BLUEOWL'S BLOG

Boise 2011

2011-07-05T21:53:00.000-04:00

I made my annual trip to Boise the end of March into April. I had enough SW rewards to go for free (except for the tax). The kids were on spring break so we had fun going to the zoo, going to the movies (Diary of a Wimpy Kid--you have to be a kid to like it), bike rides, and the park.

Since it was my birthday month, I got to make a free pizza for us at Flying Pie.
The kids were back in school the second week I was there. Sebastian had a track meet which was fun the watch. He is still in elementary school, so it was a lot different than high school meets. He;s there somewhere!

I taught Elise and Sebastian how to crochet while there. I'm sure they need some more help by now, I made the hat Elise is wearing. That is her dog Lou she is holding. He slept with her almost every night I was there--or he slept with me! Lou was hit by a car in May. He died in Elise's arms on the way to the animal hospital She really misses him. He was a good dog.

Spring Training

2011-07-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

Outside of George Steinbrener Park in Tampa. The game was sold out, so we just walked around the outside of the stadium

Lakeland, where the Tigers play.

Great seats!

The Mouse is everywhere!!

We went to Florida in March for Spring Training baseball games. This is so much fun that we are going to do it every year (next year we will go to the west coast/Tampa area). We stayed in Orlando and used it as our base. We saw the Yankees, Cardinals, Phillies, Mets, Tigers and Nationals play.

We drove to Tampa to see Aunt Jane and Uncle Leo and had lunch with them. They are great!!

Head warmers

2011-07-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

The flower is half the fun

For Haley

for Christina

At the craft show I did in Nov. someone asked if I had headbands/headwarmers for sale. She didn't call them that, but described them. A week late Christina came home from Chicago to visit her family. She had one she bought and said they were all the rage in Chicago. I found some free patterns (and even some I bought) and have been making them ever since. I rarely make something for myself, but I made this one for ME!! (and I love it--not as "suffocating" as a hat, but just as warm.

I've made lots more to sell this winter! I made one for Jenny, but didn't get a picture of it...

Winter

2011-07-05T21:11:00.000-04:00

Donation bunny hat

Flower baby hat

Carrying case for my Kindle

The rest of the bunny hat. Donation

Outfit for Emily, Nina's doll. She picked the colors.

Neck warmer for sale.

Winter in Michigan means one thing (really 2): snow and ice! We had lots of both this year.I spent lots of time inside knitting, sewing and crocheting. These are some of the things I made.

Door County

2011-07-05T20:54:00.000-04:00

Keith had a business trip to Milwaukee and I went with him. We had a great lunch with the Dohlmanns and did some other visiting, then we went to Door County, WI for 3 days. It is beautiful there. We hiked, biked, shopped and, of course, ate ice cream.

This was the view from our room. It is Green Bay.

We climbed this tower and could see Lake Michigan and Green Bay.

Great ice cream!!

We drove back through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We have been here 16 years and this was a first for both of us!! It was a lot more enjoyable than going via Chicago and I-94.

Fall

2011-07-05T20:42:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention a short trip I took to Georgia last fall. I went with Chris to see Tappitha and her family. They moved away and we sure do miss them. We had a fantastic time there. They live in the NE corner of Georgia in the mountains. We explored lots of waterfalls. We even drove behind one. It is so beautiful there. We did nots of shopping and eating!!

Yes, there are goats on the roof!!

This was a definite highlight of the trip. Before going to the airport in Atlanta to come home, we went to the famous Varsity Diner to eat. It was a wonderful, fun experience. Thanks so much Tappitha and Matt!!

Time keeps on keeping on

2011-07-05T20:24:00.000-04:00

I have decided to spend most of this evening trying to catch up with my long neglected blog! All is well here in Clarkston. We have been busy with life, just like most of you. This will be a brief synopis of what has been happening (as much as my memory will allow...) My last post was way back in Oct., almost 9 months ago. And no, no baby, but our niece is having her first in January!

I did LOTS of sewing. knitting and crocheting last fall. My Etsy shop did very well and I did ok at a craft show in Nov. The turn out was very light (Michigan economy is awful), but I did make a decent profit after paying the entry fee. My aprons, neck warmers and hats were popular sellers. I am getting my inventory ready for more shows and a boost in inventory for the Etsy shop. I have some great laminated cotton that I want to use to make art smocks for the back to school crowd.

We went to St. Louis for Christmas. We had a great time with the girls. They came to our motel and went swimming. We had snow and made a snowman in the backyard and went sliding down their hill.

Clark had his tonsils removed on Dec. 30, so I stayed a little longer to help with the girls. We took the 2 older ones to see "Tangled". Keith left the next day but I stayed over. Jenny and I took all 3 of the girls to the zoo so Clark could sleep undisturbed. BUT there was a tornado sighting when we got to the zoo, so we had to stay inside for 45 minutes. The tornado touched down very close to the Magic House where we almost went!! The zoo was pretty deserted so we had a great time looking at the animals. What a fun way to end 2010.

Hats

2010-10-21T13:22:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy making things for the upcoming craft show on Nov. 13. Then I got an order for a pink hat with a brown flower. There are many shades of pink, so I made these two hats:
I let her pick the one she liked the best. She had trouble deciding. We were at church (Wed. night) and so she got the opinion of 2 younger women. They both picked the second hat, so she bought that one. Now I will put the first one on my Etsy shop.

Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along

2010-10-14T20:33:00.008-04:00

I decided to do this crochet-along since I love the feel of the Bernat Softee Chunky yarn. So far there have been 4 clues (squares) posted. A new one gets posted every Wed. and we should have all of them by Christmas. Here are my first 3 patterns. I have #4, but no camera right now to take the pictures (DH needed it and he is in Minneapolis until Sat. afternoon). The first square is the Walnut one--2 of that pattern.

The second square (granny square) is the bronze one--2 of that and the third square is the redwood one--8 of that pattern. When I get my camera back I will add a picture of clue #4. I picked fall colors. I used a J hook for all of the squares--they are 8" square. You can read about the crochet along here

Baby shower gift

2010-10-13T17:12:00.000-04:00

I finished up this set for a baby shower I am going to on the 23rd. It is a cuddle cocoon and hat. I got this pattern on Etsy for the cocoon. The hat is a combination of 2 different patterns. I used a double strand of yarn--one of Bernat's Baby Jacquards and one of Bernat's Baby soft. It was fun to do. She is having a girl (her second girl). I hope she likes it.

Camp Barakel

2010-10-13T17:05:00.000-04:00

I went on a fall retreat to Camp Barakel, up North, with my friend Jan. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend. The speaker was from Moody Bible College and she was ok. The fellowship was wonderful, the food was good and the activities were terrific. On Sat. right after breakfast, and before chapel, we did the zip line (twice)!!

We got prepared ......

Made the climb up 51 steps............

and off we went (I'm in the red swetshirt). The first time was so much fun, we did it again.

After lunch we went on a 10 mile canoe trip which turned out to be a disaster of sorts. A mile into the trip down the Asable River we were trying to avoid some rocks and ended up on top of a large one. The river was high and the rocks were covered. Attempting to get free of the rock, we tipped into a VERY cold river!! We lost one of our life saver cushions and our 2 bottles of water. Plus my camera, cell phone and hearing aids got drenched! It was a challenge getting the water out of the canoe and turning it right side up, but we did conquer it (and I have the bruises to prove it). Luckily we were not seriously hurt (except for our pride--which was a bit inflated at the beginning, which is probably why we tipped). The sun was shining and despite the breeze, we paddled the 9 miles to the end. Our backs got dry, but not our feet or lower legs. The hot shower sure did feel great. My hearing aid dried out and was ok. It took 24 hours for the cell phone to dry out and function normally. The camera still is not working, but I did rescue the memory card and the pictures were ok. So on Tues. I bought an inexpensive replacement camera that seems to be fine (the pumpkin photo is from that one). The rest of the trip was uneventful....

Pumpkin Patch Crochet Along

2010-10-13T16:44:00.000-04:00

I have had this finished for awhile, but didn't get the picture up. This is my pumpkin and it is now part of my fall decorations. It was fun to do

Fall

2010-10-07T21:28:00.000-04:00

Baseball season is about to end. Bright spot: Phillies are in the playoffs and SHOULD (WILL) make it to the World Series and WIN!! Go Phillies
Dark spot: The St. Louis Cardinals fizzled at the end and are not in the playoffs. Can't wait for spring!!
I am going for a short weekend retreat at Camp Barakel up North with my friend Jan. We have gone before and really enjoyed it.
In a few weeks I will be going to the mountains of Georgia to visit a friend who moved there. The leaves should be at their peak then!
I am also getting ready for a craft show and loading up my Etsy store(see link at the top of the page) with lots of items. My fingers have been busy knitting, crocheting and sewing!!

