Great news

I know I haven't been on in over a week. I feel bad. But the last week before heading off to Manchester was crazy. I had a couple deadlines to fulfill, A proposal to get out, and I was crocheting like mad when I wasn't working on those things to get the shrug done to go with my skirt.
Which I did manage to complete the day before I flew out. Pushing it. But it all got done......
Now fast forwarding to tonight, well last night really. The entries I had in the CGOA design contest did me proud.
The shawl I recently finished took 1st place in the Accessories division. I also took 3rd place in the same division with another shawl design.
I also took another 1st place award with one of my purse designs. The doily I entered took a 3rd place award.
So out of my 5 entries 4 took awards.
I tell you now it's a pretty heady feeling to do this well in one competition.
It feels good to have my thread and laceweight designs do that well. As you all know that sort of designing is my passion.
So I am feeling rather proud at the moment that I represented my passion as well as I did.
I can't upload pictures here so you will have to wait until I am back home for pictures.

Just going to add this link with the results and some pictures.
http://dorischancrochet.com/2012/06/28/cgoa-2012-crochet-design-competition-results/

Feeling good.....

“Listen to what you know instead of what you fear.”
― Richard Bach

 

When I walked into my greenhouse this morning I had a pleasant surprise waiting for me. I had sprouts, My cucumbers, green beans, zucchini and my beets had all sprouted. Now I only planted these on Monday, so I was quite surprised. Hopefully they will all do well and I will get some veggies finally.

I spent most of the day swatching for  a proposal.

Though I took time out to get the items ready to ship for the book. That and a package I can't say anything about yet. All of this will be shipped tomorrow. I always feel so much better when I know I will have everything where it needs to be before the deadline. I just hate being late with a passion.

I did finish up a necklace I needed to remake for myself. I lost mine on one of my trips last year. I think when I was going through security at the airport it fell out when I was getting my cosmetic bag out for them. Its the necklace that is in the Irish Crochet book and I have missed it. So before convention I promised myself to make another. Well I do keep my promises. Nice thing is I can share the picture since it has been published already

 

Well my darling Elsie cat has been bringing me presents. Of course she likes to bring them in alive. Last week she brought me a teenage bunny. I did a catch and release on him. Poor thing didn't know what to think. Hopefully he will stay out of the pet yard after this.

Last night she brought us a snake. Not a very big snake, but it wiggled and slithered more than enough for my tastes. Marv had to do the catch and release on this one. I chickened out.

It was a harmless ground snake. We let him go in my front flower bed. After reading that scorpions were part of the diet I told Marv he could hang around all he wanted. Just not where Elsie could get hold of him.

Irish Crochet Necklace all done. I will definitely be careful of it from now on.

This is the ground snake Elsie brought me.

So glad it was a harmless variety of snake.

Elsie the great huntress resting on the back of my chair.

She spends a lot of time there.

Took this picture of pip the other day. He was looking at me like you can't possibly want this chair. I am sooo comfortable here. Please say you don't want it. Of course I didn't make him move. We do have more than one chair in this house. A couple of them us human are even allowed to sit on or in.

Amazing!

 

A simple but satisfying Victory

“If you can accept losing, you can't win.”
-Vince Lombardi
I finished embellishing my dress that I will wear as an underskirt for my skirt.  Nice thing is since I am not planning on writing up the pattern I can actually share pictures with you. Can't share the skirt yet. But the dress trim? Yes!
Done in size 10 thread in a color that ties in well with the skirt. No the skirt is not done in thread. It's done in a sock yarn that I like.

This the finished  piece. I really like how the little dangles add to this one.

This is a shot of it in progress as I was playing around with the added flowers and the dangle.

Another shot of the finished embellishment.

This piece ready to be sewn on and the added flowers added to it.

Lots and lots of bullion stitches on this one.

Love that stitch.

Over the weekend I do believe we got my greenhouse set up so it is actually usable for me. We put on the shade cloth across the roof and on two sides. Then we added a misting set up to cool the air. Got rid of the swamp cooler as it was less than desirable. Okay it was a piece of crap.... We added a fan and Voilà. Its wonderful in there. We did add a timer system so the mister and fan turns on at a reasonable time and  runs intermittently through out the day, then shuts off when things start to cool off.  So hopefully I can now think about growing some of my veggies again. I do miss my fresh tomatoes and so far the birds have gotten all the tomatoes but one here. Now they can't get to them.  

