Bloomin' Weekend

This weekend was awesome! The weather was perfect...cool, overcast mornings and warm days. The time seemed to go by slowly...something that rarely seems to happen. And, we had loads of fun! Hubby and I went for a road ride on our tandem bike on Saturday morning. Along the way we discovered a single track trail leading into the hills for a little off-road adventure. Woooo Hooo! Fun! The rest of the weekend was filled with yard work, family time, good food, knitting, and relaxing. I loved every minute of it!

We spent a lot of the weekend outside, working in the yard. We trimmed, mowed, weeded, and did a lot of planting. Here's a color pot my daughter created. The inspiration started with the little carnation plant. She added a white Ivy Geranium that had a bit of the light color found in the Carnation and a little flower in the dark color of the carnation. Pretty! It's sitting next to our patio fountain with several other color pots we planted this weekend.


I planted the beautiful Foxglove that my daughter gave me for Mother's Day. So pretty!...


I love the blue color of the Marguerite we planted...


I planted Nasturtum seeds several times last year and this year before I finally had some success. I'm so happy that they're growing. And, look...they're blooming now...


Our Myer Lemon tree has been growing and blooming like crazy this year. We're looking forward to a nice crop of lemons this winter...


Our lettuce has done well and we've been enjoying a LOT of salads...


Hubby enclosed a corner of the yard and started building raised beds for veggies. The fence will keep our dog from eating our crops and I think it's cute. So far, we've planted five different types of tomatoes, eggplant, strawberries, and two kinds of squash...


There's nothing like warm, beautiful weather to inspire creativity and make hard work a lot more fun. We got so much done and with great weather forecast all week, I feel a lot more great things coming. :-D

Recent Finds

I don't shop as much lately as I use to and I don't have the budget for it. However, once in a while, I find time to wander around antique and thrift stores and other fun places. I'm usually on the hunt for one thing or another. Sometimes it may take years to find...especially, since I try to buy things on the cheap. So, when I do find something it's especially exciting. Like finding treasure. Here are a couple of things I've found recently that I'd been hunting for...


I call this one, "Violet" because she's purple. I found her at a local thrift shop. I love her metal base. It's much better looking than new ones with their plastic bases. She's close to my size, so she'll come in handy if I start sewing clothes...which I'm feeling inspired to do. And, she'll be great for modeling knitting projects for blog photo shoots. I think it's funny that the sticker on her chest says, "Acme". That makes me think of old cartoons. I'm not crazy about her purple color though. I bought some neutral fabric to try and recover her. I'll let you know how that goes.





I found these old wood sock blockers at a yarn shop that's going out of business. I've been watching for some of these for quite a while. I think they're the perfect size for hubby socks. And, they'll look great hanging on the wall in my soon-to-be craft studio (currently a guest bedroom). Fun! :-D





My daughter is about to graduate from high school and we're looking forward to some time (finally) this summer to go shopping and exploring again. Life has been so busy that we haven't had time to do that like we use to. She loves to hunt for treasures too. I wonder what we'll find?

Sangria Shawl

A few weeks ago I went into town for a mammogram. Being a good girl and having that unpleasant but important test done and out of the way for another year, I decided to treat myself with a visit to a yarn shop. The first thing that I saw when I walked in the door was this Katia Calibri yarn and it was instant love. Then, I saw a sample of how it knits up and I knew I couldn't leave the store without it.


With just a simple garter stitch, it knits up into something fabulous! The colors remind me of the fresh fruits I put into a Sangria. The open air, lacy fabric it knits into makes it perfect for warm weather as a scarf or a shawl. Together, it all says summer to me. What fun! I think it'll be great to wear this summer on an evening out at a local winery for blues music, wine, and time with hubby.


There are 223 yards in one ball. That can go pretty far with an open knit project. The colors, texture, and effect are so much fun! For only about $7 per ball, this yarn provides so much for so little. I love it!

It's so important to get regular health screenings, like mammograms. Tests and doctor visits definitely aren't fun. But, knowing I'm healthy and doing all I can to stay that way feels great. An extra little reward, like some yarn, makes it even nicer. Have you had your mammogram?

Butterfly in My Garden

I noticed this beautiful butterfly in our yard last week and had to get a picture.


Only one problem...it landed in a tree. What to do?...get a chair, stand on it, hold the camera way up high, aim the best I can, and start shooting. I got a lot of shots of just the tree and many with just part of a wing. But, I did get a couple good ones. Isn't it gorgeous?!! I've never seen this type of butterfly around here before. I'm glad I was outside to see it when it stopped by for a visit. :-)

I'll Be Back Soon....

I'm still here. I've been so busy with painting and spring cleaning that I haven't had time to put together posts this week. However, the painting is done...at least for the room I've been working on. I'm putting the room back together. And, I hope to have stuff to blog about very soon.

Have a wonderful weekend! :-)

Color!

My spring cleaning quickly turned into deep cleaning with going through everything (I still have a LOT to do) and that quickly turned into a big decorating project. And, now lots of things are out of place to make room for all the work being done. Everything in the master bedroom closet is in the loft while hubby has built shelving for better use of that space and for painting. A lot more stuff is in the loft from the master bedroom as I'm painting that room. We have a growing collection downstairs of bags and things for a yard sale or donation. The new color on the wall is looking great and we're so excited about it. But, before we have a pretty new bedroom and nice new closet, the house looks pretty bad! lol

On Saturday, while the paint was drying on the half of the room I had painted, I worked on a little project in a space just outside of our bedroom. We have a framed metal sculpture hanging on the wall. And, while I like it...


I thought it would be even nicer with a little color behind it...


I love this color of blue. And, I love that the shadows of the vines and the glass buds seem to show up more with this blue than with the white. It was a quick and easy project for a punch of color and a smile everytime I walk by. :-)

Fishbone Lace

I haven't been doing much knitting lately, but I did manage to finish up this little project over the weekend...


It's the "Fishbone Lace" cowl from the book, "Ocean Breezes, Knitted Scarves Inspired by the Sea" by Sheryl Thies. I love this book and want to make a lot of the things in it. So, this is probably the first of many more sea inspired projects for me.

I made this cowl with Caron Spa yarn. It contains some bamboo and I love this color soooo much. It's called Rose Bisque. It looks like an antique pink to me. So pretty! This is an easy pattern that has NO purling. It's a simple combination of knit stitches, yarn-overs, K2tog's, and PSSO's. Here is the "right" side...


This is the "wrong" side. I think I like it better. It looks more lacy and adds to the antique kind of feel of the color. This is the side shown in the top picture.


Overall, I'm pretty happy with this project. I'm going do a little research though and see if there are any other ways to bind off than the standard way I always use. I'd like the bind off edge to be a little stretchier.

Wildflower Week - Freaky Friday

Wildflowers are pretty, but some may also be considered a little odd or "freaky". I've saved some of these for "Freaky Friday"...

This is "Common Fiddleneck". The color is intense and gorgeous. It can turn entire hillsides a beautiful orange/gold color. But, don't touch it! Those little hairs will make you feel like you have splinters of glass in your skin. Pretty to look at but not to touch!


These little guys were out walking along the trails in great numbers last weekend. Salsa (our Airedale) had fun watching them. I wonder what she was thinking?! They're so cute and fuzzy looking...until you blow up the picture for a close up! Click on the picture and you'll see that those little hairs look like tufts of needles.


I don't think this plant is especially beautiful but the waves on the leaves are pretty cool. Here's the whole plant...


And, here's a close-up of one of it's wavy leaves...


I'm like'n this! Sorry, I couldn't resist a little punny! lol But, seriously, I do like "lichen"! And, after reading a little bit about it, I have a bigger appreciation of it. It's used for medicinal purposes, dyes, perfumes, and a way to measure air quality, the depletion of the ozone and more. There a a few different kinds on these branches...


If you're interested in reading a little more about it and seeing pictures of other types of this lichen, click "here".


I haven't been able to figure out the name of these yet. We refer to them as poppers or popcorn. The pods are hollow and, if you accidently step on one, it makes a pop sound.


I wonder what will be blooming this weekend?!

Have an awesome, beautiful weekend and Easter! :-)

Wildflower Week - Magical

These flowers look like they're hugging. They're so cute!


Butterflies like them too. This one was so much bigger and heavier than the flowers that, when it landed on one, the flower would bend way over and bounce around. I love butterflies! They're magical! I followed this one around a bit until I could get a good shot of it. I love how the sun is shining through it's wings, making them glow.


This plant reminds me of Lamb's Ear but I'm not sure if it's the same plant or not. But, it's just as soft and beautiful. This tiny little bug seems to be enjoying it. It must be like walking on a thick, soft carpet.


Come back tomorrow for Wildflower Week....Freaky Friday!

Wildflower Week - Checkerblooms

This seems to be a great year for "Checkerblooms". There are so many more than usual and they seem much taller than usual. I love these flowers! They're one of my favorites. I'm not sure how they got their name. I just think of them as really pretty pink flowers. There are so many things I love about this flower...the color, shape, the adorable twisted buds (click on the pictures to get a closer/larger view), the light centers, the delicate veins, and that there are a lot of flowers on each stem...




...Simply, beautiful!

Check back tomorrow for more wildflowers.