NEW YEARS WISH ~ ~ ~

To each and every one ~ we wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2010 !!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ~ ~ ~

To one and all ~ hope you have a wonderful day!!

HANDMADE SCARVES ~ ~ ~

Several weeks ago, Sheri of the Shabby Sheep blog, asked her blog friends to help her out! Sheri is bravely undergoing treatment for breast cancer and wanted to do something for comrades at their local support group! I love that about Sheri ~ even though I only know her thru her blog ~ but she is approaching this diagnosis with a positive attitude and taking the path of being a giver. So many of the gals lose their hair and need warm hats and scarves and Sheri asked her blog friends to use their creativity and make things that she could share with her group! So, of course, I said yes and of course, I waited till the last minute! Their Christmas party was this past Monday and I started making mine last Tuesday!! And, of course, I was in a sweat as to whether they would reach her on time ~ as luck would have it ~ they did!!

The first scarf ~ which is located up in that first long rattling paragraph ~ is made out of wool sweaters that I have felted (initially to make into purses ~ which I have done). I had a cabinet full of these waiting to be made into something useful so I drug them all out on the floor ~ put together some colors that I thought would work ~ cut them into 1/8 yard wide pieces and zig-zagged them together end to end. I used a multicolored thread which was just what it needed to give it some pizzaz! Then I backed it with a white confetti wool and zig-zagged the two pieces together and then cut some wool hearts and appliqued those on the end. At first, I thought the whole thing was going to be wasted effort but as I got rolling along, it turned out kind of cute and funky!! And the edges get kind of ruffly as the sewing stretches the sweater material ~ Perfect!! And I pinked the edges after the stitching was done!

So, that one was for Sheri to donate but I thought she really needed one for herself, since this was her idea! I got out my black wool ~ tore a strip about 8" wide across the yardage and proceeded to go thru my roving stash and wool yarns. I had seen a knit scarf with these colors in a yarn shop and it stuck in my mind - imagine that! I first needle felted that green stem into a squiggle with my needle-felting machine, then added the leaves and embellished that with some sparkly angel hair fibers. The pink roving was perfect for some flowers with pink angel hair centers. I love sparkly things ~ kind of like a crow!! Then the raw edges of the wool posed a problem but there was the perfect rose colored yarn just waiting to be needlefelted all around the edge. I was so hoping that Sheri would like this one for herself ~ she emailed that when she took it out of the package, she told her friend that she wished she could keep it! After she read my note, she realized it was for her ~ that made us both happy!!
So say a prayer for Sheri as she travels this journey ~ not one she asked for ~ but one that she is facing with courage and a sense of helping others!

Less that 24 hours from now, the Seattle family of five will be pulling in ~ and Grandma is barely ready!! I have had the worst cold since last Thursday ~ finally called the doctor for an antibiotic on Monday ~ and it saved my life!! I was so sick and so unproductive all weekend and ~ I couldn't go out and have any fun ~ that really made me sicker!! But thru all that, I managed to get my office in tip top shape, do a little bit of decorating today( I will finish in the morning) and started a little hooked rug from a drawing that Hannah brought me two years ago! I wanted to have it finished before they arrive ~ but it's not looking good!

I hope you're more ready than me ~ and looking forward to enjoying family and friends. There will be 25 - 30 people here Friday ~ I still have grocery shopping to do, presents to wrap, laundry to finish ~ oh, you don't even want to know!!! Today, I took my son, Tad, out to do his shopping ~ Tad buys for everyone in our family and some who aren't in our family ~ and we did it all today ~ at Kohl's with my 30% off coupon!!!!! Now, that's a happy thing! And ~ I have to do his wrapping, too! I need to go to my bed now ~ see you in a day or two!
Alice

WHATNOTS ~ ~ ~

Is finally finished!! WHATNOTS is the name of my latest rug, designed by Barbara Carroll ~ I think it's an adaptation of an antique rug. I'm really happy with the outcome ~ nice antiquey colors and kind of a faded look to it! Perfect for our house! The flowers and stems coming out of the orange pots on either side of the pitcher, are done with 'friendship' strips ~ a strip from each of the four gals who were hooking at Barb's that week are incorporated into my rug. I love that idea ~ Barb's idea, by the way!

This is the spot where the new rug landed ~ in our bedroom. It was originally done for the bathroom but I don't want to put makeup on, standing on this beautiful rug, so for now it will reside in front of the dresser.

As I looked at the photo above, the rug hanging over the little mustard drysink is one that I did in a class with Emma Lou Lais, many years ago now. I don't think I've posted it before so thought it was a good time to include it. I've taken two classes with Emma Lou in years past and I love that woman! Well into her eighty's now, she is still teaching but not traveling to teach ~ I'd love to head out to Kansas City and spend time with her, soaking up all that she knows! I ran out of the background wool that she helped me choose, so I improvised with the darker gold spread throughout the background. In the 'olden' days, that's exactly what a rug hooker would do ~ use whatever was available to fill in the blanks! I love that look in a rug!

