Smalls SAL Finish

I finished my first Smalls Stitch A Long project for the year. I've made attempts each month but haven't finished anything before this month.

I started the Assisi Love Bookmark on June 26 and finished it July 29. It has 2422 stitches. 

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

TUSAL and A Finish

I'm a day late with my Totally Useless Stitch a Long photos.

My yarn orts. These are the ends from the Wool Eater, two baby blankets, and 73 yo yos I made at convention.

My thread orts. The only stitching I did this month was for the Smalls SAL. That's all the red and purple at the top. But I finished it in time!! Woo hoo! I'll post a picture of my first finished cross stitch project for the year tomorrow.

I finished the round ripple baby blanket. It's a little ruffly; I'm trying to decide if I want to block it or not.

It's a gray day. Not much going on.

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Peaches!!

I feel like I have peaches coming out my ears!

We've given away three bags of peaches. Eaten peaches as snacks. Made 12 jars of jam. Thrown away peaches that rotted or got eaten by bugs or snatched by the dogs.

And that 8-quart bowl of peaches in the first pic is what I picked today! There are at least that many still on the trees waiting to ripen a little more.

I'm not complaining; I think it's very exciting. I'm just getting tired of seeing peaches!

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/steve-maraboli-the-healthy-empowered-life/a-great-life/

 

Monday Musings

 I finished the baby blanket for my Half Knits crochet group. It's 36 inches square. I still need to finish the round ripple, and I think I have enough yarn for one more blanket. Now I have to find a good pattern. There are so many to choose from. Any suggestions?

Alex is starting to smile more in pictures. She has the same smirky grin as her daddy :-) She's sleeping through the night about half the time. And she's finally getting some hair in the front; you can just see her little blond peach fuzz in this picture.

Tim, Alex and I drove down to Waxahachie on Saturday; Hope decided to stay home and rest. We walked around downtown and enjoyed being outside in the middle of the day. I don't think the temperature was higher than 80.  It was overcast, and I thought these clouds looked cool with the sun behind them.

We drove around in the country for awhile, looking at houses. We like to do that. This one really caught our eye. Yes, that's a horse on the front stoop. Only in Texas!

I prepared my sample for our ladies ministry craft day that's coming up next week. I took a composition notebook

 and turned it into a prayer journal. Or it could be a gratitude journal.

This is the back of the notebook. I thought it should be pretty, too.

The only problem was the craftermath. Oh, well. Fun has its price.

Source:http://rustyroostervintage.blogspot.com/search/label/Arts%20and%20Crafts

That was my weekend. How was yours?
Thanks for reading.
Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Source: https://gratitudehabitat.com/living-in-gratitude-a-friend-is-someone-who-knows-the-song-in-your-heart/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=living-in-gratitude-a-friend-is-someone-who-knows-the-song-in-your-heart

Currently

CURRENTLY

It's Sunday, July 20, 2014, at 7:41 a.m.

LISTENING
To a TV sermon that Tim's watching, Alex making small waking-up noises in the bedroom

EATING
Nothing
 

DRINKING
Coffee with cream and sugar 

WEARING
A gray striped night shirt with coffee cups on it, purple lounge pants covered in owls

FEELING
Not quite awake (although I've been up since 4:30)
 

WEATHER
Sunny but cool; only 68 degrees (it is July in Texas, right?)
 

WANTING
Breakfast
 

NEEDING
To go take a shower 
 

THINKING
About the day ahead, about the devotionals I read this morning, about a possible work trip next year (mind's all over the place this morning!)

Thanks for reading.
Blessings

Today's Inspiration

Source: http://tsuzanneeller.com/2014/07/08/you-and-god-does-god-know-you-exist/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+archive/uJCA+%28Suzanne+%28Suzie%29+Eller,+P31+Ministries%29

 

Challenges #19 and #20

My challenge for last week asked the question, "Have I ever crocheted something I saw on TV or in a movie?" No, I haven't. So I'm supposed to find a pattern I like and link to it. 

