The Best Laid Plans

Even though I know I have this trip coming up to my brother's and I'm not even close to being ready to go, I have been captivated by my little Schacht Cricket loom and wanting to at least warp it.  Well, once I got it warped, I HAD to try a little bit of weaving.  I'm slowly getting the hang of it.  You can see where my edges were too loose at the beginning but are gradually getting more even.

I think once it is off the loom and I give it a good soak, things will even out a tad.  It's definitely a learning process but I'm pleased with the chance to learn on a small loom.  This morning I had to weave another 6-7 inches on it before it was time to head over to a friend's home for an all-day scrapbooking get-together.   I even took my camera to take pictures and completely forgot to do so.

When I left her house, I knew that I'd have to be a whirling dervish once I got home and really start getting things together for my trip, which is in two days.  Tomorrow I have several appointments which will eat into my day, plus I was planning to go over to see my mom and that will take a big chunk out of the day.  So imagine my consternation when I was nearing home and happened to glance down at the dashboard and noticed that the "Check Engine" symbol was lit.  I had to drive all the way back to the house and get the manual out of the glove compartment to check what the heck that symbol meant because it's not one I've seen lit up before.  Groan!

I made a quick call to the Commander and then a call to the Service Department and back I got into the car to head over to drop it off.  Poor hubby!  He had to come pick me up and now my car is sitting in the Repair Shop waiting to be checked out tomorrow.  This is NOT good.  He'll have to take me to my first appointment in the morning, which means he'll be working from home for a few hours and then I'll be stuck at home for the duration of the day and quite possibly be unable to get to my knitting class tomorrow evening, depending upon when the car is ready (keeping my fingers crossed that it WILL be ready).

In the meantime, I started packing and also gathering things for the road.  I'm going to be optimistic that this trip will begin on time.  And truly, I should be thankful that the problem popped up now and not on my trip.

(I forgot to post my Project 365 pic yesterday so you get two today.)

Project 365 - June 14, 2010 (Day 18)

Project 365 - June 15, 2010 (Day 19)

Quilted Prayer Shawls

Well, the quilted prayer shawl is finished and has been given to it's intended recipient.  Several of you have asked what a quilted prayer shawl is so I thought I might try to explain here.  You might be familiar with prayer shawls in general and these follow along the same concept.  In case you're not, a typical prayer shawl is knitted or crocheted.  While the person is making the shawl, they are praying for the person who is to get the shawl.  They aren't necessarily praying non-stop for that person the entire time they are making the shawl but they are thinking of them and sending up prayers on their behalf.  Then, when the prayer shawl is given to the recipient, it is to serve as a tangible reminder of the prayers that are being lifted up for that person and hopefully, they will feel hugged and loved each time they wrap that shawl around themselves.

Quilted prayer shawls are a newer phenomenon.  These are small quilts designed to be wrapped around the person like a stole.  Basically, as the quilter is piecing the quilt together and doing the quilting, they are also praying for the person and so the concept is very similar to the prayer shawls.  It's a way for people who don't knit or crochet but DO sew to also be part of this caring ministry.  I happen to knit, crochet, AND sew but I just wanted to try my hand at making a quilted prayer shawl and that's why I chose this form.

I kind of made the pattern up as I went along.  I had a general idea of the proportions I was aiming for and knew that this would equate to a 2-block-wide long rectangular quilted piece.  I wanted to have several blocks that would encompass Christian symbols and thus my pieced cross.

I added several heart blocks.  In this block I freeform machine quilted dragonflies around the heart.

This heart had a simple stipple pattern of quilting around the heart.

The rest of the quilt were simple fabric squares that I used to machine quilt freehand phrases such as this square where I put the words "Be comforted."  (I made this quilt shawl for a young mother whose baby passed away)

 This one says "Peace to you."

I quilted a block with little suns  and some with Bible verse citations. The quilt sashing was just freeform stipple quilted.

This is how the back looks.

And there you have the final quilted prayer shawl.

Project 365 - June 13, 2010 (Day 17)

A closeup of the back of the quilted prayer shawl.

Finger-Lickin' Good

Today was "Parents' Day" at my mom's nursing home and it was celebrated with an outdoor chicken BBQ picnic.  Mom was waiting for us in the hallway when we arrived and we pushed her on out where the staff had set up tables and chairs under canopies.

Boy, was she excited when I told her what the menu was. We had BBQ chicken, coleslaw (the good, soupy sweet kind), baked beans, and chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.  Now normally Mom has someone helping her eat and it is like pulling teeth for them to get food down her.  She fights them every step of the way unless it is the dessert.

