Cardi Is Done!

We are getting a lot of wind, rain and cool weather... not exactly what we need or want, but it is what it is.  Hopefully it won't last all weekend, it would be nice to have one nice weekend, but I refuse to dwell on the weather.

Instead I turn to my UFO's.  Wow three completed this week - awesome!  Could be I am on a roll?  I doubt it, but still it does feel nice and it is a little inspiring.

One of my readers says she is inspired too - that's great - sometimes it's all we need is to see someone else's finished projects to get us moving in the right direction.

As promised here is my finished Summer Cardi..  I really love this pattern, and I know I will get lots of compliments on it if it ever warms up enough for me to actually wear it comfortably...

This cotton has a few colours in it so I will be able to wear it with different outfits.  I am very happy with the way it turned out.

So now I'm going to start making daisies...I think I will go with the multi-coloured version of blanket, like my Aunt's - but will perhaps put it together with a funky color like lime, or melon or hot pink.  I'll see what inspires me by the time I get the daisies done.  I will however need to make more than one a day...

These daisies are a great stash-buster project.  I have bags and bags of bits of yarn that I hope to use up on this project.  I knew I was keeping them for something special.

Have a great weekend everyone - get working on those UFO's and hopefully I'll have a pile of daisies to show you next week!

I'll Give you a Daisy A Day Dear!

I am almost finished the cardi, I could have finished it last night but I got a terrible headache so put it down - didn't want to ruin all my nice work.  Hopefully I will be able to show it to you tomorrow.

Now for my grad gift idea...

This graduate is a female, who will be going to University away from home this fall.   I am not sure if she will be living in a dorm or if she will be renting an apartment with other students, but for the first time in her life she will be away from her parents and her brother for a long period of time and for awhile she will be feeling like a duck out of water - or maybe not... one can never tell about these things.

Females love cuddly things - my opinion is that all students living away from home should have a cheery afghan on their bed.  I don't think young women have changed much over the years - they love to wrap themselves in something when they are lonely, sick, when they are studying.  So I think I'll make an afghan...but I want something different - some playful - funky!

Enter the 1970's...

Years ago my crafty Aunt Margaret made a daisy afghan.  The flowers were white with yellow centers and they were joined with green yarn.  It was beautiful.  It was very much like these.

Beautiful!

These daisies are not crocheted, they are made on a daisy loom and are 2 or 3 dimensional.  The ones in these pictures are 2 dimensional.

When Gary and I went down to see Aunt Margaret a couple of years ago I had a couple of off days.  Being the mothering type, she went into her linen closet and came out with a afghan and covered me with it.

It was a daisy afghan - with every color of daisy you could think of... I fell in love with this little afghan instantly.  When it was time to go home she presented me with a little package.  Inside was the afghan,

 and the daisy loom for me to someday make an afghan of my own.

  I am so spoiled, am I not?



I did monkey around with the loom several times, but I have done nothing with the daisies I have made.  But now I think I finally have an idea what to do with them....

I haven't counted how many I would need, but I do know if I make this - I'd better get started!

Do you think a soon to be college gal would fall in love with such an afghan?

She's At It Again!

I have managed to complete a couple of UFO's over the past few days.  Sadly I have so many that I really don't know which one to work on first!

I was looking for a piece of fabric on the weekend, and low and behold I came across the little strip table runner I had started when?  Maybe February or so?  I pulled it out and unrolled it and my first thought was - OH THERE'S WHERE ALL MY STRAIGHT PINS ARE!  I immediately remembered why it was still in the closet and not on my table.  The project went completely fine - until I started to apply the binding on the edges.  Yes - well - I am binding challenged, that is for sure a fact!  The binding was 1/2 sew on, but it wasn't even and the corners were hideous...  I was going to roll it back up and shove it back - further back -  in the closet and then I decided I really needed the pins - so why not finish it!

I took it out to my rocking chair in the sun room, along with a pair of scissors and some thread and a needle and I hand-stitched the back of the binding on the the runner - Voila - done!

