Another Year Passes

Well, it's New Year's Eve. Remember the times when the plans included wine, song and black-eyed peas at midnight? Well, they no longer include those plans...see pic at right...that's us today...grin

They say there's always room for improvement...and I quite agree. But at the age of almost .....whatever... I have come to the conclusion that well enough is well enough and there will be no New Year's Resolutions this year except one....

I hereby resolve to remember..... It's enough.

A Stormy Night

DH spent the evening last night whisking between the television shows we were watching and the cable weather channel that shows our local radar. The heavy thunder and cloud to ground lightening began early in the evening with one lightening shot close enough to shut down our computers, printers etc... thankfully nothing was damaged except my nerves. Tornado watches were in effect until 8pm and the rain continued into the night. This is not my favorite part of living in Texas.

Round Robin Letter Found!

I was beginning to wonder if there really was such a thing as the Round Robin Letter or if it was just a figment of my imagination! grin It seems to have gotten stuck in the snows of Michigan, but will be on it's way once again soon.

I Love Getting Christmas Cards!

OK...I know I haven't posted for a looong while... The holidays are over now, and the crunch is over. I must say that I have totally enjoyed the time, but the idea of not having my tree up (even if I have been sick!) is not one that I want to repeat any year soon.

Is anyone still getting Christmas cards in the mail? We got 3 more yesterday. Which is great, as far as I'm concerned. I love Christmas cards. Each year I think I will make cards for the year, and then never do. But... I found this at Crochet Dude's place and love the idea. But then I like his ideas most of the time... I may not do them, but they make a really bright spot in my day...grin

Drizzly Foggy Day at Perrin AFB Museum

We got up this morning to gray skies and that cool touch in the air. The thermometer read 62 when we got in the hot tub, but I think it was fooled..grin Felt more like 42. Anyway, as the day has progressed it has become progressively foggy, with the mist and a few droplets of rain beginning to fall. It also seemed that as we neared Perrin AFB, it became more foggy.

It took us about an hour to go through the museum. If a person knew a little more about things than I do, it would take much longer. From the discussions of the retired servicemen who served at Perrin and now are the caretakers of this museum, you can tell it was built and is maintained with pride.

This is one of the things that absolutely bowled me over when I saw it... These are two shell casings that were found when the Americans and Allies freed a prisoner of war camp in France. It seems that the GI's would engrave these shell casings using whatever they could find that would work. The museum caretaker who was escorting me said that the Germans declared that if you gave the Americans enough beer cans and a P38 they would build a plane and fly out of there.

It's a Beta Blogger thing...

Blogger says that if you download Picasa you can blog from there. First let me say I really like Picasa for finding all your photos. Second, let me say that Picasa may think it is dating your photos in your list correctly, but believe me it is not...grin Some of the photos it put in 1997 were not even dreamed of until 2005. Be that as it may, there is a little button on the bottom of the page that says "Blog This"... well, I've blogged twice using that button in the last couple of days... my new posts are circling the block in cyberspace somewhere...they never showed up on my blog. Oh well....

I miss my tree...

Christmas Nostalgia

We were at our son's home a couple of days ago and as I turned toward the door, there on the wall was this cross stitch sampler I had completed for them for the Christmas of 1996.

The most wonderful thing in the world for me is to look around and see memories...

I've Been Memed!

Mariella got me! I've now got meme in my hair and running down my shirt!
So here's the rules...
Each player places the rules on his/her blog, then lists 6 weird things about themselves. They then meme 6 other people, placing their names at the end of the post and leaving a comment on each of their memed friends' blogs telling them they have been "memed"! Then don't forget to go read all of them!

• I snore
• I have a habit of gently squeezing my left hand with my right hand when I am thinking about something.
• Since I quit smoking in August, I have to have something in my hands to do ... crochet, embroidery, naalbinding, knitting... it doesn't matter what it is
• I would love to have met Leonardo da Vinci.
• I have always wanted to meet a leprechan. (Perhaps someday I will under our huge oak tree!)
• I find it a shame that so many arts and crafts are so neglected as to almost become a forgotten art form ... i.e. naalbinding and card weaving.

