Wyoming Breezes

Anna's Spring Flowers October block The Quilter's Neighborhood September's block challenged me with parallelograms, and this month the challenge was set-in triangles and squares for the  tulip. All of the Winter and Spring blocks are finished for this Block of the Month project. 

Unzen Hot Spring Unzen, Japan April 1980 Unzen Hot Spring is located at the foot of Mount Unzen , an active volcano. The Japanese as well as tourists flock to this area for the healing waters (both cloudy and clear). This area reminded me of several areas in Wyoming that have hot springs ( Thermopolis , Yellowstone , Saratoga, and an area around Fort Washakie.) The Mount Unzen violently erupted in 1991 and 43 people (scientists and journalists) died. Prior to eruption, the area was evacuated, preventing further loss of life. 

Julie, a knitting friend, gave me several small balls of pink, baby (fingering) yarn a couple of months ago. The pinks are a shade different and are not as obvious as this photo shows. I estimate the jacket, knit on size 6 needles, will fit a 3 - 6 month old. This pink and scrappy Baby Surprise Jacket will be donated to a local pregnancy center.

A postage increase is on the horizon. In case you weren't aware of the increase (I just found out yesterday), you might want to stock up on Forever Stamps and send your holiday cards before mid-January.

Seeing the feather in the pile of leaves on Saturday reminded me of the opening of the movie, Forrest Gump  when a feather flutters hither and yon and lightly lands at Forrest's feet. Forrest bends, picks up the feather, and gently places the feather inside his favorite childhood book,  Curious George .  I'm sure the feather I found nestled among the leaves is from the doves who, all summer, perched in the trees' foliage, their presence revealed only by a soft cooing. Gone are the warm days of Summer. Gone are the leaves that provided shelter. Gone are the cooing doves. . . Winter's silence settles around me.

 I always panic when the weatherman says a rain/snow storm is coming and the leaves are still on the lawn. One year, 8 inches of snow fell, and getting the yard cleaned for the winter was a long and messy process. I did not want to relive that experience. The yard guy came by a week ago to pick up the leaves, but the trees had not dropped their leaves completely, which is out of the ordinary. Normally, they are some of the first ones in town to change and drop. Normally, all the leaves come down within one or two days, but not this year. Yard Guy said he would be back when the leaves are all down, which would usually be fine, but a storm is coming. So, I spent some time on Saturday, raking and bagging leaves. The leaves in these twelve bags are from one tree, and it still has a ton yet to drop, which is why I wasn't too concerned about picking up every errant leaf. I did a "lick and a promise" pick-up, not a "clean sweep." I picked up another twelve bags ...

Plastic Food Restaurant Menu Misawa, Japan Autumn 1979 Practically every restaurant in Japan had a display of  plastic foods  which represented their entire menu. Surprisingly, the displays accurately depicted the food.  You can see how the fake food is made on this site . If you are interested, make sure you click on the "next" button at the bottom of that page for more information.

Need I say more?

Just hearing the name "Mr. Greenjeans" reminds me of Captain Kangaroo and its iconic music . This blanket will be knit in different shades of green and should be boy-friendly. Mr. Greenjeans is a Western Region Oddball Baby Blanket knit with size 9 needles on 121 stitches. I used Caron Simply Soft (Dark Sage) and an adaptation of the  Purled Ladder stitch for my section. Were you a regular viewer of Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans? Update : January 20, 2012

After I purchased this album in 1973, I played it so much I memorized all the songs. I am having a lot of fun converting my LPs to mp3 files. ( See this post for more information .) Some of the records have not been played in decades, and listening to them brings back a lot of wonderful memories. I've learned how to expedite the process, especially marking and labeling the tracks. These albums were converted over the weekend: Air Supply – Lost in Love America – Hearts Eddy Arnold – I Want to Go With You Eddy Arnold – Song of the Young World Bread – Baby I’m a Want You Bread – Guitar Man Bread – Lost without Your Love John Denver – Aerie John Denver - Autograph John Denver – Some Days Are Diamonds Glen Campbell – Galveston Glen Campbell – A Satisfied Mind Petula Clark – 20 Fantastic Hits Crystal Gayle - Favorites Gordon Lightfoot – Dream Street Rose Bette Midler – Bette Midler ShaNaNa – The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll (2 LPs) B.J. Thomas – Greatest Hits (Volume II) As you ca...

Bountiful Baskets is a tremendous organization, and if you haven't participated, you are really missing out of a bargain on fruit and vegetables. The basket in the photo shows all the produce I received at this week's delivery. (My area has a delivery every two weeks on Saturday). I purchased a basket (50% fruit and 50% vegetables) for $15.00, plus $1.50 for handling. On my initial Saturday, I paid a one-time charge of $3.00 so the coordinator could purchase sorting baskets. The type and quantity of items varies each time. This week's fruit basket contained: bananas, gala apples, plums, pears, grapes, avocados. This week's vegetable basket included: leaf lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, garlic. The truck arrives at my location at 6 AM, and volunteers (it is requested that those who order baskets are to volunteer from time to time) unload the truck. The boxes and items are checked-in by the coordinator. Once she is certain that all the ...

Typical Neighborhood Grocery Store Misawa, Japan Autumn 1979 These stores were very dark inside and crammed with everything imaginable. It was fun to roam through them to find unique food items.  Notice the vending machines to the far right. Vending machines were very common throughout Japan. Specific machines sold beer, nectars, magazines, cigarettes, and soda.

A couple of weeks ago, I looked at my LP collection and wondered if I should keep my vinyl. I have a nice player, but I rarely use it. Then while thumbing through a catalog, I saw a USB turntable and did some research online. I discovered it was possible to turn my LP collection into MP3 files, so I purchased a Crosley USB turntable on Amazon. The reviews on the turntable were mixed, but I think most of those who complained wanted a portable record player with stereo sound. This player is portable, but it was not intended to be a quality stereo. It has speakers, so it can function as simply a stand-alone record player, but I don't think it was designed to be used as an everyday player. It plays 33, 45, and 78 rpm. When hooked to a computer via the USB cord, the player makes it possible to record songs, clean up the sound a bit, and download the songs to the computer as a WAV or MP3 file. I am on a mission to preserve my LPs to digital MP3 files so I can burn CDs to pl...

Citrus Burst was started by Bailey in ID  as a boy-friendly blanket. Sections of this Western Region Oddball blanket will represent citrus fruit (oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit). I used a diamond seed brocade stitch for my section. Update : December 15, 2011

Since it was a cool weekend, I completed the hat and socks for the Orange Blossom set for Marilyn's grandmother boxes.

American Valor Quilt of Valor 66 X 81 inches American Valor's flimsy was finished on Saturday. It still needs a good pressing and loose threads plucked, but it is done. The stars were pieced, but the red, white, blue stripes sewn adjacent to them is a striped print. The center of the quilt is a printed panel. As I posted earlier , I purchased a kit for this quilt. The fabric is a Marcus Fabrics line. The yardage can be purchased online, but finding it requires a search since most is not available on a single site. Search for "American Valor" + "Marcus Fabrics" The pattern for American Valor is free from Marcus Fabrics. American Valor  featured on Alycia's blog and ready for distribution.