Flying Through with A Little Ta-Dah!

Are you flying through this season of your life?  The leaves of our Maple trees are rapidly flying off the trees! Many of them land on my mini-van so that when I drive off they whoosh away in a flurry of colorful Fall loveliness. 

I have had a hard time capturing photos of just how pretty our area is in this season, but this view of our church parking lot gives a hint of how glorious it is. 

Then last week I found myself literally flying from big city Portland, Oregon, to little city, Santa Rosa, California, and back again five days later for another fun meet up with my two sisters.  I flew in and out of the Charles Schultz Sonoma County Airport, named in honor of cartoon character Snoopy's creator who lived here for many years.

Very near Santa Rosa is Bodega Bay where we enjoyed some perfect hours at the beach.

It was such fun watching the various birds we saw flapping and dashing about.

And I was surprised to find a sand dollar and my sister Margaret found some pretty shell fragments, too.

We had delicious fishy themed dinners at the Tides Restaurant and learned more about the history of the area from our placemats :)

Then while we ate we watched a number of different types of birds fishing for and finding their dinners which included some small crabs we saw.

A friend snapped this photo of us at the airport before I flew home.  From left to right, my older sister Margaret, her youngest daughter Holly, me, Margaret's oldest daughter, Heather, and my oldest sister, Carolyn.

The little Ta-Dah my blog title promised materialized Wednesday morning, October 17, 2018. I turned in this preemie blanket I crocheted in a repeat pattern of one-row single crochet one-row double crochet. The hat was knit in a rectangle by my sister, then seamed by a friend while my sister Margaret was visiting me in August.  The solid blue shows much darker in this photo than it appears to me in life, but either way the colors remind me and others in my stitching group of some of the pretty Jewish prayer shawl colors we have seen.

I got home on Saturday, October 13, and we had another house showing the next afternoon.  Several families have been interested, but not made offers yet and my patience is being tried as I try to do my part to keep things tidy while trying to carry on with normal life commitments.  One of the fun things I have done is bake ginger spice crinkle cookies just before a house showing so the house smells wonderful and we have a plate full of cookies to offer visitors!

Looking forward to hearing if you are flying through your current season of life... until next time,

Gracie xx :)

May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and patient endurance that comes from Christ.... Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation.  The Lord be with you all. 2Thessalonians 3:5, 16 NLT

Wishing You a Lovely Day!

 While sitting with my oldest sister, Carolyn, during her chemo treatments the last few days, I have crocheted a bouquet of hearts [threaded through a paper plate] for her so she can give a heart to some of the folks around us at the infusion center tomorrow as she wishes them a lovely day.

 Using USA terms, I formed a Sliding Circle, I chained three in the circle, then crocheted two triple crochets, three double crochets, chain one, one triple crochet, chain one, three double crochets, three triple crochets and cut the yarn.  I pulled the Sliding Circle closed with the beginning end of yarn and tacked the cut thread into the cleft of the heart using a blunt needle then pulled both ends of yarn away from the heart.

 This past month I found this clever folding heart card at my nephew's bookstore, Not of This World Icons and Books, in Santa Rosa, California, but you can order them on his website as well :-)

Members of our family gathered from Nebraska and Oregon this month at my oldest sister Carolyn's in Sonoma, California, and we worked on family albums, played Yahtzee and Nertz, put together puzzles, and enjoyed meals together.  We have had many lovely days in spite of my sister's illness.

I miss interacting with many of my blogging friends but am reading blogs as I can even if I don't manage to comment and I am wishing all who read this lovely days :-)

Gracie xx

~~Lilac Time~~

Welcome!  Thanks for coming for a visit today.

 At a local grocery store yesterday morning I was thrilled to see a huge display of bouquets of Lilac branches with blossoms in many shades of purple. The scent of the blooms wafted about in a wonderful way.  I rushed home to check on our old fifteen foot tall and nearly as wide Lilac bush out back, and was rewarded to see a number of buds up high. I was able to cut this plume of blossom that was down low on the bush and bring it inside to enjoy. Please enjoy a cyber whiff through your computer screen.

Since I last posted I found an inexpensive picture frame online like the one I showed you several posts ago that holds an embroidery piece my mom stitched.  The frame I purchased came with an E. A. Abbey print of a woman knitting [Katrina Van Tassel from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow], and I am enjoying viewing it on my living room wall.  I am planning to make an embroidery piece like my mom's to put in the frame. My track record for completed projects stands to be improved and the planning of this project is encouraging me in that direction!

I believe the frame is from the early 1900's Arts and Crafts Movement Period, as is the one above it.  My Uncle George made the framed mirror piece in his high school shop class and gave it to my mom for her birthday.  It had pride of place in all the homes my folks had as long as I can remember.  I especially like the print of the sheep wandering down a country lane.  I think my mom told me that she thought her brother had cut the print from a calendar.

