My Dolly has a new diaper...

I drew the pattern up myself and then looked through my sewing patterns for clothes for her. I have all the pieces cut out so tomorrow I will make her something to wear. Today is house cleaning and laundry; I'm about halfway done - keep getting sidetracked with the Internet.

I cleaned her up with baking soda and warm water as that is the instructions I found on the Interenet for cleaning vinyl dolls. Scott fixed her eye so she doesn't look like "Chucky" anymore... THANK GOODNESS! I'm thinking a pretty pink dress with small flowers would suit her just fine. 

Perhaps I can find a basket for her to sleep in at the store on Wednesday. Crazy... a nearly 47 year old woman playing with dolls but I believe she deserves the attention.

OH! I must share that the black spot on the bottom of her left foot is where I used to give her shots with sewing needles.

On my mind....

Rhonda is busy with putting the final touches on her new book but I decided to post an "On My Mind" post anyway for this past week - I'm a couple days late but that is OK. 

The little dog in the chair has been my friend since my trip home from the hospital in 1964. He has been washed and repaired MANY times and my Grandmother's hand stitching in many different threads cross his bottom. He used to bark but his barker has rotted. I keep thinking about opening him up and removing his stuffing and gently hand washing him once more and then re-stuffing him until he is more firm and would sit up better.

The little doll on his lap is wearing a crocheted outfit that my Mother made for me many years ago. Mom can no longer crochet due to crippling arthritis and Fibromyalgia. So it is a real treasure for me.

The Bugs Bunny bows and tips side to side when you press on the bottom of his pedestal. I used to have a Fred Flintstone that would flip on a trapeze but it got destroyed in a move.

The green cat was bought for me after a trip to my Mother's Lawyer during her divorce from her first husband. I was about 9 years old.

And the baby doll I've had FOREVER. I used a marker to give her lipstick and nail polish when I was real little. Her eyes used to open and close but now only one does as the other has fallen back into her head; Which makes her look a bit like "Chucky" but I still cherish her. I think that I will make her some new clothes. When you blew on her mouth or her back she would sound like she was crying - not sure if that still works or not - haven't tried to do that lately. 

What are some things you've held onto from your childhood? Leave a comment and link for me to read about your treasures.

This is a featured weekly post started by Rhonda at down---to---earth

Photo Journal of Today's Walk

Progress on the "Cake Square" Table topper

I started today but getting the laundry sorted and started and the kitchen cleaned up from breakfast. Then I jumped back into the "cake square" project. But first let me back up a bit and explain what the "Cake Squares" are all about. An on-line friend, Diane and I swapped (4) 10 1/2" squares of each theme - "coffee cake", "Strawberry Shortcake"; and "Irish creme" cake. Once I received the squares from Diane I went about cutting them up into 5" and 2 1/2" squares enough to make the center and a narrow border. This morning I pulled 3 different browns from my stash and posted pictures on Facebook as well as the on-line Quilter's group that Diane and I belong to get opinions of which brown would make the best border...

Majority ruled that the one on the bottom was best.

While I was waiting for the in-put I sewed all the little squares together to create the next border; then I added a 6" strip of the chosen brown all around. I did add some 6" squares to each corner as the width of the brown fabric wasn't quite enough to cover the full expanse of the quilt. And this is where I left off for tonight...

Tomorrow I will add the little squares border and then perhaps another narrow border using the brown at the top of the first picture. Then I'll quilt and bind it. I can hardly wait to put this on my kitchen table.

A wonderful way to round out the day....

Beaver or River Otter?

With the flash on I captured the sunset hues

 An evening walk along the Congaree River on our beloved River-walk. We took Amelia and she enjoyed making a few new doggie friends even if one had a few not so nice things to say to her. So come walk with us....

We always love our walks and are treated with Natures beauty and surprises. Tonight Scott saw a Barred Owl take flight and we got to see a Raccoon climb up a tree. Scott also heard a Screech owl in the distance... Nature is awakening.

With out the flash you can see how blue green the water was.

A view of the two train trestles

Our lighted path

And the AMAZING shadows!

 

Another Beautiful Morning

I'm off today and all the typical household chores await me but I may put them aside for a bit and just enjoy the morning; maybe take Amelia for a walk. Thats what we got the dog for anyway - for me to have a walking partner.

I've begun sewing the squares together for the new kitchen table topper. It's going to now be 8 squares by 8 squares and the remaining 5 inch squares will be cut into 2 1/2-inch squares to be utilized in a border strip. Sometimes I just keep designing as I go along until it's finished.

