Mom&Daughter_Crafters_Extraordinaire

January Scavenger Hunt

2012-02-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

January 2012 Picture Scavenger Hunt, to see more go to Postcards from the P.P.

Entry Way to my Weather Forecaster (which is incorrect, as it was raining today, the rainy day man almost never comes out anymore)

Information

Blur (I had a hard time trying to get the picture to blur when I wanted it to) This is outside my bedroom windows, I have two hearts hanging on the left window, and a tree and a heart hanging on the right one.

Warning on my husband's deoderant can

Odd--this is three (odd) peas in a pod magnet

Mess--some Christmas stuff that needs to be repacked and put away, plus some markers and crayons, in the very back is paperwork to be shredded.

In Season

In My Bathroom

Company--In the company of friends

Soft--Bathrobe

In the Distance--a picture of a lady sitting on a hill looking across the water in the distance

Wool Eater and Rednesday

2012-01-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

Here is my progress from the Wool Eater CAL. This started last Wednesday. The schedule was to crochet 6 rounds (12 actual rounds, as it takes two rounds to complete one color). It took me Wed, Thur, and Friday to complete the rounds. Then I worked on my other WIP's.

Here are my pictures of the first 6 rounds. The colors look very bright, I took the pictures around sunset outside on my ivy. Top picture is the front and the second picture is the back.

Here it is Wednesday again I haven't checked the schedule for how many rounds for this week, but I started crocheting on it today during my crochet break. I spent about 3 hours on it so far. See in this picture it doesn't look as bright, this picture was taken inside after dark. You can't tell as much differences in the orange and coral in this picture, I think it shows up better in the first week pictures. Today I added shades of red (Happy Rednesday) I completed the maroon round, only about half way around the first round of red. I think I am adding greens next.

I have already made several mistakes on this blanket (have you heard of making a mistake somewhere on a project so it is not "perfect"? Well I already have two that are still in there and one that I had to FROG in the maroon after I had already started the next red. Sadly two of the mistakes were made today (I don't know where my brain was) One mistake was made during the first week. That mistake was I only had 11 stitches instead of 12 in one corner. I worked that out by just going around one of the posts twice so it was okay from that point on!! Now I'll tell you the third mistake next I accidentally crocheted 8 stitches in one of the corners instead of 12. I'm so happy to say it was the last corner before joining rounds, so I didn't have to take out the red that I had already started on except where the mistake was. Luckily I had a long enough tail so I didn't have to reattach more yarn to complete that round.

Here's a picture of my second mistake. As you can see in my first two pictures I was very good and put under all my ends. Well I was having a problem crocheting in between the stitches when I got to where I tied off my ends. Of course at the time I didn't realize what the problem was. Plus I didn't see what happened as a result of it until I was looking over it and wondering why this one section was sticking up funny. Further investigation showed what happened and why it was hard to crochet in this one section. When tying in my ends I had pulled the stitches together. So you can see where on the one it looks like I have a row of blue and then the red, I ended up going under the area where I had sewn my ends under leaving that extra blue row and leaving it sticking out in a funny way. Lesson learned, I will not sew in my ends from the last round completed until the next round is added. Now for my final slight frustration in the following picture...

See two hooks?? The wonderful clover one that allows me to crochet for long periods without the arthritis in my hand to act up. Well the whole first week I used that hook and struggled thru the part where you have to have so many loops on your hook at one time. Okay I made it, after struggling with the first round today, and realizing the more I get into this the more struggling I will be doing. I got out my next favorite hook which is a susan bates, however soon after I start crocheting I have to stop and take breaks, frequent breaks. But that is okay, I love this blanket pattern and being part of this CAL. And I look forward to the second part of the color round when I can put down the susan bates hook and use my clover hook. So at least I get a break in between rounds.

To see more red go to It's a Very Cherry World
Hugs to all
Rene'

Crochet Contest

2012-01-15T20:54:00.000-08:00

I participated in a crochet contest at Elisabeth Andree's About Crochet Blog. I chose to make a pillow cover, mine came out about 13"x20". I used two of the variations of the ch.sc stitch, mostly the first variation and added in the second variation here and there. I used Bernat Softee Chunky in three different colors: Light Taupe, Grape and Too Purple (although in my pictures I believe the colors look like blues instead of purples. The recommended hook size for this yarn was U.S J/10 or 6mm, I used U.S I/9 or 5.5mm, I wanted my stitches closer together with not too much gap since it was a pillow cover. I ended up using the stitch back and forth in rows, then also added it as a border, which was a bit of a challenge as I needed more rows on the sides than the top and bottom on one side and on the other side I needed more rows at the top and bottom and only one row on the sides, I'm happy to say what I pictured for the border did work out nicely after a few trial and errors. One side of my pillow the stripes are horizontal and the other side are vertical and I purposely tried to be random with different lengths and widths of stripes. I sewed the two long sides together and I sewed 3 buttons on each side of the short sides. I used the chain one space as a button loop, worked out great. I hope it is okay that I posted it on Sunday, instead of Saturday, somehow I had the deadline in my head as the 15th.

Thanks for introducing me to a new stitch, I'm already thinking of more ways to use it. I think it would make a great baby blanket, and my mom wants me to try to make a hat pattern from this stitch. It was lots of fun.
René

2012-01-14T11:18:00.000-08:00

Continuing with my Pansies from Rednesday, I want to share some pink pansies and another pink flower still blooming this winter.