Where did the summer go?

2010-09-13T17:26:00.000-04:00

This summer sure did fly by. It was VERY hot here in MI. We used our air conditioner more than any other summer since we moved here in 1995! I took some short trips. I went to Ludington for a few days for some "ladies time" with Jan. We shopped, ate, walked, sat on the beach and watched some girl flix--great time!! I also spent a week in PA going to a show (Wizard of Oz) at a local dinner theater. My brother was the Wizard--great show! Plus, I got to spend the evening with my cousins and their wives. I also spent time with friends from high school, college, the internet and family. It was a very enjoyable trip --especially the hoagie!!
From my hooks and needles: Haley went off to college in Aug. (SEMO). I made her a set of washcloths for each day of the week. I attempted to add "study" on the band on 6 of them and "party" on the 7th, but I couldn't get the duplicate stitch to look right. So I told her the pink one was for partying and she could only use it one day a week! (yeah--right!!)

I aso made her an afghan for her dorm bed in her school colors, which aslo happen to be her high school colors!

One last "off to college item--a new pillowcase. The very first pillowcase I made was for Haley many years ago. Now all the grandkids have several and I am selling them. I still love making them. Her room is decorated in her favorite colors--pink and black. Have fun Haley and don't forget to study!!

computer woes

2010-06-22T12:50:00.000-04:00

My laptop is being fixed. I think I got a virus because somehow all of my pictures and some documents have disappeared! I don't understand why people do this. Why can't they do something to HELP society instead of creating headaches for us. I do hope my computer guy can find my photos--graduation, Christmas, birthday parties, spring training and stuff I have made.....

New blog

2010-06-14T21:40:00.000-04:00

I have started a new blog that will focus on the items I am selling in my Etsy store. I will keep them separate from all the stuff I make for the grandkids and for donations. I don't have any posts on the new blog because I have been busy setting up my Etsy stuff.
This will take you to my Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/Addicted2Stitching
As soon as I get something on my blog, I will post about it. It is called Addicted2Stitching, just like my shop.
Hope you stop by!

Busy, busy

2010-06-14T21:34:00.000-04:00

I haven't really neglected my blog, I've just been extremely busy. I was on a sewing, knitting and crocheting frenzy getting ready for the Women's Expo at our church. It was a huge success and I sold lots and got even more special orders. I was quite happy about that.

Then we went to St. Louis for Haley's graduation. She even got a small scholarship that will pay for her books at SEMO!!

It was also Norah's 4th birthday so we has a party on Sat. The girls were lots of fun and Nadia (almost 1) loves her Grandpa!

I made this hat for Nadia but she had more fun wearing the headband I bought for her!

Remember the book If You Give a Pig a Pancake?

I made the pig and pancake for Norah (she already has the book). It was fun to do!

After we got home I had surgery on my hand to correct my trigger finger (nothing to do with a gun) on my right hand. I am still going to therapy, but it was almost a whole week of trying to type with one hand and no crocheting or knitting--withdrawal!!

sewing frenzy

2010-05-19T16:59:00.000-04:00

I feel like I was glued to my sewing machine for awhile! I made aprons for Elise's birthday party, then more aprons to sell at the Expo. These are all child size aprons. I didn't get pictures of all of the adult ones I made--will do that!

I also made some pillowcases to sell. Have to get some pictures of them also. I did sell several, so no pictures of them.

Then there were pillowcase dresses for Haiti, to sell and for birthday gifts! The dresses were in lots of different sizes. I like the smaller ones the best.

This is not technically a pillowcase dress, but I did make it for Nina's 6th birthday. I need to fix the straps--they are too long.

From my hooks and needles

2010-05-19T16:39:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy making stuff for birthdays and a craft show I was in last weekend. I made this prayer bear for church for a child that needed a special hug.

I made a total of 6 or these penguins for a kindergarten teacher to use when doing her penguin unit. This got me "hooked" on making amigurmis which I now love doing!

So i joing an ami exchange on one of my many Yahoo groups and sent my partner this blue owl!! The first owl I made turned out huge and ugly so I found another pattern. The recipient's young child won't put it down!!

This is another prayer bear, but for a boy.

My dear friend got a new puppy and her name is Gabby. She is a rat terrier and I made her this doggy blanket to fit in her crate!! Wish I could do this for my "puppy" but he would chew it up!

Pig and Her Pancake

2010-05-19T15:53:00.004-04:00

I made this for Norah to go with the book IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PANCAKE. She has the book. It is part of her birthday gift. She will be 4 on Sunday, the day Haley graduates ffrom high school (doesn't seem possible). We are going to St. Louis for the events. Here is the back of the pig--I love her tail!!

I also made her a pillowcase dress. I have been making lots of these to send to Haiti (even sold some at a craft Expo last week!). This is a close up of the fabric for a princess!!

First projects for 2010

2010-01-14T22:06:00.002-05:00

To begin the new year I made these 2 neck warmers. The brown one is made from Hometown (super bulky) yarn. I made it for ME!! (scarves always seem to get in my way).
The green one is for my friend Jan. It is knitted from Polar Knit fleece yarn and is very soft, warm and water resistant!
Both of these were fast and easy to make. I will be making more.

Cory's hat

2010-01-09T08:46:00.001-05:00

This is the hat I made for Cory and he loves wearing it.

Misc. Christmas gifts I made

2009-12-27T22:05:00.011-05:00

This hat was made for Elise. I had to frog the first try since it was too big and re-make it. I also made her a scarf to match. I am making one for Cory to match his sweater (below),
I made this toy "Goomba" (a Super Mario character) for Grant. Goomba is a mushroom. Grant loves him!!
I made these "blue owl" mittens for Kelly for fun. They turned out a bit large--I don't really like crocheted mittens but I couldn't find a pattern for knitted ones with an owl on them. I also made her a slouchy beret to go with them (picture to follow).
I made this hat for my friend JoAnne. I taught her how to make cables. She loves the hat.

This jacket is for Cory. I had to do some fixing of the neck opening--it was too big. I just added a couple rounds of single crochet doing some deleting of stitches. It fits great now.

This is a wallaby for Nina (close-up of the label sewn inside). This was lots of fun to knit and will probably make more. Hers is a little too big for her, but that's better than too small).

Norah's quilt

2009-12-27T21:57:00.003-05:00

I made thisw Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt for Norah. It was a work from the heart!

A friend did the quilting on her quilting machine. It is heard to see, but she quilted images of fruits and vegetables all over the back (with the caterpillar). I don't know what Norah thinks of it, but her parents like it!!
(That's Dudley, the "puppy" wanting to check out the quilt).

Pillows for Christmas

2009-12-27T20:58:00.003-05:00

It all started when I made the Yankees pillow for Keith for our anniversary. I then made the blue Cardinals one for Clark and Jenny for Christmas and the red one for Kelly and Craig.

That led to making name pillows for each grandchild (8). Each pillow had a Cardinals patch on the front and one of the letters.

They were all backed with a solid fleece Cardinals logo piece and then stuffed. These were very time consuming to make. I am not very good at using the satin stitch on my machine, but they are finished, and delivered!

Christmas projects 2009

2009-11-22T12:13:00.003-05:00

I have been very busy making things for the grandkids for Christmas. This is Nadia's Christmas stocking. I combined 3 different patterns to make it and also combined knitting and crochet. It was a challenge, but the parents love it.

This is the poncho I knit for Nadia. The pattern is one I purchased from Fiber Trends. I love it!

Another Nadia gift--a ladybug hat (sorry it is a bit blurry), front and back. I got the pattern in the 2008 Crochet a Day Calendar. It ended up being for Norah since Nadia has a big head!

Hats I made for Jenny, Haley and Nina. It is a free pattern called Kringle Hats.

How I spent this morning

2009-10-04T19:43:00.001-04:00

I spent this morning (Oct. 4) participating in the Brooksie Way Half Marathon. I walked and jogged the 13.1 miles with my walking partner Rosanna. I'm not sure of my official time. MY OFFICIAL TIME WAS 3:13, 5 minutes faster than last year. I wanted to finish in 3 hours, but I don't think I did that. I do know it was faster than last year's time. I'll have to wait for the official results.
I am glad this race is over. Now I don't have to spent so much time training for the event. I can just walk for fun at the park when I feel like it. The hole in the fence is back, the bugs are gone so the trails beckon!!
It took me 3 days to recover. No more long races--I'll stick to 5 Ks (3 miles).