Now for the meming of the memors from the memee.....

cat of Baumcat, Deb R. of Red Shoe Ramblings , ~firefly of i live on a farm, tomomi of Black Cat, Maureen of Kenmaurs Corner and simple sparrow.

Blah..Blah..Blah...

Did you know...
We spent the day running around ... did some Christmas shopping at the outlet mall with DH and DS.. It's no wonder I stay at home so much. Breaks my heart to go places that 10 years ago were brand new and roaring with customers only to see them today with the entire food court closed down and half the store fronts closed. What happens while I am hibernating in my craft room???

I've decided that I may have to return to my late teen early twenties habit of watching Young and the Restless... You know you're aging when you can tell people... "I saw the very first episode of Young and the Restless...and the next 5 years of it also!" It seems that while my head was stuffed in my sewing machine and yarn stash President Gerald Ford's son has been making a name for himself on the all time favorite daily soap! And I've missed it!

Mariella (of Knitting Nonni) and I were going to get together and actually meet face to face while she was visiting family, but we missed each other. Anyway, in spite of the colds they shared, it seems she enjoyed her visit with her family in Texas and that's all that really matters anyway...

Hand Made Gifts

Wrist warmers on the needles... As I was trying yesterday evening to decide what to do with the luscious blue alpaca, my mind took a side trip back in time about 40 years. But I'll start this saga somewhere else....

Whip Up is one of my favorite blogs and I read it almost every day. This post about the stress of giving at the holidays and that little niggling feeling of guilt at all our "home made" or "hand made" creations really hit home with me this year. I suppose the thoughts this post evoked stayed with me for an 'on again-off again' part of the day, because later in the evening as I cast on the stitches for the wrist warmer my thoughts turned to many years ago in a small living room in the panhandle of Oklahoma when I first learned to cast knit stitches on the needles. It was winter so the wall heater was really warm blowing on me as I sat in the chair beside it... I was really quite excited to be learning how to knit. Abigail had already taught me the basics of crochet, so now it was the basics of knit. She was not a knitter... everything I ever saw her make was crocheted... but she was very gracious in sharing whatever knowledge she had with an eager 17 year old.

Every year, she would spend untold hours quilting a quilt for each of the grandchildren for Christmas... or knitting a sweater on her knitting machine (the only kind of knitting she did)... There were times when the end products did not come out looking professional, but then she always said... "In a hundred years, who will know the difference.. or care!"

I wonder if all her thoughts and care, work and planning were really appreciated.

When I asked her about her home made gifts, she had this to say....

(paraphrased) " I much prefer to get a homemade gift of any kind. When a person spends hours and perhaps days making a homemade gift, he/she is giving those hours and perhaps days of his life with thoughts of the recipient of that gift." I have never forgotten that thought.

So for another year, that little niggling feeling of guilt is once again banished to far away land. It is replaced with the knowledge that the gift of a portion of the time allotted to me for my life is wrapped up in the gifts that I will give my family and friends. This sharing of a portion of my life says "I Love You!" in a way that no other gift can.

Of Socks and Birds

I finished the other sock..grin I don't know why I get such a kick out of the fact that I have now made socks... but I do. And there are a couple more little birds to keep the first one company. They are so quick and easy to do that I couldn't stop at just one. These will hang on my Christmas tree. The crazy quilted and embroidered ones have struck my fancy so they will have to be tried... perhaps not today.. but will definitely have to be tried.

Alpaca Shrug

While our son was home on leave from Iraq, he got me some lovely alpaca yarn. I first started using it in a knitted shawl that I posted about on Nov. 9. I had to purchase more yarn as I went along on the shawl and then as I got closer to the end... realized that I didn't like it! Out it came...then I had to decide what to do with that wonderful yarn. I tried doing fingerless mittens... huh uh... nothing seemed to be right. Then I came across a vintage pattern that looks like it would have been published in the 40's or 50's online... I printed it off, but now I can't find where I got it to post the link! Anyway, the cuffs need to be finished and the seaming up the sleeves needs a little tweaking, but I think I like this better.

