This morning at 4:00 am I was woken up with a huge jolt and realized we had an earthquake and it was centered in La Verne the town i live in.  Then about 4:20 am we had a second one 3.8 centered in Pomona a neighboring town. So at 4:30 am I am watching news to learn more.  Rude awakening, my Yorkies slept through it all.  Have had a little time to add gadgets to my blog and will keep posting new photos. This is a paper doll made with satin ribbon and embellished with ribbon and silk flowers.  Made this in a class with Arlene Baker who has a wonderful beading book with a lot of great projects.

I love my new blog that Karen Valentine created for me.  I have been wanting a new site for a long time, and this one is beautiful. I will be posting my pictures to the new site soon.

3 crochet flowers, top one is a 10 petal flower with picots, the middle and bottom ones are the same one done in a multi color thread and a beige color.  Very easy to do, found them on you tube and the instructor is great.

I have crocheted quite a bit and here is a pink shawl, and some pot holders I made for all my family, and I also crocheted around a tea towel and made it into an apron.

It has been 6 months since I last posted but have been busy making socks.  I finally took the plunge and made my first pair, I was so intimidated by socks that I never thought I would make any. But then I found Knit Freedom and they had a toe up pattern for worsted weight and so, I began my sock making, the pattern was easy to follow and since I have made 8 pairs and working on number 9. I love to wear them they feel so good compared to store bought, so that is why I keep making them. Now I can have a pair done in 2-3 days so they knit up quickly.  I am also knitting a mohair throw with 5 colors of yarn and knit with 5 colors at once on size 35 needles so it should go quickly.  Our weather has been cool in the high 50s and mid 40s at night so not too bad.  They keep saying El Nino is coming but we have not seen much of it but are hoping the rains starts soon. I have been so busy knitting and crocheting I have made no time at all for embroidery, but I do miss it so will have to start a project soon. My Yorkies are all doing good and keeping me laughing, love having them around.  When I do not feel good I tell them let’s go nite, nite and the 3 run to the bed and we all take a nap. They love to cuddle in bed and I love having them.  Hopefully I will post much sooner than I did last time.

Summer is here and thank goodness it has not been very hot.  We will be in the 100’s for the weekend but a nice summer so far.

I still have not been well, my Polymyalgia continues and have had a lot of pain, tapered off of Prednisone and for 6 weeks the pain has been awful.  Today they started me on Prednisone again at 10mg hopefully I will get some pain relief.

I am going to be a Great Grandmother again and it’s a Girl.  My daughter asked me if I could make a sweater, hat and blanket and of course I said yes. 

This is the pattern that she picked out and I will be making. I  started the sweater but my hands have been hurting really bad so it’s been hard to continue knitting.  I hope it will be done by December, that is when the baby is due.

I have been busy carding wool to spin, my son-in law made me a new spinning wheel. I printed the instructions from Spin-Olution for their Gypsy wheel but it did not give him much to go on and the directions were so badly written that he had to design a whole new wheel. 

The first two pictures are where I am putting it together after I hand painted front and back of the wheel and the pedals too.  The other pictures are of the wheel all assembled and ready for spinning.  I am so proud of my son in-law who did an awesome job and worked on it for 4 months.

I am carding the wool and preparing it for spinning yarn for socks.  I love wool hand knit socks, so I am adding nylon to my wool which helps it keep it’s shape when knitted into socks.

I am feeling real good again and getting ready for my Granddaughter Jamie’s wedding June 17th. Bridal shower is next Saturday, so it’s getting close. Purchased my gown for the wedding and received it Thursday and what a beautiful job they did, I am real happy with the results.

 This is a Hussif I made in a class with Gloria Mc Kinnon from Australia on one of her visits to the US. This class was where I learned to make a husif and I have made 7 of them. It is so much fun to chose the fabric and all the colors of thread to make them.  Embellishing the outside is almost as much fun as the inside.

 This is a Jacobean piece I am working on, here are a couple of pictures.

A Hussif I made with my favorite color, yellow.  Holds needles and pins and sewing tools. 

 I gave this blanket to my son about 25 years ago, and then I put it away when life’s challenges became to great.

My husband had 3 cancers and prostate cancer took his life at 61 years which I feel was way to soon. I also became ill with Poly Myalgia Rheumatica an auto immune disease that inflames the long muscles of the body which is very painful.

While doing some reorganizing I came across a zippered plastic bag and discovered it was the blanket I promised my son. I took it out and finished working on the embroidery, and when that was finished I sewed the ruffle and the backing on the blanket. I am very happy how this work came out and glad that it is finished. I gave it to my son and he was very happy to get it, so now I can post the pictures of the blanket.

I have been knitting the boyfriend style sweater for months and have finally finished knitting. Now I am blocking it so that I can sew it together. This pattern is called the Dotty Cardigan and designed by Stephanie Jessica Lau. This sweater was knitted with bulky Wool of the Andes by Knit Picks. It is 100% wool and the color is called Fairy Tale. It was an easy pattern to knit, but it is very oversized and long so it took a long time to knit. I will post a picture of the finished sweater once I get it together.