Holly Marie Knits

Flowers seem like a pleasant way to get things started, don't they? So cheerful and elegant. Especially on a rainy day like today.

My sister found this little nest upside down on the ground underneath the crab apple tree. I have never seen a nest that looks like this! Grandma put some little ceramic eggs in there for decoration.


It is most unique. Constructed of all these little roots, pulled from somewhere in the woods.

It is lined inside with some very soft grass.

I wish I knew what kind of bird made a nest out of roots. Because there is no lack of bird nesting material around. A bird would probably only use roots if that was instinct.

Yes, there are a couple sticks in there, even a bit of fishing line wound around it!

Tada! My sewing of this week! I rarely have sewing to post, mainly because we sew our own clothes and that is about it. Other than quilting of course, and because I hand quilt, those projects take longer to complete than knitting, so they don't show up on here as often. But after doing the last fiber fest, I decided I would like a banner with my business name on it! I wish I could say this was my own splendid plan, but I saw another gal at the festival with just such a banner.

I could NOT find any letters anywhere, although I looked high and low through all our quilting magazines(and believe me, we have "several") as well as through our quilting books. I finally decided to just make my own. What is lovely about that is that I was able to almost replicate the exact font that I have on my blog heading! How fun is that!? It took some time and tedious effort but it was all well worth it in the long run. I did change the "r" and "n", mainly because I thought they were too odd looking.

My blanket stitch leaves somewhat to be desired. But I forgot that normally one would blanket stitch with embroidery floss, not thread. I am using 2 strands of regular cotton sewing thread and it is a pain. I will be blanket stitching around every letter.

I have this lovely print here for the backing and binding. Now all that is lacking is the cotton batting for the inside. It will just be a small skinny piece though. I need to get to the fabric store soon.

Here is one of my past knitting projects that I forgot to share with you. This is the shawl that I gave my Mother for Mother's Day. It is a free download on ravelry. The name is Aubergine Bamboo Shoulder Wrap.

I modeled it out of sheer necessity this afternoon because it matched my dress better than Mother's dress. :) And I wanted to blog it.

It stays draped over the shoulders like a dream. But that could have something to do with the way I blocked it and the yarn I used. It took around 200 yards of light worseted/dk yarn. IT was a merino wool that I spun up on my top whorl drop spindle last fall. I also blocked it very fiercely. Very Fiercely meaning that I wet it through, then I stretched and pinned until I was happy with the way it looked. I blocked the top edge to lay straight, not slightly pointed like all the ravelry pictures show.

And since starting this post with flowers was such a treat for the eyes, we will finish with flowers too!

Have a lovely day!