WEEK 30

 

Hello there.  I was going to post yesterday, but the day got away from me.  So, here I am on Monday morning, waiting for my first load of laundry to finish washing so I can commence with drying it and getting the other 3 loads completed before dinner time.

My yarn projects remain the same.  The Lego blanket is now up to row 101.  Someone has asked me several time in my comments where to find the pattern.  Since it is from an anonymous sender, I have no idea who is asking for it.  I did put the link for it on last weeks update.  Here is the link again, in case this person is not a weekly reader of blogs.

There are just a few more rows on DD RCR socks before I do the heel.  This is my morning knit now while I am listening to my morning devotions.  Makes for a lovely serene start to my day and sets the mood for the remainder of my day.

The big brown lap blanket is still only getting a few rows each week during adoration.  The first skein of yarn is nearing the end, finally!  I am contemplating using a contrasting color for the second skein, just to break up the dullness of it.  Might make me want to pick it up more often.

There were some other projects that got completed though.................

From left to right, Pixar lamp and ball, lucky bamboo, and orchid.  All Lego builds that were completed on Saturday.  The Pixar ball had been completed several days ago.  I finally decided to get the lamp done so I could clean up my crafting table.  Well, once that was done, I was hooked on Lego building.  So, I grabbed the 2 smallest builds I had in stock and got those completed too.  I am now down to 4 more unopened sets as well as Notre Dame that is begging to be completed.

Yesterday, we had a surprise 50th birthday party for Stacie.  There were several of her closest friends as well as family there to celebrate her 50th rotation around the sun.  Her actual birthday is this Friday.  Hubby and I are going to take her to Bingo and make sure she has an awesome time there too.

An item on my bucket list got marked off this week!

I went to the Barrett Jackson car show and auction!  I have wanted to do this for several years.  Jay and TIff got free tickets from our BMW dealer and invited me and hubby to go with them.  Hubby was unable to make it but really encouraged me to go.  I am so glad I did.  It was a horrendous amount of walking and I paid for it the next day but, oh so worth it.

 I fell in love with this 1951 Jaguar Roadster.  Hubby said no.  Darn it.  But it was so cool looking and I think I would have looked smashing driving it around town.

There were not just cars there either.  This grand piano was so stunning.  I played for YEARS but no longer as able to thanks to the RA in my hands.  I will say it was tempting to go over and embrace this item of beauty though.

 A purchase was made this week to help in my kitchen.

Say hello to my acacia wood noodle board and my magnetic stove top shelf!  I do not use my stove top other than to meal prep on it.  I have induction burners I use as well as an Oster french door oven.  This is so much easier to clean if I have a little spill during prep work.  The stove top shelf is holding all our oils and vinegars.  Yes, we do use all of them.  So many flavors that add to our meals.

And finally, a new adventure for me.  Well, actually for me and my son, Jay.  We decided we wanted to make our own vanilla extract.  We ordered bottles and beans from Amazon.  I was impressed with the quality of the beans we received.  Then, we needed to decide what alcohol we were going to use to make the extract.  After much research, I choose to make three different types to determine which I preferred.

From left to right; Titos Vodka, Buffalo Trace bourbon, Captain Morgan White rum.  All made with Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans. This is going to be a long term project.  They need to 'ferment' for 6 months to a year.  The vodka we can check out in 8 weeks to see if it is where we like it.  We can also top them off as we use them for the next year.  I am excited to see how they turn out.  Now, I just need to remember to shake them once a week to keep everything evened out inside.  Jay wants to try Ugandan beans too.  Once we see how these do, we will venture into more exotic beans.

That my friends is all for this week.  Load 2 of laundry is in the washer!  There are plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight so no need to cook.  Sounds like I will have time to work on one of my many projects today then.

If you were in the path of this weekends horrendous winter storm, I hope you are all safe and warm.  I know many of you live in the Midwest to east coast.  Prayers for you!

Here is your chuckle for the week.

Until Next Time................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!

WEEK 29

 

Hey there.  Another week has passed and I still do not have a finished yarn project to show.  I did finish this:

The Lego San Francisco skyline.  This was my 50th anniversary gift from our daughter.  She had asked what I wanted for our 50th and I told her a trip to San Francisco.  Since she could 't afford that she got me this instead.  I love it!  It was a fairly easy build.  Completed in one day.

