Colourful Crochet Inspiration

Here is some amazing crochet work to look at today that I seen yesterday on Twitter: Rainbow Crochet

It's a beautiful colour feast for the eyes!  Even though I can't crochet right now, I'm still looking around for ideas and inspiration for when I'm able to again.  I can't help myself, I need yarn in my life in one way or another!

xoxo,

Raili

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

FIVE...songs I've been enjoying this week: Good Day Sunshine, When I'm Sixty-Four, I've Just Seen a Face, Can't Buy Me Love, & You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, all by the Beatles.

FOUR...things I'm thinking about: The first and second world wars (long story), embroidery floss, hexagons, & memories.

THREE...exciting things: There's a new baby in our family (my cousin had an adorable baby girl), the weather finally feels like summer, & I just found out my sister is coming to stay with us for a week next month while she teaches VBS at camp.

TWO...favourite blogs: Wild Olive & Anna Maria Horner.

ONE...thing I will do today: Have a shower.

I got this idea from the Wild Olive blog and I thought it was fun. Want to play along?  Think of 5 things to list and either leave a link to your blog or share you list in the comments!

xoxo,
Raili

Rather Blue

Hello,

These last few days I have felt very tired.  Like I want to climb back into bed and not get up again until next week.  I don't know if it's the treatments I've been doing, or from going to bed late for the last while, or what it is exactly.  Maybe a combination of the two.  I've cut my to-do list down to 5 things I have to do today and 5 things I would like to do if I can, but yet, looking at my list of just 5 things tires me out.  Tomorrow I have some appointments in the city and with the way I'm feeling right now I just want to cry when I think about it.  I read Lucy's blog post this morning, and I can totally relate to how she feels.  There are so many things I want to share with you all, so many things I want to talk about, so many things I want to do, but yet I don't have the energy at the moment to do any of it.  I don't want to complain, but I do want to share how I'm really feeling.  I feel like when I'm quiet for a while and don't post, people may be wondering what is going on, and one thing I like about my blog is that I can be honest here.  So please do forgive me for my pity party.  I promise to try and be more cheerful again soon!

With the way everything has been going this last while I totally forgot my blogiversary.  It was June 3rd.  When the day rolled around, I kept thinking to myself that it was a special date for some reason but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I was wondering if it was someone's birthday or something all day.  I just finally clued in yesterday.  I usually do a giveaway, and I want to do one again this year, but I'm going to aim for probably sometime in the first week of July.  That way I have time to get my mind around it and put something together.    

Well, I think I will have a little rest before I finish doing some tidying up.  I promise to do my best to be in a better mood when I post next.

xoxo

Picnic Tea

Hello,

Today Mom and I had an impromptu picnic tea out on the lawn.  She had been planting flowers all day and I thought I'd surprise her with a little snack break.  It was nothing fancy, just something quick, but it was fun to sit down together and have a little rest out on the grass.

I thought the light coming through the trees looked all fairylandish.

The forget-me-nots are still blooming and create a nice blue tinge to the one corner of the lawn.  You can see them a bit in this picture up towards the left.

Mr. Bingley decided to join us.  He thought since it was a little warm out he needed a nice cool drink of water before he went back to his hunting.

See that crick in his tail?  One day not long after he came to live with us, I noticed that he had this crick in his tail.  I thought maybe it had gotten broken or hurt somehow.  However, it wasn't long before it was gone and his tail looked completely normal again.  I didn't think much of it at the time, but after a while I started noticing that every so often it would be like this.  I would watch to see when this would happen and why, and after a while I started putting two-and-two together.  When he is mad or when he is planning on doing something bad (like for example, beating up our other cat Mittens while he is sound asleep on the chair completely unaware as to what is about to happen to him.) Bing will get "the crick" in his tail.  It will vary in degrees, sometimes it will be just a little crooked, and other times it will be completely bent, which usually happens when he is planning something really bad.  I find it all funny though because now we know when he is thinking about acting up so we can be prepared, or at least warn Mittens to be on the lookout!

I hope that you have all had a lovely day too.  I'm so glad that I took the time to stop and have our picnic tea.  It really made it feel like summer even though the breeze was still on the cool side.  Hopefully it warms back up again soon!

Till next time,
xoxo

Embroidery Hoop Art

Hello,

Yesterday was my sister's birthday.  I made her this cute embroidery to hang on her wall as part of her gift.  As soon as I seen the pattern on Etsy from Allys Attic the other day I knew it would be perfect for her.  She is such a beautiful woman both on the inside and the outside, and I thought it was just the thing to remind her to be her own beautiful self.

I enlarged the design by 190% from what came in the pattern so that it would fit nicely inside the 8-inch hoop.  Then I used the window tracing method: you tape the pattern to the window, then tape the fabric on top and trace the design using a fabric pen.
It was a very easy and fun pattern.  I used back stitch for the letters and flower outlines, stem stitch for the flower stems and leaf outlines, satin stitch to fill in the flower petals and leaves, and the ground is running stitch.  

I decided to leave the hoop natural instead of painting it or covering it with ribbon because I wanted the design to be the thing that shines.  I think keeping the hoop plain makes it sort of disappear into the background.  I'm very happy with how it turned out and S seemed to really like it.  I hope it will always bring her a smile each time she sees it.

xoxo,
Raili

Crafting for the Summer

Hello,

The no knitting still continues, which is part of the reason I haven't blogged in so long.  The other part is because I wasn't very well for quite a while there, but I am feeling better each day now.  I just have to make sure I don't overdo things, and actually relax when my body is telling me to.  I'm taking it one day at a time and trusting the Lord to get me through this.

I have sincerely missed blogging though, and since I'm not knitting at the moment, I thought I would take the blog on a little detour this summer and share with you my adventures in other crafts.  I am planning on doing some things that I've done before, like sewing, embroidery, and cross stitch, but I'm also thinking about trying some new-to-me crafts like paper crafts, painting, quilting, and DIYs.  I thought it would be fun to document it and share everything here.  Summer is always a good time to try new things.

One thing I started (which is not exactly a craft) for the month of June is 30 Days of Lists.  I'm doing the Self-Paced March 2011 one that's for free to start with.  Today's list is "In My Bag".  I thought it'd be fun to share my list here since I always enjoy seeing what's in other people's bags and thought some of you might too.  I've had a thing for handbags and suitcases and how to pack them for years!

In my bag

sunglasses

package of tissues

small hand sanitizer

small bottle of Gaviscon 

zippy bag of medications (Advil, Gravol, Benadryl)

puffer

camera

wallet

notebook

mirror

lipgloss

keys

Knit Kit

2 packages of gum

dust bag for purse (It's a habit of mine to carry around the dust bag with me, you never know when you might need it)

I noticed the lack of pen to go with the notebook, so I added one, and I usually carry my iPad and kobo with me as well as some little project I'm working on, but this is what is in it right this moment.  It's funny because laid out like that, everything looks so organized and I wouldn't have ever classified my handbag as being organized.  Who knew!

Last night we had such a awesome sunset, the pictures don't do it justice, and it's hard to see, but as the sun was setting there were two rings that encircled it.  I had never seen anything like it before.  It looked like two pink rainbows arched over it!  It was absolutely stunning.

Sunsets always leave me in sheer awe at the amazingness of God and His love of beautiful things!

xoxo