Here are pink pansies that my grandma bought this year. She bought them from a school fundraiser, and she liked their pansies so much she said that is where she wants to buy them from now on, if they do it again next year. They had such different pansies than we had ever seen before.

And then here is one picture of an impatient that was still blooming towards the end of December.

Happy Pink Saturday to everybody, and to see more Pinks visit Beverly's Pink Saturday

René

WIP's Crochet and Knit

2012-01-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

First let me say look past any yarn that you see hanging on, out of my wip's (works in progress) of which I have way to many, that is why I am listing them out, so I have a visual to see, and so I can make a plan on working on these wip's to get them to the complete F.O. (Finished Object) I have a very bad habit of leaving weaving of my ends till I finish a project. Which can be very overwhelming when you are complete only to look at all the ends to be put under.

Okay here I go, above is a granny rectangle that I started, after I came across a pattern.

Granny squares, two color, joined in white, I think it was going to be either a cushion cover or my footstool cover. I still need both!!!

Again more granny squares, probably after I had found instructions about how to put a border on joined granny squares that stayed flat instead of rippling. This could be cushion cover or even a small blanket.

This would have to be for a cushion cover, as I don't have much more of that varigated purple, and purple is my favorite color.

This is a chair cover for my kitchen chair. It is plastic and it makes me sweat and in the winter it is cold. Still using a beach towel to sit on, and when my husband sits in my chair I have to pick up said towel from the floor and put it back on my chair.

I had an idea that I would like an afghan of this type square done all in white, as you see I have two done so far, this was started in the beginning of 2011.

Here is a shawl I am making for my mom. I was going to use a flower hexagon, but somehow decided on this star instead.

Here is a round ripple that I started I don't remember when. I did complete one as a baby blanket.

Here is a more recent wip, just started Wednesday for the Wool Eater CAL by Sarah London. It took me Wed, Thur, Fri to complete the 6 round for the CAL for this week. Above is the front (right side), and below is the back (wrong side). I've already had some people think the back is the front.

Below is a granny ripple, that I added one triangle to, I'll take that out, want to put a row of granny squares there instead.

Below my attempt at the Japanese Flower Blog Explosion, due to seeing Lucy (Attic 24) Shawl , then from Suz's Place came the idea to fill in the gaps. I hope I can remember what I did because it fit in there so nicely.

This was laziness, I was bagging up all my wip's and I bagged this one up and forgot to take a picture first, and I still had more pictures to take, and had already taken quite a few at that point. I folded it in half and in half again for it to fit in the bag. The date on the bag is just the date I attempted organization of wip's.

Don't remember what I was making out of this, but here are some lovely hexagons.

This is going to be an owl pillow cover, my mom likes owls, and this is the crochet version, there is also a knit version.

Below is a panel for a on the go afghan, after complete it rolls up and has handles for carrying it. Stopped working on it when I ran out of one color, will have to find another yarn that works with it, or redo in a color that I have enough of to make the afghan.

This is a scarf that started because I had this yarn in my room and I wanted to see how it was to knit with. So I cast on stitches and just started knitting, also just grabbed some handy knitting needles.

Below is my first attempt at Lucy's Granny Stripe.

Here is another very current WIP, this is a belated Christmas gift for a male family friend. I believe he will appreciate this.

I still have more works in progress to add, have to get some more pictures uploaded...I'll try to post part two on Monday.

Hugs, and a Happy Weekend to All!!!

René

2012-01-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here is my blue monday offerings for this week. This is a thank you card given for Christmas gifts received. I used some wallpaper samples and some scrapbooking paper. Also used aluminum foil and needle and thread. Got the idea for the card from pinterest. My favorite parts were wrapping the thread around the spool, attaching the needle and wrapping more thread around that, and sewing the words Thanks Sew Much.
Hope everybody is having a great Blue Monday : )
For more Blue Monday visit Smiling Sally here
Hugs,
René

Rednesday 2012

2012-01-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken on December 22, 2011. Pansies a usual winter flower, however quite unusual were the last few roses still blooming, the above picture was of the last bud. We only had one minor frost before these pictures were taken. Last night we had our first big frost for this winter, oh and we had snowflurries, the kind if you didn't happen to see the faint flurries for the very brief time they were falling, you wouldn't even know there had been any at all.

See lots more red over at It's a Very Cherry World

Hugs,

René

Looking a Little Like Christmas, But not Feeling like Christmas

2011-12-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures from little areas of our home.

Pine cone tree, ceramic tree, and almost tree shape from mini stockings

I am a nativity collector. I put several in the kitchen, den, computer room, my bedroom, bathroom, had to pack several of them away.

This is in the front hallway, on a bookcase. An advent tree, You put one ornament on the tree each day until Christmas. You can catch a glimpse of an angel my dad got me on one of his travels when he was on a ship in the Navy. She is stuffed with a crinkly outside material and she has a ceramic head. This elf that I found among my christmas stuff that we have had for years. And one cute snowman, me and my mom both adore snowmen.

I don't know why this one didn't come out clear. It is the cutest moose rowing a canoe, with a christmas tree in the canoe. this is on the door to the garage.

This is how my mom hangs the old german ornaments. On a line that my dad strung across from one plant hook to another. Some of these ornaments belonged to my Grandma. The red one with the green line around it has a leather strap to hang it from. The pink ornament pictured by itself is one of only a few left from when we lived in Italy. and I like the big red, green, purple and gold one even though my mom said she doesn't know where it came from!!! My favorites from the german ones are the pine cones and walnuts, and of course the little boys (not pictured, there is one in blue pants, pink pants and gold pants) and the angel.