I planted some items this morning. We will see how they do. But I am feeling a lot more positive about this. What a Victory for us. I was beginning to think I wasn't meant to garden down here. Not when something came through and ate my zucchini plants. I mean really! zucchini is so simple to grow and I failed miserably. My confidence level was at an all time low. So my Victory garden has a different meaning for me than for most people. It's just a victory to be able to grow something here.

Finishing touches

“Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

After trying on my skirt I realized that the waist band had a little too much give. Not wanting to embarrass myself at convention and have my gorgeous skirt fall off. I decided I needed to put a elastic waste band in it. So I had to go find the right elastic this morning. Finally found it at the 3rd stop. I knew I should have went there first. But then again I wouldn't have found some crochet thread I needed. or the beads that are perfect if I hadn't hit the other two stores first.

So now I am doing my least favorite thing. Hand sewing the elastic in. It is the ideal solution though. I will be able to wear my creation without fear of something awful happening. If Marv was home he would be laughing at me each I time I let loose an ouch!!! He always chuckles when I prick myself, as he knows how much fun I am having.

I have several small projects I want to finish up this weekend. One I might even be able to post pictures of.  OOOOOOOOOh that will be a treat. It's the trim work for the under dress I am wearing with the skirt. Have to dress it up and put my touch on it you know. There won't be pattern involved so I can post a picture.

Last weekend we hit the Arizona Sea Life Aquarium. We are trying to find things to do this summer that will be fairly cool. It was a nice afternoon. It's not a real large aquarium. But they have done a nice job with it. I am posting pictures I took. They aren't the best as I took them on my cell phone and it's not what you call a great camera.

I do have one flower shot for you. It's my first Gardenia blossom. Wish I could share the smell.... Heavenly.........!!!

This just smells so wonderful. I love Gardenias

The Jelly fish are always so beautiful to see.

I loved this Starfish. I can see an idea for a doily here. I love lace in nature.

I have always been fascinated by Sea Horses.

And just on overall view of one of the tanks.

I was actually surprised at the pictures this cell phone took. Better than I expected.

But I was wishing I had brought my good camera with me.

Next time I will know.

 

Always a good thing

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
― Bruce Lee

I finished my skirt yesterday and it is currently blocking. What a great feeling to finish a large project. Especially when you really do like the results.

I do have to finish writing the pattern up for it. I may even make myself another one as I do. Even considering doing it in thread. But then I just love the look of thread and think this would lend itself to it wonderfully.

Now though I have other projects that have been screaming at me to do them. So I will move on at the moment. Though I do want to get the skirt pattern out there shortly. I have good feeling about this one.

 

Well I added a new pet to our household last week. After seeing this lovely vase on my friends Susan's table. I took a close look at it and realized there was a lovely fish swimming around in there. It was Betta fish. I did tell her I was going to copy her idea and do the same here.

So I went to the Goodwill and found a great vase, the dollar store and bought some colored marbles. Brought them all home and put my vase together. The greenery was easy. I just cut a slip of the same type of plant Susan used in hers. Now I was already for an occupant. 

So when we were out on Friday I told Marv we had one final stop to make as we were getting a new pet. He hadn't a clue what I was planning. So we stopped at Wally world and I picked out this lovely Betta fish. Marv joined right into the idea of a new resident in our house and helped me pick out just the right one.

He now resides in my vase sitting on the end or the breakfast bar. We are enjoying him immensely. 

 

Though last night I thought I had killed the poor thing. It says to feed sparingly. Well I over fed him by accident and he wasn't looking too good last night. We both kept a close watch on him. Not that you can do anything for a fish except hope. If I had a horse with a belly ache I would know what to do. But a fish! No. We could only watch and hope.

 

Thank fully the little guy made it. He was swimming around normally this morning. Thankfully I didn't kill him with kindness and I learned a valuable lesson on my fish keeping. Less is more.....  I understand what sparingly truly means now. Next to nothing.

 

We named him Guinea Pig as he is an experiment. Guinea for short. The joke is if he doesn't survive his replacement will be New Guinea..... I know tasteless joke. But fish are fragile and I am learning on this fellow. Hopefully he will survive, but I am determined to learn how to care for my Betta fish named Guinea. 

I am posting pictures of Guinea since I can't post pictures of my skirt.

 

 

Here is a shot of Guinea

Let's hope he lives a long and wonderful life her.

And another showing off his colors.

I took a black and white shot by accident. Still learning my camera.

But thought it was interesting so I am including it.