I've been thinking a lot about why I am the way I am. Isolation, secrets, tragedies, accidents, love, hate, feeling all alone, fear, being the one that didn't "fit" the family, illegitimate; closest friends have always been animals - they never said things to hurt me. Phrases I hate.... "No body like me everybody hates me - guess I'll go out and eat worms".... "BASTARD!"...... "God never gives us more than we can't handle".... 

Words DO Hurt!
Everybody deserves love from their family; regardless of birth circumstances.
Actions really DO speak much louder than words.
Sometimes it's not what you say but the fact that you are there for someone when they need another's presence so they don't feel alone.
It's not always important to know what to say but how to really listen.

Be there to listen.... someone around you really needs this everyday.

A New Kitchen table topper

Remember these? Well I started cutting them up for a table topper; from each 10+inch block I cut 3 - 5" squares and 4 - 2 1/2" squares. And then I decided I needed 1 more square of each color family to have enough to do a 10 square by 10 square table topper. The 2 1/2" squares will be utilized in a border around later.

This is the layout so far...

One day maybe I will have a flannel covered design wall so that I can plan out a full sized quilt. 4 more rows will be added once these are all sewn together. I was going to sew today but have been in a weird sort of mood and just let the day slip by only doing a couple loads of laundry the dishes and cooking dinner. I feel kinda guilty for not getting more done. Perhaps tomorrow I will be more productive. Some days I'm just a "veggie".

Birthday Girl - Abby

 Wouldn't you know it I didn't get even ONE picture of the sweater or the dress that I just made but she was wearing the corduroy dress I made her for Christmas 2010. Perhaps her mother will get me some pictures of her wearing the birthday presents that I just made for her.

In this first picture she looks kinda sad... I think Mommy is taking too long with getting the cake to the table. 

 FINALLY a cupcake in hand!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY GIRL!

Next Project...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know I'm supposed to be working on UFO's (Unfinished Objects) but just look at these fabrics just waiting to be used. The smaller folded pieces are the cake squares that I sent to Diane in Maine and the top fabrics are what Diane sent me in return. I'm going to work up a design using these on our way to my folks' for Abby's birthday party this afternoon.

I've got the purple sweater and the sun-dress in the washer as I type to remove cat hairs and skin oils. I'll post pictures from the party tonight.

Scott's Hobby Space

View from the kitchen door

Plastic tubs in the corner are my fabric and yarn stash

 Since I got my sewing/craft room cleaned up I have been enjoying it immensely and am so happy to be able to really use the room. So last week I told Scott that each Saturday we would work on his room which is basically the 2 car garage sized bonus room to the side of our house. I have one corner filled with my fabric stash tubs and the rest is Scott's hobby stuff and a catch all. Greg had some car parts for his Buick mixed in and some train stuff. SO yesterday morning we started with this....

View from the side door entrance.

Quite the mess hey? We got Greg's train stuff and the Christmas tree's in the attic. Greg's car stuff has been gathered together so it will eventually be organized in one location. A pile of junk was dragged to the street. A bag of stuff was put in my trunk for drop off at His House this next week. And we have started emptying shelfs; vacuuming the dust bunnies off EVERYTHING and the walls and identifying things to take to the AWA (Antique Wireless Association) Meet in Charlotte next month. And wiping everything down with a damp clothe to remove the final layer of dust. I don't believe we've really cleaned this room completely since moving in here in 1996 and it REALLY shows.

I want Scott to be able to enjoy his space once more and have told him that after we finish with this project I will help him do the same thing with the garage. 

O.K. ; so here is where we left off yesterday. I know it doesn't look like much but we really did make a huge dent in the mess. Next Saturday we will work on it some more. My plan is to have everything ready for the AWA Meet including pricing and lined up in the center of the room for easy loading at the time of the Meet.

So Happy He still Feels This Way!

On my Mind time once more.....

A sweet little sun-dress for Abby's birthday

Many Many colorful Butterflies!

Oh the things I find in my "stash". This post is part of Rhonda's weekly feature at Down to Earth ; why not join us and "meet" some of our Worldly Neighbors.

The Purple Sweater

I finished the ties on the sweater this morning and I LOVE IT! I just hope that it will fit my niece - perhaps tomorrow I will whip together a couple little dresses to go with it... purple of course.

Garden in Spring

I just went out and took a few pictures of my garden and you can see the 4 raised beds to the left that I cleaned up/out yesterday well you can see 3 out of 4 anyway. Here are the 4 all cleaned up...

We used rolled roofing between the beds to keep the weeds from becoming a problem. We need some more to put down between the beds we added last year but it's not a financial priority so I will just have to keep after the weeds better by hand. The green you see in the beds toward the top of the photo are of Scott's garlic. Most of it is hard neck garlic and thats what we really like to use the most as the flavor is SO MUCH better than the soft necked garlic you get at the grocery store. Scott has found a couple sites that sell gourmet hard neck garlic and we plan to order some for next year.  Here is a close-up of some of the hard neck garlic...