Florida vacation

2009-09-14T11:23:00.002-04:00

We just returned from a week in the Florida panhandle (Destin) sunshine. The beaches have the most beautiful white sand and after Labor Day they are NOT crowded at all. We spent the week going to the beach, eating, going to the pool, reading (I read 4 books!) and walking. I did manage to work on Nadia's Christmas stocking also. That's my idea of a great week!!

More things for Nadia

2009-08-05T20:28:00.003-04:00

This week I finally got off a package of things for Nadia. In addition to the rainbow blanket I made for her (see July 21 post), I sent this piggy bank. Her sisters each have a large pig bank. I wanted hers to be a bit different. I found it at the Hallmark store in Clarkston.
I went to my local favorite quilt shop and saw this adorable diaper/tote bag all made up. There was not pattern, so I took some pictures (with permission), bought the fabric and made it. The inside (not visible) is a pretty pink flowered fabric with pockets. It was a challenge to make something without a pattern.

Dudley is here

2009-08-01T12:35:00.003-04:00

We have our puppy and his name is Dudley, not Quincy. He is so soft and fluffy and very young (6 weeks) which means getting up with him in the middle of the night. We are going to a graduation/birthday party today and he is going along (lots of teenagers to play with).
Oscar, our 6 yr. old Golden, isn't too sure about this intruder. But he needs a playmate as soon as Dudley gets bigger.

Another puppy photo

2009-07-23T15:46:00.000-04:00

This is our new puppy we will get next week. We are thinking of naming him Quincy!

Projects completed

2009-07-21T18:09:00.007-04:00

Our church sent a group of people on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in June. I organized a small group of people (5) to make bears for the kids. We sent 200 bears! I made about 20 of them. They are either knitted or crocheted. This was a fun project to work on!!

These are the baby hats I sent to Lil' Troopers in June. They go to military hospitals for the babies. I really love making these. These are the hats I made during my hospital waiting times, plus 2 made when I got back home to my stash!!

I also made 3 more hats while in PA but they went off to St. Louis for the grandkids before I could get pictures. Hopefully DS will send them.

I made this bag of counting fish for Cory when I went to Boise. As soon as his brothers and sister saw them they wanted some. They even put in their color requests!

So I worked on more fish (great stash buster) while at the hospital. They still need their eyes. I used several different patterns so I wouldn't get bored!
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While still in St. Louis, DS asked me to make a valance, crib skirt and diaper stacker for Nadia's room. It has a "rainbow" theme. I had to wait until I got home to do them (no fabric or sewing machine with me in PA). I did not have patterns, just the "old" ones. They turned out surpisingly well.
My one trip to a LYS (I was without a car while in PA) turned up this wonderful yarn which I think goes well with the rainbow stuff for Nadia. The pattern was free with the yarn purchase. It only took 2 skeins of Plymouth Encore ww yarn. I got to the halfway point and started on the second skein only to discover that the striping did not match (the COLORS were different, despite the same color code and dye lot). At this point in time we had to make funeral arrangements, then the funeral, then July 4, so I could not get back to the yarn shop. I did call them, but they said bring it back. Well we headed back to Michigan before I could do that. Once settled back home, I took everything to my favorite LYS in Davidson and she helped me. She had to order more yarn, but I got it within a week and finished the afghan for Nadia. It will be in the mail soon (I am sewing a diaper bag for her mom).
Not sure what will be on my needles next--I have tons of ideas!!

New puppy

2009-07-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

This is the new puppy we will be getting next week. He is a Golden Retriever and will be 5 weeks old tomorrow. We don't have a name yet. Suggestions? Our other Golden is Oscar who is 6. Names we are considering: Humphrey, Bentley, Yogi. My life will be on hold as we train this puppy. Thankfully it is summer!!

Missing...

2009-07-18T09:18:00.009-04:00

You may have noticed that I have not posted much in almost 3 months. It's called LIFE!!! I will try to catch up. In early June we went to the mountains of western North Carolina for a vacation of hiking. It was very beautiful and relaxing. Here is the sunset from our deck. The rain cut our trip short and we returned home 2 days early.
A view of Linville Falls that we hiked to.

The I was off to St. Louis for a wedding and grandkids fix. We had lots of fun at the Magic House. I spent a day in Kimmswick with Ellen. We ate at a great little shop and it was almost like old times--the Blueowl was too crowded! But Mary is opening a new shop (it has since opened) selling candy, and sweets. She has really done so much to keep Kimmswick going.
I also spent a day in Hannibal with Roberta and Sherrie (mother of the bride). We ate lunch at a great Italian restaurant (I sure do miss good Italian food in the Detroit area) and spent time at a wonderful quilt shop.
I planned on staying in Missouri until Wednesday, but got a call from my brother in PA that mom was in the ICU of the hospital and not doing well at all. So I flew to Philadelphia where I spent the next 2 and a half weeks. It was very stressful and neither of us got much sleep. Mom had pneumonia and congestive heart failure. She was on a ventilator and a feeding tube. They had her in a sleep induced "coma" of sorts. She did open her eyes occasionally, but I do not think there was any recognition. We finally had the tubes removed, she continued to breathe for another 4 hours, then went home to be with the Lord on June 26. The funeral was a week later (our son could not get there until then). It was a lovely funeral service. I am at peace with her passing, but there will always be a void. I am so very thankful for my friends who have given us support during this time. This is my favorite picture of Mom, taken before I was born!!
I had lots of time on my hands while being at the hospital 4 hours a day and did make stuff. That will be in another post.

Busy hooks and needles

2009-04-22T22:20:00.003-04:00

While in Boise I kept busy making more things.

I made this cropped top for Elise. It is really a light purple but looks bluish in the photo.
Then I made her this watermelon hat. I wasn’t able to get a picture of just the hat, but got several of her wearing it. She loves it and it was fun to make. I bought the pattern at http://YouCanMakeThis.com .

Easter "fun"

2009-04-12T14:37:00.006-04:00

What would Easter be for kids without coloring eggs? I haven't done this in years! It was a two part project--first we colored the eggs, then we did the tie-dye the next day. I was the only one who cracked their egg...

The day before Easter we took the kids for an Easter egg hunt. I am glad I don't have to do this

every year! It was a madhouse.....

Something for ME!

2009-04-11T21:32:00.004-04:00

I went on a quilt Shop Hop in mid-February that was very inspiring and lots of fun. I bought several patterns and actually made one! This purse is called the Maison Purse and the outer layer is reversible and removeable. I plan to make more covers to use for the various seasons! This pattern had LOTS of pieces and steps and was a challenge for me. It includes a zipper.

I lined it in red and added an inside pocket and a weighted (removeable) bottom. I plan to use this purse for a long time--I hope it holds up!!

Dishcloths

2009-04-11T21:27:00.002-04:00

I made some dishcloths while watching TV. This was a pattern I tested. It was really easy to follow.

This one was a KAL for mid-January. I has a few mess-ups, but the dished won't care!

This one was made for Kelly for Easter.

Stuff for the grandkids

2009-04-11T21:20:00.006-04:00

My needles and hooks were very busy before I left home, and are still working on WIPs! I made "treasure bags" for their Easter baskets. They are filled with jelly beans and treats.

I also made "chef" Elise a chef hat and matching apron. She loves to cook.

I made this tote bag for Cory to keep his counting fish in (which I also made). Now the other kids each want one! So I have more projects to work on when I get back home.

Trying to catch up

2009-04-11T21:07:00.003-04:00

I have been very busy this past winter--many projects, another "procedure" for Keith, colds and flu and now some traveling. Right now I am in Idaho with daughter and family for 2 weeks. Many of my projects were for them so I didn't want to spoil the surprises. I started collecting these t-shirts about 7 years ago to make a quilt for Kelly. She forgot all about them. This is the finished project (I WAS going to give it to her for ther 40th birthday last Dec. but we had a "lost" summer with Keith's heart attack). It is queen size.

The blocks are 14" square. The quilt was done on the machine except for the binding which was finished off by hand. This is the back. I transferred the picture of Kelly crossing the finish line when she did the Ironman in 1998 onto some fabric and then made it into a quilt block. I also signed the quilt in the bottom corner.This was a real challenge for me, but now I feel ready to do more quilts. I have a baby one that needs to be finished so that is next.

