Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Another day in Paradise

I decided to try another trip downtown today. I am getting a little more adept at the left-side driving. It is still nerve-wracking. It is very hard to find a place to park down there and the streets are very narrow and full of buses and taxis, but I did finally find a parking space and checked out a few stores including the one where I bought the Liberty print that I finally just used in my hat lady piece. That was 14 years ago. The store is still there, they still have a few Libertys, but I didn't find anything I couldn't live without.

Like everywhere else in the U.S. there are political campaigns in full swing here. While downtown today I saw (and heard!) about 4 different vehicles equipped with big loud speakers on the roof, playing campaign songs for different candidates. These songs usually have a calypso beat and steel drum accompaniment. I followed this one nearly all the way back to the campus. Please note that I was stopped at a light when I took the picture.

Now on a different note . . .
I brought some handwork to do. I made a couple of small, simple flannel baby blankets and brought them along to add some stitching to the edges. I finished the first one quickly with a simple blanket stitch. I decided the try something a little fancier for the second one. (Isn't that frog fabric cute?) I did more than one side and found the size of the stitches was hard to keep uniform. I finally hit on the idea of folding a piece of paper to the depth I wanted the stitches to be. Then I laid the paper along the edge of the blanket and stitched over it, moving it along as I went. Boy, did that work well. The stitching went much faster and the result is much more uniform. Just thought I'd pass that tip along.
And, those baby blankets? Oh yes, I'm going to be a grandmother!

9 comments:

  1. CONGRATULATIONS on your forthcoming grannyhood! I know you will be great at the job. Del

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  2. Congratulations! There is nothing in the world more fun than being a Grandma. Love the blankets.

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  3. Congrats! And I like the paper idea. I'm going to try it!

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  4. Anonymous10:36 PM

    Hey Terry,

    I just read your comments to Gerrie -- surely you don't want to come back to the big bad rainy NW? Although "Sun gonna shine in my back yard someday." Anyway, come home soon. We need to set up some art dates and some critique dates and I'm hatching a scheme about the exhibit in Tacoma (the American Art Company) that opens this weekend. So we miss you! June

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  5. Congrats...and thanks, that little edging note has gone into the book!

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  6. Terry,

    Congratulations!! I am in DC and just looked at your blog for the first time in a few days. It is really special news. I was sorting through some old things on Sunday and came across some pictures of you when you were expecting Emily. There were several of a beautiful little boy -- Andy.

    Bill and Erica will be very excited. Our love to all.

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  7. Wonderful news! Babies are the best blessings of all. The frog stitch is a very nice edge indeed.

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  8. WOOOHOOO...as soon as I saw baby blankies I wondered! I made each of my sons quilts, but the best were the two-sided flannel blankies.... Grinning from ear to ear here in Maine! Cheers, and congrats to your DD and SIL, too!

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  9. Wow! I thought that was a photo of the parking lot where you stopped to go shopping, not a road.
    That is a pretty frog fabric, and what a good idea to get an even stitch. I'm going to have to use it in my crazy quilting!
    Congratulations on your anticipated new arrival!
    The word verification looks very much like the word angel, so it is must be predicting an angelic grandchild for you.

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