Tag: #crafts

My Weekly Smile; Rain and Crochet!

On By DianaIn blogging, Living life, Projects, weekly smile15 Comments

Rain, lots and lots of rain! It is pouring outside right now and I am enjoying the sound of the rain as it comes down on the roof. BUT rain and my outdoor activities do not mix that well. My horses don’t mind but I mind the muddy mess that happens when it rains non-stop. We need rain. Here in California they have been saying we are now in a drought. We were out of drought after last years deluge of massive amounts of rain. But it doesn’t last long when you have a dry winter. I guess winter is coming late! I can’t complain too much, I have a love/hate relationship with rain. What do you do when it rains? or when you have inclement weather? I catch up with things around the house which includes my crochet projects. Oh yes, my smile this week is for the rain! After all, who wants to be in drought status?

9 days of rain! Wow, I wonder if it will rain all these days? We see the forecast change daily as I’m sure many places do. I had to post this before it changed!

The other reason I’m smiling for the rain is even though I have a personal love/hate relationship which directly involves my horses, outside of the horses I just absolutely LOVE the rain and all that it brings. It will bring beautiful spring flowers, maybe we will see some California poppies bloom again this year. Last year was a record bloom all over our hills. It was absolutely beautiful and we do not see these huge blooms every year. I know we really need the rain, so I wonder if the weather report will hold true? We will see! 😀

I also wanted to share on this smile my projects that I have been working on since I am spending more time indoors because of the weather. So I have two things to smile about this week, why not! It is fun to share what I am working on and a few things I have completed.

I am making another baby blanket only I’m using a teal blue. Something a little different than the blanket I made for baby Teddy.
I just made the Jawa, the other Star Wars characters welcomed him to the group! 😀

My nephew and wife are due a baby boy in May so I have time to make another Sweet Dreams blanket. I thought I would use a slightly different blue so it would be unique and be a little different for me when working on it. This pattern is really fun to make and goes together really quickly. I’m thinking of making more with different colors, like pink and lavender. I was thinking I could sell them at our local craft fair that we have in town. I have already sold these Star Wars characters there, so I will have to make more of them as well. They stitch up quickly too, especially once I have made them and I have made many of some characters. I’ve lost track of all the Yoda’s I have made. Haha, he is popular!

We make a BIG DEAL of weather here where I live. Love all the clouds!!

Thanks for visiting my smile this week. What makes you smile? Anything happening in your world this week. I really enjoy sharing and I am going to get busy with my crochet and will be visiting my horses even in the rain and make sure they have a dry spot under their shelters. I will buy some shavings which help soak up any wet areas and helps keep a dry area for them. They don’t care, but I care and us crazy horse people have to do what we can. I hope you all have a great week!

Smiling in the Rain,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Jan 15, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekly smile27 Comments
What makes you smile? I so enjoy sharing and I have to thank Trent who hosts the Weekly Smile!

I woke up this morning to very thick fog. There is a storm moving in and 70% chance of rain Thursday night with fog and clouds all day today. A gloomy day and am hoping this fog will lift a bit so I can get a trail ride in today. I do love a change in weather and am enjoying a hot bowl of oatmeal with my coffee as I cozy up to work on my crochet blanket. Oh wait, this isn’t a weekend coffee share, it’s my weekly smile! I am smiling because I have mostly finished my baby blanket for my new grandson coming soon!

A VERY foggy morning. It is so thick and usually burns off pretty early. I took this at 9am and as I write this it is still very thick and am hoping it will burn off by noon!

I had to share a photo of the fog. It usually does not hang around much once the sun comes up and I know there is plenty of fog around for all in most areas of the country. It just makes it feel more like winter here since we do not see much variance in weather changes where I live. Haha, I find little things fascinating, as I go on so about the fog. I suppose it is giving me a good excuse to be lazy and just cozy up here in my warm home!

I am all done and this is the back of my blanket. I have to sew in all those yarn tails! Once sewn in to hide them and snip them off so nothing comes undone – then I will crochet a border!
This is the almost completed blanket. After I tie off all the ends in the back I will crochet a border! This is my SMILE for this week! 😀

I know I am not completely done but am so excited to be finished with the main piece. I just have to figure out the border. I could leave it like it is but I think it would be just a little bit bigger and look more finished with a nice crochet border! I am so happy with how it turned out. It is soft and very warm and will be a nice baby blanket for my grandson due in a couple months. I am so excited and am smiling with the work I have been able to complete! YAY! 😀

Thank you for visiting my smile this week. I think these smiles are so WONDERFUL! What makes you smile? I think it is fun as I head into each week to think about what makes me smile. Sometimes its just the sunshine on my face, or a pet or hug on any one of my many animals. Maybe its a kitty who now snuggles or wants kitty scratches under the chin. Maybe a smile is a completed craft, or a nice walk, or the exercise that keeps you fit! I was suppose to walk this morning, but will walk this afternoon instead, trying to keep myself motivated! I hope you all have wonderful week.