More snow

2009-01-28T14:46:00.002-05:00

It is the end of January and we had yet another snowstorm today. Most of the snow went south of us, but we still got about 4 inches. The bad part is the ice under the snow on the roads. Making turns was a bit tricky! I only went out to the post office and to get my hair cut. I spent most of the day working on a t-shirt quilt that I started about 3 years ago! It is for my daughter. She gave me her t-shirts that were special to her and I have backed them and cut out the squares. Today I started assembling the squares into strips. There are 24 squares, each one is 14 inches. I will post some pictures when I get further along. I just got my sewing machine serviced and it runs like new again, so I am motivated to use it!
I have also been making items for military babies and will post a picture as soon as I finish the hat I am working on (it is #4), plus the booties to go with the hats.

Baby time

2009-01-02T22:44:00.002-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving our niece and godchild had her first baby--a girl that they named Zara. She is so cute (from pictures). They live in the Boston area so I do hope I get to see her before she grows up! I made her this IQ blanket. I have made one for our children's kids, so I didn't want to break the "tradition." I just got it in the mail earlier this week, so I don't know their reaction yet...

These are donation items I sent to the 'Lil Troopers Yahoo group I belong to. These were sent in October or November. I am presently working on baby socks and slippers for the group, plus some more hats.

These are baby shower gifts for Kingston who is due to arrive around Valentine's Day. He will be my friend Barb's first grandchild. I added the heart to the hat after I took the second picture. The bib has a snowman on it to go with the blanket I edged. The baby shower is next Sat. but we will be out of town so I already gave the gift to Barb for the shower. They requested a book instead of a card, so I got a box of 26 books for the baby!!

We leave tomorrow night for our vacation to St. Maarten. We have never been there, but the idea of crashing at the beach in Jan. appealed to us (with MORE snow on the way to Michigan it is even more appealing). So I will finish updating my blog when I get back. And no, I am NOT taking any projects with me, just some books to read!!

Scarves

2009-01-02T22:22:00.004-05:00

I finished 5 scarves for the Special Olympics project and got them mailed before the Jan. 15 deadline. That in itself was an accomplishment for me.

I was never a fan of making scarves, but this changed my mind. I am now making them for teeneagers at church that need some encouragement. We are calling them prayer scarves. We are making them much narrower than these, so they can be worn as fashion accessories. The first one I made was for someone who had brain surgery. She is only 17 years old and loves her scarf. This is the one I made. Purple is her favorite color, so that is what I used.

Apron time

2009-01-02T22:07:00.003-05:00

I made many aprons for Christmas gifts this year. I also sold several at a craft show in early December. I really like making aprons--and wearing them. I am always on the lookout for cute fabrics and patterns. Here are some I made recently

This was made for Lauri. We went to their house on Christmas Eve and had a great time. I used 2 Christmas dish towels to make it. I liked it so much that I went back to the hardware store after Christmas and bought some more of the towels -- 75% off!!

This was made for JoAnne. We went to their house for Christmas dinner. Last year I made her a snowman apron, so this is her newest addition. Again, I used a dish towel and then a dishcloth for the pocket. The plaid almost matches a chair she has in her family room!!

This was made for my walking partner Rosanna. I used 2 different fabrics so it is reversible. The 2nd picture shows a close-up of the pocket. She does lots of baking and cooking.

All of the aprons were well received. I have more fabric to make some for Valentine's Day. They featrue dogs and hearts!!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-02T16:30:00.004-05:00

The new year has arrived and I am so glad. It has to be better than 2008. You may have noticed that I have not updated my blog in months--I had severe computer problems. My laptop crashed and eventually died. I lost most of my data and have had to rebuild. It took WEEKS to get things straightened out, and then more WEEKS to get my old laptop (this one) up and running--cable connection problems, etc... But I have been very busy and will try to catch up on what I have been doing. Things may be out of order, but at least they will be here!

I made this prayer shawl for a friend Minnesota. She received it the day before Christmas. I used Lion Brand Cupcake yarn. The pattern is on their website (Half Moon Shawl) and was fun to make. I need just a bit more yarn than I had, so I used a lighter green for the border.

This is another prayer shawl I made. To be truthful, I forget who it was for or what pattern I used. I do like it and it has been given away.

This prayer shawl was made for my daughter in law's mother. Red is her favorite color. I gave it to her on Thanksgiving when we were in St. Louis. She loved it. I used cotton ease yarn (the old stuff that has been discontinued). It worked up very fast.

More to come.....

60 scarves in 60 days

2008-09-24T14:41:00.006-04:00

I found out about this wonderful project just as I was starting to make scarves for the Special Olympics project. I joined the group on Revelry and have been having fun making scarves. The hardest part was finding RH Delft Blue, but I finally got some at a local Wal-Mart. Here are 4 scarves I have made so far. Going from left to right, the first scarf pattern is from http://www.christinascrochethaven.com/ . The second one is from Crochet World, June 2006 which I modified for the colors and yarn choice. The pattern called for Lion Brand Homespun and a sizeN hook. I used RH ww and a J hook.

The third scarf is from a pattern in the Sept/Oct. '08 issue of Crochet today! The one in the magazine had more stripes but I didn't want to deal with all of those ends to weave in so I changed the sequence.

The scarf on the right is from the Red Heart website. There is also a knitted version. This is the site http://www.coatsandclark.com/ and search for special olympics. The link is too long and too unpredictable. I think the pattern is also in a magazine, but I can't put my hands on it right now.

Food for thought

2008-09-24T14:27:00.003-04:00

I made some play food for 2 of the grandkids (they like to play with their kitchen set). This is what I worked on while sitting in the waiting room of the hospital -- small projects that didn't require a lot of thought!!

The cupcake and doughnut are their favorites.

They do like the s'more also, but aren't too crazy about the eggs and toast.

I also made them some hats. The first ones I made were too small. These fit much better. I think they are sooo cute!!

What a wild summer!!

2008-09-24T13:58:00.005-04:00

The summer of '08 is one that we will always remember. On July 23, DH had a heart attack but wasn't really aware of what was happening until he got to the hospital (call to dr. advised him to get to the emergency room ASAP). They did tests and put in a stent. He spent 5 days there. The day he came home DD and her family (husband, 4 kids and a dog) arrived from Idaho. Her DH went back to Idaho the next day. Everyone stayed for almost 3 weeks, plus DS arrived from St. Louis with another grandchild. It was hectic, noisy and fun to have all of the grandkids interact with each other (some of the cousins had never met each other). I felt like an activities director trying to find things for 5 kids and 3 adults to do to get them out of the house. We took lots of pictures and have lots of memories. Picking and eating blueberries! Ice cream from Cooks's Farm Dairy is always on the schedule (we went twice for ice cream and once more just to see the animals). Getting ready to go to the Farmer's Market wearing hats made by Grandma/Amuma.

It was very quiet when everyone left, but we will have the memories!!

On Aug. 28 DH had quadruple bypass surgery. It was a very long day that began at 5:30 a.m. I was so blessed to have friends from church be with me for most of the day --Pastor Curt was there at 5:30 and stayed until Keith was in his room at 2:30. JH brought breakfast food and we had a "mini party" in the family waiting area (until others arrived). K pulled through just fine, but it was a shock to see him right after surgery. Then we began our long hospital stay. It was to be 5 days, but complications kept happening (irregular heart beat, high blood sugar, high blood pressure and the worst--the clip on his arm where they took out an artery for the surgery came off and they had to do a second emergency surgery on his arm to get it fixed). So finally he came home after 10 days in the hospital.

We are now getting on with recovery. We are walking every day--that is new for him, he wants to ride his bike and lift weights, but that has to wait until much later. This whole thing was so unexpected. He is the last person every one thought would have a heart attack. He works out very regularly (almost obsessively), rides his bike faithfully (he had just completed a 70 mile ride 4 days before the heart attack, with no problems), maintains a good weight and watches what he eats. BUT we found out that doesn't matter much if there is a heart problem in your family--heredity trumps everything. His dad died at 53 of heart problems. So now we move forward with a deep appreciation to the advances in the medical field.