But today, I handed her chicken legs and a wing and strips of meat that I'd pulled off my piece and she stripped those bones bare.  I haven't seen her eat that much in a long time.  She liked the coleslaw, too and finished off the top half of the piece of cake.

It was so nice to be able to enjoy a meal with her where she could manage it mostly on her own with just a little help now and then from me.

Afterwards, we took Mom on a walk around the building, stopping to watch the ducks sunning themselves along the creek bank for awhile.  However, since the temps were inching past 90 degrees, we went inside and sat in the lounge soon after that and spent the rest of the visit singing old songs and hymns that she could remember.  She can still harmonize fairly well.  Hard to believe that Mom is just a few months shy of 97 years old, isn't it?

In fibery news, I thought you might like to see the latest yarn I spun up.  This is the "Ooh-La-La-Tropi-Cal" fiber I mentioned several posts ago and I spun 3 bobbins of it and 3-plied it together.  Isn't it cheery?

Project 365 - June 12, 2010 (Day 16)

My mum enjoying her chicken at the picnic today.

It's Friday and Life Goes On

Another week has passed and I survived, praise God!  I was a little worried about this past week, knowing that my son and his family were going to be heading off on their big move overseas.  I figured it would be a tough week for those of us left behind and it hasn't been easy but yet, life goes on, doesn't it?  I certainly have a lot to be thankful for and the past week has not been without some highlights.  Since it's time to reflect on some of those, let's begin, shall we?

1.  The first highlight of the week was the news that Jason, Laura, and Mikayla had arrived safely in Singapore.  They are enjoying the gracious hospitality of friends who live there and thus are able to rest up for a few days before boarding yet another plane and making a short flight on to their final destination - Jakarta, Indonesia.  A very pleasant surprise has been the fact that we've been able to Skype with them on several occasions.  Thus we've learned that Mika's latest accomplishment is that she has figured out how to take off her diapers - a feat that she finds quite amusing.

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2.  I had a brainstorm to create an "A-B-C" book for Mika that would be completely personalized for her, featuring family members, pets, toys, and places that all will have special meaning to her.  My own childhood stuffed animals (Well, don't call them that.  They think they're real.) Cindy and Elizabeth, will be the featured narrators in Mika's book.  That way, Mika's parents can use the book while she is so far away from us all to help her remember us all while also helping her learn her alphabet.

3.  The Commander helped me put together my new rigid heddle loom last night.  Despite folks assuring me that it would be quite easy to put together, I'm sure glad that he was there to help me.  Those directions were like Greek to me.  I did all the staining, though, and I think she looks pretty sweet.  However, I tried to get the Commander to say he'd help me warp the loom but he bowed out of that job.  He said that I was going to be completely on my own for that little task.  I'm letting the instructions percolate in my brain right now and hoping that they will brew into something recognizable by the time I tackle the job.

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4.  I tackled "long-draw spinning"yesterday.  I'm going to spin up three bobbins and then do a 3-ply.  I picked some fiber I had on hand that I wasn't particularly feeling the love for and so wouldn't be upset if I ruined it.  These colors remind me of Mardi Gras so if I come up with a usable yarn, I can make the Commander a scarf in honor of him being a LSU grad.

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5.  I'm continuing the quilting on the prayer quilt shawl.   It's really going to be a toss-up as to whether or not I get this finished before I head off to Michigan.  I HOPE I get it done so it can go to its new owner but these last few days before my trip are jam-packed with graduation open-houses and other events that we are invited to so I don't know how much I'll get done.

That's it for my Friday Fave Five highlights.  If you'd like to read what others are writing about for their Fave Five's, head on over to Living to Tell the Story.

Project 365 - June 11, 2010 (Day 15)

Went car shopping today for the Commander.  Who else is so organized that he makes up charts with features he wants?

Doesn't Get Much Simpler

I love a simple recipe and if it is a crockpot recipe, all the better.  Here is what I'm making for supper tonight.  It doesn't get much simpler than this.  Tonight's meal is BBQ Chicken Sandwiches.  Here is how you fix it.

1.  Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the bottom of your crockpot.

2.  Slice up one medium onion and place the slices on top of the chicken breasts.

3.  Pour one bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce over the chicken.  Cook on Low for 8 hours.

4.  Take out the chicken breasts and shred the meat with a fork.  (I like to put the breasts in a mixing bowl and use two forks to shred it up.  It's usually pretty tender by then so it goes very quickly.)

5.  Dump the shredded chicken back into the BBQ sauce in your crockpot and you are ready to serve this on buns.

Usually I use Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce but the other day I saw this new BBQ sauce in our local grocery store.  The name intrigued me so I decided to give it a try.  They had a sweet version and this Memphis original version.  Normally I'd go with the "sweet" every time but this time I decided to try this because I know the Commander would probably prefer this version.  I'll have to let you know tomorrow how it was.

