Art, Crafts and "Stuff"

I decided at the last minute last week to enter a local craft show.  I was the last entry of forty vendors to reserve a table last Wednesday afternoon and the show was held on Saturday.  I don't do craft shows normally, but this one was being held at our Lakeview Lodge, which is right around the corner from my home.  Literally.  I can walk there.  Which, of course, I didn't do on Saturday because I had all my stuff to lug.  I have little "stuff" though and I don't have an over abundance of "stuff", so getting it there was no problem.  My problem was gathering it all together and tagging everything on Friday night.  That's when you realize you have more "stuff" than you thought you did.

So here it is, my "stuff" all ready for hubby to carry to the car and drive me over and unload for me.  I could have managed myself but I think he must have had a moment of feeling obligated, since I was complaining loudly (on purpose for him to over hear) to my mother on the phone that parking might be a problem.
Mom also knits and she was sharing the table with me to sell her beautiful shawls.

Here we are setting up our table and there's Mom wearing one of her shawls.  It was actually a very fun day with a very good turnout, but we only sold a few things.  At shows like this people are looking more for crafty Christmas decorations and/or less expensive items.  Our "stuff" isn't cheap because we use expensive yarns and my little quilts are very time consuming.  We knew that going in, but that's OK.  The Lodge also served lunch and we visited with a lot of people and we made enough to cover our cost for the day.
I came home with a renewed interest in catching up and updating my on line Etsy shop.  I had been ignoring it lately since I just haven't had the time to pay attention to it or make or list anything new.  Now with my new phase of slowing down and trying to do more of what I want to do, I am having fun with Etsy again.( I have a link to this on my sidebar.) I just don't make things quickly.  Some people list new things every day and I just can't do that.  Here's a new mini "fairy" quilt I listed yesterday.  I was told by some of the wonderful Quiltsy ladies on Etsy that they have heard this term used for the very mini quilts and suggested I try using that tag on my listings.

This quilt is about 3-1/4" square and the whole thing is in a 5x7 frame.  I love making them, even if they aren't making me rich!
I also finished knitting the purple baby set that I was making for a friend's daughter's baby shower that was also on Saturday.  I got that delivered to her on Friday afternoon.

 I get quite a few requests for knitted items, but they also take a while.  I was asked at the show if I used a knitting machine.  NO!  Mom and I both knit by hand the old fashioned way.  I don't take too many orders at a time because I then get overwhelmed and feel pressured.  Not how I want to feel when doing what I love to do!
My wonderful hubby is working out of the house today, thank goodness!  Yes, he's wonderful, but I just have to say that he gets on my nerves when he's working at home.  He questions me all day about what I'm doing and I really feel guilty if I'm spending too much time working on my "stuff".  Only because I help him with paperwork and computer work and he constantly reminds me where the most money comes from.  I know, but------. So now I can relax for a while and do what I want!

Beautiful Week of Indian Summer

Well, everything kind of caught up to me.  This seems to happen to me every year during this season.  I think a combination of change of weather and trying to do too much.  Now I have a cold or small bug of some sort.  Nothing major, just enough to not feel myself and have very little energy. I'm on the other side of it now, though, thank goodness.

After I got back from the kids' house last Friday I decided to take it easy over the weekend and on Sunday I just watched Lifetime Movies all day while I knit. That was such a luxury and something I really should do more often!  I haven't done anything like that for a long time.

This is where my little Fergie lays while I knit.

This is where I sit and knit.  Ellie Mae is usually laying on my lap.  You can see the purple baby sweater on the foot stool that I almost have finished for a friend's daughter's baby shower this Saturday.

Now on Wednesday, I'm starting to feel a little better.  This is a beautiful, warm and sunny Indian summer day here in Pennsylvania.

 Look at this beautiful view on this sunny day off my back deck.  I don't have the skills or the camera to capture how pretty it really is.  The sun is so bright that the lake water is just sparkling.  Can you see the ducks out there swimming?  There are a lot of geese out there in the early mornings.  They look pretty, but they come up into the back yard and make a real poopy mess.  The neighbor has staked up wire to try to keep them out.

So I think the rest and the sunshine is now encouraging me to get up off my butt, get a shower, and do something.  

Two weeks ago was the Grand Opening of the new Wal-Mart Superstore in our small town, which was a really big deal for us.  I was getting groceries there for the first time and came across this packaged soup.  It looked good so I thought I'd try it.  

It was delicious!  and 0g. Trans Fat to beat.  I didn't leave it at that, though. I wanted to doctor it up a bit so  I added my own potatoes and then topped off the bowls with sour cream, shredded cheese and bacon bits.  

