Award Winnning...

This beautiful afghan has a first place ribbon pinned to it from the Butler County Fair. My sister, Kari has this one at the nursing home now. 

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More Stuff Mom Made

Here are some more pics of things mom made - various pillows, a huge afghan, and a cross stitch quilted blanket.

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Stripey Socks

Made these shades of grey stripey socks for daughter Anna. The pattern is from Getting Started Knitting Socks. I used a self-striping fingering weight sock yarn.  

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Rocket Ship Bubble Gum

My grandson, Aiden, loves to say the words "rocket ship bubble gum." We think he saw a rocket ship-shaped bubble gum machine at the store. Who knows. Anyway I made him a rocket ship with 2 aliens and 2 space men that go inside it. He loved it!

I found the pattern at Crochetville, a crochet forum.

Now I have to crochet some bubblegum. :)

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Candy Canes

This pattern was free at PlanetJune. I made 10 of them for the Christmas tree.

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Q-Bert

I crocheted Q-bert for my son-in-law, Gary. The pattern was free online at Craftster.

  

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Nativity

I made this Nativity while I was in Ohio staying with mom. I gave it to my daughter Mary. I bought the pattern from www.gourmetcrochet.com.

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Josiah's Birthday Bear

I made this for Jojo's birthday which was in September, but I'm just now getting caught up on my blog. I got the pattern from a book called Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful by Narumi Ogawa. 

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Brian's Scarf

I made this scarf for my son-in-law, Brian. I just made the pattern up from a picture. I think he really liked it - yay!

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Christmas Stockings

These are my crazy Christmas stockings. I made them all within the 4 days before Christmas.  The last one I made is the one on the left. It looks like a hockey stick cozy. :)

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Jojo Goes Round in Circles at Christmas

 

And then does his little Jojo dance...  :)

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Storm at Sea Quilt

This is the quilt Mom gave me while I was in Ohio. It's called the Storm at Sea. You can see the Heart in red at the bottom right. I love this quilt and have been sleeping with it every night, remembering Mom as I drift off. 

Thanks Mom!

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Stuff Mom Made

We put all the stuff together that we found in the house that Mom made. She made much more than this of course, but she gave most of it away. That was Mom. 

This is the quilt that was on the bed that I slept in while I was there.

Crocheted afghan, rose colored yarn, with a rose in the center.

Patchwork quilt. I think this is made from old clothes. 

Mom

These are the last videos of my mom, that my daughter Mary took when she came up to visit her a few weeks ago. Mom passed away on November 25 and I will always miss her.

A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others. -The Tin Woodsman, in The Wizard of Oz

Aiden Fundraiser

There will be a local band concert/fundraiser for my grandson Aiden's autism service dog. The concert is Monday, November 24th at THE HAVEN in Winter Park, on the corner of Aloma and Forsyth. The concert starts at 7:30.
Funds can also be donated at http://www.4pawsforability.org/donation.html. Click on donate at the top, then the Paypal link. In the special instructions make sure you say that it's for Aiden Brophy.

Addendum: The concert was a HUGE success, raising $1100!! Yay!

Family Update

Dear Friends,

Thank you all for your continued prayers for my mom and dad.

Dad has been getting steadily better and stronger, although he will probably have to remain in the nursing home, since he does have some dementia and is blind (due to macular degeneration). He is also having some panic attacks that we are trying to deal with. The medication they were giving him for anxiety has a warning on it about glaucoma, which he has, so we had to discontinue that.

Please pray that the doctors would have wisdom and and the nursing home staff compassion for dad. He is so sweet. When I am there with him in the evenings we have a nightly routine of prayers, singing hymns, and saying the Lord's prayer. It reminds me of when I was a child. He would come in and pray with me and I would stretch out the prayers so he would stay longer. He is doing the same thing now to me - it's hard to leave him at night.

Mom is holding steady right now. She is tired and sleeps a lot. One night she fell and couldn't get up off the floor. I tried to get her up, but then we both fell. She landed on me, so it was a soft landing for her! Finally my brother and sister in law arrived. She is a nurse and knows how to lift people. They were able to get her up. After that we made the decision that mom shouldn't be left alone at all. So now I am here at the house with her most of the time. She has a home health care worker that comes 3 days a week for a couple of hours, plus the hospice nurse who is coming once a week.

The hospice people are really great - they have a lot of patience and compassion. They really take their time with mom and never act like they are in a hurry to leave, always wanting to make sure that she is comfortable and has everything she needs. Please pray that when the time comes that mom will have an easy and painless transition. She has a strong faith and says that God has given her the "peace that passes understanding."

