Tolentreasures

These are two of the most labor-intensive, time consuming items that I have on my list of items that I want to get done before St. Patrick's Day. I have really been working on them the last few days. Everytime I sit down I try to get a few rows on one of the them, but..... I was at Michael's last evening and I bought the yarn and needles to make socks. That is my new project for Knitting Night this week. I know that I was not going to start anything else but I HAVE to have a project for Knitting Night and what if I get this sweater done before then and have nothing to knit? Always good to be prepared.

The painting in this post is going to confirm the ADD that keeps appearing as I get older. It is just all-over the place. My MIL was throwing these plaques in the dumpster when I just grabbed them and thought that I could so something with them, (does that get me points for being green?) They are plastic and were white and gold. I sprayed them and then painted them black and drybrushed colors on them. They have metallics brushed here and there, but you can't see that in the picture. Ok, I have two more of them if anyone sees these and thinks,"Where can I get a set of those for myself?" Does anyone think that? The other two are a little bit different design but you too could take advantage of painting and having these great works of art hanging in your home. I am not painting them for you, but I will give them (send them) free of charge to anyone that wants them. Can't beat a freebie! This is for a friend's son 12th birthday. Tina, I know that John rea...

I seem to be stuck on P's right at the moment. These were the weekend project at my house. My mom and dad came here on Saturday with the plans to do a marathon and get these tops...and more done. The "and more" are laying all over my sewing room right now and bothering me. My mom has so much leftover fabric and to be fair, she did have most of the blocks cut and several of these finished or started before she got here. We really worked on them to get the rest finished. The Ladies Missionary Society at our church makes these into lap robes and small quilts and distributes them to various places. These will now go to them and they will add the backing and tie them. I don't like the furniture in that room and these really look much better than the furniture, don't you think? As I was sewing I kept throwing a lot of the pinks and blues and baby colors aside, they are now laying in piles all over the room. I had enough to do start this nine patch and there...

Full fledged panic! That is what I went into this morning when I could not find my camera! It was reminiscent of Friday and Saturday when I had no internet service. When did I get this addicted to technology? Luckily my husband remembered that he had set it up in a kitchen cupboard when the two adorable, but very active little boys arrived at our house on Sunday night. I needed it to take the pictures of the packages that I received in the mail over the weekend. Ann at A Hole in the Basket sent this adorable doll to me as a prize from her procrastinator's challenge. It is sitting on the hearth right now and fits there very nicely. Thank-you Ann! Laurie at Buttons and Lace sent this package of yarn to me for the Haitian Ladies in the Dominican Republic. I am considering this "seed" to start the collection. I have a closet in a guest bedroom that is almost empty and my goal is to fill it up before the next trip in January! Thanks so much Laurie, I really apprec...

In the middle of all the things that I needed/wanted to get done, there was this huge procrastination with all the painted items that are in my basement that have no home. Technically they are only "renting" the space in my basement and one of the "landlords" of the house (that would be my husband) is getting real tired of the clutter in the basement. One man's junk....you know the saying! I used to sell online at another venue and the prices and fees kept going up and finally I decided that it just was not worth it. After discovering Etsy, I kept it in the back of my mind for quite some time. After beginning to blog...I realized how many of you have Etsy shops and kept thinking that might be a creative outlet for all the "renters' in the basement. So here goes....another item off my procrastinator's list! If any of you experienced Etsy users have ANY advice, I would gladly accept any or all hints, tips, anything! Now off to list some more! ...

Ok, it is only a dishcloth, but it was started! and now finished. These are the most fun things to work on right now, they are like instant gratification, but for now they are going to be put aside to get some of these other items finished, (well maybe just ONE more...) I wanted to try these little purses that I found the pattern for online. I have so many scraps of this fun fur yarn and thought that these would make cute little purses, now to find some little girls that would like them. This sweater has been laying in my sewing room waiting for inspiration. I had folded and pinned it so many times trying to figure out how to make it into a purse/tote bag. The other night a friend of mine picked it up and folded it just so and there it was! A way I had not even thought of.....how nice fresh eyes are on a project! Thanks Carol! And this is what I made with it. She suggested using the bottom of the sweater as the top of the bag. I cut the holes for the handles and blanket stitch...

I am my mother after all. Or I can title this "Valentine's Day to St. Patrick's Day challenge. When the bulk of my crafting revolved around decorative painting I did not have UFO's (UnFinished Objects for those of you who would never dream of not finishing things) but now that I have made the leap back into all things fabric, I have stuff started EVERYWHERE! I could never understand how my normally, super-organized, clean, mother could have all those projects started everywhere! Now I did not get the super-organized or the clean (or the skinny) genetics from her, obviously, but apparently I have the genetic to start everything and have it laying everywhere in my sewing/craft/yarn room. I even have painted projects that need finished also, mostly because I just want to sit and knit...or spend too much time running around here lately. This morning I cleaned up my sewing room and organized and counted....I am embarrassed by the number...I had to actually go find bas...

Wow!!! Three projects finished yesterday! and only two more started...shouldn't that be considered gaining on the problem? I found this pattern...or something similar to it in an old stack of quilting magazines that my Mom gave me. I love to do scrappy circle pennies but sometimes these "planned" ones are hard for me, they are not as relaxing as the circles, but certainly more rewarding when they are finished. This sweater was a favorite of mine, just an inexpensive acrylic sweater, but the one that I grabbed that worked for everything and the color was good for me. Unfortunately in my excited quest for pine cones on a trip through the woods, I pulled my sweater into a pouch and threw them in. Pine sap EVERYWHERE! What was I thinking? I salvaged this much for a little pillow, there is still some left...I'll add it to the stash! This was my first attempt at needle felting and I loved it. I did this quite awhile ago and just finally finished it into this pillow. Now t...

