HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

September the eleventh is not the happiest day in our memories. Our prayers go to the families that relive this experience on this day, year after year.  

Good events also took place on that date. One for instance is that today is John's  birthday.  For this I am extremely thankful.  He would not be alive today if it were not for extremely talented physicians and caretakers.  And for our decision to put him on life support rather than follow our previous decision of artificial means to stay alive.  

The physicians assured John and I that this was a "temporary measure and he probably would be off the ventilator on Monday."  Monday turned into a long six weeks, but John is here and doing better than anyone expected. 

Happy birthday to my love and best friend. May God bless you in is infinite wisdom with many more.

Today is his day.  We are doing whatever he chooses. This means target practice with his gun, fly fishing and trying on the socks I have been knitting for him for almost a year, off and on.  

They are still not done because I do not know how to make the toe on a process called the "Magic Loop."  

He also wants a campfire tonight since the ban on campfires was lifted just yesterday.

We went to where a ranger suggested we shoot.  John gave me my first shooting lesson.  First came all the safety instruction, then how to load the gun and how to shoot.

Some of my shots went about three feet above the target. Some were below the circle in the white area, but I got two bulls eyes my second turn.



We are in Bellevue, Idaho in BLM territory.  This is the first Bureau of Land Management camping we have done since in Clark's Dry Lake and Blair Valley at Anza Borrego State Park in San Diego County, California.  I had forgotten just how enjoyable this kind of camping is.  We want to do more of this!

No neighbors close by.  Unless you want to call a quarter of a mile close by.  That is with the exception of a possible visit of Sandy and Jim Dixon, Scooter and Skittles.  

We had a visit from a strange to us bird.  I sure Judy can identify it.  I have looked on websites and thus far cannot find it's name.   

Until next time...God bless you....

SHEEPY TIME AT MICHIGAN FIBER FESTIVAL

Allegan, MI
72 degrees - green trees and grass!

We have spent three super days here at the Allegan County, Michigan fairgrounds.  The  annual MICHIGAN FIBER FESTIVAL is a knitter's, weavers, felters, spinner's and crocheter's dream.  Buildings and tents full of yarn, raw wool, roving, books, spinning wheels, weaving looms, needles  ...... on and on and on!

Thursday, Henny Penny welcomed us to the Allegan County fairgrounds.  She was feeling a bit bent out of shape because her feathers were not in demand this weekend.  Oh well.

There has been so many vendor booths to visit that we have not left the fairgrounds.  I had a restaurant in mind for John and I, but we just shopped then returned to the motorhome to have either our lunch or dinner.    It is much easier to eat in that at a restaurant since we are eating a plant based diet.

There is a wide variety of vendors.  Some sold finished knit or woven sweaters, ponchos, wraps etc.

I so admire fiber artists whose work is so good that they can sell their work.  The weather really cooperated with them this weekend with the cooler temperatures.  It is much easier to sell natural wool products when it is not in the nineties.


The talented weavers presented some beautiful rugs, place mats, bags and table runners.  I loved looking at the different patterns.  There was a pattern to please every person attending. 

The top group of rugs were woven in different patterns that I had not seen before.  And they were a bit larger than many rugs.  I like the variety.

Karen in the Woods would have been a tremendous vendor with all her rugs and various patterns.

At some time, I hope to be able to see some of Karen's work in person.  She is an inspiration and her work has encouraged John and I to do some loom shopping.

These animal sculptures are created by needle felting.  They start out as a hand full of loose sheep, goat, llama or alpaca fibers.  Using a special needle that has barbs on the end, the fibers are compacted and shaped into the animal that the artist has in mind.

When needle felting, one must keep an eye on their project!  If you look up, your needle should be suspended in the air.  Why?  It really, really hurts when you stab yourself with a felting needle.  I have accidentally sent a felting needle through the pad of my thumb when looking up to talk to someone.  Not good.

I love the names that some vendors name their businesses.  And these are true businesses.  Many are farm based.

Vendors work hard to have products that the shoppers will like.  Keeping the products affordable is a challenge.  If these vendors charged by the hour for some of their creations, the prices
would be over the top.







Color is another aspect that vendors must consider.  What is "in" this year?
What colors will be the trend for 2013?  Will they like bright or muted?

Then to show the colors, samples must be knitted to demonstrate how they will look in a garment.

Robin Edmundson does a beautiful job of dyeing.  She truly has the magic touch when it comes to color.  I have been fortunate enough to take a couple of classes from her and have learned so much.  If you look at Robin's colors, you will see colors that have been taken from nature.  You see sunsets and oceans and many more color combinations.

Angora Goat

The fiber festival also had sheep and goat shows.  I love the animals.  This cutie is an Angora Goat.  Their fiber is so shiny and soft.  It makes lovely garments.


There is also a goat breed called Pygora.  It is a cross between a Pygmy Goat and an Angora Goat.  Again, quality fibers come from the right animal.  

Pygora Goat

The fiber from an Angora Goat is called Mohair.  Mohair yarn has a "halo" and is often used when knitting lacework shawls.