 Several weeks ago at my worship art group our facilitator gave us some sketched forms on white paper that we cut out and glued on a acrylic painted background that we stamped with a fence form and some birds...following her example each in our own way. She had us glue both sides of the sketched papers before painting them in order to discourage the paper from puckering which was a helpful tip for me since I have made other pieces with lots of wrinkles.

 Then a week ago I found a Traveler's Journal that has papers that are lined or blank or gridded.  It is handy to have one journal in which I can record in a variety of forms, my creative explorations.  So far I have written and sketched on some lined pages, I am plotting my embroidery project on gridded pages, and I painted this wonky view of sunflowers with watercolor pencils on a blank sheet..trying to learn more about perspective and shading and process.

 At my Wednesday morning stitching group I am crocheting a new baby blanket and using Deborah Norville Serenity acrylic Baby Yarn.  I am stitching in a single crochet, double crochet repeat across which makes a soft bumpy texture.

 After cutting the lilac branch some of my girls joined me outside and they perched for me on the back steps by the recycling crate.  They are among the next able generation being trained to be  recyclers!  Their attire reflects the fantastic sunny 83F weather we have enjoyed the last two days, although boots are helpful since the ground is still wet and mucky.

 

The sky is the limit!  I thought this view of the Red Maple tree across the driveway from the steps where the girls were sitting was so pretty and up lifting! 

The post I published last night around midnight  in a thunderstorm disappeared. I used my iPhone, iPad, and laptop in the process of composing and publishing and received comments from Joy and Tammy which I hope I can recover as I reconstruct and republish the post.  The sky may be limitless but technology and my use of technology not so much!

Have you enjoyed views of limitless skies or enjoyed some creative pursuits since I last heard from you? I would love to have you share with me!

Gracie xx

Five on Friday: Progress!

Hi!  I hope this finds you enjoying the season of life you are in!  It has been mostly a good busy week here in Boring, Oregon, USA, except that several of us in our household have been fighting off viruses.

One thing I enjoyed this past week was sewing together fifteen patches on a Featherweight Singer sewing machine...the first time in many years I have tried to use any sewing machine.  The squares are practice squares I cut several years ago with a rotary cutter, and I need more practice cutting, and stitching on the machine.  I pieced together a backing and have stuffed some polyester fiber in to form a pillow shape but not sewn up the end yet. I had it stuffed firmly at first and decided I did not like that so I took out some stuffing, but am afraid it will shift around too much. Since this is a practice piece I will probably stitch it up and call it good enough.

 Secondly, I am halfway through knitting another preemie blanket using 100% acrylic yarn in the Beachy colorway. Where my knitting needle is pointing I did four rows of purl stitches thinking I would get a flat section after knitting all the other rows...but I did not...a mystery I can not get my brain around.

 Thirdly, I had fun filling in some more pages of my Leaves of Promise album I started years ago.

 Fourthly, I knit two small [35 stitches in the center row] Grandma's washcloths using size 3 needles and size 3 100% cotton Lizbeth thread while watching a video about Tiny Houses, and then watching some of the first episodes of Fixer Upper on HGTV. I just read "The Magnolia Story" by the stars of the show and was interested in how their lives progressed to bring them to produce their program.

Fifthly, my oldest son texted me a recent photo of my two wonderful growing grandsons who I visited two years ago back in NY at this time of year. How can time fly by so fast? Kenny is now in middle school and Aron will be in two more years!

As I join, thanks to Amy in her Five on Friday Link again on her blog, Love Made My Home I am wondering...

Have you been making any progress this week?

Gracie xx

Come Along!

My oldest daughter, Mary Kathrine, used my camera to take a photo of my granddaughter, "Princess" Rose and me after we had been down to the front pond to see if we could see any duck activity today.

Several days before we had witnessed Mrs. Mallard shepherding her ducklings from the back to the front pond.

My youngest son in law loves to do complex puzzles.  I think I should make this photo into a puzzle for him!  I especially appreciate the grass and leaves that provide some protection for the ducks. Several days ago we saw a heron take off from the front pond.  It was startling, because they are huge birds and I have been thrilled to see them.  However,  I did a Google search on herons today to learn more about them, and now know that in the circle of life drama, ducklings and ducks, and moles and fish are possible prey for herons.  I have been thinking vegan thoughts all day...but had salmon for dinner...sigh...

Isn't Mr. Mallard handsome? I wonder if the males are so brilliant in color so that they can distract predators from the mother mallards and ducklings.

Mama Mallards kind of blend into their surroundings here.

I think this is one area where the Mallards have a nest.

I caught this duck just taking off from the front pond.

On another day I got a photo of  Mr. Wood Duck snoozing on a branch.  Did you know they do that?  I didn't until I witnessed it.

 I think this is Mr. Mallard resting on a branch.

My blogging friend Bethany asked if I planned to show you my finished Haystack Rock painting.  I have worked on it several times since then. I think it is finished...or it is finished for now at least. Most recently I added people. Two are riding recumbent bikes like those Teresa and I saw some folks riding along the beach.

