Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Shopping and a walk

I had a lovely leisurely week while hubby was off. We visited our daughter who just happens to work not to far away from this wonderful quilting shop called The Quilting Loft. How can you resist not buying some beautiful fabric while you are there. Of course I didn't..,.resist that is. I could have bought half the shop but I didn't. I was a pretty good girl I must say. As well as fabric they had numerous patterns and great quilting books. I was lucky to have been able to meet a wonderful lady that runs the quilt shop and also has her own published quilting book. How gracious she was to let me take a photo of her with her wonderful book. Thank you Laurie, it was so nice meeting you. We also took time out for a walk in the woods. The leaves are just starting to turn and fall here. It was a lovely walk listening to the wind rustle the leaves and watching a few of them swirl down to the ground. An unexpected surprise was seeing the otters again that we have photographed in the past. They were quite far off but you can just make out their little heads bobbing up in the distance.

Shopping and taking a walk, I highly recommend both as wonderful fall activities!
Have a great Wednesday!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Sweet Things!

Our little Sammy who is now 4 months old and is as sweet as ever. Sound up when watching this video and you will see how happily and loudly he purrs. He was so sleepy after a fun play time with his new big brother. Sure do love this little man! How sweet are these! These little taskets are a purchase I made from the lovely Jenn at her Etsy shop. I had originally intended them as gifts for Christmas. I thought putting some soap and lotion etc. inside would make such a lovely gift for someone. Well that was before they turned up and I saw them. Now little piggy me can't bear to part with them! I have one on a small table by my bed to hold all those little bits and pieces that seem to somehow gather there. I have another one in my sewing room filled with, yes, candy. It helps me get through some difficult sewing days. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it! So sorry all those people that were going to receive them as gifts, I guess you will be getting something else instead!. I had to include some new soap in my sweet things post. This is Wild Mountain Raspberries and Cream soap. Hungry yet?. I think this scent is one of my new favorites, of course I think I say that with every new soap. Not a fruity person, well how about.......Moroccan Mocha! My kitchen smelled like a wonderful coffee shop on the day I made this. It was amazing and I don't even like coffee!.

Well that's it again. Hubby is off for a week but I will still be blogging. Hopefully I will see some interesting things on our fun day trips together. Of course you will all be the first to hear about them.

Have a great weekend!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Yummy Things!

Lots of yummy things to show in today's post. New fabric which of course you just have to get when you have a new craft book. That is true, right? Yep I thought so! Even though we are just turning the corner into Autumn I just couldn't resist these beautiful summer colors.
My next yummy thing is this wonderful Alpaca yarn which will soon be turned into some more cuddly neck warmers. I wish you could feel how incredibly soft this feels. I have been cuddling it all day. This yarn was an Etsy purchase from a little shop called Irish Meadows. I can highly recommend them, they have the most beautiful yarn in natural colors. One of the fun things that came with the yarn was......these little cards showing you which lovely Alpaca your yarn came from, complete with their name. What a fun little card to include with the scarf when giving it as a gift. Some more yummy handmade soap. This is a cranberry scented one and it makes me hungry every time I smell it!. My last yummy thing for today is an apple pie. Unfortunately it is just about gone now but it was so delicious! So there you have it a day filled with yummy things.

So tomorrow we start another season. I have to admit I think I like Autumn best of all. Maybe that's why I have been making things with cranberry scent and baking apple pies. Have a wonderful first day of Autumn!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Knitting, Soapmaking and soon some Sewing

I am feeling quite pleased with my old self this week. I am going full speed ahead with quite a few projects. I have already started on some small Christmas gifts....I know, I know, who wants to think about Christmas while you are still trying to hold on to summer. I have been knitting these little neck warmers for myself and family. They knit up so quickly and take very little yarn. It really is a great way to use up all those odd balls of yarn that I know we all have lying around. Buy of course that wasn't enough for me, I had to make a trip to the yarn store and pick up just a few more balls of this seasons wonderful new yarn. So I guess my yarn stash will be forever...huge! I also picked up this wonderful book which I am sure some of you have already. It is chock full of lovely ideas and sewing projects. These little birds look like such a fun project. Or how about these ones. Not into birds well how about...... these little cuties. It will be hard deciding which project to make first, but I am sure I will be able to pick one.
Soap making still continues on a daily basis. This is one of our newest soaps, it is Zucchini Flower soap. It really does smell wonderfully fresh and is such a lovely soap to shower with in the morning. Of course I couldn't forget the men in our life so I came up with......Grubby Hubby soap! Yes girls, it is just how you would want your man to smell... incredible!