My mom displays her cards across the curtain rods in the kitchen, excuse the very 70's wallpaper, Yikes!!!!

Here is a little flower arrangement that I made for my end table in the den. Also a very hard to photograph glass tree with glass ornaments, very fragile. That was a very lovely gift to me for the beginning of the holiday season. Also an above the door wooden painted santa that was a long ago gift to my mom.

A few decorations that are in my room, on one of my book shelves. If there is anything that I love to do besides crafting it has to be reading. Right now I am reading fiction books about quilting, and I want to try quilting something awful, but I am making myself wait until the new year!!! And just use the crafts I already know for the holiday season, which reminds me I am way behind, I'd better scoot!!!

Hugs, to all René

2011-12-04T06:46:00.000-08:00

To Little Blue Mouse, I want to sincerely apologize for taking so long to post this. I appreciated everything.

I put my name down for a pay-it-forward over at Little Blue Mouse and I received this wonderful package.

She had a whole year to fulfill her promise but she quickly fulfilled her obligations with all these lovelies.

Beautiful Packaging!!!

Love the Card

I was so excited to receive this beautiful needle case, Love it!!!!

And this draw string bag is just lovely. Also I received beautiful lavendar sachets and a wonderful thumb pincushion, which I didn't have pictures of for some odd reason, they were also lovely and very much appreciated.

The rules of the pay-it-forward are, that I need to find three bloggers who would like a handmade gift from me and who are prepared to do the same, and I have 365 days in which to do it.

If you want to participate all you have to do is just leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite colors. I will leave this open until December 15 and if more than three people are interested, names will be drawn from a hat.

I promise it won't take me a year!

Hugs,

René

Tomorrow I will be back with another swap post I am way behind on.

Also I have so many things I want to share I don't know where to start!!! I guess the first place is with time!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:25:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to share with you what I made for my Grandma for Thanksgiving

Here is the link to the turkey coaster/ornament

I owe several posts, received items, and a pay it forward post, also have several items to show that I have made.

Hugs,
René

Finally, a F.O. (Finished Object) Crochet

2011-10-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I finally have a finished crochet project to share. This is a wheelchair wrap that I made for a friend's friend.

It is such a nice pattern to work with. Then I made the flowers. The one on the right is from Bunny Mummy's website, she links to where she found the pattern. The other one I made a flower shape (the largest first, then made one a little smaller and stitched it on, then made one more smaller one and also stitched that one. Today I found the buttons to put on the front of the flowers.

I went searching for what edging I could use, ended up back at Bunny Mummy's and used her v-stitch edging. It went perfectly with the wrap because at each point in the wrap there is a v-stitch.

Here is the back of the wrap. I was trying to show the pattern in the wrap. It has open holes all along the bottom and also up the side, but it wasn't very easy to show in the pictures, and it was very sunny outside when I took these pictures.

I tried folding the wrap too, this might be the picture where you can see the holes in the pattern the best.

Here are close-ups of the two flowers and the backs. I did not use the same yarn to make the flowers that I used on the wrap, but I believe they coordinate very well, I didn't know how well until in these pictures the flowers blend in so to the wrap, especially the backs. Again I went searching about how I was going to put the pin backs on, looking for different options, seemed I remember seeing somewhere where the pin back where it gets sewn didn't show or was covered up after, but I couldn't find that way. Again Bunny Mummy and Attic24 had examples of pins they made and showed the backs (thank you ladies) so that is how I finished my pins, and I am very happy with the way they turned out.

I need to turn my crafting attention to making crochet items for a bazaar in November, and hats and scarves for the homeless, and any gift making I am doing. So I hope to have many more f.o to share soon. I will return to my WIP's in January, and see what I can turn into more f.o's!!!!!

Hugs to all,

René

small crochet tada

2011-09-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

I finished a small project. Too bad it wasn't one that I had already started. I started this on Monday and finished it yesterday.

Done in fall colors, followed Jacquie's hexagon tutorial part one and part two (which is wonderful)

To make a small pillow, wouldn't mind making a bigger pillow, I really like this pattern.

Ta-Da, finally one finished project, hopefully more to come soon!!!

Hugs,
René

August Scavenger Hunt Photos

2011-09-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

Thank you Kathy for hosting this fun. You can see more scavenger hunt photos here, scroll down for august because there are two months of linkys together.

Here are my August Scavenger Hunt Photos. I really had a hard time with several of the words. I had to use some creative interpretations. I am really looking forward to Septembers list. I think finding most of the pictures will not be as difficult as this months list for me.

1. a boat-- a cute figurine with two removable bears in it. The boy bear is serenading the girl bear.

2. a fountain--I wanted to find a fountain that was surrounded by stone, I know I have seen them, but could not think of where to find such fountain, so had to go with this, pass this several times a week generally in my travels.

3. a Picnic--above I set up a picnic inside, due to Hurricane Irene (with fake food, plastic strawberries, and a wax apple) This is a picnic set that I picked up at a thrift store or yard sale some time ago. It has plastic plates, plastic cups, metal silverware, table cloth and matching napkins, it all stores inside a zip-up backpack looking bag. Below just for fun a Yankee Candle figurine of an Ant Picnic.

4. Sports--This was the best I could think of. These are my husband's (the soccer one) and his brother's (the baseball one) wall hangers from when they were kids.

