Grief..................

My sweet mom died on April 24, 2016. I am so sad. Losing a dad is hard but losing a mom is a

million times harder.  

It's just the most awful thing I have ever been through. Going through her stuff feels like I am invading 

her privacy and snooping. It's a horrible feeling.

Mom had not been well for a while, and I brought her to the Dr. on a Wednesday for results of an echo

on her heart. The cardiologist sent her right to the hospital. The wonderful doctors got her fixed up in 

the hospital, but really, it was only a band aid.  She had congestive heart failure and kidney failure.  The doctor told me and one of my brothers that she likely would not make it til her birthday in July.  

She wasn't ready to die right then anyway. She was sent to rehab to gain strength and she died in rehab. 

I was fortunate enough to be with her when she drew her last breath, and all of my siblings and sister-

in laws and nieces and nephews were able to visit with her.

I am just so sad.......

Word Cloud

Circle of shoes.........

These are the six pairs of handmade shoes I have. The top three were made for me and the bottom three are the pairs that I made!

SHOES!!!

These are my new purple shoes! I made them the first week of February. The class was supposed to be

held at Northhouse Folk School  but there were not enough students so it was cancelled. I traveled out

to New Hampshire to Cordwainer shoes to make these shoes.  I have taken two of the workshops at

Northhouse, and this was to be the third. I had such a good time at the shop. I was able to see all the

tools and equipment that are used in making shoes.  And I got to see the wall of leather. There were

just two students and it was very relaxing.

I wanted to make purple shoes and I did. I have a sweater to match these shoes perfectly.

Baby blankets.....

These are two blankets I made for my niece who is having a second baby girl any day!

The purple is made with Bernat Babys breath. It's a bulky yarn and it turned out beautifully.

The little purple blanket it made of fleece that I crocheted around the edge.

Blankets etc........

This is a scarf I made for my Great Niece Isabel. She is just two but she loves the blankets I crocheted

 for her. I made this with Red Heart yarn.

This Pink blanket is made for my friend Lisa, for a friend of her. I worked with Lisa at the VA for three

 years and taught her how to crochet. But she is busy so she asked me to make one for her. I made it

with Bernat baby yarn and it is so soft!!

Louie............

My  sweet Louie.

We lost him today. He hadn't been feeling well recently and was at the vet in early December. He took

antibiotics for three weeks and seemed to be feeling better.  A couple days ago I noticed he had

enlarged lymph nodes. 

Today he was struggling, not feeling well, vomiting and he had trouble breathing. Just out of it.

We brought him to the vet knowing it was likely the end of his time with us.

He was a loyal, loving companion.  He turned 13 years old in December.  He had a long and good life.

We will miss him!

TEN YEARS!!!

Today marks TEN YEARS since I quit smoking. So happy I quit!!

October baby blankets..............

These are blankets I made for a woman I know (Melanie) having her ninth baby. It's a girl!!

The very bottom blanket is made with Lion Brand Homespun and the color is Tulips. 

The light pink blanket is made with Bernat Baby Sport in pink. It's such a soft pink.

The next one is fleece with a crocheted edge. I make those for lovies for the babies.

Last, on top, are three all cotton wash cloths for the baby.

Update Post

   It's been an interesting summer for us filled with various illnesses.
June seemed to be ok. I had a root canal done on a tooth that already had a root canal done to it except 
The endodontist forgot a root! I have been in such pain with that tooth for about 2 yrs. It is finally fixed!
   My boy and husband went to Boy Scout camp in mid July for a week. My boy got really sick there and came home sick. I took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with STREP! My husband was sick and I eventually got sick too, but not with strep, though it felt like it.
   I also had a breast biopsy in July. It was an awful time of not knowing what was going on. But I got
results within days and it was negative. In September my doctor confirmed I had Plantar Fasciitis in my left foot--that is painful! And I have bursitis in my left shoulder. I am getting OLD!
    In early August, my mom got sick. She made a doctor appointment but her doctor was out of town for weeks, so we waited. In that two weeks my mom steadily got worse. When I brought her to the doctor 
she was very unwell and short of breath. At her appointment, the nurse took her pulse and it was 33!!! 
That is way too low. The doctor rechecked that, listened to her heart and ordered and EKG.  That 
Showed a third degree heart block. Not a blockage, but this was an electrical issue in her heart. I
brought her to the hospital immediately and later that afternoon she had a pace maker put in. There was
an  immediate improvement with my mom and she is feeling almost 100% better. 
  We didn't go up north this summer as my shoe class was cancelled. I was sad about that but signed up
for the February shoe making class again. I'll go up again as I did this past February and my husband
will stay home with the boy. My little boy who is now a SIXTH grader!!! Hard to believe but it's true.
  I finally brought SIX bags of outgrown clothes over to my brothers house for his son. No jacket this
year, it's the first year there has been no jacket because my boy used a jacket for TWO years and  then 
the zipper broke. 
  One of my most favorite ever wood crochet hooks, that my husband and I made, met an untimely death.
The new puppy we got in March got a hold of it and chewed it up. I'm trying to work on a replacement 
but it is slow going trying to find time to go out to the shop and work on it.

