Keep moving forward

I didn't have such a successful morning yesterday.  It started OK. I got up early and finished pressing and snipping the last 20 tote bags made. I gathered my supplies and headed over to the farmer's market to sit in my friend's stall and sell them.  We set up the rack with a couple bags and showed it to he farmer's market board.  Unfortunately the market has rules about selling the fundraising items.  I understand that, I guess.  The money made at the market really should go to the farmers and not a national organization.  I packed it up and I'll try the Bridge Market today.  Christy has a produce booth along with plants and offered to share some of her space.  Hopefully I can stay a little while this time.

After leaving the farmer's market, I headed over to Rachel's baby shower.  At least I'm on-time, I thought.  The party starts at noon and I said I might be late due to the market.  I got to the house on the street with the balloons in front.  There was a party at this house, but it was a child's birthday party. Ah heck, not only is the party at the house across the street, it is Sunday, not Saturday.  I was a little early.  Oh well, went home and packed up and had a great afternoon in the garden.

About the Tote Bags

Michele read an article last year about how to make a tote bag out of a tee shirt.  She shared it with Donna and I and thought maybe we could use this idea for a Relay for Life fundraiser.  Looked pretty fun to me.  There were a lot of shirts no one ever used for past Relay events. The director of the local event even found us some more shirts to use from other counties. Donna and Michele snipped out the collars and sleeves of the shirts and I sewed them into shopping bags.  The white bags needed some personality so I took them over to my friend's art studio in Rainier, Oregon and she turned them into what I think are the coolest shopping bags in Longview.  These shirts are now useful tote bags good for groceries, gym clothes, or beach bags.  We're selling them for $10 each and the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

Holiday Crafts at Grandma's House

We squeezed in a little holiday fun together too this weekend.

Winter Crafts ~ Warm Hats

One of the big reasons I haven't been to the PC to catch up on the blog is because I've picked up a crochet hook.  The garden work is over for the season and I usually pick up some crafts to work over the winter.  Sometimes it's yarn, sometimes glass, or sometimes the scrap books.  I was clearing off some piles in the house recently and ran across a page with four hat patterns I've saved to crochet sometime.  I grabbed some cotton yarn and started crocheting.  I like this pattern, got hooked right away.  (hooked, hee hee)  It took awhile to get it right on the top, but I knew I wasn't getting it right away.  Instead of ripping out my work, I just repeated the same stitches which created a pattern of their own. I fell in love with the little hats and been gifting them right away as it's getting cold here and a warm gift is always welcome. I bought a stash of cotton and hemp yarn hoping to turn it all into cute hats to help keep my friends warm this winter.

Cute Turkey Cookies

Kaylee & I played with our food today.

A friend sent this to me in an email this week as a suggestion of something fun to do with Kaylee.  We both enjoyed it.  A tasty project with Grandma and Kaylee.

Happy Birthday Isabelle

I think it's finally summer.  At least it feels like it today again.  It was lively out at the community garden today.  Lots of plants are reaching for the sun and growing.  There were many families and gardeners working together in the peaceful field.  I am so looking forward to the changes in the garden in the next few weeks.  It won't take long for the whole place to transform into a tall field of many colors.

I finished my garden surprise.  She's not your typical scarecrow.  I planted a garden princess.   Her name is Isabelle and she'll keep an eye on the garden, but unfortunately she'll probably make friends with the birds instead of scare them.  That's OK, she makes me smile.

Friend and Gifts - They find their own way

Of the many things I do to entertain myself, I love textile crafts, spinning yarn is one of those. A dear friend taught me how to spin about thirteen years ago. I don't always know what or if I am going to make anything with it, I just love to create beautiful yarn, combining all kinds of colors and textures: wools, silk, flax, and cotton. Sometimes just the yarn is a nice gift. Most of my art usually finds it's own way to it's eventual home. Sometimes, just the way someone looks at what I am making while I am making it tells me it is theirs. It might sound strange, but it happens all the time that what I make finds it's own way.

I had invited Connie for lunch Saturday. Around the time I expected her to call, she called and told me that one of our mutual friends, Nadine, had broken her ankle cleaning her house. She is at one of the local nursing homes and we should go visit her right now and that she'd be over to pick me up in ten minutes. I agreed, threw on some jeans and we went to visit her. Knowing that she is an avid knitter and crocheter, I grabbed a couple hanks of some yarn I had spun this winter.  She might like something to work with while laying around that hospital room.

She was cleaning her walls and fell off a stool. She has a pretty severe compound fracture in her ankle. It required surgery immediately. She says the doctor said it looks like she could be down for up to five months. I broke my ankle last summer and have a good idea how much her life has changed for awhile. She definitely has some challenges ahead. I am grateful my break wasn't as bad. Nadine is 81 years old and usually in great shape. She was alone when she did this and told us how she pulled herself down the hall to a phone with her arms to call 911. She was humored when I pointed out that she had called someone and actually said "I have fallen and can't get up." I know, pretty rude, huh? I couldn't help it. It did bring a smile to her face.

When we got there, she said she was doing all right except that she was bored silly. I pulled out the yarn and she pushed it away saying she wasn't doing any crocheting there. She said she wasn't reading or anything. She is always crocheting. That's something we always share when we are together. She was worried about her garden, she wanted to get some onions in the ground this week. I could tell she was feeling bad, but trying not too show it too much. I know how she feels. I am usually a self-motivated, energetic person and when I had to depend on others to do so many things, it was very frustrating and humbling. I let her know I have some tools to help out when she gets home, a wheelchair, very handy in the kitchen with a broken ankle, crutches, small benches for the shower and the garden. She was glad to hear that.

I tried to give her the yarn again. She pushed it away again, saying rather firmly that she didn't need it. She said she has a project at home she can work on when she gets home. She also had just told me she might not be home for months. I said, "At least we can talk about the yarn, I made it myself." When she heard that, her eyes got big and she said "You made it yourself?" She promptly reached out and snatched that yarn out of my hand and quickly put it beside her where she could have it handy. It was so funny the way she grabbed it, like she had something very valuable that might get away. As we talked during the rest of our visit she picked it up a couple of times saying she had to make something with it. When we left she was getting ready to call her husband and ask for some real food when he came to visit. She's says she has never seen anyone cook such bad food as she was being served in this nursing home. She said she was also going to ask him to bring a crochet hook for her new yarn.

On the way home and during lunch Connie and I laughed and laughed at Nadine grabbing the yarn the way she did after telling us she didn't want it. It definitely brightened our day. I hope we brightened Nadine's as well. I am going to pack a small cooler with some edibles for Nadine today. I hope she isn't really stuck in that nursing home for months. If so, I need to include her on my weekly schedule and go help pretty up that room a bit. I know I got through my broken ankle adventure with lots of help of my friends, my turn to help now.

Hand Spun Yarn