Ready For Spring

I've had my fill of Winter, and the snow--I'm ready for some warm weather and flowers and green grass.  I think this is the hardest part of winter, when it's getting kind of close to the end of it.  Pretty flowers help.

This quilt is on our bed, and I have some favorite blocks--My MIL made it, and I love the old fabrics.

I particularly enjoy looking at them at night when we are sitting up in bed with the bedside lamps on.

I seem to be jumping around on different projects---like this:
 I've been working on some crocheted rick-rack.  I found some on line on some one's blog as a tutorial here.  I just have to know how to make things, that's what drives me to try new things.  When I saw this, I got out my crochet, just to see how the pattern worked.  It's kinda of fun.  It's definitely fun looking.

I'm thinking about using it on some tea towels that I've embroidered, but I'm not sure yet.

I'm not sure it goes with these flower baskets; maybe some Mexican themed tea towels in bright colors would be better.  It's the color that doesn't match these tea towels.  Oh well, it's still something to do in the evenings that I enjoy.

Tatting

I think I may have lost my mind here--my eyes aren't what they used to be, and I'm tatting with #80 thread which is WAY small.  The directions for this lace call for #40, but I couldn't find it--so tiny it will be.

I may finish this in a year or two---Maybe!  Rather than finish a project, I think I'll start a new one.  Make sense?

Eye candy!  I can't believe how many blooms my amaryllis has on it. 

Wow, I just love it. 

I went to the library to get tax forms this morning, and they were closed for Washington's Birthday, so I called Dear-Ole-Sis, and she told me to get them on line---DUH!   I'm just stuck in my old habits, and I like them, too, so I will just wait until tomorrow, and go back to the library. 

She also told me that since my husband is old we can get them figured free downtown.  She didn't exactly put it that way though, she said, "How old are you?"  I'm not quite old enough, but Hubby is.  I still like to know what's going on with my taxes, so I think I will do them.

Iowa Pics

I want to show some pictures of our trip to Iowa.  This is actually looking across the Missouri River into Omaha from one of their points of interest.

This next picture was taken at the Lewis and Clark Memorial.  If you look past the concrete pillar foreground, you can see the Missouri River.

I think this next one was the Lincoln Memorial spot.  I don't remember what this was all about, but there was a great view here.  It was so cold here, but it was warmer than it had been, so some of us weren't dressed warm enough.  Brrrr!

Our oldest daughter's home shows her great ability to pick out paint colors.  I don't have this ability,  it is almost always a shock when I paint the walls as to how the color actually looks  on the walls.  Love this color.

Sorry this photo is so blurry, but this is her front room.  Brittany, our granddaughter is learning to play the piano, and coming along nicely in her abilities.

This picture shows some of the things she received from my hubby's parents.  Not sure about the history of these objects.  I know the owl with the long nose used to scare my girls when they were very small.  It was made by my MIL's cousin who made a lot of totem poles in Oklahoma.

Later.

Beauty in February

My amaryllis that Erin gave me as a bulb, growing medium, and pot is blooming.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I'm not sure these pics capture it's true beauty.

I checked out a book from the library that's called Tatting with Visual Patterns.

I love this hankie.

It's called Maids of Honour.  I've never seen visual patterns before--it looks easier to follow than the written instructions.

Using No. 60 Crochet it measures 1 inch in width.  You work the outer row first, starting with A.  The second row is worked in the opposide direction. 

The fabric is hemmed with double crochet, by  rolling a narrow double hem, pulling a thread from the fabric at the base of this hem.  Working from the same side (which is the back of the fabric), work double crochet over the rolled hem, inserting the hook where the thread was removed.

For a curved edge, you mark the curve with a pencil, and run a tacking thread along the mark as a stay, in order to prevent stretching.  Fold the fabric back along the tacking line and work double crochet from the front, inserting the hook through both layers.  Cut away excess fabric at the back afterwards.

The crochet is worked first, then the tatting is overcast to the crochet afterwards, using a finer sewing thread.  (You can split the crochet thread into single strands.)  Or you can join it directly to the crochet while the tatting is being worked instead, if you like, with a normal tatted join.

 How cool is that?



Grandson and Papa

Our grandson, Isaiah, helped Papa put this together, or was it the other way around?  They worked together, anyway.  I like model ships, they're pretty cool.

