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I am determined to post my accomplishments this week, before the clock strikes twelve.
I made a new recipe out of Anna Thomas' cookbook, "Love Soup". I made the Rustic Potato Leek soup. It was very good. So fast and easy. Our temperatures on Monday and Tuesday were 0 degrees, with a windchill of -17 degrees. The soup was a perfect thing to make.
I completed my "Wrap-me-up puppy", from page 99 of Susan Anderson's book, "itty bitty toys". It was so easy and fun to make.
Last night while I was watching "Grey's Anatomy", I crocheted 32 centers for my hexagon afghan. Once the centers are made, I seem to barrel through the next 3 colors.
Today has been a VERY long day. My 10 1/2 year old Great Dane, Eli, has driven me crazy. In Great Dane years, he is approximately 85 years old and today acted every bit of it. He has been outside 17 times today. That means I had to let him out and then back in, so, 34 trips to the back door, while daycaring the 6 children (3 had no school today).
The children were angels, Eli, another story. It isn't easy living with 3 senior dogs. My 2 Yorkies are 15 and almost 12 years old. The 15 year old, Dillon, is deaf and has cataracts. He is also a little forgetful. He goes to the back door to go out, gets outside, forgets why he is there, cries to come back in, THEN remembers why he wanted out, goes back to the door and whines to go back out.
The almost 12 year old, Sipsie Rose, has few teeth so her tongue won't stay in her mouth. Gotta love that in a girl.
It is now 12:01 am. I am gonna sign off for now. Have a wonderful weekend. I plan on staying home and cleaning the bird cages, then knitting.
Here it is, January 22nd, and I have already failed at my New Year's goals. How annoying. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I had planned on making a new recipe, or two, each week. Hasn't happened. I was going to crochet one hexagon a day for my daughter's afghan. So far, not a one. My new way of losing weight, not working. On the up side, I did learn how to knit and crochet those ribbon scarves. It took me 4 hours to knit my first scarf and about 2 hours to crochet the next one. I then used a different ribbon yarn for the orange one and it only took about 45 minutes to crochet. Needless to say, I will be crocheting anymore that I make.
Funny side story, my 9 year old granddaughter and I both learned to make the ribbon scarf at our craft night at the Salvation Army, last Friday. Luiza has NEVER crocheted and she made her first scarf in about 2 hours. It is perfect. She is hooked.
Oh, let me just say, the gal that taught Luiza to make her scarf uses a latch hook instead of a crochet hook to crochet the scarf. It really made it so much easier.
Back to my "goals". I did start a project from the "itty bitty toys" book, the puppy wrapped in a blanket. Almost done. Here it looks like a little sausage.
Today we woke up to a dusting of snow and the temperature at 8:00am was ZERO, with a wind chill of -17 degrees. My poor dogs ran outside and begged to come right back in. Poor things. I stayed inside and made a big pot of soup. YUM! With soup to eat and a house with groceries in it, tomorrow I hope to get the puppy and his blanket finished, as well as 31 yellow hexagon centers. Once the centers are done, I seem to get motivated to work on the actual hexagon.
Well, I think I am going to go soak in the tub, while watching Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy, and then go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Have a wonderful winter evening. Good Night.
I am still feeling so good, having cleaned my sewing closet last Saturday. It was a HUGE accomplishment. I had completely forgotten that the steamer trunk was filled with family treasures from the 1940's, some earlier than that. I found 5 vintage tablecloths, hand embroidered pillowcases, a toddler dress that had been my mother's, that was from approximately 1928, and dozens of crocheted doilies. I thought I would photograph some of the doilies and post them. I am keeping a few of them, but I know I won't take the time to starch and shape the majority, so, I think I need to share the wealth. They have stayed hidden for far too long.
These are just a few of the ones I will be giving as gifts or maybe selling on "ebay". Check out the pink and white one that has looks like an octopus. I have no idea what this will look like when starched and stretched.
These are some of my favorites:
I think this apron is my VERY favorite:
I will post photos of the vintage tablecloths and other treasures this week. I am currently washing and ironing them.
I have been working on my little puppy from the "itty bitty toys" book. I should have a photo of him tomorrow. He is SO easy, so far. And, of course, the granddaughters are all fighting over who gets him.
Have a good evening.
I only have time for a quick post. I am trying to make the most of my weekend. Spent Saturday cleaning out my sewing closet. I can't believe I am going to post photos of the before and after. I decided that I don't sew enough to keep storing all this fleece and calico fabric. Each time I clean the closet, I swear I will make a few quilts and use up my calicos and I will make dog coats to use up my fleece. 3 years later, no quilts, no dog coats, and it is still here. Time to get rid of it.
BEFORE
What you are looking at is all of the bags of fabric that were PACKED into this "closet". It is actually a cubby that is under the pitch of the roof.
AFTER |
Even though my closet isn't pretty, it is organized. The trunk is full of felt. I figured with all my grandchildren, I would keep that for school projects. Otherwise, 1 bin of fabric for possible future projects.
I have decided that I will post, on Fridays, how I am doing on my New Year goals. So far, I am feeling good.
