Latest crochet wip blanket and another finished

We have 2 adorable nieces which live in Vermont.  I completed a blanket for Sadie who loves pink.  Done in homespun pink and Caron black yarn.

I am working another blanket for Abby.  Abbys favorite color is blue so I am calling Abbys blanket the waves. It is only about 15 inches so I have a way to go.  I need to complete this by September. 

Homespun blanket finish

This Thanksgiving after seeing a picture of another blanket I made my sister in law announced that she wanted me to make her a blanket for Christmas.  Well since it takes time that did not happen in 2013 but I did finish it in 2014.   She hasn't gotten it yet so this is just a peek at it.  My Murphy was a little annoyed at me when Janis' s blanket was finished and got put away.  It was made with Lions brand homespun yarn which washes and drys wonderfully.   In 2013 I made myself a blanket with this same yarn and it has been laundered a few times and looks and feels great.

There was also a new scarf and cowl for me completed.

Doesn't Murphy look comfortable? 

Hooked on crocheting - baby blanket

Where to start when you have not blogged for a while?  Let me start with my latest love affair.  I fell hook line and sinker with yarn again a few years ago.  With so many beautiful new yarns, how do you select the right one for your project .  All those luscious colors and textures make it very hard to choose.

Here my latest baby blanket with a matching baby bag which has a cross stitched Shepard s bush design stitched on the front.  It's a ripple or zig zag design done in chenille pink/ orange plush yarn.  This was completed a few weeks ago and given to Angie, a very pregnant Amtrak customer service rep who I see weekly on my commute.

Angie is having a little girl so I customized the Be Extraordinary" SB kit and added a 3rd line to the design "baby (flower) girl".  I attached it to a tote bag which has nice elastic mesh side pockets perfect for bottles or sipping cups.

Summer Reading by an Eclectic Book Lover & Stash Shopping

Summer Reading

Tender Wishes by JoAnne Cassity – this quick read was a charming romance.  Very enjoyable summer read.   I’m not a big romance reader but I’d gladly grab another by this author.

The Miser by Lesley Egan – an interesting mystery written in 1981 by a prolific mystery writer.  This is the first novel I have read by this author.  It had a vintage feel to it because I believe it was set back in the 1960’s or the late 1950’s in California.   I am an east coast girl and that era was before my time so I did learn quite a bite.

A Certain Smile by Judith Michael – A complicated romance with characters who have depth and strong story lines.   The rich history of China was wonderful and captivating.

The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver – This is a suspense novel set in California.  It is part of the Katryn Dance series with the main character a modern day Charles Manson.  It was a page turner but I generally do not care for cult themed novels.

By Adriana Trigiani:  Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler & Milk Glass Moon  - I just loved all the books in this series.  I read Home to Big Stone Gap a while ago and just had to read her other books.  They are fun, heartwarming, charming stories.  Lots of quirky sassy oddball characters that made me laugh.  My only complaint is that there are not more written in this series.

Serpent’s Tooth by Faye Kellerman is one of her Peter Decker/ Rina Lazarus novels.  It a good thriller.

While my Pretty One Sleeps by Mary Higgins Clark written in 1989.  I am not someone who re-reads but I do love this author so I am pretty sure I had read it.    I could not recall the story so I guess I am getting old.  It is a good story and I enjoyed it.     

Once a Princess by Johanna Lindsey.  This is a romance with a predictable formula but its a quick light read .     

The Brides of Christmas by Jo Beverley, Margaret Moore & Deborah Simmons.  This paper back is made up of three medieval romance tales.  Lite summer reading that is pretty predictable but also enjoyable.                                                                                         

What are you reading now?  I’d love to know.  I just finished a book by Pulitzer Prize winning author; Geraldine Brooks called People of the Book.  I totally love this one.  It is about restoring an ancient Jewish book and how it survived through troubled times.  It was fascinating and not at all what I expected.  It had ots of twists and turns which kept me entertained .

