on the book and how to order it. I'm going to get one.

I haven't given a fire update in a number of days because things are going so well here. It's been over a month since the fires started, a tough month for those evacuated and on evacuation notice (many still are) and a really tough time for the fire fighters dealing with danger, injuries and poison oak galore. The fire camps (mini cities) are getting smaller but still staffed by many, the tent is still set up 2 miles from us selling fire t-shirts (I survived the Big Windy) but a large number of fire fighters have moved on to more pressing fires requiring more attention. Good karma being sent to those dealing with threatening fires in other areas of the west right now.

Big Windy - 24,208 acres burned, 67% contained
Douglas Complex - 48,679 acres burned, 90% contained
Labrador Fire - 2,023 acres burned, 0% contained but hasn't grown in weeks
Both the Brimstone & Whiskey Complex Fires are 100% contained

Countdown to rain - 32 days......and it can't come soon enough as we're all really tired of fire season this year.

Just another fire sunrise........

Yeah, it's become the norm here as far as sunrises go.......growing weary of forest fires but I'm afraid this year there's no end in sight until it rains. Firefighting on ours is making headway but so many big ones across the west in so many states - very scary.

Am hoping to spend the day finishing up quilt blocks. I may wait on sewing them together until we get over to the coast again to make sure I want to make a king size quilt out of them, am now starting to worry about if it will look good with the painted furniture.........if not, they'll become 2 twin size quilts for the other room. I probably shouldn't be second guessing my color choices.

Hoping to get back to weaving soon and still have pounds & pounds of roving to dye but temps aren't quite low enough for me to be outside all day at the dye pots...not too mention too much smoke.

Last night I did fill another bobbin on the wheel, ready to start plying from the roving I started spinning at the fair last week.......hoping there's enough for a shawl.

Can't you just smell that piglet breath???

Ok, so I don't really know if piglets have yummy breath like puppies do but I want to imagine that's the case. I would have loved to have snuggled one of these 2 week old piglets today. There are actually 12 of them in the pen at the fair with momma. What is it about piglets that makes everyone ooh and ahh over them?

Today after lunch I walked down to see some of the 4H livestock - slim pickings this year on goats & cows/steers - more pigs and sheep.  I didn't go in the bunny barn or the chicken/rooster house. Thanks to those that commented on my post from yesterday on their county fair experiences. Our fair was busier today because between 10am-noon it was half price to get in but still not as busy as it used to be......and really there is so little to see it's not worth half price. Big disappointment with fair food this year, our spinning group's guilty pleasure, not much to choose from.

On the fire front - fires still burning, some folks still evacuated, some on evacuation notice, fire fighters building lines and working hard, they're here for the long haul. There is lots of back burning going on and today I heard they were using Helitorch Aerial Ignition - I don't know exactly what that is but I'm imagining flames shooting down from a copter lighting areas to back burn where it's too dangerous for fire fighters to be in......but maybe it's dropping something that explodes?  I don't know - anyone else out there know??? 
Countdown - 46 more days until rain.

Fire update

For anyone interested I thought I'd give a fire update. We did have more thunderstorms over the weekend which this time included rain in some areas, we actually got 30 minutes of rain on Saturday, what a surprise. And with the storms the smoke lifted and we had clearer skies - it's been wonderful - still too much smoke smell to open windows but it's such a huge improvement. With the storms came more lightning caused fires, I haven't heard much other than that they are small and being worked on. We certainly have plenty of resources here to fight the fires with the others still active. I'm also going to include the cost to date, in the millions, to fight them.

Brimstone Fire - holding at 2,372 acres burned, 100% contained, $8M

Big Windy Fire - 15,278 acres burned, 15% contained, $12.8M - I was a little a lot concerned when I saw a finger of burned area on the fire maps heading closer to us but my educated (slightly) guess is that it is containment lines on the ridge tops that were burned out to keep the fire from spreading in this direction.

Labrador Fire - holding at 2,020 acres burned, 0% contained, haven't seen the latest $$ figure

Douglas Complex - 45,411 acres burned, 48% contained, $35.5M

Whiskey Complex - 10,947 acres burned, 40% contained, $12.6M

Ok, so the recent scattered rainfall from a trace to 2" with hail does not signal 'real rain' as we're heading back to our usual dry, low humidity summer weather.  So the countdown continues - 50 more days until rain.

On the creative side to the weekend I did work on quilt blocks, sewed up an additional 40 of them. Did I mention that when I figured out how many more I need it was many more than I had guessed? I was ready to be done but I'm not - still several more partial days of sewing to get the blocks all sewn, then on to sewing them all together. I also worked on some small Christmas gifts which I can't post pictures of, and finished up that pair of socks I was knitting. I started the process of research for a weaving guild program for next spring on name drafting - have my list of magazine articles to pull out to refresh my memory on name drafting so I can come up with a fun hands-on program for guild members.....will also need to weave up some fun samples for the program. We have many newer weavers who are not familiar with drafting so I thought this would be a fun program to learn.