As for yarn projects................it is the same 3.

The lap blanket is so slow going.  The marker was placed there 2 months ago!  I only work on this on Thursday nights during Adoration hour.  That gives it about 4 rows a week.  This is the reason I do not knit bigger projects.  Especially when I need to keep track of a patterned stitch.  I get bored way to easily with them.

Daughter's second sock has been started and the cuff is almost done.  This is my project for when my wrists hurt from crocheting on the Lego blanket.

And, here is the Lego blanket, tucked into a basket with the skeins on top.  I had to hide it this week as the intended receiver kept stopping over for little visits.  Otherwise, it is normally out, right beside my chair so I can easily pick it up and work on it.  I am on row 95 of 218 (not including the border).  I have been asked where the pattern can be found.  It is on Ravelry at this site.    It is not a free pattern but worth the price.  It is so well written and the color chart is all I needed to print out.

That is all for this week's update.  I spent quite a bit of my week transporting people around to appointments. 

Josie's car had to go to the shop so I was her chauffer for a couple of days.  

Our daughter had to have some oral surgery done so I chauffeured her to and from plus I had her at our house for a couple of days to recoup.  

I did my groceries online for pick up this week.  I did not have the gumption to go to the store and deal with everything.  

I spent a day with Stacie helping her declutter her craftroom.  I even brought her sewing machine to my house to see why she said it was broken.  Worked fine when I used it.  Maybe operator error?  

I renewed our passports online.  How nice that you can get your passport photo taken at the local CVS store.  And, it can be done digitally which makes it super easy to do your renewal online.  

So, it was another busy week for me and, of course, the crafting comes second to my family.

I am very excited...............tomorrow I am going to the Barrett Jackson car show with my son, his wife and their future son in law.  This has been on my bucket list for years.  My son, Jay, got free tickets from our car dealership for being a good customer!  The weather will be perfect with a high of 75F and partly cloudy.

Today, I will be kicking back and enjoying the day.  I have a pot roast in the crockpot.  There is another Lego build I started and would like to finish.  All my yarn projects would like to receive a bit of love.  There are NFL playoff games to watch too.  A perfect Sunday!

Let me leave you with a chuckle today.............

Until Next Time..........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a Little Update

 

Hey guys.  I am still around.  Blogging has not been my #1 priority lately.  Life has been a bit crazy around here over the past 3 weeks.

Hubby caught the creeping crud and was pretty well down and out for 10 days.

  

I got a lovely sinus infection which is now cleared up. 

 

We had one of our kids end up in the hospital for 5 days

.

We finally got Christmas taken down last week and have gotten it all put away as of yesterday.

There was a day where hubby and I made tamales.

Knitting has been almost nonexistent on the second RCR sock

Crocheting is slow but steady on the lego blanket

The lapghan only gets about 4 rows a week while I am at adoration

I have read one book and am 50% through a second one

My house looks like a tornado hit it

I am working on deep cleaning individual rooms (again)  Craftroom is first.

Lego building is back

Diamond art is on pause

I am helping Stacie with her decluttering so she can sell her house and downsize

Hubby is teaching Bible class every week which requires many hours of prep so Sh-h-h-h-h

Other than all that, life is pretty routine and boring!

How are y'all doing?  I have been keeping up with everyone's blogs.  Just have not been commenting much.  Please forgive me for that.  I kept thinking, once 2026 began, things would become more settled.  Evidently, that is not going to happen for a little while yet.  We finally got some winter temperatures (for a week) and are now going back into the high 70's.  My outdoor plant's don't know whether to go dormant or to start blooming again.  It is about the time of year when I will be heading to my front porch to sit in my rocking chair and work on one of my yarn projects.  It needs to be around 80F for that to happen.  My front porch faces north and gets very little sunlight so it stays bit chilly until mid summer.

Hopefully I will be back to regular blogging in the next week or so.

Until Next Time..................happy crafting!!!!!!!!!

