The Shtick I Do

My husband tells me that I collect all kinds of " junk ".  And he isn't wrong in that. I have bit and bobs of all sorts lying about. A sandwich bag full of soda can tabs, a stash of cardboard from all sorts of places (such as dividers from a new blender box). My desk has a cubby filled with paper clips, twist ties, the foil from Hershey's Kisses and various chewing gums. So when he says that I collect all sorts of " junk " he's only looking at it with the eye of a non-crafter. I see inside my " junk ". That's right, to the very soul of the object and that soul cries out to me. It says things like "I'm really a necklace just waiting to be put together" or it might just whimper "I'm beautiful, I'm beautiful, I'm beautiful". What ever may come out of said objects' nonexistent mouth, I am the one listening. And I am the one creating. Today I heard the cries from an object that may have gone on to c...

So I'm in this Crochet-a-Long with Vickie Howell over at her Facebook page. It's running from Thursday, March 22 through Sunday, March 25. I actually cheated a bit. Let me tell you what I did. The pattern calls for Caron Sheep-ish yarn (which is a Vickie Howell product of course) and I could not find any here in town. So I looked at the pattern tried to get as close to her yarn as possible, playing around with my not-so-small stash of yarn in the house. After finally finding something I was happy with, something soft and Spring-y looking, I grabbed the hook and put it close at hand. Well, for anyone that knows me, you know I had to pick it back up and at least TRY the pattern out, just to make sure I understood all the stitches and stuff. (lol) So I kinda have one side of the scarf completed already. Well, not kinda, I DO have one side finished and I'm taking my time with the other side so I can play around with the others doing the croche...

Alright, I am working on it still. I'm having an issue with getting a graham cracker to look right. But I haven't given up on it. It's just side-lined at the moment. As you can see in the pic here I have done something with it.  My S'more in progress. So what am I doing? Well a couple of things actually. I went to the eye doctor the other day and decided that I don't like getting old. That's right, bifocals! What the heck?   I'm mean who has them anyway? Mrs.  Beasley ?  Just as well I guess. I can't see anything that's close to me. I've been looking under my glasses when I crochet. And when I read, well, I take my glasses off completely. So I'll be better off with them I'm sure. It's just the fact that my glasses will have bi-focals!   I shudder at the thought. BUT on a better note, my far vision didn't change and my retinas are " beautiful " (that's a direct quote from the doctor!). I have...

I was on Facebook after finishing my daughter's Penguin and asked the question, "What should I make next?" and some of the responses I got were bunny, duck, octopus, marmoset , panther, honey badger. Yes my thought too, honey badger . . . marmoset?  So I thought okay, close to Easter, I'll make a bunny!  Got busy and was about halfway through the body when I asked my daughter, the same one that got the penguin, "How does this look?" She raised her eyebrows and said "Mom, that looks like a marshmallow!". Hmmmm . . . . marshmallow? What the heck am I going to do with a marshmallow? I GOT IT!!!!  S' mores !!!!!! So yes that's right, I'm making a S'more! We'll see how it goes. I'll post pictures if everything comes out alright! Ta-ta!

February is National Heart Month . I like the way they picked the month that is flooded with paper- mache hearts, heart shaped cards and cut-outs, red, red and more red everywhere! Valentine's Day is my second favorite holiday (Christmas is first). So I came up with my own crochet heart pattern this year! My way of celebrating the story of Saint Valentine. First some pictures! This is the first one I made. I fell in love with it and decided to add the white trim to make it pop and seem more like a Valentine. I was shooting for the grade-school Valentine card looking sort of heart and I think I nailed it. I liked Valentine's day in grade school. I wasn't the most popular kid in the class but I wasn't the most shunned kid either so I made out okay when it came time to carry home my box of Valentine cards. Some of them even came with candy attached, imagine that! This was in the 70's, so that really was something. Anyway, back to my crocheted heart.  I at...

So this is something I've been working on for quite some time now. A Facebook friend asked for a raccoon when she saw my post of Chip . Since I couldn't find an all-ready-for-me-to-use pattern, I've had to wing it. I think it's going well so far but we'll see when I get to working on the head. I was talking to my husband one evening while we were fixing dinner, basically complaining because I couldn't come up with anything for his head! *sigh* So just like a man he calmly says, "I think the head should be in a cone shape." <insert facepalm here> I really did feel silly at that point but I trudged on and started sketching a head on a piece of Store List paper. (You know, those note pads with magnets that go on the fridge?)  So, I'm saving the head for last but I believe I can do it!  At least I'm hoping I can . . .

Okay, church this morning was AWESOME! I am a member of United Methodist Temple here in Beckley and attend the Journey@ThePlace worship service. Clif Adkins is the Director of The Place and is also the speaking pastor at this 11 AM service.  I like calling it "unbridled" because it's nothing like a traditional service. It's in a gymnasium and it's very laid back. Feel free to show up in your jeans and T-shirts, God don't want you for your clothes and neither do we! =D  The sermon series we're in is called " Trader ". No, not traitor as in to your country, but trader as in someone that trades one thing for another. Today we traded in our idols. The things that get in the way of our relationship with Christ. It can be something as simple as a TV program or something harsh like pornography. We were given plastic hearts as we entered. In each heart was a small amount of Play Doh , and of course lots of people were playing with the Play...