It also makes a beautiful sweater.  I'd love to knit a sweater.  I wonder if I will ever do it.  Just call me a chicken.

Sheep are the most popular wool providers.  When you purchase your fiber at a show, such as the Michigan Fiber Festival, you are getting products from the United States.  In addition, no harmful chemicals have been used in the processing of the wool.  When you purchase a fleece (wool directly from the animal), you will find a little vegetable material (V.M.) in the wool.  It is easily picked out when spinning, etc.  I'd much rather have my fiber with a little V.M. in it rather than chemicals.  

At many of the Fiber Festivals, you will find sheep shows.  If you are fortunate enough to purchase a first or second place fleece, you are a mighty happy person.  

getting their sheep ready for the show ring is an exacting activity.  The animal must look perfect in the handler's eye.

After visiting the vendors booths, the goats and sheep three times in three days, we were ready to make some purchases.  We bought a thousand yards of Mohair.  What for?  Can't say just in case someone reads this.  In addition to the Mohair, I got another set of knitting needles to use with the Mohair.

Well, after three days of walking, walking, and more walking, we are about ready to get back on the road.  Next destination?  Not tellin... you need to come back and see where these Travelin Talleys are going next.  

God Bless, and please be safe out there.  

In the spirit of Judy and Emma, I leave you with this............

THE END!

Two Socks Completed and Three new followers!

Wow!  I'm coming up in the world.  I've completed two more socks and have three new followers in one week!  What's a person to do?  I celebrated by going to see a parade this morning, then on to our local farmers market then to view fireworks tonight!  How's that for a celebration.

Our city has a Freedom Celebration the week prior to July 4th because we are just 20 minutes south of Indianapolis and they have huge fireworks display on the fourth of July in the heart of Indy.  The Freedom Celebration was an all day event.  There we activities for the entire family.  The cool weather made it a very pleasant way to spend the day.

We did not spend the entire day in town.  John has started working on the floor of the motor home.  We will be installing the Allure Flooring System.  The prep work seems to take longer than the actual installation.  But that is what makes the outcome so successful.

I want to welcome Judy C, Karen and Steveio, and Merikay.  They are my 3 new followers.  Wow, I'm up to four.  Who woulda thunked it?

I was so happy today (still am)!  I finished one sock and whipped out one and a half  more!  I think I am getting the hang of it.  Believe it or not, I am going to admit that I'm thankful that I had such a hard time in the beginning.  Those mistakes that I felt were so H. U. G. E. have made it possible for me to fix problems quickly.  Dropped stitches seem to be the biggest problem.  And what causes dropped stitches.....not having the  weights close enough to the needles.  Thanks to Barb Woodard, that has been instilled into my memory bank.

The other thing firmly ingrained,  knitting the pre-heel!  All that work I put myself through yesterday paid off.  I automatically knit those pre-heels! 

Well, nuff said tonight.  Blessings to all.

The Joy of Having Children and Grandchildren

Wow!  Double Wow!!

What a time we have had since last talking to  you.  We have celebrated our grandson Ross' third birthday.  He is such a sweetie.  Beautiful red hair and energy to the max.  Ross has the sweetest temperament I  have ever seen.  He is totally into the Cars cartoon movement.  Ninety percent of his birthday gifts were in one way or another in the Cars genre.  He loved each and every gift and was totally overwhelmed with the entire celebration.  This is the first year that he "got it" as far as birthdays go.

Now the age spread between grandchildren is quite a spread.  Our two oldest are 23 and 21.  The younger two are 3 and 6.  A bit of a gap there, isn't there.  Megan, at 23 is expecting her first child, our second great grandchild.  Megan seems more like one of our daughters than a granddaughter and needless to say, there have been baby showers.  We took Meg to Babies R Us and she showed us the items they need for our little Harper.  We, being the stingy curmudgeon, of course did not listed....... HA!    We did our part to make her showers a total haul.

Harper is to make her entrance into the world this Sunday morning.  She has been a bit of a concern the last week or so.  An ultrasound has brought to light an aneurysm in the umbilical cord and arrhythmia  AND she is going to be a breach baby.  What more could be expected?  Nothing, I hope.  We trust that God has both mom, Megan and little Harper in His hands and we will have a healthy little girl to dote upon.

Today, Megan, her paternal grandmother and I all had lunch together at Bravo's.  It was funny to see the appetite an expectant mother can have.  Little Harper is not really giving her mom much room to breathe or to put food into her stomach, but Megan still managed to tackle her lobster bisque and salad.

After lunch, we went to Gymbore to look at baby clothes.  What fun!  The styles are so neat, I could have just purchased the store and been done with it.  Alas, that takes capitol....so we continue to spoil a bit at a time.  After our little shopping trip, we said our goodbyes and each of us headed to our homes.  Megan, for an expectant mother's nap, Gam's Pam home, and I went off to library and to our rental for a confrontation with our renter.

