WEEK 9 And Life

 

There were many times, this past week, I thought about doing a quick blog update.  As you can see, that thought never came to fruition.  So, once again you will get my craft and life update jammed into one post.

Let's start with the crafting.  I spent quite a bit of time working on the baby blanket I started back in June.  It is still like a blast furnace outside, but decided if I waited until the weather cooled off, the baby would be here and looking towards her first Christmas.  I just turn my little personal desktop fan on high and knit away.

This think is HUGE!  Much bigger than I thought it would be.  When finished, it may be better for the stripes to go vertical on it.  Each strip is about 7 inches.  There will be 2 more stripes added after the pink one, currently being worked.  I do have enough yarn to do 3 more stripes but really do not want to end with a white stripe.  Baby will be able to use this blanket for many years.  Her daddy still has the blanket I made him when he was born 23 years ago.  

Then there are socks.

This saw quite a bit of love this week.  I got the heel done and you can see from the progress keeper where I was last week.  This sock is my companion when I go out and about.  Especially if there will be waiting involved in that outing.  

I did manage to finally complete the section of cross stitch I was working on.

You can barely see the white/gray stitches on the far right, in front of the gold beads.  That took me 2 nights to complete.  My count was off so many times!  I finally got it done with only 1 stitch being of a color it was not supposed to be.  There are 3 colors in that little tiny section.  Oy! The next section has been started and I have 2 colors done on it.  It was put up because of the impending birth of our great grand daughter and the need to complete her gifts.

While I am talking about GGD gifts:

Hobby Lobby had their 30% off yarn sale this past week.  Baby girl will be getting a sweater and hat also, to go with the blanket.  Sweater, hat and buttons came to just under $10!  As soon as the blanket is done, this will be cast on my needles.  Thankfully, the pattern I use does not take long to knit up.  My goal is to have everything done and mailed by the end of September.  Baby is due early October.

And that ends my crafting news for this week.  In other news.......................

Monday - I tore my kitchen apart and got all the counters polished up.  I try to do this twice a year.  Even though my granite is sealed, it still seems to dull after many washings.  Plus, I love the way things slide on it once polished up.  I even washed the window above my sink.  It gets all sorts of water splashed on it.

Tuesday - Had a lunch date with one of my girl friends.  We try and do this every other month or so.  It is always such a great time and she makes me laugh a lot!  I also went to pick up my mom's diamond ring from the jewelers.  It needed prongs built up on it so the stones would not fall out.  It will be going to a grand daughter when I pass and I want to make sure it is in good shape when she receives it.  Not to mention, I do wear it now and then when going somewhere special.  This was also Hobby Lobby shopping day.  I was most impressed with myself for only buying the yarn and buttons.  I did walk the entire store though.  OH!  And they changed the location of the yarn on me.  I almost had a little panic attack when I couldn't find it.

Wednesday - I spent the day at home!  I made Cherry Bars with the fresh cherries I bought last week.  I was waiting for my cherry pitter to arrive so I could make these.  

Isn't he cute?  It was fun to pit the cherries this way.  I still had cherry juice everywhere though.  I may try and find a pitter that does more than one piece at a time.  Anyway, the cherry bars were very yummy and super easy to make.

You can get the recipe here.  In fact, the recipe was so easy, I did not need anything from the store to make them.  I had everything in my baking supply closet.

Thursday - This was errand day.  The most fun was going to the At Home store.  I don't know how many of you have this store in your area.  It is a HUGE store and carries everything you would ever need for your home.  Not to mention stuff you really don't NEED but WANT!  I was looking for a large pot to plant my Christmas Cacti in.  They have overgrown their current pots and I am no longer able to keep them in the window they are at.  They will now be infront of our French Doors leading out to our backyard.

I was thrilled that the pot and little table were both on 50% off.  I did not realizer how big the pot was until I got it home.  Hopefully, I do not put the cacti into shock by transplanting them into such a large pot.  I also got cushions for our pool chairs.  They, too, were 50% off.  And if you have ever priced patio chair cushions, you know they can be very expensive.  We need to replace ours about every 3 years because of sun rot.  

Friday - Hubby and I did grocery shopping together.  Normally I go alone.  When he goes with me he loves to look at unique food things.  It takes me much longer when we go together than if I go by myself.  But that is ok.  We did not have much else planned for this day.  We even went out for dinner that evening.

Saturday - We got the house cleaned.  We normally do this during the week but we were having people over this evening and wanted the house all spiffy for it.  We went to Mass and then had the Fantasy Football draft at our house.  It was so fun to have a few people over.  Even though I do not participate in the fantasy league, I enjoyed listening to the guys talking about their picks and who had the best team and what team was going to do what over the next year of NFL.

