I Didn't Know MOMS Could Get Sick!

Oh yes, Grasshopper, they can and this one has. (This comment was from Jessica) Woke up at about 2am Monday morning and got sick, sick, sick. I've been pretty much flat on the couch since with a low grade fever that threatens to climb and body aches all over. Sigh. Thankfully the trips to the porcelain goddess seem to be lessening now and hopefully I'll be right as rain soon. But I wanted to let you know in case you notice I'm not around much (or commenting much).

However, being sick could NOT keep me away from seeing Jessica's class performance of the Three Piggy Opera. I just kept off to the side away from everyone else. She was so cute!

Okay, that's it from me today. Hope your week is off to a great start!

Mystery Knitting Project...Completely Finished! *Ü*

I'm so excited to share Primrose "Rosie" Bunny with you! You've been so encouraging as I've revealed her bit by bit and now you can see her in her adorable outfit! Tada!

I've had to temporarily give up my usual photo taking spot in front of our big picture window. A sure sign that spring is on the way is when Steve brings in the greenhouse. We needed to move the chair I use to another room for now to make room for it. So, I pulled the ottoman in front of the French doors and tried my best to capture Rosie in all her glory.

And now I can share the fabulous Etsy shop where I purchased the pattern, Mary Jane's Tearoom. Oh you have got to go see the other adorable bunnies she has created. And she has a blog, too! Mary Jane's Tearoom Blog. She is just about ready to share her latest creation and from the little bits I've seen, I have a feeling that I will be buying the pattern to create Candy! I LOVE the colors she chose. I can truly say that Susan is absolutely wonderful. I've emailed her a few times with questions and she has always gotten back to me very quickly. She's very patient and encouraging. I'd definitely recommend her patterns if you are interested in knitting.

Here are the measurements for Rosie according to the pattern:

Head to Toe-15 inches

Arm Span-11 inches

Arm Circumference-4 inches

Toe to Heel-3 1/4 inches

Foot Circumference-6 1/4 inches

Leg Length-6 1/4 inches

Leg Circumference-4 1/2 inches

Mine are probably different because I didn't use the same type of yarn as Susan used in the pattern. I used Red Heart Super Saver worsted for the most part, because it's what I have in my stash.

Anyway, I hope it was worth the wait and the teasing I've done as I've created her and shared bit by bit. She sure was fun to knit. I've learned quite a bit as I've mentioned before. I love the mattress stitch method for sewing seams together. I love the extra bit of oomph that ironing lightly and carefully adds to the piece. I love the ears. And that tail! I tried a larger template to make it as an experiment and I loved how it looked so I didn't even bother making a smaller one. Technically, you can take the clothes off the doll, but I don't think I want the girls to mess with her. LOL

Thanks so much for sticking with me on this project. I've had a lot of fun and hope you did, too.

Creative Minds...

Hi there!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I spent a chunk of time thrift store shopping, which was fun for me. I found some neat items, a lot of glass actually, and a couple of tops for me. In my post with Erin, you may have noticed I wasn't wearing a sweatshirt (my staple for cold weather)! Nope, I found that top at the thrift store over a month ago for a couple of bucks and it is crochet! Not hand crocheted, but it's definitely crocheted. I absolutely loved how it felt on. So, on my hunt yesterday I looked for crocheted tops. Found one, well, two, but I realized one of them had a big old hole in it when I was waiting in line to pay. Actually I found more than two tops, but only these two fit me. LOL  You may see the other one in a picture someday...who knows. Anyway, it was fun shopping.

But when I got up yesterday morning, I noticed one of my glass pieces on the coffee table was turned upside down. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I flipped it over and moved along. Then Amy and Jessica got up and I found out WHY that vase was flipped. They were playing the evening before, while I was out, with a tape measure and a ping pong ball. Wanna see? Well, if you don't, feel free to move along, but if you do, here you go!

