National Popcorn Day!

Here's to celebrating another minor holiday!

and having p0pc0rn for breakfast 



😋

Throwback Thursday - 2006 Part 5

I'm back to sharing some of my older stitching and crafting projects. Those I'm sharing today were completed in May 2006. As part of my 20 Goals in 2020, I hope to post all the projects from 2006 through 2008.

2006 was my Year of the Ornament, and I made quite a number of them. But this first piece is larger.




George the Giraffe

This is a kit by The Bold Sheep out of Great Britain. I was able to purchase the kit via eBay. The finished size of the stitching is about 4" x 6".

This happy dancer just makes me laugh. The colors feel like Spring to me, so I stitched him up as soon as he arrived in my mailbox.

The stitching is done, but I've still not done the finishing -- all these years later. I bought some coordinating fabric years ago to finish George as an easel or flat fold. Now I'm not so sure I want to finish him that way. He may become another journal cover because I use journals all the time, and I no longer have a designated place to display my many stitched giraffes.

French Horn Angel

This ornament was stitched for the mother of one of my online friends. Mum's health was failing at the time. Mum loved angels and had images of them all over the house. My stitching group decided to stitch up some angel ornaments for her to hang on her 25 foot tall Christmas tree. They'd need a lot of angel ornaments and we wanted to fill it up! Because Mum loved the color purple and music, I put those two ideas together to stitch up an angel playing an instrument, stitched on a light purple fabric.

The design was found in a Celebrations to Cross Stitch and Craft magazine from Christmas 1992. The designer is Lorraine Birmingham.

I finished the ornament in a mini tuck fabric frame. Then I decided to sew the stitching in place for security.

  

Fish Birthday Card

This was a quick stitch for my employer's birthday. My boss appeared reluctant to say much about her birthday, so I didn't want to overdo a gift. Her family room was decorated in a fish theme, so I decided to stitch a quick little fish and turn it into a birthday card.

Inside the card says, "Hoping you have a Swimmingly Good Birthday!" Clever, eh?

The design is called Baby's First Book — Motif 7 by designer Ellen Mauer-Stroh.

Pray for Snow and Holiday Decorator

In the Spring of 2006, I joined a group of stitchers that makes ornaments, bookmarks and quilt squares for charity. One of the stitched quilt block themes was of "angel snowmen." I was sent the two patterns and the blue aida cross-stitch fabric. This way all the blocks for the quilt would be uniform and fit together as intended.

The quilt squares stitched up quickly and were fun to do. The completed quilt was donated to a child facing a serious illness or to a senior in a care facility. 

These designs were found in Angelic Snowmen a publication by American School of Needlework. They're designed by Marilyn Frable.

It's quite enjoyable for me to look back on these old projects. There are so many that I'd forgotten about. It sure does make me itch to get my needles, floss, and patterns out again. Maybe I'll do that -- once my jigsaw puzzle itch has been thoroughly scratched.

Fireworks

What's all the excitement?

We're having a celebration, complete with a light show! Why?



It's National Puzzle Day!!!



My sweetheart had this waiting for me at the breakfast table.
💖  💖  💖

Out and About

Due to dealing with a respiratory virus for three weeks, then very low energy from seasonal depressive disorder (SAD usually hits me in Jan/Feb), I've holed myself up in the house for much of the new year. Thus, all the jigsaw puzzle building. When I did go out, it was usually with Dale or with Jodie, rather than on my own. That's beginning to change.

Last weekend, Dale and I explored the Science Center here in Eugene. We saw two shows in the observatory, and played with most of the hand-on displays in the museum.

Projected on the dome of the observatory

Today I did some exploring on my own.

First I went to Barnes & Noble to meet up with a gal who sold me some vintage post cards. I bought them for Jodie, who has a collection. The messages and the card backs have us believe they cover a number of decades and were all written to the same couple. I look forward to hearing more about the couple as Jodie pours over the cards.

Next, I went to my new doctor's office w-a-y on the east side of our 'metropolis.' I signed a form to get my medical records transferred. Now I'm set up to have my first appointment next week.

Since I was out in that part of town, and it was close to lunchtime, I checked to see if Jodie could join me for lunch. She could! We went to a small local diner, the Busy Bee Cafe. All the locals know about it. In 2019, the cafe won the Spirit of Springfield Small Business Award. It's a great little old mom & pop shop with good food and, you could tell by the conversations, regular customers. I had a BLT and some sweet potato fries. Yummy! Jodie tried a ham and cheese melt sandwich which she enjoyed. Even the iced tea was tasty.

After I dropped Jodie at work, I found my way back to the west side of town and visited one of the larger Dollar Tree locations in the area. I got a good "fix." I have an idea for Valentine's Day for our grandkids, and got some supplies while I was there.

This afternoon, I headed out to Junction City. It's a few miles north of here. I found a lamp on Facebook Marketplace that Jodie likes for her craft room. It's a beauty.

I'm hoping to have more of these go-it-alone jaunts in the near future. I want to get to know the area better - as the driver, not only the passenger. It's one way I plan to "settle" in 2020.

