Perfect Easter Gifts

 

It was a wonderful day of surprises, yes, first my son's family stopped by briefly... I always love to see them and to give me a receipt from Garden Harvest Supply, I absolutely love this online shop. It's were he purchased the very first ones I planted in my garden. The receipt has 6 plants, Yeah, hidcote, munstead, and one I don't have, lady lavender, a combination of 2 each. They won't arrive until the first week of May which is always the way it's done. Garden Harvest Supply is always right on with there shipping dates and they are packaged with great care.

I love a combination of Lavender when I make my Lavender products or even just working with Lavender. I will combine a mixture based on scents, meaning there is a soft scent blend for those who have trouble tolerating a strong scent, right down to a luscious strong blend. I love not only the beautiful way this plant stands, it's elegance, but also, it's color combination of lavender and green. If you see a field of Lavender it just makes you want to lay down upon it or following the path of it's scent.

 

HAPPY EASTER...I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday!

The Feel Good Board...Awesome!

 It's FRIDAY...we are one more week closer to real SPRING days!

That makes me HAPPY!

 

There are other things that make me happy a Visual Inspiration Board. Yup! it contains all the things that make me feel good, smile, and remind me of positive things. I use the side of my fridge I can view when I walk by, it contains a lot of words and images.

 

Like this one... with nature I find peace and this reminds me just how grateful I am to be a part of this wonderful planet.

 

 

I was raised around horses during my childhood and until my father passed. It reminds me of the memories I shared with my father every time we went to the barn.

 

 

This is one of my favorite. My grandson spent the night last summer he found a heart punch in my craft supplies. Then cut a heart out of paper and proceeded to ask.."grammie what's your real name" I told him Pam. If you look at the heart it reads " I love Pam" A beautiful moment I will have always. Isn't he just the cutest? Well it was hard to take pics off the fridge there wasn't enough light.

Next to him I put Choices of the Heart they are the most important choices we make and more often involve the ones we love.

 

 

And then the ocean...amazing there is a whole different world deep in the water we don't see without those who explore the unknown. I am grateful those people exist.

 

 

I am a lover of words..the power they have to destroy or embrace the human spirit. How they are used often will define how we see ourselves. I make a point to use them with caution as I grow older it becomes a more important focal point. How we use them also tells a story about ourselves...those who use them to bully, make fun of us, belittle us, are really letting you know they are fearful of themselves. Insecure, immature with no idea who they really are in this life, other than afraid.

Harmony reminds me to keep my life balanced, and the words underneath say," You can change the world, NEVER BE AFRAID TO TRY. Every day I try to make one person's day a bit better. Sometimes depending if I'm out it's more than one and if I can do that, I have tried.

 

 

Ahh...sweets, I am a lover of sweets...however there are always reasons why and I have two. One it's part of post menopause or any kind of menopause it happens. Second, I have a personal enormous loss I have experienced in my life that I have yet to conquer. Oh, don't think I am not without pain in my life. One would think knowing the cause would help in changing what I eat to feel good when it haunts me. Not always true...especially when it's with you and you live it everyday at the hands of another person. We can't always escape what others choose to do to us, but I find comfort in knowing the reasons why I love the sweets.

 

 

And that my friends says, " I DID IT " I am learning everyday to face it and let go. The more ways I discover to let go I am finding the less chocolate I am beginning to eat.

 

 

And that is Magical!

 

I have a ex husband who is younger than me...he finds joy in belittling me, badgering me, telling me how lousy I am, who loves to always win, and more.... I define him as merely being immature, insecure, fear of facing himself, and he finds in me what he lacks in himself and when people do this they will do what they can to pull you down. I don't allow it...this took some time but again I DID IT!

This quote has been on my fridge for 8 years...I read it everyday, again words are so very powerful and these are the wonderful.

 

 

There is one more quote that has been next to this one the same amount of years. I too read this one everyday. Family is an important part of life it's true...they are there to support us in time of need, but, it's words that define ourselves. Positive words we can learn to rid ourselves of the programing someone else may have instilled in us. This is were words, reading positive words will begin to change those words inside your head. You just have to read them everyday and better yet know that you are human, everyone around you is human. We are all the same, we live no matter how rich or poor, we eat, we shower, whatever it is...we all do it the same...even dying is something we all do together at different times. I do not feel superior to any human nor do I feel any other human is superior to me. We are all just human's sharing this time on earth in simply different ways.

 

 

So I end the post today with something a human created to make us all feel good. The Willow Tree Collection. Should you notice each one she makes has a very inspirational message. All simply with letters of the alphabet that create feel good words.

 

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend...Happy Easter!

