Mar29
Monthly Archives: March 2015
Mar29
About Mama’s House
When my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012, she told me she was leaving me her most valuable possession, her house. She asked that I not sell it and not rent it. She hoped that I would move there. It’s a ranch house, and I made it fairly accessible when she shattered her ankle in 2006. My husband has MS, and she thought it would be a good place for us. She reminded me that it was part of Daddy’s family homeplace, (great-grandparents buried in a family graveyard nearby,) and he said it should stay in the family. I suggested my brother should have it, since he bears that family name, but she said he’d sell it, again letting me know she didn’t want it sold.
My husband wasn’t, and still isn’t, interested in moving there. What to do?
Enter Susan Sorrell. I had seen her on one of the craft shows I watch, probably Quilting Arts. I loved her work and was delighted to find she was from South Carolina. I started following her blog, Little House Art Studios. I was also jealous of Susan Sorrell because she had inherited her grandmother’s house and turned it into her craft studio! Bingo!
I have since friended Susan on Facebook and let her know she is the inspiration for what I’m doing with my mother’s house! I’ll also let her know I’ve blogged about her.
Mama’s House is only two miles from my current house. It is right next to the old community school I attended as a child and where I later taught for 25 years. It’s located in the middle of my peeps and my kids! Perfect!
To be fair, Mama left what little money she had to my brother, and my daughter, her only grandchild. Now what to do about restoring and maintaining the house? I had some ideas about that, too, which I’ll blog about in a future post! Till then, K<3.
Mar19
Just in time for Easter!
I just finished this glass gem necklace and posted it on the page, I Made This by Hand on Facebook. Look there for more details. It’s my first listing!
Mar15
Door Prize!
On my way home from babysitting in Charlotte, NC, I stopped by the Charlotte Quilter’s Guild Quilt Show. One thing I love about the Charlotte Quilters is they give you a prize, just for coming in the door! (As it should be, right?) A table near the door was laden with goodies like spools of thread, buttons and fat quarters. You choose your own!
I chose this fat quarter (a quarter yard of fabric cut 18″ x 22″ so it’s “fat” enough to use in many applications instead of being one long quarter yard strip. (I guess those are called skinny quarters, but I don’t really know!)
It’s green and has leaves. ‘Could be very useful!
Mar15
A New Magazine
I couldn’t resist a quick trip into Hobby Lobby as I passed through Mooresville, NC on Thursday. I couldn’t resist buying a copy of this magazine, either. I figured it was a cheaper (not much) knock off of my beloved, “Where Women Create,” but I was pleasantly surprised. There are Q and A’s with each crafter, of course, with sources for the storage items (or similar), and instruction for a simple project from each maker. The photos were all glossy and bright, too, unlike my photo of the cover!
I’ll take this down to Mama’s House and add it to my library. I am working on that library! I bought a monitor to go with my old Dell computer I moved down there. I hooked it up, and it worked! Now I’ve just got to get it mounted on its stand. (It’s surprisingly heavy!) My old keyboard and mouse look awful, so I need to shop for new ones. That should be a fairly inexpensive fix. I will report back.
Mar11
Well, Looky Here!
and it brought along a friend!
I think crocus are the perfect Easter flower! I love how they pop right out of the dead and the brown and the gray! That top photo should make a good image for my glass gems. Not bad for an IPhone 5 camera (I’m so ashamed, I don’t have the 6.)
I’m also curious. Saffron, a very expensive spice, is simply the dried stamens of crocus. Every year, I say I’ll save some and don’t. Maybe this year!
Mar11
Speaking of Spring!
Once upon a time, I don’t know how long ago, I found, and I don’t remember where, some beads that reminded me of Easter eggs and jelly beans. So, I made a bracelet:
I think the beads are dyed agate. They are simply strung on clear stretchy cord, and the knot secured with clear nail polish.
I dug it out, yesterday, and wore it with an aqua top. I wasn’t going anywhere special, just to pick up groceries and a pizza, but it just made me happy to wear it!
Mar10
Knitted Beaded Bracelets
The day that my granddaughter, Vivien, was born, I attended the annual Needle Arts Extravaganza in Statesville, NC. There I discovered, “Friends and Fiberworks,” yarn vendors from Candler, NC (near Asheville.) I bought a kit for this knitted bracelet from them. The design is by Beth Todd and you can buy her pattern on Craftsy, or a kit from Friends and Fiberworks.
The kit came with yarn, beads, clasp and instructions. It knit up fairly quickly, and I enjoyed bringing a bead up with every stitch. I even enjoyed pre-stringing the beads.
The only thing that was difficult was making myself knit in the back of the stitch.
I enjoyed it so much that I bought other colors of thread and beads and made another.
After I finished the pink one, I went a little nuts buying #6 seed beads and matching threads. I had a teal colored bracelet all but finished, dropped it, and it unraveled almost to the beginning. After that, I lost interest and turned my attention to my next obsession, glass gems!
Mar10
Dharma Catalog!
The Dharma Trading Catalog has just arrived! It’s full of clothing blanks for dyeing, including little cotton knit rompers and bubbles for my granddaughter!
Mar5
Pinterest just got Better!
How I love it! They have a new little “pinning” gadget, tonight. I like it. Here’s something I pinned:
No, excuse me, I love the new gidget. When you choose a pin, you are presented with a text box that includes a flashing cursor, and a scroll list with the 3 boards you used last, followed by a list of the rest of your boards. The good part is you can start typing the name of the board you choose and it pops up, without having to scroll through the whole list! This is something I had suggested to them in a post a long time ago. They tried something similar for a while and then took it away. I assumed people didn’t like it. Either that, or you could pin so fast it crashed their server! I’m so glad it’s back! I love Pinterest, but do not enjoy scrolling through all 79 of my boards when I choose something to pin! Hurray!