Saturday, March 29, 2014

Busy Weeks



Just because it remains cold and the weather outside is so unpredictable it doesn't mean that you can't bring some cheer indoors. In my travels through blog land I have seen a few versions of afghans/blankets that sport rows of flowers. I spent a whole evening looking and ran across this one which is called "Flowers in a Row". It is a free pattern on the www.redheart.com site. I am way past due to donate to the Guardian Grandmas and so will be sending this to Debi.


The original pattern is for a full-sized afghan but I made it smaller for a baby. There was no hat to go along with it so I winged it and made one to match. I think it turned out pretty good considering there weren't any instructions.

 
I used the same color scheme but for the hat I put only 2 rows of antique white between the flower rows.


The border on the blanket is with the pattern. It is nice and simple and goes fairly fast. Heck, the whole blanket went fast. I only repeated the color scheme 3 times. The instructions are easy to follow.


The brim of the hat can be folded over twice for a newborn baby or let down to accommodate a bit older baby.


Would I make this again, yes I would. The over all design reminds me of rows of tulips. I used worsted weight yarn from my stash. I did my own color scheme rather than use theirs. I just went with the colors you would normally see in tulips. I am thinking a pretty variegated yarn would make a pretty change.What follows are just some pictures of the blanket as it progressed. I might add that it is so close to being reversible too, which is nice.








I am presently working on another crocheted baby blanket. It is a Lion Brand pattern and another freebie. I will share all that info with you when it is completed. I will also be sending that one to Debi.

Now for what else has been going on around here. The weather is warming up a bit and then we have a blast of more cold and snow flurries. Last week on 2 separate days we got an inch of snow and by late afternoon it was all melted off. A week ago Friday I got stubborn and went out to my 2 apple trees with a bow saw and I trimmed both tree branches to about a foot above my head. My brother with a chain saw would have taken all of 15 minutes doing a job that took me 2 hours. I got myself a nice fall in the mud when I got my foot snagged on one of the branches on the ground. I was not hurt, just my pride and as far as I know, no one was around to see me although I'm sure to someone it would have been a Kodak moment. Dragging the tree limbs to the garden (where they will eventually be burned) was gonna have to wait. I promptly went into the house and called my brother who has promised to trim those trees, letting him know that the job was done and he could cross that chore off of the "TO DO LIST FOR SUE". He did come the next day to help me drag limbs to the garden, but arrived when there was just one left to do. He started up the chain saw and chopped the limbs down to a more manageable state. They are too wet to burn now. Maybe mid summer will be a good time for that.

Then I finally got a hold of a local contractor to put new roofs on the out buildings. I am also going to have them sided so that I don't have to worry about scraping and painting at a later time. The shed will get new doors too. Basically both buildings will get a face lift and so I won't have to worry about them anymore while I am still able to live here. The entire cost is a pretty penny, but there is no price for peace of mind. I am also in the process of selling off my husband's wood working equipment, that is a tearful job. The wood burning stove in the wood shop is sold too. I would like to one day put a vent less propane heater in that building and set up my quilting machine. That is all in the future and right now in the dream stage. So, what is new with all of you? I promised not to get behind on reading blogs but I don't see much reading going on in the next couple of weeks. Although I do not like working on Sundays, the contractors plan on starting in the morning. The dumpster and the supplies were delivered this morning. I am still baby sitting for my grandson and have to have some oral surgery done on Tuesday. I have a full week and pray the weather cooperates so that all this outside renovation goes smoothly and can be done as time permits. Hope all of you are doing well. Bless you and yours ♥

Thursday, March 13, 2014

SNOW, The New 4-Letter Word, Dolly's New Hat


I don't have much to show you all, sorry, just an update on what has been going on around here. Not much and personally if you clicked right off this page I wouldn't blame you.

Since my grandson's birthday we have had warmer weather and it melted tons of snow. You could see everyone was pretty happy to see it gone......then, another snow storm was on its way and late Tuesday evening it started and was blizzard-like by Wednesday. It snowed all day, we got 6-8 inches along with the blowing and drifting. There was a terrible accident on the Ohio Turnpike which is about 30 minutes from here. It involved about 50 vehicles, cars and semi-trucks. 3 people were killed. A highway patrolman was pinned between 2 vehicles while he was trying to help an accident victim. His legs were seriously injured. He was taken to the hospital. I sat around waiting, dreading that it could be my brother because it happened in the afternoon and he was working that day. Relief washed all over me when I found out it wasn't him, but how can you not feel bad too, knowing someone is suffering. Last word is that he is still in serious, but stable condition. He is a young man, in his late 20's. He probably has a wife and small children.

I was right in the middle of baking up some Toll House cookie bars while all this stuff was going on. I made 3 batches of treats for the 3 people who did random acts of kindness doing snow removal for me. Last I heard we have had over 80 inches of snow. That is a lotta snow folks. I walked across the road and gave Pete his cookies, and then next door to give Jeremy his. I called Danny and told him to come get his and if he couldn't make it I would venture to where he lives and bring them. He told me not to get out in this mess. Well, he better get here soon or his cookies will be history. I have already peeled back the Press & Seal to grab 2 and gobbled them right up. Yummy!


