Another look at Spring on Melville Hill.....

I hope you enjoy your visit. We don't have near as many flowers in our yard now as we use to.  My husband is not able to take care of them.  He does ride out on his scooter and get down on his hands and knees and tries to keep some of the weeds out.  It is so hard to find someone to help--they either can't do it right or charge an arm and a leg.

Spring on Melville Hill...

   I wanted to share a few pictures of our yard during early Spring.  I am so glad my husband was able to get out on his scooter to get these pictures.  The winds, rain, and cold have come and taken away most of their beauty now.  We have had strange weather--very hot one day and cold the next.  I just wonder what Summer is going to bring.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.
Love,
Marie

Noah's new shoes...

A blogger friend of mine, Devon, is making these wonderful shoes.  I wanted to share a picture of Noah wearing them.  Devon started making them for her little girl and now has them on her blog, Shoepiddydoos to share what she is making..

After a while, everything ends up in the mouth--especially when a little one is cutting teeth.  He now has six.
Hope you enjoy your visit to her blog and inquire about her cute shoes.  My son says she does everything top notch--packaging and all.
Love,
Marie

Having fun with a new yarn to me...

   I had seen scarves made with Starbella and other yarns like it and wanted to try my hand at knitting with it.  At first it was difficult to find the yarn because the stores could not keep it in stock and some was back ordered.  I went on line and found some by searching for "Starbella".  I found the yarn available at several places and videos demonstrating how to make the scarves.  The yarn is flat and you roll it off the skein and spread it out and knit through the top loops. It is a fun yarn to work with and kinda addictive.  Below are some of the scarves I made.

Have fun if you try to make one!
Love,
Marie

Enjoying the eagles....

If you are not familiar with the Live Eagle Cam at Decorah, Iowa, mom has laid her first egg for this year.  The last two years she has had three eggs and successfully raised them.  I warn you--it is adddicting.  You can find it here:  http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

Have fun!
Love,
Marie

Christmas Memories 2011...

We had a wonderful Christmas with our son, his wife, and our newest grandson, Noah. It would have been even more special if our daughter and her family could have been with us too. They came last year from Oklahoma and were not able to come this year. We don't do Christmas with lots of shopping and gifts. Our Christmas is based around family and fun and the real meaning of Christmas.
This is meeting our grandson for the first time at the airport. His PawPaw had been talking to and seeing him via I-Pad2 and saying "buden, buden"?. As soon as they saw each other, PawPaw said "buden, buden" to Noah and he came right to him. PawPaw put him on his lap and they rolled around the airport having fun while our son got luggage ready to go. This child had come on the re-eye flight from San Francisco.



This is our son getting a head of cabbage from his dad's cabbage patch. We were having some North Carolina barbecue. I had made homemade buns and baked French fries and my sister made slaw out of part of this beautiful head of cabbage. You just cannot beat North Carolina barbecue!

This is Noah sitting in the big cabbage leaves. We had planned to just have him in his diaper sitting in the middle of it but the leaves flopped before we had a chance to take the pictures. Well, we can call him a cabbage patch kid anyway!

Our son has a friend whose dad collects and restores peddle cars, trikes, tractors, etc. This is a 1948 Pontiac that he would let Noah touch. Ha!

On Thursday, before they left on Friday, we went to the mall.


This is a tradition in our family--we go to see the sights and sounds and eat at Chick-Fil-A. These are pictures taken with Noah and his dad riding the Christmas train in the mall. I think dad and son enjoyed it!

















Our son and his wife did surprise us with a special gift. After Noah was born, I asked if they had a Sears near by that they could take him to and have a picture made like the one I had made of his dad. I had not thought any more about it. Noah was born on June 16 and his dad was born on June 28 and the pictures are at the same age.

I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse of our time together. I hope yours was as wonderful as ours. I wish you the best for the New Year.
Love,
Marie

In Memory of my internet friend............

Kathi, Christmas 2010

I wanted to share my memories of my great internet
friend, Kathi. We met via the computer in 1998.
Our son had talked us into buying his computer so that
he could upgrade his. I was still in a great
deal of pain from major back surgeries, but my son fixed
my chair with pillows so that I would be comfortable.
It was not long after getting on the internet that I made some
great friends, Kathi, Carol, Pat, etc. There was
Geocities and they offered free websites with a person
to guide you on making your pages. Kathi was also
creating her pages and she was neat with hers--
she had a great gift of words. No matter if you were
emailing, doing Aim, etc., she ran circles around me.
We became close friends, but never met in
person. We shared our life experiences together.

I wanted to do this memorial to her at Christmas because
this was her favorite time of the year. Kathi decorated her
house inside and out and it was beautiful. She loved
shopping, buying, wrapping gifts for the two important
men in her life, her husband Jerry and her son Steve.
We miss you Kathi, but you fought a rough battle
always with a smile and that wonderful laugh of yours.
Thanks for the memories!
Love always,
Marie

Some Finishes...........

I saw the pattern for the hat and really liked it. It is a free pattern and you can find it here. The hat is knitted in the round and once you get the pattern in your mind, it is easy. I then made a scarf to go with it and it is not knit in the round so I had to turn the rows and at first I found it easier to write down what I needed to do. After doing a few patterns, I was able to move on fast. I did knit two sections of 30 inches and then used the Kitchener or grafting stitch to join the two pieces.




I found the pattern for this crochet snowman here.

It is a gift card cozy, but I made it as a fridge magnet. I did candlewick knots for the nose, mouth, and buttons. I had some some pom poms in different colors. Thank goodness there was orange in the group. I pull it apart and took a little white glue and rolled it in my fingers to form it into a nose. After it dried, I hot glued it on the face. I had some flat magnet sheets and I cut a piece to glue on the head and body.







Love,
Marie

Merry little snowmen...........

My husband tried to grow gourds this summer
but it was too hot and dry. I was able to get these
and decided to turn them into snowmen. I cleaned
them with bleach and sanded and dried them. I then
dabbed two goats of paint on and then drew the
features with a black marker. We sprayed a sealer to
protect them. I then knitted the hats and scarves. I made
the grapevine wreaths for them to stand in for balance.
A right cute mom and three children--I think!

Scenes from around our home this Fall...

End of the summer flowers. The cool nights and warm days have kept them blooming.














You can't see the wreath on the front door because of the glare. I took a 12-inch foam wreath and cut 3-inch squares of fabric and punched them into the foam until it was covered and then I made a bow out of one of the fabrics. I used three different fabrics with yellow and orange in them. I made it the same way that I made the one I used for the 4th of July.




















We took a ride out into the country and there is a farmer
who makes designs out of rolled bales of hay. I think they
are neat.

♥Love,♥
Marie