More cards for kids and crochet projects

Hello again! I've been busy making more cards to send out to Send A Smile 4 Kids (SAS4Kids) so they can deliver them to kiddos in the hospital. All but two of the 163 cards in this box were Christmas. I had fun coloring many of them and said a little prayer with each stroke of the pencil. It's tough being sick, but for kiddos to be in the hospital at Christmastime has got to be very difficult. It is my prayer that these cards will bring a little smile to each face that sees them. Pictures were removed from the source (Flickr), so I'll have to find a new host for them. A crocheted hooded cowl for a friend undergoing treatment for cancer. The center where she goes in Chicago has a huge aquarium in the lobby where she and her husband had posed as fish on a previous visit. With colder temps coming I thought this would help keep her head warm and made her promise to pose wearing it by the aquarium. Isn't she beautiful! This next project and I had a love-hate relationship and it's left me with mixed feelings because I'm not sure what to do with it. I crocheted a beautiful afghan called "Lover of my Soul" by a wonderful South African woman, Hilda Stein. I purchased it online through Ravelry. Instead of buying the yarn from her I used some of the gazillion skeins of yarn that I've accumulated throughout the years. The love part of it is the colors, pattern, texture and memories the various yarn stir up (some came from my mom). The hate part is due to the fact that I can't use it as a bedspread because afghans and terrier claws are mortal enemies. I might use it under the comforter when it gets colder, but am afraid the weight of it might be rather cumbersome. On the other hand I've heard good things about using weighted blankets as a calming mechanism, so just might give it a try. Oh the conundrums of having to decide!

So what's next you ask? I'm determined to learn how to knit socks! Yes, you heard that right. Oh and it will be done with these microscopically minuscule knitting needles that I don't even know how to hold. I mean the needle I use to weave in ends on my crochet projects is three times thicker than these little babies. They are a size 1 and 2 if that means anything to you. I've heard there are a ton of tutorials on YouTube, so wish me luck! Any suggestions are more than welcome!

What have you all been working on lately?

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Glitter for Sympathy

Tonight as I created a special card for a friend who lost her father yesterday I found a new meaning in glitter. What? You say, does glitter have to do with a sympathy card??? Well, silly, just think about it for a minute. Glitter shines just like the memory of your loved one will shine on you. Glitter scatters everywhere just like the little things you'll find from day to day that remind you of that loved one. Lastly, glitter turns something very plain in to something spectacular just like the love you have and will always have for that loved one! Yes I'll be cleaning up that glitter for days, weeks or even months; but as I do I'll remember my own father, mother and step-father-in-law who are all looking down on me with love from their special place in Heaven.

Happy Easter!

We lost my mother in January 2015. She died peacefully with family surrounding her and her ashes joined those of my father in Wichita, Kansas.

 

 

Soon afterwards we lost my husband's step-father, also of Wichita. It was nice to be able to stay with my mother-in-law during the week of planning my Mom's funeral so I could provide some comfort as her husband got weaker and weaker under the care of Hospice at home.

Life continues to grow for us as we've been graced with two grandsons, one in December 2012 and another in August 2015. They live close and we get to see them often. Here's a few pictures:

 

 

Ollie loves the quilt I made for him.

Still being a bit crafty with the pumpkins for Halloween.

Ollie didn't like Santa.

Wall hanging I made.

Slippers I made out of my step-father-in-law's old sweater.

Leland on the quilt I made for him.

Star Wars was popular this year.

And Ninja Turtles remain popular.

Pictures taken by my daughter, a quite talented photographer.

 

 

 

 

That's all for today folks! I've got tons more pictures, but this post should bring you up to date if you've been wondering what's been going on with my life. Hopefully I'll post more often in the future.

 

Ta ta for now!

Sharon

 

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A little something for myself

I've been trying to use up some of my fabric stash, sort of taking a break from making greeting cards. I've made a few pillows as gifts, a t-shirt quilt from my father's old t-shirts and most recently, a purse.
The pattern is from The Stitching Scientist (ok, so this Blogsy app won't put the link there, but you can find her at http://thestitchingscientist.com/2014/05/oval-messenger-bag-with-free-pattern.html) and was uber easy to follow. The fabric is from the Joel Dewberry Ginseng collection that you can see online at http://www.joeldewberry.com/pages/ginseng-spice. That's all for now. It's Saturday morning and time to head out on a quest to find clearanced flowers and plants looking for a good home! Ta ta for now!

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Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge #220

This week's OWH sketch challenge was fun because it didn't require any special measurements, just pretty much eyeballing everything. Today I received a thank you note on an OWH card from a Lieutenant Colonel in Ft Leonardwood, Missouri. It was absolutely the MOST perfect timing because that was my father's first official active duty station in the late 50's where he served as an Army Drill Sergeant. He retired after 21 years and I had the distinct pleasure of serving with him for a couple of those years in Germany. I'll be making a memorial post for him as soon as I'm up to it. He took his last breath on Saturday, April 12th and we're still in the midst of preparing for his memorial service. Making cards has always been very therapeutic for me and certainly helped me get through this day! Please keep my mom in your prayers. They were both living in the same nursing home and she slips in and out of alzheimers, but is aware of his death. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Until I can get myself together enough to do a memorial post, here are a few pictures of my father.

