New

 A new placement for an old picture I have had for years.  Do you think anyone will notice that Brett Favre's jersey has been moved to the hallway upstairs?

 A new project that I hope will bring back my knitting and crocheting mojo.

 New flowers on my table, can't wait to see them when they open up.

 A new rain shower that will help my flowers grow.

 Newly pruned bushes, now for some weeding.

A brand new shirt I found yesterday in the clearance section of the store near me, total cost $2.00.  It is sheer and beautiful, I am in love.

 New raspberries bought at the store today, they are almost gone.

New reading glasses to go with my new ocean tide and sea salt candle.  At the brave age of 48 I have given in and bought myself some readers, suddenly things were getting very hard to see.  I guess not everything new is exciting.

What is new with you today?

A Finished Ripple

 Thanks for all the well wishes, you blogging friends are just the best.  I think that if you all lived closer I would have had several pots of chicken soup left at my door step.  After a good bit of bush pruning, a mid afternoon nap, and eight hours of sleep I am feeling somewhat better.  I am still coughing, but my spirits are up.

 I am going to drench your senses with some color here for a few pictures.  Hope you don't mind.  It
will all make sense in a bit.

 I have been longing for color, for Spring to spring its beauty on me.  I love color but live in a home that is more muted with jewel tones.
 

This is what I have been seeing, day after dreary day.  Never again am I going to work on something that matches, rather than something I like.  And I am sure I am going to need a reminder or two from all of you to keep me on course.

My ripple is done, finished, complete, and I am over it.  It measures 50 x 64 inches.  13 large stripes made up of nine individual rows each.  2,340 yards of Plymouth Encore yarn was used to crochet this baby up.  That brings my total yardage for the year up to 3,640.  Not bad for seven completed projects.

 I am sure it will be nice to cuddle with when it is cold out.  But right now I feel like putting it in time out, like I do with other projects that aren't behaving.  It isn't the ripples fault, no the fault is entirely mine.  Boring colors = boring projects.  It is as simple as that.

 So what is next?  Maybe this raglan from The Best of Knitscene.  I know it is gray and not all that vibrant, but gray is my favorite color to work with by far for a knitted or crochet garment.

Something else happened the last few days to brighten my week.  I have been selected for several awards.  I want to thank Taci, Shari, and Elisabeth for thinking about me and nominating me for these awards.  You see I get a bit shy when I win an award, I am not sure why but I  am.  I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.  Please pop in and visit these lovely, creative and very giving women.

Some more color just for you.  Happy Sunday.

Sorry Saturday

I am having a sorry Saturday, and it isn't even 8:00 in the morning.  I think most of my week has been just like this.  I think the last few weeks have done me in, I am tired and feel wiped out emotionally and physically.  And to make matters worse I have a stinking cold that has made my lungs not very happy.  Not a horrible cold and flu that so many of you have had, just an annoying one that drains your energy and makes life a bit miserable.  This is what happens to me when I run around too much taking care of others, I should know better but it happens every time.  So my mojo is gone, finished, ca-put, and said farewell a few days ago.  I think I used what little energy I had on my new space, it has been downhill since then.

I don't have anything new to show you.  But I do have a few things from a week or two ago. 

This is the Lighter Than Air Peasant Top found at My Gramma Said.  This is a great blog I found through Pinterest.  The designer made this shirt from up-cycled t-shirts.  I didn't have a men's t-shirt available, so I hiked off to Target, found the gray one on clearance and there you go.  The white one was from Joann's and cost a whopping $3.25.  You would think with all the men I have surrounding me an extra shirt would be easy to find.

It was a fun little project and the designer is right, these shirts are lighter than air, I'll wear them a lot this spring and summer.

White is hard to see on a white door I know, but I didn't have the energy to take it outside for a photo shoot.

I also found these little felted bags at Joann's when I was there the other day.  I wondered how needle felting would work on a felted item.  I learned a lot making this little bag for my friend Cathy.  You just need a tiny bit of felt to create the colors, much less that when making a three dimensional object.

Elementary I know, but I have to remind myself I am just learning and exploring.  When I look on Pinterest I am in awe of the creations people make out of fiber, such intricate sculptures, oh my!

I made a little bag (not pictured) for my sister Claudia, just for fun.  She can use it to put her knitting needles or crochet hooks in, or not use it at all.  I always send her stuff I make, sort of like when I was in elementary school and I would bring home a project for her, maybe you never lose that quality even at the age of 48.

I have 5 more rows of my ripple blanket to make it to the finish line.  I have to force myself to do it.  What was I thinking choosing colors to match my room rather than colors I like to work with?  This blanket has been torture from the first stitch.  I will post a finished picture soon, as soon as I make myself sit down and finish it. 

Hope your Saturday is great.

Cork-board Makeover

Thanks for all your lovey comments on my space, gosh I have to tell you I am in love with it.  It has the nicest energy.  It is so me, filled with things I love and unspoken possibilities.

While at Joann's the other day I found a cork-board and thought be fun to play with.  I had fun with a little makeover for the board, want to see?

Grab a cork-board without a frame.

Cut some fabric wide and long enough to wrap it around the board.

I pulled it taut and taped it in place.  Then using a staple gun I stapled all around the board, making corners when necessary.

I cut four pieces of ribbon the same length, just about the length of one corner to the opposite corner.  Do you recognize the fabric?  Those pillow cases I bought at Target have really come in handy.

I placed the ribbon where I wanted it.

Then stapled it down.

I stapled it down in the corners, then glued pretty buttons over the staples on the front.

When all was dry, I mounted it on the wall.  Easy Peasy.

Hope you are having a great day.