Stash Shopping & Health Issues

I have been going through a bunch of major health issues starting in March.  I do not want to bore people with the details but was being treated for a problem and then had a bad reaction to the pills I was given.  The pills caused blood clots to form in my lungs.   I was very lucky that I was proactive because many people ignore the symptoms I had until complications arise and by then it’s too late.  I landed in the hospital for 3 weeks and I was out of medical leave for a few months.  I feel much better and I went through a bunch of testing for a few other things they found.  Anyway I had 3 different parts of my body biopsied t so I decided I needed to do some serious stash shopping.   I bought a bunch of books I have wanted for a while from Amazon.  It felt like Christmas with packages arriving almost every day the week I awaited the results.  It was a wonderful distraction and thankfully all the tests came back negative.  Most of the books are by French Designers.  In one book, Stitch Graffiti I discovered that a friend of mine one of the model stitchers, congrats Berly.  Here is the list of books I bought in case you too need a stash enhancement.

1. Sweet Stitches from the Heart

2. Made in France: Cross-stitch and Embroidery in Red, White and Blue

3. Made in France: Cross-Stitch

4. Rainbow Stitches Embroidery

5. Stitch- Graffiti by Heather Holland 

Thanks for reading and please leave me a comment if you have the time, I love reading them.

Mare

Today is a “ME” Day

Today’s plans and my goals for 2013 are to purposely bring more things that make me happy into each day.  The past 2 weeks have sucked and I am partly to blame for letting it get to me so I need to get into control with all the crap that is raining on my parade.  Yesterday I had a good talk with my sister in law and she helped me wrap my mind around some of this stuff.  We were going to have a small family gathering for dinner on Tuesday night to celebrate our anniversary but we thought because of all of the mayhem going on no one would want to go.  Actually my sister in law, Janice told me that we needed to go out and celebrate more things. They are looking forward to it. Tuesday night 8 of us will be having a nice dinner.   I have big meeting Tuesday afternoon for which I will need to jump through hoops for so it will be nice knowing that evening will be nice.  Janice and I also planned a get together in September in VT at our nieces place to celebrate my brother in laws birthday.   I made a bunch of calls to friends and family this morning and my mood is slowing improving.   We have family on both side having major health issues.   When someone you care about is moved into hospice, it’s hard.   

Good news seems to be harder to come by so I need to try to cultivate some.  I know there will be a few funerals in 2013 & 2014 so I have got to re-start my happiness list to counter all the crap.  Tell me what do you do to get happy?  For over a year I have worked closely with one man who I thought was a good guy but I was so naive to hidden agendas.  Mr. Old-School derailed all the good karma I worked so hard to establish and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.  I still have to work with him and he is like the cat that just swallowed the cannery.   It totally sucks but I have to stop letting it eat me up inside because otherwise it does even more damage.  Some people just are not happy unless they do it at someone expense.  Anyway here’s to pushing past that ugly and on to finding more Happiness…

1.   Go get my favorite big cup of chai tea from Panera because I deserve it more often even if it is overpriced.  It makes me happy!  Pick up one of their French breads to have with dinner.  Their bread makes my husband & son happy too.  
2.  I am going to get my nails done, and get a 5 or 10 minute neck/back massage
3. Then on to a get haircut, fingers crossed that my favorite person is working today.
4. Pick up an anniversary card because this Tuesday will be our 25^th wedding anniversary & buy a card for someone else for no particular reason other than to say hello and make another person smile. 
5.  Buy bottle of Yellow Tail Moscato wine.  it is a wonderful Australian affordable fun wine
6. Stick wine in the fridge before I go do laundry because I hate doing laundry.
7.  Both my husband and I made vacation plans managed to combine a few side trips to meet up with some old friends.  In fact he may not be doing that much sight seeing given all the socializing we are trying to fit in.
8. I am arranging to meet up with an old friend who will be visiting the city the week after next.  He is working in Singapore now.  We worked together in London in 1999 – 2000 and in NY in 1998.  I am going to see if a few of the people that we both worked with are interested in getting together with he is here on business. 
9.  I will be traveling to San Francisco on business a week in April so I need to reach out to see if there is anyone I know in that area to meet up to make that trip a little happier. 
10.  I will be stitching or doing some finishing tonight while watching the Good Wife.  I love that show!

