Not stringing you along.... but...

“Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”
― Paul Brandt

It was a great weekend to crochet. With the rainy weather we didn't go hiking. So we curled up with movies and I got a lot of crocheting done.

 I am ready to finish this piece up. The beads are now strung for the edging. 1350 beads to be exact. I don't think I will need quite that many, but I always string extra just in case. So I will be a bead pusher this afternoon.

I may not get it finished to day but I am sure going to try.

Here is a teaser shot. Beads all strung and the piece waiting for me to add the edging. Couldn't have found better beads if I tried.

What do you think?  

Elsie as usual is keeping me company. She is sitting on the back of my chair look outside. She knows she can't sit in my lap when I am working but loves to keep me company.  

On the wall in my work corner is part of my collection of antique crochet hook. I love having these near me. I am always inspired by the hooks.

I wonder how many stitches they have created in their time

 and who had the joy to hold them.

A close up of some of the ones hiding behind the plant in the previous shot. 

Still thinking about what I am going to blog about on my day of the Crochetville designer blog tour.

Loving the rain

“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking”
― Albert Einstein

 

This is my sort of day. Rain, Rain, Rain. We are having a rare day when we have a nice soakie rain for most of the day. Normally we get squalls that drop there rain and move on. This is the sort of day just made for curling up, watching movies and crocheting. And that's what we are doing.

 When we got home from bowling I decided to go get a picture of the runoff in the back of the house. We have a runoff gulch just behind our house. When we walked out the back door. You could here the roar of the water, that's definitely not norm.

Never seen it like this. Wonderful!

Its cascading down all across the whole back section.

More water cascading 

Don't have to worry about us. We are high and dry. We like having the wash behind our place. It insures no one will move in behind us. 

And It's gorgeous on days like this.  

Yesterday my new lens arrived. Had to play with it. It has a wider range of focus so I only need to pack one lens with me when we are hiking.

My lilac vine volunteered to let me try it out on it.

I could get a shot of my kitchen window sill while standing in my dinning room.

Nice shot of the eagle statuary in my front flower bed.

Well I am going to spend the rest of today with hook in hand and watch the rain coming down.

What a nice way to spend my day.

 

Future events

“Ideas come from everything”
― Alfred Hitchcock

Next month is National Crochet month. 

Crochetville will being doing a designer blog tour to celebrate our art. 

I will be taking part in this. 

Now my question is what would you like to know about me or what I do? How can I make my day on the tour a little extra special? 

Another piece from My Beautiful Bullions Book.

This is my Renaissance Shawlette.

More pictures from our hike.

If there are flowers I will find them.

Sometimes you have to look really hard as they tend to be small in the desert.

Marv having a good time.

 I finally found this plant for my garden. It's called a lilac vine and I fell in love with it at the Renaissance Faire last year. Now I will have one of my own. Yeah!

And the Rabbits don't like it..... Double Yeah!!!!!

I can see...............

“Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.”
― Albert Einstein

 

Yesterday afternoon I got to pick up my new glasses. Oh how wonderful to be able to see clearly again. The last pair of glasses I was so disappointed in. The were so scratched in less than a year and a half that seeing out of them had gotten to be almost impossible. I found myself taking them off when working just so I could see better. That's bad. What is terrible is I was more careful with this pair than I have ever been in my life and I have worn glasses since the 2nd grade. I won't tell you how long that has been so don't even ask....

But I am happy again and hopefully these will do better. I did try a different company.

 

Project report.

Almost done. I just have to sew in the lining, add the handles, and finish a few small embellishments and this one is done. I haven't done any real beading for a while so making the tassel last night was interesting. I am just not set up like I used to be to do this sort of work. But it definitely was the right touch for this one.

 

More pictures from our hike.

When we come across water I have to take a picture. I can't help myself.

This little pool was so calm and quiet that it was reflecting it's surroundings. So I snapped this shot before Pip could get in there and play.

He loves the water unless it's in the form of a bath.

Another view of the same pool. So serene in it's beauty.

And again the dried grasses are so lovely. I think the colors appeal to me, either that or promise of rejuvenation. From these seeds will come new growth.

 

Oh Joy!

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

Going to get this written early today so it doesn't get forgotten. It is so easy to get busy and let things like this slide. But I really do want to be more consistent in my posting. I know I can't do everyday, but 3-4 times a week would be good. I tried once a week and it really slipped my mind terribly.

Today should finish up the crochet work on this piece. Then I will be ready to assemble, This one and the last piece are both rather complicated pieces. But OH I have enjoyed making them so much. I love seeing a idea like this come together.

I do try and be my own designer.

Not do the same things everyone else seems to be doing. I do watch and I see trends in designing. I know it is partially because that is what the editors are looking for. Partially because that is what they are seeing on the inter-net so are influenced by. We are all human and we can't help but be influenced by these things.

I do try and limit how much I cruise the net. I also remind myself I need to be me first and foremost and my designs need to reflect who and what I am.