Week 26 Update

 

There is really nothing new to show you today.  I added another 12 rows on the Lego blanket and 10 rows on the sock.  There was a tiny bit of diamond art done but nothing spectacular.  The ends on the finished dishcloth, I showed last week, were weaved in and it is now in use.  So, with that being said, I wanted to take a bit of a look back over the past 26 weeks to see where I am at.

LEGEND

WIPs

COMPLETED

FROGGED

KNIT

MKAL Gnome 4/20/24

Dishcloth x 2 6/26/25 - 7/5/25

Dishcloth x 1 7/7/25 - 7/12/25

RCR 7/8/25 - 8/6/25

RCR 8/6/25 - 10/9/25

RCR 8/6/25 -10/10/25

Baby Hats X5 9/22/25 - 9/29/25

Grammies Blanket 9/13/25 - 10/19/25

Grammies Dishcloth 10/2/25 - 10/11/25

Dishcloth 11/1/25 - 11/3/25

Grammies Blanket 11/1/25 -

RCR 11/29/25 - 

Dishcloth 12/10/25 - 12/10/25

It makes me happy to see I have not frogged anything this year............so far.  The one thing I need to change up is to STOP making blankets in this category.  They take such a long time and I do get bored with them long before they are completed.

CROCHET

Shawl We Wear 6/2/25 - 7/7/25

To The Point Shawl 10/19/25 - 10/22/25

To The Point Shawl 10//22/25 - 10/26/25

To The Point Shawl 10/27/25 - 10/28/25

To The Point Shawl 10/29/25 - 10/31/25

Lego Blanket 11/1/25

As much as I love crochet, I am starting to get a bit burned out on making the same shawl pattern.  I have made a total of 48 of this pattern over the years. It is a quick project, which is why I continue to make it.  Our prayer shawl ministry is crying for more shawl and lap blankets.  We sent out over 1150 shawls and lap blankets in the past 6 months.  They do not just go to the US either.  We also sent them to Australia/Oceania, Asia, South America, Europe, Canada and Mexico.  OK, so I guess doing the same quick pattern is not such a bad thing.

CROSS STITCH

Madonna & Child 8/7/20

Madonna & Child 6/18/24

Someday I will want to pick these projects back up.  Just not today.

DIAMOND ART

Our Lady of Grace 6/13/25 - 7/7/25

Perpetual Calendar 7/2/25 - 7/2/25

Glass Cases X 5 7/11/25 - 7/12/25

Glass Case 7/14/25 - 7/14/25

Jesus Christ 7/17/25 - 7/25/25

Book Mark X2 7/24/25 - 7/24/25

Nativity Scene 7/26/25 - 9/11/25

Faith 8/15/25 - 8/23/25

English Cottage 9/3/25 - 10/8/25

Cross 10/9/25 -

Once I no longer was on Josh duty, this kind of fell to the wayside.  I started back on it again last night and remembered why I liked it.  In my craftroom storage, I have over 20 more of these to do.  Time to get busy on them again.  They are perfect to work on while Hubby is watching football.  I can be in the same room with him but do not need to watch the TV.

LEGO

Notre Dame 6/1/25

This poor project..........I may just need to sit down and really study it to find out where we went wrong on it.  I would love to get it completed, put the lights on it and get it in it's acrylic show case.  Life Goals!

PUZZLES

Barn Dance 8/13/25 - 10/14/25

Happy Halloween 10/15/25 - 10/23/25

General Store 10/28/25 - 11/2/25

Loading the Wagoneer 11/4/25 - 12/15/25

I love me some puzzles.  There will be a new one put out after the first of the year.

SEWING

Hemming Pants for Tiff 10/14/25 - 10/14/25

I have 2 more pairs of pants to hem for Tiffany as well as 3 dresses to hem for Jaxon.  I really do not enjoy hemming items for others.  But because I love my family, I do it for them.  I would rather be sewing items to wear or use, from start to finish.

