Sunday, March 30, 2014

Gratitude Sunday


 
Joining in with Taryn for Gratitude Sunday...
A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful.

Taking the grandkids on a day trip.  Getting to see the excitement on their face.

Spring breezes from high up in the mountains.

Enjoying time with family and friends during spring break.

Flowers! Every. Single. One.

The smell of freshly mowed weeds  grass.

Sunshine.

Budding trees and bulb shoots.

Feeling at peace.  I can not control certain situations.  I can only control my response. 
Learning to respond with love and taking it one day at a time.

“Spring drew on...and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which,
freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night,
and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.”
 
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre    



Thursday, March 27, 2014

Crochet Challenge Week 4 and a few W(s)IP!

Welcome to Week 4 of Julie's Crochet Challenge!
 
 How did you learn to crochet, or who taught you?
 
I wish I had a wonderful story of how I learned to crochet, being taught by my grandmother like Erika.  But I don't.  I belonged to my local yarn store's Knitting Night (I had been knitting for about 4 years).  A new lady joined us one Tuesday night with a granny square blanket!!  I fell in love. HARD!!  I began searching the internet for crochet images, particularly granny squares.  I found some of the most beautiful blogs with gorgeous images of ripples and chevrons and squares with flowers and soo much color!! I knew that I had to learn how to make them for myself.  I bought a few books (one even designated for children) but I am such a visual learner that it just did not work for me. So I clicked on a few You Tube videos and I have been happily hooking every since. 
 
Some of my current works in progress:
 
I found out that a much younger friend is having their 4th baby...
after three boys, it is going to be a girl.  The are completely over the moon...
This one is for Anna Raine...


Another friend is becoming a grandmother for the first time.  How exciting! 
This one is for Hannah Grace...


I am using all my scraps...no rhyme or reason. 
 I have just been going with whatever color I pull out of my basket next.
  I am using a small 2.25 hook with 4 rounds of hdc.  
It is working up nice and thick and soo soft!


Progress on Skylar Catherine has been slowly coming along.
  I only added three squares this week. 
 I could probably get a lot more done if I would quit starting new projects
 and I had a few extra hours in a day. 

 
I am still loving all these bright, happy colors together...
 
 
and these puff stitch flowers and a new favorite!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

And on the second day of Spring....

I picked up my babies and headed to the park...

 
they walked hand-in-hand in freezing cold water. 



I admired the blue, cloud-filled sky



We sat in the green grass, talking about budding trees and
how good it felt to be in the sunshine



the stream with the moss covered stones and rippling water. 
The gentle breezes blowing.

 
As we were leaving, I caught a glimpse of my first grandbaby,
the one I held just minutes after she was born.
How can this be that little baby?
How can she be growing up soo fast? 
 


“It is a very beautiful day. The woman looks around and thinks:
'there cannot ever have been a spring more beautiful than this.
  I did not know until now that clouds could be like this.
 I did not know that the sky is the sea and that clouds
are the souls of happy ships, sunk long ago. 
 I did not know that the wind could be tender,
like hands as they caress - what did I know - until now?”
 
Unica Zürn
 
 

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Gratitude Sunday




Joining in with Taryn for Gratitude Sunday

Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful.
A list of gratitudes.

The first day of spring!

Warm Banana bread fresh out of the oven.

Spending a little extra time with him on our afternoon.  I still can't believe he will graduate in a couple of weeks.

Spending time with a friend before work.  We don't get to see each other often and have to make time.  It is always worth it.

Working in the yard with two of my favortie helpers.  Raking and mulching the front flower beds.  Still a little too early to plant, but I love the idea and getting everything ready.

Daffadils, crocus, tulips, camelia's and hyacinth still blooming and looking beautiful.

Celebrating a friends birthday with a cookout.  I made a peanut butter pie and there was none left to bring home.  That makes me very happy!

Lighting a candle and relaxing at the end of a busy,  happy and blessed weekend.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Spring arrived this morning


I'm very lucky to get off work at 2:00.  I make the school run and then I have
approx. 4 glorious hours  to spend a bit of time pottering along,
noticing the changes in the seasons and finding new reason to be happy. 
I try to enjoy every season for it's beauty...
but after a winter that saw SNOW and ICE and temps in the single digits and
even lower...This Alabama girl is ready for Spring.
After 4 days of grey skies, windy cold rain....
 
We woke up on this first day of Spring to this:

 
I am literally full of Spring Happiness!!
pretty flowers blooming everywhere
 
So much potential to the day
 
anticipating what is to come...

a blue sky

even the moon didn't want to go in this morning
 
A friend and I stopped for coffee in the local park before work....
we solved all the world's problems over my banana bread and
her run by Starbucks

so peaceful

even the dandelions look lovely on their green beds

so much beauty everywhere we looked...

