Granny Squares

Good Morning to all of my friends in blogland!

It's Thursday, which means Bible study tonight at our house.  Over the years I've gradually begun to do the bulk of my housework on Thursdays so everything is spic and span when our friends arrive for study.  But with the kids gone, it really doesn't get that messy anymore.  Still, old habits are hard to break so I've already cleaned all three bathrooms, vacummed, dusted and scrubbed floors this morning and it's only 8:30.  It's supposed to be hot today so I wanted to get everything done early.  That leaves more time to knit or crochet of course!

And that leads me to my tah-dah moment.  In the past two days I've crocheted 12 squares for Japan.  I hope to mail them off to Maureen this afternoon if I can make it to the post office.  And here they are:

I tried some different patterns from a book I have and made up a few of my own.  I think they turned out rather well and they're brightly colored too.  Do you see the white one with the red circle center?  That reminds me of the Japanese flag!

Still no word of when the work will be done on our trailer.  They do think they have found the source of the leak and have fixed that, but are waiting on things to dry out enough to put back together.  So...no camping yet.  Imagine a sad face inserted here.  Nita and I did go up to the lake yesterday for a few hours and enjoy the view and eat lunch.  It was a good time and a nice getaway.

I spent the afternoon with a young lady from our church at a doctors appointment.  She gets shots in her head for severe headaches.  Her mom just had knee surgery last week so I offered to drive her.  16 shots in her neck and head and the relief is only for a few weeks.  This dear girl had brain surgery last year that was supposed to heal her headaches but that didn't happen.  It's a genetic thing and now they are getting ready to test her brother for it.   Please pray for this family.  I can't imagine knowing that this is what she has to live with.  Just yesterday was 3 1/2 hours in the Dr. office. 

On a more cheerful note look how my flowers are blooming!  I have six pots of these in various spots around the outside of the house.  I'm thinking of taking some of them out to the lake.  They didn't do anything for about the first 5 weeks they were planted, but with the recent warmth, they've just blossomed.

 And here is my flowering bush.  It never blooms until late July and then goes crazy until it frosts.  It just started blooming on Tuesday.  By next week, the entire bush should be covered with these beautiful lavendar flowers

 Isn't it beautiful?  I love this bush and wish it bloomed longer in the summer.

For my works in progress I have a shawl on the needles for me.  I have made three identical ones in the past, all for me, and I ended up giving them away.  We'll see if God wants me to keep this one or gift it to someone.  I also have a little dress begun for our 7 year old granddaughter.  I'm not liking the neckline right now so it may be frogged.  It's a raglan style and I want to get a little further into the pattern before I give up.   I also want to make some booties for one of the charity knitting groups I'm in.  The project for the summer is a crisis pregnancy center.  They give a pair of booties to each mother when she has a positive pregnancy test.

Otherwise it will be a quiet day on the Queen homestead.  I've had two calls this morning from some of our new friends at the lake, asking if we'll be down.  We have other plans for the weekend though, even if the trailer was in place.  I'll update you on those plans next time. 

Have a wonderful day everyone and may it be blessed and filled with sunshine!

Blessings,

Betsy

A Challenge for You

Good Monday Morning My Friends!

It's a beautifully cool morning here in Washington State.  I drove to the lake bright and early this morning for the pick-up of our trailer to go back to the dealership for warranty repair.  They were there right on time and I got to spend an hour enjoying the early morning birds.  I purposely got there around 7:15 and took my breakfast with me to enjoy while waiting and enjoying the view at the lake.  There was a beautiful sailboat out already and it was so peaceful.  "sigh"  Hopefully the trailer will be repaired by the weeks end and I can spend some time there next week again.

I was asked if I would post a request on my blog for you all from a Ravelry friend who does a lot of charity needlework too.  Here it is in her words.

"Thought that I would update you about Knit for Japan’s granny square project. At Monthly Crochet for Charity, I have “issued” a challenge to beat the number of squares (64) that were sent at the beginning of July. The next mailing is at the end of September; therefore, I will need them by September 27th.

Would you mind spreading the word on your blog and to your friends? You have my permission to give them my address:)))))"

And here's her address:

Maureen D. Aube
19 Mountain View Drive
Franklin,  NH  03235

This is such a worthy cause.  The squares need to be 8 inches and will be joined to make blankets for the people still in shelters.  There are many.  There is sinply nowhere for them to go, especially the elderly.  The radiation situation at the Fukushima Diachi plant caused many, many people to have to simply walk away from their homes, livestock and all of their possessions.  Their homes are still standing, but they are not allowed to return.  Then, there are of course, all the people that lost everything in the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.  I know you are all wonderfully giving people and even one square will make a difference.  Winter will arrive again before we know it and they have severely cold ones in northern Japan.  Thanks a bunch.

