Hands To Work

Ladybug Lily

Here is Lily dressed up for Halloween.  With an added accessory.   The tradition lives on...she's as crazy as the rest of us!  Oh yeah, we are proud.

Happy November!

 

Saturday at home

We are just hanging out at home today.  It's beautiful...about 75 degress and the sky is the most awesome shade of clear blue.  Love it!

Lily and Elisabeth are spending the day with us.  Lily loves to be outside.  Especially with dogs.  And she loves the camera.  Can you tell?

Chuck had to clean up the yard since Chloe and Betty spent the week.  I'm sure you can imagine.  Well, Lily couldn't be happy until she helped her Poppa.  I know.  Not our finest moments as grandparents.  She carrid around a bag while Chuck filled it up.  She would pul it up over her shoulder like a purse.  Yeah, we know how to have fun around here!

Look at this beauty!  Betty is just about the sweetest dog I have ever known.  I love her.  Lily loves her.  Betty LOVES Lily.  And Helen.  I would keep her all the time if it wasn't for the slobbering, drooling, muddy footprints, shedding and lots of gas.  Eeeewwww.

Here is Helen.  She is getting so big.  He goal in life is to pee on each blade of grass and chew up anyting in her path.  Today it was the rabbit water bottle that was ready to go in the trash.  Usually she finds things that don't belong in the trash until she is done with them.  Sigh. 

Miss Lily is going to be 22 months old on the 21st.  She is growing up so fast.  Her voculary is unbelievable.  She spends a lot of time with adults and it shows.  She repeats everything and I mean EVERYTHING she hears.  That can be a problem. 

I need to get the sweeping done and finish up the designs for Shelley's retreat in a few short weeks.  Have a great one!

t 

 

 

 

 

Hello There!

Firstly, I want to thank everyone so much for their kind and caring thoughts about Chuck over the last few weeks.  He is wonderful.  As a matter of fact, he and Lily took Hellion (oops, Helen) to her vet appointment this morning.  I'm waiting to hear how that went.  I can only imagine. 

I posted on facebook the other day about Chuck and Helen.  It went something like this:

Helen was in her crate all day.  Helen pooped in her crate.  Helen peed in her crate.  Helen played in the poop and pee in her crate.  Helen made poop soup in her crate.  Chuck got home from work first!  LOLOLOL!  What a man.  He had everything cleaned up when I got home and other than a few swipes with a rag and a few squirts of FeBreze, I did nothing.  That is true love!

Anyway, sometimes when I have extra time to goof off I read blogs.  Oh so addictive.  Pam has the cutest face, the cutest blog and the happiest art projects.  She recently talked about her camping tablecloth (post is almost at the bottom of page) which is super cute and happy and nice.  She brought it up again today and I laughed out loud.  Because it makes me think of camping underwear.  Do you know about that story?

When Courtney was about five or six, she went with me to a lingere party.  Remember those?  Lots of "foundation garments" and at the end of the show the lady brings out the naughty garments.  After showing black lacey bras and skimpy panties, she whipped out a pair of undies with a zippered crotch.  Courtney was fascinated.  What are those??? she demanded to know.  I did what any mother would do in that situation.  I lied.  Well Courtney, those are camping underwear.  The zipper is to help if you have to pee in the woods.  She bought it.  No more questions.  Whew!

Fast forward to her first year of marriage.  She was 21 years old.  Had been away to school.  In South Carolina.  At Coastal Carolina University where many girls hit the strip clubs for extra money.  Adele, Courtney's mother in law invited Courtney and John to go camping with her and the rest of the family.  Courtney eargerly accepted.  Man, I wish I had some of those camping underwear! she exclaimed.  Camping underwear? Adele asked.  So Courtney patiently explained what they were.  Imagine Adele's surprise at Courtney's naivtivity.  And sweetness.  And how lucky her son was to be married to a special girl.  Who didn't know what zippered undies were for!

And now for a happy picture of Lily.  We went to a BBQ place the other night and the best thing they had was the concrete pig in the parking lot!  Lily loved that pig.

It's been a while...

Well I wish I could say that I've been traveling and designing so no time to post. But the reality is that Chuck has been in the hospital three times this month. He was admitted again yesterday and is waiting now to go downstairs for a cardioversion. That involves the docs putting him to sleep and shocking him into normal sinus rhythm. He won't feel a thing thank goodness! I will let you know how things turn out. I hope that he gets to go home this evening. Talk later,
Tracy

Do You Etsy?

I have found another great way to waste my time and empty my wallet...a fun little place called Esty.  I LOVE it.  Here are some of the most beautious things I have purchased:

  A cool skirt pattern from The Needle Shop .

  Vintage bangles from See Jayne Knit.  These are part of Elisabeth's birthday present.  Shhh, don't tell!

Look at this beautiful yarn from  Wool Candy.  Yummy colors!

    

Found this lovely vintage blouse for Courtney (who hasn't worn it yet).  Isn't it so pretty? You can find lots of cool things from  graceandartantiques.  

That's all for now.  Since I hadn't posted in so long thought I would tempt you to spend a little money with me.  I will try to post some new pictures of Helen if I don't kill her first!  She is trying my patience.

tracy 

Big and Little

 

John is big.  Lily is little.

 

Lily's hair is big.

 

Lily's dog  is little.

 

Gardening is a big job.

 

Gardening is a little tiring!

The end of big and little.

Jonathan

 Jonathan DaDalt, ten year old son of my cousin Kathy fought his cancer long and hard but left this world on Monday.  Finally he rests in the arms of our Father.  We are going to Rhode Island on Friday morning to be with family and say goodbye to a tough little guy. 