Ali from Random Wooliness mentioned the afghan on Big Bang Theory as one of her favorites. I've never seen the show, so I went to Google. The afghan is a traditional granny with small, four round squares, the last round being black. I found a step-by-step tutorial on A Simple Stitch. I know how to make a traditional granny afghan, but I really liked her reference to needing a "crap-ton of Red Heart Scraps". I have those :-) 

I've added it to my To Make Pile and plan to start as soon as I finish a couple of smaller WIPs. It would make a nice Christmas gift for someone.

Which leads us to this week's challenge: planning Christmas projects. Eek! I don't want to hear Christmas in July. But did you know there's only 161 days until Christmas? In a crocheter's time language, that's not a lot!

I don't have any concrete plans on what to crochet this year, but there are a few things I'd like to make:

Source: http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/granny-tree-skirt

Granny Tree Skirt. We lost our tree skirt somewhere in the move, so I need to replace it. 

Source: http://www.bestfreecrochet.com/2010/11/14/granny-square-green-christmas-stocking/

Stockings. Hmm, I'm seeing a trend here :-) My grandmother made me a stocking like this when I was born, and I still use it. When I told Hope last Christmas that I wanted to make one for the Bean, she thought that was a great idea. She also wants one, so I have two to make.

Simple Snowflakes. These are the ones I made a couple of years ago. They're quick to crochet and make nice ornaments.

Our church donates hats and scarves to the children's home in Waxahachie, so I want to make some of those.

That's probably all I'll attempt this year. I'm sticking to the simple and basic patterns until Alex gets older, My crochet bucket list item on wanting to crochet advanced patterns will have to wait.

Thanks for reading. 

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Source: http://thegreyconcept.tumblr.com/image/53209495347

Crochet Quiz from Sarah Sweethearts

Through Debi at Dly's Hooks and Yarns, I found Sarah Sweethearts. I love discovering new blogs :-) Sarah's hosting an InLinkz quiz with the following questions. Hop on over and join; it's fun!

Are you a multi crafter?

Yes. I crochet,

 I scrapbook and make cards,

and I cross stitch.

Do you like to knit or crochet more?

Crochet. I haven't learned to knit yet.

What is your favorite brand of yarn?

 Red Heart Super Saver. I love all the colors and the price.

Striped, variegated or solid?

Solid and variegated. I'm not sure what striped is.

How long have you been crocheting/knitting?

A little over 3 years.

Your preferred hook size?

Lately, the H hook is my go-to size.

Acrylic, wool, cotton or blends?

Acrylic and cotton.

Do you like a regular handle or a thicker handle...such as a wood covered, clay covered, etc.

I like a regular handle for larger hooks 

and a thicker handle for tiny hooks used when I crochet with thread.

Do you donate or gift most of your items? 

I donate most of what I crochet. 

What sort of charities do you donate to?

Mostly baby-related.

I donate to the Guardian Grandmas

and I've started some hats for CLICK for Babies.

It's also been on my heart to make some items for Forever Warm and Calvin's Hats. These 

organizations provide items for stillborn infants.

What is your main reason for being a yarn/textile enthusiast?

I love being able to make something with my hands, and the act of crocheting

is very therapeutic for me.

 What hook size do you not have in your collection?

I think I have all of the regular size hooks. 

But I think I'm missing some of the thread size hooks.

How did you learn?

I took a class at my church.

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Tickled Thursday

I really admire people who exercise on a regular basis. I admire them, but I don't want to be them.

Source: http://myhoneysplace.com/my-favorite-quotes-17/1235877_431379030305345_1687932443_n/

Source: http://myhoneysplace.com/my-favorite-quotes-4/376063_471445489592580_964647810_n/

Source: http://www.someecards.com/usercards/unsubmitted/MjAxMi1iZDc4NGViNDg0MmQ0ZTQ3

Source: http://myhoneysplace.com/my-favorite-quotes-13/1150966_526644947408368_1110463482_n/

Had to really laugh when I saw this one. I actually own one of these! 