5. Bread--I like this plate, of the farmer preparing the wheat so the bread can be made. My mom made tea bread the other day, but I wasn't thinking about pictures at that time. I chopped up some dates today to make another tea bread, but did not accomplish the making the bread part yet.

6. Fabric--here is a small sampling of material. I forgot to take the material picture and was fixing up my pictures when I had to stop and add this picture to it.

7. market--did not get an opportunity to get a market photo. This is a picture of a cover of a book I read recently about a Flower Market.

8. mountains--there are not mountains in our immediate area, so the first thing that popped into my head was either mountains of yarn or laundry. Instead is a small mountain of started works in progress (wip), today I was trying to get yarn in order that goes with above projects, especially my giant granny for the cal.

9. a festival or funfair--this is a trivet of a Sicilian Cart Festival from Taormina when we lived in Italy in the 70's.

10. something ancient--TEAC Cassette player, this is all one piece but I had to take it in two shots. I was also going to take a picture of a record player (which alot of people do not even know what that is anymore), but I couldn't get to that.

11. something bizarre--this is a hand made sculpture, it is interestingly bizarre to me.

12. street food--a hotdog vendor, this is when I like bighugelabs photo fun, the hot dog vendor is my picture, but the 5 people are part of a billboard set-up.

Hugs,
René

Watching for Hurricane Irene and added pink saturday pics at the bottom

2011-08-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Watching for Irene, waterfront Portsmouth

Watching for Irene from a Park in Portsmouth, VA

Watching for Irene, checking the water, still looking pretty calm, I think the tide was just starting to come in as we were leaving the park. Couple people out on boats in the river. We have not yet had rain despite the dark looking clouds, saying on the weather probably not until about 9 pm for the beginning rainfall.

Still watching for Irene on the way home from the park. I'll try and take pictures tomorrow of the sky after the hurricane gets here.

See more skywatch here

Everybody on the East Coast, Stay safe.

Hugs,

René

To add to Pink Saturday, while getting ready for Hurricane Irene, I noticed a beautiful pink sky, ran in to get my camera. Don't know if we will have internet tomorrow, I'll check back if we do. To see many more beautiful pink pictures click here and visit Beverly

Blue Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday

2011-08-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

To visit Sally and more Blue Monday go here
To visit more Mellow Yellow Monday go here

For Blue Monday, pictures from a trip down to the pier on Sunday. This is looking from Portsmouth, VA to Norfolk, VA. Here is the Elizabeth River Ferry coming in towards the Pier.

For Mellow Yellow Monday, a trip to a doctor office in Suffolk provided pictures today. I was at a stoplight when I saw this statue of Mr. Peanut. Then we decided to stop in at the Suffolk Vistor's Center where I found this neat display of Planters Peanuts Mr. Peanut items.

Happy Monday

René

Another Wonderful Pink Saturday

2011-08-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday, I'm so glad for the success of last weeks Miracle Makeover. I was so glad to be able to participate. Here's my pink, I wanted to use pink material for the background, but had to settle for pink paper instead.

A beautiful clock with pink roses on it, two bunches of grapes made from shades of pink, and a cute girl with a bunny figurine of my mom's that I have always adored.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Pink weekend!

Hugs,

René

(you weren't supposed to catch a glimpse of the 70's wallpaper at the top of the photo, when enlarged you can see it, or maybe it is just noticeable to me, because I know it is there, I sat on the floor to take the picture and I thought I had held the camera at a good angle.)

Rednesday

2011-08-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

To see more red go to It's a Very Cherry World! Here's my red

A very red candle with two couples on it.
René

White Wednesday

2011-08-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

Milk Glass

Go here to see more White Wednesday

Watery and Outdoor Wednesday

2011-08-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Go here to see more Watery Wednesday Photos!

Go here to see more pictures from Outdoor Wednesday!

I played with Mosaics today. It was a beautiful day to be outside. In the midst of running errands I stopped by a local park to take some pictures of the outdoors and water in one stop shopping : ) Bunches of Geese and a few ducks in the water, in the shade, waking in and out of the water, too cute!

Oh, also a seagull walking, is it?? and a bird playing in a puddle from a different park on another day.

Hugs,

Rene'

Much Love Monday

2011-08-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Much Love Monday

A heart shaped dish cloth, I love things with hearts on them.

Mellow Yellow Monday

2011-08-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

see more yellow at Mellow Yellow Monday

Black-eyed Suzie

Blue Monday

2011-08-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you Sally for hosting blue monday

Beautiful Blue Sky, in the lovely mountain roads of Charlottesville, VA, what a beautiful area.

Pink Saturday A Little Late

2011-08-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

Thank You Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday.

This is a very special pink saturday because it is reveal day for Charlie's Miracle Makeover. Pink Saturday will remain open for linking through midnight August 18th. Your links and comments will continue to generate more donations toward the next Miracle Makeover through the 18th. Please visit Beverly's blog to find other participating blogs helping to raise money for this wonderful cause.

This is one of my teddy bears modeling a scarf and hat set, this one was one amoung many that was made for a charity that my mom supports. I was waiting, and waiting for this pink saturday and then it got away from me.

I have many blessings, and I use my gifts from God, to give back to people thru different charities.

Hugs,

René

Cooking and Baking Day

2011-08-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share some cooking and baking that I did, now it is old information as it was done on August 6. This is really the first chance I've had time to make a long post. Hope this is not boring, but I love seeing some of the food posts on various blogs and I took pictures while making this meal. Before I continue let me just state, I never claim to be a neat cook, and that goes double when I bake.

