felty owl

Tried something new tonight and made this:

Turned out pretty good. The pattern can be found here: Felt Ornament Patterns

Breakfast

Low carb tortilla, light cream cheese, sliced tomato, and fresh cilantro.

White chicken chili

Made white chicken chili tonight for the first time. Came out really great.

Test posting from my iPhone

Got blogger set up on my phone.

the last day

Well, tomorrow is my last day at my current job. I tried the corporate life for two years but I think once you've worked for yourself it's difficult to work for someone else. I'll be going back to work with my husband doing IT work on a contract basis. I'll probably be working 12-15 hours per week. This means I'll have a lot more time for all sorts of things. I've decided that a big change like this is the perfect time to make some other changes. I've made a conscious decision to change my philosophy on life and make changes in how I live to institute this philosophy. I call it the "love" plan. Here is the manifesto:

• I will love myself - to show this love I will commit to eating healthier and moving more


• I will love my home - to show this love I will make my home the best it can be inside and out


• I will love my family - to show this love I will be more patient, thoughtful, and kind


• I will love my job - to show this I will not complain or procrastinate


• I will love my community - to show this love I will donate time to a cause

I hope to make many positive changes in my life but I will not beat myself up if I cannot meet these high standards. They are simply something for me to strive for.

I'll be posting lots on what I'm doing specifically to meet the above goals especially some great projects I have planned for loving my home. I've already started with the project I posted about a few days ago.

Whew, that was deep, wasn't it. lol Don't worry, I'm not going to get all preachy or anything, I just want to be happier and not have so much anger and stress in my life.

Anyway, I've been hooking away the last couple of nights on these:

Just a little smile

I saw something on the way to work today that made me smile. I actually had to do a double take to make sure what I thought I saw was really what I saw: A construction worker, all decked out in his fluorescent vest sitting on a pile of wood playing an accordion! I can only assume that this gentleman got to the job site a bit early and broke out his accordion to get in some practice. It made me smile! So wonderful to see someone who not only plays the accordion but brings it with them to work. Kudos to you Mr. Construction Worker Accordion Player Man!

I finally got accepted into the drug cartel known as Pinterest. Check it out if you don't know what it is, but be warned! This site is pure-d Internet crack! I'd love to make some friends on there so if you're already hooked follow me and I'll follow you. Sounds like a bad 80's song doesn't it? Anyways, I'm carefully adding my first pins and spending entirely too much time perusing the pins of others.

On the crafty front I've been hooking away on this:

I can't ever get the colors to come across as true when I take them at night with the flash. They're actually leftover yarn from other projects and are richer in real life. I'll try to get a daylight shot over the weekend. And thanks, I'm quite fond of my polka dotted thermal jammies. :) I'm also looking at new cameras. I like the idea of one that does good low light pics since my house is never full of sunlight like some people's is. This works ok in the summer in Florida since it keeps things cooler, but not all that great for picture taking. Here's something else that I enjoyed tonight:

This is Breyer's Carb Control Ice Cream with frozen blueberries. So yummy!

Bit of a headache so I'm off to bed!

last minute ta-dah

I finally have a finish! I'm trying to get my crochet WIP's down to a more resonable number and finished this one tonight:

Very easy v-stitch and shells done in mint green. Not my usual color range but got the yarn on super clearance and it will tickle someone's fancy. Close up:

Hopefully I'll have another finish in the next few days.

The work begins

Today I took care of a problem area by our garage door. My husband's hobby (well one of them) is hotrodding. He tends to make a big greasy mess in and around our garage. I've tried for years to keep this area clean and originally had plants in the bed by the garage door. I gave up on the plants since they were constantly getting trod upon. Here is the area in question:

Not very attactive! We use the garage entrace pretty much all the time so it is a very visable area. Here is the after shot:

I used .49 bricks from the local home store, they're not completely flat and even, but I still think it came out great. I found a bit of moss and broke it up and planted it between the bricks hoping that it will grow to fill all of the cracks. Easy and great result!

I know, I know

The inevitable sorry I haven't posted post.

Anyways, started stitching again:

Dandelion Fairy Kingdom - C.C. Kuik copyright C.C. Kuik and Heaven and Earth Designs
18ct Aida 2 over 1, full cross




QS Spring Luna - C.C. Kuik copyright C.C. Kuik and Heaven and Earth Designs
25ct Laguna 1 over 1, full cross

SK Moon Fantasy - C.C. Kuik copyright C.C. Kuik and Heaven and Earth Designs
25ct Laguna 1 over 1, full cross



Not much to say... working on Life Force this round, I'm going to try to post a pic everytime I switch projects. This appears to be every three to five days. I may finish something someday, maybe. I haven't updated the website because I can't seem to log into the ftp on my laptop. I'll work on it though.