11.   I will also be sharing my lap with a friendly furry friend whose purrs make me feel loved.  The photo is of Murphy who is a real charmer.

Be Happy & tell me something that makes you happy if you have time to leave a comment. Happy St, Paddy's Day!

Mare

Hopeful, & Lucky

Living in Northern NJ has been a challenge for all.  Thankfully no one in my family was hurt. Everyone I know lost power for about at least a week. I apologize for not posting something sooner but we've been kind of busy. Some still do not have power.  Most people have some damage.  Everyone knows a few people who have major loses.  We had some damage but overall were lucky.   Our area has been doing drives for the local flooding victims.  Everyone in my area has been effected in some way.   Many of the simple things which were taken for granted have made doing daily things challenging.  It took my co-worker 4.5 hours to get to work this Monday.  The lines of gas also can take hours and you might not even get the gas because stations run out.  Thankfully the gas problem is expected to improve shortly.  Tempers are short because people are tired so I am hopeful.  I voted & I am happy that all the politicking  is over so that we can get on with the important stuff of healing the horrific damage this storm has had on so many lives.

Summer is Flying By

Greeting on this hot summer day. My Summer Reading List Continues...

I had finished up the George R.R. Martin Series (Game of Thrones books)  in the spring.  I loved book 5 and I am waiting for book 6.  I have a few of his other books but I haven't picked those up.  After reading those huge meaty books I have switched to some lighter stuff.

I read a wonderful book called Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani which I loved.  I was happy to find that this book is part of a series.  I have to add her others in this series to my reading list.  It was touching, sweet & funny.

I also read Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks which was a good romance thriller novel.  This was my first novel by him. 

Love in a Nutshell was given to me by a fellow commuter and I enjoyed it so much that I had to look up Janet Evanovich's other work.  I started her Stephanie Plum series and now I am totally hooked.  These novels are sometimes called the numbers series because most of the books have numbers in the title.  I have made a good dent in the 19 or so books in this series they are like popcorn.  This summer I have read:
 One to Get Ready (they made a movie out of this one, skip the movie)
Two for the Dough (Grandma is in danger)
Three to Get Deadly (Uncle Mo's Candy store)
Four to Score (Sweet Sally first appears)
High Five (Uncle Fred goes missing)
Hot Six (Bob the dog enters & Ranger is wanted)
Seven Up (Mooner & Dougie)
Hard Eight (killer Rabbit)
To the Nines (Vegas trip)
Ten Big Ones (Junkman killer)
Eleven on Top (Kan Klean Dry Cleaners)
Twelve Sharp (more Sweet Sally )
Lean Mean Thirteen (Dickie goes m.i.a)
Finger Lickin' Fifteen (BBQ cook off)

Visions of Sugar Plums (Diesel first appears)
Plum Lovin' (more of Diesel)
Plum Lucky (a visit to AC)

On the home front, we added two little kittens to our family in May.  Heddy & Murphy join Amy & Sammy so our fur babies now out number people.

In June I was able to take some vacation time and I attended the ILCS Retreat in Colorado.  This was the first 2 week get away trip that my husband & I took without our son since before he was born.  We've done long weekends but never more than a few days.  I had a nice time and increased my stash in leaps and bounds.  I got to meet a few on line friends & catch up.  We got to see those wild fires first hand and it was sad to witness the damage to that lovely area,

On the work front, things are going well.  I completed a major milestone on my project this Friday so that was a nice end to a stressful week.  The timing was pretty good because reviews are being done this month and this is my first half year review at this job.

My stitching mojo sort of sizzled out in this summer heat.  I do have a few photos I can share but they are things completed in the Spring or Winter.

Mare