Happy Birthday Jill

Happy Birthday Jill....wishing I could bring you and Harry a piece of cake to celebrate your birthday..I hope the sun shines for you today in Calgary and you are able to enjoy being outside...maybe Harry can spring for a Blizzard!
We have you both in our hearts as we get thru this as a family!

Mollie Makes

Have you seen this latest issue of Mollie Makes? I download and read it online in it's digital format and love it! I am planning on making some of these apples and pears..they give complete instructions as well as the templates...This is issue 6....

Check it out HERE

I down load it from Zinio....happy weekend crafting!

Made with love...

With Harry continuing his treatment in Calgary this week...Caroline and I talked about these bracelets I am making and that we will be selling at her Log Cabin Studio in December at her craft faire.... I gather the words together in my head...knowing that with each sale a donation will be made towards the Leukemia Society......I choose my words thoughtfully and carefully..the colors of the beads just seem to come together...even finding the antler in my craft room gave me an idea of how I wanted them to be displayed.
family, hope, love, spirit, blessings, heartfelt, lucky, faith, pray, heart.... the words tumble out...waiting to be worn and a family member or friend remembered in that moment when my bracelet is put on a wrist. 17 out of 25 made so far!

Nancy Drew Books....

First of all...Happy Birthday to my favorite son..I hope you have a happy day, Jeremy....I took this photo on Sunday morning just before I left.. sigh!





Do you remember these books....I have a nice collection of them....{30 + some duplicates}.....some with their original dust jackets and others from the late 60's, early 70's that have hard covers.....They had a write up in the October issue of Country Living...made me think of my collection...I am going to keep mine for Claire and maybe read some of them together.

A new lens...

This was one of my birthday gifts from Jim...he was very good about taking all the not so subtle hints I gave him...:) a close up lens to try and improve my pictures..I know I can do this....looking forward to the learning curve..thank goodness for digital film! Here are a few of the pictures I just took with it.


A new bracelet for Caroline...she wants 25 more to sell at the Christmas Fair she holds each year at her Log Cabin Studio..$5.00 and up to $10.00 {depending on the bracelet} will be donated to the Leukemina Society. I had better get busy crafting! Our Lance Armstrong wristbands finally arrived and we are proudly wearing yellow on our wrist to support Harry...He had a week at home and goes back to the hospital tomorrow..what a gift this week has been for he, Jill, his boys, their wives as well as our family..we are taking our blessings one grateful day at a time!


Some of the beads I will be using!

books worth reading

Just a few of my favorite reads..new ones download on my IPad..not as heavy to carry around..just finished reading the one on the bottom of the pile..."State of Wonder"....very interesting book...Thanks Shannon for this gift!
Just heading back to home after I take Frosso to the airport..she is heading to Cyprus for 2 months...Great to see you as well Layne..Have a great adventure on your amazing trip.

Happy Feet...

She wiggles, giggles and takes of her socks every time she has them on...It was unusually warm this week..so here she is on our walk...barefoot and happy. I always wanted to take a photo of her foot and my hand...a bit fuzzy...but I love it!

Claire and her blanket

Arrived yesterday...amazingly warm for this time of the year..here she is..one of the reasons to travel 4 hours....she was a bit shy to start with but after a few minutes she recognized me and started smiling again. She does look kind of serious here.

another glorious sunrise

Sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years,
One season following another, laiden with happiness and tears...

Music from Fiddler on the Roof...another wonderful sunrise to cherish!

Acorns...

I saw these crocheted acorns of Margie Ooman of Resurrection Fern HERE and I knew I had some acorn caps..Here are how mine turned out.....I also used some scraps of a felted sweater to make a few..a bit fiddly as I was trying to get the right tension, wool, and hook size..but so much fun and I am learning...that's the best part!










These are mine....

meet Frank..Henry...Darby...Miss Ella....

Re-cycled, re-used, re-purposed....heading for Christa's grandchildren... I had made 2 of these previously. Yesterday was a crafting day... Darby (in blue) and Frank (in green) are the newest "softies" to head out of my crafting studio...I have a couple more to make before we head south..who knows what they will look like..thank goodness for those saved wool sweaters....here they are sitting in the sun on the lounge chair...waiting to be held by Christa's grandkidlets.

Oh Deer!

Working on the dining table in the sun doodling is good for my soul...Love these tiny deer..they are destined to be part of a snow globe..The hydrangea's are the perfect color to start drying them...they are some of my favorite flowers this time of the year...they grow so well here in the Okanagan!

Blackberries

Cindy picked these blackberries from Shannon's thornless blackberry bushes and were being made into jam as she sent this off to me..She bought this Don Swanson bowl at the Tempe Art Fair a couple of years ago when she was down visiting us in Arizona..... it is one of her favorite pieces..Isn't this a beautiful photo...late summer at it's best!

For the girls....

We had good news this week...our sister Evelyne is a bone donor match...and one of our brother's results aren't in yet...there are still many days ahead for Harry and now Evelyne..but we cherish each grateful day at a time....I am making a bracelet for all the women in our family as a reminder to wake up with a grateful heart...Evelyne chose courage and Caroline chose bravery...We are are still waiting for our LIVESTRONGwristbands to arrive..I hope you found something to be grateful for today.

Doodling

I have started practicing this fun exercise....I am sure that I will get better
the more I play at doodling!








One day I hope to be this good..Check out Stephanie Ackerman's work HERE

The inspiration...

Jeremy and Julie bought or were gifted this little tag blanket..I think it was around $25.00....Claire just loves it..with her new teeth it is what she grabs and chews on all of the time.....Jeremy asked me if I could make a larger one with more tags....I went thru my stash and used a vintage silky kind of pillow case for the back....I added many many tags....as well as a piece of fabric from a shirt I made for Jeremy in 1978...and my mom's Shetland sweater...I wrote on a piece of ribbon what they were and sewed them on the back of the tag...I can't wait to see what she thinks of it!
This is the inspiration....