I Have a Chair!!

For the last fourteen years,I have lived without a living room chair. In my previous house I had a sectional sofa so I really didn't need a chair. In this house however, I only have a regular size sofa and no chairs. I don't get much company since I moved away from everyone, but when I do, I have to bring kitchen chairs into the living room. Well, after receiving my tax refund last month, I decided it's time to buy a chair. I picked out a rocker, recliner Lazy Boy. It's one of their smaller models, but it fits me perfectly! It's a deep green and goes well with my "greenish, brownish" sofa. I can sit and crochet while the afternoon sun filters in through my window. I watch the birds flitting back and forth from the tall evergreen tree right outside my window to the feeder. It's so cozy and relaxing rocking and crocheting the afternoon away. Here are the "before" and "after" pictures.

New Afghan

Here's my latest ongoing project. It's a fun pattern to work. You basically just crochet single, half, double, treble, double, half, single stitches over and over to make the waves. Each colored row is separated by a single crochet row. You use the same color for this row to separate the "wave" colors. It's done as a scrap afghan, but I didn't have enough leftover yarns to do it that way, so I bought colors that I thought would be fun to work with. These bright colors match absolutely nothing in my house, but it will still be nice and warm to curl up under. That's the nice thing about crocheting an afghan in the winter, it keeps you warm while you're working on it. I have three almost full skeins of the colored yarns left, so I'll just keep working on it until I use up all the yarn. It will be interesting to see how big it turns out. Besides, anything that keeps my hands busy also keeps me from eating!!

Hooray! Valentine's Day is Over

Don't get me wrong, I love Valentine's Day if I'm not working in a grocery floral department. But the build-up months before with wondering if I'm ordering enough or too much, wondering how sales will be in this economy, where will I put everything when it comes in...and so on, that's not fun. Although I was surprised that sales were up this year. I guess people still are romantic or maybe the men know that if they don't splurge at least once a year, they'll pay for it the rest of the year. I didn't see Jim this Valentine's Day. I worked late and was too tired to do anything so I didn't even get to have any of the fun of the holiday. I like to have a special day of the year to celebrate love...oh well, there's always next year. He's coming over to spend the day tomorrow, I'll make a big pot of chili...does chili say "love"?

Shopping Trip

With last Sunday being the Super Bowl, I decided it would be the best day to go into town to do some shopping. I figured people would be busy getting ready for Super Bowl parties and such. Well, I was wrong, the stores were packed! I went to Michaels, Joann Fabrics, and Barnes and Nobel. I had a gift certificate for Barnes and Nobel that I had gotten from Jim. I knew it would take me a long time to pick out books, so I made it known that I was going alone. That was another reason I went on Super Bowl Sunday, I knew I could go by myself. I bought this stitching encyclopedia. I was so glad Barnes and Nobel had one because I've seen it before but I never would have thought of it if I wouldn't have seen it there. I like to have reference books on hand for different crafts. This one has just about every embroidery stitch imaginable plus needlepoint and cross stitch. The diagrams are easy to follow and there are also projects included. No excuses now, although I don't think even this book could make me enjoy counted cross stitch. Too much counting...not enough stitching! I'll stick to embroidery.

Starry Night

Jim came over last night. We were going to go out for supper, but ended up staying here and eating big bowls of chili, whole wheat bread, and a salad made with a spring mix of baby greens, red grapes and a tarragon vinegar dressing....yummy! Afterwards we went outside. The night was very still and quiet, the stars were bright with not a cloud in the sky. We set up my binoculars on their tripod outside to star gaze for awhile. I have Celestron binoculars made especially for astronomy, not the huge ones, these are 10x50. We saw the craters on the moon and the nebulae in Orion. Then the most wonderful sound came from deep in the woods, off in the distance. A wolf cry. Just one wolf howling into the night, then came an answer from another wolf. Soon there were more wolfs joining in. Then the coyote wanted to get into the act and soon there was quite a chorus going on. That set the neighbors dogs down the road barking. Whoever said the country was peaceful!

Farmgirl Barbie

Ok, due to popular demand, well at least one person asked, Barbie is modeling her new apron. Yes, she's a little overdressed, but Barbie lives a different lifestyle than the average farmgirl...she's farmgirl plus! Although, we do have Julia Hayes on page 55 of MaryJane's "Stitching Room" book on her tractor wearing a black evening gown with long black gloves, so maybe Barbie's not too far off. Also, I included the pattern packet to show the other styles.

Mini Apron

Well, now that my workroom is done, no excuse for not working! I finished this cute mini apron a couple of days ago. It's a Simplicity pattern #2748. The finished size just about fits a Barbie; a little too big in the waist though. Barbie and her tiny waist!! By the time I finish all of them, I'll be a master at bias tape. Don't know yet what I'll do with them, but I'll figure that out later.