A gift, a find and a project....

Last Saturday my neighbor, Pam, and I spent late morning and early afternoon just having a fun time together. First we went to the Farmer's Market here in Fulton, and found some wonderful vegetables and homemade pies. I also picked up some homemade peanut butter fudge that was so yummy!

Then we ventured a few miles north on Rt 48 to visit an antiques shop. Pam has been before, but I have not...I tell you, I will be going back! Every room in this house is full of wonderful antiques and collectibles. So many wonderful things I would love to bring home, but always so little money. Oh well...one piece at a time. The vase below was that day's find. It caught my eye instantly...the colors work perfectly with our dining room decor. I think I may be cutting some of my sunflowers to place in it.

There are no markings on the bottom of the vase to tell me where it was made, so if anyone knows anything about it, I would LOVE to know!

I had to place this project on the backburner for a couple days...I was becoming very frustrated with it. I dropped two stitches and was having a tough time reversing back to where I messed up. Maybe tonight I'll pick it back up when the kids are sleeping.

I created the fiber blend and spun the yarn for this scarf. It's about 75% black and gray alpaca and about 25% white Satin Angora. Very soft and it wanted to be spun thin!! ;) I'm using a size 5 bamboo circular needle...I think it's knitting up beautifully!

Closeup of a Zinnia that is almost fully open. The colors darken as the flower opens. The first flower on this plant is a dark red-orange.

A Jade Sunflower....from a Martha Stewart seed packet. These are not as green as I thought, but they're still very, very pretty. I was able to capture this honeybee going about it's business collecting pollen.

More flowers....

An Osteospermum...or African Daisy. This was a gift from my MIL for my new flowerbed. I love the combination of orange and purple...very striking.

Funky Hens & Chicks...the tops of those stalks will have many, many light pink flowers.

Hydrangea

A red Oriental Lily at my MIL's.

A variety of Rudbeckia...Cara picked this out at Lowe's for the new flowerbed.

More flower photos.....

All of these flowers reside at my MIL's home. I took these about a week ago...the rain had just ended and almost all the flowers had raindrops still on them...making them even more beautiful! This is an awesome cactus....all of those light brown spots were bright yellow flowers. They last only a day or two. This cactus loves where it's planted...mind you, were in Central NY too!

A gorgeous hot pink Gerbera daisy.

Cheery lemon daylilies. After the flowers all die, my MIL will be dividing these and the orange lilies below up and passing some on to me!! :)

A very pretty Clematis on the back of their house.

Stunning bright orange Oriental lilies.

A visit to an Alpaca farm.....

Yesterday, the kids and I went to visit friends of ours at Willow Creek Farm, just across the river from us in Fulton, NY. The thunderstorms had just moved past and we only had to deal with a few sprinkles during our visit!
They have a very nice herd of alpacas in a beautiful range of colors. I have been spinning many of those colors for them for the past 2 years or so to resell in their store.

Two of the crias that were playing together...and checking me and the kids out. They're very skittish at this age, so we weren't able to pet them....they need more time being handled by their owners. The dark brown cria is about 5-6 weeks old and the lighter brown cria is maybe 3 weeks?

I think they were watching Caitlin in this photo...hmm...something smaller than them! We've had so many 90 degree days lately that Nancy sheared them...otherwise they would look a bit more fuzzy. Their fleece is so very soft, but very short, maybe an inch...and some had the cutest little waves and curls.

Here's Cubana's cria...I think he/she is only a few weeks old...very tiny and petite! And so full of energy....bouncing all over the place with one of the other crias. Aren't those faces precious??

This is Nairobi....a very sweet 2-year old. She let me pet her and she was gently rubbing her nose on my cheek... What wonderful creatures they are!!

This is Cubana. She's about 10 years old and has a new cria that's only a few weeks old. The brown cria two photos above is hers. Cubana has a beautiful, soft fleece, even for her age. She is actually a black, but she's graying with age. Gray is one of my favorite natural colors to spin.

I'm an Auntie again!

Little Rocco made his appearance into the world at 2:09 AM on July 11th. He weighed 9 pounds and measured 22" long....a big boy! My sister, Jackie, was in labor for over 20 hours after being induced Tuesday morning, having a shot of Demerol and 2 failed epidurals! Needless to say, she is extremely tired. I went to visit her and Rocco last night at the hospital. He's a little doll and had his eyes wide open for me. He has a perfect round face and a tiny little nose that is so adorable! I got to gently rock him to sleep while Jackie and I talked. He has a quiet cry...which I'm thankful for, for Jackie's sake!

It's strange(and awesome) to see my sister as a mother, but I know she loves Rocco to pieces and will take wonderful care of him. And me as his aunt...I'll be seeing lots of him...and of course, taking lots of photos as he grows. So check back often....and if you want to leave comments for Jackie, Rocco, or Pat, I'll make sure they get them!