Ms Grundy again

Re: Karen Brown decluttering challenge From:  Caro Dean Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2025 15:44:15 CST  One of my Stashbuster friends made a comment about Flylady. Oh my gosh, I hadn't heard of FlyLady in ages! I read all her stuff at one time, and really resonated with the idea of shining your sink. She didn't say "Clean the kitchen!" or "Wash everything!"  The idea was to just get one thing you were proud of, not overdo it or try to change everything all at once.   I never subscribed to her idea of constant email reminders, though. Or even scheduled cleaning. I rebelled against anyone telling me it was time to mop the floor! I can see the floor, and I'll decide when to mop it, and it might not be Tuesday.   When I was younger, I would scrub the tile with a brush, then rinse it more than once, dry it with towels that were about to go in the washing machine anyway, and seal it with (what was the name of that semi-permanent stuff - had to be removed with ammonia???)...

Winter's Frost is the name of the pattern (from Ravelry), for Denise, Lynnette, Rebecca, Bev, and me, respectively. (I rarely knit socks that have a specific Left and Right.)  

 I see a pattern here: Gründl - for Denise (orange), Lynnette (lilac), and Rebecca (aqua) Also Pairfect for Bev. (I know that you don't have to include the yellow that marks the start of the stripes patterning(so that you can easily calculate matching socks), but I CAN use the yellow yarn if I want.) And Hawthorne for me. (I know it says Stroll, that was the label that was with the yarn, but it feels and looks more like Hawthorne Handpainted.)

 So, there I was, sitting in my rocker, reading and knitting, when I glimpsed movement out of the corner of my eye. (Now, I get this often, because I have a lot of floaters in my eyes, which leads to moving shadows in my peripheral view.) But this time, when I looked to my left, this guy was watching me. Isn't he gorgeous? He's not as big as he looked to me at first - about the size of my pinky fingernail. (The scratched brass is the foot of my lamp, and the Huntington is actually from a yarn label.)   But he was clearly watching me. If you search for Malachite spider, you get   " Bold jumping spiders have chelicerae (CH-lis-a-ray) or mouth parts are often metallic blue-green"  Phidippus audax https://infinitespider.com/bold-jumping-spiders/ He saw me looking at him, and disappeared quickly- but then, so did I. I'm not afraid of spiders, but maybe I am afraid of JUMPING spiders!

 As I have said before, Bonnie Hunter's quilts grab me. This one I purchased at the same time as Tulip Time. It was inspired by an Irish tiled floor on Bonnie's trip. This is 3 large pieces, each made from 4 identical squares. I now have 3 more - total 6 done. I posted to Stashbusters group, and someone messaged me not to get discouraged, because this quilt is "labor intensive." I'll say! Each 'block' is 5 by 5 - 9 squares and 16 Half Square Triangles - each 10 1/2" 'block has 41 different pieces of fabric! Wowsers!

  Another quilt I copied - saw one, graphed it out using 2 1/2" strips... Jacob (age 12) saw me sewing, and asked if he could help. (He has sewn with me before, when he wasn't tall enough to reach the foot pedal. He put the pedal on the table, and pressed it with his right hand while guiding the fabric with his left. He was pretty good at maintaining a 1/4" seam!) He sewed an entire block. I later put these together, and then asked him which block he sewed. He couldn't tell, and neither could I. So he's a pretty good quilt piecer! I added another row and borders, and intend to quilt it and give it to him.