Storms and more storms

2008-07-08T21:15:00.004-04:00

We have had some very wild weather this spring/summer--lots of violent thunderstorms (which is very normal for St. Louis, but NOT for Michigan!!). We have had long power outages (thank goodmess for our generator) and then my computer went blank!! It took almost 3 weeks to get it fixed and returned from Chicago with a new motherboard! So I am now up and running again (I had to share our desktop computer with DH who works from home with it, so my time was very short). I did get some projects finished! I made this baby blanket for a new baby girl at church. It is a pattern that I purchased from an ebay store. It is the second pattern of hers that I have made. I seem to have trouble with the directions, so I just did what I thought it should have said!! I like the results.

I did some dishcloths also. The blue cat turned out a bit large for my tastesl

I also took a class for knitting a scarf with beads strung on the yarn. I have it half finished and really like it. The hardest part is string all of the beads on to the yarn!!

The Seraphina shawl I started has been frogged. I was going along very nicely, but the put it down and when I got back to it I couldn't figure out where I left off. I got frustrated and frogged the whole thing. I have since started a different pattern that is going much faster and I do like it.

I will post pictures when I finish it. I am using cotton which is nice for the hot humid weather we have had lately.

Shawl for Jenny

2008-06-09T16:04:00.003-04:00

My wonderful daughter in law has had a tough year. Last summer her uncle died. Then her grandmother had a stroke (and is now in a nursing home). Just after Christmas her grandfather died (not the spouse of above mentioned grandmother) and her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. That sure is a lot for any one to go through in such a short time span. I made her this prayer shawl and gave it to her when we went to visit for birthday parties and Mother's Day. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft and in a really great new color with browns and turquoise.

Missions trip bears

2008-06-09T15:51:00.003-04:00

A group from church is going on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in a few weeks. I am not going, but I organized a group of ladies to make bears to be passed out to the children. There were 6 of us making these and they really were fun to make. Some were kniited, others crocheted. We had small ones made with baby yarn and large ones made with chunky weight yarn. My next door neighbor even put faces on hers (she made 28 bears. These are her creations. We made a total of 111 bears. This is what that looks like!
For shipping purposes I put all of the bears in 2 large travel packs and sucked all of the air out with a vacuum cleaner. They got very flat but will go back to normal when the bags are opened. We hope to bless all the children who receive these and to share the love of Jesus Christ.

dishcloths

2008-06-09T14:39:00.004-04:00

I have been making lots of dishcloths lately. Some for an exchange, some for a KAL and 2 patterns that I tested. These are the ones I tested

The pig is part of an alphabet series. I think they would make an adorable baby blanket with "The Three Little Pigs" book as a great gift!

The second one is called baby hearts. Both were created by Susan Mrenna. Check out her great stuff here http://knitalittlestore.blogspot.com/. She also has a Ravelry store which she mentions on her blog.

I dropped out of the Monthly Dishcloth KAL challenge. I didn't really like the first May cloth and then had problems with the second one in May. But I did do the June one--Palm Trees and like it a lot. It makes me want to be at the beach!!

Then I did a dishcloth exchange with Nancy B. from my Craft Pals group. This is the lovely cloth that she sent me. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of what I sent her--I was in a hurry to get it mailed!! But she did like it.

I won !!

2008-05-20T08:04:00.004-04:00

Two of my bookmarks won a prize--this is very exciting for me. These are the winners (the first one is the blue "bug" and the other one is the blue "lollipop" or "Balloon." I couldn't edit out the 2 middle "bookworms".
My prize was 6 skeins of white cuddlesoft yarn (baby weight) and a pretty small jade colored heart to be put on a chain.

wedding tea

2008-05-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

I am going to a shower that is a bridal tea. I made this dishcloth for the bride to be, but I think I will call it a washcloth and include some fun soap with it. I used pink because her colors for the bridesmaids are pink and brown. This is just a little extra to put into the package. I am making her a lucious shawl. Pictures will come once I am finished. The wedding is the end of June and it will be in her parents' backyard. It should be lots of fun!

Bookmarks

2008-05-06T15:42:00.000-04:00

I made these bookmarks for the Lil' Troopers group I am in. They are going to children in the hospital, so they are kid friendly. There was a contest, but I don't know the results yet. I am not that comfortable using thread, so I used baby weight or sport weight yarn for some of them. The red and navy book "worms" were made with worsted weight yarn.

March Exchange package for Mary

2008-04-25T17:19:00.006-04:00

My internet friend in DE is Mary. She is also a real friend that I have met and "played" with several times. I was lucky enough to have her for my partner for a March exchange. I had lots of fun making things for her. The theme was "totes", so I made her 2. I was almost finished with the first one (market bag) when I got a new magazine that an interesting one in it, so I made

that one also. The smaller one (second one made) was done with a strand of WW yarn and strips of a plastic tablecloth knitted together. It was fun to do. I added the "bluebird of happiness." Mary's daughter, Summer (terrific lady who I have also met several times) is having her first baby soon, so she grabbed the small bag--she has always grabbed bags I have made for Mary--maybe that is why I made 2 this time. She is having a boy, so the bluebird also went to her. I did make some things just for the baby. This is a fleece blanket I edged for him. I also made a hat to match the edging.

These are other items I included with the package for Mary.

I will also post pictures of the wonderful items I RECEIVED from Mary!!

Where did the last month go?

2008-04-25T16:29:00.004-04:00

I am not sure where the last month went, but I have been very busy. I made lots of pillowcases and aprons for a craft show that turned out to be a bust. Here are some of the items I made.Lots of pillowcases.... (I made a total of 15 for the

craft show. And aprons---12 different ones.

The one thing that sold were thrown in as an afterthought--dishcloths!!

Prayer shawls

2008-03-12T18:03:00.006-04:00

I have been very busy making prayer shawls. This one is for a relative of a friend at church. The recipient's husband recently died. It is a wonderful butterscotch yellow done in Homespun

yarn using the basic v-stitch pattern.

The second shawl was made by a member of our prayer shawl ministry at church, but it turned out to be too narrow. I added the border and it now works much better. I gave the shawl to Donna yesterday and she was speechless. She recently had emergency back surgery and is "flat" for 6 - 8 weeks. This should help her recovery. This shawl was done in Red Heart Soft yarn and truly is very soft.

The third shawl is the one I struggled with the most. It was given to a VERY close friend whose husband is in stge 4 of stomach cancer. He just finished radiation therapy and is now undergoing chemo therapy. He has to be fed with a feeding tube. The hopes of the doctors (and us) is to shrink the tumor (at the end of the esophagus where it enters the stomach) so he can eat on his own. Please pray for Steve and Jan and their beautiful family. Jan's favorite color is green, so I chose that for the shawl. It is knitted in the basketweave pattern. I used Vanna's new yarn and it is very soft. Jan loves her shawl.

Happy birthday!

2008-03-12T17:50:00.003-04:00

There are 2 birthdays in our family today. Our wonderful daughter-in-law is having a birthday. She is a saint to live with our son (we love both of them dearly). Happy birthday Jenny.

Our grandaughter Elise turns 6 today. She is the princess in her family--she has 3 brothers; one older and 2 younger. Happy birthday Princess!

I made her this quilt that she can use on her bed or on the floor. My picture is not in focus, but I can't re-take it because the quilt was sent to Idaho!!

I also made a pillowcase (again, out of focus--I really need to slow down when I take pictures) for her.

I found this plate the day before I mailed the package, so that got included (with a monkey one and 2 frog ones for the boys). There were some other things in her birthday package (pjs and a book). She should enjoy them. Her party is on Sat.

Valentine candy bags

2008-03-10T18:29:00.004-04:00

I made these 2 bags for our DGDs for Valentine's Day. They are just the right size to hold a box of conversation hearts. The girls love them (they hold "Little People" among other things). I made one earlier to hold a box of crayons for Elise.

I got this pattern here

vhttp://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2006/07/crayon-purse-pattern.html and made the strap shorter. I used cotton ww yarn.

She has great patterns.

Baby items for Lil' Troopers

2008-03-10T17:57:00.007-04:00

I am part of a Yahoo group that sends baby items to military hospitals for the newborn babies. In Feb. there was a contest. This is what I managed to make and send (had higher hopes, but it didn't work out). I sent these 17 hats

and this poncho set.

I purchased a rotary cutter type blade called a skip stitch (used in my rotary cutter holder) and made holes with it all along a piece of fleece cut to baby blanket size. Then i crocheted a border all around the blanket. I used DK weight yarn. I love doing this and it is easy. I found patterns on the internet by Googling "crochet baby blanket borders" or something similiar. There are lots to choose from. You can get the blade by contacting Joyce Middlebrooks at skipstitch@gmail.com . Her husband makes them and she answers her email promptly. Then I found a burp cloth I bought from hemstitcher.com many years ago. The holes were pre-punched, so I just added the border.