So many of you have followed Jonathan's fight over the years and asked often about him.  I wanted to let you know that it was so appreciated.  Please keep Kathy, Pete, his little sister Alyssa and baby Benjamin in your prayers as they will be going through so many emotions and a lot of heartache. 

Easter Weekend

 Chuck and I spent the weekend visiting his brother and family and his mom.  We stayed with MIL and she fed us and fed us and fed us.  I consumed more starch from Friday through Sunday than I usually have in six months.  I'm still full.  We had a marvelous time catching up on all the family gossip...and eating.  I felt ashamed that we hadn't been there since Christmas!

The above picture is a woman holding a dog and they live in Fairmont WV (where we were).  I wish I could entertain you with family photos but guess who forgot her camera.  This was the best I could do....a picture from the Fairmont Times/WV.  Hey, at least it's from the same town.  We can pretend that the blonde lady is my long lost cousin that happened to be in Fairmont for Easter and we hooked up at church discussing our love of dogs and WV. 

I'm stopping by the grocery store on my way home to pick up various items to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  Elisabeth asked me to fix dinner for her and her new boyfriend this evening.  I have a problem saying no.  Even though I found myself digging to the back of the closet this morning trying to find a pair of jeans that would still fit as nothing is clean.  Well, nothing that still fits me is clean.  I'm not ready to tell you who the boyfriend is but after a week or so if all goes well then I will spill the beans. 

Did you see Alma's poston dyeing chenille trim?  Geesh, even when she's dumping Rit dye in a jar she takes the time to make it look sweet and wonderful.  Wonder if she ever forgets to wipe up toast crumbs from the counter or uses paper cups....  Anyway,  she then went on to make springerle cookies and the pictures were lovely and I've already checked out the link as I'm sure I need to make cookies like that as well!

Happy Monday!

Scenes from my drive every day

  I've been wanting to take some pictures of the beautiful country that I drive through every day on my way to and from work.  I snapped a quick picture through the car window the other day of down town .  I wanted to remember how awesome the flowering trees have been this year.  What I need to do is take the time to stop and snap pictures of some of the farm houses, stone fences and grazing horses. 

Chuck and I will be going to WV for the Easter weekend to see his family.  We've been the bad relatives...haven't been home since Christmas.  I'm looking forward to seeing family.  I'm hoping to catch my sister at home while we are there.  She's always on the run and we haven't connected in a while.  Playing phone tag a lot.

Did I mention that I have become absolutely obsessed with knitting?  I can't stop.  I learned to knit last year...the year before.  I can't remember.  Anyway, I found it very frustrating.  I'm not one to start with an easy project.  I want to dive right in which wasn't such a great idea.  I picked it up again this winter and I'm getting it now.  I've knitted several pairs of socks and am finishing up a sweet little coat for Miss Lily.  Unfortunately it won't be ready for Sunday but she's at her Daddy's all day anyway so I wouldn't get to see her in it.  I'm done with the knitting and am putting it together which isn't nearly as much fun as the knitting part!  I will show a picture when it's done.  I've learned quite a bit about how to improve during this project so therefore I'm not completely satisfied with the finished or should I say almost finished product.  I think I will make it again but change the yarn the second time around.  I used this and didn't really enjoy working with the cotton.  Here is how it should look when finished... I know that's a tiny picture but trust me, it's super cute.  My mom crocheted the flowers that go on the front. 

Speaking of super cute, this is super cuteness squared: 

Have a lovely weekend!

Catching Up

  this is what I was thinking about almost 17 months ago....waiting for a sweet little baby to fill our home with adorableness, wonderful (and not so wonderful) smells, cries and coos.  And what a blessing she has been to us.  We were so worried about what might happen....all the What If thoughts crowding out happy thoughts.  And then she arrived. And grew and grew and filled our hearts with laughter and joy which pushed all the worry away.  She and her monmy moved out two weeks ago.  How quiet the house is now.  I don't see her every day.  Chuck and I are learning to live without anyone else in the house for the first time in 28 years.  I'm so lucky to have gotten to spend so much time with my Lily girl.  It's time for Elisabeth to step into that full time roll of mothering and she's doing beautifully.  I'm so proud of her. 

This is Maggie.  We lost her to old age and bad hips a little over a month ago.  She would be 13 this month.  I am so missing her.  She was unable to get up the stairs for the last year and stayed in the living or family rooms unless she had to go out.  I'm still listening for her tail to rustle against the carpet when I walk into the house.  Expecting to hear her whine with anticipation of a meal.  Watch her faithful friend Pansy (one of our cats) clean her face and sleep with her.  My heart is empty. 

So with all these changes I have some decisions to make.  What are we going to do with the extra bedrooms?  Should we take down the glow in the dark stars on the ceilings?  Should I start unbaby proofing the house?  What am I going to do about designing?  That's a hard one.  I've been a sluggish designer ever since I found out Elisabeth was expecting.  Now I'm working full time and driving an hour each way to work.  Do I have any creative juices left?  I'm not sure.  So I think I'm going to take some time to enjoy my time....stitch when I want, knit when I want, leave the house when I want.  Spend more time with my husband.  Revamp my office and finally have a sewing room that I don't have to share with guests, a computer, hundreds of charts and baby toys.  I am so happy when I get a note encouraging me to continue to design.  I think I will.  We'll see.  I have a few classes to teach this year but won't be taking on any new commitments for now.  I also will not be able to fill any orders other than those requested by shops and distributors. 

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I'm such a lucky girl....I have too many friends to even count!  I'll continue on with the blog but I'm shrugging off the guilt and enjoying what comes next!