Annalee Turns Four

In mid-April, Dale and I traveled to Idaho to celebrate our granddaughter Annie's 4th birthday with her family. 

Let the shenanigans begin!

First Flowers For You - Part 5

I've been away from my stitching for over seven weeks. I'm determined to make finishing First Flowers For You my next priority. To recap, this is what the pattern looks like.

I started stitching it with the floss colors called for in the pattern, but the bunny was far too brown for me. I unstitched the brown fur, and started restitching the bunny with lighter grey shades.

This pattern is cute cute cute. I love the specialized fabric called Summer Breeze. My problem is that I'm having trouble seeing the tiny holes in this 32 count fabric (16 stitches per inch). I sure hope I get to have my eye surgery this year! In the mean time, I'm using two magnifiers at the same time. That can cause eye strain, so I tire easily. 

But I stitched a bit more one day this week and made a little progress. The color of the bunny fur still looks a bit off to me, but I'm going to go with it, hoping that the backstitching will bring the design all together.

Let's hope that the next time I update this project, there will be much more to show.

Placing More Quilted Hearts

I placed four more of my Quilted Hearts in the last couple weeks.

Two weeks ago Dale and I visited gorgeous Hendricks Park in southeast Eugene. I have lots more to share about that park. It's magnificent. While there I left two quilted hearts. 

I left Quilted Heart #1 on a bush at the entrance to the hydrangea garden.

I forgot to take a photo for #17 in place, but here's a reminder of what it looks like.

I do hope they found a good homes.

Last week I walked a different route through my neighborhood and found these two Little Free Libraries. The short one holds kids books. The tall one holds adult books. 

A couple days later I returned to the libraries and left three books and Quilted Heart #21.

Books freely given; hearts freely given.

Finally, I took a walk through Bethel Community Park yesterday. This is the park closest to my home. I found a good place to leave Quilted heart #02 near the baseball fields.

I have only three more hearts to place ... 

though I may keep my two favorites for myself.  

😊

Morning in May - 4

Flowering trees and ground cover

I  live in such a pretty neighborhood.

Now, at the end of May, the landscape has already changed. Many of these flowering plants have lost their blossoms. With summer just around the corner, I'll get to photograph the vegetable gardens soon.

Graduation Day

It's likely not what you think.

For the three years of the pandemic, I stayed very close to home. (Luckily, I didn't get ill, so it was worth it!) But I did have very high anxiety and developed a bit of a case of agoraphobia. I could get out of the house with Dale to visit parks and go grocery shopping and geocaching and eventually out to restaurants. But it was really hard for me to venture out on my own. Walks? Yes. Dollar Tree? Yes. Visit Jodie? Yes.

But until very recently, I couldn't get myself to go alone to crowded places ... like movie theaters. 

In fact, I think it's been eight years since I've been out to a movie!

Ever since turning 65 and getting part of my health insurance through AARP, Dale and I have been members. I've been quite drawn to one particular benefit: Movies for Grown-ups. I've seen several excellent documentaries through AARP's website. Recently, however, they offered a free screening of a movie at a theater.

You see where this is going.

I went by myself. Drove by myself. Figured out the theater entrance by myself. Learned that they over-booked and I might not get in. If I didn't? I was OK with that because I'd already done the hard part. Lucky for me, there were some no-shows and I got a seat after all.

Such a simple thing pre-pandemic. Now a huge personal accomplishment. I graduated into venturing back out into the world alone.

So Dale celebrated with me. He got me this card, a box of my favorite chocolates, and a banana.

Sometimes it's the little things that are the big things. 

Morning in May - 3

Oranges, yellows and goldenrod

Some bright avens (I think).

The tulips are now past their prime

The grasses of the wetlands are getting tall

Designing Your Summer

I'm a regular listener of The Happier Podcast where sisters/authors Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft talk about happiness, good habits, the four tendencies and the five senses as a way to bring more joy into your life. Every year they recommend "Designing Your Summer." Here's the quotation that prompted the idea:

Every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own, unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather. Circumstances have not allowed me to make a good summer for myself this year…My summer has been overcast by my own heaviness of spirit. I have not had any adventures, and adventures are what make a summer.
— Robertson Davies, “Three Worlds, Three Summers,"

     The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies

Their idea is to pick something to do in the summer that will set the season apart. For some, it's reading a certain number of books. As a kid, I participated in the library's Summer Reading Club. It could be visiting new-to-you restaurants or trying out new recipes. It might be joining an in-person interest group or traveling to a special place. Maybe you want to try growing a small garden or learn to paint with watercolors. Perhaps it's fulfilling an item on your bucket list. It can be anything that peaks your interest and makes your Summer 2023 memorable. 

Since I'm a homebody (and a high achiever), I picked five close-to-home things instead of one. I'm calling it "The Summer of Ps":

• Patio - design our patio space this year to make it more welcoming and usable
• Parks - continue our Eugene Park Tour
• Picnics - take a simple picnic lunch along when we visit the parks
• Past - visit a couple local museums each month
• Purple - be more attuned to the color purple and take photos of what I see

Most of these are activities I hope to do with Dale. I'm on my own for "Purple," though. Being aware of purple things and photographing them will make for some simple blog posts.

How about it? How will you design your summer?

Morning in May - 2

Clear blue sky, new green growth, and pink rhododendrons.

Melody's Birthday Card

We spent last weekend in Idaho celebrating our granddaughter Melody's 6th birthday. To go along with the bracelets and other gifts, Dale and I put this card together. I did the design and construction. Dale added the sentiment inside.

This was another new-to-me design concept. The bottom of the front of the card is cut into the shape of the mouth. I gave her three layers of eyes, the last being large googly eyes. Tongue and teeth are made of paper. The bow is real ribbon.

The tricky part for me was figuring out how to make the texture of the "skin" work. I ended up putting the blue paper through the embosser twice - once on the front, once on the back. But I had to reverse the embossing plate so that all the skin bumps poked out in the correct direction once the card was folded.

Having the front of the card short also meant a smaller spot for the sentiment inside. 

For the envelope, I added some coordinating paper for pizzazz under the flap.

Here's Dale's sentiment. 

(Whoops on the strange lighting! The color is all off).

And, of course, I signed the back. I did the cursive first, then remembered that she doesn't read cursive yet, so printed my name, too.

She got a kick out of it. After opening all the gifts she exclaimed, "This is the BEST day EVER!"

Three Generation Bracelets

Dale and I were able to spend time in Idaho to celebrate Melody's 6th birthday. I wanted to make her something special and decided on a bracelet that's personalized with her name.

Then I thought that maybe Annie would like a bracelet, too.

Well, if Melody got one, and Annie got one, wouldn't their mommy like a matching bracelet?

Ah, heck. I want in on the fun too!

Now we're a family that gets to be fancy together.  

Morning in May - 1

With the weather so nice these days, I've returned to my two-mile walks around the neighborhood. Here's what my neighbors have decorating their yards.

Walking buddy

Iris

and Iris

and more iris

Much more to come

Heart Swag - 2

What other precious treasure have I kept?

Beads

Games and stickers and keys and charms

The four hearts I shared earlier this month

Oh. And the occasional giraffe

Geocaching really is all about the fun of the hunt. Swag is a bonus. My favorite part is leaving fun swag and imagining little kids getting excited to find the trinkets.