BOOKS

Through a Glass, Deadly 6/22/25 - 7/6/25

The Watchmaker's Daughter 7/15/25 - 7/18/25

The Mapmaker's Apprentice 7/18/25 - 7/29/25

The Women 7/20/25 - 7/22/25

Crowned and Moldering 7/29/25 - 8/6/25

Home for Christmas in July 8/6/25 - 8/10/25

The Apothecary's Poison 8/10/25 - 8/15/25

Booked for  Christmas 8/15/25 - 8/17/25

Bones and Roses 8/19/25 - 8/24/25 

The Lies We Leave Behind 8/24/25 - 8/30/25

Snow on the Tulips 8/31/25 - 9/5/25

Hidden Blessings 9/6/25 - 9/9/25

The Secret War of Julia Child 9/9/25 - 9/19/25

How To Age Disgracefully 9/25/25 - 10/16/25

The Frozen River 10/7/25 - 10/12/25

Hooked on Murder  10/12/25 - 10/20/25

The Magicians Diary 10/22/25 - 10/31/25

Tom Lake 11/1/25 - 11/8/25

Dying to Read 11/11/25-/11/22/25

Home Front 11/22/25-/11/24/25

Inheritance 11/28/25 - 12/10/25

The Mirror 12/10/25 - 12/18/25

The Seven Rings 12/18/25 - 12/25/25

A Girl Like Janet 12/25/25 - 12/27/25

This was an excellent year for reading for me.  This is just the list of books since July 1.  I had also read another 14 books before this.  I find many of my books by reading others recommendations.  So, thank you fellow bloggers who write book reviews.

That sums up my past 6 months of crafts.

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Lot's of fun, food and family love to go around.  Hubby and I will be spending New Year's eve and New Year's at home with our lovely Enrique dog.  We leave the partying to the young people.

Until Next Time..................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!

 

Goodness gracious!  I have been absent for much longer than I planned on.  I thought I would only miss a couple of weeks but not over a month!  Well, I am here and I am doing quite well.  Before I get into what I have been up to, let me show you my projects I have been working on.

Knitting

Made another dishcloth for me!  Sometimes you just need a quick project to make you feel accomplished.

My daughter requested socks and picked out the yarn for them.  This is sock #1 of the first pair.  It gets a bit of love late in the evening when I do not need to think about what I am doing and can just knit.

Still working on the lapghan for the prayer shawl ministry.  The marker shows where I was back in November.  I only work on this one day a week for about an hour.  It is not my main focus at the moment.

Crochet

This is my main focus.  I need this completed before warm weather comes back to Arizona.  I am 1/3 of the way completed.  At the rate I am moving on it, it looks like it may be done by April!  Need to speed things up as by April we will be in the high 80's and sometimes 90's.  Heck, we are going to hit 81F today!  Crazy mother nature.

I had a puzzle out and it is now back in the box and given to my friend.  I never completed it as my brain just could not get into it.

Reading has been my jam lately.  I have finished 4 books in the past month.  Nora Roberts and Kristen Hannah are my best friends.

Personal Life

Thanksgiving came and went.  The family gathered at a restaurant for dinner and then came to our house for a little family time.  Another first gone for us.  There have been other activities I have participated in....................

Josie and Stacie have done a bit of traveling so I have had the privilege to go and sit with Thor for a few hours during the day while his dog sitter is at work.  He seems to be adjusting to no longer having Josh full time.  Now he is adjusting to just having Stacie there.  Josie moved out into her own apartment a couple of weeks ago!  She was so excited for this next adventure.  She has also been accepted into nursing college and starts on January 5th.  It is a 3 year program.  She will graduate with her BSN (Batchelor of science in nursing).  With that she can start her counseling career as she goes on to get her Masters.

Stacie and I went to one of our local Casinos and played Bingo.  It was a lot of fun.  I think Stacie had the most fun as she one a very large Bingo jackpot!  Me, not so much LOL

Joe got our front yarn decorated for Christmas.  He does such a great job each year.  My job is the inside of the house.  Well, I did manage to put decor on the tree and that is it.  Just having a hard time this year with really getting into the spirit of it.

I had a bit of issue with my blood pressure the first of this month.  My Cardiologist added a couple of new to me meds and I am now back into the normal range.  The meds do make me a bit tired so if I want to do anything it has to be in the morning hours as by 1pm, I am wiped out.  The Dr said it will pass in a couple of weeks.