I still have a lot of work to do out there but it will have to wait until Friday when I am off from work again. Scott and I are trying to decided where to plant some tomatoes where they would get a bit of shade as our garden gets FULL sun constantly and our harvests haven't been too great the past couple of years. I've even toyed with the idea of putting a frame over every other row with lattice across the top to create some dappled shade for our poor plants. And I need to amend the beds with more organic matter or clay so that they will hold water a little better.  It's all a work in progress and I love the smell of the earth when it's fertile ... most of my raised beds don't have that REAL Earthy smell yet.... COMPOST! I've got to find more organic matter that comes from yards that aren't chemical happy.... no fertilizers, bug killers, weed killers and the like. People don't understand that all those chemicals kill beneficial plants and bugs too. We will never control Nature; we must learn to PARTNER with her. 

Gardening and Crocheting

Today I went through our seed basket and found all the seeds that are listed on the Clemson Extensions planting guide for vegetables that can be planted at this time of year. There really is quite a lot we can plant now and I found... spinach, mustard greens, turnips, collards, peas (really pushing my luck as these should have been planted earlier); onions, radishes, broccoli, mesculen salad mix, and beets. I will also start tomatoes indoors to plant out later. Once I pulled these seeds I got busy on cleaning up some of our raised beds. I got four cleaned up and looking good; two all ready have garlic growing in them but I have two others now ready for planting. I'm hoping to get some seeds in the ground tomorrow before I have to be to work.

Today I also made a bit of progress on the sweater I am making for my niece, Abby. Only 6 more rows to add to the skirt section and then add some ties. Oh and I'm also supposed to add a couple more daisy's to the front. I sure hope that this will fit her. It's really cute! I don't know if I'm off work on Sunday or not but I'm hoping we will be able to go to her party on Sunday. I'll find out tomorrow. If I can't make it to the party I will mail this to her; hopefully in time for her party.

Time to call it a night... I hope everyone has a good nights sleep.

A Sweet for my Sweetie!

Pie before top crust put into position

Had a bit of trouble getting a top on but it will still taste delicious.

I just slid a blackberry pie into the oven for our dinner tonight. How fitting is it that the blackberries were picked together last Summer and the heart shaped pie plate was bought on a trip to the mountains... TOGETHER!

HE LOVES ME STILL!

I came in from work this evening to find this awaiting for me on my desk...

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Sweater Progress

I've made a little progress on Abby's sweater for her birthday. I have to get it finished by Wednesday so that I can mail it to her before her party on the 20th. I had added the green stem strip but didn't like how it looked so I pulled it out and will try again tomorrow when there is daylight. For now the little flowers will have to wait for their stems and centers. The centers are supposed to be done in French knots but I can't get the bright yellow bamboo yarn anywhere around here so I am thinking of using some bright yellow beads for the centers instead. I think Abby would like them better anyway. I'll check my "bead stash" in the morning.

The yellow yarn that I got for the centers is just too pale so I will have to use it for baby booties. It's a super soft bamboo that will make some absolutely lovely booties; it's Bernat Bamboo - Natural Blends in corn/mais.

I finally talked Scott into going to the Doctor; he has a sinus infection  and will be on an antibiotic for the next 2 weeks. I knew it was getting serious because he just wasn't getting any better and then last night he was pitching a fever and was just feeling horrible so I told him he WAS GOING to the Dr today!

On the way home it was warm enough outside to have the windows cracked and we could hear a tap tap tap from one of my tires and it wasn't going away like a stone so Scott checked the tires and I have a led headed nail in one of my tires. He said that he will try to fix it in the morning before I have to leave for work. If he can't get it fixed I will have to drive our old truck that has special issues all it's own - ignition sticks and the shift indicator is all off now so you have to count the positions to get it into drive. OH WELL! Life's NEVER boring around here.

It's Time for "ON MY MIND"

Well today at work I came across some really awesome stitchery kits that have been marked way down and I had to resist buying any because - well we are broke and are just making bills and groceries. But thats ok because it made me go on to the next thought... do I REALLY need anymore to do? What do you think? Here is what came to my mind while looking at those Clearance Stitchery kits; this drawer...

I decided to pull them out and show just why I should NOT buy anything more in this area. Here they are all lined up on my cutting table...

Did you notice the distinct "cat" theme? Here are some close ups...

Definitely time to "just say no"!
Stitchery kits - I'M GOOD ON! CHECK!
"On My Mind" is a weekly feature that anyone can participate in; guidelines are at Rhonda's blog...Down to Earth