Smiles

Sometimes I wish I had the gift of words...my words in writing are stiff and choppy...my words in talking are choppy and silly...my words in thinking are forgotten and choppy...hum...recurring theme???? I wish I had the gift of writing...how I would love to express my heart in eloquent words that drew people in and made them want to continue reading...I sometimes think very deep and heavy thots but to express them verbally or on paper or the computer is not to be...sigh....but today the words are in pictures...that is something I can do....so here I give you smiles...may the bless your heart like they do mine

What is better than getting a package of color? Aren't these just scrumptious??? wonder what they will be when they grow up?

Got the camera while the pups played a bit today...this is my newest pup that I am almost for positively sure that I am gonna keep :)

This is Henry...isn't he the cutest thing...he is such a doll baby...and he loves to cuddle

This isn't the best picture of this cutie but it will have to do cuz it is what I captured on film :)

And this is Cassidy...she was laying in the sun while I was taking pics of the babies...so of course she had to be included in the photo shoot

Hope these brought a smile to your face and lightened your load...even if only for a few minutes

Mystery revealed

Here it is...the mystery revealed...it took me so long cuz I couldn't get the neckline like I wanted....so after many attempts I finally settled on doing what the hem was. This is my first attempt at designing a pattern. I had a basic pattern I was working with but really wanted to do it different...first of all wanted to do it in the round instead of sewing up seams which I detest...so the skirt is done in the round till almost to the waist...then I wanted a ribbon to go around so made ribbon loops as I went....the divided the front and the backs and worked them separately....the thing I wanted most was these puffy sleeves like I used to make with material...and with some short rows I got what I wanted...the sleeves actually don't match as one actually has one more short row in it...and that is the second one I did :)

This is the sleeve with the extra short row in it and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the puff...I took the dress without the sleeves attached and went to the local yarn store to learn how to sew seams...for years I have just attached them and they looked like c--p....so I figured if I was gonna do this I should probably learn the technique to do it right :) How things have evolved since I learned to knit umptine years ago

I probably should have done one more button hole but...next time

Here it is modeled on the American girl doll....oh I just LOVE those sleeves...have I said that already???

and the back...have done some wonderful design things with this to make it fit really well...now to write the pattern so I don't forget or can actually make another one :)

Maybe tomorrow I will finish the other one I made before this one...the pattern calls for making lace and I finally got the thinner cotton to do it...so that will be my "tonight" project

Mystery project

I love when some blogs do mystery projects...this isn't really a hard one but there is so much more to go that this is just a teaser.....and kind of a time stamp to see how long this takes me :)

well here is a bit more of the teaser :)

Geez Louise

why is it that I am always feeling behind in my blogging? I catch up and promise myself that I will stay caught up and then life gets away from me and whoosh....weeks pass by...well not that much time this time but enough to make me realize the I haven't kept up. How's come life goes by so fast the older you get? I can't believe the things I fit into a day and then wonder why I am tired at the end of the day...and it really seems like nothing is done or accomplished. Oh well...guess the thing to do is just keep pluggin away while the Good Lord gives me breath and go on from there...

I really need to update my blogger heading too as I no longer have most of these dogs...they have been replaced with other who are now my doggies and should rightfully have their pictures up there...maybe I should switch and do my grandkids instead? or my kids? I don't want them whining that I love my dogs more than I do them :)

One project I actually finished today was a crocheted blanket for my niece who is having a baby in April. My mother always used to do that and with her no longer with us I need to pick up the ball so I found this pattern...I really wanted it in a more off white color and seeing as I ordered it online I got a much whiter color than I wanted...the blanket in the pattern is an off white with a brown ribbon and really looked classy...well this one is white whit a dark blue ribbon and looks nice but not classy like I wanted....

Well for me it is late so will sign off this thing and go to read for a bit before I fall into the land of slumber...night night to all

What makes a girl happy :)

Sometimes it is the smallest things that makes a girl happy. Yarn on sale...with free shipping is one way to make a girl happy :) JoAnn's had a sale on yarn and I cashed in on it and then the sweet icing on the cake was free shipping making the yarn really reasonable...So here is my newly purchased stash....unfortunately I ordered two of a couple of the colors but didn't know that until I was setting up the pictures...oh well!
Love how that Jacquard works up into baby hats :)

And last but not least is a new picture of Cody...he is almost 7 months old and almost ready to step up to the job he was given...soon there might be a smile on his face :)

Over the edge

I guess there are always signs that you are going over the top on something :) I have never had so many knitting projects going at once...I am a start it finish it type of girl...well most of the time....three of these are hat projects that I have started...I keep one in my car for when I have to wait for someone or something...the top one is a bear outfit that has already been ripped once cuz it was way too big and the middle one is the start of leg warmers for a friends baby....

yes they are in progress works :) you can see by the yarn attached

Hopefully I will never take on another sweater or that would have to be added to my craziness :)

A weekend to remember

I wish I was good at words like some of you who just can wax eloquent. I feel my thots very deeply but have a really hard time expressing them in words--verbal or written--so it gets frustrating to me to want to express to you what this weekend meant to me and know that I won't be able to do it adequately.
I spent a weekend on a semi-retreat (I call it that cuz I didn't stay the night but commuted). Thelma Wells was the speaker and she is amazing. How can I condense an intense weekend in a few words???? I can't...but what was brought home once again to me was the God is very involved in the lives of his people and he doesn't want us degrading his workmanship by the words that we specak to ourselves. He created us and we are fearfully and wonderfully made and need to remind ourselves of that every single day. Stopping the negative self-talk that we don't even remember to pay attention to yet some how they color our thinking of ourselves and not in a good way. The AMAZING love of God was brought home to this very human mind of mine and I thank God he is so patient with me.