These girls had so much fun creating this "launch off" as Amy called it. They moved a Barbie pool and truck (that was mine when I was a kid) under the extended measuring tape to act as "ditches" and set up the basket far enough away so the ping pong ball would bounce on the floor once and then land in the basket (This is the basket that housed the plant that died recently. I put paper towels on the bottom and a couple of skeins of yarn in it). Who needs fancy schmancy toys? LOL It may not seem that clever to you, but I sure thought it was a great idea. Mostly because I never would have thought to do something like this myself. LOL Amy asked me if I was going to put it on my blog. Ha, ha! But, of course! *Ü*

If I'm really, really lucky today, I just may be back later with the full and final reveal of the bunny. Maybe. The other day I was working on the back of the top and got just about half way done when I realized I used the wrong color yarn for one part of it. So, I had to rip it out and start again. Got that done yesterday and started on one sleeve. Almost done with that, then one more and I should be done. Wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a sensational Sunday!

Reveal of the Crochet Snippet...

Now I can share the full reveal of the crochet snippet I shared earlier. It was a birthday present for Erin and I had to wait until she received it before sharing. Since she was coming to visit, I gave it to her yesterday. Thankfully, she loved it!

I was a little nervous, because not everyone likes doilies, but I fell in love with this book after seeing this doily in progress on  the Sew Ritzy~Titzy blog, that I went out and bought it. I thought Erin might like the detail in the doily I selected to make and I had fun creating it. I have a feeling each of the doilies in the book will be made at one point or another.

The girls are off school today, which is a compensation day for teachers after having done conferences this week. Our school does the conferences after the school day so it makes for a couple of really long days for the teachers. Both girls got wonderful reports from their teachers. They are good, hard workers. Jessica's teacher made a point to let me know that Jessica brings a lot of background knowledge to her work. All the trips to the museum and such are paying off. Yay! *Ü*

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Fun Times With Erin!

I hope you can see this okay. Here are some fun photos from Erin's visit today. We sure had a good time. I took her to Hobby Lobby, where she had a great time wandering around. She may have done some shopping, too. I think she was jealous at how close the store is to my house, as the closest for her is an hour away. We went to lunch and had yummy subs and then I showed her how to crochet (which she pretty much already knew how to do). She made a cute flower. You can see her working on it above. The visit was a bit too short, of course, but we yakked up a storm in the time we had together. The girls were sure surprised to see her at the school.

Erin took more photos than I did. I'm anxious to see how some of them came out.

Thanks for the great visit, Erin! I miss you already! *Ü*

Mystery Knitting Project...She's Got Knickerbockers!

And they are so cute, I can hardly stand it. LOL I have never knit a pair of bottoms of any kind (that I can remember), so creating this was all new to me. There was a type of stitch I've never done before, a yarn around, and it creates a hole. Doing this allowed me to create a picot type edge for the knickerbockers. The edge is created when you fold back a section of knitting and tack it into place. You can see the "scallops" a little better in the picture where she is sitting down. These knickerbockers (isn't that such a neat word?) were made in two pieces and I had to sew them together. Lordy, I had to think back long ago to my sewing days to remember just how you put shorts together. LOL I think they came out fairly decent.

I'm really enjoying this pattern because I keep learning new (but not necessarily hard) things, making it entertaining to knit. I've started on the top and hope to have it ready to share in a few days.

Erin already spilled the beans in one of her comments, but in case you haven't heard, she is coming to my neck of the woods and we get to have a "playdate" on Thursday! Yay! I have purposely not said anything to the girls. I think it will be a fun surprise for them to see her hanging out with me on Thursday after school when they get out. Sneaky, huh? *Ü*

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having a terrific Tuesday! 

Getting Ready for Easter/Spring!

Well, it's been a pretty good day so far! When I went to the Cartridge World to get re-filled printer cartridges, I spotted a store on the way that I hadn't noticed before. It was a bakery outlet. One of the signs said Orowheat on it. Steve is really big into the whole grain breads now and is slowly converting me. Years ago I switched to whole wheat bread for sandwiches and I'm developing a taste for brown rice. Another sign said Francisco bread...which to me means sourdough(my favorite bread of all time)! So, after I got my ink cartridges, I stopped in. Oh my! Such great prices and a pretty decent selection. I got my extra sourdough for $1.39, a package of whole wheat English muffins and whole wheat bagels and I spent less than $5! Yippee skippee!

