Home again!

“Like all magnificent things, it's very simple.”
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

For once I have good reason for not posting. I haven't been home the last 4 days. I went home to see my family. My mother in particular since it was Moms Day this past weekend.

Had a great trip. Got to spend time with my sisters as well as my mom. We went yard saling on Friday. Which of course was a blast. I found a few small items that had to follow me home.

Then had a fantastic dinner at Clinkerdaggers restaurant. Good food and good company, what more can you ask for.

Saturday my sister Laura went and checked out the Gardens at Manito park. That was always one of my favorite places to go as a kid. You know what it is still a great place to go. I will be posting pictures today from there.

We also went to the Campbell house. Now that house has to be what set the standards for me as far as what a home should and could be. I would still love to have a house like it someday. Not likely to happen. But we all need dreams.

Family dinner on Saturday night and then travel on Sunday.

I did take a design to work on while I as gallivanting around. I will finish it up today. If I had just done what I had originally planned it would be done by not. But it wouldn't be quite so nice either. I let my what if button go to work on this one and I must admit I am very pleased with the results. This will be one of my entries for the design contest.

As much as I enjoyed the trip I am glad to be home. Me and my hook are going to settle in for the day and keep each other company.

I will post about half of my pictures today. Too many to post all at once. Hope you enjoy.

The green house at the Park has always been filled with the most lovely blooms.

These orchids were so breathtaking. I do thank my parents for taking me there as a kid.

 It inspired my love of flowers.

This is the Campell house. It has always been on my want list.

I still love the quiet elegance of this house.

In the Japanese garden in the park these blossoms were floating in one of the fountains. How serene is this?

The mallards were enjoying the pond in the Japanese garden and I was enjoying them.

I really liked how the sunlight played with this pagoda.

And finishing up with more orchids from the green house.

My own back yard

“Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness.”
― Ayn Rand

My doily is on the blocking board and I am really pleased. This will be one of my entries for the CGOA Contest.
This one has more history than most of my doilies. It's taken me over a year to finish. I started this one before we sold the house in Washington. When the house sold I set it aside as I knew I wouldn't have time to finish it the way it deserved to be finished.  When we got down here I had lost momentum on the project and everything I tried to do for the final section just didn't feel right. So I sat it aside again.Well I picked  it back up last week and it was like I knew exactly what needed to be done to make this one special. Oh I had to frog a few times. Mainly to get the numbers right so it would lay the way I wanted it to. So I am glad I waited and let the right finish for this one mature.

I have wound the the thread into balls for my next project which I will start as soon as I do this post.
 This weekend we finished putting together my Green house. Other than laying the floor it is ready to go. Should have that done in a week or two. Depends on how much time I get to work on it.
I am not in too big of hurry as I don't want to move my plant at the moment. See a quail has decided that my geranium was the best place to lay her eggs. So she has taken up residence in my garden yard. So I will leave things where they are until the eggs hatch and she vacates the planter.
All of my pictures today came from you own yard. I have pictures of the green house done. The quail eggs, A Cocky Cardinal, and my fairy duster in bloom. Oh and my shot of the Full moon from this last weekend. 

I think I have a pair nesting somewhere in my back yard. As I see them quite often though it's not often he lets me get such a good shot of him.

I had to have one flower for you. This is my fairy duster and it's first real bloom since I put it in the ground.

My attempt at capturing that gorgeous full moon this last weekend.

My green house all assembled.

Another view of the green house. You can see the superstitions in the back ground.

Close up of the eggs. She will not hang around long enough for me to get a shot of her sitting on them.

If you look close you can see the eggs hiding in my geranium.

I guess it is true you can find happiness in your own back yard. I know I have.

Re group!

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Boy you would think I would learn.  I should have checked the information for the CGOA Design contest. I finally did yesterday and realized that instead of being at the 2nd convention like it was last year. It will be at the first convention this year.  So I have just over a month until I need to have my entries in.
 So the skirt is being set aside and I am picking up the pieces I want to enter this year. One is totally done. Yeah! Another is close to being done and there is one I would like to do but will have to see if I have time to make it .
 Today I took a good look at what I need to do to finish the one piece, Rounded up everything and got to work on it.

Pip of course is always here to cheer me on. No matter what I am doing.

Need to stay calm and cool. Will think about the lovely cool forests we hiked in a few weeks ago.

The Junipers were just gorgeous.

Coming back down the hill in the late afternoon.

Oh how I love the majestic trees here.

Nice things to think about when I feel a bit stressed.

Still doing a happy dance...

“Imagination is the highest form of research.”
― Albert Einstein

Today is the day that I am featured on the Face Book page for Crochet World.
www.Facebook.com/CrochetWorldMag
How special is that?

I can not express how this makes me feel. I have always been amazed that people like my creations. Though I would be creating them whether that was the case or not. I am driven to create my designs. I don't think I could stop if I wanted too. Thankfully Marv understands this and puts up with me and my passion. His support has helped immensely.

Today I am going to try and get the house cleaned. It really does need my attention.
But I am going to cheat a bit.
I will do one row of my piece,
Clean one room.
Do another row
Clean another room.
Maybe I will get it all done today. Maybe not. But it will be there waiting for me tomorrow if I don't
Always is.