Ok...now on to my pictures
I took this Friday of the pups I still have here. Put them in the periwinkle and snapped this picture

I took this picture on Sunday but finished the cap on Saturday so does that count????I actually did take a picture on Saturday but it was on Noel's camera so I will never see it :)

And this picture I took today...these pups were born on May 1. The Friday of retreat I checked out my mom-to-be and decided she wasn't in labor so I determined I could go and at least be safe for the time being....well not what happened....she went into labor while my husband was on watch and seeing as he couldn't get a hold of me on my cell phone he had to start delivery on his own :) Guess I owe him big time now :)

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hat that didn't want to get done :)
Started this hat from the top down...when I finished the first one it was way too big....so......I started it again from the bottom to top

This time I didn't like the way that the holes turned out on the hat done from the bottom up so....I started again from the top down

Finally the hat is done!!! And I like the way it finished...these photos show almost different color of the yarn but it is actually the same yarn done over and over and over again :)

So hat number 2 is finally done.....hat three is actually done in a previous post

Hat #3 and Aaron

This is hat number 3. Hat number 2 is too big in my opinion and needs to be redone...so maybe once I redo it I will take a picture of the day of it...cuz I really like it :)

These pics of Aaron were taken yesterday at Cameron's LaCrosse game

I like this one of Aaron and the coat filling the frame :)

Stash

I got this box yesterday of yarn from Knit Picks....amazing colors....now to get busy and make some hats.

Blessed

My daughter called me the other day to tell me that a friend had a double mastectomy and would be going thru a round or two of chemo....she asked if I would make Donna some hats so that when she loses her hair she has something to cover her head.....this is the first possible one

This is Donna...she wanted my daughter to take a picture of her with her hair and then another one when she loses her hair..........lovely lady...
blessed to know her

Baby boys :)

a friend just had her fourth baby.....another boy :) that makes 5 boys 1 girl in the house...yikes :) Haven't had a model to see how all these hats I am making fit so poor Ethan got to try on a bunch of hats today to see how they fit a new baby's head....

he got to keep this one :)

Bee-utiful

I saw this cute hat on a web site and thot "I can make that" ...well sure I can but this attempt failed and I ended up ripping all of this hat out..well almost...the stripes were way too big which was making this young babies hat way too big....so out came the needles and out came the stitches and started almost all over again :)

Here is the finished hat...much better...........and way too cute...now to find a precious baby whose head needs a warm bumble bee hat...

Jackpot

I was at a yarn store the other day and found bins where everything was a buck in those particular bins....WOW!!!!!!!!!! JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got $20 worth of yarn...yep 20 skeins of different yarns....a friend has a new baby niece so she will get this cute little bunny hat :)

Another view of the hat :)

Spring is in the air

I saw this pattern and just had to make one...just thot it was the cutest thing...the pattern had embroidered flowers on it but that was overkill on this I think....now to find a cute little head to place this on

Here is a picture of the top of the hat...I just gotta make another one these...too cute!

Kids, hats and puppies

Madison came over today...well actually we spent the day together...first she joined my at my Zumba class and then a little bit of shopping and then home to play with puppies...oh and lunch and dinner were in there too :) She fell in love with this hat that I had made so she went home with it :) The pic of the day was her holding her favorite puppy and getting her picture taken with her new hat

Here she is modeling an almost finished hat

And another hat :)

and my favorites...Madison playing with the puppies

Can't you just hear the laugh coming out of this mouth :)

Seconds..well maybe minutes

This is what happens when you leave three puppies while you go out for a second from the room. The skeins of yarn were up on a table high enough that they shouldn't have been able to reach them....my guess is one of them got up on a chair and got them down for all of them to play with...this happened in less than a minute........naughty puppies :)

Stretching

I have such a hard time taking pictures of "inanimate" objects....so going to use some of these 365 pictures to do just "still-life" photos of just things :) Why can some people set things up so well and others of us have the hardest time taking pictures of things that don't move or have a purpose in themselves? I guess you have to have an artists eye to be able to set up an interesting frame of something that really has no purpose for taking a picture :) OK...........STRETCH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yarn and pups

I was going to just take a picture of my hat and yarn and Lexie got in the way so I thot I would go ahead and take the picture with her. I make hats for the hospital that my husband works at....so got this really cool Jacquard yarn and am excited to make a hat and see how the pattern works up.


Here is the yarn basket with no Lexie :)