A Lot Happened This Week

I finished the 30th square. It was one of the cable patterns from one of the Barbara Walker treasuries.

I then stitched all the squares together, butting the edges together and whip stitching them. I guess I'll do some kind of border around it - probably a couple of rows of garter stitch with some eyelet thrown in.

We also had some hard landscaping done on the front and back yards. We had the driveway paved a couple of years ago but the decrepit interlocking brick on the walkways needed replacing.

Most of the walkways drained towards the house so the new ones were graded so the water would run away from the house. In the front, it eliminated one of the steps up to our front porch.

In the back, the concrete stairs to the back door and garage door were rather wobbly. And again, the grade was towards the corner between the two doors. The landscaper built up this area and added river rock to the area by the fence. We usually pile firewood there in the fall for use in the winter.

 Way better.

 With the new deck last year, new eavestroughs (gutters) and roof this year, and new walkways, I believe we're really improved the curb appeal of the place. Plus with the re-grading, minimized the threat of flooding in our basement, although, thankfully we've never had water leak into it.

The last larva is getting ready to pupate. The egg that was on the leaf I found earlier this week wasn't an egg after all, so if all these latest pupae emerge as adults we'll have a total of 10 this year.

Back in 2011, when I was on the UK knitting tour, I picked up this pattern at the Knitting and Stitching Show that we attended in Harrogate. 'O Christmas Tree' designed by Bonnie Sullivan, owner of 'All Through The Night'.

The pattern originated from Oregon, but I liked it just the same. I then misplaced the pattern for a year or so. Then when I found it, I realized I had the fabric already but just needed to get the variegated, hand-dyed floss for it. Finally, last week Marilyn and I visited Hedgehog Stitchery (at the new location) and I found exactly what I was looking for. I started it last night and have finished about a quarter of it.

It will fit nicely in an 8" x 10" frame if I don't mat it or a standard larger one if I do.