It’s that time of year again — Halloween!  And I can share my very favorite picture of me.  Actually it’s the only one of me I even like, and as I mentioned last year, I think when my time comes to pass into the next life, I would like DH to proudly display this photo at my funeral.  Only this photo.  And at the rate I’m aging, this might be a pretty complimentary picture to show! 

I think I was probably in my early 40s in this picture, so be sure and show this to your daughters to emphasize the importance of skin care, using sun block, and thinking pure thoughts…

–Sue

How embarassing, my first tip and I did it wrong!  Sorry if you tried to make my previous tip work.  I’ve corrected it, and you can click here to be directed to my previous post, now all fixed.  Sorry, just one of those moron moments…

Sue

CONTAINS A  CORRECTION:

When I don’t have a “Photo Friday” tip, I thought I would share something else that’s either a little tip or a favorite thing in my fabulously exciting, toilet-cleaning, suburban mom-ish, don’t-you-wish-you-were-me (yawn), quilter/knitter lifestyle.

This is a favorite computer keyboard tip, which I learned from a computer tech at a former place of employment.  It’s a simple little keyboard shortcut, and I use it almost every day.

Let’s say you want to visit the Amazon site, and you normally type in http://www.amazon.com, or maybe just www.amazon.com or maybe you do a search.

Try this instead:

In the Address window, type in ONLY amazon (don’t hit enter or anything else)

then press down the control key (Ctrl) and while the control key is still pressed down, click the ENTER key with your other hand.  It automatically adds the www and the dot com and sends you there *poof*. 

Once you’ve done this a few times, it’s second nature and it’s so quick.

You’re welcome.  No charge.

–Sue

SORRY FOR THE ERROR IN THE ORIGINAL POST.  I DON’T KNOW WHERE MY HEAD WAS.  I WROTE IT BEFORE “HAPPY HOUR”, SO THAT WASN’T THE PROBLEM…

Now that I have a little more experience in applique, I’ve been working on the posies blocks for my Posies & Pinwheels UFO (started in the summer of 2007).  I really love this quilt.  I started it in a class taught by friend June, and I got bogged down in my inefficient and less-than-effective applique of the little leaves (NOTE:  June is an excellent teacher!  It was me that had the problem).  I’m making progress making the leaves and glue-basting them down, so they will be ready for stitching during the Wednesday afternoons I spend at DayStitchers (a local handsewing group).

I’m also pleased with my sock progress lately, having finished the tan socks this past week, and I am working the gusset on the yellow and gray socks.  Pretty good progress on the yellow and gray sock for two days:

I am making progress just generally as a sock knitter.  I used to dread coming to the heel flap.  Now I enjoy the heel flap, and even the heel turn.  I still don’t enjoy the gusset so much.  And I used to dread the toes, and now I think the toes are fun.  If you’re a new sock knitter, hang in there.  It all makes better sense the more times you repeat it.  You even start to remember some of the pattern so you don’t have to have your nose in your pattern book all the time!  And for those who give a rat’s patootie, here’s a link to a very good explanation/picture of the anatomy of a sock.

Thanks for the support in your previous comments on my purchases of sock yarn!  What good friends!  I’ve been doing most of my yarn shopping at http://simplysockyarn.com.   I usually try a skein of this or that (who am I kidding? it’s a skein of this AND that and that and that..) from the list of yarns that are on sale. 

I have some yarn that I’ve picked up at JoAnn’s.  I’ve also purchased yarn in yarn shops, and that’s when it gets dangerous.  I don’t look for what’s on sale; there’s always been something gorgeous that justs leaps into my arms and begs me to take it home.  And yes, I’m talking about yarn.  Yummy, non-fattening, only-slightly-addicting yarn.

So how are you doing on your UFOs?  Pick a day to be your UFO day, and try to get at least a little bit done on that day each week.  It will eventually add up to a whole lot done, then at last a completion!  Who cares how long it takes?  It will be a whole lot better than just letting those UFOs stay hidden away for your kids to eventually use for oil rags in the garage!

–Sue (Thursday’s Child)

You gotta love zoom when you can take a picture through a window of a tree 20 feet from your house and get a picture of a leaf this close up!

So for the last Wednesday in October, a maple leaf puzzle:

And I’ll sneak in a little photo tip:  take the screens off your windows (if you have that option) that you are most likely to shoot through  in your picture taking. 

–Sue

There are so many, many beautiful sock yarns available now and most of them are absolutely irresistable to me.  I am so glad I’m not participating in a stash report on sock yarn! 

