Pretty CQ choker for my niecey!

Finals are over for this semester!!! Woo HOO Only 15 more classes to go, and no thoughts of college until Jan. 5 when we "go back, Jack, and do it again" :-)

In the meantime, I've been trying diligently to finish a CQ choker for my niecy in time for Christmas and am quite please with how it's turning out. I'll post some pictures and then it's off to bed for moi. The first picture is of the "naked" choker. Then, a few of how it looks so far. Do you ever have something that turns out even better than you imagined it in your mind? Then, you know what a fantastic feeling that is. I still have quite a bit to go on it.

Niecy is 16 and into the Vampire stuff. She has actually written a book and has an entire series planned. "The Rose Series", hence the roses on her choker and the colors, red, black, and gold.

The red velvet patch is actually a deep red wine color

So, here's a peek of the beginning and a few of how it looks so far.  

These are some close ups with some embroidery added.
Silk ribbon roses and velvet ribbon trellis

*imperfect* button hole wheels with garnet beads.
 Hand painted heart bead with bullion roses.
Palestrine stitch on far right

Black lace beaded and black velvet ribbon outline.
 (needs a few more beads)

outline stitch in black velvet ribbon

More beading needed on this

A section that needs a little more work, but coming along!!

Thanks for looking. Please comment or leave suggestions, critques. . . all are welcome.

Love, Peace, and Happy stitching!

Karen

Introducing Daisy!! (and my new entertainment center =)

The story of the new kitty. . . well, it started out when she and her brother wandered onto the carport . . hungry. So, of course, I fed them. I think they are the offspring of Manchitas (spanish for little spots). He is the larger black and white cat in the picture whom I "share" with my neighbor boy who has adopted me as his abuelita (little grandma). Anyway, Manchitas has no paternal instinct at all. He couldn't care less. But the two siblings were so cute, I should've gotten a picture. The little boy cat was all white with a pure black tail and four black spots and the little girl was all black with some white. They looked so cute together, like dominoes. Well, he disappeared and I couldn't stand the thought of her out there at night all alone, so I started keeping her in the shed. So, now it is getting a little cold, so I've been bringing her in a little at a time to introduce her to Canyon. Canyon is handling it better than I'd expected, i.e., she hasn't tried to kill her or even attack her. Hopefully, friendship will come slowly.



Daisy



Now, she has a name, Daisy, and last weekend I took her to the vet and got her "fixed" and got her shots, so she is doing okay. They put wires (not staples) instead of the regular sutures, so that was new to me. I take her tomorrow to get them out. She is still sleeping in the shed for now because I'm not sure that Canyon wouldn't be mean to her while I'm sleeping.






Daisy and Manchitas




My "new" entertainment center woo hoo

 On the way to the vet last week, I spotted a yard sale and went back to investigate. The woman had an entertainment center originally marked for $120, but she had marked through it and had $70 on it. I asked her if she would take $50, and she said she'd take $60. Then, I asked hubby if he would like to buy me a combined birthday/Christmas present (we're both short on cash these days), and he said yes!! (my birthday is actually next Sunday). So, I am really excited with my new unit, my first ever entertainment center. I'll post a picture here. It looks really nice in the living room.



I accomplished quite a bit this weekend, and that's always a good feeling. I even did a little cooking and handsewing, so that's like therapy for me. I'm getting to know my new neighbor. She's a very sweet person. We're both "older" college students, and we have enough in common to make it fun getting to know each other. I'm ready for the week ahead and that feels good for a change.

My prayer is that all of my readers will have many blessings this week.

Bye for now,
Karen

Railroad Trestle, Cool and Shady ~ An End of Summer Tribute

Summer ends late in SW Florida. For a very short time of the year it is the most gorgeous weather you could imagine. Then, it gets cold. I know some of you can't imagine Florida as cold, but we do have frosts that kill some of the plants once in a while. I guess my blood has gotten thin in 20 years, but when we get weather in the 30s and 40s, it is a very damp cold, too. Bone chilling. . .

Okay, enough complaining. It's really been beautiful lately.

I was wandering around in my mind trying to think of some nice picture to post. I can't think of anything that is "fallish" to represent the present season, but I though I would share a few picture from an adventure that I took with my young neighbor.

Last summer on an extremely hot day, he and I (he has adopted me as his grandma) took off for a short hike down the nearby railroad track. It was fun to discover an old, low trestle. I took quite a few pictures and some of them turned out pretty good. I'll share them now as an end of summer tribute. 


The trestle





See the cypress knees?


 

Looking down through the tracks


 

 Colorful Lubber Grasshopper



The trestle was a cool, shady, mysterious place with a sandy floor underneath and dripping water. There was a lot of green and mats of tiny flowers. Brown cypress knees poked up, and tiny fish swam in the stream of water. A garden spider sat in the middle of a perfect orb. The dark creosoted wood made a nice contrast with the green ferns and cool water. It was a pleasant oasis on a hot summer afternoon.

CQ TeaCup Challenge

My last blog was about 2 months ago! Where does the time go? Well, into the past I guess. That's the only place it can go! I decided to make a post today because I want to keep this going. I don't want it to become one of my projects that slowly fades off in the sunset.

Where have I been? Well, just busy to say the least. Having "issues" at work. Trusting God to work it out. It must be another exercise in faith. Honestly my time is so consumed between work and college that I am feeling that I've lost a lot of my connectivity to nature and my creative self. Praying on how to remedy all this.