As far as crocheting, I did start a baby blanket which is now history. I am going to frog it, I just didn't like how the ripple was turning out. And, if you want to see what one of the colors is that I started out with, well then check out my Waldorf dolly with the new hot pink little pom pom hat. I grabbed up that blanket yarn and a circular knitting needle and started what I intended to be a preemie hat. I made the mistake of showing it to dolly. She snatched that hat out of my hands faster than lightening. She doesn't care if she has red hair and should be wearing complimentary colors of blue or green. If she likes it and it fits then it is hers, much like if it is a crumb and it hits the floor it belongs to the dogs, lol. Guess dolly has a new hat. The sweater was made a year or so ago. I loved making it and made several at the time. Sometimes it is comforting to just do a few small and quick projects.

I will finish up here with a gripe.....WINDOWS! There will be a new upgrade coming in April and they will no longer have support for the Windows I have on my pc. How sweet of them to suggest that a person buy a new pc. They must think we are all made of $. You can upgrade, I tried that from the notice they sent, but it informed me that in my region of the country it was not available. WHAT! I live in Northwest Ohio! Oh forgive me, I forgot. I guess with all this snow we are now considered living in Alaska. Is it safe to say GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR now instead of BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

So what are your views on this new Windows thing? I am on my 2nd pc. I don't want to lose all I have on here. Any suggestions how I can copy it all and save it just in case. I am way too lazy to start doing a search when I have blogger buddies who make more sense.   Stay safe, stay warm, I am outta here!


Saturday, March 8, 2014

Holden Turns 2


Look at that sweet face, now does that look like a "terrible 2"? My grandson Holden was 2 years old on Thursday, March 6th. It hardly seems real that he is that old already. Wasn't he just a new born yesterday? He is a happy child, full of life and fun. We will celebrate today with a small family pizza party. Mom says not to bring presents, he has more than enough. Ha! Since when does someone tell Grandma what to do, lol. His present has been bought weeks ago and it comes complete with a whistle (it is true, paybacks, lol). Now all we need to do next is buy the little guy a drum set. Maybe for the next birthday. His Aunt Meghan is a drummer, played 6 years in the school band. There are some free lessons just waiting to be tapped into. This is a happy time. The only thing missing is Grandpa. If he is watching from heaven then I know he is smiling too. Love you Holden ♥

Monday, March 3, 2014

TAAA DAAA Mom's New Blanket


Can you hear it, that big *sigh* of relief that came from me when the last stray loose end was woven in? It was accompanied with a load lifting from my shoulders knowing that I can now move on to something else. Mom wanted something with color, well, I think this ought to fit the bill. I plan to take it to her today. I am so glad that I asked for your opinions and that I didn't frog some of the center rows. Believe me, I was tempted. I did run into one trouble though, on the second half as I was doing the color scheme, I found that I was short on a few colors. I ended up improvising and picking from the stash a color yarn as close as possible to what I needed. I suppose if I didn't point out that issue that you wouldn't even know about it.


I absolutely loved doing this stitch found here. The only thing that I fretted over was the border. I didn't want it too fancy because the blanket was so strong with the colors I just didn't want anything too bold. Placement of stitches for it kinda put me off a bit too, going up the sides was a lot easier than doing the horizontal ends. I kinda winged it on that.

On another note, we got about another 5 inches of snow that started late on Saturday evening throughout the night to Sunday morning. It was still spitting snow around noon. I went out to shovel and my sweet neighbor across the street (he lives in a log cabin) came with his 4-wheeler with the blade and pushed the snow out of 95% of my driveway. I had very little to do and what a relief that was. All this snow removal has taken its toll. Years ago when I sprained my left ankle an x-ray revealed I have a bone spur on the bottom of that heel. It has never bothered me up until this winter. All the pressure from lifting shovels of snow has set it off and the heel has become quite painful. If it doesn't let up before long I will have to see the foot doctor. There is a lot of yard work to be done in the warmer months and that means being on my feet. I do not have the luxury of sitting all day with my feet propped up. I have also decided to get busy and start some spring cleaning. Do the rest of you find your housework piling up on you, or do you have some kind of magical solution to deal with it? My maid never shows up, she is worthless, lol. The worst room is my sewing/craft room and I have come to the conclusion that I spend more time messing it up and straightening it up than doing any constructive work in there. I did close off the heat registers and closed the doors on 2 bedrooms this winter to save on heating fuel and the sewing room was one of them. I only sit in this room to sew (and evidently to mess it up) and I haven't sewn as much as a seam in forever. It has become a hoard, how sad is that (do not be surprised if I am on the next episode). I know I haven't been blogging much either. Between all this crazy weather (we have broken the snow record around 75 inches this winter) and doing the bigger blanket projects I haven't spent much time on here. I do have plans for smaller fun things and want to share them with you. I love reading your blogs, I love that you all come and visit me. I love that you comment and share your thoughts and ideas. I think blogger buddies are the best friends a person can have, and I thank you from the bottom of my ♥. Until next time, take care, be good and may God bless you.
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