Going Fishing

Finishing up my week, so I can go fishing.

Planning the 4th of July, lots of food, good drink, swimming, and fireworks.

My new additions of my bottle cap stars.....

Have a great weekend, everyone.....

Straw Sipper Jewelry

I have to remind myself to drink lots of water.  I am the worst about keeping myself hydrated, until the headache comes on and I wonder why I have a headache.

This summer I vowed to drink 4 canning jars a day.  I always end up putting tons of ice in the jar, because crunching ice is always amusing.  Coffee I can drink all day but when it comes to the water, that is a whole different story.

We have a heat wave coming in, so I thought to encourage myself to drink more water, I would make some straw sipper jewelry.

Since Independence Day is coming up, what better theme to create for at the given moment.  The possibilities are endless.

My bottle cap straw sipper ornament.

Who Bakes Takes The Cake

I am trying out a new stuffed pepper recipe tonight.  I stopped off at the store to pick up a few items that I needed, and yes, some things I didn't need as well.

I walked by this and it made me think of a good friend that bakes cookies all the time.  Is this not the cutest? I think this design and color combination would be so cute as a crochet pattern.....

Work Baskets Magazines

I'm so in Heaven right now.

My Work Basket Magazines came in the mail and I am totally consumed going through them, today. I am finding that my favorite are the late 50's and 60's.

What really amazes me are the pictures of the women in this era.  Such elegance and class is the only way I know how to describe it.  The hats, gloves, hair done perfect just to go to the store, no doubt.

Reminds me of my Grandmother.  She always wore the straight line wool skirt, white blouse, heels and lipstick.  Her hair was always done and she would either wear a scarf or hat, just to walk to the store.

Am I aging myself? Probably, but I not one of those that kept my age a secret, I am grateful to have lived this long and hope to live many more.

I spent the summers with my Grandparents as a child and just loved these people more than I can ever express.  My Grandmother was the best cook.  She is the only person I know that can fry an egg and have the yolk be hard and not brown the edges of the white and she took a lot of time to cook them to what my Grandfather considered perfect, or he wouldn't eat them.

I of course, got my color blindness from my Grandfather. So, the summers were spent doing something besides watching TV, because looking at people with green skin didn't seem right.

It's not like a colorblind person can't see colors, we just see them differently and even to me, green skin just wasn't cutting it.

Our summers were spent, cooking, fishing, swimming, walking and visiting relatives.

So, as I go through these Work Basket Magazines, not only am I looking at beautiful crochet, knitting and tatting patterns, but I also get to revisit my childhood summer memories with my Grandparents.

I am just in Heaven.

This is my favorite picture of my Grandparents.  I believe it was considered their wedding picture.

Grocery Bag Holder

I'm done for today.  I am going to take the rest of the day off to spend with my Daughter. I wrote a new pattern today, and my hands are numb, but I think the results are well worth it.

I try to work as much as possible with the grocery bags because I don't want them to end up in the land fills and you can't put them in your recycle bin.  And they are harmful to our ocean life and animals, not to mention us and the land.

They have estimated that it takes 500 years for a plastic grocery bag to photodegrade and they do not biodegrade.  So being that these are in our land fills it probably takes longer than that.

I usually make plarn with mine and then incorporate it into my crochet.  It is such a strong material that it is just indestructible.

So, I take what ever grocery bags one will give me.  I see them in the grocery store in the recycle bin as well, so it won't be long before I will ask them if I can have them.

They really do add a nice texture with the yarn and a firmness that I like.  They come in handy for making bowls, scrubbies, or anything that needs to keep it's shape.  Someday, I will attempt a huge floor rug, if I can ever decide on the colors.

Well, here comes the hoarder part of me.

I have a beautiful kitchen nook in my kitchen and I like to sit in there in the morning and drink my coffee and go though my mail or make a to do list, but lately I have not, because I just see tons of these plastic bags and I am tempted to just throw them away.  I know I won't do that, but to avoid the issue, I just haven't sat in there.

Today, I did something about it,  I designed a grocery bag holder out of plarn and yarn to hold the bags, until I can get around to making the plarn.  I designed mine a little bit small and rolled the grocery bags so that they can be dispensed like the cleaning wipes that come from the plastic tube dispensers.

One could always make it longer or wider and just stuff the bags in there.  I will probably make mine bigger for the craft room since I work with it as a craft, but for the kitchen small is perfect, in case I need one to pack a lunch or I am on the way out the door and I need to carry a few items that my hands can't hold.

This one holds 15 bags and is perfect for the kitchen.  My hands need a rest before attempting a larger one for the craft room, but this defiantly gets me back in my nook.

I rambled today.  Did anyone just pass all the words and look at the picture?

Bottle Cap Seahorse

I have friends vacationing in California and they posted pictures of the them at the ocean.

All I could think about were seahorses.

I have a ways to go on this, it's just not quite the way I see it in my mind.

This will be a part of my sea life series for my bottle caps.

Edging Dish Towel

The Sharp Hook works great.  I need to brush up on my edging.  

I think I just decided what to give as Christmas gifts for friends this year.  

Maybe some edging that pops and a small crochet applique?

I can also tell that my color blindness was at work when I completed this.  

Sharp Hook

Received a lovely item in the mail yesterday.  My sharp hook came in.

I have been working my tush off today and hopefully only half a day tomorrow.

Sunday and Monday, I'm taking a well deserved break.  I will be trying out my new sharp.  I am going to attempt to make a pillowcase top with crochet border edging.  So excited....

Mini Muffin Corn Dogs

These are heavenly.......

Defiantly Midwestern food, miss you, miss you, miss you.....

http://www.iowagirleats.com/recipes/?recipe_id=6015496    is where you can find this recipe.....

Spaghetti Salad

I acquired this recipe from one of my great aunts. I don't know where she got the recipe or even if she really followed one.  That is one thing I have always noticed with my family, ask them for a recipe, and they stare at you, like, are you kidding me, a recipe.  At first, I always thought I was after some secret information or something.  Then years later, I realized and accepted, they just didn't use them.  It was all by taste.

I still made her write something down, and she was so frustrated with me, but she did write the base down, sorta.....

To be quite honest, I don't even have what she wrote down, I just throw it together, just as she did years and years ago.

Spaghetti Salad

16 oz package of spaghetti noodles
One bottle of Italian salad dressing
1/2 bottle or so of salad supreme
Cheese of your choice, I use cheddar
Vegetables of your choice

Cook the spaghetti noodles as instructed on the package, strain, place in a bowl.  Cut, cut dice your vegis. Mix everything together really well, put in the refrigerator and it is done.

You ask how much cheese and vegetables, well, I am going to give the same answer my Aunt gave, how ever much you like.....

"What kind of recipe is that", I asked.  She just looked at me and said, "one that you will keep for the rest of your life."

So far she has been right.  In this batch I used, tomatoes, celery, carrots, green onions.  Only because that is what I had available.  Olives, zucchini  and green pepper, all those vegis work.....

As long as you have the salad dressing, salad supreme and cheese, the rest is up to you.  

I am sure there are recipes out there for this with more detail, but I just stuck to my Aunt's philosophy about whatever you like, and it works.  

Crocheted Playful Floral Pencil/Pen Toppers

I woke up this morning way to early.  All I could think about were those floral pencil/pen toppers.  Way before sunrise and I am back with my hook in hand.  The good part about that, is I get to call it a day while the sun is still up and get some swimming in.

My intentions with the flowers that I created, were to make it so they could be formed and manipulated into different shapes. With me, sometimes, I just need to take a break from what I am focusing on and regroup and just let my mind wander. My hands though, just need to keep moving, and this is the perfect solution.  

In time, maybe I will be able to form them into different shapes, but today, three is plenty.  

Floral Pencil Toppers

I spent most of the morning designing new floral pencil toppers.  I always just grab the first yarn that is in front of me and start creating.  I love pencil or pen toppers.  For me, it just brightens the day.  These are just in the works, and still need some process improvements.

That this the fun of creating, putting your ideas out there.  I like mystical and that is the way I see the world as well.  It is what you imagine it to be, not necessarily what it really is.  It's your world and it's a playground, why not create it to your liking?

Halloween Mini Top Hat

I finally found the perfect pattern for a mini top hat.  As you know, I only work with an F hook.  The pattern does call for a G hook, fortunately this pattern gave a gauge and I was able to adjust my tension and produce the cutest hat with such a well written pattern.

Accessorising the hat became a major project.  So many possibilities and ideas ran through my head, that it ended up taking hours of pure pleasure.

I always have that need to produce something that recycles or re purposes a product that might end up in our landfills, and I was able to use 2 bottle caps with this project.

I know, a little early for Halloween, but I have a few to make and each one will have different accessories to create, besides it makes the desert heat a little more bearable this time of year.

The dogs and I will defiantly be in style this year when we walk around the block to check out the decorated houses and hear the excitement from the kids running from house to house yelling trick or treat.

I purchased the mini top hat pattern from Petra at www.zoomyummy.com  Her website is one of my favorite and is well worth checking out.