Learning things you never thought would happen...

Learned something  today. The older American Girl dolls are chubbier than the newer ones. So.... no wonder I had trouble getting the jeans to fit. Now I have to find out what doll Kaleigh has. And if I am going to continue to sew for American Girls, should I get another? I of course don't want to spend $$ on one. So if Goodwill gets one in, I'm ready. LOL

I'm a bid sad about that. The originals were shaped like real girls are shaped. I haven't seen a new one to compare, but it is sad that they thought they better skinny them up. Mine is getting loose jointed so may end up going to a doll hospital.

I actually bought a pattern online today. Mostly I have made do with the free ones. Now I find out (because it is a good pattern and says that it is made for the newer dolls) that my poor girl is chubby. I don't think it will make much difference.

The pattern I got was from craftsy. The Juliette Dress

Kaleigh

Working on some American Girl Doll clothes for Kaleigh. I don't have a grand daughter of my own yet, so Suzie graciously offered to loan me her daughter! Since I've been sick I haven't done much, but I did finish a scarf and hat set while traveling to Disneyland. Here's my Molly modeling them.

I did not plan the way the variegated yarn striped. I LOVE it but probably could never duplicate it! I still have a bit of that yarn so might try again. The hat could stand to be a few stitches larger but I think it's really cute.

Kaleigh isn't getting her package until after Christmas unfortunately since that's in two days. I hope to have a few things done tonight.

Christmas Day.... turned out to kind of be wacky, because Kerry is still sick. We went to Jay's but only stayed an hour or so before coming home so he could go to bed. Which left me alone for the evening, again. Sigh. HOWEVER.... finished the jeans, cut out the vest. I love the detail on the jeans. Yes the stitching isn't perfect. Yours wouldn't be either if you were making a less-than-two-inch pocket.

midnight musings

playing with snowflakes in the night. There's a cool snowflake maker on theproblemsite.com  which is a cool site with lots of educational games.

I need to be asleep but sometimes I just need to do something to quiet my mind. These are interesting to do for a bit of distraction. I've been pretty distracted lately and not in a good way. Maybe tomorrow I can sew. That would help. Tonight, the snowflakes helped.

Babies and babies.

This doesn't really look like anything, but it's a nursing cover. Liv and I made three of them today, two for Chandra. and one for her. I also made three baby blankets, two for unborn Jasper and one for JP. Once I figured out the secrets, the blankets were pretty easy, although NOT a 10 minute project like the video said. I do want to make a few more. I have to hurry up with one project for Wyatt, because at the rate I am going it will be summer before it's done. I wanted to be done sooner but oh well.

It felt good to sew. The last blanket was made while sitting on the floor with the sewing machine-- I don't recommend that. But sometimes you just do what you gotta do.  

The King Fire 2014

not my picture. Photog unknown

I see faces in the flames

creepy, demonic ones

like a lion

seeking whom he may devour 

Even in the shape of the fire

there always seems to be a demon

laughing 

at those who try to stop it.

I know I need not fear

The Lord is with me

still I quiver

in the face of such evil...

And yet.

God uses fire to describe Himself

Apart from the evil. 

Wind.... rain... fire...

 both evil and good 

two ends of the spectrum. 

 I  see more 

than just the evil 

here in this mocking fire...

because I know
that GOD

will eventually be

the VICTOR. 

September begins

September already. New photo challenge--will add them as I take them.

 Morning - a picture that is taken in the morning, like you in the mirror when you first get up! Or not!

My dad in the morning. Taken with my phone on "sepia" which I wasn't trying to do. But I liked the way it turned out.

"S" for September - anything that starts with the letter, 'S.'

sedum. And no I have no idea what variety. I used this same sedum once before when it was full of water. I liked that one a lot better. But this one's interesting too.

Sad, smoky sunset... and a reflection in the water running down the street during a drought. In Placerville, lawns are not being watered, everything is brown and tinder-dry. In Lodi, people are still watering with abandon although we have been told to conserve. However, posting this reminded me that there was a hose trickling on the lawn this evening, so better go check and see if I'm being a hypocrite.

Inside out (color-wise) cactus SPINES

right side out cactus spines.

Reflection - we've done this before and it's time to revisit it.

Over My Head - everything from Combinatorics (high math) to the moon and stars.

over my head. This was a surprise. The outside of the tree is dead and brown. It was a shock to see the inside so green. Gave me some hope that the tree might live through this dry, dry spell.   This tree is at Gold Country in Placerville.

this was over my head. But on the window. He begged me to take his picture.

   

otherworld

Having fun with filters on my phone, due to my daughter and HER experimenting. This one is my favorite.

doesn't it look like some kind of alien place? It's just my front fern bed. The driftwood really looks cool.

This has been a quiet Sunday. Started very early with an earthquake, not strong here, but it got my wind chimes going in the front hallway and woke me up. I grabbed my computer to see what I could find out and got the Blue Screen of Death.... so my day was spent running diagnostics, both on my computer and on the one hubby's son gave us that he was having problems with. I found viruses on his, but who knows what was going on with mine, everything came out perfectly and no more blue screen. Makes me nervous though. Was it a fluke, or is the end near for my poor computer?? So that's when I decided to stop focusing on the computer issues and take some pictures. So there you are.

sudsy....