Still, no decorating ~ maybe today! I was busy at the beginning of the week, making a scarf for a donation. Then on Tuesday, we had a meeting to allot the money from our Homebuilders auction ~ we adopted 14 families that included 37 children and wrote checks to several local service agencies. A lot of it is done thru gift cards so that families can buy warm clothing and food for their tables. Our building industry has been hit very hard, yet all the builders and suppliers who attended the auction that night, gave very generously in order to help so many! We are very grateful, indeed, to be able to lift the spirits of these deserving people! Some of the stories presented to us are so heart wrenching ~ we must all count our blessings daily!!

So ~ the time is drawing near ~ eight days!!! Holy crow!! Our Seattle family will arrive on the 23rd ~ then the fun will really begin!! Enjoy these days ahead getting ready ~ that's how I'm approaching it ~ 'enjoyable'!!! I'll keep you posted!
Alice

ANOTHER FUN WEEKEND ~ ~ ~

See these two happy faces??!! Well, on Friday the old guy signed up for Social Security and I signed up for Medicare!! Never in my life, did I think that would be a happy thing ~ but it is! In January, we get a check to put in the bank and in March, I get lower insurance premiums!!!!!!! For self-employed people, this is a great thing! We celebrated by calling our friends, Cliff and Margo, and stopped by and let Miss Margo fix us a couple of cocktails!! After we took supper home to Tad, we met them for dinner at the Mexican place ~ and after drinking a peach margarita, I nearly had the big one!! I must be allergic to the artificial flavoring or coloring and kind of had a little tizzy (it's happened before so no more fancy schmancy drinks for me) ~ after drinking a big glass of water and eating a bit more, the sensation left me and we kept right on going!! We made a couple of other stops ~ ran into some pretty entertaining people and finally got home about 11 p.m. We are absolutely embracing this milestone in our lives and made a real celebration out of it!

Saturday was Miss Luci's 7th birthday and we celebrated that by going out to eat with the family at a local steakhouse ~ along with everybody else in the entire county!!! What a fiasco to get seating for seven and then to get served!!! But Luci was quite happy to be out ~ she likes to celebrate like her grandma ~ and is showing off her Red Hat purse that my sister-in-law gave her a couple of years ago. Rachel was carrying it one time when she came to visit and Luci admired it so that Rachel gave it to her! Last night, she had that purse stuffed with what seemed like everything she owned!!

Today, Grandpa and Grandma picked up Luci and Jordyn and took them to a Christmas Tea at the Blossom Cafe! This summer I had promised the girls we would go to a tea and finally, we made it happen! Our local Blueberry Patch and Greenhouse is the home of this cozy little cafe and they really did a great job of presentation and the food was very tasty!

Luci and Jordyn have such fun together and of course, there was lots of giggling going on! We were almost incident free until a glop of egg salad fell onto the floor ~ we felt pretty lucky to get out of there without making a scene!!!

I still have no decorations up (maybe I need to stay home!) ~ I'm guessing that will happen in the next couple of days ~ I did finish binding my latest rug just a while ago ~ and getting on top of the office work ~ here's hoping that soon it will look like Christmas here!! I hope you're ready for the holiday and enjoying the season!!
Alice

FUN WEEKEND ~ ~ ~

Just look at those faces!! Happy little souls, aren't they? Last year, Sonny and I went to our friend's Alpaca farm open house and this year, we took the grandpeople! Two were missing as they had a prior engagement, but Logan, Jordyn, Luci and Luke were happy to go! The cute white Alpaca has nibbling Luci's hat while I was snapping away!

Luke and Jordyn were trying to get these guys to give them a kiss!! Reba, the owner of Storybook Alpaca Farm, said if you put your hands behind your back and lean into them, they'll stick their little faces between the fence and rub noses with you ~ kind of like an Eskimo kiss! These animals are so soft and so sweet ~ there was a new little baby, 5 weeks old ~ so skittish that they named him Gizmo! After we petted and fed our new white furry friends, we took the group out to lunch ~ it was a fun day and we were so sorry that Jakob and Camden had to miss it! Maybe next year!

Friday night our annual Homebuilders Christmas dinner ~ we had a good time visiting with all our builder friends and suppliers! Then we made our way to the Martini bar and saw a bunch more people we knew ~ it was a great evening!

Saturday night, my son, Teddy and Miki, had a wine tasting party! What a great time! They had over 20 people and tons of food and my great niece, Amy, who sells the wine, did a great job! It's like a Tupperware party but better! Ted and Miki live in the first house Sonny and I built together and it is a fabulous house for entertaining ~ a big open great room with lots of space for guests. After the tasting, the highlights of the evening were that the charcoal on the deck caught on fire and there was wonderful wii RockBand concert by Ted and some of his friends!! It was such a fun evening and our kids and their friends seem to like to have us around! They are so nice to us ~ one gal brought bloody mary's to our door this morning for breakfast!! Talk about curb service!!

Seems like I should do some decorating this week ~ and my latest rug is ready to bind ~ and invoicing to customers looms large in front of me, as I sit at this desk!! I better hit the ground running in the morning!!

Have a good week!
Alice