Just looked outside to see a HUGE Red-tailed Hawk sitting in the tree. Went to take a picture and he decided to preen, then, he flew away. Maybe I will get his picture next time.
Don't forget, Downton Abbey, Season 3, starts tonight at 9 o'clock on PBS. CAN'T WAIT. Nobody call me or come over, unless you are ready to sit silently and watch the show.
Have a great Sunday.
I am not into making New Years resolutions, I like to make goals. What is that you say? Resolutions and goals are the same thing? Says who? Anyway, after spending the past year dusting my cluttered bookshelf that holds my dozens of cookbooks, I have decided to start using those cookbooks.
My goal is to pick at least one cookbook a week and select a new recipe to try. This coming week, I am going to make a pasta dish out of "Essential Pepin" by Jacques Pepin and a soup out of "Vegetarian Soups For All Seasons" by Nava Atlas.
Since my blog started out of my love for Susan Anderson's "itty bitty" books, I think it is time for me to get back to knitting thru the "itty bittys". My goal is to make one pattern a month. This month, I am going to make "wrap-me-up puppies", on page 99 of the book "itty bitty toys".
I don't know if you remember, I was making a queen size Hexagon afghan for my daughter. I started it in March of 2012. It is time to get serious about getting this done. So far, I have completed 114 of the 440 hexagons that I need. My goal is to complete 1 hexagon a day.
I am hoping that I use my time wisely so I will find extra hours in the day to learn new knitting and crocheting techniques and stitches. I received this wonderful knitting book for Christmas, "Cast On, Bind Off" by Leslie Ann Bestor.
I refuse to set the usual "lose the fat" goal. However, yesterday I was watching the "Today" show and they had their weight loss guy on, pedaling his new book. I didn't get the name of it and really don't care. He was talking about his new theory to losing weight. I love Weight Watchers. I always do good on it. For some reason, I can't get my mind to commit to it right now. So, today I started this crazy new diet. You pick an 8 hour span during the day to eat. Eat what you want, how much you want. Ideally you will learn to make healthy choices, but for now, just worry about the 8 hour span. His theory is, you eat within the 8 hours and then fast the remaining 16 hours a day. It gives your body 16 hours to rest and burn calories. Time will tell. Today I did great. I start eating at 11:00am and ended my eating at 7:00pm. Since I get up at 5:45am, it was concerning that I wouldn't have my first bite until 11:00am, but I was fine. Hopefully, this will give me a jump start. I have alot of weight to lose.
My most important goal for 2013, is to make a difference. I am one of those people who always opens doors for people, I smile alot, I talk to strangers, but I need to make a difference. I need to be aware of those who need a little something extra to get through the day. It might be encouragement, maybe to be invited over for a home cooked meal, possibly a bag of groceries, or maybe just a phone call. I am SO blessed with a wonderful family and great friends. I am thankful everyday.
I have never won a blog giveaway. I enter only the ones that I really want the prize, I wait patiently for the day of the random drawing, I check the website every hour on that day to see the winner's name, and then I post a congratulations to that winner. Guess what? I WON THE WARTHOG!!!!! Thats right, the Warthog. I am so BEYOND excited. I love the patterns from Mamma4earth. The designer, Linda Dawkins, is incredible. Her love of nature comes through her patterns. She lives in South Africa and designs alot of African animals. I just finished her Elephant. And now, onto the Warthog. You can find all of her patterns at Natural Suburbia .
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Ellie the Elephant
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I will post photos of the progress on my Hexagon afghan that I have been working on for months and will be for months, or years, to come.
Also, I am trying to decide what knitting/crocheting goals I plan on setting for 2013. I must decide by Friday.
I will leave you with a photo of my 3 granddaughters, sledding today. The little one in the spaceship sled is a family friend.
I can't believe a year has come and gone. Never a dull moment in 2012. I learned alot of what TO do and what NOT to do. I don't plan on dwelling on the failures, but learn from them, make changes, and look forward to what the future brings. However, 2012 did bring so many blessings and with them I say, "Thank you, Jesus".
For the past week, the house has been filled daily with laughter, tons of food, Downton Abbey, and creative hands making cards, designing scrapbook pages, or knitting/crocheting. Every year from December 26th thru January 1st, 4 of us ladies spend these days indulging in our favorite things. Since the festivities happen at my house, I usually live in my fleece holiday pants ( 1 pair for everyday, no duplicates ). Not to mention, I still have the little ones I daycare, so I need to be comfy to be able to move quickly.
We start our crafting around 10:30 am and go strong until midnight, each day. We do potluck most of those days, so needless to say, tomorrow I will be SLAPPED back into reality. There is always a movie going in the background. Most years we watch the old movies from the 40's & 50's. Lots of Cary Grant. This year, Downton Abbey. I have Seasons 1 & 2, so, Julia and Rebecca watched both seasons and are now all caught up and ready for the new season that starts this Sunday, January 6th, on PBS. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!
School starts back up on Thursday, so that means the 6 little ones will be together one more day. With the refrigerator full of leftovers, I am hoping tomorrow will be a very easy day. Lots of snuggling in the rocking chair, coloring, Barbies, and refereeing.
First goal for 2013, blog something everyday. Talk to you tomorrow.
