Now let's talk some dirt

Yesterday was a dirty day for me--literally!  It had stopped raining long enough for me to get into the flower gardens and transplant the iris, day lily and monarda from the back yard to the new circular bed in the front yard.  Don also planted some grass seed in the bare spots on the outside of the planting bed and hopefully both the seeds and the transplants will do well. I also received my box of tulips, daffys, and crocuses yesterday and had plans to plant them today, but it's cloudy and cold and we're supposed to have rain again this afternoon so I think I'll put that off for another day.

I spent some time at the hairdresser getting my monthly do.  Always feel good when my hair is trimmed and not so shaggy looking.

And I made up a box to send to my DIL and son.  For 2 years, she's been struggling with a progressively worsening medical condition (fortunately it's not life threatening) to the point where she's unable to keep a job.  She's an excellent knitter, however, and she's knitting up hats and scarves and mittens to sell through her Etsy shop.  I have a ton of yarn that I'll never get around to knitting up so I boxed it all up and mailed it off to her.

I also sent her the pattern for the hat I made for Lily when she was a year old.  It's a head band knitted in ribbing out of worsted yarn and then the hat is made of that fun fantasy yarn.  We got so many compliments the year that she wore that hat!  My DIL knows lots of people with young children and I know she would be able to sell these hats.

Since we had a little sun yesterday, I snuck outside and took a few pix of the quilt my guild is donating for the Quilt Tour raffle in November.  It's part of the fundraiser for the local domestic abuse program.  

Last October at the guild retreat, everyone brought a couple of 2.5" by WOF strips of yellow fabric--anything from pastel to dark gold.  There are several kinds of prints of bumblebees and of course, some green and gold Packers fabric! We sewed the strips, cut them, sewed them again, etc (as a quilter, you know the drill!) and made enough blocks for 2 throw sized quilts.  One was given to a guild member who was in treatment for cancer and the other is the one shown above.  

I also made a few bars of soap yesterday.  This is called Autumn Orange Spice and it's a combination of orange and clove essential oils with some bay rum fragrance.  Smells heavenly!  I added orange coloring and some bits of dried orange peel.  I'll wrap these bars later today and set them aside for the country store sale in November.  For this soap, I used a product I found in the local craft store, kind of a glycerin soap base, I think. I've made soap the old fashioned way using lard and lye and I like that kind better than the glycerin kind but it takes so long to cure! Last week, my daughter sent me a recipe for making soap in a crock pot using olive and coconut oils.  Takes about 1 1/2 hours and the soap is cured and ready to use in a few days!  Making this crock pot soap is near the top of the list of things I must do!

No sewing for me yesterday.  After the pressure to make the two throw quilts, I decided to take a day off. But today, I have to get back at it.  I have to prepare the batting for the Quilt of Valor and then probably make up some doll clothes.  Chili for supper so it goes in the crock pot early and will be ready when dinner time rolls around.