I then had a baby shower to attend, so I made another blanket, but used a different border. I plan to make many more of these. They are fun, easy and FAST!!

Dishcloths

2008-03-01T22:02:00.007-05:00

2008 did not get off to a very good start for us. There were 3 funerals, and cancer diganosis (friend's husband) that sapped a lot of my energy. So I have been doing lots of small projects that I can finish quickly. It has been very satisfying, plus it has done wonders for my stash depletion!! I made these dishcloths as part of the Monthly Dishcloth KAL challenge. I already posted my first Jan. one (football). There are 2 each month. This is the second one for Jan.

These are for Feb. The blue and cream one was fun, easy and fast--my kind of project.

The valentine cloth is a box of candy with a bow on it. It took me awhile to "see" it!!

I also made some cloths for exchanges. These 2 were sent to Marilyn.

Marilyn sent me this great cloth.

Jean sent me these two clots in January. It is great to get puffies like these in the mail.

Best surprise in 2008 (so far).

2008-01-14T10:13:00.000-05:00

For far too many years than I want to count, our dear son has looked like this. He is a great looking man (mother's pride) EXCEPT for his hair style (my opinion, but shared by some others aslo). One thing I have learned about kids is that if you keep harping about wanting them to change something, it doesn't usually happen. He is our "strong willed" child (and now he has a daughter that is even stronger willed than he!!), so I was VERY surpised when he sent me this picture. Much better now... Being the "concerned" mother that I am, I set out and made him a hat to keep his head warm. He hasn't
received it yet, so I don't know his reaction!

Monthly dishcloth KAL challenge

2008-01-14T10:12:00.000-05:00

I am in the Monthly Dishcloth group on Yahoo. They have KALs twice a month. I have been a member of this group for almost 2 years and this is the FIRST KAL I finished. The first KAL of the month is a mystery cloth--I love the football (GO GIANTS!!) but just grabbed whatever solid color I could get to easily. That is why my cloth is a turquoise blue, but I still like it. You will have to click in on the cloth to see the "picture" better.
The group is having a challenge for 2008 to make all 24 of the cloths. I signed up for it. Cloth #2 starts tomorrow (15th). I will post about my progress. By Dec. I should have a great supply of cloths for gifts.....

Starting off 2008

2008-01-14T10:08:00.000-05:00

I started off the new year with small, take-along projects DISHCLOTHS!! I love to knit these because they are fast, practical and fun to make, plus I have lots of cotton in my stash that I need to use up! They make great gifts and are usually well appreciated. I plan to make lots more this year.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

Happy 2008! We did some traveling between Christmas and New Year's Day. We went to PA to see Mom and my brother. I also got to see some friends, my aunt and cousins. This is me with my 2 cousins. We grew up together until I got married and moved away.

After 4 days there we went to Baltimore to see "old" friends, Allen and Francine. I've known Francine since 4th grade. She was my maid of honor! We went to college together. Allen knew Keith from high school and "fixed us up" on a blind date. The rest is history (41 years of marriage). They got married 6 weeks after we did--she even wore my veil!! But with us living in different states we didn't see each other much at all. In fact, we hadn't seen them in over 30 years!! We had so much fun together, and it is amazing how much we still have in common.

From Baltimore we went on to Washington D.C. for 3 days where we played tourists! Parking is a real problem there, so we left the car at our hotel and walked everywhere. We did pick a hotel that was near what we wanted to see, so it wasn't bad at all. I loved seeing all of the Christmas trees from every state (near the White House). My favorite site was the WW II Memorial. It wasn't there the last time I was in D.C. (1995). Here are some pictures of just a few of the things we enjoyed. The weather was cold, dreary and some rain. So on Sunday we went to several of the Smithsonian museums so we could be inside. They are always so fascinating. All of these wonderful treasures for us to enjoy, and they were all FREE to see and appreciate! If there was a charge for admission, it was very reasonable. It was so great to see so many families there.

I was surprised to see Jerry Seinfeld's "puffy shirt" on display! We also saw the Lone Ranger's mask, Archie Bunker's chair, the MASH sign (pointing to different cities), R2D2, and lots more.

Nina would have liked seeing Dorothy's ruby slippers and the Scarecrow!

We went to Arlington Cemetery just before leaving D.C. (we drove, and did get lost trying to get to Baltimore--should have brought Keith's new GPS!!) The changing of the guard was different than what I had remembered, but I hadn't been there in over 30 years. It was as impressive as ever.

We visited the Kennedy family grave site with the eternal flame still burining. The last time I saw that it was still new. I remember walking on wooden planks to the grave site. It was 1965!

We did walk over to see the Iwo Jima memorial to the Marines. Having watched the PBS special about WW II made this even more impressive (and sad).

We spent New Year's Eve near the BWI airport and didn't manage to stay awake until midnight. Our flight home was delayed an hour and a half because of "weather" in Michigan. This is what greeted us when we got home

We had over 12 inches of the beautiful white stuff waiting for us (and more falling). It took awhile to get the driveway cleared enough to get into the garage. These pictures were taken on Jan. 2. We got home at night and it was too dark to take good pictures.

Happy 2008!!

Christmas projects completed

2007-12-23T20:01:00.000-05:00

I am finally finished with all of my Christmas preparations. I finished the doggie pillowcases, shown here. I will give them on Christmas Eve to our dogs' breeder and second "mom." She keeps our dogs when we go away, which will be on Christmas Eve. She has over 10 dogs of her own and loves our "boys" as if they were still hers.

I did one final baking project, which was making doggie treats to give to friends who have dogs and also some for our dogs' Christmas stockings. Merry Christmas everyone. This is my last post until 2008. We leave on Christmas morning to go visit family in Pennsylvania and friends in Baltimore. Happy New Year!!

Our Christmas trees

2007-12-19T15:23:00.000-05:00

I tend to go all out decorating our house for Christmas. I start the day after Thanksgiving. This year we has 2 events at our house in early December, so I had to really work to get it all done. We had a church group here on Dec. 1 and a cookie exchange on Dec. 6 (28 women showed up!). Both events were lots of fun, so all of the work was well worth it.

This is our main tree, and is on our heated, enclosed porch right off the family room. It has the large old-fashioned lights on it and some bubble lights at the bottom. It represents our life together for 41 years!!

This tree is in the same room. The room is our "baseball room" so this is our baseball tree. We split our loyalites between the NY Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. I don't know what the future holds after the Mitchell Report.....
I was just given 2 more things for this tree--a snowman Detroit Tiger and a small baseball bat pen with Tigers on it. I will be adding these to the tree within a day or two (they need some additions to them).

This is our kitchen tree. It is a metal tree decorated with kitchen/baking items. It has been fun

finding ornaments for this tree. Friends have even helped by giving me some. It's a good thing Frankenmuth is not that far away (Bronner's Christmas shop is there--the largest in the world). It takes a whole day to see everything. Luckily stuff is arranged by category, so I just find the kitchen stuff (or the sports stuff if I want something for the baseball tree).

This tree is in our foyer. It is a pencil tree and fits perfectly by the stairs. I call this our travel tree. We have gone to many, many

places over the course of our married life. We got into the habit of finding something for our tree to remember where we were. A lot of the ornaments are easy to figure out, but some need to be explained (the string of flags from Denmark). Our newest addition is a dolphin in a wreath. We swam with the dolphins in Orlando in October. This is a fun tree to look at and remember the places we went to and the fun we had there.

This is our small family tree at the top of the stairs. On it are ornaments for each of our 7 grandchildren. Plus there are ones of our 2 children when they were young. I also have a picture of my Mom and my grandfather, plus Keith's grandfather. There are kid toys and fun things on this tree. It is at the top of the stairs because that is where we have baby pictures of our kids and grandkids .

This tree is our patriotic/military tree and is in our livingroom. All of the ornaments are red, white or blue (or all 3). I first did this tree right after 9/11 and have been adding to it ever since. One fun thing I did was to add photos of family members in their military uniforms. There are 5 different family members on the tree. I found the red, white and blue tree skirt at a craft fair.

Our white tree is in the diningroom. All of the ornaments are white. I have a large collection of crocheted snowfakes that are on the tree.

Our diningroom and livingroom are at the front of the house. These 2 trees are in the windows and have mini white lights on them They add to the "outdoor" decor of the house.

