Friday, January 27, 2012

Hooking in Cleveland - Similar Bonds

Last week my husband had to be in Cleveland,
starting on Friday
4 days in a row to receive an injection.
That involved 4 hour round trips to and from.
Then on Monday we left for 4 more days for harvesting his stem cells and more shots.
They got 5 million cells in 2 days.
Each day he was hooked to a large machine that circulated 
his blood, separating the components, while an IV 
replenished lost fluids. It is an 8 bed unit.
Family is not allowed to stay.
Once the patient is settled into the bed 
family leaves to wait the 4 hours of collection.
No worry, I had my yarn to occupy my hands, 
And so I was pumping out the first 2 rows of my new hexes 
and loving it, being lost in my thoughts and silently 
counting my stitches.
A few people stopped and asked me what I was making.
Even a older gentleman by the name of Frank, 
who was swiffer cleaning the floor. He said what I was doing
brought back memories of his momma.
I told him why I was there.
He said he was a prostrate cancer survivor, 
and he also said he was a Vietnam Vet. 
I congratulated him on his beating cancer, 
I thanked him for his service.
It is times like this that make me a bit tearful.
He gave me a hug. 

We are all tied together by a common thread, each thread is a part of a woven cloth that makes up humanity.
It does not take but a minute or two to let others know you care.
Sometimes we are walking the same road and unaware, and circumstance can bring us together as we cross paths.
How many people walk past us who we do not know
or will never see again?
How many share a similar bond,
yet we are unable to see 
their troubles and they do not know ours?
That same morning 
two women stood with us while waiting for a shuttle bus 
that was to take us to the main clinic building.
After a few minutes of chatting we discovered they lived in a 
neighboring town close where we live.
The one woman knew my sil, and she had gone to school 
with my husband's cousin.
(It surely is a small world isn't it!)
The other woman was there because she 
too has the same cancer as my husband.
Similar bond.

♥♥♥




Monday, January 23, 2012

Diaper Cake

My last post was of the diaper cake I made 
my daughter Rachael for her baby shower.
I just wanted to post one more snap shot 
of how the cake was presented during the shower.
I added the blue basket filler around the bottom 
to represent water and in the filler I placed 
some rubber ducky bath toys.
Blue is my very favorite color.
I think it all turned out splendidly.
It was a high point, and heard many nice compliments.
Someone even asked me what I would
charge to make another one, lol.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sneek Preview


Two months ago we started planning a baby shower
for my oldest daughter Rachael.
This will be her first baby.
It is a boy.


I wanted to share snap shots of the diaper cake I made.
There are 3 layers of Huggies Diapers. 


This was one of the funnest projects I have ever done.
And how about the Butt Paste, 
love this product for baby's bottom.



 Not only was this fun, it was very easy.


You might remember I made the little crocheted frogs.
I mentioned them here


This a good and practical gift.
All items on this cake can be used by mom for baby.


I included a variety of lotions, shampoo, powder.
There is hand sanitizer for mom,
comb, brush, 
wash cloth and baby soap. 


There are a few cute baby rattles.


One rattle is an adorable stork with 
a blue baby bundle in his beak.



And don't ya just love the blue color 
of the teething ring?




Front view. 
The best thing about this gift is you can embellish it 
with all sorts of useful things. If you want more cake ideas you can use Google search and see hundreds of other creations.
I plan to get more photos of this cake when we set it up on the gift table at the shower. It will have shredded blue basket filler around the bottom and little ducks in the filler so that the cake looks like it is floating on water.



Side View,



THE END
♥♥♥

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Making Hexes

I have been busy with my hook.
Making a lot of the 1st row of my new hex motif.
I have found that if you make up several of the first round, 
(about a dozen or so) add the 2nd round to all of these and then when that is completed add the 3rd round.

By doing them in batches instead of making one motif at 
a time you can retain the pattern in your memory better. 
I just know this method works for me. 
Do you have some easy way to learn a pattern?
I would sure like to hear how you do it.
 ♥♥♥

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

My Space and a New Hex


A lot of you have shown pictures 
of the space you claim to be your spot where you sit and 
crochet, knit or just do your thing.
I am sharing with you my spot in my living room,
the chair I sit in where I do my reading, hooking and needling 
(and dreaming, literally).