Creativity is sometimes quite odd. My big plan for tonight was to do a journal page. Didn't exactly work out that way. I went into the bathroom and it splashed. I stepped in a puddle. I then looked at the sink and it was overflowing. Not pouring. Just a trickle. But it had obviously been trickling for a very long time. Turns out dear hubby had let the cat have a trickle from the faucet, and because we are in a Drought, plugged the sink, thinking he would come back in a bit and turn the water off. That didn't exactly work out. So my Creative Genius turned out to be How To Empty a Drawer That Is Full Of Water without dumping it all over the floor. Turns out, you can't quite get it out without dumping some of the water. At least this drawer. You have to pull it all the way out and tip it down, which is exactly what you do to Empty a Drawer That Is Full Of Water while dumping it all over the floor. So out came the Towels Fresh from the dryer. At least it was in the bathroom where there are lots of towels. The rugs had already soaked everything up they could. Pulling out already soaked towels made me giggle, as did the Slightly Damp Toilet Paper. and the ten boxes of soap? There were only three that were wet enough to make a slimy mess. I also found some soap I had forgotten about. Pomegranate. Pomegranate? I don't even remember anything about it. Must have been On Sale somewhere, or someone gave it to me?

Oh well.

At least I got the bathroom cabinets deep cleaned.

So what does this have to do with anything? Not a thing. But I have a Creative Excuse for Not Getting an Art Journal page done. But I wasn't planning on procrastinating, at least on that. LOL.

Tomorrow's another day.

Clearing, physically, mentally, spiritually

I tend to feel badly when I haven't kept up like I "ought to" with this blog. I don't promote it and I doubt if anyone but me reads it on a regular basis! Today's accomplishments don't involve UFO's or anything, but I re organized a bunch of stuff, threw some out, and put some aside because I couldn't bear to just throw them away. I think if it was my choice, my whole living room wall would be covered with the art work of my children. Especially James-- which makes sense because he was in public school in the younger years when all his brothers and sister were home schooled those years. Life happens and I still feel a bit badly about two boys having to just jump into school when I didn't think they was ready to do that.  It can't be helped. But James got to do a lot more of that beautiful art work. I ran across some beautiful irises that he drew.

I guess all parents have regrets. We all plan to parent Perfectly and it just doesn't happen. Divorces happen, moving happens. Sad-awful stuff that is never planned. But now we are in a different place, everybody's happily married and some have children. I wish it could have been perfect but you know we had a lot of good times so I'm going to focus on that.

Meantime I am going to be happy that I had the chance to do some rearranging and running into some art work. What I will do with it is unknown today. I guess I will take some pictures, put them in a box, and take them to James. Can't keep everything even though I want to.

Tomorrow will be some more clearing out, and at least 1/2 hour of something creative. Wait! I did do something creative today. Brownies. Not exactly art. But they were pretty yummy.
 

Photo Challenge for August

So. What do this pictures have in common? Hmmm. Might have something to do with a challenge.

The first one is pretty silly. Just the address numbers on the wall of a blue house. But the webs caught my eye. I originally thought that the black dot was the spider, but I think it was Arachnid Dinner. So much for the letter A. But it does look blue, and it's on a wall. Maybe I can rationalize that as fitting the challenge!

I really like this second one. The clouds and reflections are just perfect. The angler in the foreground and his red shirt added just the right amount of color. Taken with my PHONE. Crazy. Sometimes I get good stuff that way. Lodi Lake is also the site of many childhood memories. My mom and I would go swimming there almost every day in the summer. I also spent a lot of time there wandering.

This arrow is just on the road at Lodi Lake. I've been thinking a lot about camera angles to make the picture more interesting. It did kind of make it the focal point of the picture....

San Francisco always holds childhood memories, we went there every few years. Pier 39 is of course a more modern commercial thing and we didn't go there. The flag shows how windy it was that day, A lovely cool respite from the valley heat.

The owners of the place my parents live have decided to Upgrade their landscaping. This was a pretty grouping.My thinking always goes to things getting stolen. There's been other stuff taken from the public courtyard. these are pretty pots.Sigh. It isn't my problem of course. I just remember things getting stolen off the porch when I lived in Stockton.

New construction in San Francisco. There's the angle thing again, it makes it interesting. And notice the accidental letter A down in the corner. :)

isn't recognizable. But it's blue.

Another site of childhood memories. And lots of As. I also have spent time in the Art and Artists store. In high school, the A&W was a favorite teen hangout. Seems to me the same people still hang out there.

The beautiful blue sky and clouds reflected in the water at Lodi Lake. The Muscovy (?) adds a bit of movement and color.

This automobile was part of a display at a store in Lodi. Its shiny blue-purple-silver paint caught my attention.

I can imagine myself driving this one. Snazzy yet elegant. I can also imagine the gas mileage but it sure would be fun. 

Another beauty. This one's for sale if you can find it! It's at Street Rods Plus on  Cluff St. in Lodi. 