Today will be a quiet day (I hope).  I would like to nothing more than work on the baby blanket and watch some TV.  My body batteries need a bit of recharging before Monday comes around.  What are your plans?

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

WEEK 8 And What A Week!

Hello there & welcome.  My crafting this past week was pathetic.  Once I show you what all I did this week, I will show you why my crafting took a down wards trend.

Last week I made a goal to finish the section of my cross stitch I was on.  Well, I almost made it.

The main part is completed for this section.  There is a bit of bead decor and part of a dove on the far right.  I will get to that this week and then move on to the next section.

And that is all I did this week.  What?  The socks, you ask?

Pushed to the back of my crafting area.  I know, they do look sad, don't they.  Maybe this week.  Maybe not.  Who knows,  Depends on what the week brings.

Let's start with Sunday after I posted my blog.  

Hubby and I got as much done in the house as we could before Monday morning came.  Why?  Because we had roofers show up Monday morning just before 5AM!

Monday - Roofers were here from 5AM until about 2:30pm.  They got the back half of our roof totally scraped off and applied the felt.  Hubby had to get into our pool, with a magnet, to get all the staples out of it.  Oh my.  So many staples!  I can not blame the roofers.  They have no control where those staples go when they pop them out of the shingles/roof.  By the time they left, we were spent.  Over 7 hours of constant bounding and scratching was a bit of sensory overload.

Tuesday - Roofers again at 5am.  I got a phone call about 10 to see if I could go to Josie's house and sit with her for a few hours while her mom and dad went to help get a place of business set up for an auction.  The business closed and they were auctioning off all the items left in the place. Josie had her wisdom teeth surgically extracted on Monday.

She wants you to know she is smiling in the photo.  Normally they would have not worried about leaving her alone but....................she was having an issue with her tongue and mouth working right.  Come to find out, she was allergic to the antibiotic they gave her.  Her tongue would swell up and make it hard for her to get food or water down.  Luckily they figured it out within 24 hours and got her off of it and got her a new antibiotic.  By Wednesday she was almost back to normal.

Wednesday - Roofers again at 5am.  Electrician came out to install a new electrical outlet for our water softener. Being the brave person I am, I took off and got our water dispenser bottles filled, picked up my wedding ring (it fits!) and filled my car with gas.  The solar people came out and reinstalled our solar panels.  By the time everyone left that day, around 3, I was fed up with all home repairs.  So, I grabbed hubby and headed out to our local bar and grill and enjoyed happy hour food and beverages.

The rest of the evening was spent watching TV and vegging out.

Thursday - roofers again at 5am!  This time they completed the job.  I will tell you, these roofers were so nice and polite.  They cleaned up our yards from all the staples, shingles and felt (tar paper).  They even swept out our carport and made sure the street was void of all staples too.  I felt bad for them as our temps were in the 110's again the days they were here.

It looks so much better now.  Just as that was finished the plumber came out to give us a quote on fixing my kitchen faucet and putting new valves on our washer and dryer lines.  He gave us a quote that was WAY too expensive so we called another company to get a comparison quote. 

While hubby was dealing with all of this, I was once again out of the house running errands.  Today was the day I decided to get our annual bag (30 pounds) of New Mexico green chili.  Where I purchased it, they offered roast it for me too!  Yes, please.

Eight minutes later I had roasted green chili in the back of my SUV and headed home.  It smelled so good!  After I got it home and in the house, we had to let it cool for a bit.  A couple of hours later we started bagging it and getting it ready to go into the freezer.

The last thing I did that day was wash and bag fresh fruit to freeze for sorbets and smoothies.  No photo of that but I have about 20 bags of fruit in the freezer too.

 Friday - The other plumbing company came out and gave us a quote that was substantially lower than the first company.  They said they could do it in 3-4 hours and got right to work.  Well,  nothing ever goes according to plan.  We had gotten all the replacement parts to our life time warrantied kitchen faucet.  When the plumbers opened the box, they found out there were 2 major pieces missing!  Well, by that time, our old faucet had been cut off (corrosion prevented them from just unscrewing everything) and we were at a bad place.  We ended up purchasing a new faucet and having them install it!

I love it!  After all of that, we left the house and went to Josie's house for dinner and game night.  We needed it!

Saturday -  Up early to go and pick up food, from one of our Kroger stores, for our church's food bank.  Got home in time for our TX son and wife to come over and reinstall my weather station items.  They needed to be taken down during roof construction.  We had a lovely visit with them.  When they left we got cleaned up, went to Mass and then out to eat for dinner.  

