I've been staying busy with learning to crochet with the smallest hook EVER (not really as I have found out there are way smaller from my friend, Claude).  This kind of work is ball busting. Hard to keep pushing  forward on, but I insist on finishing just this one bookmark. That will be the smaller of these two peices. The one on the right.  It is halfway done...

 I've been on hikes with family.

 See birdie in tree.....beautiful!!!

 And shopping at our new outlet shoppes.  Love this on cooler evenings!

 My grands have had awards ceremonies and now in the midst (tonight and tomorrow night) of their musical performances at school.
Staying busy, having fun, and surrounded by love! What more could I ask? So grateful.
Love to you all,
Julie

My first pillowcase!

AND...this one has french seams, which means you have no exposed seams throughout the inside or outside of the case!!!  It's ultra cool!  It was my test pillow. I used some of my Princess Tiana fabric, and had left overs of the pink flannel for the cuff, and the pink and white checks for the trim.  I have to say I think it turned out really great!  It is from the tutorial by my great inspirational leader and confidence builder, Vanessa at Crafty Gemini.  The only pillows I had were king sized.  Not sure how that happened, but I guess I need some new standard sized ones!  So the end of the king pillow is sticking out, otherwise it would look more normal on a standard.  You can get the idea though.

And a close up.  I love that pink check trim with the dainty pink lined soft flannel.  Sorry the sun was streaming down on the pillow!

Thanks again Crafty Gemini!  I'm on my way to making more!
Here is the tutorial:

Mad recap of latest happenings!

My friend Carolyn, in Gainesville and I exchange handmade items each month, and look at what she made me!  A knitted cactus pin cushion!  LOVE!!!!

We visited the church where hubby and I married 26 years ago, also in Gainesville.  Love this sign hanging over the entrance!  PEACE, LOVE, and JOY TO ALL WHO ENTER HERE.

 Donovan pulling the rope to ring the bell in the steeple!  That was fun!

 Inside picture of the Kanapaha Presbyterian Church.  The members were inside cleaning and decorating for Christmas, and we met a deacon.  He showed us some of the upgrades.  The ceiling had been redone.  There were new buildings. They left the kerosene chandelier in top left of photo. The church is thriving.  If we ever move back there, this will be my church!.

 This is a huge sinkhole in Gainesville.  Called Devil's Millhopper.  You walk down a million stairs to the near bottom, and it was full of the most amazing gray, green blue water.  I had never seen it with so much water in the 10 years I had lived there (from 1980-1990).  It was magical...

 This is my DIL, Ginny, and daughter, Carolyn in front of the waterfall.

 Carolyn.  It was chilly!  We wore scarves!

 Emily posing with Mr. Wobbles outside the Columbia Restaurant where we had our Thanksgiving meal in St. Augustine.  We love this city!  Mr. Wobbles did too!

 Carolyn as a mermaid at a gorgeous park there!

 Mr. Wobbles rides the trolley around the oldest city in the U.S!

 He is happy to be back here again...ready to be stowed away until next years adventure!!!

Happy holiday season to you all.  The fun is just beginning!
XOXO- Julie

Going cukoo over tea wallets!

I am having so much fun making these things!  This one is for a friend.  I made another one for my SIL for her birthday, but forgot to take photos. If she can get me a shot of it, I will post it. Hers turned out very cutely too!

 I have learned a few good tricks to help with the process. One is to NOT use a hair elastic for the closure.  They are round and much harder to sew in and have stay in place. I am using thin flat elastic now. You can get it in white or black and it lays flat. If you take about 5-6 passes over it with the sewing machine, it won't go anywhere. The other trick is to try to get the corners pushed out as well as you can to sew a smoother top stitching around the whole thing.

This particular wallet (I am about to reveal a secret here), I had sewn all the way around the outside edge with beige thread.  Well, it looked great on the inside where the pockets were a lighter color, but on the outside, where the background was black, you could see the smallest of little stitch messes.  Well, here is how I corrected it.  I used a thin line black permanent Sharpie pen and basically colored the stitches black!!!!! It worked like a charm....now it looks so much more professional.  And adorable, I might add! Check it out in the photos!!!!
I did not get my corners turned well, and that was what caused the sloppy looking stitches.  I need to find a way to do it well.
Once again the free pattern is here: http://www.handmadetherapy.ca/2011/02/03/tea-wallet-tutorial/

I should have told you where I got the pattern for the tea wallet in my last post. This gal really makes it easy, and has pictures!  http://www.handmadetherapy.ca/2011/02/03/tea-wallet-tutorial/

I finally got to make a tea wallet. A particular family member who loves HK, will get this one. It was so fun, easy and fast.

Here's the inside. Holds 4 teabags. 

What do you think of this? Are you a tea drinker. Would you carry something like this???  Maybe not HK, but some other lovely print?

The only thing I would do differently if make a flap to come around to front with a plastic snap.

