Five Days Later

Three more crochet purses ready for Bags of Love. Good.

I'm still trying to manage this mixed bipolar phase I'm in. Some days I'm up and productive. Some days I'm all bluesy. This morning finishing these lovely little gems is helping me move from bluesy to sky-blue and sunny.

ANYway ...

This month I returned to the granny stitch purses. They don't take a lot of time and it's a simple pattern.

This first is about 7 inches wide by 4-1/2 inches high. I used a lightweight yarn which made the finished product small and light. 

I crocheted a small flower from confetti yarn and finished it with a tiny 1/2 inch pink flower button, sewn to the center front of the purse.

The inside is lined with a bright cherry print fabric. Adorable!

The second purse is slightly bigger than the first and stitched with a variegated blue/green/purple yarn.

I placed the decoration on the top left. It's a crocheted purple flower with a 1 inch medium-size lime-green flower-shaped button in the center. It's a little wild, but it works.

I lined the inside with a green and ivory striped fabric.

The final purse is the largest: 8 inches wide by 5-1/5 inches high. I used two strands of lightweight yarn together. It's the same pink as the first purse. The white yarn has one ply with a sheen. It gives the finished purse a slight glow.

I crocheted a slightly larger flower from the confetti yarn, then topped it with a 1-1/4 inch bright pink flower-shaped button.

I lined this with a pink and white gingham that perfectly matches the yarn. It's not a very high quality fabric, though, so was difficult to work with. Yes, I cursed it a little when the thread broke twice on my sewing machine. But, dang! It's cute!

I'd still like to finish some bookmarks by then end of the month. I suppose I'll have to see if my volatile moods will allow it.

If you find yourself dealing with unstable moods, please go get checked. Therapy and the proper meds can make a huge difference. Then, when circumstances affect your moods, you'll have some good tools to help you manage your stability. 

After 17 years, I manage things fairly well. When I go through a spell like this, I have what I need to stabilize again. It might mean I'm not up to crafting or writing blog posts regularly, but those are small inconveniences in the big picture.

Back at It

I have some clarity of mind today and my mood has brightened. I managed to get a lot done today, including spending two hours pressing a bunch of scrap fabric and cutting 84 more bookmarks for Bags of Love.

Next? Playing with pretty ribbons to sew between the two layers of fabric.

I'd like to finish these before the end of the month. I hope my attention span continues to be strong.

Noodles for Brains

I haven't been blogging regularly. My moods have been all over the place for the last week. The excessive heat. The national politics. Haunting memories. They all get jumbled up in my noggin. Then it feels like I have noodles for brains.

Colorful noodles, true, but noodles none-the-less.

It becomes a challenge to go from start to finish on projects. Things I started out doing for fun become tasks that need to be completed. Not fun. Progress. Starts and stops. It's hard to find concrete ideas I want to write about. It's a test to try to take and (especially) edit pictures worth sharing.

So maybe I'll go outside and read another Judy Blume book. Or maybe I'll get waylaid by some shiny object that crosses my path on the short walk downstairs from my Studio to our backyard.

Momentous Day

Well done, Time. Well done.

Bindweed

They say it's a weed

and I know it's very invasive

but I find it quite pretty when it's covering the fields behind our home

One person's pest ...

Abby at the Gardens

Jodie and I took Abby for a walk at the Golden Gardens ponds on this gorgeous mid-July morning. 

While I walked Abby around the water, trying to keep the sun out of her eyes, Jodie took some time with the dragonflies. They were everywhere today!

Even hiding among the bark. She caught all these great close-up photos with her phone's camera. Stealthy!

But what do you think? Did those walking the trails between the ponds and the farmland have the best views?

Or did I?

All photos by my beautiful and talented daughter, Jodie Delsere

White. Water. Wednesday.

#wordlesswednesday

'

Leisure Time Roulette

I'm shuffling between several crafty things right now without settling on any one. There's the Flag of Stars which I obviously did not get done by the 4th of July, but I might finish by the end of summer ... or Patriot's Day ... or Veteran's Day.

