HELLO EARLY FALL

The weather is changing over to FALL, and a very welcome site! 

Nights are cool and the day temps this week will climb to high 80's but then a steady decrease in temps. This is very helpful for the Cameron Peak Fire, steady decrease in temps. Still little containment on the fire but so much work has been done in the past week. Thank you fire fighters for all your work! 

Knitting: not much done in the last week, quilting has taken center stage.

I have several quilts that are close to being done and really need to focus my attention on these quilts and get them completed. I set up my big quilting frame and loaded the Amish Quilt on, this quilt has been in the hand quilting stage for years and only the borders are left. I had forgotten how much easier it is to hand quilt on this frame. Nothing to gather, its all right there, ready to sit down to for a few stitches or an hour of stitching. This quilt will be finished by Christmas this year, (I hope). 

I have started the BOM quilt designed by DiFord, Sutton Grange, who sadly passed away late spring of 2020.

The fabrics sing to my heart,  a mix of appliqué and machine piecing with an overload of color and prints. A year long BOM quilt, perfect for COVID isolation going into the fall and continuing through 2021. 

Not a book read or started the past week, but plenty of books stacking up on my table to be read. 

The weekend was a mixture of calmness, quilting, and movie watching. 

 

Saying goodbye to late Summer and hello to early Fall.

EARTH, WIND and FIRE

Hmmm.....my fire  and ash snowing pictures will not load to blogger, hmmm.

Labor Day Weekend here on the Front Range was long, hot, smoke fill, ash snowing, sun blocked out dark and well---just very concerning. Monday morning opening the drapes, the outside looked apocalyptic, not a bird in the sky and nor a chirp could be heard, so quiet and orangie dark! With city lights on all through the day and temps in town hung out at 60 degrees, while all around us it was 93 degrees. This is what being under a smoke plume from a major forrest fire is like. Friday night, the fire started expanding but still not out of control, with the hot, dry , windy conditions by Monday morning the fire exploded and took a ten mile run on all three sides, roaring down the canyon (east), bursting into Rocky Mountain National Park (south), and threatening the Red Feathers area (north). Alerts were beeping every 5-30 minutes to evacuate these area "now" and the Voluntary Evacuation lines being widely extended. A cold front was pushing in with winds 50 miles/hour pushing this fire, which has so much beetle kill timber for fuel to burn. By midnight the temps were really dropping and it started to rain lightly thru the night, around 5 am snow was falling.....thank you Jesus! It snowed on and off all day and will continue til late morning Wednesday, with temps staying cold, 29Deg tonight. This is much needed time for the fire fighters to regroup, bring in more resources and get lines around this monster and go on the offense. { rest assured, Fort Collins is in NO danger}, this fire is in the high country/foot hills, however their are several thousand homes in these areas that are being threaten, 100+K acres is approx. 102 sq. miles that has burned. Thankfully no life has been lost.  This week the temps will slowly climb into the high 80's, with drying conditions. Praying for fire containment and early snows to come into the Northern Front Range.

Sunday, I did manage to finish 2 dresses for the kids but no knitting done this past week. After Monday and the apocalyptic atmosphere,  by Tuesday I was exhausted. Soup was made and that was it!

Oh 2020 I am ready to see you in the rear view mirror.

Linking up with Kat and Unraveled Wednesday

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Out and about.

Bird Bingo

Love a little boy who can put on his own pants! Inside out and backwards!

Smoke  from Cameron Fire, Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Thanks Julie for photo, My Sister Knits.

Sunrise Sunday

Smoke cloud over house

Our weekend was full, with the littles for a sleep over on Friday. This is the kids favorite day and they know what Friday means...."Sleep Over at Mimi's house". We eat dinner, (and a not very healthy one at that), then it's bath time, popcorn (their favorite), a movie and the grand finale; "sleep over".  Pretty simple stuff makes a 2 and 4 year old happy. Saturday, out for a walk, (before the smoke moves in), and Gus mastered the balance bike. Bird Bingo was a BIG hit as well.

By Saturday afternoon the smoke from the Cameron Fire was covering Northern Colorado. Window closed and the air turned on, it was also 100 degrees outside. Yes, I am soo over these high temps and the smoke clouds covering us are also dropping lots of ashes. I have had a sinus headache all weekend. But, the BEST news, SNOW! Yes, I will be like a little kid this afternoon with my nose glued to the window waiting for a 60 degree temperature drop, and the.....glorious snow! Oh, how we need this, 1) it will help the fire that now has crossed into Rocky Mountain National Park on the NW side and has moved further down the canyon, 2) we need a break in these ridiculous high temps. Besides isolating from people with COVID, lately I feel like a mole hiding in my basement from heat and smoke! Tuesday morning I will be outside with woolens and boots on, looking up and being grateful for cold-wet snow! 

While holding up in the basement on Sunday, I started this twilling dress for Betty. Today the buttons will go on, after I watch a You Tube tutorial on using Bernia button system. Buttons are my nightmare in the garment making adventure, I just cannot seem to master this much needed technique. Any help would be appreciated. 

 

A LITTLE TRIP

We went on a little trip up North to a Reservoir in Wyoming. Their was conversation with my sister, BIL, Caitlin and her family, food that was out of this world, sand, beach and lots of sun! Temps were warm but not crazy! Sunsets-beautiful and the moon rising----breath taking. Something that didn't happen....knitting, not one stitch! Never before have I gone out camping and not spent time knitting! 

September is here, one of my favorite months. The promise of cool weather, in fact we have snow in the forecast, here, at 5500ft! Not unusual, but getting more rare with Global Warming. Tuesday though, they are saying in the high 30's and snow, what a welcome sight that will be. Snow will be helpful for the fires burning North of us and will break the heat cycle,(the day before the snow, temps in high90's). Does this make one feel a little crazy,  no, if you live in Colorado by the mountains, the weather can and will change in extreme directions on a dime. I love it!

Yarn Along

Unraveled Wednesday