Today - I have a pot roast in the crockpot for dinner tonight.  I made a loaf of bread in my bread machine.  The kitchen sink was cleaned up, today, as there was still metal shavings and lots of dirty prints all over it from Friday's plumbing job.  The rest of the day I am going to enjoy being in my house with my dog and husband. There might be some crafting happening!!!!

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

WEEK 7 OF YOP 13

 

I'm back with some things for you to see and read.

First off, I have a FO (finished object)

Hubby's RCR (rose city roller) socks got completed Last Sunday evening.  And yes, he has already worn them.  

As for his second Car Sock:

I put a few rows on it.  Thirty more rows and I can put the heel in.  Probably won't be making another pair of long socks for a while.  They kind of seem to drag on forever.  Even in the winter here, we wear short socks 99% of the time.  Long socks are only worn when Mr wears pants to church.

Hubby's sister reminded me I had promised her, over a year ago, some socks.  Well then;

Let's get crackin' on doing those ASAP!  I have had this yarn in my stash for many years.  It is not a very soft yarn but will wear like iron.  She asked for short socks and since she lives in Colorado, I chose wool to help keep her toes a bit warm and dry during her cooler seasons.  I am not sure I will get to the part that has the multi-colors in it.  She has a small foot so may only get through the lighter blue segment.

The baby blanket is still in time out for a few more weeks.  I will need to get back to it though by the beginning of September.  The baby is due the first part of October.  I still want to make the baby sweater and hat too.  Guess I need to get those socks done and get busy on baby stuff.

I did work on my cross stitch again this week.  

Hopefully you can see the gold metallic accents on the white portion.  I did that as well as putting on the beads.  I know the beads do not make sense to you right now, but they will once I get to stitching down further on the pattern.

I managed to put in just about two hours total on this piece.  It is time consuming with all the color changes that happens all the time.

This weeks view:

Versus last weeks view:

Let me just tell you, white on white is tough.  There is a lot more of it to be done.  Luckily, with the way I have planned the progress out, it will be done in bits and pieces so as not to make me loony!

That covers all the crafting done for this week.  Hubby and I will be thankful when this coming week is over and done with.  This is the week we get our new roof put on!

Yesterday morning we were greeted at 6am by the gentleman with the roll-away trash bin.  We had to move our cars to the street so he could put the monster in our driveway.  This is where all the old roofing materials will be going on Monday.  Tuesday, the new felt and tiles will be laid and nailed down.  Wednesday, the solar panels will be replaced on the roof.  Hopefully we will not need to do this again in our lifetime.  It is kind of stressful trying to get everything coordinated plus working with an insurance company for payment...........well, it has been very hard especially on hubby since he has done most of the work.

After this, we will be getting our kitchen faucet replaced.  The old one has kind of worn out and all we get from the tap is hot water.  Luckily, we have a faucet that has a lifetime warranty so the replacement was FREE!  I was disappointed to see the faucet only lasted 8 years.  Not a great record.  The last one was over 20 years old!

I took my wedding rings into a jeweler this week.  I wanted them separated.  My left hand has severe arthritic changes in it and with the rings, when attached, were very wide and were rubbing and causing severe pain in-between my ring finger and pinky finger.  They were also way too big thanks to another jeweler who though he should oversize them incase my fingers swelled up with my RA.  He had them at a size 9 and I wear a 7.5!  They hardly ever stayed on without a ring guard infront of them.  I fought with those rings for over 3 years!  So, I looked for a jeweler in my area that was a privately owned place.  I believe in supporting local mom & pop type businesses when possible.  The jeweler I found is about 4 miles from my house.  When I walked in I immediately felt welcomed and comfortable.  The jeweler is about 3 years younger than my youngest child.  He also went to the same high school and took the same silver smith class my youngest did!  What a coincidence.  His prices are very good plus he custom designs jewelry.  I went in on Friday to pick up the pieces.  I was impressed as he had managed to etch my wedding band to match the etching that was already on it.  My diamond band was all polished and clean and VERY shiny.  Unfortunately, he made the wedding band a 7 instead of a 7.5.  I could get it on but it was a bit snugger than I thought was a good idea.  Because, my hands do swell at times and I like to be able to get my rings off if I see/feel that happening.  Hopefully, I will be getting the wedding band back sometime this week yet.

It took me 5 tries to get a photo without the light causing the stones to 'burn out'.  I am very happy to be able to wear my wedding jewelry again.  

I will leave you with a photo of what our life is like in the evenings while watching TV.