This tree was added last year and is in memory of our childhood. I had an aluminum tree in our house when I was dating Keith. He was always making fun of it, but then last year said he wanted to get one! It has old ornaments on it (some from his grandmother and some from my parents--on the original aluminum tree!) . There are no lights on it and we do not have the rotating color disk. Last year I used all red balls, but changed to blue this year. I have memories of trees being done in all blue when I was a child (not ours though). This tree is in the family room . There is another tree there by the fireplace. It is a small pre-lit tree on the hearth. There are no ornaments on it--just a star on top.

There are a few other trees in the house--a small mini tabletop tree in the livingrom with mini decorations, a pre-decorated a lit mini tree on the window still of the office, a nd a small tree on the counter in the half-bath.

It does take awhile to get all of the trees done. Then I have the rest of the house to do--the entryway, the staircase, the mantle, the bookcase in the kitchen, tops of other furniture, and my Dept. 56 Dickens Village which is in my china cabinet in the diningroom.

I'm tired just writing this!!

Hats and scarves

2007-12-19T13:59:00.000-05:00

I made up some hats and scarves to donate to the Warm Clothing Outreach drive for
the homeless living in Flint. These were made as I sat and watched Christmas movies
on tv. I am going to continue making these for the rest of the winter. A woman at church heads up the ministry that distributes the clothing.

Pillowcases

2007-12-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

These were ordered by my sister-in-law who lives in the Boston area. She is giving the Patriots set to one daughter and the Red Sox set to the husband of her other daughter (our neices). What a Yankees fan will do for family!!! My husband (a die-hard Yankees fan) asked if he could fumigate my sewing machine when I finished these (joking...). I do hope they like their presents.

I made many pillowcases this fall for a craft show and for "gift bags" for the grandkids. I have one more pair to make for the "breeder" who also dog sits our 2 Goldens when we go away. I found a fabric with light brown dogs on it which I am in the process of making up. I will post a picture when I finish them. This is the fabric

There are more, but they got mailed to Idaho as gift bags (full of gifts) for the grandkids!

Triplets

2007-12-19T13:46:00.000-05:00

My very special friend in St. Louis became a grandmother of triplets the end of October--2 girls and a boy. I have known this family for over 30 years and the mom grew up with our kids (she was one of Kelly's bridesmaids). So I made these blankets for the babies. I had to make them bigger because the preemies were 5lbs., 4.5 lbs. and just over 4 lbs at birth (6 weeks early)!! If you look closely you can see the heart pattern in the center of each square. There are 12 squares in all and the blankets were made Caron's Simply Soft yarn. The pattern is here:
http://danettesangels.tripod.com/patterns/pattern_tiny_hearts.html . I think there is an error in row 14 where it says to repeat rows 3 - 10. I repeated rows 3-13. Otherwise you would
not het the :eyelets" between the blocks. I have made this pattern larger for newborns. It is a fun, easy pattern to do.

Grandma E. (Mimi) asked me to made a pillowcase for big sister Ainsley who is 3. She likes pink and bunnies, so this is what I was able to find and make for her. Now they just have to deal with Cassie, a 6 month old Golden Retriever who wants to be the boss!!

Aprons

2007-12-19T13:35:00.000-05:00

I took an apron making class at the LQS and now I am hooked! This is the first apron I made. It is reversible and the straps criss cross so you just slip it over your head--no tying required. I wore this as a "hostess apron" during the cookie exchange I had here. I plan to make another one for regular use, but will make it narrower.

I made 7 aprons for Christmas gifts this year. Unfortunately I mailed several of them off before getting pictures (I was in a time crunch). This apron was made for Kelly's
birthday (Dec. 15--what a time to have a "baby"--she is almost 40). The main part is a dish towel
with added ties and a pocket. These are so much fun to make. I used this pattern 4 more times!

The one with the snowmen was made for JoAnne. It is not a "dishtowel" apron and is reversible. It was made from a panel. I added the reversible fabric so it would fit better.

The one with the "cherries" on the pocket was made for

Barb and the last one was made for Tiffanie. I made 2 others. One was a dishtowel one and the other was a reversible one made for Roberta. We taught together, so I made her one with Dick and Jane fabric. She was a kindergarten teacher. I sure wish I took a picture before mailing it off to Missouri!

Thanksgiving morning

2007-12-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

It's time to play catch up with all I have been doing. First, this is what greeted us on Thanksgiving morning!! Our first real snowfall of the season. It was very gorgeous, but of all times to come. Keith had decided to grill our turkey on our Weber grill!! I had prepared the rub and the turkey was waiting to be put on the grill. So we did proceed as planned after shoveling off some of the snow.

We had a wonderful dinner with our 2 next door neighbors plus a family of 3 who are good friends. She was in a car accident just before Thanksgiving and spent a10 days in the hospital. So they joined us for dinner (they live close by and are used to the snow so the drive was not a problem for them.

The turkey was so moist and tender! This is now our preferred way to cook a turkey. We "learned" how to do it from our son-in-law--thanks Craig!!

October was a busy month for baby blankets!

2007-10-26T22:04:00.000-04:00

This blanket was made for Willamina, a new baby at church. It is very soft and cushy (not sure if that is a word or not). I am working on baby blankets for triplets that were born to my dear friend's daughter in St. Louis. I've know the mom since she was 3--she grew up with our kids. I will post pictures when they are finished (the boy one is done, just have to do the 2 girl ones).

I am also working on baby hats to sell at a craft show on Nov. 10. The main things I will be selling are my novelty pillowcases. I made 22 this week, which were added to my other 11. We are leaving for Orlando early tomorrow morning (wedding on Sunday, then a week to "play.) so I won't have a whole lot of time to sew when I get back.....

Exchange package

2007-10-25T17:04:00.000-04:00

I received this wonderful exchange package from Jean in Ontario, Canada. It took awhile to get here and then even longer for the post office to tell me I had to go and sign for it! She made the beautiful doily in the center. She loves doilies, and I do also, but I don't make them. Thread crocheting drives me bonkers. The basket design is gorgeous. I am imagining fruit in it for fall! The pot holder/hot pad is wonderful. My picture doesn't show the details too well, but it is crocheted out of cotton in a varigated pastel print. The small white "thing" is really a tiny angel (not attached, just placed there) that I will save for my Christmas tree. The other 2 items are candles. One is a miniature ice cream sundae that smells delicious. The other one is purple and has pictures of some kind of melon on it.

Jean sure did a great job of spoiling me. Thanks so much from across the border!

Dick and Jane Purse

2007-10-17T17:12:00.000-04:00

I found this wonderful Dick and Jane fabric at the quilt shop and decided to make a small purse for myself. In my first attempt I cut the blue fabric the wrong way, so I had to go get more fabric--WRONG! The shop was out of it. I tried 2 more places with no luck. Then I even tried some quilt shops in St. Louis, with no luck either. When I got home I even tried to find the print online and came up empty handed there also. I was beginning to feel that it wasn't meant to be. Then last week I went to a quilt show at a local church where they had some awesome quilts on display. There were some vendors there and I found the fabric!! The vendor was from the other side of Michigan. I was elated.
Having taught first graders to read for many years I really wanted this print. There were other options in the Dick and Jane line, but this is my favorite.
The front of the purse has a zipper with an inside large pocket. The back of the purse just has a large pocket. This is the perfect purse for carrying to craft shows, the farmer's market and any other place where I like to have my hands free.

New baby blanket

2007-10-17T16:56:00.000-04:00

This is the newest baby blanket I finished for baby Willamina, born a few weeks ago. I used Caron's Simply
Soft, double stranded, in soft pink and a size N hook. I found the pattern here:
http://crochetpatterncentral.com/patterns/bubbles_baby_blanket.php . It worked up
very fast and is soft and cushy.

Blanket for Mckenzie

2007-10-08T17:15:00.000-04:00

This baby blanket was made for Mckenzie, born October 1.

I used Dazzelaire yarn which is no longer available. In fact, I had to hunt some down on eBay just so I could finish the blanket. I love the feel of the yarn--so soft--i wish they still made it.

St. Louis

2007-10-08T16:55:00.000-04:00

I spent 4 days (and 5 nights) in St. Louis where I got to spend some time with 4 of our 5 grandkids. It was lots of fun. The cousins don't get to see each other very often because 3 live in St. Louis, and 4 live in Boise, Idaho! I hope they remember each other, even if it is from pictures.

