Battling February doldrums!

Dinner date with Gabe

At the all you can eat 

Chinese buffet.

Followed by music

Joe and Nellie helping dig out after yet another snow storm!

Nothing is as fun as a snowday!

Perdi

Your waggy tail would thump on the floor

Morning noon night

You talked to us

Howled like wolf

Meowed like a cat

Muttered under your breath when 

You were in trouble

Always the last word

For weeks not a whisper

Not a wag

Not a sound

Just big brown eyes looking

For us

To make it better.

Wrapped up in blankets

And love

Light as a bird

You took flight.

Fuzzy Flower Garden

From this

to THIS!

my friend taught me to crochet this year
and I have become a little obsessed

so I have married my love of fiber jewelry with
my fixation on varieties of granny squares
or in this case stars

and spent what could be known as the
"week of the bad back"

into the
"week of the winter garden"

Christmas and all the Christmas Season

consulting with the Claus at the town tree lighting

he even sang the Scooby Do song for Dede Bella
Best Santa Ever!
he even took his time talking to the big kids
who happen to be the littlest kids of all

we meet an elf and prove that it is nearly impossible to
have a family picture where everyone looks at the camera

you know everything is "ok" when
you have a Tardis of your very own

Some of the amazing art at the program
for adults with disabilities that
Amanda attends.

fairies for the tree

the elves stayed up all night tracking Santa

Joe and Tammy
our honorary Auntie

Amanda rocking at at the RHD-RI Holiday Party!

Perdita - love my dog
praying she makes it to another Christmas

our tree in all its' glory

Gabe and the kitties.
at my friends house and his favorite new friends.

waiting her turn for her holiday band concert
and looking very glamorous in the doing.

my sewing companion
Sam Sam the Kit Kat Man

Making do with a New Tree

                                         

Our temporary tree,

or how last years debacle became

this years treasure.

Our tree and a lifetime of Christmas decorations are spending

this year in storage.

I was on my way to the storage locker to pick them up

and I had bedbug flashbacks so they will stay

bagged and stored for one more year.

This year we have a tree from Bennie's that would do Charlie Brown proud

and are in the process of making ornaments.

Nellie and Joe are learning to make Fairy Dolls and Bead Garlands.

I am showing off my burgeoning crochet skills,

also known as variations on the Granny Square.

Gabe has promised me some paper cranes as soon we get origami paper.

Each decoration gets hung as soon as it is complete.

So far so wonderful.

It may be my favorite tree yet.

The Happiest of Birthdays is Art

When my family asked what I wanted for my birthday I said,

"Nothing"

I have everything I need.

The more I thought about it the more I thought that wasn't quite true.

What I would really like was to spend some time together,

doing something fun.

So. Why not some art.

We had been admiring pictures of  trees made with buttons

on Pinterest, that was our starting point.

Sam had some opinions about Nellie's choices.





Joe getting started on a small scale.

Our friend Tammy joins in when we moved the project outside today.

Table of art in progress, the tree is mine with contributions from everyone.
the tree is made from a pair of Nellie's old pants,
the ground is pages of Pride and Prejudice,
Amanda added some flowers, birds, and a horse,
Gabe gave my tree some roots, just like he gave my life when he came along.
Everyone added buttons.

This is just what I wanted.

Early on in the button progress, Gabe contemplating his next step.

Joe's independent masterpiece,



and Nellie's.  They are going to hang these in their rooms,
one painting was not enough.



And last of all mine, and every ones.
Along with the two mini canvases that were the trial run .
You can still see the glue where it isn't quite dry,
other than that I think it's perfect
and the best birthday present ever.

September Morning

It was a busy summer for making things, one of the

advantages of having to stay home.

I missed work, missed my routine, but in early July my mother became

seriously ill and spent several weeks in the hospital.

She is on the road to recovery and I did get to spend a lot of time with

my children.  That made all the inconveniences worth it.

We had a lot of picnics and beach days, my two youngest discovered the joy of

quahogging and providing your family with a dinner you caught.

And I had a lot of time to sew

and knit.

The pink fairy bracelet.

Autumn Fairy

Hoot Hoot Fall is here!

A pattern I worked out for ruffled cuffs

My daughter's beautiful hands with the cozy cuffs

and I made some vests too, this one appliqued with a beautiful fabric panel
that I rescued from the remnant bin at JoAnn's.

Berry mitts

Berry mitts and matching vest

Emerald City mitts

More ruflly cups

and pebble mitts

harvest time

the set that started off the knitting frenzy
the softest merino wool in the prettiest fall colors