Newsletter Packed to Go!

After a month of on again off again working on the Ranger newsletter, it is finally DONE! I did the Pack N Go on it, got the mailing list ready and it will be at the printer's tomorrow morning. WooHoo!

I think it may be time for another Things I Have to be Grateful For post....

1. Cute clip art that makes me smile.
2. Typing away with ALL my fingers and actually able to read it, too.
3. That faint vision at the back of my eyes of my grandson smiling and saying "I might actually like doing this, Grandma".
4. That other faint vision at the back of my eyes that shows the other grandson stirring shredded cabbage and making coleslaw.
5. The color green.
6. The shape of an oak leaf.
7. Buttons.
8. Adhesive tape.
9. Photos of the great grandsons!
10. Coke art...
11. Straws
12. Belly laughs
13. Remote controls
14. Post it Notes

I feel much better now...grin Nothing like a list to let you know just how much you really have to be grateful for!

My Little Bird

I put this together this morning in about 30 minutes... sooo cute. The tutorial page online is in German, but it was translatable enough using Google translator that I finally got it...grin The first place I found it was on Cameoroze 's site... the link to the tutorial is under Crazy Chick. I will do a tutorial in a couple of days (very busy today!!) and put it up.

To Put Up The Tree... Or Not

21 days and counting.... Is anyone else as surprised every day as I am that the year is already gone? Now the question is... do we put the tree up? I think yes... I love my tree...

Notation to Self

"Maybe it's our free will misdirected or just a shameful pride, but we live our lives with the conviction that we stand at the center of the drama. Moments rarely come that put us outside ourselves, that divorce us from our egos and force us to see the larger picture, to recognize that the drama is in fact a tapestry and that each of us is but a thread in the vivid weave, yet each thread essential to the integrity of the cloth." Dean Koontz ... Life Expectancy

I finished my book last night. As I read the above passage, I folded the corner of the page down... (I NEVER do that... hate to defile a book like that...I ALWAYS use bookmarks..!!)... knowing that I would lose the spot if I did not. But he had said so profoundly what is at it's roots a basic truth of humankind! (...gasp!)

What is it (she says with tongue imbedded firmly in cheek) ... hubris of the old... hubris of the young...what? ... that makes us feel that we need something profound to say the important things of life? (Click on the puppies!)

Wow...Time Has Flown

First... sorry about the long delay in posting... I guess my brain has taken a bit of a vacation.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was very quiet around here. The kids all had other plans, jobs, obligations..etc. So we went out to eat Thanksgiving Eve..grin... and enjoyed Thanksgiving Day with just the two of us at home.

While the sons worked on my laundry room door and the grandsons worked on Avernum 2, I painted eggs. All in all, I think I got about 5 finished. I started using darker backgrounds and I think they are better all around... but that's just my opinion...grin

Sometime during the day, DGS and I decided to finish the card weaving piece that I had "in my loom"..grin He tried several different turns and came up with a couple of nice patterns. We then cut it off and he took it home..grin I really think I need to build a loom...

My New Naalbinding Needle

A couple of days ago while Bev was here, I had DH cut me a sliver of oak. I got out the trusty old file and went to work. I love my new needle... It makes a real difference in what the stitches look like. I will have to learn some new stitches, but the Oslo stitch is the one that I used to make the small amulet bag. I made the beads using Sculpy clay. The finger weaving that I did using #8 crochet thread will work as the closure for the bag, but it is a little too stiff, so I think I will use some embroidery thread to make another one. In another post, I will put up a pic of the bag I made using a regular metal darning needle...grin It's a real hoot!

Tablet Weaving

A couple of days ago I finished the Cheerios... then decided to cut up the boxes and make cards for tablet weaving... and it amazingly worked! Not a wonderful first try, but wonderful enough to surprise me...grin There are more pictures on the Fabric Follies site... Then I tried my hand at finger weaving... and made a wonderful tiny cording that is extremely strong (see pic below). I can see both of these made using Kreinik gold or silver threads and being quite lovely. I am trying to thread my cards now to see if I can do a pattern that will allow me to put whatever words I want on the strap... More on that later.