Art Deco

Gosh I love this image. The colors of these buildings in Miami, Florida are so pretty both with the setting sun behind them, and the neon signs on them. This is a Puzzlebug 500 piece puzzle that we bought at Dollar Tree the other day.



Unfortunately, we've got one missing piece. I swept the floor and checked under the furniture, but didn't find it. Ah, well. I'll make a note to stick in the box about the missing purple piece with the green edge.



Did you know that palm tree fronds make for an excellent beard?

There you go. You've learned your new thing for the day.

Market in Peru

This is a quickie puzzle from Dollar Tree. That's a whole lot of fun for a dollar!

I like the distinct colors, the flow, and the uniform pieces in this puzzle. It's a true grid.



The one thing about these puzzles is that the pieces are small and light. Not the best quality, so the pieces don't snap together securely. They can easily slide apart as you're working on the puzzle. But like I said, the images are great and give me just the right amount of challenge for a easy puzzle day.

A bonus is the ideal image for some googly-eyed fun!

Peter Pan

This puzzle of Peter Pan and his friends was another that I had to attack from the inside out. I started with Peter and Tinkerbell and the kids. Next I put the border together. Then Dale and I filled in the blanks. The sky and city got a hold of Dale last night and he stayed up until midnight fitting the pieces.



This is one of four 500 piece jigsaw puzzles that came boxed together. My main beef with the puzzles are that the largest photo of them is the one on the cover of the box! That isn't much help when you need a reference. I took a photo of the box cover, then used the zoom feature on my phone to look at details.

These puzzles are unusual because they are a collaboration between Disney and Thomas Kinkade. So the lighting is beautiful.



We have a total of eight of these puzzles. This one wasn't too hard because there is a lot of light around Tinkerbell. Some of the others Dale and I have tried are very, very dark with points of light. We totally gave up on one of the darkest a few months back. Maybe we'll give it another try now that our puzzling chops are getting honed.

Midway Geyser Basin

This is a doozy of a puzzle -- in the very best way. It's an aerial photo of the Midway Geyser at Yellowstone National Park. The colors are very vibrant. The quality of the puzzle pieces is top notch.

The thing about this puzzle is that the pieces vary greatly in size. There are precious few "usual" puzzle shapes. Look closely at the photo. I had to change my thinking about how puzzle pieces are "supposed to" fit together before things start falling into place. It's not a grid like typical puzzles.



It turns out that after putting the border and printed words together, I ended up making the puzzle from the center out, starting with the deep blue. Then I was able to find homes for the pieces by constantly turning the puzzle in circles as the puzzle grew from blues to oranges and browns.

It's a really good challenge of a puzzle without being too hard or frustrating. Dale and I were still able to complete it in one day.

Bonus: it makes for an excellent bearded googly monster if you turn it bottom's up and add some eyes.

Birds and Quilts

After putting together the puzzle with the maddening background, I was ready for something more fun. Dale headed out to a meeting, so I settled down with this bright new puzzle and worked on it while listening to the impeachment proceedings.

This is called Birds and Quilts by Corinne Ferguson. It was an engaging puzzle with lots of color variation, lots of great details, and an overall fun image to work on.

Plus, with all those birds, I had a nice variety to choose which got the googly eyes.

Because #everythingisbetterwithgooglyeyes 

This bird's giving me the old side-eye!

Small Is Beautiful

This is an image from Anne Geddes. As a photograph, it's lovely.

As a puzzle, it was a bear. All that background in the same color was tedious. Dale and I nearly gave up because, you know, hobbies are supposed to be fun, not frustrating. I did feel pretty good when I popped that last piece in this morning.

What do you think. The baby looks better asleep? Or wide, wide awake?

Candied Apples

At first, I thought these were cake pops. All the icing and sprinkles made sense that way.

I've never seen candied apples like this! They're Granny Smith apples. That amount of sweet with that amount of tart? It makes my tongue hurt just thinking about it.



It was a very fun puzzle to put together. And so ripe for googly eyes.

Pinocchio

Another day, another jigsaw puzzle. I tell ya, these things have a healing effect on me!

This one was simple and quick. I am about 10 years old in spirit, right?



Even though I bought this puzzle at a thrift shop and the box was a little beaten up, there were signs that I was the first to ever put this puzzle together. Some of the pieces were still connected at the points, and there was quite a lot of puzzle dust the likes of which you get with a first unboxing. Plus, the pieces were in pristine condition, with no little-kid bends or tears.

This is a great hobby.

I've updated my 20 Goals in 2020 list. I've exchanged one of my photo goals with "put together 20 jigsaw puzzles." I'm well on my way.

Hillside Retreat

Here's another Ravensburger puzzle that Dale and I put together on this long lazy weekend. Dale put together most of the lower half of the puzzle: the cobblestone road, the bridge, the big building and balustrade.  I primarily did the sky, mountain, and foliage. We work as well putting puzzles together as we do in life! We each come at it from a different perspective and have complementary ways of approaching the problem.

