Recovery is a work in progress

In the beginning I was to rest, and get out of the heat.......

While spending some hours of relaxation on the "rim", I have found my inspiration once again. Or at least time to do some of the things that my heart aches to do. I still have the "shakes" and that means I have to simply stop what I am doing and find something that I can do. I don't let it interfere with the "doing".
These started out as hot pads. I stitched snack size baggies inside of them and added a button for a closer. Your job is to figure out what you will do with it, if you get one. (Embellishments, sewing supplies, coupons, etc.?????)

At the last count I had 17 knitted dish clothes. They wear forever and are better than any brand of store bought. I still have a cone of cotton yarn in a different color, so there will be at least 17 others in the waiting.

While at the Webb family reunion this past July, Liz and I and others crocheted scrubbies. It is from netting, which is cut into 3" strips. Then you crochet. Well, I crocheted, and crocheted and crocheted. I have nearly 50 done. I hope you all like yellow!

In the Quilt Shop in Pine, Arizona I saw a loom in the corner and it had a rug started on it. It is so much like the rugs Grandma Walters used to make, only much more simple on a small loom and not the big one that requires shuttles or sewing fabric together. But the idea is much the same. So I said to myself, "Self, we are going to take this class and add making rugs to our list of God given talents". I showed Nikki the loom, and she was in for it, too. We took the class, got our looms, and fabric cut, and spent endless hours in the shade of the pine trees, feeling the cool breeze, and braided away. They are endless in possibilities and there is no counting. It is another therapy!

Many spirits keep coming to earth for their bodies, so I continue to ready a gift for them. Some for girls, some for boys. The crocheted edging on these soft flannel blankets and bibs are treasures from my heart for those special sweet spirits. I am happy to add warm love to surround those sweet bodies.

I am so grateful that I have developed talents and skills, and that I find joy in the doing. They are gifts of love for those I share them with. They are therapy for me while creating them. And most of all, they allow me time to ponder, when my mind is cleared from the daily busy things that we all do. My mind goes "some place else", and I day dream, and think and allow those quiet whisperings to come to mind. I have found peace.

And the best part of all is when "company comes". Being with my family is the joy of my life. They are the creations I am the most proud of.

Rylee is a God Grand Daughter. She is a joy and a help in my kitchen.

Jackson, ....... and his video games.

Poppy is waiting for the Kingsford briquettes to light. We had a wonderful Dutch Oven dinner about an hour after this photo. (And Poppy was getting sick with the flu, and fed us dinner anyway) Jeff kept us laughing with all the games he invented. And laugh we did. Jackson should be in drama, or write plays. What a gift!

When we could get Madison to wake up, she was one smile after another. Oh, how I love her!

Jack, you have a brain that astounds me. What a vocabulary! And you are brillant. Great things await us all as we watch you grow.

Creative spurt~ahhhhh

The latest issue of Somerset Sew contained some "nesting boxes".

They were an inspiration to me.

So (sew) I made my own, using some wonderful upolstery fabric I have hoarded.

And I have a never ending supply of ribbon, thread, yarn and whatever I haven't packed.

There are 3 boxes, and this is a view of the three of them "undone".
Each box has different fabrics and design.
It is just what I did, with no rhyme or reason.

Look closely for tatted butterflys.

Nikki is mastering this "tatting" skill.

And so she supplied me with some fluttery winged creatures.

There is no end to what each piece can look like.

With a pile of epherma the possiblities are endless.

Ribbon and pockets, charms, and flowers and some embroidered stems

keep the various palettes.

Some, seldom used decorative stitches on my sewing machine were fun to

experiment with. Look closely.

I stamped the butterflys and stitched the outside edges.

They were fun to make,

now what to do with them?

Hilights from Idaho Vacation/Reunion

Kayden and I share the same birth day
Kattie, Alaina and Rich

My brothers Kelly and Jeff, my father, me, Mom and sister Vicki.

Liz had already gone to bed and missed the dinner around the fire.

(I had floated down the Hoeback River earlier, hense the hair....)

Sunset around the fire in the "back yard" of the cabin

Dad, me, mom

Captain Jeremy and Chris

Devon, Hydee, Mom, Vicki, Madison, Alaina, and Moose (Kelly's dog)

Jesse and Oliver. On our way home from Sawtelle Mt. They gathered "special" wood.

Don't tell the forest rangers!

Post Hail Storm on top of Sawtelle

Hail Storm at weather station on Sawtelle Mt. We could see for hundreds of miles, even to the Teton Mts. What a sight! And what a road to drive on to get to the top.

Now I know why my father refuses to go up that far!

Jack and Varce looking at the rainbow trout at Big Springs

Devon, our college student. His vocabulary is educated as well.

Tawnya, Jess, Ashley and moms red hair.

We were beading watches! What fun.

background my brother Jeff

Rich, Kattie, Nikki

We were watching the video Lois had made for Chandler.

Chandler left the following day for the MTC and Jacksonville, Fl.
Chandler

Holly, Kaidance, and Tawnya.

Liz was suppose to teach this, and she bailed out and went to bed, so

I taught all the girls how to crochet scrubbies out of tulle.

Some worked out great, others were thimbles of tulle, and others, well...

it is best if I don't describe those.

Kaitlyn. Eating is such a joy for her!

Kaidance, post finger cut/gash! What a brave little girl.

And I love the angel kisses on her cheeks:)

Holly, Dallin and Canyon

Dutch oven cookers..and watchers. Jeff, Jared, Varcel and Papa.

Liz and Nikki cutting yards and yards of tulle to crochet.

UMMM, Liz, trying to find the end to start rolling it into balls. Grams made a choo choo train with the little ones on the deck.

Kaidance, Sheridan, Savannah, Hadley, and Oakley

Chris, having fun, while Hydee tried to have a baby.

Chris and Oliver

Heather and Jessica

Papa and Grams

Jesse and our beautiful 14 year old Madison

Oliver

Oliver and Alaina

Craft mood strikes again

While in Idaho my mom and sister in law Sheri taught us how to make beaded watches. Here are a few photos of mine.Of course a girls wardrobe is not complete without pink

A black and white "Bling" watch. The face is surrounded by rhinestones, too.
Black and white whimsical watch.

Yesterday I found a package of quilt squares that I had purchased at the Desert Industries years ago. It only took a couple of hours to lay out a pattern, in which I had almost enough of every square and get it sewed together. I am stiff in the back of my legs today from all the bending and placing of the quilt squares. I am going to back it with denim. A great switch from the typical levi quilts I usually make.

When we stayed with our friends Connie and Norman last April, they shared what a "Potato Baking Bag" was. Connie gave me one, and the directions to make them.

So, I purchased the fabric, batting and thread weeks ago. And got 5 made yesterday. They work great to bake a potato in the microwave, and the potato stays moist and fluffy just as if it had been baked in the oven.