Hubby and I had a date last Sunday.  We went to Queen Creek Olive Mill.  We took the tour of the olive oil factory they have.  Now I know why olive oil is so expensive!  We learned so much.  I want to go back again, if nothing else for the ability to taste the different olive oils they offer.  We did pick up several different oils as well as balsamic vinegars.  I wanted to pick up some of their skin care products but it was so busy as it was their harvest festival weekend.  I think half of the state was there!

Jay and Tiff are hosting Christmas this year.  We are really trying to do things differently than we have done in the past to help with the grief.  Speaking of grief......I am doing much much better.  I now can make it all the way through Mass without any tears.  I am back to making dinners every day for hubby and myself.  Baking has resumed again too.  I try to get out into the out of doors most days whether it is day or night.  Just need to breath fresh air.  Movies are about the only thing that can get my emotions rolling.  But darn it....I love all those sappy Christmas Movies.

This 'planner/journal' has been taking up a bit of my time this past week.  It is so different from the ones I have used in the past 3 years.  It has pages for goals in many areas of life.  There are monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals to fill in. There are month calendars for appointments, then weekly pages to keep track of daily goals and places to write your thoughts for the day. I am almost done with setting it up, which is a good thing since it starts a week from Monday!

And that my friends is what has kept me busy for the month.  All right, it has been 6 weeks. 

This little meme reminded me of Josie's newest kitten (meatloaf)

Until Next Time...............Happy Crafting and Merry Christmas (if you celebrate)!

WEEK 19 (for reals this time)

 

Happy Sunday, y'all.  Last week was super busy for me, personally.  Yet, I was able to do some crafting to help with anxiety.  So, here we go................

KNITTING

I finished the dishcloth

Nothing spectacular about it other than it matches my kitchen.  

I am working on the lap throw for the prayer shawl ministry.

This one takes time to do.  I am loving the chocolate brown of this.  Although, it does make me crave a Hershey bar while working on it, LOL.

CROCHET

My long term project is moving along.....................the lego blanket

I really like working on this.  There is only one little problem.  The pattern told me how much yarn to purchase for each color but...........Seems, she only made her throw with 75 bricks while the actually pattern makes 200 bricks.  Once I go through the yarn I purchased, I will be able to better tell how much more I will be needing to purchase.  On a positive note, I have figured out a way NOT to need to weave in hundreds of ends on this.  This is also allowing me to go faster on it.  I do need to stop every 12 rows and trim ends though.  I can live with that! 

PUZZLES

The  'General Store' puzzle is completed

I am glad I chose this 500 piece puzzle to do.  It was pretty easy and quite enjoyable.  Kind of a palette cleanser.  So, that means I am now working on a 1000 piece puzzle again.

This is what it will look like when completed.  Here is what it looks like now..........

It is kind of hard to see but, at the top, there are 2 border pieces missing.  Both hubby and I have looked several times and can not find the two that go on the top of this puzzle.  It was a  brand new one too.  I will continue to put it together in hopes they just magically appear.

READING

I really tried to like 'Tom Lake'.  Just could not get into the story.  Now I am looking for something 'light' to read until my next 'on hold' book becomes available.

DIAMOND ART

Worked a bit on it this week but not enough to warrant a photo.

LEGO

Nope, nothing happened here

SEWING

Have another pair of pants to hem for Tiffany.  Maybe this week?

CROSS STITCH

It's around here somewhere LOL.  Actually, it is right beside my 'crafting chair'.  I need to be in the mood to work on those 2 projects and it has not happened in quite a while.

LIFE

Enrique went to the vet this week.  We think he may have strained or torn his CCL.  He seems to be managing it well but has a limp now.  He is on NSAIDs for the next few days.  He has had luxating patellas since he was young so we were aware this could happen.  The sad thing about it is, he is a jumper!  Trying to get him to stop jumping on and off furniture is a loosing battle.  So, of course he keeps the injury 'fresh'.  He does not show any major signs of pain at this time, other than the limp.  Especially right after he gets up from one of his many naps.

Jay and TIff's dog ended up at the emergency vet.  She is ok, just getting older and slowing down like the rest of us.