We're having guests for dinner tonight and I think that I will attempt chicken parmesan with spaghetti.  I made it before and it turned out fairly well.  Hubby likes it and I like to make him happy!  :-)  I also have the first picking of green beans from the garden.

Thanks for joining me today.  Sorry I don't have any pictures.  Nothing exciting to report at all.  As always, I love your comments and suggestions.

Blessings,

Betsy

Long Absence

Happy Thursday Morning!

I'm so sorry for the long time between posts.  I tried to post from my iphone a few times.  It wouldn't let me post pictures and then somehow both posts deleted before being saved.  I finally gave up and thought I would just do it on the computer at home.  Hubby and I were in Missoula, Montana last weekend with our son and his family at a KOA.  We had a Kamping Kabin and they had their trailer.  It was so much fun.  The grandbabies slept with us in the Kabin and we had two nights of grandbaby cuddles.  Although they aren't babies anymore.  K is all legs and seven years old and C is 5 and smart as a whip.

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend.  Smore's are better all over your face!

 Hubby and our son on the porch of the kabin.  Our granddaughter didn't like the spelling of the kamping kabins.  She kept telling me the correct spelling is camping cabin.  :-)

 Hubby making the fire for the smore's.  He makes a great fire with just a few sticks and some kindling.  No lighter fluid.  He was a Boy Scout as a young boy and learned lots of useful things.

 Our little kabin.  It had a porch swing that I spent lots of time swinging on with the grandbabies.  That is real fire in the pit, not pieces of paper. It looks sort of artificial doesn't it?

 Here we are on the way to the Farmers Market in Missoula on Saturday morning.  Of course they wanted to ride with Grandpa and Grandma.  (They also wanted to come home with us, but unfortunately that didn't happen.)

 Bountiful produce everywhere I looked.  Isn't this gorgeous?

 Herbs, herbs, herbs anyone?

 The bakery tables were almost sold out before we got there.

 Last Thursday our Bible Study group had a potluck dinner before our study.  Look at the goodies.  Hubby and I provided the drinks and chicken breasts that I had marinated and then grilled outside.

 One of the yummy desserts.  Goat cheesecake.  There were raspberries to top it with.

 One last picture at the end of the day.  Hubby adores these kids and they love him.  Oh, how we wish we lived closer to them.

We drove home in a driving rain that slowed us to 35 mph on the interstate for about 90 miles.  Then the skies changed to blue and it's been beautiful ever since.  We arrived home about 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.  I washed laundry. We packed the care and headed to the Lake!   I just came home this morning, (Thursday).  Hubby has been driving in to work every day until last night when he had to pick someone up at the airport for work at 11:30 p.m. so he stayed at the house.  We have study tonight and will head back to the lake tomorrow night.

We are having MAJOR trailer issues and it's very disappointing.  First off, we noticed the dining table had a huge crack, not a scratch, a crack, right down the middle, so they ordered a new one for us.  Then, when we took our first showers in the trailer on Monday morning, the shower leaked all over.  They came and fixed it, (hopefully) on Tuesday.  Right after the repairman left, I noticed water dripping under the trailer so they came back yesterday and worked on it for about 4 hours.  Mission UNSUCCESSFUL!  They can't find the leak so they have to tow it back in to the shop on Monday.  Basically we have no running water except we can use the toilet.  I'm so happy we have the toilet!  We have to flush it with pitchers of water since we can't run any fresh water through the lines.  So- I'm not sure if the shower is fixed or  not, we haven't been able to use it.  I've been showering at our friends trailer next door all week!

Then, the repairman who was there yesterday said our electrical converter sounds bad and he's ordering another one!  All is being fixed under warranty, but here won't be any camping next week at all.  Hubby and I will go out this weekend and pack the food, etc. out before it's hauled away for repair.  How disappointing.  Oh well, it is what it is. Right?

I'm off to do errands today.  Visit the nursing home and collect mail etc.  It's good to visit all of you today.  I read all of your blogs this week but only have my phone, no other internet connection and it wouldn't let me comment. 

I'll check back soon!