Just an update on my last post. First of all a big thank you for all the great name suggestions for our wonderful new little kitty. He is now officially going to be called Samson, Sammy for short. He is such a strong, tough little boy that we thought that was the perfect name for him. So welcome little Sammy to our family, we are so lucky that you belong to us now.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Little Garage Kitty

About three weeks ago our daughter was woken in the middle of the night by a big commotion outside her bedroom window. She said it sounded like the most awful blood curdling sound that she had ever heard. She immediately flew downstairs and opened up her garage door and this little fellow came scampering in. She thinks he was being attacked by an older, larger cat that roams the neighborhood. Where he came from and how he got to her house is a complete mystery. She of course took him in and set about the next morning trying to find out if he belonged to anyone in the neighborhood. She even posted on the Internet to see if she could find his owners. When no one came forward to claim him she did the only thing that she could possibly do, and that was add him to her brood of critters that live in her home.

First up was a trip to the vet where he checked out just great. The little guy didn't even have one flea on him. Some blood was drawn and everything came back negative. The vet said he is about 13 weeks old, and as you can see as cute as could possibly be.

I think he stole her heart the minute she laid eyes on him. So he has quite happily settled down in her home, where he is well loved, well fed, (his little pink belly is getting quite round) and is safe and warm.

The dilemma now is to come up with a name for this little sweetheart. We have been calling him Little Garage Kitty, but of course that won't do. So if anyone can come up with a great name for our newest little angel please leave a comment and let us know.

This little guy had not been outside long, so we are wondering if someone just dumped him and then drove away. How can someone abandon such a precious little life is beyond me. Anyway he is ours now and we are so blessed to have him.

Have a great Tuesday.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Lazy afternoon

What more could a girl want? A wonderful cup of tea, some yummy cookies, warm sunshine and my newest crochet project. Apart from trying to find a clean spot on the garden bench, (it was a little bird poopy) it was a perfectly lovely afternoon.

I decided sometime in the summer to make myself a crochet blanket to snuggle up with this coming winter. I had no trouble finding yarn for this project as there are balls of yarn galore all over my house. Normally I am a pastel color type of person. But with this blanket I decided to go a little more wild and colorful. The winters here in my little corner of the world can be so dark and dreary that I thought these bright colors would cheer my up a bit. Because I took the summer off from blogging this year I never got to show you all the wonderful goings on in the garden. So here are a few of my little garden friends that kept me company. Once again our wonderful little hummingbirds entertained us all summer long. I am always so sad to see them go. The dragonflies were about, not only in blue but...... in this incredible bright red color. This sweet little bird made us giggle with his punk hairdo. Sometimes mine looks just like that when I wake up in the morning!

Anyway that's it for today. I hope you are all taking time out for a bit of laziness too.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Summer is slippping away

Well I have goofed off long enough and am ready to get back into the swing of blogging again. I really have missed it and all you lovely people. I can't imagine what you have all been up to while I have been away.

It was a wonderful summer and I am still enjoying it before it quietly slips away. Our little garden beds provided us with all kinds of great things to eat. It is so lovely being able to walk out the back door and go pick what you need for a meal. Yesterday hubby and I harvested over 10 lbs of carrots, already washed, cut up and put in the freezer for those cold winter months when soup and stews are on the menu. The onions were also lifted and are drying in the shed. It is quite amazing how much you can grow in just two tiny garden beds.

I know that you were all expecting to see tons of sewing projects here on this post, well surprise, surprise, I am afraid there aren't any. I don't think I was in my sewing room but a handful of times this whole summer. That's not to say that I haven't been doing anything. On the contrary I have been doing lot's of fun stuff. Take a look at these wonderful Pumpkin Cheesecake bars that I made......or how about this lovely Chocolate Coconut cream cake......just kidding, they are all made of soap!

I am so enjoying becoming a soaper, at least I think that is what we are called. It is funny how you seem to stumble into different interests as you go through life. I never thought I would ever be making soap. I think I am well and truly hooked!

I still will be doing sewing and knitting though, I cannot imagine never doing these again. In fact I am working on a brightly colorful crochet blanket for those cold dreary months that will soon be upon us.

But that will have to wait until my next post.

I am so glad to be back!