There's a cross-stitch pillow cover I started called Anemone. The pattern is from 2006 and came with a batch of new DMC floss colors. I've never seen it stitched -- or even a rendering of what it will look like. I can't find it online. The chart looks like this. I'm stitching it with some variegated floss. It's barely started. If you look at the bottom right corner, you'll see some of the chart is colored in. That's how much I've stitched since Spring.

Then today I started crocheting this Mini Amigurumi Goat by 5 Little Monsters. 

So far, I've only stitched his butt.

What I really feel like doing is putting together this puzzle, Simple Succulents by Buffalo Puzzles. I went to a couple thrift stores looking for more Judy Blume books. Somehow this puzzle jumped into my shopping bag ... for only $3.00 I'm hopeless to resist!

It's a little hard to settle into something while dealing with the 90+ degree days. I did finish another 24/2024 goal, though. I've read my first 24 books this year.

Good thing I'm retired and have the option to choose from my many many interests.

Hydrangea Redux

#flowersforfriday

Special Gifts for a Special Girl - Part 3

Papa and I decided to add yet more sparkle and imagination to Annalee's life. Let's give her the makings of a butterfly fairy! She'll need an ethereal dress.

The back is just as cute.

Every butterfly fairy needs a flower crown.

Especially one with butterflies!

I packaged her outfit in a special box with lots of pink tissue paper.

(I'd have loved a beautiful package like this when I was five years old!)

Obviously, this imaginative kid already has butterfly wings! The pink socks were Annie's special touch.

Our Annie. One unique kid. It's so fun getting to know her and watching her grow!

Special Gifts for a Special Girl - Part 2

Who, you may ask, is Annalee's freelance photojournalist partner? Why Photojournalist Barbie, of course! Barbie is a pro, working for National Geographic. She's teaching Annie the ins and outs of the job.

I sewed a uniform vest for Barbie, too. "B" is for Barbie!

She's official.

Jodie made a Press Patch for Barbie that matches the one she made for Annalee! 

Now the two can go dig up some juicy stories together.

Special Gifts for a Special Girl - Part 1

Back in April when I first crocheted some purses for Bags of Love, I decided they were so adorable that I'd make a special version for my granddaughter Annalee as a birthday gift. But I changed it up some, making her a tote bag instead of a purse.

Annie's a sparkly kid, full of energy and imagination. So I found this sparkly yarn in her favorite colors to make an ombre' effect tote. The yarn changed from pink to purple as I stitched along.

Because of what I planned to put in the tote bag, I wanted it to be hefty enough to carry everything. So I lined both the inside of the bag as well as the handles.

I made a special flower embellishment, too. A purple flower on top of a white flower, with a butterfly button center.

Annalee loves to make up stories. Dale (Papa) and I (Mimi) want to encourage that creativity. So we bought her a kids' digital camera and a reporter's notebook. We also added a few nice sharp pencils.

If you're going to be a freelance photojournalist, you're going to need clothes that let those nearby know you're official, right? So I made her a PRESS uniform.

Aunt Jodie made her Press Pass, complete with her photo ID on a rainbow lanyard.

But photojournalists work in pairs, right? Tomorrow I'll show you Annie's partner!

A Closer Look: Hydrangea for Her

Look what a lovely gift my daughter Jodie gave to me this morning!

A bouquet of hydrangea fresh from her garden! She has two enormous bushes in her front yard, laden with flowers.

The extreme temperatures are turning them into crispy critters, so Jodie decided to pick a bouquet for me while they still held color. The bigger bush is turning quite brown, so she rescued these from the smaller bush. She put them in the cobalt blue glass vase because it complements our dishes. The bouquet is gorgeous as the centerpiece of our dining room table.

I couldn't resist taking a closer look. This is the underside of a single floret from the hydrangea cluster (or corymb).

This is the masterpiece!

I love how beautiful things become even more beautiful to me when I take the time to look more closely.