Sometimes that's the way things go

Howdy!

Tonight's project (if I get done sanding on DH's car in time) will be:

This is a wedding gift for my coworker who is getting married at the end of May. Easy granny squares joined as you go. I also weave in the ends each time I work on it because it would drive me batty to have that many at the end.

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In other news... the variegated and black afghan just isn't working out. Here's a picture of the back:

I'm not happy at all with the way the "trough" stitches in the variegated look. I might play around with this to see what can be done to make it look more like the front. I really don't want someone to be able to tell which is the back and which is the front.

Later,

Cheryl

Song of the day:

Drive

Assemblage 23

Box Covering and What to do with those random varigateds?

Happy Sunday!

Today brought two new projects. I know, I need to start something new like I need a hole in my head; but life's short and I have PADD (project ADD) so there you go. The first one is crafty in nature and involves an idea to cover the ugly boxes I use to store my WIP's in. I work in an office type environment (yes, I have a cubicle!) and we go through a lot of paper. The boxes that the reams of paper come in are perfect for large projects:

And you can see on my post yesterday how I use the lids. Well as useful and sturdy as these boxes are... they're downright ugly. So I got the idea to wallpaper them with some scrapbook paper. Here's what I've done so far:

Not beautiful, but surely a bit less ugly. I'm still working out the best way to cover these.

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The second thing I've done today is to figure out what I'm going to do with all those leftover and clearance skeins of varigated yarn I have.

I found this pattern in my book 154 Wave Patterns. Ah-ha! Have the variegated bits show through the black! I think this will look awesome!

Happy hooking,
Cheryl

Song of the day:
Motherless Child
Martin L. Gore

Tumbleweeds and Mountain Streams

Hello folks,

The project for last night and probably tonight is:




Pattern is No. 28 Tumbleweed from Liesure Arts' book 154 Crochet Wave Patterns. Done in Caron Simply Soft in Colors: Limelight, Ocean, Persimmon, Sunshine and Blue Mint using H hook.

This will go up on my Etsy site for sale when it's done so keep checking because this one is a beauty!
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I'm really, really, really, looking forward for our trip to the mountains next month. (I'm just a bit excited) Here's a picture of the stream that runs behind the cabin that we rent.



This was in July and it was soooo green compared to home. I just can't wait!

Song of the Day:
And I
Wolfsheim

Hexagons, and Memories

Hello! Today's project is the hexagon blankey. Pattern comes from Lucy at Attic 24. You can find the link to her blog in my blogroll. The colors on this one are "different" lol. I wanted boy without blue and I think this does it. The colors in the picture are off a bit. The blue really isn't blue, it's a dark teal. So it has dark teal, burnt orange, olive green, and dark purple. I really need to get a new camera!




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When my aunt and uncle were here last weekend they brought a rocking chair that belonged to my grandmother. She passed away recently and I aquired several things from her estate. I've set up a sort of memorial for her in the living room. I specifically asked for the library table and the funky Japanese lamp. The rocking chair has been added along with a cross stitch I did for her and a small picture. It hurt to lose her. She was my Nana and she will be remembered and missed.



Everyone have a great night, I'm off to watch The First 48 and make some hexagons!

Song of the day:
Pipeline
Depeche Mode

Boy Time

Tonight's project is the Super Boy granny square afghan. Very easy pattern, just granny squares, two rounds per color then one round of gray for the joining so that it actually ends up with two (one from each square).



In other news: I had a great visit from my aunt and uncle this past weekend. They were only here for one night, but we did a lot of catching up. Sunday was actually their 46th wedding annaversery. Congrats!

Also, things are looking good for our trip to the mountains next month. I can't wait. We've had Fall and Summer in the Smokies but this will be our first trip in the Spring. The owner of the cabin we rent says that everything will be a riot of bloom. I can't wait.

I found this growing in my semi-abandoned garden today. I planted these several years ago and this is the first year I've had a bloom. So lovely!



Here's tonight's dinner:



This is squash, zuccini, broccoli, green peppers, and beef sausage sauteed together. Then I made the sauce from scratch: dijon mustard, vinegar, and mayo. I eat low carb so for me it was just this in a bowl, for the other members of the household I made some pasta for them to have it over. I'm trying to cut down the amount of cheese I'm eating so I made the sauce instead of putting cheese on it. Turned out yummy!

Song of the day:
Extraordinary Machine
Fiona Apple