First I had to chop up two (well, one and a half) heads of cabbage, I saved the other half to boil.

I think three onions plus one red onion got sliced, not by me, I started out but quickly couldn't see to do the job, so had to seek out some help. I sauteéd them myself : ) They are looking good, I really like cooked onions.

Then I hunted out some celery, couldn't use a few of the outer pieces, but still had plenty for what I was making.

Next I had to add some diced tomatoes, I chose the ones with out seasoning because those they do not add sugar to (thats okay, I'm adding seasoning in a minute)

Always use the recipe secrets for this meal, but this is the first time I tried the bullion, next time I will stick to what I usually use which is container chicken broth.

Next I must add some liquid...the above top is just water, 8 cups I believe, then added vegetable juice 48 ounces I think. By now you probably know that this meal is going to be soup. Cabbage soup to be exact.

waiting for the soup to finish cooking

One more check before dishing it up for dinner.

Very good, I hadn't had this meal in ages, my husband requested it.

While this was cooking I had 2 zuchinni to use, so I found a recipe for zuchinni cupcakes. I got distracted and didn't get to take many in between pictures which you might be thinking (Good!!)

The first cup is how much I needed for one batch of the zuchinni cupcakes, the second cup is 3/4 cup of what I needed, so I reduced the recipe (not an easy job to reduce by 3/4's for me)

Next time I make these I will change 2 things, I will cook all batches in cupcake tins (the bread did not turn out quite as well as the cupcakes) and I will run the zuchinni through the food processor before adding. It tasted delicious, but the look of it I think will be more appealing.

While the cupcakes and bread was baking, I took the parts the recipe didn't call for (peel off the green and the seeds) so in the frying pan this went with a little olive oil to be lunch for me and my husband.

They were so good, they only lasted 2 days I believe, between 5 people.

So I know this is slightly out of order in a way. I made the cabbage soup first, then the cupcakes/bread, then the sauteéd zuchinni. However they were eaten in a different order. Zuchinni for lunch, had to test a cupcake after lunch. Cabbage soup for dinner, and cupcake for dessert.

Today I hope to be back with some more posts, I know I said that the other day, but it didn't happen.

Hugs

René

Rednesday First Post

2011-08-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

This is a handmade loom I made to participate in 52 crafts in 52 weeks. I know I still have much more weaving to do, it is fun and I look forward to seeing how it turns out when I get finished.

see more Red at Sue Loves Cherries

Be Right Back I have more to post, but didn't want to post it all together.
René

Joining Pink Saturday

2011-08-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the first Saturday I can post on Pink Saturday since I found out about it!!! I almost missed my chance.

Thank you Beverly for hosting a lovely pink day

Here are my favorite fuzzy slippers, mostly pink with other colors blended in. When just looking thru my pictures from the last 3 days there were plenty of pink pictures to pick from, but I had already decided on these slippers. Can't wait unil next Saturday...Decisions, decisions!!

Hope everybody had a lovely Weekend. I have several posts coming up for this week, one involving cooking and baking, until then

Hugs,

René

July Scavenger Hunt Photos

2011-08-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

Here are my photos for July. I had very much fun playing in the mosiac maker and other fun things you can do to your photos. I really want photo shop now!!!

Thanks Kathy for hosting, this is so much fun!!!

1. A Flag

2. A Kite

Didn't have a chance to be creative, so just took a picture of a book I want to read, Kite is in the upper right hand corner (Plus the word Kite)

3. A Celebration

My Dad's Birthday is in July

4. Fields

Top Two taken in July of a Cornfield

The bottom four were taken last year, from the Parkway overlook in Charlottesville, VA

5. Flip Flops

Two Flip Flop Keychains that I have, one is from VA and says Don't bother me I'm Crabby, and the other one is from NY Princess (A nickname I aquired)

6. Ice Cream

The picture of the ice cream is mine, It is really Italian Vanilla Custard, YUM!!!

7. Red White and Blue

I have been going thru our craft supplies and found these beads

8. Sea Shells

A few of the shells I own. The middle one says Hawaii. I have had that shell since about 1982!! Bought it while my dad was stationed in Hawaii.

9. Something that makes you happy

Fun Yarn (especially when I only paid $2.00 for all you see here), and my favorite crochet hooks to work with Clover ergonomic (really helps with my arthritis) My "I" was otherwise engaged!! I love to do lots of different types of crafts, but this is my main one I've been doing for a while now.

10. Stars

The top two pictures are actually taken inside at a candle factory. The whole area was decorated. This part like night with stars and another part actually was blue skies with clouds. The bottom two pictures are various craft stars I came across while going thru our craft supplies.

11. Strawberries

The top three pictures are of some plastic strawberries I have. Strawberries didn't have a very good season here this year. They were finished in early June. The bottom picture is a homemade strawberry ice cream pie, I had to stop my crocheting to eat this piece of pie.

12. Stripes

Two of my crochet wips, my giant granny and my granny stripe. In the middle is stripes I covered a vase with--striped leggings that I bought at the thrift store. I guess I should have turned the light on in the room. I thought with the window open it would have been light enough. I actually had to open my window (very hot outside), then my window sill (the part that you can't see unless the window is open was dirty, so this polka dot place mat came in very handy to disguise that, sssshhh!!

