Under the Arbor

It's over 100 degrees today, so not a good day to be outside. It's a much better day for editing a couple photos from a lovely spot in town, the Owen Rose Garden. These photos were taken in May.

Doesn't this look like a gentle place to sit and rest?

The coral colored roses caught my attention that day. 

The squiggle middle makes me smile.

Two Dozen Hearts

I got a bee in my bonnet to make some more quilted hearts to leave around town and give strangers a smile. Months and months ago I cut these 24 hearts from old placemats. Pre-quilted! Then they sat.

While looking through my kitted-up projects, these floated to the top of the pile. I had an ah-ha! moment when I remembered that "Done is better thang good," and instead of making each heart a unique piece of "art," I could make a big batch of very similar hearts. 

I started by finding red, pink and white heart-shaped buttons.

I gathered lace

cording

ribbons

I cut pieces to size and did a rough layout

Then I got to work. First using my sewing machine, I sewed a strip of lace along one of the pre-quilted lines. Then I sewed around the edge of the heart, trapping a piece of cording to the top as the ornament hanger.

I used this YouTube video to learn how to use a fork to tie tiny bows. Some of my ribbon pieces were quite short, so that proved to be a challenge.

Gradually, each heart had its components. Then was my favorite part, the hand stitching.

No two of the 24 hearts are exactly alike. I varied the size and color of the buttons along with the size and color of the cording and ribbon bows.

I sewed this label to the back of each heart.

Such a pile of potential happiness!

Finally, I packaged them up to send to my granddaughters in Idaho. I wrote them a letter to describe what the hearts are for -- to spread love and kindness. I gave them some ideas of where they can be placed. I told them it's OK to give one to a special person, too -- especially if that person is having a hard day.

I'm looking forward to hearing about their experience of doing these random acts of kindness.

Back to School

Well, sort of. 

Dale says that every new project deserves a new notebook. I'm starting a new project.

Today I played with school supplies and art supplies to gear up for it. Here's what I came up with:

I'd planned to purchase a fancy 3-ring binder as a reward for completing a task I really didn't want to do. But I went to three stores and couldn't find what I was looking for. The Back-to-School supplies are not all set out yet. I was sure a binder geared to a middle school girl was going to be ideal for me. But no such-a luck-a. I came home empty-handed.

Then I looked online. I found one with a great cover design, but $14 seemed like too much for a flimsy vinyl/plastic floppy binder.

So I slept on the decision.

This morning while putting something away in my Studio, I remembered that I have some used plain white binders stored away. I'm glad they weren't playing hide-n-seek. I was able to locate one right away.

Then I dug through (and reorganized) my bin of gift bags. I thought I might have one that could fill the bill of making good cover art. I picked one similar in size and shape to this red bag. But the one I used is covered in hearts, of course.

I pulled out a fresh pack of binder paper (because of course I have extra that I bought at a thrift store months ago). I also pulled out some writing implements. 

Then I got crafty ... cutting the bag apart ... trimming it to size ... adding stickers to cover up holes where the gift bag handles were connected ... adding many more heart stickers that had some shades of purple ... tucking the resulting "artwork" into the clear sleeves on the front, back, and spine of the binder.

Last, I pulled all the bits together. In the end, I was pretty proud of myself for using up more of my stash rather than buying something new. Plus ... you know I can barely resist an art project.

The project has to do with using this Live Your Values card deck to help reaffirm my values, then do a bit of journaling. This exercise goes along with a project I call Many Small Dreams. 

Moving to Oregon. Dale's stroke. Surviving the pandemic. Having a new grandchild. Trying to find ways to connect within my community. All these changes in the last four-and-a-half years rocked my world. I've never been one to chase one BIG DREAM. But I do have many small hopes and dreams. I'd like to move them from concept into something practical, then fulfill them in my retirement. 

My expectation is that this exercise of contemplation and journaling will bring these many small dreams into focus and have them align closely with the values I hold dear. I plan to keep moving forward through my life with intention.

