Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Helping Hands X 5

My Georgia peaches arrived to help with the week we watch Will.   Not being able to lift almost side railed our plans but Marsel saved the day!
Will is either on the tractor,
with all the kids and Grandpa, 
 or in the pool...
Or on his tractor that the cousins brought him!  We removed the battery as he is too young to drive but he is thrilled to sit on it and enjoy his own tractor for now!
 or playing around the pool area.
He is snuggly first thing in the morning....
As far as crafts, we do get a bit of time during his naps-here we cut out some bitty bundle fat eighths from Keepsake Quilting.  We will be taking this back to Georgia to sew but got it cut out here.
 I made a swatch to check out this yarn for a new sweater since the other one is ripped out and in the naughty bucket.
One sock done and working well into the second one.
David was given some ceramics and he is doing a bang up job painting them.   I will share the finished project! 
Our days are full!   Will sleeps great so we all rest up for another busy day.  (I will admit-this is the way to raise a toddler-having 5 people to watch and entertain him is just the right number!)

Friends

Friends came over for a dinner and a swim!  The kids all enjoyed the 90F water after dinner!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Pacing the Creativity!

 I finished the tube socks for Will.  I listened to the Knitmore Girls Podcast and the Grandma Gigi said she likes these better for little feet because they don't outgrow them as quickly for there is no specific heel placement.   I tried it on Will and agreed-it is going to be the way I make kid socks from now on!
 When even standing gets miserable, I can sit in my recliner and still spin!  
I am plying the Indigo dyed Cormo fiber now.   It will puff up so nicely when it is washed!
 I have walked around this all week-moving the blocks around and trying to find a lay-out that makes me happy.   I finally got it this morning!   Now I have stacked the pieces so they are ready for sewing and no longer have them on the floor!
 I made these little knitting project bags  today,  they will keep everything contained for easy grabbing.
 I only had one little bread closure tag but I will be collecting these because they give you an easy clue as to what is IN the bag!  I had fun putting little fringe doodads on the ties.   Well, except for the clumsy hand motions when I picked up the bead tube upside down...good thing I like to sweep!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Monday's Blessing!

This morning I had a wonderful visit from a young woman I have known for a long time.  She came today bearing all her cleaning equipment.........and then proceeded to clean my whole house;  from top to bottom.... everywhere.  

I am overwhelmed with her labor of love!

I have done the chores that help Bill and I get by, so has he-I love to clean but not being able to run the big vacuum or bend and scrub sure does mean that the house is getting ahead of me!
I even fell asleep for a while and she kept working away........all day!
(She did let me give her a break for lunch and to share a small candy bar!)

Every little while, I would get to work with her on some chore-it was so encouraging to see the house get deep cleaned and have the pleasure of doing it with another woman!

Throughout the day I would cut a fat quarter into apple core pieces with the accuquilt.......by the end of the day, I had these cut and laid out but I will have to work on rearranging them tomorrow morning as I couldn't bend by the end of the day!  This scattered way gives the lay-out size and now I can organize which one goes where to look its best!  Remember, step by step the project gets done!

THANK YOU SO MUCH , JESSICA!!!!

(PS-she gifted me my own Swiffer duster which has an extended handle-I will be able to reach so much without a step stool!--yippee!)

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Weekend Joys

 How's this for a convention?!  One of their number had stolen the carcass and dropped it in our driveway where the rest of the flock decided to fight for it!   It was an interesting to watch..until they decided to hang out after they had eaten it all and then scoured the front yard which bothered the cats.  I didn't get bothered until they decided to hang out on the roof-boy were they noisy!  I went out and clapped my hands and shouted until they all left!
 Look who came for the weekend!  I got to try the new sock on his little foot!
 Ashley and I got some quilting time in.  She needed some refreshing on the math and then she really took off!  We had a great time running to the sewing room when we had a spare minute!  She even did some early morning sewing when Will woke up on her early morning duty day!  I was very proud of her accomplishments!
 Will played around us very nicely, it was very encouraging to have him be able to entertain himself!  I encouraged Ashley to make a cut pile on one sewing time-even in 10 mins you can cut a lot!  Then next time she had a few minutes she could piece a block-soon the blocks would be done...in this time of her life, she is not going to be able to sit for hours but the habits I learned early to make even a few minutes count, it gets the job done!  Less Pinterest for inspiration and more cutting and piecing will get the job done!
 Saturday Morning, Matthew and I went out by the pool area to let Will blow off some energy!
He is definitely a morning person!  We enjoyed the beauty of the irises!
 Such perfection in symmetry!
 The orchids are beginning to wane but still add their color and beauty to the patio.
 See what I mean?
The ground orchid is in bloom and it is nice to see both orchids shining-I think I am going to add a whole bunch more to this area-I enjoy them all so much!
 While I was enjoying the fauna, Matthew ran a mile chasing this speedster!
 He ran all around for more than an hour!
 He did stop for a pit stop at the fountain to splash for a few seconds!
 Then he was off again!
 Just outside the pool area behind the garage, we are trying to get another garden planted.  This is one of the Hollyhocks I started-it is just over 4' now and blooming-I am so proud!