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Plus Knit/Crochet/Paper Craft

2011-07-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my grandma's pepper plant. All these stages were taken on the same day on one plant. These are some kind of long sweet pepper, they turn red, orange, or yellow.

Here are her two tomato plants, I can't believe how tall they are. It is hard to show because there is a evergreen tree behind them.

Here are some that were just picked this morning, YUM!!!

Fresh cucumbers from somebody else's garden, made into cucucmber salad by Grandma.

My Dad and Grandma went Peach Picking--YAY (Peaches are one of my favorite fresh fruits) This one grew together, makes an interesting picture.

Here was one of the Fresh picked peaches cut up, Fresh Picked Blueberries (a gift of two huge zip bags full) Yummy and a necterine (that was not picked fresh--store bought)

Still working on my projects, had to try out something with this wool.

Crocheted using the above wool

Here is my knitting project, this is what I learned to knit on. It is Lion Brand Shawl of Gratitude pattern. I have now completed almost 2 skeins of Softee Chunky yarn--it is grey and white twist.

It is a little over half way done. This is my carry with me pattern because I don't need to look at the pattern, you do one pattern on the first row and then you do one stitch across the second row and keep repeating.

Lastly I needed a creative way to present $7.50 as a prize (Bee Theme) So I made two flowers by folding one dollar bills. Four dollars on the first flower, 3 dollars on the second flower, the two quaters are crocheted into the yellow center of each flower. Then I put both flowers in a vase. And to enhance the bee theme I crocheted a yellow and black granny square and sewed it around the neck of the vase. I wish I took pictures of that but I didn't.

Giant Granny Square and a re-found granny stripe blanket

2011-07-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here is my progress on my Giant Granny Square Blanket Challenge. It is 32 rounds, and it measures about 35 inches. It is quite wavy I'll try blocking it when finished. I'm planning a row of light blue, a dark red and lighter red, and a dark yellow and light yellow, then that will complete 3 groupings of colors that I did. I think it will be about as wide as my bed when I finish the next 5 rows. Then I'm thinking about adding something different to my blanket so it can get taller but not too much wider. Stay tuned for that.

Sorry these pictures do not show the true color, the lighting was not to good in here.

My crocheted scissor case, I finally matched up the case to the scissors today. The case is made from a granny square and then folded and sewn together.

This is the first time since working on this blanket that I stopped before a round was finished, I usually like to finsh a row or round before stopping but I was feeling poorly last night, so I stopped and went to bed.

Love this picture, I got down on the blankets level to take this pic.

Folded up

Close ups of the rows taken in a different room.

Here is my Lucy Granny Stripe Blanket. I don't even remember how long ago I started this, but then I set it aside until I found more colors I wanted to use. I found the colors, then my stripey blanket was mis-placed. It is now waiting for the next rows which will be blues.

Close up of the lovely stripey stripes. The four rows of orange are two different oranges but it is a little hard to tell in the picture.

Here stripey-stripes meets the giant granny challenge. Must work on that one too, it is looking too puny and sad.

Till Next time

Hugs,

René

A random mosiac of my crafts

2011-07-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

I finally am learning a few things. I learned how to make a mosiac, I am sooooo excited!!! I love looking at Lucy's mosaics and Alice's mosaics and other mosiacs on blogs I visit. My goodness I can't believe how easy it is to do. Did I tell you that I am excited about this??? Oh, I think I did.

This is just a selection of pictures of my crafts from the last year or so. a fish ami, a crochet ring, a tote bag,

The bird and wreath inspired by Lucy, her patterns are great, a dish cloth, a dish towel, a market bag, a baby blanket, slippers and another dish cloth.

Well, I can't wait to do more with this mosiac maker, the possibilities are endless, however time is not. I'm off to work on a few more of my July Photo Scavenger Hunt Photos. I'll probably have to come back and post my progress on my Giant Granny Square Challenge blanket, and another wip blanket re-started, now that I have hunted out some bright colored yarns.

Hope your having a lovely day,

Hugs,
René

Progress on Giant Granny Square and sunset after the storm

2011-07-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here is my progress on my giant granny blanket. It is wonky, but that will be worked out after I am finished. Excuse my wrinkled sheets, should have put the comforter on, but it has flowers all over it and I wanted a solid background, I really tried to smooth the wrinkles out, not that it looks like it!!

Closer view, less sheet wrinkles, but you can't see the yellow round to good.

A beautiful sunset after the storm I blogged about the other day.

Hugs,
René

Is Friday here yet??

2011-07-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well, Here I am again. I am still trying to learn my way around this blog. I found a few ways to add pictures, add different fonts, colors, add a button. I still have a lot of work to make this blog look more attractive, but that will have to wait until another time. Hoping my mom will have a chance to blog soon, so you see it is mom and daughter, not just daughter : )

This picture was taken at a church. One day I saw a pair of geese walking up the hill towards the cross, I sure wish I'd had my camera that day, that was too precious.

These two pictures I had fun trying to take. It was extremely hot and the wind would blow, the flags were facing the wrong way, then I would move and the wind would stop blowing, then it would change direction, and then where I was the flags were again flying in the wrong direction. Took awhile, but finally got these two pictures.

The above two photos were taken at another church. I love the way they decorate with the flags for Memorial Day, Veterns Day, and Fourth of July. They have flags all along all flower beds, entrance, all around the church all spaced this far apart, I wonder how many flags they have out, probably hundreds.