Half Way Day

So ... we're half way through the year! I haven't talked a lot about this year's annual goals here on my blog, but I have been working on them. So let's do a check-in and see how things are going.

My Trifecta:

Word of the Year: Kindsight
Pay attention when my hurtful thoughts arrive. Talk to myself about them gently. Treat my younger self with kindness. 

Objective of the Year: Loving Kindness
Give special gifts to special people ... thoughtful, purposeful, deliberate. Gifts of action are given preference over material gifts.

Creative Goal: Fulfill Dreams of Yesteryear
Buy very few new crafty items. If I add to my stash, it's with thrifted/gifted/used materials. Primarily use stash on hand for new crafty ideas. Complete craft projects bought years ago that are kitted up.

            Completed Goals:

1. Donated time and talent to Bags of Love  (over 150 bookmarks and 11 crocheted purses)
2. Made 24 crafts from pre-owned supplies (closer to 35 so far)
3. Painted some rocks
4. Found 24 geocaches (many more, actually)
5. Updated my Daily Dance to include additional exercises and activities to improve my health
6. Processed the jewelry I inherited from my mother-in-law
7. Installed the software for my digital microscope on my new computer
8. Planted pumpkins, strawberries, morning glories, sunflowers, and viola
9. Read a friend's story that he asked me to read quite a while ago
   
   
   Goals in Progress:
   
   
10. Sent cards and seasonal gifts to grandkids that live far away (2 holidays so far)
11. Gave special gifts to special people (8 so far)
12. Completed 15 out of 24 books (read or listened to audiobooks)
13. Started the Summer of Judy Blume  -- 29 children's and young adult books (finished 5-1/2 books so far
14. Visited 18 out of 24 parks
15. Drove to 9 out of 10 destinations (to help me get used to driving again post pandemic)
16. Completed 16 out of 24 jigsaw puzzles
    

I'd say I'm right on track. More than half way done with my personal goals by Half Way Day!

In addition:

            Completed Joint Goals with Dale:

1. Installed new air conditioner
2. Installed new water heater
3. Had my 10,000 mile car appointment
4. Drove to Moscow, Idaho for Annalee's birthday
5. Drove to Moscow again for Melody's birthday
6. Continuing #tuesdaytravels together
7. Continuing the Eugene Park Tour together
8. Continuing to find geocaches together

I suppose this appears excessive to some folks. But a gal like me enjoys challenging myself and winning gold stars. I find it fun and an encouragement, not a burden. Accomplishment is my thing.

Onward!

Sunday Best

One of my favorite photos.

This is one of my very first macro studio shots. I took this photo in 2007 even before I had a proper macro filter or lens. I did it by holding a magnifying glass in front of my Canon PowerShot point-n-shoot camera's lens.

I had a great learning experience that day. It took lots of concentrated effort and many fails. I was in flow and getting this final shot of a peppercorn was completely satisfying.

Doily Purses

These are the three crochet purses I made in June that I'll donate to Bags of Love on Monday. This month I tried two different patterns. Both appear to have a doily-like pattern that's used as the purse flap.

I got the first pattern by following a video on YouTube. I watched the video, then wrote out the directions. But the directions were somewhat lacking. There's a chance the pattern was from somewhere other than the United States. The vocabulary of crochet is slightly different from country to country.

This is the purse I made while learning the pattern. I started with the purple, making the flap first. Then I moved on to making the body.

I was using up some skeins of yarn, so when I ran out of purple, I moved on to white yarn of equal weight to finish the purse body.

I added some purple back into the handle to help tie the colors/design together. The yarn was hefty enough that this purse didn't seem to require a lining.

For my second attempt with this pattern, I used a lighter weight yarn. The base is a "confetti" yarn. I made the flap in pink and added pink to the side seams. I made the handle out of the confetti yarn, too. 

Again, the directions for that doily were badly written, and I struggled with it. So to cover up some of the problems with the flap, and to further tie the doily flap to the body of the purse, I added a frill of confetti yarn to the edge of the doily. I'm quite pleased with that result. 