Project 365 - June 10, 2010 (Day 14)

Still working on the prayer shawl quilt but at least now it is pinned and I'm quilting it.

Hours of Photo Fun

I'll bet you didn't know that I once played hockey with the German hockey team, did you?  OK, actually I didn't.  But thanks to a really fun website, I'm right there in the thick of the action.  Have you discovered Photofunia yet?   

You can while away hours up on this site.  I do mean HOURS playing with all the different photos that you can pop your images into.  For one brief shining moment, you can even have the body of a 20-year-old (not to mention a male model by your side, eh?)

That will teach me to dress up like Cupid and sling those arrows around.

You can also put your photographs into images so that they look like charcoal sketches such as this one of our daughter holding her niece.

Or this one of little Mika.  Isn't it cute?  I love how the website can take a photograph and make it look like an artist's drawing.

In this effect, I chose a watercolor look.  I could have opted for Vintage, Oil Painting, or a host of other effects, as well.

With any of the many images, you are given the option of saving the image you make to your computer or publishing it to a site such as Facebook.  I think the easiest thing to do is save it to your computer and then post it to Facebook or your blog from there.  Oh yes, the website also lets you make avatars, too.

Head on over and check it out.  But you might find yourself ignoring the housework and other things on your "To Do" list because it's so much fun to play up on the site.

Project 365 - June 9, 2010 (Day 13)

 
Luscious strawberries sprinkled with a bit of sugar and ready for breakfast tomorrow.

And Off They Go

Today Jason and his family, including my beloved little Mika, headed off to Asia, to what could be a three-year adventure.  I've been dreading this day for a long time.  But now that it is here, well, we make the best of it, don't we?  Sometimes we just have to place our children in God's hands and stand back out of the way.

To keep my mind occupied, I unpacked my new Schacht Cricket loom.  It came unassembled but ready to put together.  However, I had decided to stain it before assembling the parts.  So I put newspaper down, put on an old shirt, and started my staining.

Here is what it looked like last night when I had all the pieces stained with an English Chestnut stain.  I thought it was looking pretty good.  Tonight I started applying the first coat of polyurethane on the pieces.  Oh my!  I carefully laid each piece back down on the newspaper and worked methodically away at it.  When I went back to my first piece to check on it, I discovered to my horror that each piece was stuck to the newspaper.  Ugh!  We had to pull each piece off and then I had to sand the pieces of newsprint off that were stuck to the wood.  So out came the wax paper and I tried again.  Looks like this is going to be a longer process than I originally anticipated.

When it's finished and put together, the loom will look like this, but stained.  I don't guarantee that my weaving will initially look like this.  In fact, I think I CAN guarantee that it will NOT look like this.   But there will be plenty of room for improvement.

Speaking of improvement, my day greatly improved this morning when I met two dear friends for breakfast and we laughed and talked and laughed some more.  They really cheered me up.  Friends are really a blessing, aren't they?  My "Project 365" picture today was taken at breakfast but only one friend would agree to be in the picture (although the other one's hand can be seen).

Project 365 - June 8 (Day 12)

Skyping in Pictures

Last night our son Jason and daughter-in-law, Laura with our little grandbaby, Mika called us on Skype.  Here's how the conversation went (kinda) in pictures.

     "Hey, Nana and PawPaw!  Is that you?"
 

"What are you doing in that little box?"

 "No, no....Mommy.  I want to hit the thing on the table.  Let go of my hand, Mommy."

"Bam, Bam, Bam.....Look at me, Nana.  I'm a power typist."

 

"Hey, it's Grandpa Byrne bringing milkshakes.  Where's mine?"

 A rare moment of stillness

"Hey, Daddy's talking to that box and he's not paying attention to me.  Maybe if I smile pretty, he'll turn around."

"Daddy!  Look over here.  It's your little Sweet Pea!"

"Oh, no!  Daddy's ignoring me."

"Daddy, Daddy....pay attention to ME!"

"Hey, big guy!  Will you look over here already?"

"Hmph!  I don't like it when my daddy isn't giving me his undivided attention."

"Ooh, now, that's a little scary.  Maybe I should rethink this."

"Guess I'll just smile pretty for Nana and PawPaw who always have a wave and a smile for me."

And so our conversation went on Skype until it was time to say goodbye (much too soon).  Thank God for the internet.

Project 365 - June 7 (Day 11)

 The humidity is down and so are the temperatures so steaming shirts was the order of the day.