Blessings,

Betsy

Camping Fun

Oh my goodness!  We had the BEST time camping this past week.  Although I've been told it's not "camping," it's "RVing"!  Chloe and I went out to the lake early Tuesday morning and I didn't leave until Saturday morning when hubby and I WENT AND BOUGHT A BRAND NEW CAMPER!  Yes, I'm yelling!  I'm screaming with happiness!  I loved our little camper for the original purpose we bought it.  We thought we would be towing it all over the place to different campgrounds and we didn't have a large vehicle so we needed a lightweight trailer.  Now that we're leaving it at the lake however, we decided that while it was still relatively new and we could get our money's worth out of it we could get a bigger one with a bed that's left up all the time, and not tent-like.  The new trailer is all season so we can go out in the spring and stay later in the fall.  The large picture window in the back will overlook the lake.  They will pick up our camper today or tomorrow and then deliver the new one right to our spot on Friday.  I'm so happy.  Here are some pictures of the new one for you.  Here is hubby and I in front of the new trailer

 Larry and Nita kicking back in the rocker by the picture window.

 Hubby pointing out the t.v.!  Not that we plan to use it much. I like the real table and chairs instead of a dinette.  We had a choice and I prefer the table.  The refrigerator on the right is twice as big as our little campers refrigerator.

 A "real" shower!  Yippee!  I was pretty tall for the other one, but I'm not complaining, it worked well.  There is a wardrobe "bump-out".  Nice, because hubby will need to keep dress clothes here for work since we'll be staying there a lot this summer.

 Queen size bed and more cabinets.  So pretty.

 The sofa sleeper looks blue, but it's actually dark brown.  I much prefer the neutral tones over the blues and greens of the trailer we bought about 15 years ago.  I can brighten it up with accessories and change it up if I want to.

 Here's our little camper all set up for the week.  We did have great fun in it and it worked great.

 Hubby and Larry putting together their screen room.  It's an older tent but worked great for shade in our 100 degree heat over the weekend.  There were so many alumium rods for the guys to put together with no instructions.  We were calling them to two stooges. :-) 

 But with much patience and teamwork......

 Ta-dah!   Here they are congratulation each other on a job well done.

 Our view of the lake.

This is the knitting that was accomplished this past week.  Not a lot, but we spent lots of time reading, walking and playing cards. The sweater and socks are done and the hat about 3/4 completed.

Tonight begins Vacation Bible School at our church.   I'm in charge of crafts so it will be a busy few days.  Thursday we have a potluck at our house for our Bible study group, then on Friday we're off to Montana to camp with our grandbabies and their parents.  I can't wait to give hugs all around.

I hope you're all having a lovely week and staying cool wherever you may be. 

Blessings,

Betsy

4th of July!

For my American readers, do you have plans for the 4th of July?  It's kind of hard to plan, since it's on Wednesday this year.  Right smack in the middle of the week. Hubby has to work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  We're going camping with our friends Larry and Nita anyway!  Hubby will just commute to work on Thursday and Friday, along with Larry.  It will be good, because he will be in and out of the house everyday so things will get checked on at home.  Meanwhile, Chloe and I are heading to the Lake tomorrow and not coming home until Sunday!  Oh, my life is so wonderful!  If the kids and grandkids lived closer everything would be perfect.

Hubby and I spent the weekend at the lake with just Chloe, but we've already made friends there and Chloe attended her first birthday party on Saturday.  She was invited to Lucy's 7th birthday party.  Five dogs attended.  There were hot dogs and chips to eat, (both humans and dogs ate lunch!)  Party hats, and goodie bags.  The girls wore pink scarves and the boy dogs wore blue!  Oh, my goodness!  Us empty nesters have waaaayy too much time on our hands when we have doggy parties.  I couldn't believe it.  But, Chloe had a wonderful time.  The dogs get along great and she didn't want to get in the car to come home yesterday.  She has friends now.

I cannot get the pictures to post on here of her so I'll do a second blog from my phone with those pictures. I don't think I'm ever going to figure out all this technological "stuff".

(Edited to add that I just plain cannot get the photos from my phone to the blog.  I emailed them to myself but I can't find them on the computer.  I'm so sorry.  They are REALLY cute pictures.  Maybe I can get some help sometime figuring this out.)
I haven't been completing very many projects lately.  I start something and then rip it out because the pattern seems to be wrong, or I just don't like it.  I don't have anything pressing right now, so I've just got some baby sockies for charity on the needles.  I'll work on those off and on this week while camping.   We seem to play cards and visit a lot so not much knitting/crocheting gets done.  Here's a photo of the market bag that I finished on Friday.  I started it over three times and still don't like the looks of the handle.  It seems very wide and short.  And I made it narrower and longer than the pattern called for already!  I think I'll make some adjustments to the pattern before making anymore.  It hangs a bit odd in the photo, but actually has a rectangular bottom and spiral sides.  I like the bag itself, just not the handle.

Well, I need to finish laundry and ironing if I want to go play this week!  I'll try to post with Chloe's pictures from my phone now.

Have a wonderful week and HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Blessings,

Betsy