Played hooky today!!!

 I went down several rabbit holes today and now I want to start even more projects!  Woe is me!  I thought I would share it with you so maybe you will get inspired (sucked in) too.

I found a new to me crochet designer and I love everything she does!  She's from the U.K. and she is Anita Gibley and her blog and IG is madebyanita.co.uk 

I printed off several of her patterns...I chose the free ones for now and she uses mostly DK yarn which is what I have the most of (although it is getting depleted and I can see I need to order more).

She has beautiful blankets and there is a cute one for Halloween and Christmas..........

The nice thing is you can order yarn packs for many of her projects.....

This is my favorite but it will be awhile before I attempt it as I have several on the go right now.....

The other really cool thing is that she and her son developed an app, Crochet Studio, for Iphone or Android and it is free.  It allows you to test out color patterns and there is a video which explains it better than I can.  I tried to download but I need a new phone....mine has very little storage.  It is really an awesome app!

Right now to satisfy my desire to do one of her patterns.....she has a Memento blanket (free patterns) of which there is one square for each month.  At the end of the year you have 12 squares and you crochet them altogether and you have a nice throw.  It started in January but since I am late I will start now for September and it is a maple leaf.  She has videos for everything, and great written instructions.  If you are a crocheter or would like to be, check out her blog and IG account.

Here's the Maple Leaf square.........

I will leave you with all that inspiration!

Happy Trails!!!

 

 

 

YOP Week #9 Year 13

 Making progress on all fronts.  Now,  if I could just finish things and not start any new projects but that might be asking too much. 

I did finish the grands 2023 Halloween Collectible Ornaments but they need to be final finished.  I want to order some 2023 charms to attach to them also..........these were stitched on 10 count fabric and you needed to use 4 strands of floss which was a pain.  They were a little more juvenile than I wanted but they will have to do for this year.........next year they will get really creepy and scary ornaments....mark my word!

I am almost done with the body of the Snowy Owl and then on to the head!

I started a new project...yes, I know....so many WIPs already!  But in my defense I am making things to hold my yarn and my cross stitch projects......this will be a crocheted basket for a blanket project........I was a little hesitant because it is bulky yarn and a large hook and last time it hurt my hands but this yarn is very soft and easy to work with so it is not a problem........

I finished the wool rug hooked stars and I've steamed them.  Now, I need to cut them apart and finish....I also traced the pattern so I could make more in the future if I wanted to.........

 I also worked on the prism blanket but it looks the same...just bigger.

I was going to dye some fabric for my big Halloween XS project but I can't find my dye!  It seems the more I organize the more I have no idea where things are!?!  Oh well, they'll turn up eventually...I hope! 

That's all for this week.  I've been doing some Fall cleaning and decorating and hopefully next week I will have some final finishes to show you!

Happy Trails!!!

Such a nice Friday and now maybe rain!!!

 I've been on a cleaning and organizing kick and it shows around here.  Since the diverticulitis healed I have had more energy and it makes me realize that I must have been sick for a long time.  I thought it was old age but now I feel like I've drank from the fountain of youth!  Mind you, I don't look like it, but I feel like it.

The flowers are loving the heat and sunshine as long as I keep them watered.  They need to be planted but I will wait until it cools off.........

I've taken down the summertime decorations and started putting up a bit of Fall.  Fall is coming because the acorns are falling and the sassafras leaves are turning orange.  Granted, it will still be a longtime before "there is a chill in the air" down here, but it's coming!!!

 Here's my thought for a Friday night..........actually I was a "rooting tootin" cowgirl when I was young....now I'm just a "tootin" cowgirl! LOL!

Happy Trails!!!

So far so good!!!

 I'm doing a lot of housework....dusting, vacuuming, etc.  I cleaned off my desk too which,  like my nightstand seems to collect lots of "stuff"!  It's clear and clean now and we'll see how long that lasts.

I finished my last rug hooking star............now they need to be steamed and left to dry....then there will be more finishing...........

I hung some new curtains  with clothespins but actually just to see if they would work.  My daughter got me these 2 tea towels for Christmas and they are so cute!  She knows I  use them for curtains much of the time so she got me 2 matching ones.  I will make a rod pocket now that I know they will be perfect for the guest bathroom....