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

No WIPs Just Words

With our convention last week and playing catch up this week, I haven't hardly picked up a crochet hook. And my cross stitching is starting to gather dust. I need to start scheduling craft time into my day.

I'm relearning how to type with one hand. Funny how once you learn to type, you forget how to hunt and peck. At least I have. Why am I typing with one hand? Because my Bean has entered The Super Cling Stage. As long as I'm holding her, she's happy. This is new to me. Hope was not a cuddly baby; she didn't like to be held for long periods of time. And when she was 7 weeks old, I was back to work full time. I don't mind holding her all the time, but eventually I have to do those necessary things like cook, clean and go to the bathroom. Then I incur the wrath of Pterodactyl Baby.

Speaking of stages, we had a milestone this week: sleeping through the night! Woo hoo! (trumpets blowing, cymbals clashing, confetti flying) Monday night, Alex slept all night. Only one wake-up Tuesday night, then all night sleep last night. Ah, sleep. How I've missed you :-)

Over at Daisy Cottage Designs today,  you can print out a cute sign that says Home is Where the Yarn Is. I printed one and taped it to my yarn cabinet. 

Our peaches are ripe. I found a peach jam recipe that I'd like to try. I've only made freezer jam before so this will be an interesting experiment.

I'm making Mini Chicken Pot Pies for dinner tonight. The only things I do different are I cook the chicken all the way through before adding it to the mix but I throw the peas in frozen.

That's it for today. Nothing exciting. 

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Source: http://www.bloglovin.com/viewer?blog=5060373&post=1335589311

Two Tuesday

Source: hooksandyarns.blogspot.com

Two Things I'm Grateful For:

1. Our Church. When we first started attending, I was a little apprehensive. It's very small (we have about 30 members at the most). But I've learned small can be a good thing. You get to really know everyone in the church, and, over the last seven months, they've become more like family. They love our girls as much as we do (and enjoy spoiling them!), and they help us out in so many ways. We're very blessed to have them in our lives.

2. Premier Designs. When I tell people what I do for a living, I get a lot of different responses, not all of them positive. But that's OK. I know people have had bad experiences with sales and home shows. I try to show them that what I do isn't about the jewelry; it's about the blessings Premier has given us these last 8 years: being able to be a stay at home mom, being able to homeschool, having a better relationship with my husband, and having a relationship with God, just to name a few. That's why I love going to our big conventions every year; I get to really see the heart of Premier.

Update: Holley Gerth wrote a beautiful post about meeting some of our jewelers. You can find it here.

Two Patterns I Think Are Neat:

1.Bikini Swimsuit Bag

I usually only link free patterns on Tuesdays, but I think this is so cute. It's worth breaking my rules. It only costs $2.50, and the entire amount goes to an animal shelter (another reason I'm linking it). 

2. Seaside Wrap

This one is a free pattern. It's beautiful and would be great for the beach.

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Monday Musings

Ah, back to normal life. I love going to National Rally, but it's exhausting.Very long days and not much sleep at night. But we enjoyed visiting with all the suppliers and missionaries.

It was an average size crowd with around 7000 attendees.

It was great to see our friends from Florida.

We had Holley Gerth as one of our guest speakers. It was nice to meet her; I bought several of her books as gifts and she signed them.

And I always love the patriotic tribute on Saturday. 

The best part is hearing from the company that they love us and God loves us. Our conventions are never about sales and numbers; they're always a way to inspire us and remind us what's important in life.

Hope and Alex stayed with friends from church. Hope went bowling and swimming, had a sleepover with a friend, and ate at her favorite restaurants. Alex came home with new clothes and a couple new toys. 

That's about it. I'm cleaning the house and putting away all the stuff that managed to get spread all over during the last week. 

Thanks for all the nice comments about The Wool Eater. My neighbor loved it. 

Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration