A Great Bead and more Yarn

I have been extremely lucky lately. I've been a little embarrassed to say just how lucky. But, I'm going to fess up right here, right now and tell you that I won prizes on 5 different blogs during the One World One Heart giveaways. I've posted about three of them already. Now, I'm going to tell you about this beautiful prize! This is the beautiful heart bead that I won from Elaine! Isn't it magnificent?












This is the front and back of the bead. She was so sweet and she let me pick from beads she had made. I picked this one. I love it! That shade of blue in it is my favorite and I think I have some beads that will look great with it. I plan to make a necklace with it soon and post that also when I do. I just hope I can do it justice. Here are links to Elaine's websites for you to check out her blog, her etsy store and her jewelry website. http://www.chatelainejewellery.com/
http://www.chatelainejewellery.etsy.com/
http://chatelainejewellery.blogspot.com/


Someday I'd like to learn how to make this type of bead. It's called lampwork and it's made by shaping glass over fire, but that's about all I know at this point. It looks like it would be very difficult.

The other photos I want to share are of yarn that I've come across in my house that I had purchased a good while back. I think the variegated yarn was purchased in CO when I visited my sister (she has since moved to TX) and the yarn shop has since closed. I wish I'd gotten all she had of this. There were one or two more skeins, I think. I don't remember what it's made of or how much is in each skein. I just know it's beautiful and I hope there is enough for a scarf. Well, even as inexperienced as I am, I know there's enough for a scarf here.

The red is some that I bought while I was with Marianne when she was attempting to teach me to knit. I don't remember why I bought 2 skeins or why I bought these particular skeins. I probably just liked the color.

I'm almost positive that I have some cotton yarn and dishcloth pattern books around here somewhere. I wonder where I should start to look. I owe Dianne a dishcloth. You'll eventually get to see them too.

The First Pencils Again and a Scarf Update

I decided to take a photo of these great colored pencils in the order that I had written them down in the last posting. Just so you remember, here is the list of names of the colors with the pencils photographed from left to right: Raccoon Dog, Sambal, Truffle, Windsor Rose, Mahogany, Caffe Latte, Tea With Milk, Soldier Suit, Hopscotch, Tragedy, Vivien, Coconut, Aubergine, Anaconda, Tobacco Road, Black Coffee, Earth Brown, Buster Brown, Walnut, Secret Past, Pecan, Semi-Sweet, Apricot Brandy, Creme De Cacao and Tiramisu! Don't you wonder how they came to name some of these pencils by these names? I sure do. That most pink one is Vivien. I wonder why?

Lea Redmond has a great blog about these pencils. She's doing an art project where she's sharing a 6 subscriptions of these great pencils with 150 people. She's sending 1 pencil to each person each month and (simplified) they have to do something related to the name of the pencil during that month, then write about it on the paper she has sent them , using the pencil and mail it back to her. Isn't that a fascinating idea? Here is her blog about this project - With a Pencil in my Pocket. Yesterday, I read all of the submissions that had been posted to date. I think there are about 100 so far. I would have joined in on this project myself, but I discovered it too late and it was full. Watching the video she posted for February shows me that I did not get the same pencils this month that she did. So, I don't know exactly how the subscription stuff works.

I'm tempted to play along with her group using my own pencils and my own blog. One pencil, randomly drawn each month. I'll have to learn how to use the scanner or get my hubby in on the action in order to do this. I might as well give it a try. I think I'll enjoy it! The pencil I grabbed is "Soldier Suit".

My poopy yellow colored scarf is nearing completion and is, at this point, 40 inches long! Just amazing to me! I just learned the knit stitch last Saturday night. One week ago. I don't know how to purl yet. I wanted to master this stitch since I knew I could actually make something from it. Dianne encouraged me not to rip out on this one, but to keep knitting. I think it was a good idea. Yes, there are lots of mistakes in this scarf and it is not one I'd want to give to just anyone. I'll probably keep it forever in fact, so that I can always judge how far I've (hopefully) come. If I had ripped out, like I've done in the past when I've attempted to learn to knit, I may have quit working on it, like I've done in the past. So, I am indeed a very happy person. I keep looking at this scarf in total awe, even with it's imperfections. I can only imagine what it will be like to knit well one day. All that being said, I'm knitting until I get fairly close to the end of the yarn. I know I'll need some to bind off, but I don't know how much or how to do it -- yet. I hope to learn in the next day or two.

Treasures in the Mail

I've been somewhat emotionally consumed this week. One of my very close family members is considering divorce. It's upset me greatly since the family member has young children. So please forgive me for taking so long to post lately and posting so infrequently. It's amazing how stressful things like this are.



Monday was a great mail day! I had been out of town since the Thursday before at a quilt retreat. When I got to the post office, I had lots of wonderful packages! So fun! I got two of my prizes from the One World One Heart giveaways. The first one is this lovely print of a painting done by Karen. The photo I took of it does not truly capture its loveliness. To see it in Karen's original post on her blog, please look here. Her blog is called Daily Creations by Karen Benvenuti. Thank you Karen! I love birds and bird nests with eggs. I'd love to find one like this in a bush near my home. Just lovely.





The other prize I have to tell you about tonight is from Nikki. She is so sweet. She sent me her amazing little book charm and a print of a volcano world. Here is the posting about her OWOH winners. She has great photos of both of the prizes she sent me. Much better than my sorry photo. I really wish I had a camera that took different lenses, but my hands shake a lot and I need one of those no-shaky cameras. I haven't found one that lets you change lens. Times like this, I really want a macro lens so that I could take a great photo of this charm. When I get the courage, I plan to write the dates of my son's and grandchildren's births in the little book. Then I'm going to hang it on a necklace. Nikki's "wee planet" photos are really cool! You can get to all of them from her original post about the giveaway here. Nikki's blog is called Nikki Smith - Book Artist. If you have time, please check out both of the blogs of these talented ladies.



The last thing to tell you about was something that I ordered and it just happened to arrive in the mail on Monday with the other goodies. I read about this on The Bright Side Project. It's a subscription of 500 colored pencils -- 25 pencils a month over 20 months! I'm going to have a lot of fun with these over the months and, I hope, for years to come. I can't wait to share them with my grandchildren when they visit the next time! CV will especially love them, I think. The colors are wonderful. And something equally fun -- each one is named. Just listen to these names -- Raccoon Dog, Sambal, Truffle, Windsor Rose, Mahogany, Caffe Latte, Tea With Milk, Soldier Suit, Hopscotch, Tragedy, Vivien, Coconut, Aubergine, Anaconda, Tobacco Road, Black Coffee, Earth Brown, Buster Brown, Walnut, Secret Past, Pecan, Semi-Sweet, Apricot Brandy, Creme De Cacao and last, but certainly not least, Tiramisu! Now, these names are not in the order of the pencils in the photo. I didn't think of it in time. I'll try to remember to do that next time. Or if I get really wild and crazy over the weekend, I may lay them out as I've written them and take another photo.

Hope you have a great one! I'm done for tonight. Off to practice my knitting. At least three rows a day so that I don't forget the knit stitch.

My Weekend Quilt Retreat Update

I was able to go on a quilting retreat last weekend. My quilting friend Micki had planned to go (I had not) and she wasn't able to at the last minute. So she called me the day before retreat to see if I could go in her place. Since my hubby is now employed, I salivated as I ran through the things in my head that I might have committed to over the weekend. I couldn't think of anything that couldn't be worked around. Neither could my hubby, so I went! Thank you, Micki! I wish you could have been there with us.

During the retreat, I finished the Stormy Weather miniature pineapple quilt (above) and donated it to the Dallas Quilt Celebration Live Auction. It will be auctioned off on Saturday March 13th at 1:30 PM at Market Hall in Dallas, TX, to benefit the Senior Source. The auctioneer is always fun, so if you're in the area and you've never come, you really should try to attend. Quilt Celebration is the guild quilt show the Quilter's Guild of Dallas puts on and it's absolutely wonderful, if I do say so myself. It's the largest all volunteer quilt show in the country and runs March 12 - 14.

I finished up blocks for another miniature pineapple quilt that I hope to complete in the next few weeks. I have the borders sewn onto the little top now and it's ready to quilt. I just have to get the time to work on it.

This one will be auctioned off on this blog to benefit Haiti. If you want me to contact you when it's time for the auction, you can leave a comment (with your email address or a link back to you) on this posting and I'll email you. Or you could just sign up to follow the blog. I haven't decided how much time the auction will actually last. Probably anywhere from 3 or 4 days up to one week.

During the weekend, I also working a little on one of my little quote quilts. I had similar problems with batting bearding through batiks on this little quilt just like I did on the first one I did. Sandy gave me a piece of fusible batting to try and it worked pretty well. I may switch to white flannel for the next on though. Traditionally, kantha stitching would not be worked through batting, so that is why I keep having problems with my quote quilts. I also thread basted the hand quilting sample for the class I had today. (The class today went great too. I've never had a group of students who were more happy and excited to take a class!)

Then I was ready to try something new -- again. A few years ago, my friend Marianne tried to teach me to knit. I didn't practice and soon forgot everything she taught me. We started planning to start up our lessons again, but before we could, she suddenly, unexpectedly passed away. It's taken me more than a year to get into the groove again and pull out the yarn. I tried to teach myself. That was laughable. The retreat had several knitters attending, all very generous with their time and talents. I had advice and lessons from Dianne, Suzanne, Donna, Sandy and Paula. Encouragement from Jan, Cheryl and Krissy. There were times I was almost in tears because I couldn't relax, but now I'm doing much better. I can see where I relaxed on the scarf. I think I had about 6" by Sunday night. Tonight, I took a photo and it was almost 21" long. It's a very loose, mistake riddled scarf in a poopy yellow wool and I am very proud of it.

More Snow!

Today we had more snow! And I didn't take even one photo of it. Does that mean it's not new any more? It's been a really weird winter here in my part of Texas.

So Much

I have so much to blog about right now, I don't even know where to start! The problem is that I'm just exhausted. I hope to start later tonight or tomorrow, but in all reality, it may be Wednesday before I can.

Just a little tease until then...I've got two of my OWOH prizes in the mail today; I got my first month of colored pencils; quilt retreat was great and I finished one mini, started another and started knitting; and I got some great hearts in the mail today too. I can't wait to show you photos and tell you all about it. Tomorrow, I'm teaching a hand quilting class if the weather holds.

More, very soon......

Retreating

Today I was given the opportunity to go to a quilt retreat -- tomorrow. A quilting friend, Micki couldn't go the full time and asked if I wanted to take her place. I have things I should be doing at home and had not planned to be at this retreat, but I'm going! It's been a long time, or at least it feels like it has been. And, frankly, I need the break and the fun. So, I'll be back late Sunday, but you may not hear from me here until at least Monday. Hope y'all have a great weekend. I sure plan to.

*Gift of Jewels* -- Thank You!

I can't remember now how I first came across the Necessary Room blog. I do know that it was right after the earthquake in Haiti. (By the way, the folks in Haiti still need lots of help. It's not too late to donate!) I know I loved the blog immediately. I found the writer, Se'lah to be very warm and caring and a wonderful writer. I wanted to take off my shoes, curl up and visit with her for a while. A few days after discovering Se'lah's blog, I saw her post about the gift of jewels postcard swap. I just had to be a part of it! When the time came, Se'lah emailed me the name and address of my jewel. I can't tell you who I got because I don't think my jewel has gotten the items mailed yet. I also started eagerly awaiting the item to come in the mail to me. No telling who had me for a jewel.

Today, I got a package from Tracey K. in Ohio! I was Tracey's jewel and she sent me a gift! It was a very nice letter and a wonderful little calendar! The calendar has a great quote for each month. I love quotes! It was all so nice and very sweet of Tracey to do for me. I'm going to sit down in the next day or two and send her a letter too. She didn't send her email address and said that she didn't have a blog. So, I'm going to get in touch the old fashioned snail mail way.