Revised Space

I am so glad you all liked my new space.  Well yesterday I did some tinkering and made it even better.  I am so excited I feel like squealing.  When I woke up this morning I peeked in and just smiled and smiled.  Space to play in, just for me, well I do have to share the computer for those times when a laptop isn't just perfect.  I don't have a laptop but the other members of my family do.  I figure the more girly and crafty I make the room, the less the men in my family will enter it!

What to see the updates?

I took out the very cheap brown shelf that held my felting supplies.  I moved the printer back and the computer modem out from under my computer table.  It was too tight and confined for me. 

 

I bought a cheap shelf from Target and placed my felting supplies here.  I moved some books and added a few decorative things from around the house.  The shelves don't match but who cares?

This is a painting Mr. 19 year old did his Junior year in high school.  I love it.

My sheep are hiding some office equipment needed so we get high speed internet.

Stepping back, a broader view.

While at Target I spotted these clearance pillow cases. Hmmm a quick ironing, cutting, creating a seam and a hem, and we now have covers for the sewing machine and serger. But what to do with the other pillow case?

I bought an inexpensive shadow box, covered the back with the pillow case fabric and mounted the beautiful picture Monica painted.  I won this in her give away last Spring.  I have had trouble finding a mat and frame to fit the 7 x8 size.  This is perfect and can be changed very easily.

When standing behind the computer and pivoting just a bit the the right this is the view out of the office/craft space. I am in love, happy, giddy in love.  I just may never leave.  Now today I have to do things around the house, boring cleaning and catching up.  I have used all my time on this room.  But if I hurry up and get everything done, take care of my Dad's cats and make a quick visit to make sure my parents are okay, I may have some time to create! 

Look what I woke up to today.  Frost!  It is the chilliest morning of the year.  Max was quite fascinated as his paws crunched on the grass this morning. It is supposed to warm up to 60 degrees today so it won't be here for long.

If you are enjoying a three day weekend, hooray for you.  I am enjoying today off, but went to work on Saturday so still only two days off for me. 

Have a great day.

A New Space

Oh my blogging friends it feels like so long since I have written to you.  And do you know what?  I really, really missed you.  I hope the feeling is mutual.  When I am so busy, or better yet so distracted that I can't blog, I know I am in trouble.  Things have been hectic here.  So this is a catch up post I hope you don't mind.  

My Mother as you know is in a nursing home.  She had an episode two weekends ago where we thought she might be starting her journey away from us.  After a couple days she rallied and is now back to her, "normal".  Right after that my Dad had some back pain, which is not unusual for him.  By the next morning he was calling 911 and taken to the ER.  He ended up having a pulmonary embolism, and at the age of 89 that is awfully scary.  He is now receiving rehab in the same nursing home as my Mother.  Actually he is in the room right next door to her.  I am thankful my Mother has short term memory loss because I think my Dad is probably driving her a bit batty.  My Father, while a good man is very, and I repeat very hard to deal with. This has all been weighing on me.  I am taking care of his cats, visiting, and cleaning his place, all while trying to keep up at home and work.  My sister Claudia has been trying to keep me from going insane by making me laugh at all my Dad's absurd behavior.  She is much, much better at this than I am.  And she is much, much more patient with him and all his crazy shenanigans. Thank God for Claudia, I could not do this on my own.

Okay onto more fun things to talk about.  I HAVE A NEW SPACE!  Yes I am screaming, screaming for Joy that is. This past year my husband had decided to close his chiropractic practice after 26 years.  He is tired of fighting with insurance companies about getting basic care for his patients.  It was a shock, one that put me in a very scary place for a while, but we are working through it.  Remember we have a child going to college in another state, he is a swimmer so his scholarship money is not all that hot.  My husband is now working for a non-profit organization and is happy.  But he now works from home, A LOT (yes screaming again, but not so much from Joy).  I mentioned that he might want to move his office upstairs where his exercise bike is so he can have some privacy.  Yes, that statement should be interpreted as I need my space!  He finally, after a lot of thought, figured out this might be a good idea.  This past week he got a new desk, shelves and such and moved out of our office.  I am now claiming this space as my own.  I was so busy yesterday, moving and cleaning.  It is a space in progress, but I am so excited to show you I can't wait.  Want to peek?

This is what you see when you turn into my office/space.

All my knitting and crochet books are in one place.  I went through my books and only kept the ones I really wanted and will be taking the extras to knitting group.

Next to the book shelf is my sewing/craft table. I can needle felt, sew or just sit here, hooray!  Gracie, your mug is holding my pencils and pens.

Stepping back from my table and pivoting to the right is this big antique shelving unit.  There is a two inch clearance on both sides, a tight fit but I don't care.  It houses just a tiny portion of my yarn.

It has my circular needles, and beads, my double pointed needles and lots of beautiful yarn.  The rest of my yarn is still in bins in my closet.  I will keep them there until I can use the closet in the office,  Right now I have shelves of toys and puzzles for my work in there. When I retire in a few years this will be my yarn closet, ooooh maybe I need to retire faster than I thought.

Next to my table is a fun place to hang a few things dear to me, Taci do you see your sheep?

The shelves above the table house some of my favorite sheep items and a few other things.  Those are my baby shoes located under a picture of Max my Father painted. Monica's 
beautiful heart is hanging from the shelf.

My Great Grandmother's china with a sheep peeking out.

I have always wanted to display my needles and hooks.  I will make some nice crochet cozies for these holders soon.

A space for my needle felting supplies is located behind the craft table.

As you turn further around here is the computer where I do all my blogging,  it is a bit cramped but I don't care.  My youngest came in and said, "What have you done?  It looks weird in here."  Oh Sweet boy, I made this space my own, and if you think it is weird then you will be spending a lot less time in here.  Not that I don't love him and all, but he has a laptop, a bedroom and a playroom to play his video games in, and watch TV.  This is a space of my own, and it is HEAVEN.