I cant even begin to tell you how happy this day has made me!!

Red Berry Crochet 52 week challenge:
Week 3:  Celebrate Spring with Flowers
(are you kidding me? Spring and Crochet?!  I die!)

 
Spring garland:
 
A rosette with some pretty sparkly yarn:

Linking up with one of my favorite new blogs Chrissie . 
Anybody that wants a pink frig is my kind of people!!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

A froggin we will go


Joining in with Tami for her Wednesday WIP and Ginny for her Yarn Along.

So, I started a scrap afghan about two years ago...
I  had forgotten all about it until I found it last weekend. 
I started working on this soon after learning to crochet and 
if you look closely you can see A.LOT. of missed stitches and mistakes. 
I mixed different weights of yarn as well which is not a good idea. 
Some squares are a lot more defined then the others. 
I  don't know what I was thinking but I don't like it. 
I have started frogging all the squares and re-using some of the colors...
 
 
Here are some of the squares now...  I like this one so much better. 
 
 
And this is for Skylar Kathryn. 
She will be joining us sometime in May.  I can't wait.
Her mom is a friend of mine who loves bright colors like me...
no pastels for this little girl.
 
Currently Reading: 
 
Philomena:
6791212

Oh my...what a story.  I don't know why I do this to myself. 
It first caught my attention when I heard Judi Dench was playing
the part of a mother searching for her son.  The book focuses more 
on the son searching for his mother.  I am only a couple of chapters in,
but I am finding it hard to put down.   

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Gratitiude Sunday

 
Joining in with Taryn for Gratitude Sunday
A Sunday heartfelt tradition.  A time to reflect. To slow down. To be grateful
 

Playing outside in our bare feet.

Sitting by an open window listening to the rain. 

Spending an afternoon together, just her and I.

Spring breezes, puffy clouds, flowering shrubs and a day filled with sunshine.

A peaceful and quiet afternoon.

A friend calling out of the blue.  The hour long conversation that followed.

The best simple homemade soup.  Even better that we were able to share it with friends.

Picking out our seeds and getting them ordered.

Starting our sunflower seeds.











Thursday, March 13, 2014

Seaside Shawl or Is Winter ever going to end?

Spring came our way for a couple of days.  I didn't know if I was going to get much
wear out of my Seaside Shawl. But, winter has come back for a short stay, so yay! 
 The shawl is getting worn on cold mornings. 
 
 
Pattern from Solstrikke.  (She has such a lovely blog with great tutorials.)
 
 
 I love it.  I love the colors, the drape, the size,
 the way it wraps around me...like a big yarny hug! 
 
 
Red Heart Boutique in Tidal again...same as my infinity scarf.
 
 
I am currently working on a Maybelle Flower garland in all my favorite Spring colors! 
 


 

Wild about Yarn has a "Motif Monday"  Every Monday she posts a new pattern
that she has created.  These are two of the doily patterns from her site.
There is a flower pattern and another doily that I haven't tried yet but will soon.. 


I love these quick, easy projects.  (Almost) Instant gratification.
 
And yarn wreaths....I know they were popular like 5 years ago.  But I still love them. 
They are so much fun to create...even though I always burn myself with the hot glue gun. 
I change mine out on my front door every month or so with the seasons.
I had a neighbor stop by and ask me to make her one.  She said it looks like a great, big hello. 
Yes!  That is exactly what I wanted. 

 
And finally...maybe one of favorite mandala's from Wink...Issue 14 of Simply Crochet. 
(I am having a hard time blocking it correctly.  It should be a circle,
 but for some reason mine is  turning out lopsided!)
 
 
I love the open-ness.  Her patterns and pictures are always so easy to follow. 
 
 
Linking up with these two very talented ladies Chrissie and Nicole this week. 

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

National Crochet Month!

March is National Crochet Month.  
What?  A whole month devoted to crochet?!  I love it!!

I have joined up with Red Berry Crochet for her 52 week Crochet Challenge
 (Ravelry link).

The second prompt is to start a blog or journal...I am going with the journal. 
A place to keep all the important project info.  Hook size, yarn, date started, etc.
  I am also going to include an inspiration section.  What inspires me? 

Here are just a few things:
























I finally found a heart rock!!
    
 
 

(he loves to photobomb...it has become one of his favorite games to play! 
I love his sweet little hands!)
 
This is going to be such a fun challenge. 
I can't wait to see what everyone else is going to come up with.




 

 








 


 












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