It was really good! During this weekly Wal-Mart trip, I decided to get the Tortilla Soup.  That's what I'm making for dinner.  It's simmering on the stove right now and it smells like an Autumn Indian Summer day inside the house.  

I got out a few Thanksgiving decorations.  I do more Autumn than specific Thanksgiving decorating, but on my front foyer table I do set out these little ceramic Pilgrims and turkey that I believe my mother made years ago.  I also have to have a couple little bowls of candy corn sitting around or it just doesn't feel like Autumn.

Probably next week I'll be starting some of my winter and early Christmas decorating.  I do so much that if I don't start early it won't get done in time for me to sit back and enjoy it. My Spokane kids are coming home for Christmas and I want to have everything done before they get here.  

They just sent me this updated picture of my little two month old Heath.

I haven't seen him since he was 1-1/2 weeks old so I can't wait to hold him again and his 18 month old sister, Riley.

I love this time of year, but I need to feel good and not be stressed, pressured or rushed so that I can enjoy the season and not just work at getting through it!

Vegas, Baby!

I’m on the return flight home right now, on this 31st anniversary of our wedding,  from Las Vegas to Cleveland.  We’ll arrive about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and then the three hour drive back home totally exhausted.  We’ve had three fun filled days in Vegas with my parents and another couple, but we are all worn out. 
Hubby and his working partner attorney were in seminars for two straight days so Mom, Dad, the attorney’s wife (and friend of mine), and I shopped till we dropped and had lunch one day at Planet Hollywood and the next day at the Bellagio.

Everything in Vegas is in excess.  We walked too much, ate too much and spent too much money.   I feel good, though, that we didn’t gamble or drink too much!  So I guess we did good and it was worth it.
As we walked the Strip during the day, dressed up characters are standing around available to get pictures with – for a tip!  Woody from Toy Story was almost kind of perverted and gave my girlfriend and me the creeps.

Elvis was OK.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo hotel on the Strip.  It’s very nice and since we were there for hubby’s seminar we got a pretty good discount on the room.  We’ve started to rate the hotels in order of beauty and luxury since we’ve stayed at a good many of them now through the years.  Our number one pick so far is Caesar's,

then Mandalay Bay,  Monte Carlo,  Bally’s and Stratosphere.  Didn’t care for the Stratosphere at all!  I would love to some day  to stay at Paris,

Bellagio and Wynn.  That will probably only happen if we get good seminar rates.

Our highlight was Sunday evening (Halloween)at Cher’s last show.  Wow!  Her voice was as good as ever, and even though she’s not skinny like she used to be, she looks great at 60 something.  And she had a change of costume for every song.

In between songs, to give time for the costume and scenery change, they played old clips on a huge screen of the old Sonny and Cher show, clips from her movie roles, etc.  The show was quite spectacular and we were on the First Mezzanine but direct center so the seats were good.  We just used binoculars to get some close up views.  Because of the binoculars we could tell that she had on a full flesh colored body stocking under all those skimpy tight outfits.  See, even the most beautiful stars with all their cosmetic surgery still have to resort to tricks and secrets to get that fake perfect look!  Makes you kind of feel a little better in a way.
Hubby had bought me a new outfit before we left home to wear to Cher.  It was very cute, and comfortable, velvet black leggings and a red and black ruffled velvet tunic.

  But the shoes were a different story.  They were black mesh with very, and I mean very, high heels with red roses clipped to the side.  I called them my cute hooker shoes.

Believe me, they were not made to walk in!  Even though we took a tram to the show from Monte Carlo to Caesar's, you still ended up walking quite a lot.  I had the worst blisters on my heels by the time we got to the show that I carried the shoes and walked barefoot after the show.  It was funny, though, that as I carried these cute shoes in my hand I had a lady come up to me to tell me how much she liked my shoes!
We had dinner before the show that first night at a Chinese restaurant inside Monte Carlo.  Very good food and an excellent black raspberry sake.  I’m going to be craving one of those about 10:00 tonight I think!  The second night we ate at Di’Ablo’s, the Mexican restaurant inside the hotel.  The show we saw that night was the ignorant group of girls at the table beside us screaming and hollering for the San Francisco Giants throughout the whole dinner as the World Series final game was playing.  The manager finally came over to them and asked them to leave, just as we were finishing.  We should have complained a lot sooner.  I know it’s Vegas and people get wild, but come on!!
Our final night there our friends really wanted to see “Phantom”.  The rest of us weren’t that interested and didn’t want to spend that kind of money on another show.  We ended up getting a cab and going downtown Las Vegas to Freemont Street and it was actually very nice and a lot of fun.  There is a light show that plays above Fremont Street like every hour.

(You can see the old hotels and then that lit up dome above them is a dome roof above the street where the light show plays.)

Then we got tickets to a show inside the Golden Nugget.  A comedian by the name of Gordon Brown.  He sings and does impressions.  It was a great show.  We were pleasantly surprised by the show, Fremont Street and the Golden Nugget. 
Now we’re approaching re-entry into reality.  I’m O.K. with that because I don’t think I could go another day at that pace.  Tomorrow I would love to rest for a day, but that’s not on the schedule.  I’ll have to pick up my dogs in the morning from the dog sitter and then go pick up my three grandchildren for the weekend.  Their mother has to go to Virginia for a few days and their dad, my son, has to work Thursday and Friday.  I may have to stay down there unless they take the boys out of pre-school and kindergarten for one day. 
After Sunday things will settle down just a little bit and my thoughts will then turn to the Holidays. 

New Knits By Nina

The great thing about knitting is that it is very portable.  So even if I’m at the kids’ house or travelling or sitting in a beauty shop or doctor’s office, I can have my knitting with me.  I have several projects always going at one time and the situation determines which one I work on.  I have larger projects that are not as portable and I keep those at home.  The smaller projects requiring less yarn are easier to travel with.  Then there are more complicated patterns that I need to do only when I can concentrate and others that are more mindless.  But no matter what I’m knitting, it’s always relaxing and calming for me.

Right now I’m still working on this plain black hoody sweater that my son asked for.  This has been really slow going because first of all, black is difficult to see and second of all, it’s boring.  It’s just a plain black cotton and it’s much more exciting  to work on the beautiful silk, mink, angora or wool in beautiful colors.  So this project is taking a lot longer than it should. 

I have the back and two fronts and one sleeve finished.  I’m now working on the 2nd sleeve and then I have the hood to do after that.  It will have wooden buttons up the front.  I hope to have it done for Christmas for him.  Then I just pray that it fits him and that he likes it!

My second current project is another baby set that I have been commissioned to do for a friend who is expecting a granddaughter in December.  She is wanting it the middle of November for the baby shower.  The colors she asked for are lavender and green.  I’m doing a sweater, hat and booties.  The nice thing about baby clothes is that they are small and go real fast. 

This yarn is called “Oh My”.  It is nylon, but looks and feels like chenille.  It’s feels so good to work with.  The green is mink yarn.  I’ll use it for trim and a flower for the hat.

I’m so excited to start the project I just bought the yarn for today.  I think I’ll take this one to work on for the car and plane travel to Las Vegas.  We leave Sunday morning, drive to Cleveland for 2-1/2 hours, then fly to Las Vegas which is around a 4-1/2 hour flight.  I can get a lot of knitting done in all that travelling to and from.  And look how cute this is going to be!

The yarn is from Japan called Noro.  It’s a wool, angora and silk blend.  This one I will probably keep for myself.

See, this is why I don’t get that much listed on my Etsy site.  I always have requests from family and orders from friends and acquaintances.   I do charge for orders, but not family.  And if it’s something really cute or different I make for me!

Happy Knitting!

Nina

Calm, Quiet Home Sweet Home

(The Blessings of Autumn – Thomas Kincaid)
My house is all mine again!  The grandsons were picked up about 3:00 yesterday and then at 6:30 last night, nephew Kyle was taken to the bus terminal and headed back to Cincinnati.  The boys were only here for the weekend, but Kyle had been here for two months.
Since I am a huge fan of clean, neat, quiet and time to myself, this is a very feel good day for me.  Kyle was actually going to be here longer, but some things didn’t work out quite as planned and our patience ran thin.  I’ll explain this “Kyle Project” in a separate post.  I’m just glad to have no current house guests.  Someone said to me, “You’ll probably be bored when all the activity and chaos goes away”.  NO WAY!  Not this girl.  I  love calm and quiet. 
Today was a rainy and dark Monday and I just kept telling my husband what a great day it was.  It felt so comfy and cozy as I cleaned the guest bedroom and bath and made tapioca pudding FOR TWO!
Again, I am going to sound selfish, but I asked hubby to please promise that he will not offer our home, time, money and energy to any more needy family members.  It would be a different story if it did some good and wasn’t just taken for granted and even criticized.
I didn’t really mean to get into that, I just am glad to have my house back to myself.  Now maybe instead of the time spent on additional cooking, cleaning, tutoring, cleaning up legal issues, working with social services, etc., Bob and I can get back to our own work, hobbies, travel and enjoying our life. 
This last six months was certainly filled with enough activity, including 3 funerals, the births of 2 more grandchildren and everything in between.  This was just one more thing we didn’t need right now. 
There, I vented and feel even better. 
Nina