DD Bev surprised us with a call and an "Are you busy?" a couple of days ago. Of course, the answer was "No.. come on down!" We went yesterday to an antique mall downtown. What a place! Three floors packed full of beauties! It's always nice when the kids come home....

Soda Straw Weaving ... and things...

Yesterday was back to the dr. day... no news... wearing a Holter monitor for 24 hrs. and go back this afternoon....

Anyway... I decided last night to try soda straw weaving... works great! Using baby yarn, it makes a very soft weave. Will have to see what can be done with it.

Naalbinding

Since I don't have enough hobbies and interests already, I thought I would try a new one. There have been "socks" or slippers found at Viking archeological digs that were done with a process called naalbinding. This was the precusor of knitting and crocheting and is more durable... with the added benefit of being actually "knotted" so when the fabric is cut it does not come apart. It is done using a wooden or bone needle that looks very much like the "toothbrush" needles used for making toothbrush rugs. Since I don't have one, I used a large darning needle and some Wool Ease to see if I could even come close to the stitches. These pieces are the result. This video is so easy to follow that the basics were not too difficult to figure out. Perhaps with a little more digging into the online instructions, I will figure out how to make those wonderful socks and slippers...grin

It's been a crafty kind of day...

I finished 3 eggs today, but can only put up this one that I put the hat on and how 'bout that flower..grin This girl wants to make a real statement. The bead in the middle is one that I made on the first day I quit smoking. The other eggs are for gifts so can't put them up yet...

I found a little do-da online that shows how to make a lapel pin by making the knitting needles out of tooth picks and beads, so I decided to make one. This is the first time I have ever knitted with thread instead of yarn, and what a difference. Much harder... Then I decided to make beads to put on the needles instead of the plastic pearls... so I did. There are now 3 sets of the knitting needles and with the elongated beads, I think I will make stitch markers. Will have to see..

Pictures for Patty...grin

It's always a good thing to talk to good friends. It's been mentioned several times now that I really need to pick back up on my blogging...grin So here it is...

Smiles and waves to the state of Virginia... and congrats on new puppies! Here is the picture of the fringed shawl I promised. I hope the color shows better in this one. The yellow and blue is the alpaca blend shawl that I am currently working on... It will be quite long and have knotted fringe on each of the ends.

The days have been a bit gray and gloomy over the past week or so with a couple of afternoons showing sunshine and a little breeze. We so needed the rain and it is wonderful to look out and see green.

DH is on Day 12 of not smoking. I am soooo proud of him. He is also using the patches, but he started with the 14mg. He had a harder time of the first 4 or 5 days, but it seems have let up some.

Today will be filled with trying to get some things done for the Christmas stash so I won't be able to put many pics up... but I will try to increase my posts...grin

Holiday Season is Sneaking Up!

It seems that none of us have really gotten down to the nitty gritty of planning what to do and with whom for any of the upcoming holidays...hmmm Guess it's time to do some planning.
I was going through my jewelry box the other day when I doing some Victorian stitching and came across this pin that I just had to have a couple of years ago... love it...grin

Hitting a Blogging Snag

It seems that a while back I hit a blogging snag. And it's still snagged. I sit down to blog and my mind immediately blanks... ughhh So here goes in a very probably quite disjointed way...grin

My wonderful DH is on his 7th day of NO SMOKING! How cool is that! Since I am now at past 2 months, he decided it might be safe to try to quit... we have only had a couple of very, very nit picky days when we sniped at each other ... that never happens, so I guess we both feel like we can tolerate it for a bit...

Chuck is supposed to be back today to catch his plane tomorrow headed back to Iraq... sigh We will be counting the days until the end of January when he will be home for good...

(Click on the picture!!! Too cool!)

Freedom at Last!

