I shouldn't have, but I did!

I have been wanting to make this little knitted top for quite a while, but I promised myself that I wouldn't start on it until I had finished with my purple sweater. The yarn had to be ordered as I couldn't find it anywhere so I figured that would give me plenty of time to finish the previous one... wrong! The new yarn came in lightning speed time...... and I was dreadfully naughty and just couldn't resist to knit just a couple of rows with it, just to see how it feels. Well more than a couple of rows were knit and I am happy to report it is just yummy.

My mother had so much more willpower than I have. She would never start any new knitting until the previous work was all completed. Not even if there was a bag of the most wonderful new yarn sitting alongside her knitting basket, she would always complete the item she was working on. I can hear her voice now telling me to "finish what you have started." I guess no matter how old we get we still sometimes don't listen to our mothers!

Now I know that you all do it too. You do, right? You can tell me I promise I won't breathe a word to anyone... honestly!

In just one hour...

... oh the things you can see while walking in the woods. Sweet little woodland flowers. In all colors and ...... shapes. A tiny little chipmunk enjoying a tasty meal. A very large ant nest, moving with what seemed like a million ants. I have to admit that this was not my most favorite thing in the woods. In fact it made me downright itchy, and I convinced myself that one or two of them had crawled onto me. The mind sure can play tricks sometimes. But all in all it was a lovely walk in the woods. You should try it now and then.

Remember Memorial Day

As the wife of a retired soldier as well as the daughter-in-law of yet another soldier, Memorial Day is special to me. We took time out this weekend to visit the New Tacoma Cemetary where my father-in-law rests. To me, Memorial Day isn't about sales, shopping or celebrating. It's about remembering. It's about being thankful. It's about honoring. It's about not forgetting sacrifices made. Please take a few minutes out of your Memorial Day to remember.

I'll be in my garden

Right behind this gate is where I will be spending this lovely long weekend, soaking in the sun with plenty of sunscreen of course. Hubby has already powered washed the deck and our garden tables and chairs already for this weekends entertaining. He even left me a little message on the garden fence.... sigh. This will be the afternoon spot for tea. The honeysuckle vine is just starting to bloom.......much to the delight of our little hummingbirds. If it gets to sunny then I can move to this shady spot and watch the birds come to our little pond. It is always such fun to watch them take a bath. Yes I think it is going to be a lovely weekend. In fact I think I am going to get a start on it right now. I hope your weekend will be as lovely as mine.

See you all next week.

I should have...

... been working on these. Except I was in the garden working on... ... these, and... ... this!

Today it is a little rainy and a bit overcast here, and I'm glad. When we have a few days of sunny weather I am rarely in the house. Which of course puts me all behind in the work I should be doing. I had great plans to get so much sewing done but the sun streaming through the window kept calling my name and I answered loud and clear.

I remember sitting in class at school just shortly before we would go on our summer break finding it so hard to concentrate on lessons. I would usually be staring out the window then too, only to be brought back to reality by my teachers stern voice. Which of course usually resulted in some sort of after school punishment. Well school is long gone and I can stare all I please!

Have a wonderful day!

Sassy Sally!

I call this little doll Sassy Sally because she has a little bit of an attitude, hence her little quirky smile. It was a bit difficult to photograph her in the garden as we have had copious amounts of rain. This weekend looks like it will be quite a bit better, in the low seventies believe it or not. I can almost hear the plants and grass growing! I visited one of my favorite garden nurseries a couple of days ago and saw this lovely garden man. He looks very laid back and comfortable don't you think! I was thinking the other day about all the things that we have added to our little garden over the years. If I had to do it all over again our little pond would be one of the first things I would put in again. It has given us so much enjoyment seeing all the wildlife that use it on a daily basis. It also attracts a lot of birds that probably would not come into our garden. So I would say that it is my most favorite thing in the garden. If some of you are thinking about adding a little pond, I would highly recommend it. It will give you lots of smiles.

