Valentine's Came Early...

Got a surprise when Will came home from his Costco job today...beautiful roses and tulips!!!
He very expertly arranged them in several vases, so now the house and my computer desk look so cheerful!! I have a feeling Frank had something to do with all this although I'm not suppose to know...we celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary next week February 7 and I'll be travelling to Seaside, CA, where he's currently working so that we can celebrate along with Kara's 21st birthday!!
I love love love tulips!!! Tulips have their "dance" as the stems are still growing...
I also finished a project in anticipation of one of the teachers retiring...she likes to golf, so I thought these easy golf club covers would make her happy...
I think they turned out so cute!! I was going to make them all gray with pink stripes, but decided to do one in pink with gray stripes...the number of stripes help indicate the type of club, from what I was told.
And I love my pom pom maker!! So fun!!!
So we're getting a break from the rain, but have a quiet day today to decide what my next project will be...I think it will be a hat!!

No Rain Showers for this Baby Shower!

What a wonderful time everyone had at Jill's Baby Shower!! She got a boatload of wonderful gifts and the variety of food and cute tables set up were adorable as they themed the selections according to different children's storybooks.

I'm partial to Peter Rabbit since that's what I had stenciled in Peter's baby room almost 19 years ago now...below you see the carrot cake cupcakes based on the "Carrot Seed" book, and a couple other themed goodies.
Here are the mousie cookies up close and personal!! They tasted yummy too!!!Also lots of delicious finger sandwiches with chicken salad, and an unusually good combination of cream cheese and shredded carrots on raisin bread! And here are the hostesses with the mostests!! Meghan and her mom Annelies!
Jill and her mom got started...one of the first presents was a box filled with Jill's own baby clothes that her mom saved over the years...so very cute! Lots of handmade items too!Here Jill is opening up my handmade gifts for the upcoming baby Clare!

I was so happy that she liked everything, including the crocheted ripple blanket below...I had leftover yarn, so went ahead and knitted the hat and booties too! So fun!
And here was a surprise for me as well...my tante Nellie, the great grandma in waiting, had saved over the years, her grandson Jonathan's baby blanket that I had crocheted over 31 years ago! Now he's the pappa to be!! I was so surprised at the great shape the blanket was in!!And here are the parents to be, Jonathan and Jill!!!! And Baby bump!! So cute!
And here is great Oma!! And me!! What a great time we all had!!

Knitted a few additions...

I found a booties knit pattern that even I could do! It's almost like origami...after you knit the above shape up, the you fold it up and sew up a seam, and ta da!!!!
A bootie!!! Takes an evening to knit up a pair!! So easy!! You can find it at http://www.bernat.com/data/pattern/pdf/Bernat_OrganicCotton002_kn_booties.en_US.pdf
I also made a hat...I later added some cute pom poms to each corner of the hat...so cute too...basically, you knit up a rectangle and fold it up... http://www.goodknit.net/pdfs/free/earhat.pdf

So much fun knitting these things up, and they will match perfectly with the baby blanket since the same yarns were used. Now just hope it stays a girl!! I have leftover blue yarn, however, just in case!!!

SH-H-H-H!! It's finished!!

I had put down crocheting on this baby blanket in November in order to knit, crochet, and sew my Christmas presents, so when I heard the shower was already January 23rd, I was in a bit of a panic, but I re-learned the pattern again, and got it finished! I used Bernat's Softee Baby yarn in White, Fresh Green, Peach/Light Blue, and Lemon...I alternated the Peach and the Light Blue just in case...
I had never done a zig zag pattern before and really paid attention to my counting...I'm pleased that the little eyelets are lined up perfectly...then again, I don't think the baby will be able to tell!! Once I got going with the pattern, it was relatively easy...just rows of alternating double and single crochets.

Such a soft, pretty little blanket that I'll be so happy to give!!

contest

If you like cross stitch, I just found out about a little contest at this blog: http://calicoprairiegoods.blogspot.com/ Good luck! Except don't win my charts!! Just kidding, but they are cute charts!!!

2010

So how do we say it?? "Twenty-Ten," or "Two Thousand Ten??" I think I prefer the latter, but however we say it, I hope this is a better year than the last one and that we're on our way to recovery with a new appreciation of what we have and what we will hopefully get back.

A friend of mine came up with an interesting concept from another blog she was reading...to pick out a meaningful word that basically represents what you want to strive for in the coming new year. Well, over the last couple days, I thought long and hard. I told my friend that I wished there was a test so I could come up with the perfect one, but she said for me not to worry; that the word would magically appear and be just the right one. She was right. My word for the coming year that I wish to improve upon is "communication." And I hope to improve upon this with my husband, my children, my parents...and everyone.

Words are so powerful and we must not take them for granted. What may be a joke to one person, might be totally something else to another. Words affect people, and what we say or write cannot always be erased from the person's mind. So I plan to be more careful with mine...not that I wasn't careful before, but I'll be much more aware.

So I do wonder what everyone else's resolution will be? I'll just pick this one...and hope that I'm halfway successful with it. It's a big one.

Happy 2010!! However you say it!