Smiling, crafting Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Oct. 1, 2019

On By DianaIn blogging, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekly smile10 Comments
What makes you smile? This is my weekly smile hosted by my blogging friend Trent! Thank you Trent as I just Love everyone’s Smile!

Can you believe it is October? These weeks just fly by and it is time for a weekly smile. This week I am making great progress on my granny square quilt or blanket. I will share a photo of all the squares I made, and then the next photo will be 6 rows completed or stitched together. I have six more rows to go for a total of 12 rows. Then I will crochet a nice border, still deciding on what to stitch around the border. This just makes me smile the progress I am making! 😀 😀 😀

I have shared this photo before, but I thought it would be fun to see the before and after!
I’m Loving how this is coming together! I am so excited!

Huge smiles from me as I stitch away to get this completed! I will share one more photo of what I want to make for grand baby number 2 coming in March! I can’t wait to get stitching! 😀

Sweet dreams little one! 😀

Yes, the sweet dreams is what I will make and I like the cute sheep too. All the patterns in the book are great. I am not sure what all I will make as I can make booties and a little hat or cap. I have 2 nieces that are having babies next year and they are due around the same time so if this blanket stitches together quickly then maybe I will make them all one for their babies! We will see.

I am enjoying this week. Starting next week I have an employee out on vacation for 2 weeks. I will be working extra days to help cover so I am not sure how much free time I will have to not only crochet but write my blog posts. I am hoping to keep up, but if I skip a week here or there it will be because I am just too tired. Working night shift and then working 6 nights a week can really wear one down, so we will see how it goes.

I LOVE sharing my smile, it is a simple thing to do and I hope you enjoyed smiling with me. What made you smile this week? It can be something simple, maybe the sun shining on your face or the wind blowing through your hair? 😀 I know being outside when I am not working on my projects always makes me smile.

Enjoy your week!

~Diana 😀

Weekend Coffee Share; Life, Changes and Crochet

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share19 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

Life is full of twists and turns and I can finally officially announce that I am going to be a grandma again! ❤ ❤ ❤ I am so excited my son and daughter-in-law are expecting another little one that is due in March. I talk a lot about my only granddaughter Alice, and she told her Mom and Dad that she thinks she is going to have a sister! Haha, we will see. They will be finding out the gender but it is a little early yet, just past the first trimester. So I am going to put it in writing (again) that I am bound and determined to move closer to them as I NEED to be near these little bundles of joy! AND I miss my little Alice so much, my heart aches but I can’t make the move right now to Arizona. We have other issues we have to deal with before we can consider moving. We will figure it all out, just one day at a time. 😀

Changes are in the air, yes, we did not know what we were getting into caring for an elder parent that has dementia. We are in way over our head with the amount of time needed to care for ALL her needs. It’s very overwhelming so we have found a loving board and care home where we will be moving my mother-in-law some time this month. With the help of her doctor who recommended Eastvale Senior Home, where other elder women reside in the community of Eastvale just 6 miles from Norco where we live. We toured the home and there are 3 other sweet old ladies living there and she will room with one and live out the rest of her life there. I am sure she will make it to her 90th birthday in October, but her dementia is bad enough she doesn’t remember much and so the transition should be fairly easy. I took a photo of her new home to share with my daughter. It is for the best, she will be well taken care of there 😀

My mother-in-law’s board and care new home.

Crochet is a craft that helps me de-stress. I LOVE crafts, I cross-stitch too! But I mostly crochet. I have shared in other posts some of my crochet projects. I have crocheted a bunch of animals, those are really fun to make. I will have to make more of them soon. I also crochet Star Wars figures, super duper fun to make! I have shared photos of those too. My current project is a granny square blanket.

8 squares across by 12 rows for a total of 96 squares. It is suppose to look like spring or summer flowers. No theme, just eclectic colors. They will be trimmed in white yarn.

I have all the squares made and am stitching with an off white yarn around them all. You can see in the photo 3 squares already with the white trim. I wanted a neutral color around the edges to sew them all together to help make all the colors pop! I think this will work well and once completed I will share. It should just barely fit across a twin bed or make a nice size throw blanket. I am thinking of keeping this one, my first granny square blanket as its so eclectic I am not sure how well someone else would like it. I like randomness or creativeness, so even though I followed a pattern for the stitching of the square, I picked all the colors and trim and how I will stitch it all together. I am enjoying this project and am thinking of making another one with a theme which means making all the squares the same colors for a more uniform blanket.