Making of A Grannie Square Blanket

                       Happy Wednesday Sweet Readers....thank you for stopping by my blog!

  I am beginning my very first Grannie square blanket and needless to say I am not big on Grannie Square Blankets. I suppose it's because my mother made a lot of them in pastel colors. Mostly for the new grand babies to arrive. Yet, its not only the fact they were pastel's, in reality its me. I have a condition which causes my eyes to  have trouble working with a combination of colors. I just can't focus or process a massive amount of colors combined.

 

I am absolutely horrible in a stores from grocery to clothing stores, I stand there saying what the what! Then I have to read every label to make sure I have the right stuff, it is so mind boggling!! I'd rather join the cast of Splash on TV at least I know the water is all the same color BLUE!! It's not easy being this way.. as I do see beautiful images full of color and just love them. Yet to live with them would be trying for me. And that is why I love neutral colors in my home.

 

 

And so it began, after seeing the blanket in Mollie Makes, thanks to a wonderful lady, Julie, at Little Cotton Rabbit's. Julie is the one who inspired me to give this a go after seeing the colors she choose from Cascade 220 Heathers. They are deeper tones which I love and I decided this year I was determined to make my first Grannie square blanket. The one in Mollie Makes I loved and would not have found if not for her. Thank you so very much, Julie.

 

 

To be honest I do not know if I am doing these properly with the color combination. I really don't know if there is a proper way with Grannie squares.

 

 

But I am giving it a go...and will finish it this year. I am taking my time and in fact ordered three more colors last night. Although I see a lot of blues in Grannie square blankets I am not a blue person. I tried a blue bedroom and it lasted a month with me saying to my son, I just don't like blue. And then I think how can I not...when I look at the beautiful blue sky I am in aw...maybe for me it just needs to stay where it belongs, in nature.

 

If anyone viewing my blog has done Grannie squares I would love your advice on colors, does it really matter how they are combined?

 

 

 

 

 



Someone Say Bunnies



 

Easter is almost here and March is making it's way out like a lion. There is snow, not much, but enough to know spring hasn't really arrived technically speaking. It doesn't bother me, as I tell my son, I am grateful to be living in an area where I get to experience all four seasons. How amazing! To think around the world there are children who have never seen or had the experienced of falling snow.

I love children especially babies up to 5 years old. They have such a pureness that draws one in as they see life in all it's innocence's. It's the beauty of being a grandmother to see once again as they do.

And speaking of grandmother's.....

 

 

We also knit and crochet...blankets, hats, mittens and bunnies. Yes, every little one should have a bunny for Easter. These two are crocheted both are going to nice homes for Easter. The little blue bunny is sleeping he was requested by my son for my grandson who is beginning to loose teeth. It has a front pocket for the tooth.

 

 

I just finished the little blue one on the left which is for my oldest grandson. Nearly 10 and he's changing everyday. I look at him when he visits and can remember the tiny little toe head blonde just discovering life. He wanted a big boy bunny. If your wondering where the pink and white one is going a neighbor has two grand daughter's. So yes I do need one more.

They are fun to crochet, however, I am not big on stuffing and assembly, until I see the final result and if your wondering they are 14" tall.

 

 

I am working on the last one for the neighbor. This one has a bit more detail as this is going to a big girl. Well, let's just say she thinks so and that's all that matters. I've done this one before as it seems to be a favorite when someone sees a photograph or the ones that are made randomly and sit in a basket in my living room.

 

 

This is what she will look like when finished. I can just see the little one who received this bunny dragging it across the floor by one arm. Oh, how sweet to imagine. I am happy they make a little one smile, maybe even you!

Love Like a Flower

 

AS a quiet little seedling
Lay within its darksome bed,
To itself it fell a-talking,
And this is what it said:

 

'I am not so very robust,
But I'll do the best I can;'
And the seedling from that moment
Its work of life began.

 

 

So it pushed a little leaflet
Up into the light of day,
To examine the surroundings
And show the rest the way.


 

The leaflet liked the prospect,
So it called its brother, Stem;
Then two other leaflets heard it,
And quickly followed them.

 

 

To be sure, the haste and hurry
Made the seedling sweat and pant;
But almost before it knew it
It found itself a plant.

 

The sunshine poured upon it,
And the clouds they gave a shower;
And the little plant kept growing
Till it found itself a flower.

 

 

Little folks, be like the seedling,
Always do the best you can;
Every child must share life's labor
Just as well as every man.

 

 



And the sun and showers will help you
Through the lonesome, struggling hours,
Till you raise to light and beauty
Virtue's fair, unfading flowers.

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872-1904



How Would it....