This is the dog who would not let my husband near him for almost a month after we adopted him!  Now they are best buds.

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

WEEK 6

 

Hello again.  I have lots to talk about today so let me get right to it.

I was so hoping to finish the RCR sock this week and got fairly close.

If all goes well this week, it should get completed.  I need to make another pair ASAP too.  A reminder was given to me this week that I had promised a pair to my SIL over a year ago.  OOPS!  Luckily, she has very small feet so they should go quickly.

The 'Car Sock' is moving along.................slowly.

The progress keeper tells me I added many rows to this.  My mind tells me there are many, many more rows to go even before the heel.  Now I know why I dread making hubby long socks.

I do have one finish though

The requested item to hang in Josie's car.  I actually made the strawberries twice.  The first ones were a much darker pink.  After re-looking at the photo she gave me, I decided to go ahead and remake them in the paler pink color.  For reference, here is the photo I had to go on.

Pretty darn close, right?  They were a fun and quick crochet project.  I made them in DK weight yarn even though the pattern called for worsted.  I am glad I did as they are plenty big for that mini cooper she has.  This was the first time I had ever done an i-cord in crochet too.  After 50 years, I am still learning new things in that art form!

Do any of you remember this cross stitch?

This has been one of those languishing WIP's.  It has been on my list since 2020.  The last time I posted about it, I had barely done anything on it.  Well, I pulled it out this week and decided I need to try and work on it at least 30 minutes each week.

It is very slow going though.  There are 30 colors in the item and because of copious amounts of shading it takes quite a bit of patience and a lot of color changes.  Just in the small section I have completed, there are 18 different colors used.  It will be gorgeous when completed.  I still need to add some of the accent items to this section before I move on to the next section.  (French knots, beads and gold metallic stars)  

Now, for the story behind the above cross stitch.  Back in early 2000's I was asked to make a shawl for one of my daughter's friends and in exchange she would do a cross stitch for me.  At the time I was unable to work on cross stitch because of some severe hand issues.  I jumped at the chance as I had already purchased a cross stitch kit and was sad because I was not able to work on it.  I made the shawl for her and she decided she could/would not do the cross stitch for me so she sent it to my daughter to work on.

I love my daughter but she has ADHD and can not stay focused on a project for any great amount of time.  She did work on it for a bit and then put it away until she felt she could give it more attention.  Well........................guess what.  During that time, she got married, moved and put lots of her things in boxes until she and her hubby could take the time to go through them.  

About 5 years ago, I asked about the cross stitch kit as now I was able to once again work on cross stitch without difficulty.  She told me she would find it and get it to me.  I realized it was probably buried deep within the recesses of her home and it might never be found again.  So, I purchased the above kit to make instead.  All I could remember about the 'lost' kit was Mary was wearing red and held the baby Jesus.  (hence the reason the above kits was purchased)

This past Thursday I got a phone call from my daughter to inform me she had found the cross stitch kit!  I was ecstatic and asked her to get it to me as soon as she could so I could work on it.  Here is a photo of the item I have been waiting for.

This is titled "Madonna and Child" and is a painting by Marianne Stokes.  All I could remember about it was, Mary was wearing red which is so unusual.  Mostly you see her either in all white or in blue and white.  

There has been a little bit done on the piece.

It shouldn't be to hard to figure out where it is at on the pattern.  (I hope)  I have been talking about doing a full coverage cross stitch and this will be my chance.  I may decide to go buy new aida cloth and start the whole thing over.  Depends on if the DMC colors are given on the color sheet or not.  I did look to see if this kit was still available only to discover it has been discontinued. I was able to find 1 kit but it was $213!  For that price it should be completed, framed and hung on my wall!  I think I only paid about $35 for the kit.

Since these are both going to be long process WIP's, I will only update them periodically so as not to bore you.

The only other thing I did this week, which I have not done in a while, is make an actual loaf of sourdough bread.

I found a recipe on King Arthur's website for 'Easy Everyday Sourdough Bread' and thought I would give it a try.  I have not had the best of luck with making actual bread so was quite pleased when this turned out so well.  It was VERY easy to make and I will be doing it again when this loaf is gone.  It also has a very strong sourdough flavor to it, which makes me even happier.  It is a mixture of white and pumpernickel flour.  Next time I am going to do all white to see if it will be a bit less dense.

Today, I am going to go to "As You Wish" self painting pottery place.  This is what Josie wanted to do for her 'friend' birthday party.  She had one spot left and wanted to know if I would go with them.  Well, of course I will!  Her friends are so much fun to be around and I love to paint pottery.  I feel honored to still be included in her 'fun' activities.

That's it for today.

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