December 31, 2010

December Ramblings


After my last post, my life got really crazy! But that's not really anything new, is it? I spent most of December frantically finishing gifts, many of which had been planned since March, and should have been completed by August. Several times, I wanted to sit down and write a blog post, but something else was always more important. The day of my last post (Dec. 11), we learned that Callie, our Calico cat had a tumor and would have to be put to sleep. The day after she was put to sleep, and friend of my Dad's was struck by a car as he tried to help someone caught in a snowdrift. I had only met him once, but members of his family have helped us with yard work since my Dad's cancer diagnosis. I was unaware of his injuries until the next day when I heard on the radio that he had passed away. Yet, through this tragedy, God was glorified. A local radio personality saw the accident, and stopped to see if he could help. He found tracks and a Bible in the man's pocket. He was also greatly moved when the man's wife arrived, and instead of praying for his life to be spared, as one might expect, she prayed that God's will be done. He was so moved that he talked about it on his radio program. I have been amazed at the number of people I've encountered who heard about the accident.

After all that, I really had no interest in blogging, and was really scurrying to finish up gifts. Now that I have had a few days to decompress from Christmas, my thoughts have returned to blogging, and all the things I wanted to blog about before the end of this year. Although they won't be published this year, I will try and get all the posts written today, and set them to auto publish during the coming weeks.


We have adopted a new kitty from our local animal shelter, Lollipop Farm. Her name is Cassie, she is approximately 2 years old, and part Russian Blue. She is full of energy and loves to play. She also loves petting and napping next to me while I'm reading. She has so much energy that we sometimes call her Crazy Cassie. This past week, she decided that walking across my keyboard was pretty cool, so I've been calling her Miss Computer Kitty. I will always miss Callie, but Cassie has helped fill the hole left by Callie's absence.

I hope you all had a merry, Blessed Christmas, and enjoy your New Year Celebrations!

December 11, 2010

Scrappin' Saturday XIII

Welcome to Scrappin' Saturday - take a peek into the pages of my scrapbooks, and learn how I made them.

Paper: A sheet of purple paper. I think it came in a pack with a scrapbook.
Photos: For the photos of things in frames, I cropped as close to the frame as possible. I did the same thing for the coaster pictures. The remaining photo was simply cropped as small as possible.
Die Cuts: I used all three of the dies in the Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio.
Projects Pictured: Quilled Coasters, Quilled Woven Heart Border, the Quilled Herb Sampler and Woven Heart Border are both on this page: Quilling.

December 7, 2010

Dishcloth #1

A few months ago, I decided to go through all of my Creative Knitting issues, and knit all of the dishcloths in them. So far I've only knit one, and I have three knitting projects to finish before starting another one.

The pattern is from the January 2007 issue of Creative Knitting, page 66, "Dish Pan Bubbles" The dishcloth is knit using two colors of yarn. I used Sugar'n Cream yarn in Weathered Rose and Country Red.
I had a lot of fun doing the faux popcorn stitch - I've always liked the look, but have never felt motivated to figure out how to crochet it.
The next dishcloth will be from the March 2007 issue, page 66, "Mock Cable Dishcloth" (link goes to the Ravelry page for this pattern.)

December 4, 2010

Scrappin' Saturday XII

Welcome to Scrappin' Saturday - take a peek into the pages of my scrapbooks, and learn how I made them.

This is another page of knitted projects.
Background Paper: "Purple Sponged" by Paper Pizazz. This paper is probably discontinued, but here's the code for it. HOTP-20070
Photos: The oval picture was cropped using Creative Memories Custom Cutting System. The picture of the teddy bear was cropped using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Two. The remaining photos were cropped square to the size I wanted, then I used a corner rounder on them.
Die Cuts: The die cuts (journals) were cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One. I also used Sizzix Tags, Scallop Combo #2. It appears to be discontinued - I can't even find it on the Sizzix website.
Other: I used some yarn I had on hand to make little tassels for the tags.
Projects Pictured: Kelly's Sweater, Spa Set, Sushi, and Luke's Teddy.