Now I need to let you know that it looks pretty tame right now 
because that footstool is usually stacked with 2 piles of pattern books, mail and what not. You will never see me with my feet propped up for the simple fact that the stool has become a table of sorts. Alas, the end table looks like it is packed and ready to take a trip. To watch tv I have to constantly turn my head to the right, no, I do not suffer from some sort of whiplash, lol, at least not yet. The chair does not recline nor does it do anything fancy. 
I like it that way.
No, I did not make the yo-yo flag it was purchased from Ebay. Could I have made it, sure I could, but I didn't want to wait 10 years down the road for me to "get to it".


I keep all of my yarn in two large plastic totes.
One has all Vanna Yarn, the other just a variety of brands and various colors. Right now the Vanna Yarn is stored away in my sewing room.


I love this basket for my yarn. 
It is just the right size for keeping my smaller projects in. For now I have yarn balls and Zip-loc bags stored in it. I love Zip-loc bags too, guess that is obvious. They are so handy for small projects that you can throw in your purse when you are on the go.


I swore I was not going to do anything new until I put a good dent into my UFO pile, but months ago I found this Hex motif on Bunny Mummy's blog which you can find here. Jacquie has posted a lovely tutorial complete with pics. She found the pattern on Coats & Clark website and they allowed her to post it to her site. She has tweaked the last 2 rows of the motif pattern and explains this in her instructions. There is a Part 2 for the Hex found on her sidebar. She did a wonderful job. Check her out when you find some time. So, I saw the hex and anyone who follows Forget-Me-Not knows how well I love the scrappy stuff. I rest my case because I had to have some sort of project to take along with me to Cleveland. There are only so many magazines you can look at in a waiting room, and to take a book to read, forget it. I hate anything that interferes with my comprehension and I hate reading the same line 4 times, if you know what I mean. 


My mother gave me a ton of whole and partial skeins of yarn that she no longer wants. She also gave me all of her knitting needles and crochet hooks. She claims her knitting and crocheting days are over. How sad, because this woman never used a pattern for any of her garments. She use to knit for me when I was a baby and all the rest of the kids when we needed hats, mittens and scarves.
I still have some of the things she knitted for me. I will get them out and take a photo and show you how well she knitted.
Next time I will update everyone on what is happening with hubby and Cleveland. We have the baby shower this Saturday and I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well with that. Gonna take my camera and get some more pics and 
tomorrow is my 61st birthday. 
How did I get to be so old, and where on earth did all the years go?
I feel like my life is on speed dial, 
and who hit the "fast forward"? I won't even waste one minute of it feeling depressed or stressed. At least I have my whits about me and no one has declared me certifiable as yet.
For that I am grateful and yes, blessed.
♥♥♥

Upset!!!!!!!!!

I have just spent about 2 hours writing a post, mainly because I added about 5 photos and it took awhile to download them. 
I always proof read before I publish, but saw a couple of errors and went back to correct them. 
I again published them.
How frustrating to see the post was gone and when I went back in the history to try and find it, no finished post, looked in the saved draft, nope, no luck, but I did find where I had previewed the thing long before I had added the photos. 
I don't think I like this new set up with blogger.
I have been blogging for over a year now and certainly know what I am doing when it comes to composing, previewing and publishing. 
Anyone else out there having similar problems? 
It is almost 2:30am.....I'm headed for bed! 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Lightbulb Moment

It feels good to be back on track. 
I'm kinda proud of myself for figuring out what was wrong.
I went into the design and clicked to remove the picture. I never put a picture there anyways, but figuring out that I tried to and had first clicked that spot....well that was all that was wrong.
Thanks girls for trying to help. I hope this solution is helpful to 
anyone else who think they know what they are doing, lol.

Update on my GIVEAWAY.
There are 17 more days to enter.
You don't have to live in the states, 
just live on planet earth.
You must comment on the Giveaway post 
and follow the instructions to be in the drawing.