Back to San Francisco. Cupid's Bow (and Arrow!) at the edge of the Embarcadero.

So now I get to choose three to submit to the challenge. I'll probably take some more pictures before then though.  It's been a hard year. I haven't entered much. But hey it's ok. At least I got some taken this month. ;)

The challenge:

- "A" for August -  Let us see something that begins with the letter, "A."  

- Reminds Me of Childhood -   Toys, vintage photos, places, faces, etc.

- Something Blue -  I think we've done this before, but let's do it again.

- On the Wall -  Have fun shooting outside or inside. Just make sure your subject is on a wall.

Drawing and Assorted Things

found some free drawing tutorials. I decided to start with free so I can tell if I will pursue this. I'm getting Old for starting this stuff. And I am always better at the Starting than the Continuing. I figure, whatever I end up learning will be good. It isn't that I am starting from scratch, exactly, it just has been DECADES since I took any art classes. In the past I have taken, Intro to Art, Art Applications (we explored many types of art) Drawing.... and studied calligraphy for awhile too. Today I found the lessons, tomorrow I start. Or tonight maybe. Hard when hubby is now Retired. I just don't want to do this when he is watching or even in the room, LOL..... guess that makes me a little wacky. Drawing Videos

The wackiness is... that I start things I don't finish. Not altogether bad to get excited about the new. I'm still crocheting, still zentangling. I want to do more than just Cleaning and Watching Television and Getting Lost on the Computer. I'm working on the UFO stuff, but also must do something different. So I make myself work at least 1/2 hour on a UFO before I do Something Different. So far, so good. I am also letting go of some UFO's that I no longer love, and don't want to finish. I figure, I haven't worked on it for a year, maybe I should let it go. I un-knitted a partially finished project that I didn't really like in the first place. I actually put some yarn in the Out Pile. Gave some to my mom. Have a pile for my daughter.

A quote I liked... “Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.”
– Vernon Howard

Thinking a lot about the accumulation of the Assorted Things of life. There is so much I can purge that I won't miss, and some that I would miss but love the space more! Finishing Things and letting them go out the door is sure a good start. The good thing about Drawing is no more supplies to get. Maybe some drawing pencils or a new eraser. I am planning on making Joyous Mistakes. And Happily Erasing.


Thinking so much today about the people all over the world in the middle of war. Just can't stop the thought of beheaded little children and their killed parents.... because they won't convert to Islam. The article said 95% of people would not convert, and 5% converted. Mostly, they were killed anyway. My heart goes out to all of them. I wonder when it will be like that here....  hopefully never.
Makes all the agonizing over Stuff seem so trivial.

“Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold (or more crafting supplies??), all that you need is in your soul.”
  Lynyrd Skynyrd

Sweetie

My main creativity for the last few days involve singing silly songs, making faces, dancing with and otherwise being occupied by a certain sweetie. I have been zentangling, but nothing noteworthy, or worthy of being shared. I have also spent a bit of time at my son in law's keyboard, making bad music. It was limited to trying to sight read stuff I used to know. Very sad, but inspiring to get back to regular playing.

Going back home tomorrow, sadly, will miss my daughter and my son in law. And the sweetie. As every grandma knows, mostly the sweetie.

Nothing against you, darling daughter or spectacular son in law. But there's nothing better than snuggling with your sweetie...

Pictures! I took lots of them. This one's my favorite. For now. 

stretchy fun

 I got a Cra-Z Loom super loom ( I am not advertising Toys R Us) and have been experimenting. You can make a very wide bracelet with this, and they advertise making banners and such; I don't know about that, but you can hook them together and make big rubber fabric. I don't want to do that, but I've been making bracelets again. I've given away LOTS of them but don't know what to do with all of them, LOL

My favorites are the beaded ones. I already gave away the first one. :)

Yarny stuff

All done. I ended it with a shell stitch border. I like it. Originally I was going to donate this somewhere but I love the colors so right now it is on my bed. :) I can't seem to take its pictures so the colors are not somewhere near true... yes I have a better camera. Somewhere. Being a casual blogger not worried about What Anyone Thinks, oh well. I can look at it and know what color it is. LOL

Next up. I've been going through my stash. Yesterday I saw that my Old Faithful yarn is being discontinued. Lately it's been rough textured anyway and Lorna gave me some Caron Simply Soft and it is just that, simply soft! Mom has been making a blanket with it and it is lovely. She also gave me some sparkly stuff but only one skein each-- and they have that in the store now, so if I want to make something bigger than one skein worth, I can. I saw Lorna has a pattern I want to try... well lots of them, but this one especially caught my eye. Short Row Shawlette I'm thinking that would look cute in that sparkly stuff. I am not endorsing the seller; never bought from them, LOL it's just the first clear picture I found. I think the pattern is simple enough for even me but I'll start it at my mom's or maybe I should have lunch with Lorna soon. 

I have always been a Simpleton where knitting and crocheting is concerned; patterns intimidate me. Dive in, right? Maybe my relatives will even get some yarny gifts. Don't hold your breath. LOL

AND.... drum roll. I finished a UFO I had forgotten about. All I had to do is weave in ends, LOL but hey it counts....