Siblings--why couldn't they get along this well while living in the same house!!

A trip to St. Louis would not be complete without a trip to Ted Drewes for frozen custard, and their famous concretes. We had just enough time before heading to the airport to make a quick stop. Cory slept through the whole thing!!

This is a view of the side of the building--the front is where the lines are. Business was brisk because it was in the 90s and it was October 7!!

Ghost dishcloth

2007-10-03T16:02:00.000-04:00

I made this for my friend "Ghost" and gave it to her when we met for lunch. It was a beautiful day so we ate outside and then sat and talked and crocheted and talked. Great way to spend time!!

Hats for Lil' Troopers

2007-10-03T15:59:00.000-04:00

These are the hats I sent to Lil' Troopers for military babies. I did another pumpkin hat, but forgot to include it in the picture. There will be 250 babies born at the military hopsital every month for the next few months--a mini baby boom! I will be making Christmas hats next.

September shawls

2007-09-13T16:44:00.001-04:00

I just finished this shawl and gave it to JoAnne for her cousin in New Mexico who has numerous health issues. I used Cotton Ease which I got last year when it was being "discontinued." The color is called pistaccio and seems to fit the Southwest. I got the oattern here http://www.yarncat.com/lacyshellstole.html.

This next shawl was made for my friend Karen whose brother died over the summer. Digital photos are always a surprise to me. This shawl is NOT purple, but a rosey mauve. I used Plymouth Encore Chunky Bulky Knitting Weight yarn and a size L hook. The pattern is not available for sharing. I have not given it to Karen yet because she is on a fabulous knitting tour in New Zealand and Australia for 2 weeks!! But this should keep her warm when she gets back to Colorado. I

love this pattern and will make more shawls using it. I will try ww yarn next time. The pattern is on this web site

http://www.crochetcabana.com/patterns.htm

Scarf for the military

2007-09-13T16:43:00.000-04:00

I don 't remember when I agreed to make a scarf for a deployed military person. The message got lost in my inbox with all of the trips I have taken. Anyway, I found the message, made this scarf and sent it off. I only wish I had time to make more, but the deadline is this month!

Recent projects finished

2007-09-13T16:40:00.000-04:00

These are some baby hats that I crocheted and sent to Lil' Troopers where they go to military hospitals for families of our troops. I love making baby items and they are very much needed.

Addition to blog

2007-09-08T15:41:00.000-04:00

I added a sidebar where I have put pictures of all of my completed projects (so far) for the year. I am going to edit some of my posts so I am not repeating them. I hope this works!

Purse for Christena

2007-08-28T18:07:00.000-04:00

I made this purse as an exchange item back in July but never posted the pictures (can you tell my life has been busy?). The purse was sent to Christena. It was knitted and then felted. The
pattern is from the November, 2006 copy of Creative Knitting magazine. I added pre-made straps. My experience with knitted or crocheted straps is that they do stretch. I then lined the purse (second picture). I also sent a crayon purse which I crocheted for Mary who started kindergarten this year (and I remember when she was born--seems like last year). The purse for Mary was complete with a box of crayons, which she grabbed right away. This was a very fun swap to do.

Slide show

2007-08-27T10:58:00.000-04:00

I created a slide show of the prayer shawls I have finished. It will be easier to add shawls that way. I am almost finished with a shawl for Amanda. It is a blessing shawl as she starts a new career working as the missions coordinator for a church in Arizona.

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-08-27T10:54:00.001-04:00

Prayer shawl for Tracy

2007-08-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

I just finished this prayer shawl for a friend at church whose father just passed on.

I used Rainbow Boucle (a shaded yarn) and the V-stitch pattern. It is 24 inches wide and 66 inches long. The shawl is very light and soft. Tracy will get it on Sunday.

New venture

2007-08-17T21:12:00.000-04:00

I am attempting to start selling pillowcases I have sewn. I have an Etsy page and will see how it goes. These are the pillowcases I made this week. I am still trying to figure out the right resolution for the pictures, That will be tomorrow's project!! My Etsy site is here: http://Blueowl.etsy.com .

Quilt update

2007-08-17T20:32:00.000-04:00

After 2 weeks, I have finished the quilt top. I am learning a lot about quilting and really like it. The border is a Peter Rabbit print.

Baby blanket finished

2007-07-13T17:15:00.000-04:00

I finally finished the round baby blanket I was working on. I really like the pattern, except for the rippling just before the border. If I make this again, I will change the number of stitches so it lies flat. This is for a baby at church who is due to arrive in September. She will have 2 brothers, so we know she will be a princess!!

This is a purchased pattern from this eBay store

http://stores.ebay.com/Creations-by-Rebecca-Leigh.

Bible study squares

2007-07-13T16:54:00.000-04:00

I am doing an online Bible study with a wonderful group of women. We are studying "Women of the Bible." We have crocheted squares to go with each woman we study. I am going to assemble mine into a prayer shawl. I chose the color peach since Eve is the first woman and she ate the forbidden fruit. We don't know what the fruit was, but many believe it was an apple. But I am going to think it was a peach! Here are the first 3 Eve squares I made.

The ends are not tucked in yet. The square at the top is called butterfly garden. The 2 on the bottom are (l to r) seed stitch and rib stitch. I think these 3 squares say a lot about Eve. I will post next week's squares when I finish them. This Bible study is wonderful!

More sewing

2007-07-13T16:50:00.001-04:00

I made this dress for E. who will start kindergarten next month. I made shorts for her to wear under the dress since she loves to be on the monkey bars! I have more things to make for her. It is such fun to sew clothes for "back to school."

I also made some more pillow cases, but have to get the pictures uploaded.

Finished another prayer shawl

2007-07-13T16:41:00.000-04:00

I finished this prayer shawl for Linda who has some health issues. It's amazing what the different lighting will do to the colors. The first picture is a more accurate one of the color. I used Lion Brand Homespun and a size L hook.

St. Louis trip

2007-06-24T19:37:00.000-04:00

I was in St. Louis over Memorial Day weekend. No. turned one a few days before I got there, but I was there for her party. She likes to ride in her new wagon.

We also went to a Cardinals baseball game--my first time at the new stadium. It was a good game because the Cardinals won, but we did sit through an hour and a half rain delay (our car was 6 blocks away and it was POURING, so we waited). The whole family dressed in Cardinal red.

The rain emptied out the stadium!!

Sewing

2007-06-24T19:24:00.000-04:00

I love to sew in the summer. So I got out my patterns, fabric and got started (had to make a run to JoAnn's with my discount coupons for more fabric). E is starting kindergarden in Aug., so I am working on some things for her. I finished these shorts for her.

Then I made some pillowcases for 4 of the grandkids. These are so much fun (and FAST) to make. I have since made 1 more, with fabric for 6 more. I like them to have a different pillowcase for each month and with 7 grandkids (but only 4 use pillows--2 are in cribs and 1 is a teenager and she has "outgrown" them) that's plenty to make. I found some school related fabric for 3 cases.
I also have a dress almost finished for E. I will post pictures when I finish. But I am off to upstate NY in the morning--will be gone for 4 days. I'll post some pictures of the Thousand Islands if they turn out....

Finished projects

2007-06-24T19:07:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy with my hooks and needles and finally have some pictures to post!

I knit this blanket for Baby Logozzo who is due in July. The parents are waiting for the arrival of the blessing to find out the sex of the child (Hooray for them!!). This is just a basic basketweave pattern.

I made some items for charity donations. I made baby washcloths and bibs. These were fun to make. I found the patterns at a variety of places on the web. I love the bib with the baby chick on it!

The kimono pattern is from the book MASON DIXON KNITTING. I used Cotton Ease yarn.

Baby blanket in progress

2007-05-21T22:31:00.000-04:00

I am working on another round baby blanket. It is for a little girl due in the fall. The mother has 2 boys, so this baby is an extra blessing. I am just over halfway finished and the pattern changes 2 times after this. Here is what I have finished. The lighting was off, so the blanket is pink not white. I am using Simply Soft ww yarn that is very soft and pretty.

Newest shawl

2007-05-12T15:29:00.000-04:00

I finished another prayer shawl for Creative Hands, a ministry I coordinate at church. It is for Sharon who has several health issues in addition to loosing her brother and a cousin within a week of each other. The yarn is a "ragg" yarn by Bernat in dark green and cream combined. The shawl is 65 x 21 inches.

I am also working on some dishcloths and some squares to be combined into an afhan for families in Kansas that lost everything in the recent tornado.