Hedgehogs

Look what I found in my garden today. This sweet little hedgehog was just looking around and decided to make my garden his home!

When my daughter was little we would quite often visit her Granny and Grandad in England. One of her fondest memories was pottering around in the garden with her Grandad. Living under the garden shed was a hedgehog. Before coming inside for bed she would always leave a saucer of milk out for her new little friend. In the morning all the milk was gone and all that was left was a couple of tiny muddy footprints on the saucer. Of course she had to name him and decided that the name Sammy Slurper fitted quite nicely. So here is my little Sammy Slurper. It was a lovely Mother's Day weekend. The sun was out and it was quite lovely for this time of year. These beautiful flowers arrived for me for Mother's day from my sweet daughter, I thought the colors were just wonderful. The weather was so nice in fact that we sat outside and had afternoon tea. Hubby's camera is never far away, thank goodness, as he spotted these two sweet little goldfinches having a tender moment. They actually kissed several times before flying off. There seems to be a whole lot of loving going on in my garden right now. This morning I spotted a whole bunch of frog spawn in the garden pond. Now if I can just keep that pesky snake away that was here last year. I haven't seen him yet this year so I am keeping my fingers crossed he has moved on elsewhere.... lets hope!

Happy Mothers Day!

A Very Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful Mom's out there in blogland!

A Treat For Me

I must confess that I am not usually Martha's biggest fan. While out shopping the other day I came across this very large book of crafts from Martha and after skimming through I just had to take it home with me. I was pleasantly surprised at the numerous different crafts this book contained. What made it even more appealing was all the wonderfully colored photo's.... I do like to see what the finished project is supposed to look like. I finally settled on making some fabric flowers. First I had to stiffen the fabric and then let it dry. Next it was just a matter of punching out the flowers with a flower punch. Once the stamens were added and wrapped with some floral tape the flowers were done. What fun these would be tied to a birthday gift, I must admit it could get pretty addictive making these. I love how they have been glued to these branches and placed in a vase. It would be fun to color co-ordinate them with any room. I think there is something for everyone in this book, I just adore these little pom pom critters....... and there was even a chapter on soap making. I thought these soaps were just so lovely. As you have probably guessed, I am pretty pleased with my new book.

Bloggy break is over!

As much as I have enjoyed taking a little break from blogging I have really missed posting on my blog, so it feels really good to be back.

The craft fair was terrific and terribly tiring all at the same time. The pic above is of my daughters booth. All her lovely products made the building that we were in smell wonderful. There was a crafter that made coffee and tea mugs with whatever picture you wanted on your mug. My daughter surprised me with my very own LizzieJane mug, I just love it! There were some really talented crafters and I had a hard time not spending all my profits. It was fun to look around and see what other people are making. Every one was so very friendly and helpful, all in all it was a very lovely fair. It wasn't all sewing and craft fair while I was gone. I spent quite a bit of time out in the garden and going for walks. I came across this dear little baby bird sleeping in our pussy willow tree. At one point he woke up somewhat startled to see a human so close and then promptly went right back to sleep. After my hubby took his pic we left him alone so as he could enjoy his afternoon nap. We also had this big guy on our fence one morning. I wasn't to happy to see him as he was after the birds at our feeder. It wasn't to long though before he gave up and flew away. With the arrival of Spring so comes lots of pollen in our area. This little squirrel was almost yellow after foraging in one of the trees for food... I wonder if they get allergies like us humans, I would think not!. Another big job that finally was tackled during my break was the dreaded tidying up of my sewing room and sorting out all my fabric. I have to be the messiest sewer on the face of the earth. When I am working on a project I get so wrapped up in what I am doing that I don't really see the mess until I stop for the day. I took this pic to prove to my hubby that once in a while it does get tidy in there.

Well it's time for tea in my new mug, and then I am going to catch up on all of the wonderful blogs that I missed reading.

Have a wonderful Monday!