Doing another Happy dance......

“I've got nothing to do today but smile.”
― Simon and Garfunkel

 

There are days you just have to treasure. Tomorrow should be one of those days for me. I will be featured as a designer on the Crochet World Face Book page.

www.Facebook.com/CrochetWorldMag

 

Can you believe this? I am still pinching myself. They will be talking about the design that is on the cover of the June issue and me as a designer.

I will have to copy and save that post to put away as a milestone in my career as a designer.

I won't post another picture of that doily as I have posted several here lately.

 

On to more mundane things. But the meat and potatoes of what I do.

I am steadily working on my latest design. There has been a whole lot of frogging on this one. But then I don't do garments too often. Getting just the right look and fit can be a challenge.

But I am hoping to have a special outfit to either enter in the design contest or to wear for the CGOA convention in Reno in September.  We will have to see how it turns out before I decide if it's an entry or just an outfit.

 

I  am going to post a few flower pictures and one of our hike pictures.

I am so far behind on my editing of the pictures

 

I love the symmetry of this bloom.

Who would think there would be orchid like flowers out in the desert. They are small but exquisite

Beauty is everywhere if you look for small wonders

This blossom is from a cactus in my front yard.

This is a shot I took the day we did Bluff Springs. The sky was so spectacular that day.

 

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are”
― Kurt Cobain

Again I have been remiss in my posting this week. What can I say except my life has been full and my time limited. 

My crochet hook is to blame for the most part. When I really get into a project I don't think about too much else. That is when things slip right by me.

I am working on a new design right now for a skirt. I don't do clothing often but I want something nice to wear to convention this year. I am writing up the pattern as I go in case it turns out really nice.

I did have to begin it several times to get the look and feel I wanted. But I am now pretty happy with how it is going.

I recieved my copy of the Crochet World magazine yesterday. So I took a picture of the doily and the magazine together. This is one I will be framing. Both the magazine and the doily. Okay can you tell I am rather proud of this.

I had to try and get a shot of this gorgeous sunset the other night. Love it when the sky is intersting and not just blue. Clouds to me are always something I enjoy looking at. They are so varied and can make something dull so beautiful

Marv took me up to the mountains this weekend for our hike. Up into real trees. I loved it immensely. I can hardly wait until we go up there again. I still have to finish editing all the pictures we took but I have a few I can share with you.

This one was taken on the way out. The vehicle ahead of us raised the dust and I loved how it looked through the trees. I made Marv stop so I could get a picture. 

Will remind me of what a perfect day we had.  

The afternoon sunshine on these flowers made them almost glow.

I really liked the delicate blooms. I only saw one bush with these.

One of the things going on in my life is I am getting my green house that Marv promised me for Christmas.

We picked it up on Sunday and have been getting things ready to put it up this week.

Why do I need a green house. Well if you lived up north you need protection from the cold. Well down here I need protection from the sun and heat. With a green house I can control it better.

Instead of a heater I will use a swamp color to cool it down and keep moisture in the air.

It will also help me protect my plant from all the critters that seem to live in my yard. That's what you get when you live so close to the edge of the desert.

They aren't even that afraid of us.

Mr Rabbit here was checking out my flower beds.

I have to cage everything that I want to keep or he and his buddies will dine on my beauties.

 

Been lax here lately

“Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.”
― Mark Twain

 

Sorry I haven't posted here lately. Seems like there just isn't enough hours in the days sometimes to do everything one needs or wants to do.

Been busy, working, living, playing. all important things.

The big news of the week is I found out that one of my designs is on the cover of the June 2012 issue of Crochet World.

I am so thrilled to have made the cover. That is a first magazine cover for me.

http://www.crochet-world.com/

 

Chantilly Doily

Close up shot

My creating has been my major focus and when I pick up my hook and get going everything else tends to fade away.

But I am back and I will try and be better about posting.

 

Tuesday was Prescott day this month. Spent the day visiting with the crochet group up there. They are such a great group, I love going up there and talking the talk.

 

We took short hike Easter day. It was rather warm so it ended up being far shorter than we intended. But the ground was hot and poor Pip was letting us know that he was uncomfortable. I think his hiking days may be over for the summer. Though this weekend is supposed to be cool. So we will try and sneak in one more with him.

We did come across a band of bachelor wild horse. These are young male horses that band together as they aren't welcome in the main herd. The stallion doesn't allow upstarts to hang around.

Anyways,

We saw them across the river and snuck up where I could get a picture or two. Turns out I didn't need to sneak. They are used to people on the river and ignored us totally. Good news is I was able to take as many pictures as I wanted.

I will share a few with you.

 

I have been working on the final piece for a book and also a piece I want to enter in the CGOA design contest. So I have been very focused on my crocheting this week.

 

Here are the pictures of the horses as promised.

A good shot of my favorite one of the bunch

The whole bunch  on the move. They were curious about me.

 

 

Here they were watching some people rafting down the river.

Shows over time to relax.

A close up of 2 of them. I liked the bay best. But he wouldn't follow me home.