Since this yarn is lighter, I decided to line the purse with pink gingham fabric.

After that, I gave up on the poorly written directions and found a similar purse design. These directions were easy to follow.

Instead if making a half doily for the flap, the pattern calls for making a whole doily. Then you sew half of the doily to the back of the purse body. This was so much simpler!

After attaching the doily to the purse body, I added the pink frill to the front flap. For the handle, I doubled the yarn with one strand of confetti and one strand of pink. That made for a more sturdy handle.

I lined this purse with pink gingham fabric, too.

I may make one or more purses with this pattern again since I enjoyed it so much. Or I'll move on to a new pattern in July. I've found so many cute little girl crochet purse patterns to try, that I want to try them all!

Throwback Thursday: Rose

 It looks like this bug has a heart on her back!

From our front yard in Post Falls, Idaho in June 2017.

"digitally re-mastered" in 2024.

Bookmarks Galore

I have over 50 more bookmarks ready to sew for Bags of Love. 

I spent four hours this morning cutting fabric and ribbons and pinning them together. 

I hope to finish them up tomorrow if I can string a few more hours together before my date with my granddaughter.

Then I can turn them in at the end of the month along with the three crochet purses I finished earlier. I may not have shared those yet on the blog. 

Note to self: take pictures of the doily purses.

Lilies

It's lily time of year in my neighborhood. There are many beautiful colors dotted throughout the streets. Here are a few I saw on my daily walk:

Summer Solstice Sunset

Welcome, Summer!

Strawberry Season

Oh, look! A basketful of strawberries

So juicy and sweet -- like rock candy

Or, like rocks anyway.

I saw a video that claims that if you paint rocks to look like strawberries, then set them among your strawberry plants, the animals will be fooled by the "ripe" strawberries, find out they're no good, and leave your ripening strawberries alone. 

I don't know if it will actually work, but it was fun to spend time in my Studio painting rocks again.

I put them out in my strawberry patch this morning. There's a few scattered on the ground.

Others are hidden among the plants

beneath the growing berries.

Cute, aren't they!

I didn't get many strawberries last year, and some were bug-eaten by the time they were ripe. I've already eaten two fresh berries this year. My plants survived last winter's ice storm and sent out runners so that I could plant a 5th barrel. So far, they're looking lush and the harvest is promising.

Keep it Simple

At the Owen Rose Garden

#flowersforfriday

Throwback Thursday: Taking a Break

From 2021:

Dale was in the same position this morning, except out on the patio instead of in the living room. Pretty much wearing (newer versions of) the same clothes, too.

June 20th must be a good day for resting.

A Seasonal Stitch

I started a new cross-stitch project today. This one's for Independence Day. It's called Flag of Stars by designer Bent Creek. But do you see? It even has a heart dancing among the stars!

It came as a kit with linen fabric and perle coton threads. I enjoy stitching with this thread instead of 6-strand floss as a change of pace. I seem to be stitching much faster since I don't have to divide and recombine strands. The perle coton makes for nice full chunky stitches. 

The limited color pallet of two blues, two reds, and white is another reason this should be a quick stitch.

My plan is to sew this into a small pillow cover. Who knows? I may even finish it in the next couple weeks in time for the holiday!

Another Small Step

This morning I was bemoaning how I set so many goals for myself in a wide variety of interests that I have difficulty seeing myself make progress. I have a hard time paring down my desires to a reasonable amount.

So today I picked one small goal on my 2024 list, and decided to do it: install my digital microscope program onto my new computer and get reacquainted with the software. I don't adapt to new equipment easily. Adding software myself instead of reeling Dale in to do it for me is more of a challenge than it ought to be. But I managed it.

Software installed. Equipment set up. Test photos taken. These are some enameled earrings I acquired in my giraffe-gathering years. Now that my ears are pierced again, I can wear them when I'm feeling quirky.

What do you think? My new profile picture?

It's nice to be able to cross this little goal off the list. It only took ten months -- and one hour.