So I will continue to work thread and the finer yarns as much as I can. Maybe I won't be as successful as others but so be it.

I have a few more photos from this weekend. Again the dried flowers are catching my attention. But they deserve notice with their soft colors and quiet elegance.

Weavers Needle kept us company a good part of our hike. Someday we will do the hike the circles this landmark. We were talking about doing it next weekend. We shall see, as it has a lot of climbing. That doesn't bother us in the work of the hike, but I do get nervous about heights and that takes away from the pleasure of the hike. But I am doing better and may be ready for this.

We came across an area of dried grass shimmering in the sunlight. My picture doesn't do it justice.

We also saw signs of spring. Green grass! I couldn't resist a picture.

I am so ready for things to start growing and blooming.  

 

A day in the sun!

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

We spent today out hiking. It was a wonderful sunny day. Mid 70s. We actually wore shorts where as a week ago I couldn't bundle up enough.

There still aren't many flowers in bloom yet. I took more dried flowers and seed pod pictures today then actual blooms. Though they have a special beauty that touches me.

We did find one section of the trail where conditions must have been just right as the edge was covered with these lovely little blossoms. It was the only place we found them, which made me very glad we chose that trail today.

Last week I felt like I finally truly moved into my house. All my mother's and I's collection of vintage pewter has been in boxes until last Wednesday.

We got the shelves made during the weekend and I got everything painted on Monday and Tuesday.

So now it all has a home of it's own and no more boxes nagging at me that I need to do something with them.

As you can see we have collected just a little bit over the years.

I love trying to see things a little different than most.

This is a close up of the barbs of a Saguaro cactus.

If you haven't guessed. I didn't get too much crocheting done. But we all need days like this to restore our inner selves.

Mine is at peace after a wonderful day hiking with Marv and Pip.

I can only top it off with an evening of crocheting.



and yet again

“Embrace each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-transformation.”
― Bernie S. Siegel

I got a copy of the February Crochet World Magazine yesterday.

My Irish Mystiqe doily is in this issue.

I won 2nd place 2011 in the CGOA Design contest with this doily.

They of course took a better picture of it than I did.

This is the picture in the magazine.

I have been steadily working on my current project. It is to the point though that I can hardly wait to see it done. Finishing touches need to be done and it will be finished. Though it will take me a couple days yet to finish it up. I have been so good though and the pattern is being written as I finish up each section.

When we went hiking in December I only found 1 flower to take a picture of. What a bright spot in sleeping world.

I did get some color shots though, these are seed pods on a shrub. Love the colors here. I try and take color studies when I see them and hopefully someday I will be able to translate them into a crochet piece.

I am off to crochet for the rest of the day. I hope to gets lots and lots done today.

Keeping posted....

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
― Dr. Seuss

 

I am going to try and get back in the habit of writing everyday. It may not be much but I do want to keep sharing my journey of my designing with all of you who care.

This last weekend I added a great piece to my office space. Actually Marv found it for me and pointed it out. I didn't notice it until he drew my attention to it. It hold my balls of Dmc and Lizabeth threads beautifully. I holds over 200 balls of thread and fits in my corner wonderfully. I literally have my threads within arms reach now. So when I want to choose threads, color coordinate, I just have to reach around and they are there. How wonderful is that. It's tall and narrow so it doesn't take up much floor space. 

Thank you sweetheart for looking out for me.   

Last week I also finished up a piece I have working on for a while. It's really didn't take me all that long to actually make it. It just that I had to keep setting it aside while I did work that had deadlines. But I finally took the time to finish this up and I am very pleased with the results. Unfortunately I really shouldn't show pictures of finished pieces until the patterns are released. But I do have teaser shot. You can at least see the colors I used.

On the hook now is another piece that has been waiting for me to find the time to complete. I am hoping to have it done by the end of this weekend.

If I should accomplish that, I will feel so good to have two special pieces done already this year. 

My list of pieces I want to do seems to be growing not shrinking.

At least I can never complain that I am bored. All I have to do is go through my sketches and something screams at me.

ME! ME! ME!

Actually too many of them scream this at me and my choices are hard to make.

Well my hook is calling my name so I will go get to work.

Do I ever worry that inanimate objects keep calling out to me? 

Well sometimes, But it is what it is.

Here I go again. About time....

Elsie has told me in no uncertain terms that it is time I start posting on my blog again. She is such a nag.

I know I have been horrible this last couple of months about posting. Shame on me. I did have a book come out here last month. Its called Beautiful Bullions.

http://www.anniescatalog.com/detail.html?prod_id=92001

I really enjoyed designing the pieces for this book. The necklace above is one of the pieces from the book.

Of course we have been hiking. We spent the weekend before Christmas at the Catalina State park. We hiked up to the Romero Pools one day. It was a lovely hike and we will be doing this one again.

There wasn't too much blooming but some of the old flower heads and seed pods are beautiful to behold by themselves. It won't be long and things will be blooming again.

Okay now Elsie has a satisfied look on her face.

I think I will go pick up my hook and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.