Thank you Se'lah for organizing this swap and thank you Tracey for my gift and letter. I'll be in touch soon. Now, if my jewel will just get what I sent......

I'm a Winner Too

Today has certainly been interesting. First, I picked my winners for the 2010 One World One Heart giveaway. I emailed the winners and posted about it. I need to go back and update the posting with the winner's blog links. Don't know why I didn't do that to begin with.

Then I started getting emails that I had won also! I've won three prizes! So exciting. I didn't win anything last year, so I'm totally bowled over this year. These ladies have made my day! And a good day to have brightened too. Katie the terror pulled me off the porch and into the yard when I was taking her out to potty this afternoon. I'm scraped up and sore all over.

I'll post about each prize as I get them. The first one has already arrived! It was a gift of music from MissMary of Lillian's Stitches. She sent the gift of a download from iTunes for the song Hidden Key sung by Michael Tyler. I even like the song! I love to discover talent that is new to me. Thank you MissMary! I'll think of you every time I hear this song.

All Time Favorite Books

I used to have my all time favorite books listed in a little area to the right of my postings on my blog. I keep finding other things I want to add there and I decided to delete that box of books. So, I'm going to tell you a bit about them and maybe even why I liked them. These are not in any particular order.



Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is the best western I've ever read. It's long and full and to simplify, it's about a cattle drive -- but so much more. I remember when it came out, almost my whole family had read it and kept telling me how great it was, but I couldn't get into it. I tried to read it a couple of times and was bored silly. Then I decided that I'd try one more time and I'd give it 100 pages. With 960 pages, that seemed fair to me. Besides, I fully expected to toss it aside at that point. I can't remember when I was hooked, but I certainly was by the time I got to that 100th page! It's still one of my all time favorite books.



Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett was one I found many years before Oprah did. I first heard about it in the early 1990's in a Dear Abby or Ann Landers column. Someone had written in saying that it was the best book they'd ever read. That they found it in a hotel lobby with a note to take it, but to please leave it in another hotel lobby when they finished with it. I was intrigued by this book and this concept of leaving books too. So, I went to the bookstore to see what the book was about and bought it on the spot. It's set in medieval times and is about a Cathedral builder and his family. It has remained one of my all time favorites since then. It's also very long and full. You find yourself just amazed and shocked at times. I have never reread it and I haven't read the recent sequel yet either, but I still think about it at times. If you want to leave a book in a public place for someone to find, check out BookCrossing. Fun and interesting.



Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is another long, full, wonderful book. I've found it at times in the romance section, which always surprises me. That's not the way I think of it. Although there is indeed plenty of romancing going on. It's more fantasy and adventure to me. It's about a WW2 nurse who is transported back in time while visiting Scotland for her honeymoon. It's the first in a series and well worth all the time the series will take to read. Scotland, Highlanders, history, witch trials, ahhhh, there is so much to these books that I don't even know where to start.



The Sookie Stackhouse series is by Charlaine Harris. I picked it up because I fell head over heals for True Blood on HBO. The series is based on the book series. The books have much more in them than the TV series, although the first season of True Blood was basically based on the first book of the series Dead Until Dark. There was still a lot left out and changed from the book. This is not normally the type of TV I would watch or the type of book I would read (since I moved out to the country, I don't much care for "scary"), but I really do like these Vampire stories. They are fun. There's romance and scary things, but not so scary as to truly scare me. I can't wait for the next book and the next season.



The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich is a mystery series. Stephanie is a bounty hunter in New Jersey and not a very good one at that. She is a hoot! There's romance and lots of laughs. I love this series and I've read it more than once. The first book in it is One for the Money and in my opinion, the first book is the weakest. Ms. Evanovich's writing gets better after it and the stories are better.



Another book that I want to mention, because I still think of it, is called Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. It was one that we read in my book club toward the end of the book club's life. It's about a group of people who are held hostage and it is amazing! I don't want to tell you much about it because I'm afraid that once I start, I won't be able to stop. Don't want to ruin the book for you.

Tomorrow, I may try to take photos of all of these books to add to this posting. Then again, I might not.