The day before yesterday was a bit like Christmas. I had ordered several things due to arrive in the mail and I assumed they would all arrive on different days having been sent from various parts of the country on various days. (1. a new, faster camera lens. 2. A guide book on San Miguel de Allende. 3. My iron-on embroidery transfer patterns and towels.) When Dennis (our mailman) drove in our driveway and up to the front door I knew he had a package for me. I walked out to greet him saying “I thought you might have a package for me today!” He responded with “Not just one, but THREE packages for you!” Like I said: Christmas!

Alas, trying out my new lens in the kind of weather we’ve been having is not much fun. After the rain stopped I snapped the photo above. I liked how the raindrops clung all glisten-y to the wind chime. (My other lens did not allow apertures below 5.6 even when completely in manual mode, so I wanted something faster so I could shoot in lower light situations. )

I was very excited about starting on the embroidery. In anticipation of their arrival I had purchased an assortment packet of floss at Michaels the day before, and since the surface of my iron was shot I also bought a cheap new one. I was ready to get this project started!

I chose the “Down Mexico Way” patterns with my mother-in-law in mind. Rick’s parents are in Mexico (hence our visit to San Miguel) for several months and I thought they would be cute in her kitchen. I don’t think she is reading the blog while she is there because she only gets online to read her email since she has to go to Rick’s cousin’s house to even do that. But in case she does read this: Surprise!

I had a false start with the transfer. I don’t know if the iron wasn’t hot enough or what, but it wasn’t transferring. And even though I had the pattern pinned, it slipped and left a double impression. If I looked at it with my eyes crossed it might have looked normal. sigh. Since the transfer was so light I decided to wash the towel and see if it would wash out. It did and I began again. This time I turned the iron temperature up one notch and instead of keeping the iron moving across the transfer I left it in one place for 5 seconds, then moved to another part of the pattern. It worked! Nice dark lines. See for yourself.

It was like magic! I have never done this before and after the fiasco with the first try at an impression I was very pleased.

Sometimes I have a hard time choosing colors for things. I am not an artist, so planning it out ahead of time always helps. I photocopied the pattern and tried different color combinations. I wanted to use as few colors as I could. After trying a few different ones I decided on this:

And here is the WIP:

It was fun and relaxing to do. A very different experience than knitting altogether, so it’s a nice change. I hope to get quite a bit more done today but it’s so dark (rainy) I will need to sit under a good light source instead of my usual spot in the sun room.

Also on my schedule today is a quick trip to the grocery for coffee, trying to keep the dogs entertained since they can’t go outside, and another Spanish lesson with the Rosetta Stone. Rainy days can be enjoyable as long as you have something entertaining to do!