These next photos are from a stop from todays adventures. Love the Lily Pads

Just a little while before these pictures it was pouring rain, now look at the sun shining on this water, almost blinding, (needed sun glasses!!)

I liked how the water droplets from the rain were sitting on the lily pads, and the little pink bud

Zoom In...Love the close up of the pink flower, and the reflections in the water

This just looked interesting how the sun was reflecting

Love this with the relections, and does that white part look like clouds??

Here is another bud, once I noticed the first flower, I realized there were many buds all over the water

These were very curious to me, guessing this is after the flower is done

More dry, turned into seed pods

maybe just beginning?? Sorry these pictures are out of order

Cat Tails!!! Another thing that mezmerizes me. I like how this picture turned out, with the lily pads in the background.

While I was safely inside before I took the lily pad flowers crocheting with friends, it poured and thundered. Took those pictures and drove home, pulled into our drive way and started seeing this on my windshield, Just made it.

Took a quick few pictures of the sky, then decided to come in before my camera got too wet. A while later poured again and more thunder and lightening.

Here's something I made last night. Inspired by several people. Soon I will work on links with my posts, but Idea from Bunny Mummy framed flower picture. I have wanted to try something like that for a time now, I made a card instead of a framed picture. I used the flower pattern from Love Raymond, the leaf pattern from Easy and the stem idea from Jacquie (except I had to make it longer) The middle of the flower is made from dark purple mohair and some sparkle(ly) can't get this word to look right. The petals are from two strands of mohair held together, It is really a bright pinkish color, but in this picture it looks red. The stem and leaves are made from a thicker mohair in an odd greenish color and red heart lime shimmer.

I punched a hole in the card where the crochet is and tied the pieces on. Then covered it with this paper, Unfortunately I had to tape the paper down, didn't have time to glue, and couldn't find the double stick tape, so I had to roll the tape. I think it turned out good, for a first attempt at adding crochet to a card.

More crochet pictures to add next time, I thought I was adding them today, until I realized I hadn't taken the pictures yet, OOOPPss.

Already having fun with the photo scavenger hunt for this month, (Need to add that button)

Hugs,
René

Yarn scraps

2011-07-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

this was an idea posted on someone's blog (sorry I don't remember whose right now) I made this for my grandma for Valentines Day. The example was stitched on a sewing machine, I however had to stitch mine by hand.

After I cut out the heart shape I taped the edges up really good with clear packing tape, then I used a hole punch and just punched holes randomly around and got lucky it came out even.

I made up the boarder as I went, if it didn't sit right I frogged it (don't know how many times I pulled it out) before I liked how it looked. When I went to bed that night actually I still wasn't convinced I liked it, until my mom said how nice it looked, and I had to make sure she wasn't just saying that to be nice!!! Because probably alot of people who make crafty items are always there own worst critic.

What's a little valentine's day in July. Gotta get to sleep, I'm way past due now

René

Granny Blanket Challenge and a bunny that lives in our neighborhood

2011-06-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the start of my giant granny square blanket from Angie's challenge from here: Lemonde de Sucrette's Blog I'm not as far along as she is, but I need to find some more colors that I want to use. I am using various acrylic yarn because that is what I have the most of in stash. Can't wait to see pictures of everybody's growing giant granny square blanket.

When I was taking pictures the other night for the scavenger hunt, there was a bunny in my neighbor's yard.

Here's the bunny running across the street, he heard some loud noises from the neighborhood children and decided he had to leave.

Hope to post again soon,

René

Scavenger Hunt June 2011

2011-06-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

1. A Childhood Memory
Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann, I've had these probably about as long as I can remember. So they are around 39 years old. I used to take them apart and play with them. I was going to take them apart to photograph them until I looked at the shape of the hands, the stitches and fabric are wearing out, so I decided to leave them together. Hugging is nice!!

2. A Farm Animal
I love this goat. He gave me such a hard time when I tried to take his picture. Every time I would walk toward him, he would turn and walk the other way. This was zoomed way in. I think he looks like he is smiling.

3. A Wheel Trim
This is the best looking wheel trim on my truck.

4. An Elephant
This is my second time trying to photograph this elephant statue, and I just can't seem to get a better picture. It is a metal elephant that I found packed up in our stuff. It had some rust on it, and so you might be able to see where I scrubbed the rust off, and that is when I realized it was made out of metal.

5. Architectural Detail
This was taken at a park in Northern Virginia. The top pictures are the log cabin and the bottom picture is of the barn. It was neat because some of the buildings you could go inside.

6. Cheese
Theres a heart shape in my swiss cheese!

7. Cutlery
This is my favorite set of silverware that my mom has. I have always loved the design.

8. Night
Here are my night photos. This was taken from my husband's hopital room (He was in the hospital for some expedited tests {which all turned out good}). His window overlooked a little court yard with benches, trees, bushes. The top picture is a close up of an illuminated tree. In the second picture you can see the illuminated tree and some other lights on the other side of the building. I tried to take picture of the lit up business and the traffic lights, but all that looked like was little dots!!

9. Something beginning with Z
This is a Leaf Zipper-Pull and the zipper of a leather bag embellished with flowers. I use it to keep my extra crochet hooks in.

10. Something with your Town's Name on it
Here is one of our city's water towers with the city and state on it.

11. The View Right outside your door.

This is the view right outside our front door. I'm afraid it is not the loveliest view, but it is our view. The tree has since been trimmed. It had branches hanging from a storm.

12. Tree Branches
There were so many pictures to choose from, but I really like this picture. Now here is the story behind it.