Back to the doctor today for final checkup after the heart stent... clean bill of health... he says I can do anything I want...grin So, we almost immediately got into the hot tub for the first time in two months. I cannot say how wonderful that warm water felt... After supper, I actually got to do the dishes... This wonderful man of mine has waited on me hand and foot for two months... almost literally. So tonight he got to sit in his chair while I did the dishes...

Chuck bought this alpaca blend Bernat yarn for me while he was here. I decided today to make this scarf... The pattern is on the Bernat label... it is also on the website, but only available to members... Well, I subscribed as a member several days ago, but it keeps telling me my membership is not activated yet...
"just click on the button and a new membership password will be sent to you" it says....well, I'm still waiting for that email to get here after several times of clicking on that button..grin

Anyway, I finished the last of the yarn.... with 28 stitches to go... looks like this yarn will be like the Homespun... I will keep having to buy just one more skein... grin

I hope everyone had a great holiday...

Knitted Shawl Finished....

I originally bought this Wool Ease Thick and Quick yarn to do the KAL with firefly on her blog i live on a farm... (see this post) It's a blend of lamb's wool and acrylic, so I thought it would feel wonderful as a lap afghan. It does feel wonderful and is very warm, but as I finished more and more of it, I realized that I did not like this yarn in this pattern... I pulled it out and changed it to this pattern... It's a numbingly simple pattern, but the garter stitch will hold the heat and make this a wonderfully warm early winter shawl.

Now I will have to get more yarn to do the KAL....hmmmm

What a Lovely Five Days...

We haven't done much of anything. Jim, Don, John and Tomomi came last Sunday. What a lovely day that was. Three of the sons here at the same time... it was better than Christmas. He is leaving tomorrow to spend a week with his dad and will be back for a day on his return to Dallas to the airport. I miss him already. This is a photo of the lane in our meadow... he took it during a walk yesterday...

Guess Who Came To Dinner!

Never underestimate the power of the door bell to change your entire outlook on life! DH answered the door... I heard a voice I recognized and I looked around for Brigit to be running all over the furniture and barking...but there was no Brigit.. so I walked on into the den and my heart flipped.(Reference this post) It's a 22 hour trip and he said he made it to Dallas on the 20th, stayed over in a hotel and rented a car yesterday morning. He made it home about 1pm and still looks quite tired. He's only home for a couple of weeks and then must return to Iraq until the end of January 2007, but what a gift those couple of weeks are.

1st Cloisonne' Egg

Well, duh....

Do you think they really mean it when they put in the instructions that you should wait "at least" 24 hours before firing in the oven.... hummm...

In my own defense here.... the gold outline had been drying for 24 hours, but I guess it was too thickly applied and didn't dry completely. Perhaps this is where the magic words "at least" come in...

This kind of finish for the eggs will take much longer to do. But I think once I get it figured out, they will be much prettier and the finish will be permanently fired and will be top rack dishwasher safe. That pleases me. It will take several throw-away eggs to perfect the technique though... and my supplier only had 3 (that's 3...three!) eggs ... so will have a wait for more to arrive.

Halloween Hangman

This came in my email today from Carol and Tony... Too funny..

1st Place In 7 Categories!

Don't ask me what they all are...grin John was so tickled that he called me as soon as they got home on Saturday. I know Tomomi won 1st Place in the Completely Hand Quilted category. She was going to send me a picture with the ribbon on the quilt, but the blue ribbon disappears in the blue of the quilt!

Snowflake Monday (on Wednesday!)

Is It a Cloche?

I was crocheting along a few weeks ago with no idea what I even wanted to make when this little cloche happened. (Still trying to get rid of that Homespun yarn...sigh) Now that I have it, I have no earthly idea what I will do with it because I look totally idiotic in any hat other than a wide brim Southern Belle type hat... and who wants to wear one of those these days...

Well, it's almost 2 months of no smoking. The desire for a cigarette is still here ... but not as bad as it was a month ago. Maybe it will continue to fade.. we can only hope.

We have had a couple of wonderful days of rain. The sound of it on the roof and the smell in the air were glorious.

If you are looking for a wonderful Christmas gift... easy to make and can be made of recycled materials... here it is... I really like this site called tiny happy.com.