I rolled and weighed six skeins of sock yarn into 50 gm balls so I’m ready to make six pairs of pretty-close-to-matching socks.  Then I settled them into a basket; it reminds me of gathering eggs, not that this city girl knows too much about that!

So there you have it — enough yarn for six pairs of socks.  Nothing excessive so far, right?  Okay, that’s not quite all my sock yarn.  In  fact, I probably have enough skeins for 15 new pairs of socks.  

So, let me see . . . I started knitting socks about one year ago . . . I have completed 3 pairs . . . I have two partially completed pairs, which I hope to complete in the next week, with a really focused effort.  If I only get five pairs done a year, why do I need 15 skeins waiting in reserve? 

Well, of course you know I DO need those skeins, because I love each and every one of them, and they tend to disappear from the shelves in favor of new patterns and colors.

So, friends, if you’re shopping with me and you see me starting to loiter in the sock yarn area, gently fondling the soft plies and admiring the sensual  color changes, the ombre effects, the self-striping, the dazzling solid colors…

please step up to me and say in your firmest voice…

SUSAN, PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM THE SOCK YARN!!!

It probably won’t work.  I may need to seek out a 12-ply step program.

–Sue

On my actual design wall, it’s the same view as last week — Judy L’s QFAH Freeze Frame.  Love it.  Want to finish it.  Life sometimes rearranges my schedule.

In celebration of  SoctoberFest – A finish on a nearly forgotten single sock (the yellow and gray one), a finish on a pair of socks (the tan pair), and I’m working on the rose and green socks:

 I’m making progress on the appliqued leaves on my 2 1/2 year old UFO, Pinwheels & Posies.  I am making the leaves and glue-basting them down.  This weeekend I got 24 light green leaves made and glue basted.  Progress!

Finished the applique on my Lori Smith miniature quilt from applique class.  I plan to machine quilt it.  I decided I have waaaay too many UFOs to spend time hand quilting this one.

Take a peek at whatother quilters have on their design walls by visiting JudyL’s site.   Judy’s Design Wall Mondays give the start of a new week a whole new outlook!  If you’re not participating in Judy’s Design Wall Mondays, give it a try!  No obligations, nothing to sign up for, and it helps you measure your progress, week by week.  You just post a link to your specific posting that shows a picture of your design wall on Judy’s Monday Design Wall post. 

Sue

Some little finishes this week, but nothing that resulted in much stash being busted, only about .25 yard cutting some leaves to applique on my Pinwheels & Posies blocks. 

Uh-oh.  I was all set to type that I was too busy to do any shopping this week, and then I remembered . . . while I was at the local quilt shop for my applique class . . . they had these Moda U appliqued basket block kits . . . and I bought . . . five.  (I already own the first five that are in my stash; there are 15 total.)  Well, I guess I’ll estimate about a fat quarter’s worth of fabric per kit for a 12″ block.  1.25 yards bought. 

–Sue

No, not me, I just go to the cupboard and graze.

This little guy had to work for this tasty tidbit, though.  This robin got a crab apple off the tree, over to the sidewalk, and was having a tough time picking it up to eat it. 

Sorry for the poor quality.  There was rain on the window, and I think the camera was trying to focus on the water on the glass instead of on the bird.  (Duh, it just occurred to me that I could have switched the focus to “manual”.)

I can’t blame this robin for going after the crab apples, though.  I bet it’s a lot tastier than a worm!

–Sue

As I indicated in an earlier post, I’m kind of “tipped out”.  The well of knowledge just isn’t that deep for me to continue indefinitely with photo tips!

However, I did take a picture this week I really liked, and I thought it would be a good time to revisit a couple of points, and I’m providing links to previous posts where I told you everything I know (and probably more) about these features.

For this picture, I used …

1. Prefocusing by pressing the shutter button half-way down
2. When I was prefocusing, I made sure I was focusing EXACTLY on one of the little crab apples
3. I was zoomed out to 12x optical zoom (which is the maximum on my Panasonic Lumix before it switches to digital zoom)

I really like these pictures where only the subject is in focus and the rest of the background kind of goes away.  It reminds me of a watercolor. 

I don’t get as pronounced an efffect with my little Canon, and I think it’s related to the amount you’ve zoomed in.  It may have to do with the size of the lens, as well, because this camera has a bigger lens on it.  This would be a good place for my disclaimer:  I’m not an expert.  I just like messing around with camera stuff.

–Sue