I tend to gravitate toward color and shape. Dale is a wonder at picking out the printed details on the pieces, finding the exact duplicate on the box photo, and dropping the pieces precisely in place within the puzzle border. Ultimately, we play to our strengths and help each other to complete the project.



Jigsaw puzzles as a microcosm to handling life's ups and downs. Who knew?

Hilltop Garden

It turns out that putting a jigsaw puzzle together is exactly the right level of activity for me right now. So as soon as I completed the Pinwheels, I got out another puzzle. Dale and I put together Rooftop Garden, a Ravensburger puzzle.



These puzzles are so nice to work with because of the high quality cardboard they use. The pieces have a lovely smooth finish. There is little to no fallout / cardboard dust to deal with. The piece are nice and thick, so they snap together well and hold onto each other. That way if you put, say, the butterflies together on the table beside the puzzle, the pieces will hold together well as you pick them up and put them in place within the puzzle border.



This particular puzzle has extra large pieces. Dale wasn't sure he liked the big size, but they didn't bother me at all. I think of them as "large print books" for older eyes. Dale says that it's a great size piece to use for when the grandkids stay with Mimi and Papa and we can put puzzles together with our little ones.

This is one of the puzzles I bought Dale for Christmas. It was very nice having this quiet activity to do together ... no TV or podcasts or radio or music. Simply enjoyable couple time.

Pinwheels

To keep myself occupied with a quiet activity, I decided to have a day of Puzzles and Podcasts. Because it's been a while since I put a jigsaw together, I decided to start out with a small 300 piece puzzle. I chose this from our stash. I picked it up because I liked the bright colors.



It wasn't until I'd completed it that I realized this is a stack of colorful pinwheels. So pretty and a nice simple design. It wasn't so complicated that I lost track of what was being said in the podcast. I listened to about three episodes in the time it took to put this together.



I've already started a 500 piece jigsaw that Dale and I will poke at over the long weekend.

The Scent of Home

Each morning when I do my writing and meditation, I set an ambiance of sound and fragrance. I use my bubbler for the sound of running water. I like to use a scented wax melts rather than burning candles. I don't quite trust an open flame if it's sitting on a slightly shaky folding card table (which is what my writing desk is for now). I put in a new scent yesterday: huckleberry. It's a fragrance that will forever be associated with my home in Idaho.

I love living in Oregon now while simultaneously having a daily sweet reminder of my quarter century in the Spokane river valley.



:: happy vibes ::


I'm still not feeling 100%. Making googly eyes photos sparks a little joy in me.

Tweaking

I've already decided to tweak my goals for 2020. I decided to switch out With Dale, update our will, medical power of attorney, etc. After all, personal goals are best when they really are personal. I still want to get that legal information updated by the end of the year, but I don't want to have to depend on someone else for me to accomplish my goal.

So I've switched that out with Listen to 20 podcast series. 

I do love listening to podcasts. I binge listen the way folks are known to binge watch streaming TV series. Some series are wonderful. Yesterday I finished listening to Dolly Parton's America which was fascinating. I also listened to Podcast Universe put out by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. I'm glad it was a short series because it was awful. The first episode was OK. Unfortunately, the rest were more cringe-worthy than funny.

This morning I started listening to Meaningful Conversations hosted by Maria Shriver. In each of the 22 episodes she'll sit one-on-one with people she admires and respects to explore issues like love, pain, forgiveness, gratitude, family, faith, connection, loneliness, the art of self-reinvention, and more. 

In other words, my cup of tea. 

Yet one cannot have meaningful conversations without a bit of fun and humor thrown in. So yes, the googly eyes are back.

That ring though! Wow! Looks like a googly eye all by itself.

In 45th Place ...

I've shared this wonderful news with many, but I thought I'd make it "blog official" now. I was honored to have this photograph chosen as one of the Top 50 Fan Photos of the Year. 

Click for larger image

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This award was bestowed by my mentor Nick Kelsh from our community, How To Photograph Your Life. Nick's taught me oodles about digital photography both online and in person when I took his seminar in Philadelphia two years ago.

All 50 of the photos in this grouping are terrific and I highly recommend taking time to look through them. Click on the link above my photo. A person can learn a lot about photography simply by looking at these photos and reading Nick's commentary. If you get inspired, I can highly recommend becoming part of our community and/or taking some online classes from Nick, a world-class photographer. You can learn more about him on his website.

And, check it out. No googly eyes!  😲

My Eyes Opened

Guess who got out of the house today. This gal!

It's wet out there. Who knew? Strange, for Oregon, eh?

I'm tired now, at the end of the day. But it was a very good day. Nice to feel (mostly) healthy again. Maybe I'll even be able to write a blog post or two without googly eyes.

Nah!

Sunday Blessing

Gaining Strength

I'm starting to feel better. Hooray!

Fixin' to get some things done ...

beginning with building some shelves in the cabinets under the bathroom sinks.

Bwahhhlaahhh

Uh. Still not feeling so good, but

even spilling hot wax on my writing table is better with googly eyes.