That's about it for the update.

Baby blankets

 These two baby blankets were made for my friend Heide. Both of her sons and their wives are having babies this month. One boy and one girl.  These blankets are made with Bernat Baby Sport. It's a lighter yarn than I usually use, but it makes a really nice blanket. I also gave them each a fleece lovey that I edged in crochet, but I didn't get a picture of that.

• This Blanket and lovey are made for a teacher (Robyn D) at my sons school. It's her first baby and it's a girl. The blanket is made with Bernat Baby Sport. The polka dot is the fleece blanket edged in crochet.

Handmade books

I recently took a four week course on bookbinding and these are the three books I made. The bottom was is a hard cover journal type book. The middle one is a journal type book and the top book is an accordion type book.
I learned so much in the process of making these books. Bookbinding has been something I've been interested in for a while and I am glad I found a class to take and learn how to do it! Of course I only learned a tiny bit about bookbinding, but I am confident I could repeat the process.

Baby blanket

I made this red baby blanket for a friend of my daughter. I asked her what color she wanted and this is it! She had her second baby boy this past week!
Blanket is made with Lion Brand Homespun. It's such a pretty color red too.

Mom is 87!!

This is a picture of my mom. She turned 87 on July 1st. She's doing well!!

Baby blankets.

 

These are three blankets that I made this winter/spring. I've given them all away to people now.

They are made with Lion Brand Homespun yarn and are all baby sized afghans.

The color is really off on this picture, but that is a pink one on top, a blue blanket and another pink on

the bottom.

Shoes!!

In January, I made another trip to Grand Marais. It is still beautiful up there, and it was cold! The drive

was peaceful, and there wasn't too much traffic. I left on Wednesday morning and came home Sunday

afternoon!

These shoes are a different style, and they are done in a burgundy leather. I wanted to make a purple

pair of shoes but there wasn't any purple leather this time.

These are beautiful shoes, I had so much fun making them, and they are sooooo comfortable. This pair I

can wear with dress slacks, or jeans.

February baby blankets

These are my latest baby blankets, all made with Lion Brand Homespun. The very top one is a beautiful

 dark purple. Then pink, then a blue one. They are all baby sized blankets.  I just love Homespun yarn

 for the baby blankets. It makes such a thick beautiful blanket.

Fleece......

The first picture is all the fleece that my husband and I cut to make blankets. I cut

them to different sizes, then I crochet an  edge with yarn. It's something different than just crocheting a whole blanket. Most of these go to an NICU unit for preemie babies, so some of the blankets are quite small.

The second picture is of the yarn and fleece after I purchased it. Most of them are two yards but there are some a bit larger due to being bolt ends. All of the fleece cut equals 102 pieces. I don't think I'll get them all done this year though!! That's a lot to do in between my regular crocheting. But it will be fun to see how many I get done!!

Happy New Year!!

Another year is upon us. I haven't thought of too many "resolutions" that I want to make. I just want to strive to be a better person than I was last year. To notice people more, and to smile more. To be more patient in all areas of my life.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2015!

Nine years ago...........

Nine years ago on this day I quit smoking!! Shocked even myself. I just decided that I was DONE smoking and I quit, cold turkey. Haven't had a cigarette since then. Rarely, I still get the urge to smoke, but I haven't. I am so glad I quit, for many reasons.