With Mom wearing showing their support for the military troops.

Dad (on left) in Vietnam

Dad in his khakis

Dad at Ft Leonardwood

My Volksmarch hero!

My daughter's hero!

Dad and I

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iPad case from upcycled leather purse

Good morning everyone and Happy January 6th! Yes I had to look at the calendar to be sure because the past month has absolutely flown by so quickly that I thought I had jumped inside a movie set of the next Back to the Future episode! Can you believe that my grandson was born over a month ago? No, me neither!

In my last post I showed a little of our multi-purpose craft and hobby room in our basement. You saw my daughter and son-in-law working on their projects and also saw the snowflakes I'd been making. What you didn't see because I forgot to take a before picture, was the gorgeous navy blue soft leather purse that I took apart to remake in to an iPad case. Yes I'm too cheap to invest in a store-bought case that has all the sections that I need. Initially I wanted a padded sleeve that would protect it while being carried around in my messenger bag, but what I ended up with was a stand-alone, or should I say a carry-alone bag with the original shoulder strap put back on after I so carefully removed all the stitching. Well I kind of like the vintage looking stud thingies that were used to hook it back on, don't you? Oops, you can't see them, so I'll take another pic. BRB...... Okie dokie, here's a picture of that lovely brad thing that is holding the strap on. I also couldn't resist hooking the Brio! charm back on because it's so.... well, classy! It was on the inside and would be scratching up my lovely iPad case and we just couldn't have that, could we? I glued leather scraps on the inside to cover the metal brad pieces and also glued leather scrap flaps over the inside pocket metal zipper end and beginning. I actually made a wool fleece iPad sleeve, but it doesn't fit inside this new bag, so there ya have it... two custom fit iPad holders don't fit inside each other! Kind of like the whole reason for making this case is because after I got the Logitech bluetooth keyboard for Christmas (woohoo I FOUND my arrow keys!!!) I could no longer use the iPad case/stand that I'd been using. Anyway.... on with the show...

I left the outside of the back section intact so I'd have this awesome outside zipper compartment along with the smaller inside zipper. Having already removed the studs holding the top section together I had to cover the holes with the vintage brass studs below. I'm a real dork sometimes when it comes to figuring out how to put that sort of thing on and ended up with the sharp point of the tack coming all the way through the outer brass brad (ouch!). Luckily I had some smaller matching studs that I could flatten the sharp hooky points meant to go through the fabric, then glue over the mistake. Crossing my fingers that it will all hold together!

You can see how the keyboard fits inside very snugly. Since I use my iPad to take the pictures it's kind of hard, no actually quite impossible, to photograph my iPad inside of the case, so just use your imagination and trust me, it fits!

and when I carry it around it will look like this. There's room for my car keys, entry badge for my job, sunglasses, small wallet and a few other goodies, but most importantly there's room for my iPad!

Toodles!

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Happy New Year!

Today is usually a day of reflecting on the events of the past year and I must say this day is no different except that I haven't been watching all those shows on television. You know, the ones that rehash all the news and events and deaths and tragedies the world has experienced during a 12 month time period

So what did I do today? Well back up a couple of days, or better yet how about 4 weeks to be exact... to that awesome day when this little guy was born. Yup, he's one month old today!

Isn't he the most precious thing you've ever seen? Yeah, I think so too! I feel so lucky to have my daughter and son-in-law living here so I can help pitch in with grandma time and watch him grow. Can you believe they still ask me if I want to hold him? Silly kids! Speaking of kids, here they are in our joint multi-purpose craft and hobby room. Emily and I were cutting out paper snowflakes for Sandy Hook (see below). I just found out today that they received so many they don't want more sent, so guess these will be used to decorate something else next year. Maybe Oliver's nursery?

Matt said he finally has the incentive to get his train layout completed so Oliver can play with it. What fun to be able to all work on our crafts together. Oh yeah, we installed a small flat screen tv on the wall above Emily's area so we can all see it. This week we began watching Downton Abbey which is proving to be all they say it is and quite entertaining.

There are sooooooo many projects already floating around on my to do list for 2013, but for starters and for tonight I need to make a few "necessaries" for Emily. What would those be? Well if I tell you that she's breast feeding would that be enough? I found some tutorials for making breast pads out of flannel and either fleece or wool, so will make a couple of prototypes to have her try out, then will make a week's supply when we know what works best. I also unassembled a soft navy blue leather purse that I could never get rid of because I love the feel of the leather and paid far too much for it to give away. It just isn't made to suit my ever-growing space needs for an every day purse. Now that I have one of those keyboard case things for my iPad it leaves both sides of it unprotected, so I want to use the leather to make a slipcover/envelope-type case for it. Then I need to make a cover for the Kindle that Emily won recently. We have some ideas to use felted wool sweaters in a patchwork pattern to make a cover. I'll be sure to post pics of all of these projects after they're done. For now, enjoy the snowflakes!

 

 

 

 

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Paper, glue, scissors

That's basically all it takes to put together a special mini album for a co-worker who is retiring soon. We decided that it would be nice to have some room to write notes to her instead of trying to cram everything on a little greeting card. I threw this together using some upcycled file folders and Stampin Up paper.

 

 

 

 

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