Nice!

On another note, we are back from Iowa; it was a nice trip.  I'm ready to start sewing again,  and a new Bible Study.  Getting back in the groove with exercising with Erin---I need this, and doing it together makes it fun.

Grandkid's Posting

It's frosty here in Iowa.

Today I am making letting my grandkids help me with a post. 

 We are in Iowa visiting our kids and grandkids, so first is Cole, and here is the picture he wants to talk about:

This is my backyard as you can see it is a flowerbed so this summer me and my family are going to plant lots of flowers and i enjoy planting flowers i think its fun even though it is a lot of work but when everything is done it will look beautiful.

Next is Brittany, and here is the picture she would like to explain talk about:

This little fella is Chino and he is 6 months old, he is part Chihuahua and part Miniature Pincher. And as you may have guess he is extremely hyper! In this picture he is barking at his reflection, he does this daily. One of the most used phrases in our house is "Chino!! That's your reflection!!" We have tried covering the mirror with a blanket, but that didn't help much because he just knew that there was another dog back there! But he is slowly getting used to it and has staring competitions with the "other dog".

Last, but not least is Cyle:

Well that is me under the hoop during warm ups against Iowa School for the Deaf. We started out playing like girls, but by the end of the game we had beaten them by forty points. I started out as a foreward which is the big guy on the court, but by the end of the game I was a guard. I finished the game with nine points so I was pretty happy with myself. 

That's it from Grand Central here in Iowa.

 

Snow, Snow, Snow

I can't believe it, we got more snow--looks like about 3 inches.  I may actually get my fill of snow this winter.  It's been several years since we've received this much snow.  When my hubby and I were first married back in 1970, we received 24" of snow in the town we lived in.  My hubby worked at the hospital and couldn't get to it--that broke my heart.  I was glad he wasn't stuck at the hospital when it snowed.  I wouldn't have enjoyed the snow at all.

It's a lovely sunrise this morning.   Thank you, Lord--Isn't He a marvelous creator?  The stunning beauty He created is so awesome--Its hard to comprehend the marvel of it all, it just blows me away.

Something else I enjoy is our aquariums.  It's hard to get a good picture of the fish--they wiggle too much.

The Baja Sharks, and the Clown Loaches I will never get a good picture of they're too busy--you can see the Dwarf Gorami, and our big old black Angel Fish though.

Something else I want to show you is our huge house plant that turned into a small tree over the years.

I doesn't look so huge here, but it takes up a good portion of this small bedroom.  Once it warms up, it's going outside.

Embroidery

I really enjoy embroidery work; it's so relaxing--It DE-stresses me when I'm all wound up.  Last night we watched a very stressful movie---"2012", and I just quit watching it and did embroidery work while my hubby enjoyed the movie.   Works for both of us.  It also keeps me awake--he doesn't like it when I fall asleep watching a movie--so I'll stay awake, but not watch the movie--I guess that is more agreeable.

I keep all my embroidery floss for my current project on little plastic bobbins on a ring.  It's real handy if I need to grab it and go.  Pretty too, huh?

Here's my first tea towel.

Now, I'm working on the second one.

By the way, we received 10 inches of snow Tuesday--it's official.

Digging Out

Storm's over; now it's time to dig out.

I love fresh snowfalls.

I'm not sure how much we got; it's kind of hard to tell with all the drifting.  I would guess about 9 inches, but I think they are saying 12 inches.

I only shoveled enough to get out of the garage--our SUV is kind of tall, and the antenna always hits the door anyway.  My hubby asked me to shovel a few feet in front of the garage and the front porch, so I did.  I also put a salt sand mixture at the base where the garage door closes down.  We've had times when we couldn't get the door open, because it was frozen to the floor. 

Now we need to brace ourselves for the cold.  It's suppose to get down to -10 degrees tonight, and

tomorrow through tomorrow night aren't much better.

I still love this part of winter.  Fresh snowfalls are so beautiful.

Blizzard

A blizzard is forecast for today, so I thought I would take some pics of the storm.

7 a.m. 

 8 a.m.

 9 a.m.

 10 a.m.

11 a.m.

12 noon

I'm staying inside and sewing.