 There is no aroma but plenty of color which is what I enjoy the most!

 In the afternoon, Matthew braved the cool pool temperature and took a swim!  The rest of us just watched!  (We have had a whole week of cool temperatures and cooler night ones;  I am missing the warmth of the average Spring!)
 After Sunday church and dinner, and Will's nap (mine, too!)  we took Will outside for an egg hunt.
 It didn't take long for him to figure out the purpose of the game and best of all, to find the candy in each egg!
 I couldn't keep up with him, he darted from one colored egg to the next!
 He didn't want to be slow down and put any egg in the basket-he just dropped them after emptying them and ran to the next one!
 He did get sidetracked with the little hill in the yard-grunting and groaning all the way up so that he could-
 run back down-again and again!
 He couldn't quite reach the one in the bin so he climbed in and
 ate it right there!  It is fun to look at life from his point of view!
Yes, he had a great time and so did we!
(The weekend had some hard parts for me;  I cannot lift and that includes this grandson.  I usually carry him a lot-we both enjoy it.  When he falls , I pick him up for a snuggle-I had to get creative for that snuggle--I sat on the floor for hugs, knelt for quick comforts and shared standing up hugs while one of his parents held him for me!  I did miss our morning alone time but I can't watch him alone because I can't 'up' him.  Now on the flip-side of this, I learned how to receive tons of help from my daughter-in-law, she really picked up the slack by rushing here and there taking care of things.  The whole weekend was a huge encouragement to me-thank you !

Friday, April 18, 2014

It's Friday Again!?!

 Sad news-this is the last pic of the chicks.......they are not with the parents anymore.  I feel very sad about the loss.  Speaking of loss, I have good news that the MS is not in my spine but the MRI did show a bulging disc in the middle of my back and that has to be dealt with before I can continue with the MS evaluation.  I will be going to Neurological Surgeons in the end of May for their 2 cents (or in today's market, $2000......)  I am learning to pace myself and to adjust the MS meds and the pain meds.  The doctor doubled the amount of meds I am taking during the day and it was... in the vernacular of the '60's--a bad trip!   I am finding that if I just space the single doses closer then I tolerate the pain better and can still retain some cognitive powers!
I tend to be silent with pain and lately there has been an extra dose of that-it just takes too much mental power to chat!  Please be patient with me while we work to make me a whole person again!
 Mornings are my best physical times-so I do some house work and then change it up with some fiber love-I do this standing up and that feels good-sitting is the worst!
 I also loaded up the table runner and got that quilted-also a standing up job!
 I even did a slightly modified binding on the machine so I didn't have to do the binding by hand which is my usual way since the hands are not as coordinated right now!  It turned out just fine!
 I also added borders to the Tumbler block quilt and got that loaded on the frame-I do a row or two and then move on to something else.  I look like a mouse in a maze darting from one thing to the next but it is the only way I can operate right now!  Mind you -this is a post about the whole week and not the usual one day for me!!!!
 I dug through my stash and found this group for the next lap quilt-I will be using the apple core die with the Accuquilt for the pattern.
The Vodka Gimlet sweater which was knit an inch beyond the waist is no more.....I totally lost the love;  I hated the waist pattern-yuck!  So it is history.   I found a new worsted weight yarn pattern from Cascade yarns......it is nice to have power over something!!!!

PLANS AND REVISIONS

I knit the sleeve (top up) and realized that I would prefer the sleeve line up with the same color of the body. See how the shading of the  ...