No Honey, I don't know why it is taking our baby so long to learn how to fly.

Here is the baby resting on the leaves in my grandma's flower garden, right below the fence above.

Okay dear, let me get a closer look.

Yes, here is still resting on the leaves.

Let me fly in for a closer look, son, lets go we must get back to the nest. This is where the story ends. Went back in the house with the baby still resting. The next day the mommy and daddy cardinal were again flying all over our back yard showing there baby how to fly!!!!

Already seen the list for next month, can't wait to start taking pictures.

Let me try to add the link

Postcards from the P.P.

Another post to follow

René

Sewing Project, tshirt yarn, large granny blanket, and Grandma's garden

2011-06-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the shirt yarn I made this evening. Have more shirts, my hands couldn't take any more tonight do to arthritis. The first shirt didn't curl, but I was so happy when the second one did, however I kept doing something wrong, or the seam came undone and I ended up with several instead of one long piece. Not bad I guess for the first try!! Seen Bunny Mummy's t-shirt yarn and followed the link from her blog on how to make the t-shirt yarn.

I am going to join Angie from Lemonde Sucrette in making a large granny blanket. This is one we had around the house. It is 108 rounds and is the size of a good lap blanket. I had to take the picture of it folded in half, then still couldn't get the whole blanket in. I even stood on a two step stool and still was too close.

Above are the pieces to a sewing project I'm attempting. I am hand sewing it together. I have always wanted to learn to sew on a sewing machine, however, my mom's sewing machine does not like me. I used to sit down and try to sew something, it would jam and go grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. My mom would sit down and it would sew, I say okay mom let me sit down and sew, her machine says ggggrrrrrrrr. I am going to learn to hand sew. With practice I will get better at it.

The two above pieces are the pocket. the first one is on the back of the pocket. EEEKK, you can see my stitches. I made a mistake and had to sew the back on right side out. At least this project is for me. It is something to organize some of my craft items.

Sunflower. Love them. When I took the picture I didn't realize how many blooms it had on with the one that is open. I wasn't too close. I zoomed in 16X, couldn't really get close to it, and the bugs are terrible.

These are flowers growing in a trash can. My grandma calls them lady slippers, but I don't know the correct name of them. I like them very much, except that bees love them, and I do not love bees up close.

See did I mention bees, I was holding this flower because my mom said it was a shy sunflower because it was facing the fence, so I turned it around. As I was taking the picture the bee landing on it. I panicked because I didn't know how I was going to let go of the flower without making the bee angry. I ended up letting the flower go really fast and it didn't phase the bee thank goodness!!

Here is a mutant Black Eyed Susan. The bees must have cross pollenated with on of the other flowers. I had another picture of it with the "Regular" Suzies, but it is not here, I will try to add that in a minute.

Yes, I got that picture added, the reason it didn't show up was I forgot to download it, ooppps. I will get the hang of this blogging someday.

This is a curtain tie back that I made from a pattern I found on the web, I don't recall where it came from at the moment. But it is a lovely pattern. These is a lovely flannel flat sheet that I cut in half and made two curtains, with quite a bit of material still left. They are pushed together in the middle. The colorfull parts of the crochet flowers are made from mohair.

Grape tomatoes that my grandma grew from seeds of some tomatoes that we bought one year.

Cherry tomatoes also grown from seeds from a previous years tomatoes. We're going have tomatoes to eat very soon, can't wait.

Well better get going, going to try to add that other picture.

Talk again soon,
René

Alpaca's at State Park and Plantation

2011-04-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

My Mom and I went to a lovely State Park to see how they shear the Alpaca's, and how they spin the Alpaca's hair into yarn. We enjoyed ourselves very much.
Here is the lovely country road into the Park, (I am a country girl at heart)

Love these winding, hilly roads

Along the road you can see water from different spots. I stopped on a bridge and took theses pictures below.

My favorite one, I don't know his name, I'll just refer to him as "HandFull"

Here is "HandFull" getting a beautiful haircut

This is his "Rug" I believe the man said.

All Pretty, Can you believe this is "HandFull", he looks so different after his haircut!

Here is somebody spinning the Alpaca hair into yarn, it looks like so much fun, Maybe I'll learn how to do that one day!

He forgot his manners: It's not polite to chew with your mouth open, he was the only one eating and showing his teeth!!

Walking/Biking Path, didn't have time to go down there, I will next time.

I think this is the neatest sign, I saw a picture of a sign like it somewhere on the web, and then I seen one myself in person.

Some more pictures of animals they had at the Park.

Also discovered they had beautiful picnic shelters with an awesome view of the James River:

Look at this bee, can you see his stinger?? I got sidetracked from my scenery pics and followed this bee around for a while!!

The park had beautiful flowerbeds with Tulips and Grape Hyacinths, there was also daffodils but they were finished.

I'd better get going, next time I'll post some pictures of crochet projects, I'm hooked on hexagons right now, inspired by Bunny Mummy's and now Le Monde Sucrette.

René

Oh wait, one last picture of me feeding the sweet Goats

Trying Out a First Post

2011-04-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

This is a blanket that I am working on. I have changed it from my original plan. I got frustrated with it and had to put it aside for awhile.

I am so excited to start a blog. My mom and I have been talking about starting a blog together for awhile now, and I finally sat down and attempted to start it. There are so many inspiring blogs that I love to visit, and I am finally joining the blogging community. Okay here it goes...

Hugs to all