Lastly please pray for Loyd. The kids are looking after him, but of course I am concerned about him. He is singing a duet (with Rob) this weekend at all the services. Please pray for his health and stamina and that "May the LORD will watch between [him] and me when we are absent one from the other."

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit....Romans 15:13

Mom and Dad on their Smokey Mountain honeymoon - June, 1949.


















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BLOG INTERRUPTED

I'm taking a break from blogging and am currently in Ohio helping to care for my elderly parents, Don and Dian. Please if you think about it, pray for them. My mom has uterine cancer that has metastisized to other organs. She is in hospice care. Hospice is coming to the house, so she is able to be at home and is comfortable. Dad is currently in a nursing home, so I am going back and forth between them. Mom is 80 and Dad is 89. They have been married 59 years. Here is a sweet picture of them taken about 5 years ago.



















PS It's supposed to SNOW here next week ! That's a little much for this Florida girl!

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PRAY FOR CUBA

Cuban storms damage 'worst ever.'

Some friends of mine left for Cuba yesterday, please pray for them, and for the Cuban people.


The US once again, offered aid, but the Cuban government has refused it.


Most Cubans are desperately poor and are now facing massive food shortages.

Jonny's puppy

Another project from Amigurumi World. 

Pink Bunny

My granddaughter, Skye, asked me to make this bunny for her BFF, Juliana. Again, I used a pattern from Amigurumi World. I've probably done more projects from this book than any other.

Baby Bear

This is Aiden's baby bear. When we asked Aiden what he wanted to name him, he said "Baby Bear." 

I used Lion Brand Homespun yarn, which is pretty, but hard to work with when you are using a small needle - it's made to be used with a larger needle. I got the pattern from Amigurumi World. 

Penguin

This is Skye's penguin, crocheted from medium weight worsted yarn, using a pattern in Amigurumi World.

Amigurumis

I made these for Mary and Leslee for their birthdays. They are about 6" tall and were crocheted with worsted weight yarn (from my stash) with patterns from the book Amigurumi World, by Ana Paula Rimoli. 

Crocheted Pillows

        

The orange pillow is for Akira's crate, from Lion Brand Chenille yarn; the brown and purple ones I made for my bed from something called Bernat Max, which is a very bumpy decorative yarn, that I think is discontinued, since I got it for a dollar a skein at Michael's. 

This is the pillow I made for Aiden, after he saw the other pillows, he wanted one. 

Akira's Crate Cover

This is my grand-dog, Akira (a Papillon). Isn't he a cutie? He has recently had some medical problems, which caused him to have to stay in his crate, to keep him immobilized. So I made him this crate cover to keep the light out and so that he doesn't get so distracted by every movement.

The front flap has velcro on the sides to keep it closed.

I was very proud of myself over the hole in the top. I figured out how to use the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine to make a big hole for the handle. Then I added a flap to cover the hole.

Anna's Pillows

These zippered pillow covers I made for Anna. She picked out the green fabric at Jo-Ann's, and then we found the print fabric in the remnant pile at IKEA.  I got some help from a book called so easy...Home Sewing, by Caroline Smith.  They were pretty fast and easy.

Love Song

Love Song- LIVE from Northland, A Church Distributed on Vimeo.

My hubby, singing at church. :)

Merriam's Shawl

This is a shawl that I made for my friend and neighbor, Merriam. It is made from Lion Brand Suede (it feels like chenille) and I used the pattern that was on the label.

This is the yarn and this is the picture from the label. :)

Easter Eggs and Cupcakes

 

These are the Cupcakes and Easter Eggs I made last year for various kids parties. Fast and fun. I crocheted them from odds and ends of leftover yarn and downloaded the patterns off the internet.

Green Layette

I finished the sweater, booties and blanket a few months ago. I got the pattern from a Crochet Today Magazine. I got made the hat last night and gave the whole thing to my friend Becca Lynn, who had a baby shower today. I got the hat pattern from a book called Crochet From the Heart and used seafoam green babysoft yarn.

Aiden's Weighted Blanket

This blanket for my grandson Aiden. I finished the bean bags that go in between the two layers in a checkerboard pattern. They are laying on the back of the blanket.

The finished blanket, front and back! You can see the bumps from all the little bean bags. It's very heavy - about 5.5 pounds.

He seems to like it! Yay!

Skye's Window

This is not the greatest picture, but I made this curtain for my granddaughter, Skye. It is crocheted on a large hook with some really fuzzy yarn and has little bead charms hanging off the ends. I got the pattern from a book called Crochet With Bits and Pieces.