Scandinavian star ?????

For some strange reason I was thinking of Pam over at:  Gingerbread and Snowflakes blog (http://gingerbreadsnowflakes.com/frontpage)

as I made my first crocheted star ornament in red and white! Does it look Scandinavian to you? 

 Pattern at:  http://www.petalstopicots.com/2012/12/granny-star-pattern/

A red tropical hibiscus flower for you all this morning. Our lovely gardening season is just starting down here in south Florida! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

XOXO- Julie

My grandson playing in a concert at school!

He is a bass player, along with his best friend!  Top picture is Donovan (age 9), in the 4th grade orchestra.

 Best friend, a fellow bassist!

 The two clowns!

They did a great Halloween show for us called Boo Bash, where one person read parts of a very descriptive book about a bat in the forest, and the orchestra played descriptive music to sort of set the scene!  It was really a great show, and glad this ol' grandma was invited!!!

A crocheted cup of dark hot chocolate

Is it me, or does the marshmallow look scary??? I think it still turned out pretty cute! I love these quick and easy projects! This will be a set of food items I am making for my youngest granddaughter. I used safety eyes.

My crocheted bauble stitch!

Played around with learning a new crochet stitch last night. This is called the "bauble stitch" for border edging.

I added it around the edge of the little glass ornament I am developing, and it makes me think of a turtle! I do have ideas for making these into personalized Christmas tree ornaments.

I will keep learning new edgings and trying to get some things made that actually might look kinda neat.  I used brightly colored variegated yarn, and love how each bobble became one of the colors!!! 

EVER ONWARD

Check this out, all ye old succulent lovers!!!  I just made a pledge to kickstart this product!  It's pretty, and it's pretty cool, and useful.  Good for all kinds of plants to grow indoors, but especially succulents.  A modern touch!
http://www.plantenvy.us/

A happy fall holiday basket!

I just got this black basket with orange wrapped handles that contained birthday presents, and I decided to use it to display my and Emily's painted and glittered pine cones, my crocheted pumpkin pie, a candle, small fake pumpkin, and a dancing glow-in-the-dark skeleton.  It is sitting on top of microwave, making me one happy camper these days!  

Here's to happy holiday crafting!!!
XOXO- Julie

National Black Poetry Day

My friend, Teri, from Teri's Painted Daisies (http://painteddaisies.blogspot.com), is doing an artwork each day, which is celebrated yearly.  I found a list of those days here:  http://nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/

There were about 5 celebrations today, on October 17, and one of which was Black Poetry Day!  I thought I would post a poem by a beloved poet of our time, who, on May 28, 2014, left this world.  It is a powerful poem, and I love it.

--------------------------------------------------------------

STILL I RISE

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.


Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.


Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.


Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.


Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.


You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.


Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise
I rise
I rise.

-Maya Angelou

Crochet a 45 minute cowl with Crafty Gemini, and enter a giveaway for Lion Brand's yarn!!! FUN!!!

This gal, Craft Gemini, makes the cutest things, and she builds, crochets, sews, and does tutorials for all.  I am about to use her tutorial (free) for making a pillowcase with french seams.  She is just plain awesome!  But she is having another Lions Brand yarn giveaway, so I wanted to post it here if anyone wants to get in on the fun!  Here is her tutorial for the 45 minute cowl, which I am planning to make TODAY!  EVEN though I won't have much use for it even over the winter, but I don't think it will necessarity be hot, so I can probably just wear it for fashion anyway.  It's so adorable!


Her website (a wealth of knowledge) is here:  http://craftygemini.blogspot.com/

Little pumpkin coaster and fall pinecones!

Sitting around doing laundry this morning and decided to make a pumpkin coaster I found at http://www.irarott.com/Free_Crochet_Patterns.html

It's so cute!  I love it!  The 3-D vine makes it really cute.  Gonna make another one and send both to a friend.

Emily (6) and I decided to paint some pine cones that we had gathered, and we found we liked just painting the tips orange...that way the brown still showed through, and they looked pretty classy.  

Then we cheapened them up some by sprinkling on a thick rough cut gold glitter I have hanging around here!  They have some shimmer now, and we placed them into my orange bowl, and voila...lovely pine cones for the table.  Perfect craft for a child with adult supervision, of course!  I think a bowlful done with the tips painted in all different fall colors would look particularly nice...some lovely mustard yellow, orange, cranberry ones.....ahhhhh.

Blooms from my zinnia garden today!

This rather small baby is suddenly appearing on one of the liliput plants...all cute and vibrantly striped!  So sweet.

The zinnias just keep on producing!

The yellows are tempramental.

Whites are so sweet and pure!

My favorite color....ORANGE!

These California Giants grow such long stemmed flowers, they are great for bouquets!

The colors of the mixed variety are so vibrant!

For the pinkaholics!

Liliputs.

Another little candy striped variety!