Traditional Irish Blessing - E-Water

Traditional Irish Blessing - E-Water

A bit too late for St Patrick's day, but perfect to see any day the rest of your life. Sent to me by a dear friend, who is a gift God recently gave me. Her faith is one of the things that makes her extra special. :)

Grateful to be a Student of April Deconick

Yesterday, April shared her VIP hooking technique with us at the Kirby Hooking Circle. She shared information about her technique for creating her color palette. Her color theory of working with wool is different from McGown. But after a few minutes of explanation, it has me thinking about the wools I'll be using together in a different way.

http://redjackrugs.blogspot.com/2009/12/saint-nicholas-2009-fourth-and-fifth.html shows April's Santa who was the basic design we worked with. My wool stash has lots more shades of brown and gray, and that just didn't seem like a good choice for Santa to me. Which started me thinking. Having seen April's white tiger rug grow over the last couple of months was probably a factor in thinking about wizards AND owls combined into a piece that will be an adaptation of April's design. I've already started to redesign the wizard owl idea into a completely different design on my own, but this first rug is coming along nicely to me.

Currently, I'm in the "turning the pages as quickly as I can" portion of this rug. I can't wait to see how it will turn out. I pulled the wools I generally plan to use and know that the background will be greens, but the rest is still wreathed with mystery... well, that's a bit overly dramatic. But it is still my own adventure finding my way to the end of it. I'm planning on making this one into a pillow, for sale eventually at Discovery Green or in my Etsy shop.

Grateful for local Etsy Artisans of Houston!

Delicious Drips Designer Vinyl Toy Contest Entries


One of the great things about our local Etsy group is meeting other artists! While Jenni, our daughter was one of the original fans of Hello, Kitty, there are several other characters from Sanrio. This contest submission is clever and so well done. If you agree, go vote her creation delicious! Plus Valerie is a peach! ;)

Grateful for a new feature at EQuilter!

EQuilter is one of my two favorite online fabric sources. The fabrics I gotten from them are LQS local quilt store ~ are just that in quality. But they have a wonderful new search feature that really got me excited.

choose a category you like, choose a fabric with a color you like click on the fabric. Now you can view the details of the fabric. NEW FEATURE look to the right of the fabric and at the bottom you'll see a look for this color area. Put the cursor over the color you want to search for. The color will fill in an area with a green button below that says search for this color... Wowzers! That click will take you to a list of fabrics with that color in them. Imagine the ease with which you could find coordinating fabrics from a focus fabric.

While you are there open an account, sign up for the newsletter. They'll send you an email about once a week. Another thing I love about them, is that they donate a % of your purchase, to the cause you select from a list they provide. I usually select the Ocean Conservancy. Some other time might tell you why. But this post is to celebrate this new wonder!

A MILLSTONE OF THE HEART: Something to think about!

A MILLSTONE OF THE HEART: Something to think about!

Thank you, Ginger, for sharing these gems!

Not really grateful for 87 degrees today...

Our temperature rose to 87 degrees this afternoon, at least according to a sign I drove by. It felt every bit that warm, and while I'm tired of cold and rain, a little spring before the bone numbing heat and humidity set in was my heart's desire. Maybe tomorrow will be better!

Grateful for a return to the Sandbox

Today was a beautiful day in the backyard. The sandbox lid came off, we blew bubbles, the duck watering can, watered flowers, pant legs and shoes. There were numerous trips up the ladder of the slide. Her other grandparents gave her a WONDERFUL playset for the backyard at Christmas. It has a tower with tall slide, glider, swing, and even overhead ladder for a few years from now.

The day was nearly perfect, just a touch of humidity, a foreshadowing of what is to come, but not even enough to raise a glow on our skin. Birds at the feeder, a sparrow building a nest in the old Martin house, chickadees, cardinals, a jay, and even a tufted titmouse. Crows calling in the distance. I saw a turkey buzzard on the way home, hopefully that isn't any kind of portent for my future.

Last night was great too. We were out to dinner after Open House at Mothers' Day Out. Grandpa met us at a family friendly restaurant, and who should be sitting next to us, but a former fifth grade student and his family. Last time I'd seen him was when we danced at his wedding. They have 2 lovely daughters, and it was great to see him again. Living in this part of Houston, formerly a small suburb, paths don't cross as often as you might expect. So when a former student, or mother of one stops me to say hello, it really makes me happy.

Grateful for a change in the Weather

The last couple of days have been warmer, and led to more time outdoors. Next week we are forecast to have temps nearly up to 80 degrees. Mixed feelings about that one, but for now it is nice to be able to go out in a short sleeved shirt and capris again.

We were adding petunias to Livvies little garden. They have to survive our amateur gardeners attention for the next week or so, but if they make it through that, they should be beautiful fairly soon. We'll be planting sunflowers, zinnias, and marigolds later.

Two year olds love to dig, and water their shoes and pant legs as much as the plants. But she is getting in on the ground floor of the wonderful magic and blessing contained in seeds and/or plants to set in. For just a small start and a little water the return is much better than most things we set our hands to doing.