The day is done now....I made a pasta dinner with spaghetti sauce that has no tomato seeds (I had to order it from Amazon and it is delicious) (remember I can't have seeds, nuts or skin of anything....no lettuce either)and I'll have garlic bread too.  I also made more cinnamon crescent twists.  The house is getting "cleared out"....more boxes to go to the thrift store!  Yippee!

 

Happy Trails!!!

 

YOP Week #8 Year 13

 Didn't get much creating done but it was a busy week with groceries, taking stuff to the thrift store to drop off, and having to chase down my doctor for refilling my prescriptions.  Finally got it all taken care of along with bills and some cooking and cleaning.  

I realized that the Halloween ornament I had been working on was going to be too big to be an ornament so I went back to my original pattern that I was using to begin with.   This is the 2nd one and I'm almost done..........

I did not finish Star #4 in my rug hooking but it will get finished this week for sure..........

I did do more Battenberg squares but you've seen those and I worked on Prism but it looks the same just bigger..............it looks like  I'm going to be on the purple for awhile.  I'm thinking that I bought the wrong type of Mandela.....we'll see...........

Hopefully, this week will be more productive.

This is part of the reason I don't get much done...........

Happy Trails!!!

Finding some treasures right here in my own home!!!

 I've been clearing and cleaning as I have mentioned, and the other day I was going through some of my many books.  I have some really old books too.  One was written by Eleanor Roosevelt and she signed it!  I didn't even realize that and I've had the book for years.  It was published in 1949, the year I was born so it is 74  years old.  I need to read it!

here are some of my  other antique books.....but there are more than these too!

I have an old medical book dating back to the Civil War...it's falling apart so I have it tucked away.  I'll get it out and show you some day.  I also have an antique American Flag.  I got all these books cheap at  library sales down here and the flag too.

I packed up more thrift stuff today, cleaned my iron with Faultless Iron Cleaner which worked slick.  The only problem is that you have to do it with the iron on the really hot setting.  It worked but I was really afraid I was going to burn myself but I didn't.  I have a newer iron but it is big and bulky and  I love my Mother's old iron so the other one will be going to the Thrift Store!

I made some Cappuccino Shortbread today..........I haven't tasted it yet so I'll let you know, and if it's good I'll share the recipe.  It's from Tate's Cookbook.  You can buy their cookies in the store.  They're known for "crispy" cookies which are my favorite kind of cookie....even a little burned is fine with me.  Sorry the photo is a bit blurred.

This is the truth too...I even had one of those baskets.....I eventually threw it out............. 

Happy Trails!!!

Retirement is a full-time job!!!

 Whoa Nellie, what a week.  I got myself some ice cream as a reward for getting through it!  Yesterday I had to pick up meds after many phone calls to doctor and pharmacy, drop off boxes of  "stuff" at the thrift store and pick up groceries at Walmart.   I also had to make my potato soup. 

Today I got to stay home and get some things done that were on my list....like pull seeds off my daisies and also press some of the flowers..........

   

I also finished a book that Far Side of Fifty sent me.....I loved it!  Thank you so much, Connie.  I couldn't put it down.  It was very well written and so interesting.  It was true stories of 5 farm families in Minnesota from the 1800's to the present day.  I love real stories about real people.

I ordered a Pioneer Woman quilt top and matching shams.  I had been looking at them and the other day when I looked they were on sale....that did it!  It came today.........it is so soft, like flannel.... I didn't put the shams on because I had just changed my linens.   

and it is reversible..........

There aren't matching curtains but there is material.....I may be making curtains too.....Miss Peeps spent no time giving it her seal of approval!

BTW, not sure if I mentioned this or not but since I stopped giving her those Friskies cat treats she no longer attacks me...there was some kind of drug in those treats that made her crazy!  Just like drugs do to people!

Remember........

Happy Trails!!!
 

What a week so far!!!