It's not the best work I have ever done, but it is my first completed quilting project after all!  The binding is really hideous, but in finishing the project I was able to see what I had done wrong - so I'll know better for the next one... she says!

Project #2 -  was to finish knitting a little Cathy sweater I had been knitting for a friend.  It took me all of 20 minutes to finish it - makes me wonder why I had stopped in the first place.  Done!

Project #3  - The summer cardi - this has been sitting in a bag hanging on my workroom closet door for a few weeks.  I had one more row to work for the body, block, assemble, and do the border...  This WILL be finished tonight... after a yearly Vet visit with Molly, dinner, dishes, some laundry and a blow by blow account of Jon's interview this morning with an International Engineering Firm.

Pictures tomorrow of this project completed  - I hope!


And then?

Well I have an idea...

I want to make a special grad gift for a Special Grad.  Of course I am already late  - graduation has taken place, but I'm sure I will be forgiven in this case...

I'll run my idea by you tomorrow...

A special Treat!

Yesterday at the end of my post, I promised I would bring you a special treat from Iris.

Of course you already know it has to be an indirect treat - but treat it is.

These cookies are the ones she would hand over the fence to us children.  They broke the ice after she moved into the house next door - because up until the cookies were shared, we were not too pleased to have new neighbors that had no small kids.

I've made these for myself and my family for many years.  They remain a favorite.  I have taken them to work and always take a copy of the recipe along with me, because after one bite - I am always asked for it.

So here are Iris' Ginger Crumbles... you won't find a better cookie anywhere...

Enjoy!



GINGER CRUMBLES

1 cup lard ( I use shortening)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
1/4 cup Molasses
2 cups (scant) flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves

Mix ingredients and chill overnight.
Roll into balls and roll ball in white sugar.  Flatten balls with the flat bottom of a glass and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Bake in med oven (350). 8-10 minutes.

Don't forget to make a pot of tea to have with the cookies, or a glass of milk for the kids...



Now I am going to have to make some of these this weekend... perhaps I'll make some extra to take to the neighbours as I'm sure she will be needing much baking for all her visitors.

A FENCE IN HEAVEN!

Last week was a sad week for us.  Two good friends passed away - one longtime, and one not-so longtime.

My friend Iris, who I wrote about just a couple of weeks ago for her 104th birthday is gone.  She passed peacefully in sleep and one can only Rejoice in her life and her peaceful death after 104 yrs!

Our neighbour, Gordon passed on Saturday morning.  His journey was much more difficult, he had multiple cancers and fought them all long and hard, but sadly he did not win.  He is without pain and is in peace now.  RIP Gordon...

As I've mentioned before, Iris and her family moved into the house next door to my parent's house when I was 7 yrs old.  In the 50 yrs I knew her, she was much more than a neighbour and a friend.  At times she was a Mother to me and she was always Grandma to my son - but she was also a very close friend of my Mother's while they lived side by side.  Mom and Iris went to the same church, and were active in the church together.    They spoke everyday -  and in the summertime, it was always over the chain-link fence between our yards.

I imagine they have continued that custom now that they have been reunited  - so I wrote this for both these special women that meant so very much to me...

For Mom and Iris...


A FENCE IN HEAVEN

Somewhere is heaven, there is a fence,

With a beautiful garden close by;

Across the fence, two women converse;

Under an endless blue sky.

They’re both dressed the same - in shimmering white;

Gold halos and pristine white wings.

Their feet have no shoes, their wrists hold no watch,

Their fingers no longer wear rings.

They both look quite young, all age signs are gone,

Disease and afflictions, gone too;

They have not a care – not even one,

They have no more work to do.

It’s been thirty years, since last they did stand,

Across a fence such as this.

They talk about family and neighbours and friends,

They catch up on things they have missed.

After awhile when talk is all done,

One says “Come, walk with me.

Just through that gate waits loved ones and friends - 

Many you’ll want to see.”