How are you doing on coffee? or maybe some tea? I forgot to ask earlier but I wanted to follow my title on this coffee share so I am writing this a little differently. I wanted to share what has been happening in our busy life which includes how I de-stress. I find working on projects helps me relax and not be so uptight about the daily stresses that we have been facing lately. My horses help me de-stress too, what do you do to de-stress?

I found my last cross-stitch I worked on years ago. I need to frame it! This photo does not show all the vibrant colors very well. Could be the lighting.
My daughter’s kitty, Wolfie. I wanted to share, isn’t he getting big? He is 3 months old!

Life is full, changing and fun, but sometimes stressful. I am so enjoying my coffee and I am thankful you have visited and shared with me. My daughter will be here this weekend. She is coming so that I can drive her to the airport Sunday as she is flying out on a trip to Spain! How exciting!! She travels with some good friends each year to an exotic place, well, to me it is exotic! All I know is that it is far away. Her passion is traveling and she is doing a good job seeing a lot of this world. She is boarding her kitty, but I will be taking care of her guinea pigs for the 10 days of her travel. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend! ❤

Crazy Life, staying centered and strong!

~Diana

Weekend Coffee Share: It’s June 1st!

On By DianaIn Gardening, Living life, Projects, Smiles, weekend coffee share15 Comments
My roses LOVE the cool weather! Summer is almost here….

It is afternoon and I don’t have a photo of tea only coffee. So I decided to share my rose photo instead! I know rather random but it sure puts a smile on my face as I have some ice tea with some kettle corn as my afternoon snack. What are you doing this weekend? Would you like some ice coffee? tea? hot or cold? Weekend coffee share is to share what we are doing on our weekend, to share with friends old and new. I so enjoy sharing, my photos are all rather random as I don’t have a theme this weekend. I have been busy, so my photos show all that I have been doing these last few days! 😀

I am at the end of my walk up to my house. This is the side view as we live on a corner, our driveway leads to one street and our address is the other street along the front of the house!

I try and walk at least twice a week, I should walk more often but walk a fair amount at work and at the stables. It has been very gloomy in the mornings, the temps in the 50’s which is great walking weather! I wish I walked today, this is my walk from yesterday. The sun has not come out until noon this last week which is A-okay with me as the summer heat I know is right around the corner. I was scheduled with 2 days off in a row. The next photos are all the things I have been working on the last few days on my days off. I felt very productive, what do you do on your days off?

My daughter’s guinea pigs, time to clean their cage! So they are out getting some exercise, or maybe just eating! Haha! Love them! ❤
I have been working on these crochet zoo animals! I am almost done, there is still some detail work to finish up on the Hippo. They aren’t difficult but it has taken me awhile to get them done!
My days off include trail riding! These beautiful purple Jacaranda trees are in full bloom!
I know I’ve shared these blooms before, but they are going crazy! Pomegranate trees at the stables with TONS of blooms!

I have been wanting to try and start a garden but I had so much trouble last year that I haven’t gotten up the energy to give it another try and I probably should have put my energy into it because this year I think our weather would be so good for gardening. This time last year we were battling heat. It was a very hot year last year and even though I know I would still have to water a lot, the cooler weather I think is kinder to growing plants. I know it isn’t too late if I investigate and find what is good to start growing this time of year. I also could buy some starters instead of starting from seed. Hmm… just writing about this is making me think I will give it a try and grow just a little garden. I had gopher problems last year, but I could just stick with my containers. Okay, I think I’ve convinced myself, thanks for listening or reading my ramblings! Haha, writing is so cathartic, I hope I’m not boring!

I found the trick to photograph her sticking her tongue out! Feed her a treat, stand back to take a photo and here you go! Haha, She’s adorable!

I sure am enjoying sharing my tea with you today! I also did some house work, laundry, you know all the usual stuff. Its funny, I am so busy and since I have the horses and my family is busy with their responsibilities we do not plan on very many outings. I did when my kids were young children but since my grown children live in far away places I just plan my outings there, visiting in their towns or cities. So in two weeks I will be driving to Arizona to see my son and family, so excited as I can’t wait to see my granddaughter!! Since I trail ride so much and am outdoors with my horses, my other relaxing outlet is my crochet projects. What do you do to relax? I use to read but have been really bad about reading. I blame that on my horses! ❤ ❤ ❤

Feeling relaxed, weekend FUN,

-Diana