I Think I Remember Now...

why I have never really taken up knitting... If I put it down, I can never tell by looking at the stitches on the needles where I am.. It's not that I can't do the stitches, it's that I get so frustrated and always just start over... after a while the whole piece just gets put down and forgotten. Which is a real shame... I love knitted work... the way it looks and the way it feels. This swatch was done a couple of days ago to see if I could keep up with the pattern that has been put on firefly's blog for her knit-along. It's a very easy pattern and I have enjoyed knitting it. Then I tried it using a larger yarn and longer cast-on and the moment I put it down mid-row to talk to my DH... that was the moment it ended... I could not recognize the stitches to tell where I had stopped. Any words of wisdom?? tips?? advise??

What's Your Element?

I found this little ditty on Pat Winter's site and had to try it...grin

Your Element Is Water

A bit of a contradiction, you can seem both lighthearted and serious. That's because you're good at going with the flow - but you also are deep. Highly intuitive, you tune in to people's emotions and moods easily. You are able to tap into deep emotional connections and connect with others. You prefer a smooth, harmonious life - but you can navigate your way around waves. You have a knack for getting people to get along and making life a little more peaceful.

What's Your Element?

October....already

We went to breakfast yesterday. There was a man standing in the front door and as we walked past him my first instinct was to say "Excuse me!" .... and then I realized he was a Wal-Mart full size figure of a dread pirate holding a plate of candy! As we came on inside, the edges of the ceiling were hung with spiders; there was a severed hand moving itself all around the floor; the pumpkin in the corner had Dracula rising every couple of minutes..... where has the year gone? Halloween is around the corner....

I have to admit that this is the first year in a long time that I am quite happy to be done with. I feel like I have spent all year with restricted activity due to illness of one kind or another and I am so very ready for all that to pass on to another dimension (or whatever!)

These are the last two of the painted eggs until I get to the feed store to buy more. It looks like the cloisonne' pen will have to be ordered since the art store here does not carry them. The owner said he could order them for me, but I have to check and see if Dick Blick is less expensive.

Doll #1 (as in First Try!)

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try to make my own doll. (I don't know why..) So I took a pencil and drew off what I thought looked like one on a piece of muslin. I folded the muslin, pinned it so it wouldn't slide around and sewed around the doll outline. By gently pulling the front forward and the back backwards, I sewed a dart from the chin to the top of the belly on the front side. Then I cut a slit in the back and turned the doll inside out (... which is harder than it looks as the arms and legs are very small!) I stuffed the arms and legs individually, sewing across the groin and armpit area as each one was stuffed. Then I stuffed the head and body, closing the open slit by handsewing it using a slip stitch. Here is another example of trying to get rid of that Homespun yarn... By pulling out the cotton thread that keeps the Homespun together, I found that it makes a very soft fluff that is great for the hair. After a couple of false starts (sounds better than "have no idea what I am doing") , I found that by combing out lengths of the yarn, it would hold together and could be sewn onto the head. Now... I looked at it for a while and could not find any inspiration to continue. So I crocheted the little dress to fit it. Something was still not right. The face I painted on it was awful. Then I decided to paint it white... the whole doll. (Should be done before the hair... just so you know!) So today, I decided to try another face... then I decided to paint on clothes...the clothes looked funny against the white...so I painted the body again.. pink this time... So here we are... having to wait for the paint to dry... Will update in a day or so... (grin...fun project)

My New Favorite Book

I found this book on a half price table at the local used book store. It just reached out and grabbed me, so of course I bought it... and as they say, the rest is history. I have done a search online and find that Amazon.com.uk has a list of 38 books written by Mary Jo Hiney and they are all like this...

The ideas inside are so lovely I just want to lock myself in my workroom and stay until I do them all. Each piece has complete instructions and patterns showing exactly how to make the article. But... they are not quite as easy as they look and some of them are quite time consuming.

I finished this little girl ornament yesterday but it has had a few modifications from the pattern. That's the beauty of these patterns...they lend themselves to whatever you personally want to do with them. I will be making more...