And if you don't know about Cartridge World or places similar, you really do need to check it out. They refill your cartridges for you at half the cost of new ink cartridges. I got all four of mine for $25! That's black, yellow, blue and magenta for my machine. And I didn't have a non expired coupon and said something like bummer, I don't have a coupon. He was so very kind to add a coupon code to my order.  Yippee skippee!

I was bummed when I found out that the Sonic that I go down closed its doors forever yesterday. The lease was up and it was an underperforming store so they opted to close the store. Well, I went to one on the way to get my inks and got my drink. They didn't do the discount I was used to, so I thought, well, I guess I won't come back. But when I got to the window I asked about it, the manager said, from now on tell them you are a VIP customer and you'll get your drink for the price you got at the other store. He even gave me his business card. Yippee skippee!

Guess it sure doesn't hurt to ask or mention things in a nice way, huh? *Ü*

But I guess you don't really want to hear about my morning, do you? LOL I cleaned up a bit this morning, too and took some pictures of my "theme" as the girls call it. So, for your viewing pleasure...

This is a part of my new to me coffee table. I got it from Oma, across the street who didn't want it anymore. She gave it to me! For Christmas she gave us that glass plate with the roses. It's a Mikasa, I believe. She made a bunch of yummy treats and piled them on that little plate. So sweet! The other glass pieces I've been picking up at the thrift store. I just got the one with the eggs in it. I still need to clean it up a bit, but I couldn't wait to share. If you look to the left, you can see the bunny's head in a tray I picked up at the thrift store to house magazines and our remotes. And, well, I guess bunnies in progress, too! Under the coffee table I've added a couple of baskets to hold my yarn for projects I'm currently working on. Love it!

Here are a couple of bunnies I've picked up. I must share that not one of the bunnies I have picked up recently have cost more than $1.50! This tall one was originally going to be put on the table on the porch, but she looks so cute on my tea cart that I decided to keep her inside.

This is what I did for my breakfast bar. The placemat is from the thrift store, the eggs and ribbon from the Dollar Tree and the jelly beans and marshmallows from Target. There are extra smartie hearts from Valentine's Day, but the colors work, so I left them for now. 

This is what's on the windowsill over my kitchen sink. I have had this little bud vase forever, but never knew what to do with it. When I started doing my "themes" I've made a point to find something little to put in the vase. Last month was some of those glittered hearts. I found this little sprig at Joann's. It's a little bit of happy, isn't it?

This holder sits on our kitchen table. (I got the idea from Susi. Told you I wanted to grow up just like her). Anyway, I stuck a bud vase in the one compartment and I've been adding a little something to it as well each theme. I picked up two of the sprigs at Joann's and put one here. The butterfly is from a bouquet of flowers Steve gave me a long time ago. I had it in a plant that I managed to kill finally and when I threw the plant out, I kept the butterfly. Jessica loves it! (and so do I)

Here's the table on my porch. Yep, I've found several bunnies at the ARC thrift store. I just found the tall one this weekend. The felt butterfly was found at the Dollar Tree as were the eggs in the basket.

Isn't this gal (guy) adorable?? Love those shoes with the droopy socks. LOL Oh, an the original tag was still on it!

Here is one of my pots. I always forget to show this one. I keep the theme, but add a different but similar type of flower. It's that odd number thing I keep reading about. I have three hanging pots and this one on a tall plant stand. Anyway....the flowers and egg pick were found at the Dollar Tree and the butterfly pick was found at Joann's.

I took a picture of each hanging basket so you could see the butterflies. Those yellow flowers? Dollar Tree~a three pack! And I wanted something to soften the look. I had some tulle on a roll that I bought at Michaels a long time ago (like a year or more) and I cut off a bunch and used it. Love the look!

This is what I see when I walk out my front door and I smile each time. I'm looking forward to getting those eggs done and hung up, too. 

I thought Easter was that the end of this month. I was wrong. That's what I get for thinking! LOL I'm relieved to know I have time to get the eggs made and enjoyed before the holiday.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a happy Monday! *Ü*