He is behind in his rent and is totaling up a lot of  late payment charges.  I decided that instead of a letter, I'd just show up on his door step.  What I found was very upsetting.  He opened the door and all I could smell was stale cigarette smoke - in a non-smoking home!  That really set me off!  Not good!  I asked for him to pay his rent to date and to add all the late charges.  Then I told him that he was not supposed to be smoking in the condo and he needed to be smoking outside.  Ohhhhh, the fun of being a land lord.  It is tempting to just sell the place.

I cam home and ranted to John, then retreated to family room to "cool down".  Following my cool down time, we went to dinner, but not before calling Megan and asking her to join us since her husband, Adam, works evenings.  We had a lovely time together and that just made the day complete..

One week from tomorrow, we leave for Wooster, Ohio for another fiber festival.  If you are in the area, this is a great opportunity to stock up on fibers, yarn, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies.  Today, I ordered more knitting lights and hopefully they will be in for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is June 3 and 4 in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.  You might want to check our our website: www.hoosierhillsfiberartsfestival.com to find more information about classes and all the vendors.

Well, tomorrow, John and I resume our exercise.  We have slacked off since returning from our winter tour.  But tomorrow, he hit the road - walking.  After our walk, we are going to tour some garage sales so John can get an idea of pricing items.  He insists on having sales to begin selling off things so we can think about full timing.

As for now, it's time to go, - God go with you and bless your walk. -  This reminds me of a sign I saw this week.  It read "If you want to make God laugh...........  just tell him YOUR plans!  ..............

Blessings..............

Smoky Mountains

The Smoky Mountain Fiber Art Festival is over.  We have made many great, new friends.  My classes were fun to teach and students have returned home with their scarves, purses and felting materials.  Oliver joined the class for a while and eagerly helped the students as you can see on one of the photos.  Felting is not an art for the weak.  It takes tremendous energy.  What I love about teaching is seeing the creativity of each student.  You can see their personalities come out in their work.  The students give me energy and gives me the desire to return to my studio and continue with my experiments with color, fiber and design. 

Again, the knit lights were a huge success along with the hand thrown pottery knitting bowls by John Todd of Paw Paw Pottery.  I am amazed with the colors that I regularly have great sales.  It seems that black is hard to find and, of course, I have it.  Choral is the new color for 2011 and is running a close race with black for top sales.  The student that chose to make a choral purse, of course, had to leave early and I didn't get a photo of her finished product. 

Thank goodness it is time to rest.  Three days of sales and two of teaching can make a person weary.  Now we are parked next to the Little River in Townsend Tennessee and letting the sound of the rapids sooth us.  John is planning on getting his fishing rod out and I may even join him.  Last night, he saw fish jumping and it totally excited about finally getting to fish.  In seven weeks of travel, he was unable, or unwilling to pay the high price of an out of state fishing license to fish a day or two to fish. 

We will leave for home Tuesday.  John has physician appointments Tuesday and Wednesday, then we are off to Bowling Green, Ohio, for the Black Swamp Spinners Guild Market Day.  I hope to see some of you there!

Gentlemen, Get Ready to Start your Engine!

With the holidays over and the hardwood floors installed in the house, we are a few steps closer to leaving the Indianapolis area and heading on to warmer country. The Motor Home is at Edmundson RV, located in Taylorsville, IN for it's oil change, brakes, new water closet and a few other minor repairs to make our road trip worry free, (we hope) and more comfortable. Since we are new to this lifestyle, we are learning new things every day as we read the blogs of those more experienced. Oh, what a learning curve!

As of today, our first stop will be Savahna, Ga. Then on to Florida to watch the launch of the last space shuttle. Once we have experienced that, we are off to Gulf Shores, Alabama to meet up with family for a day or so then to New Orleans. After that, it is off to California to visit with daughter #2. After this, we hope to spend time in south west TX before heading home for the Smoky Mountain Fiber Festival in Townsend TN March 18 -20. From there, we head to Bowling Green, OH for the Black Swamp Market Day on March 26.

During all this time, we will be stopping off at antique shops and yarn shops seeking our dreams. We dream of any fiber related item, and John, also, of coins. Since I have discovered the antique circular sock machines and knitted my first sock, I'm on the look-out for more sock machines. Oh, my gosh, what fun the sock machine is....and when good at it, I will be able to knit a pair of socks in an hour....did you hear what I said???? AN HOUR!!!! Holy cow! I'm on one pair of socks I started knitting at the Michigan Fiber Festival in August of 2009! These sock machines were popular in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many were sold or given to people to knit socks for the soldiers in the war. Now, these machines make socks that exceed the quality of any sock made in China or wherever.

John has started weaving on his birthday present I purchased at the southern Indiana Fiber Festival in Corydon, IN. He is learning to weave on a rigid heddle loom. I have a 4 harness loom, but he wanted to "start small" and work up...He's about to get hooked!

The drawback to this trip? My niece, who is more like a sister (6 yrs diff), is having total knee replacement. I wish I could be here to walk through the experience with her since I had my first TKR 12 years ago and my second 4 years ago.

Enough for now, but as the "blast off" date grows closer and arrives, there will be more.

quote of the day: "Success if the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill