Hello My Dear Friends! Merry Christmas!!

Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I've written, I'd almost forgotten how to get on, write and post to my blog!

I have been so busy - I visited with family all over the country through October, and then began a series of oral surgeries.  Why do we women always think, 'ah, not a big deal, I'll be up and around in a couple of days!'  Really a good question - it's because WE ARE WOMEN!!  When did we take time being sick, or lazy or down when our children, or even our grandchildren were really little - we didn't - unless we were half dead!  Which may be the reason things hit us so hard now.  But, I digress.  The last surgery I had was a 3 hour bone graft 10 days ago.  Doc explained, 'going to be taking bone from the back of your jaw and screwing it in here (showing me on ex-rays, like that's really English to me!)  If we need to - we'll take some from the chin area - ack!  Wait a minute, CHIN AREA???  Like - isn't that going to leave a bruise?  'Donna, you're going to have quite a bruise anyway, this is major surgery.'  Hangs head - me, that is.  Well, at least it was scheduled after all of my business meetings.  My sweetie is still taking really good care of me.  Tonight - Christmas night, I ate my first full meal - last one for a while because I'm in a lot of pain now, but it was yummy, and I did get to help cook most of it.  We were able to laugh a bit throughout this entire process, no talking really because at first I sounded like Scooby Dooby Doo, then like Sylvester the Cat (still do when my mouth starts to hurt because my tongue swells badly.)  But we go on - life is good, it's wonderful, today is the day our Lord and Savior was born to save us all!

Our garden still has it's lovely visitors - even though we have had many nights at 25 degrees.  Because we are so close to the coast, we still get many, many hummingbirds.  They must know how much we love them, as we are still feeding them at the rate of - - - drum roll please - - - one half gallon of sugar water A DAY!!  We have two feeders up, about 10' apart or so, and they love our home we have for them!

It's really something to see so many birds feed in our yard, and then our neighbors for a block in all directions my get a stray bird once in a while.  The only thing I can think it could be is water.  They will not feed on tap water.  Ours is reverse osmosis and they'll drink regular water if it is boiled, but most people won't take the time to do that for them.  It's so worth it for us!

We have about 2 months when we have no birds at all, and take the feeders down - usually January or so, then one will go up for a month around March, then the other goes up shortly after that.  At first, we will get One male who will try to lay claim to the feeder - but when all come

home, and hundreds are here, there is no room for bossy boys here!  They say they come back to the same feeding area each year, and I must say, each year, we have had more and more birds.  Feeding one half gallon of sugar water a day is feeding a lot of birds - and they are a joy to watch.  These are the two feeders we have.  The blurs are 'birds in flight!'

Have you all been keeping your crafts up?  It's so much fun to create something with our hands!  I've been making tons of journals.  I love making them for gifts.  I can't seem to find my folder that has all the photos, so here's the latest one I made.  I made it for one of the ladies in our Daughters of the American Revolution chapter as a Christmas gift.  I loved having a tree, symbolizing the 'family tree' aspect of the group!

Then, as always, I have a crochet project in the works.  My friend told me of this pattern, though she never knew the name.  She said, 'all you do is double crochet 10, chain 10, until you have the length you want, then I'll show you how to twirl and tie it up.'  You know me, I'm always game for something new, so I double crochet, chained 10 to what I felt was a comfortable width, and length - it looked like this -

Then twist the chain 10, pull through the next chain 10 and repeat until all are finished.

It's actually very pretty and looks as if it's braided strands and not twisted and brought through. 

When all are twisted and brought through, I went around the entire afghan twice in a very nice half double crochet, placing 3 stitches in each corner to have it lay straight.  The color scheme I used was a variegated with dark brown, medium brown, orange, tan, and beige - 6 colors total.  The pattern was 5 rows of each 6 colors, 3 rows, 1 row to the variegated and then 1 row back, 3 back 5 back. 

The colors came out beautiful!  The size was a bit smaller than I first thought it would be, but never making it and not having much to go on, it's great.  My next one will be twice the size, as this is just for one.  But, it was given today to my newest granddaughter - my grandson was recently married and they are expecting their little wee one on March.  This will keep her nice and toasty.  The fringe was a new one for me, a triple knot.  I really like it, for fringe.  Only on one end.  I prefer no fringe because it always tickles or makes me think something is crawling on my neck when I'm sleeping.  But, it was a gift, so I fancied it up.  I read a pattern on Pinterest some time back and they had a variation of this as a ripple and called it Jacob's Ladder.

Also done a bit of sewing.  My little Wee One, Leila, asked for a Yoshi blanket for her gift.  So how does one make a Yoshi - well, first buy the material, then take it all to Colorado to my daughter there and ask her to help!  My son married an Angel and she sews like a professional, so she helped me.  Son made the Yoshi pattern, I cut, daughter did sewing - a family affair!

She loves it Auntie Kim!!  Thanks Uncle Jeff for helping, too!  And yes, each piece is sewn on separately!  It was a lot of pieces, a lot of work, I can't thank Kim enough as she has this beautiful, professional sewing machine that really hit the mark! 

These are my kids who do costuming professionally.  She does the sewing of costumes of fabrics and leathers,




he does all of the props or items fabricated in different metals or plastics.  They are an amazing team together!

And, so with that my good blogging buddies, as Yoshi to the right is ready to say good bye for now - I promise it won't be another 4 months before I stop back by.  I do get by to see many of your blogs, but have just not had time, as you read to leave messages.


May God bless each and every one of you, keep you safe, loved and forever thankful we live in the greatest country in the world. 

For those who have soldiers away from home, God bless you and them.  Thank them and thank you for your service to our country.  Without them standing on the front lines, keeping our liberty and freedom, and you all keeping the home fires burning, we would not live in the greatest country any longer.  God bless you all.

May you all have a wonderful, healthy, and Happy New Year!  May it be all you want it to be, bring you the happiness you deserve, the prosperity you work for and the health our Lord bestows on you.  This new year I look forward to better health, a brand new Great Granddaughter (Grandson and new Granddaughter will be having her in March) and a wonderful new year.

Blessings and hugs,
Donna

Long Distance Thrift Store Purchases!

My sweet daughter in law in Colorado sent me this box of goodies, just jam packed and filled to the brim!

                    

This is what the box was full of!  Can this girl pack a box or what?  There's a little of this, a bit of that and a bunch of everything! 

Here, let me show you around!

Here are some pearls and beads.  Oh, just look at the ribbon - the organza blue ribbon off to the side!  There's also some in some yummy green, yellow and lots of tapestry ribbon!


 Lots and lots and lots of lace!

By the yard and look at the Eyelet Lace with Roosters! Cute, cute, cute!

Kim found the prettiest antique doilies!  Some stitches I've never seen before and all well taken care of!  Very few had stains, and I think I can tea dye them and use them for other items!  Oh ~ I love it!

 
 
 
So much beauty!!  Don't you agree?

 

 

 

 Tons of Ribbons, cording and

Calla Lily's on Ribbons!

And then there's bundles and bundles and bundles of this stuff - paper raffia ribbon - I don't know what to use this for!  Any ideas?  Any of you use it for ?  What???  Let me know, as I have lots of it!!!

Looks like great fun to work with ~ just need to know what, when, where and how?

 
 
Ideas?  Suggestions??  Have you used it yourself?  This is only a small portion of it!
 
 
 
 
Thank you so much Kim!  She is such a sweetie to go out and bargain hunt for me!  All of this cost me what??  A whopping $17 - yep - this gal knows how to shop! 
 
Love you, Sweetie!
 
Thanks for stopping by, I wish you all a wonderful rest of the week!
Blessings,
Donna

Still Finishing My Weekend Sandwich!!

Best laid plans ~ Right?

Here on Friday, I talked about all I was going to get done over the weekend.  I got up Saturday morning, headed for the garage as there were a few projects I'd wanted to get started on right away!  I opened the door, looked and said "Holy Moly, Batman!  Where'd all this crap I mean stuff come from?"  Well, every time I went to Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Goodwill, oh, or my new favorite place, the Resale Store for Habitat for Humanity, everything got stacked up on my Craft Room side of the garage.  Of course, everything left over from Christmas that hadn't been put in the sheds or other items that made their way from the house to the garage were piled up higher and deeper, so my time in the garage was spent putting things away and organizing SO NEXT WEEKEND I actually can spend time on projects!  Drat, but necessary!

I did spend some time on my little citrus trees.  Why on earth do the stores sell trees and plants that really won't survive in an area they sell them in?  Honestly, that's an entire new post I'll do next week.  But, they are loaded with fruit - except the Key Lime, which all got ripe and fell off - about 10 this year and the tree is only 3 years old!  I gave them a bit of a trim, and fed them.  Oh my goodness, they were so happy to have the snow blanket off and get direct sunlight!  We had temps in the 80's last weekend!  Then we took a look at the forecast which said our "real feel temps" this week at night will feel like 7 degrees!  Actually 23 but will feel like 7.  I've asked every nursery, "what the heck does that mean, anyway?"  They say when you are out walking and it's 23 but with the wind and air hitting you it feels like 7!  Sounds good, but why not just say it's going to be 7 darn degrees?!?  That's another post, too!  So, my Sweetie went out last night and put the snow blanket back on them.

So what did I actually get done?  Well, I did get lots started, some actually finished - some I can show, some not because they are gifts and I don't want to ruin a surprise or two.  But here is a scarf, you know the thing that goes around your neck with the flippy ends that my Wee One didn't want, but now wants - in her new favorite color - green!

I used a very soft and fluffy Caron yarn, and even with the holes in the pattern, it will keep her little neck warm.  This is done in a Pavilion stitch, which means Butterfly stitch in French.  It's very pretty!

Then I made this very simple, but really cute, headband.  All this requires (ALL THIS ...  he he he, favorite last words!!) is wrapping the yarn around the headband that has a tad of glue on the inside (a little at a time, of course!)  GO SLOW or you'll be starting over when the glue gets all over your fingers and yarn - yep - it was a mess, but I was NOT going to let a little headband to the best of me - no, no, NO!

I made these cute little flowers and glued pearls all around the middle.  The again in blue for their school colors, but, if they like these, I can make them in a ton of colors.  This was a very fun project!

Elise would like the new crocheted or knitted head bands worn around the top of their hair and over their ears, instead of under their hair.  Looks like a cap but only the cuff part!  All the girls are wearing them.   So, off to find new yarn - from my stash!

This week, along with some spring cleaning, I want to get some cards made, trivets, and ... well, you know, work on "The List!"  How about you?  What ever you do, may you be blessed with more time than it takes, love over flowing and good health!

Blessings,
Donna

Look What Came In The Mail!!

I think I've mentioned a time or two, we love living in a smaller, more rural area - Paso Robles has 25,000 people, give or take, and while that may sound like a lot, many stores won't move here when they can go 100 miles north, south or east and build in a bigger city.  I love to sew, and with the exception of Beverly's Fabrics we don't have much at all to choose from - so I've called on my daughter in law to help me a few times.  She not only has a friend who owns a store, she finds some IN CRED IBLE deals. 

This is my $32 box of stuff she bought for me!!!  40+ patterns!!  AND - - -

Tons and tons of ribbons, laces, zippers!!!   AND - - -

Almost 100 lace insets, sequins, tassels, tracing paper, buttons, patches, and all kids of pretty material.

She will go into a fabric store, or thrift store, and they may have an entire bag of zippers, all new, but out of the packages (thanks for helping!!), or a bag of patches, buttons, ribbon and lace, another time a big bag of material.  So here's the deal I made with her - I'll pay for the bags - $2 to $5, she takes what she wants out and sends me the rest after she fills up a new big box!!  Good deal for both of us!!

They work and live in the Denver Metro Area - so lots and lots of stores to choose from.  Thank you, Kim!  You,re a sweetheart!  And I love you very much! 

I'm in the middle of making some really sweet things for Valentine's Day I will share with you all tomorrow!

Have a wonderful Thursday - the weekend is coming!!

Blessings,
Donna

Horse Tote and a Kitty Cat Pillow

I finished two small projects today for my little granddaughters.  During my last visit with them we ran off to JoAnn's and were able to spend a couple of hours.  Never enough time when it comes to looking at craft items, is there?  Nope - there isn't!  I went in originally to find some material for myself, and had my little wee one with me.  She loves to look at all of the material with me, too.  Then sister joined us and we ended up finding material for projects for them.  Now that's a real surprise, right!?

Elise loves horses and is taking riding lessons, which even includes caring for the horses.  She not only has her time riding the horse each week, but on one of her days, she is to groom and care for the horse. 

Sweet thing that she is, she always remembers to take her horse a treat.  Last time I visited, she took an apple!  So, when I asked what she wanted me to make for her, she asked for a tote bag, to put her riding shoes, maybe a sweater, treats for the horse.  So, this is what I came up with.  No pattern, none needed really.   I made a double pocket on the front, completely lined and padded.  I really wanted it to be nice and strong, yet comfy for her, and washable!

Leila on the other hand wanted to have kitties.  "What would you like Grandma to make with the kitties on it?"  Very matter of fact as she walked towards the cutting counter, "A pillow!"  Well, that was easy!  Even had a spare pillow form at home that fit the bill!

I sat down yesterday and got the pillow finished, and today - the tote.  I know they will love them. 

"My little sweethearts"

Blessings, Donna

April Fools Day!

Tomorrow is April 1st ~ March came in like a lion and out like a lamb!  Started the month with storms, rain, winds, freezes and now ~ boy, things are sure warming up!  We uncovered our citrus trees, gave them a good dose of water, God is providing the warmth and sunshine and every one of the trees is taking off ~ growing like crazy!

The Mandarin Orange has 6 oranges that are almost ready for harvest - YUMMY!  Plus is has several oranges in various stages of growth, from a fingertip size to the size of a ping pong ball.  And several new flowers.  The Lemon has one almost ripe, and many in various stages as well, and hundreds, I'm not kidding - hundreds - of flowers!  The other two oranges have flowers this year!!!  Yeah!!  First year for blooms!  And, our problematic Key Lime actually has a few blossoms, too!  This is the most critical time for the citrus here.  One good cold snap or heavy winds and all of the blossoms fall and no fruit for months can even try to form!  They usually bloom heavily twice a year.  So, I'll be praying over my little trees for the next month or two!!

The weather has gone from 50's during the day to 88 degrees today.  Oh my gosh, it was beautiful!  Tomorrow it is supposed to cool down to low 70's.  But, no rain and lots of sunshine is wonderful!   I even get to start seeding our garden tomorrow.  Yeah!  And, hopefully, our nurseries will have some tomato and pepper plants soon.  Hmmmm, maybe I should just start my own from seed.  I did buy some last year.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow to in small pots, that way if we get a cold spell, they can be rushed in to the garage!

I bought the prettiest material yesterday to make aprons, rice packs, and some other miscellaneous projects I have have under my cap. 

I've made a lot of progress on my latest afghan project, too.  Four rows, of 15, completed and all of the middles of the hexagons are done, it just needs one final row which attaches them together.  I'm hoping by the end of April!  That way, I'm not putting unrealistic goals up!  The slippers I started - well, I pulled the yarn and rolled it back up.  Did not like them at all once the soles and tops were on - so I'll look for another pattern.  Then they'll be great!  Started a scarf for my son's birthday in late April. 

I've also almost completed 4 pages of a really cute layout I won from Monique Griffith Designs.  It was originally a 2 page 12x12 layout, but I prefer 9x9, so I've managed to cut it in such a way that I'm getting 4 9x9 pages!  Pretty creative if I do say so myself!  I've also managed to complete 4 or 5 cards for special people in my life.  I love crafting and feel so blessed when someone makes something just for me, so I just love giving to those who I care about and are special to me.

I've also been baking up a storm with my King Arthur bread recipes.  The Sourdough Bread came out wonderful!  Looked just like the picture!  I then went on these past couple of weeks making Rustic Sourdough Loaves, Chocolate Sourdough Cake.  Oh yummy - it was great!  And, a White Sandwich Bread - oh it's like heaven on earth ~ right in my kitchen.  I'm having a blast!  This Easter, we'll be having fresh rolls, homemade!

My Fibromyalgia has been really bad - 5 weeks for this latest flare.  I so want to have an afternoon pain free.  Oh, let's be honest here ~ I was this monster would just walk out the front door and drop in a hole, never to be felt again!  It will be better soon, it always does subside some, so I'm just praying it gone!

That's it for tonight!  Wishing everyone a wonderful warmer month, full of sunshine and new flowers, gardens in bloom, lots of new projects to start!

Many blessings to all of you!  Be as bright as a flower and let others be a flower in your life!
Donna

Spring is Coming Soon

I am so ready for Spring to arrive!  It's been a very cold and rainy Winter, and I can hardly wait for warmer weather, sunny days, walking the neighborhood and just generally getting back in to the swing of things.  I feel so much better when the weather isn't so chilly and damp!

It looks like the temperatures and real feels will be above freezing now, so we'll be taking off the plant blankets and get ready for Spring plantings.  We had our two planting areas filled with a soil amendment as well as the small green house and rototilled.  This year we want to remove some of the lawn areas and plant our citrus trees.  We've been babying them for four years now and we finally have fruit on the Mandarin Orange and Meyer Lemon trees.  The lime and two other orange trees haven't produced yet, hoping this year.  But, when we plant them in the ground, we will need to make a tent structure to cover them during the cold winters.  They are all dwarf trees and we plan on them staying under 8' or so high.  We may also put in a second, and bigger, green house.  It's easy to talk about what we want to do and harder to get them up! 

I can hardly believe my blog will be 2 years old this month.  I do plan to utilize this more this year and start getting photos up.  There's always so much to do and it's easy to forget writing here!


I'm finishing Lavender/Rice Comfort Packs for my mom.  Sending two large and two small ones.  They will help her achy bones and muscles.  She, like many of our elderly parents, suffers with arthritis all over.  She also has spinal problems and some bionic parts (knee and hip replacements) and has many aches and pains.


Also, still working on the Hexagon Afghan.  It's coming along beautifully!  I've used so many left over yarns!  Actually, like many of you, I save anything over about a yard long, rolled into balls of various sizes.  I really find it hard to believe I am almost depleted of left over yarns and will be using only full sized skeins to finish it up!  There are already over 40 different colors I've used in this afghan!  I counted today how many I have and how many will be needed for the bedspread - I've completed 134 and will need 195, so 61 to go.  My sweetie told me, "you'll have that done in no time!"  He's great and always positive in my hobbies!



Other craft items - well, cards, of course for all of the special days - Birthdays, Anniversaries, Valentine's Day, Get Well - all of the everyday events.  The Comfort Packs, my first Sock Monkey (I'll talk about him another post in a couple of weeks with a photo),  a few pin cushions, the Hexagon Afghan, and many different little things.  I need to get the new serger and sewing machine out and begin working with them.  I want to make some new table place mats and I think the serger will be perfect for this project!  Fun, fun, fun!


I had the chance to spend a whole week with my little ones.  They are growing so quickly.  My little Lisey is sewing her first project, all by hand.  She received an American Girl Stuffed Animal project and I taught her all of the hand sewing stitches.  She was doing a great job.  She is very detailed oriented and everything has to be just perfect, so these types of projects will be perfect for her.  I think she would really enjoy embroidery, too.  That's another art that is very detailed.


I was so blessed to win two different giveaways on two different blogs!  One from Monique Griffith Designs, a beautiful layout kit for my Cricut, and a copy of the first Cricut Magazine from Creative Critters Cricut Club!  Two different contests!  What a blessing!  When I finish the layout, I will post it.  It is just perfect as it is one of children in the garden and I have the perfect pictures of my all of my grandchildren at different times throughout the last couple of years that will fit on this wonderful layout!  I would love to share it!


I'm also going to try my hand at sourdough bread!  Both of my sons are making these beautiful and tasty works of art.  One gave me some starter which is growing beautifully in my fridge!  I have my ingredients coming from King Aurthur Flour, then I'm good to go!  I just hope there aren't too many pounds attached to this bread!


My Fibromyalgia has been really acting up.  This flare is going on two weeks now and is the worst one of the year so far.  I'm going to start a second blog on my fibro journey.  It's a very misunderstood disease.  And, until you are diagnosed and understand what this monster is, you start to wonder if you are crazy and a hypochondriac.  It's horrible and debilitating, and if I can help just one person figure out what this monster is in their life, I will feel blessed.  When I first read an article about fibro, I sat down and cried - I cried because I was relieved, I realized I wasn't crazy. 


On a lighter note - I wish you all a wonderful Spring!  May your gardens be free of weeds and grow only beautiful flowers!  May all of your projects come out the way you want them too! 

Be happy, be blessed, and a blessing to others!
Donna

Time to Start Sewing Projects!

Today my new Brother Sewing Machine and Serger arrived!  I am so happy!  It's time to get the material out I've been picking up the last two years and start sewing.  I have drapery material for our master bath and bedroom, some beautiful fabric for a duvet cover and skirting for the guest bed, plus tons more.

I'll set up the old machine right next to me for my little granddaughter to learn to sew.  She's so excited!  She even tried out some basic stitching over the holidays and was very good ~ making her little sis a bag with some goodies in it.  She really enjoys it and at 8 is old enough to learn - that's about the age I first started sewing and I've done fairly well.  She is such a joy to have with me, she listens very well, and tries to do exactly what she's shown.  I'd like her to learn we all make mistakes and it's OK.  I can hardly wait for Spring break to have her here to work with me.  (Big brother and little sis with be coming, too.)  I have some material and patterns for her American Dolls.  Exciting!

Blessings, Donna