 It's a beautiful day here a bit cool, but the sun is shinning and the sky is as blue as can be... The trees aren't showing any signs of renewing yet, up here in the North East things are still a bit touch and go with the weather. I am looking out my front window a place where my grandson sat last year in the summer, he said, "grammie it's such a beautiful view you have up here" amazing a 9 year old noticing the view. Then again, hes special....not just because he's my grandson he has a glow about him, that goes beyond his years. I smile all the time when he's around me as a baby he was amazing articulate at a very early age. He is that of my son, his father, an exact duplicate right down to the face, hair and size. When he's around me it tends to take me back in time, often a time I miss, when his father was his age. I spend time differently with my grandson than I did his father, we don't realize those things when where in them...that time doesn't stand still waiting for us to catch up in wisdom. To stand in the moment like a tree, waiting for a breeze to move our attention to another place. My view,  my grandson's view are that of the same, now that time has passed, I understand my mother, and more importantly the roll of my grandmother. Both standing in the same time only decades apart, me innocent, her wise now both seeing the same view in that the same moment, waiting for the breeze to move us along, we enjoy each other. I knew she understood me, I knew we inhabited the same space when together....something most parents are robbed of...trying to absorb the world and paying the bills...

I know there are those out there that are wise beyond their years. Those who bask in the joy of those moments at a young age and throughout their lives. I have no regrets or would I change my past I just sometimes wonder as I look out the window on a sunny day....I daydream and wonder if it could be written as a novel how would it all have turned out...had I have been one who was wise beyond my years as I began my life... How would it have been for you...do you ever wonder?

UPDATED PARAGRAPH BELOW......

My son always says to me...why is it mom, some people have an easier life than others. I say this and believe it with all my being. "those who have it more difficult then others are the special ones in life, as through their journey... although there life is so incredibly tough... the wisdom has always been there from the beginning waiting to be unlocked by a mishap along the way...no matter how devastating it may be" I would rather be the one with all the devastation than to be one who sees it only during the death of there life.

Which One Speaks to You!

 

               

Today I decided to do something different after all spring is here and everyone is getting excited to decorate not only inside but out....so in this post are random photographs.... which one speaks to you and why? 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me I have always had one wall that is a focal point of another color I really like and one of mine is a black wall. Surrounded by cream and black accents. If truth be known I am a bit of a Traditional style gal. What style are you and is there anything in the photographs that inspires you to want to make and add to your decor?

Nice Walk to Wonderful Finds

 

Early this morning I decided to get out of the apartment and take a walk that lead me to the mall. Which in turn lead me to the book store which I love.

 

 

There is a great area for sitting a browsing through books and magazines. I love the creative section, knitting, crocheting, and gardening. Out of one of the magazines I picked up this blanket caught my eye. The more I looked at it the more appealing it became, the color combination and the way the crocheted squares are displayed. This one is a must do project...yet another on on my long list to be completed and started.

 

 

Continue my browsing I stumbled across this gorgeous yet unique cape in Filati Knitting magazine, immediately I thought Wheee...another project I would love to tackle. Do the ideas and projects ever stop long enough to finish one of them? Hmm..I wonder.

 

 

Finally in my venture I decided to browse through Jessica Alba's book The Honest Life after seeing her on the talk show Katie. I have to admit my first impression, how much could she know after all she actually just a young girl. Much to my surprise this book is intriguing throughout and well worth the read. I learned that the honest life is living a eco friendly green life, including toxins in foods and products. And she offers amazing alternatives. This book is not only informational but it's well written, I give this book an A.

So my day of a well needed nice walk turned into a surprise of wonderful finds.

 

 



Sew Many Sheep

 

 

 

 

 

I have a love of sheep...in photographs, on shop banners, collectibles, there is an amazing sense of down home country feel... the simple life which they suggest. When I see a cute sheep in a shop it just pulls me in visually. There are so many talented people who sketch them, embroider them, and make dolls which makes me just say, awww...So I decided to make one myself and that's what I did, I made a sheep doll. I love everything that says simple, even though I have a sewing machine, I am more comfortable hand sewing. I can sit on my couch for hours with a needle and thread and I am at peace. The sheep is entirely hand stitched from beginning to end. Isn't he just the cuties? So last night I sat again with my needle and thread and created an item that you can find at Ewenique Farm Goods. An adorable hand stitched heart... filled with Bulgarian lavender essential oil, mixed with rice, and Bulgarian lavender buds. The aroma is soft, subtle and not overpowering perfect in it's delicate patterns of pinks. Although my decor is traditional and is subtle in colors I do love creating with color when it comes to fabric. Do you too love sheep and find the smell of lavender soothing?