I was able to complete a CQ block over the summer and I'll post some pictures of it here. It was a CQ challenge and contest presented by Nickilee on the HGTV boards. The kit we received contained the teacup, two charms, two pieces of fabric, and a beautiful piece of lace. The challenge was to use them all in the block in any way we chose. My theme was A Cup of Tea in an Oriental Garden. This was my first completed CQ project and I was pleased with it. I say "completed," but there are a few things I would still like to eventually add to it. It will be a wallhanging when completed. Not sure how to re-order the pictures. They're not in the order I wanted. Can anyone tell me how?

Well, I can't put off the homework for my college classes any longer. I have two huge assignments due soon, so off I go!

From Snake Killer to Embroiderer ~ All in the Same Day!

Today was a pretty relaxing day. After I killed the snake, that is. That was a bad choice, but the best one I could make at the time. Our neighbor's cat, Manchitas, (who has become partly my cat) caught a little foot-long snake in the back yard. Upon investigating, I was sure it was a pygmy rattlersnake. It was still slightly alive, but not too active. I didn't want to throw in the brush in our back yard because Manchitas might have gone right back after it. So, I got a garden tool and did it in. I felt really bad doing that because I am a big nature lover, and I really don't mind snakes if they don't pose a threat. Manchitas seems fine, so I'm thinking it was not a pygmy rattler. Surely it would have bit him. Looking back, the snake's eyes were round and his head did not have the triangular shape of most venemous snakes, so the more I think of it, the more sure I am that it was not a pygmy rattlesnake. The remains are in a bottle awaiting hubby's identification of the body. I hope this is not TMI for any of you. I would hate to lose my new followers right at the get go. But I'm hoping you are all nature-loving girls. . . Welll, just in case, I won't post any snake pictures and I'll change the subject.

After the morning excitement, I went into to town, got my hair cut, and ran errands. When I got home I worked on my teacup challenge for the HGTV crazy quilt group I'm in.

Here's two questions:
1.) Are all of you ladies that are following me on the HGTV boards?
2.) Are any of you taking part in the teacup challenge?

This challenge was to use a pretty printed teacup fabric that Miss Nickilee, our fearless challenge hostess, sent us. In the kit there was also a beautiful piece of lace, two other pieces of fabric, and two charms. All of these have to be incorporated in our CQ block. Usually, we post pictures as we go, but this challenge is also a contest, so picture posting is out until after the contest is over. I am soooo excited to be taking part. This is my first challenge and first CQ block that I'll be completing. (I have two more started, but they went on hold.) I'll post pictures here after the contest.

Little baby Canyon

My goals is to always post a picture with my blog posts, but it may not always be on topic. I did find a picture of Canyon dear as a teeny-tiny baby. It's one of those pictures that you get on a disk from a disposable camera, so not sure how the quality will be, but I'll give it a shot. Please excuse the messy old 70s bathroom where I used to live. I made a power point of Canyon for the kids in my class as a project for one of my college classses. If I can find it, I'll put it up another time.

Bye for now,

Karen

Canyon ~ the resident Kitty

Okay, trying to make this a little interesting before I hit the bunk. (I'm up too late again playing with this blog.) It doesn't look anything like the vision I have in my mind, but we'll get there. . . slowly.

Bath time ~ I see that little pink tongue

Here's a picture of Canyon to spice things up. She's about 5 years old now. Her mother delivered her in a pile of salvaged misc that was piled up in our yard (the remains of our Health Food Store stacked on wooden palettes) after Hurricane Charley. Mommy cat was a feral stray and didn't have enough milk for Canyon. She had 2 other kittens in the nest. One died, and we think we interrupted her moving Canyon and a bobbed-tail grey sibling. She never came back for Canyon. She was about 4 days old when I brought her in on a cold, November day. (and yes, it can get cold here in Florida).

She never has fully lost her "wild genes." She's a little skit-zo. She'll go from snuggling in my lap to biting me in a heartbeat. I think her nervous system is underdeveloped; after all, she didn't get mama's milk at the beginning. Just powdered "kitten formula" from WalMart until I read the label that said "for temporary use." Then I went to the vet and got something better.

Anyway ~ where was I . . her nerves . . . her back twitches at times like she has a nervous tic and she can't endure too much touching on her back. I forget that at times when she is snuggled on my lap . . . and have the scars to prove it!

It's weird how she will have her bonding times and places with me. . .like when I'm in the bathroom (inconvenient to say the least; I think it goes back to when I fed her as a baby. She had to live in the bathroom because we had another cat at the time.) Of course, when I return home, we have to bond for a minute. She also likes to sit on my lap when I am on the computer or watching TV, but it is only on her terms. . . .when she wants to! If I try to pet her any other time, I will be sure to be bitten, and not playfully or affectionately. Weird, but I love her. I'm the only person that can hold her at all. I was the first "being" she saw when her eyes opened. Yep! She's pretty special.

Sometime maybe I'll come back and post pictures of her when she was teeny-tiney. Would you like that?

Can you help me with this?

Okay, I am jumping in! My first post. I'm not exactly happy with the way the blog looks, but maybe someone out there can help me. I want to add picture elements from ShabbyBlogs to the About, Archive, Followers areas. I'll try to add one here to show you what they look like:

Ha ha! Looks like I can add one here, but not where I want it! Can you help me move it over there?            <-------

Anyway, I am creating this blog as a place to share my thoughts, reflections, and some of my creative efforts.

Please check back often and watch me evolve. . . .  This should be fun and interesting . . .

Karen