I finished writing heart themed Scriptures around the acrylic splatter painted heart I made at our worship art group and am interested that it has kind of a 3D effect...there is probably some sort of scientific explanation for that...that I do not know :)

Watercolor, Staedtler triplus fineliner, PROGRESSO KOH-I-NOOR woodless pencils
Dover Kaleidoscope coloring book patterns [not colors] by A.G.Smith
Original Dover (2005) www.doverpublications.com
I taped the three little pages on a window and took the photo with the daylight shining through the pages.  The paper is a similar texture to tracing paper and I wondered how it would take the colors, so I tried three different coloring mediums. On the far right I colored both sides of the paper with woodless colored pencils to intensify the hues.
Have you been coloring lately?

This week I have knit some rows on two of the blankets I started, and I have a dishcloth half knit while watching House Hunters International on Netflix, thus traveling to Easter Island and Mongolia from my armchair. I have been reading everything from newspapers to completing the fascinating auto-biography of Catherine de Hueck Doherty...then lunch out with a friend, reading and cooking with grand girls, and sleeping and cleaning and studying, and.............. 

Thanks for coming along with me!  Where have you been wandering along? I do hope you will tell me.

Gracie xx

Closer to Spring

How have the days in your part of the world been?

In Boring, Oregon, USA, we have been marching closer to Spring with rain showers down in the valley and a bit more snow on Mt. Hood.  I stopped by Jonsrud viewpoint in Sandy one misty day when Mt. Hood was barely visible to the east of the Sandy River to take a photo to show you.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard let me get a photo of them perched on their favorite downed tree in the front pond, but I did not see the Wood Ducks visiting them that day.

Our one Camellia bud is opened a bit more, our Daffodils are still dancing around our tree, and our Forsythia bush is a fountain of gold blossoms.
My youngest SIL cut several branches of the bush for me so that I could wind them into one of my vine wreaths in exchange for the dried prickly Holly I had put on it just before Christmas.

We planted a few more plants on Saturday: two Carnations, some Crawling Mint, a small Lilac bush, two Dianthus and two other new to me plants with long names I can't remember at the moment, but hope they are hardy enough to survive our gardening.

I found a little Shamrock plant at the grocery store and am hoping I can help it thrive indoors year round.

Two year old Rose came to me requesting me to put her hair in pony tails, the other day, and I thought you might enjoy seeing the result :)

Baby Ian, my newest friend in CA was born several months ago, and I wanted to make something for him to celebrate his birth, and found the pattern for a crocheted baseball cap HERE.

Wishing you happy marching into whatever season you are in!

xx
Gracie

Blooming and Sliding into 2016!

Hi! In early 2015, some of you may remember I posted photos of my amaryllis bulb being propped up by a Fisher-Price palm tree.   I kept the bulb after I clipped off the dead blooms and when the leaves started looking pitiful I clipped them off and stopped watering the bulb.  I left the bulb in a shady spot in our hallway and just glanced at it from time to time and wondered...would it bloom for me again around Christmas?

Two weeks before Christmas I moved the bulb in it's original pot onto a sometimes sunny windowsill and started watering the bulb.  Within a few days a new stem started shooting up!  Buds appeared!  Four of them! Household members started exclaiming about the bulb's growth, but three-year-old, Joy was beside herself with excitement and has buzzed into my room numerous times to proclaim the bulb's progress.  I wish I had written down all the versions of her proclamations :)  The last I remember was, "Gramma Gracie, your flower is all growd up!"  Indeed!

In 2015 we had just a few flakes of snow down here in the valley near Mt. Hood, but 2016, has started out with about an inch of snow...and...ice! 

Our mailbox was knocked down.  Then a truck slid into our driveway and it took several days for it to be rescued.  My youngest son-in-law's  truck slid into the building where he works. He and his truck were ok, but the building needed some repair; then while dealing with that when he was trying to spread deicer on the parking lot he fell backwards and whacked his head and has a mild concussion and sore back :(  Because four of my five granddaughters were getting over coughing colds they did not try to go sledding, so all in all the storm was pretty and exciting for us, but not much fun.

However, those of us who were able to stay inside, enjoyed finishing a puzzle, and gazing at our idyllic snow village.  We had good food, read, watched some TV, played some board and computer games and I even got some stitching done, including a doll clothes bag I crocheted for Joy.

Most of the ice had melted in time for us to safely get my oldest sister from the airport on Thursday.  When we got home from the airport, I found a package had arrived from my blogging friend, Wendy, who lives in Australia!  She is in the throes of hot weather, but she very kindly made a pretty set of red yarn mitts to help my hands keep stylishly warm :)

Thank you again, Wendy!

As I type this, the sky is gray and we had a bit of rain this morning, but thankfully no more ice!  We are still exclaiming over how pretty the amaryllis is and we  enjoyed our weekend. 

Are blooming and sliding a part of your New Year?

Gracie xx :)