With hands held together they walk through the garden,

Towards the most glorious light;

Where sunshine is endless, where beauty abounds,

Where never again is night.

And they are there waiting, just as she said,

Loved ones and ones who are dear.

It’s known in an instant, and then evermore,

So happy she is to be here.

Somewhere in heaven, there is a fence,

With a beautiful garden close by;

Across the fence, loved ones converse;

Under the endless blue sky...

Tomorrow - a special treat, from Iris!

A Fantastic Find!

I stopped into the thrift store last weekend on my way home from plant shopping.  I went there to see if I could find some gardening pants - you know the stretchy comfy loose type that allows one to bend and move with ease.  Didn't find pants, so wandered to the back of the store where the toys are.

I was not really looking for dolls (she says), but there sitting on the shelf was a cute 1960's Baby Wetums.  I have the identical doll which I had as a child, but mine it quite a bit larger than this one.

the price was right so I picked her up.  

As I was reaching up to get her off the shelf I stumbled over something that was on the floor.  I looked down, and OMG!

There at my feet lay a 35" Patty Play Pal Companion Doll!

Patty is from the 1960's and although I have seen this doll many times

on my doll sites, I had never seen one in person.  

This doll is very valuable, and very sought-after in the doll

collecting world.

And she was a horrible mess.  Her hair was matted and dirty and

someone had painted all her nails with black polish.

I grabbed her from the floor and no one was gonna get her out of my grip!

Home we went - and right into the bathroom they both went.  The hair on Patty was so badly matted that I decided to try and comb out the tangles before I washed it.  Gross would about sum up the experience.  The hair was sticky and filthy dirty, but after 3 hours, I pretty much had most of the tangles out of it.

I washed and conditioned her hair three times and finished with a Downy treatment to soften her hair.  I was surprised  - I did not actually pull out much hair.

Here is the results of over 4 hours labour....

I have never seen hair on a doll like this.  It is gorgeous, thick and so soft.  

I removed the nail polish very carefully, so now all that is left is making an outfit, finding some shoes and Patty will be as good as new.

I was complaining just last week that I needed a doll to work on - 

I got a doozy!

Have a great weekend everyone - 

A little co-operation!

This past weekend was a long weekend here in Canada.  Yes -  we still honor Queen Victoria's Birthday with a statuatory holiday every May.

Traditionally it is the kick off to the summer season.  People head to the lakes to open their cottages, campgrounds open.  It is the weekend that a lot of Manitoban's plant their vegetable gardens because rarely do we get a frost after Victoria Day... so it is a busy weekend, any way you look at it.

This year it was a bust!  It rained all three days and the wind was so strong that many people - me included, pretty much just spent the weekend indoors with a book, or an ipad, or a Kindle or such!

My intentions were to head out on Saturday morning, early - hit the plant stands, buy my annuals and vegetables and then spend the weekend working in the gardens and planting my pots etc.

Nada...

I did go out to the plant stands - and I did buy a few plants for the flower beds - none of them annuals.  I did buy a couple of tomato plants, a cucumber, zuccini and some herbs... and quite a few packets of seeds, but nothing for my pots.  Oh and I bought a hardy rose bush... Joy!

Don't know why I bothered, all of it, except the Rose Bush which I planted in the rain, it sitting under a tarp on my patio table.  I am hoping to plant some of it tonight after work - but we are getting dangerously close to frost the next two nights so I am wondering if they should just stay where they are.  If the weather forecasters are to be believed, more wet weather is coming this weekend...

Is this the kind of growing year we are going to have?  Cool bordering on cold.  Wet bordering on saturated?
After a couple of years of heat and drought the moisture is welcome - but to a point!

I will admit, however.  There is nothing quite as pretty as the green of new growth that appears after a few days of rain.  The grass, trees, and plants have all popped with the most beautiful green foilage.  We won't see such a color again until next spring, so we should stop and admire it now.

In the meantime it would be a very welcome change to have some heat and clear skies for about a week.  June is our rainy month, usually - so nows the time to plant.

Come on weather - co-operate!