Yesterday would have been my Memaw's 109 birthday. She was born February 13, 1900 and in 1913, she was 13 on the 13th. It was so easy to keep track of her age because she followed the years on the calendar. Memaw left this world in 1983, I was pregnant with my second daughter. She was feisty right to the end and was only sick for a brief time. I write this post surrounded by some of the yarn projects that I have started because Memaw is the person that taught me the love of yarn and crocheting, her teaching skills were great but knitting sort of escaped me until recently. As a little girl I always remember her riding the city bus to our house, she would call and tell us that she was coming and a little while later, my sister and I would cross the street and stand at the bus stop and wait for her. As soon as she would get to our house she would round the corner into the dining room and reach under her dress, make a few quick unhooks and pull off her girdle and hose in one motion. ...

No pictures today...is it Wednesday? Thursday? day? night? Since Sunday morning when we discovered a flood in our normally dry basement, we have been pumping the water out every 45 minutes to one hour around the clock. While I am trying to remain optimistic, my optimism is wearing thin. Sunday morning right before leaving for church we discovered the water problem, we had kept our friends' "children" overnight and we attributed the water problem at the time to maybe a backed up pipe. After all, it had been four years since we had that many people showering and flushing in our house. As a side note, it had been many years since we had four teenagers in the house and it was so much fun to have them! John stayed home from church and the kids and I went to church. Now just a another little side note of Murphy's Law. I left my purse at church after asking my MIL and my daughter and SIL and granddaughter to go to lunch with us. Now here I am sitting at the restau...

I would like to try something, not sure if it will work or not but here goes. I am going to offer this butter churn for silent auction. The proceeds of the sale will be used to buy knitting and crocheting supplies for the Haitian women in the Dominican Republic. So here's how we'll work this...you can post a price that you will pay for this on a post and I will leave it open until Sunday at which time the highest bidder will be notified that they have "won" the butter churn. If you help me out and mention the auction on your blog, should you win, I will pay the shipping to you. For accountability sake, I will post what I buy with the money on my blog. I hope to start a suitcase of items to take next winter. I would actually like to fill several duffle bags with items for the ladies so if this works, I may have some more "treasures" to offer.

Yesterday morning I searched through all the old magazines that I have until I found some patterns for crocheted flowers. I made these up yesterday, some with crochet cotton and some with perle cotton. Who would've thought that you could crochet with that? When I started making penny rugs, I bought a ton of perle cotton and did not like using it for the penny rugs. Not sure what I am going to do with these, but they are fun to make, every one is different. Natalie and Tins and Treasures shared her spoon collection and that jogged my memory that I had a thimble collection somewhere in a bin in the attic. Yesterday morning, since it was warm here I went on a bin searching expedition and I found them and hung them over my sewing machine. It is the first time that I have had a sewing room in years. I also found these scarves that I had crocheted a long time ago and they only needed blocked. I'll be adding them to the bin of hats and scarves that are looking for a home som...

Oh, the things that I could do. Would I procrastinate and not do anything as I have heard so many people say that are staying home? I don't think so but I really don't know. All I know now is that when I get a few hours off in the afternoons as I did this week, I accomplished so much at home. Well to tell the truth, the house is not really clean, but I love making these dishcloths. I learned how when I was in the Dominican and now I am hooked on making them, I guess that I'll put the hats and scarves aside for a little while and make these. Luckily there was a huge spool of the cotton yarn in my aunt's stash that I received. They will all be the off-white color but I also learned that to make them stronger you can add crochet cotton to them. I tried that on one but kept dropping the cotton. Maybe if I try it in a color I will be able to see it better. I found this pillow top that I had put together many years ago (well actually about 2 moves ago for a bedroom in a hou...

Ran into Goodwill really quick last night after WW. Could I justify that guilty pleasure as my reward for my 1 pound weight loss? I found these three little wood pieces for .49 each. They struck my immediately as perfect additions to the princess' toy room. I could "see" them painted! Started them first thing this morning. And here they are done....minus the varnish. I caught them midflight on their way to the basement where they will receive the varnish. This is the results of my three bags full of wool, all cut up and neatly stacked, well almost. At Goodwill last night a jumper, skirt, jacket and sweater just jumped into my cart also. I want to make a purse from the sweater, it is still formulating in my mind. Any patterns, links or ideas that anyone would want to share would be greatly appreciated! I started this scarf in the airport in Pittsburgh and finished it on the way home on the plane. While I was in the Dominican I found out that some women from an...

This is the painting that I did for my granddaughter's toy room. I could not show it until after the party was over. My daughter is making nursery rhyme stitcheries for in the room that are going to be so nice! Can't wait to show those off when she gets them done!

I did not take near as many pictures as I should have on this trip, but I am sure that I will get some from the other people on the trip. We had a very successful trip and saw God working in so many lives. It was great for me to visit and catch up with people that I have met on trips in the past, both Dominicans and Americans and see how well they are doing. I painted some but the murals were beyond my talents. I am not a people painter. I was able to help out and do some lettering on projects. There are always so many stories to tell and I never know where to begin....or end. Part of our group did Vacation Bible Schools and part built a house for a family. Our church was able to fund an addition on the Compassion school that is located there and we were also to deliver bags of food for 75 families in a Haitian Village. We had a baptism service in the river near the center where we stayed and it was an amazing moment to be a part of. I have never seen a baptism anywhere except inside a...