Stacie's community had a garage sale on Saturday.  Tiffany and I went over on Friday and helped her set up and priced things for her.  I was able to take some items over for her to sell too.  I have no idea what got sold of mine, but will find out when I go back over to collect the tables I loaned her to set things on.

We have had 3 lunch dates this past week with friends and family.  Those are nice as I normally do not cook a dinner on that day then.  So, my kitchen time has been minimal this past week.  I do need to get in there today and make some sourdough crackers as well as make some yummies for breakfast again.  Hubby really liked the scones, so those are on the sourdough menu too.  

Hubby and I went out for dinner last night, after Mass.  I have discovered I really like strawberry Margaritas.  This one was vey yummy.

Hubby had a regular Margarita........boring!  This is our go to spot after Mass.  The food is always excellent and it is a private owned business.

With Veteran's Day this coming Tuesday, I would like to take this time to thank all the Vets for their service to our country.  A BIG HUGE thanks to our son, Jay and his wife Tiffany for their service.  Jay spent 23 years in the Navy and Tiffany spent 20 years in the Navy.  So proud of them both! A shout out goes to my nephews Corey and Casey for their service.  Both are still active in the Air Force.  

I have a chuckle for you again this week.  I actually DID laugh out loud when I saw this one.....

Until Next Time.......................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!

Week 19

 

Hey there!  Nice of you to stop by.  I did not post last week since there was not much to talk about.  This week, I do have things for show and tell.

First up.........................

I completed 4 To The Point shawls.  Since this is my 'go to' pattern, I did not see a reason to photograph each one individually.  Here they are all bagged and tagged.  I took them to Mass yesterday and turned them into the Prayer Shawl ministry.  This brings my TTP shawls to #48!

So, I was sitting here yesterday, I had time to think about what should go onto my needles/hooks next.  Hubby and I had stopped at Hobby Lobby on Friday and I had purchased some a lot of yarn for specific projects.  Not to mention, I still have a plethora of the Caron Simply Soft yarn I purchased when JoAnn's went out of business.  Well, heck, let's cast on EVERYTHING!

My long term project is...............

A Lego blanket!  There are 228 rows in this pattern.  I picked this one because there is no sewing blocks together.  However, there are hundreds of ends to weave in throughout.  I did find if I weave them end at the end of each row, it is not as over whelming.  I have completed 2 rows, so far.  This is going to be a gift to my son.  He is a Lego lover and even has a Lego room in his house.  The walls are painted Lego colors too.

The semi-long project is.................................

A lap throw for the Prayer Shawl Ministry.  This pattern was given to my by DIL's mom (grammie). It is a perfect TV viewing project and will use 3 skeins of my Caron yarn.  

There is short time projects too.................

A dishcloth.  Well actually, I bought enough Crafter Secret Cotton yarn for SEVERAL dishcloths. Everytime I make this cloth pattern, I think of my mom.  This was her favorite pattern and the one she would make and gift to others.  I am excited about the colors on this as they go with my kitchen.

There are other things on the go for me too.

This puzzle will be completed pretty soon.  It is only 500 pieces and is coming together rather quickly.

This is my current Diamond Art I am working on. I bought this way back in July (prime days) but it now has a much deeper meaning for me.  I can only work on it for a small amount of time as it does cause me a bit of melancholy.  

I did a thing a couple of weeks ago.....................

This is my newest Tattoo in honor of Josh.  A dear friend of ours had designed the cross with ribbon and Josh had it tattooed on his forearm.  I asked her to reduce it in size as I wanted it on my leg with the other memorial tattoos. The ribbon is gray in honor of brain cancer.  The other tattoos are..........Bunny heart/mom, Anchor cross/ dad, motorcycle with Ichthus/ brother.

I told the rest of my family they all need to stay healthy and alive as I am running out of room on this leg. 

As for the rest of life...............things are getting back to normal.........what ever that is.  Hubby is very busy with teaching and taking Theology classes.  I am staying busy with crafts, family and friends.  I got to spend some time with Thor (Josie's dog)and her kitties, this week as the girls went to Arkansas to have a burial for Josh and his biological father in Bella Vista.  They should be back home tomorrow.  

I found a cute chuckle that was perfect for Halloween, All Saints day and All Souls day.......