Update on my husband.
We returned home on the 4th because he wasn't 
producing stem cells fast enough to try again the next day.
They wanted his body to have a 2 week rest period.
We go back again starting this Friday for another try and 
for him to be part of a trial for a drug that is suppose to 
help generate stem cells. In the meantime I have been 
flushing the triple lumen catheter daily, 
and changing the occlusive dressing weekly.
Otherwise he has been doing well and I'm sure
tired of me watching him like a hawk. 
And that is about all there is to tell about him. 
I just want to add that I am so grateful for anyone one who has remembered us in their prayers and anyone who is kind enough to wish us well. Believe me, none of you know how grateful we are 
for all the kindness shown to us. 
♥♥♥




Wanting To Rip Out My Hair!

If it wasn't so late in the day I would head back to bed.
Sometimes I think, no I know, that owning
a pc can be the most frustrating thing a 
person can own. Oh sure someone out there is
thinking, "it isn't the pc honey, it is the person 
sitting in the chair in front of it!"

 "UNCLE!" 

I would be the first to admit that I am not a brain child 
when it comes to a computer. My one brother would say, 
"you are one sandwich short of a picnic."
I say, I am on my second one and have been around the block (head).
He would laugh and say, "that is why I have never owned a pc,
look how worked up you are getting."

So with my ignorance I come to the only people I can depend on,
those who know first hand my plight. 
Those who laugh with me and not at me.
Here is what old stupid me did.....

I decided to liven up my blog a bit, 
I was going to add some pics to my header,
I went into the spot where you mess up, fix up
alright, I mean beautify my blog , and yes, I 
messed it up. I somehow lost the TITLE and 
although it remains in the space provided for it,
the dang thing (resolution, no cussing) is still not on the Header.
I erased it, and typed it in the space, thinking
that I just needed to redo it, 
ha, ha, ha, now why would that work?
No luck, so I am really mad at myself right now 
and so mad I could chew some nails.
I would kick myself in the butt, but I can't reach it. 
I would ask my husband to give me a kick, 
but he would oblige. 
I don't need a sore behind, then I couldn't sit here
and torture myself like this. 
I wish I had some Ben & Jerry's!
Adding a resolution: Leave well enough alone, you are not a computer geek, there is no EASY button, remember that. 
"HELP!"
:(
 

Sunday, January 1, 2012

GIVEAWAY

***HAPPY ~ NEW ~ YEAR***

What better way to show how much all of you mean to me.
I am starting this new year out with a GIVEAWAY.
This is also to celebrate my completing 1 year of blogging.
It will run the entire month of January.
The reason for this is because 
I wanted to do something special for my followers
and because January is going to be so busy.
A total of 26 days this month 
are going to be spent in Cleveland at the Clinic. This includes
  my husband's hospitalization for 19 of those days.
In between times I will be helping to plan and give a baby shower for our oldest daughter.
So, my GIVEAWAY is to show you how much 
I appreciate you and look forward to your visits.
I will return as time allows and drop in when I can.
There is going to be as lot of catching up to do.
So, let's look at what you, the lucky winner, will win.

Four Mollie Makes kits from the magazine. Three knitted cotton dish cloths.


Clover Brand large butterfly YoYo Maker.

Two 50g Palette brand eyelash fun yarn, color is Butterfly, dye lots match.

 A Leisure Arts Little Book, Small & Sassy Purses.

Plastic Canvas to make 2 ornaments, a snowman and a snowflake. You provide yarn.

A crocheted Federal Blue heart with pink calico pillow inside, hanger attached.
There is one more gift but I am not going to show 
you what it is. Sorry to keep you guessing, but this will make the GIVEAWAY a bit more fun.
Now here is what you MUST do to be entered:


1.) You must be a follower.
2.) You must leave a comment only on this January 1st, posting. Your comment must include 1 of these topics, pineapples, watermelons or conversation hearts
(this has to do with the surprise gift).
3.) Please mention me and my giveaway on your blog,
 included a link to me.


 Now, I think that about wraps it up. 
We have a bit of snow. 
I have been busy these 2 days trying to get packed again.
We did have our mashed potatoes, pork and sauerkraut.
Our youngest daughter graced us with her presence at mealtime
and then it was off to work for her.
I hope it is well with all of you.
If I could have one wish it would be that
we all have a great 2012.
God Bless us all.
♥♥♥




    
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