 

 

 

Some days

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
― Albert Einstein

 

I decided that yesterday had to be my Aprils Fools day.

I don't like to complain,but when someone asks me for a pattern for free because they don't want to buy the book.  I have to shake my head. Especially when the pattern is a book published by Annie's Attic. Not an out of print book mind you. But a book that is out there right now. I would like to think I am a nice person. But I do draw the line.

For one thing it would be illegal for me to do this since I no longer own the copyrights to the pattern.

Second even if I could I wouldn't give away a pattern out of a book to anyone. It wouldn't be fair to anyone who had purchased said book.

This wasn't the only issue of the day, But it was the topper.

Of course I politely informed them that they would have to take this up with Annie's Attic. It's their call not mine.

Some days though it is so hard to maintain patience.

Thankfully everything else in my day went well.

 

Flower bed is looking good that I put in. No drooping plants and nothing got eaten overnight. All good signs.

Today I am spending the day pattern writing and crocheting. Writing the pattern as I go definitely slows me down. But so much easier in the long run.

I am posting pictures of the hike on the 23rd of March.

We hiked down to Boulder Canyon that day.

One thing about this hike is the spectacular views

The canyons and mountains can definitely make a soul feel humble

A view of the Superstitions

This it the backside of what we see everyday from our yard.

More of the mountains.

There wasn't much water in the canyon but there was some.

Who says we don't have forests. Just forest of Saguaros instead of pines.

It got rather hot that day so I wet down a scarf and let Pip wear it to help keep him comfortable. Everytime we found water I would soak the little guy down. He wasn't too thrilled with that but it did help.

He may not get to do to much more hiking until fall if it keeps getting hotter.

 

 

Ah! Flower magic.

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan 

Yesterday I gave in to the urge to just sit and read my book. We all need to step out of ourselves once in a while and declare a day for letting things just slide by while we enjoy doing nothing important. I really think I needed yesterday. I have been pushing rather hard here lately and it was beginning to show.

Today I feel much more refreshed and ready to tackle all the things I need to do.

I did get a flower bed put in this morning. I am planting things that do well down here. I have spent the last year looking around and seeing what does well in the sort of conditions that this climate creates. I want color, but I also want fairly low maintenance too. So I have made my choices and put in one more bed. Once that is established I will do another. It take me a while to have my yard just the way I want. But I am also not over whelming myself with trying to get too much going at once. The plants I have chosen will not need me much once they are established. But until then they will take some daily care.

Crochet Projects are going well. Almost have the pattern written for the shawlette I am working on. So I am content at the moment.

Have one more item to finish up for the book I am working on.  Already my brain is racing with ideas for the next project after that.

That is one of the things I do love about being a designer. I can play with ideas and watch them grow.

Well today I am going to share some of the flower pictures from our hike on the 23 of March.

I know I am slow getting these up this time. Just I was pushing myself rather hard on a couple projects and a few things had to slide a bit. But I will get caught up here shortly I hope.

I am enthralled with these flower. They are so delicate yet so vibrant.

I have planted 1 of these in my yard. I am hoping it thrives where I put it.

I have only found these flowers in one spot on the trails we have hiked.

After the rain though this one was bursting into bloom again. Love it.

The cactus were just beginning to bloom. This was the first one we saw.

This one just charmed me. I love the colors inside. Makes me think of a lily or an Orchid.

Another shot of the same flower.

I love the contrast on this flower. The dark leaves and the ultra white flowers.

These are actually a rather small flower

It was blooming where we took our break on our hike that day.

To me all my flowers are a bit of my Pixie dust in life.

We could live with out them but life wouldn't be quite so sweet.

New pattern release

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I haven't posted this last week. I really missed it too. But I was so busy trying to finish up a couple different things.

I have been working diligently towards getting all the designs done for my next book. Close to having them done. I have one design to finish making and write the pattern for. It's down to just do though I pretty much know what I am doing on this one. Just need to do the work. I also have one I need to finish writing the pattern for. It is done. Just I did this one while traveling and didn't get the pattern written at the time. But I did take excellent notes so it's going smoothly. I am remaking it as I go to be sure though. But I don't mind this is a design I really, really like.

I have also been working on getting a pattern ready to release on my site. We got it up on my website on Friday evening. 

                                                                                                      It is my 

                                                                                     NORTHWIND SCARVES .

 

This shows what all three look like

This is my Spring Blossoms Scarf. I love how this one turned out.

Close up of the Springs Blossoms Scarf.

This is a one way design. It will rotate the opposite direction if you are right handed.

This is my Lacey Leaves scarf. I wanted to have the colors fade in and out like shadows on a tree.

This is the close up of the Lacey Leaves Scarf

And finally my Summer Blossoms scarf.

I did make matching fingerless mitts for this one.

Close up of the Summer Blossoms Scarf and Mitts.

And the mitts. These are actually very comfortable.

I was working on these while eating out one night and the waitress wanted to buy them on the spot.

 We have been hiking and went to the Renaissance festival again. I will try and get those pictures up this week. I am taking a  much needed slow down on my designing and doing some of the things I need to do around here before diving into the next major project.