 I got called for jury duty and I actually didn't pay attention to it because I thought it was my tax bill.  I'm lucky I finally opened it!  I called and told them I didn't think it would be possible as my digestion issues keep me running to the bathroom and with the RA, sitting on those hard benches for hours at a time?  Plus, the courthouse is an hour away on a narrow curvy road.  The jury duty was going to be from August until the end of December!  No way!!!  She said I would have to get a doctor's excuse so I had to run up to Salem to my doctor's office.  I called first and they said I could come in as a walk in.  I saw my doctor and he totally understood.  In most states at 70 and beyond you can refuse jury duty with no excuse but not in Arkansas.  My doctor said it used to be that way and then they changed it.  He had no problem writing me an excuse as he knows it would be bad if I got an attack that far from home especially driving 2 hours a day for 4 months!  PTL the judge excused me!  I would have loved to have served but not at my age and with my health being precarious right now.   I am doing well but that could change in a heart beat.

It was a busy Monday as it was...garbage day, I had some bills due and some meds to pick up.  I got through the day and scanned the doctor's excuse and emailed to the courthouse.  They emailed me the next morning stating that judge excused me.  Thank you, Lord!  I was really stressing about it and I haven't had any stress for a long time...I'm not used to it.

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I burned another box full of papers and I painted my bench.......

It's in the master bathroom.  I think I'll get some new towels and put  them in a basket plus I want to hang some pictures above on the wall.  I'd like some white curtains too.

I took my pansies out of the flower press and they are perfect!  It worked great.........now I need to make some stationary with them.  I also need to go out and cut daisy seeds and some daisies for pressing....

I've been cleaning and packing up more stuff for the thrift store.  In fact, I need to go load some in the car now.

Here's your "thought for the day"...........

Happy Trails!!!

 

YOP Week #7 Year 13

 It's storming again this morning...nothing I like better as long as the power stays on.  This the third day in a row we have had storms....love it!  No worry of fire danger!

I've not been crafting a whole lot this week but here is what I have..........

the first of 2 Halloween ornaments for the grands....I think this will be Grayson's.....the fabric I dyed last year for another project until I realized it was too small so I am  using it here.  I have ordered and received a larger piece of fabric for the other project but it needs to be dyed still......... 

Here is the other project..........my Halloween project for 2023..........this is what they call Quaker style...

I finished the wool hooked Star #3 but got very little done on #4........

I did start the Prism blanket.  Why is it once I have the materials I have to start it even though I have dozens of other WIPs?  I need to join a support group!  But I figured out the pattern and here is what I have so far....it's dark here today and hard to see........black is the main color and right now the Mandala color is purple but it will change as I go along.  You keep the main color (black in my case) connected but the other color you clip off after each round........

More Battenberg squares....I crocheted more than this but these are the ones that have all the ends woven in.........

I can't remember where I left off on my book reading but I finished True to Form...the last book in the Katie series by Elizabeth Berg and the only series she ever wrote.  All the rest of her books are stand alone novels.

Right now I am reading the Indictment of Trump regarding the January 6th Insurrection.  I printed it off from Department of Justice website.  It is 45 pages and I am on page 32....it's an easy read not like the usual "lawyer speak".  I have yet to read the others....there are so many it's hard to keep up and this coming week there is supposed to be another one coming from Georgia!

 I'm now reading Three Weeks With my Brother by Nicholas Sparks, the famous author, and his brother Micah Sparks.  This is a memoir and very good so far.

For my fiction I am reading a book written by an English author in the 1920's or 30's....I just started it and it was recommended by Miranda Mills the English pod caster that I enjoy.

Here's one for the books..........

Happy Trails!!!

More storms!!!

 No warning though...just a cozy storm with lightening and thunder and rain.  No need to water again...so nice!  I got out early this morning in the garage and sanded down my little bench.  It's pretty sad as it has spent too much time outside but no more!  She will get painted and patched and be a nice little bench in my bathroom...........that green is the color it will eventually be all over........

Yesterday when I made the orange cinnamon rolls I needed powdered sugar to make the frosting.  I went to my container and there was none and I had no back up!  But I remembered hearing that you could use regular sugar and blend in your blender or food processor and make your own powdered sugar which is exactly what I did and it only took a minute or so.  I may not be buying powdered sugar anymore as I don't use it that often and it was so easy to make.

This is my container where I kept it......this was part of my Mother's canister set from when I was a kid so you know it is old! LOL!  I've never seen any like this even though I used to frequent antique shops....have you?

Happy Trails!!!