Finishes!

I have some finishes for you today. I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I wrote a post. I don’t know where the days go, but they seem to fly by.  We had another FaceTime video today with Mandy while she walked through the house again with the son and daughter-in-law of the owner. This time our realtor who is drawing up the paperwork was with them. She had to see the house herself before some of the paperwork could be completed. I can’t believe the progress they have made in cleaning out the owners personal items. It looks so much bigger than it did before. They are leaving much of the furniture and that will be wonderful. We may replace some of it eventually, but at least we know we have enough to get started when we get there. Dennis is especially excited about the desk and a bookshelf they are leaving in the office. Larry and Nita are giving us a futon that they have. Everyone says it is a very comfortable full-size bed when converted from a sofa to a bed. We will put that in the office too and it will provide an extra guest bed.  They are leaving an entire master bedroom set, complete with nightstand, chest of drawers, dresser with mirror and a queen size bed. We have our own mattress that we will use, but since we gave away all of our bedroom furniture, this is like a gift from the Lord. 

Really the only furniture we kept was our guestroom set, the end tables in the living room, the storage unit that was under the TV and two lazyboy recliners. That’s it!  The bedroom set will be perfect in the other guestroom. That room will be Miss Piper‘s room when she comes to stay with us and I think it will be nice for a little girl.  They are also leaving the dining room hutch and table, kitchen table and chairs and a sofa, loveseat and end tables in the living room! I was a bit worried when we gave all of our furniture away, knowing how much it would cost to buy all new furniture if we did decide to buy a house. But just look how God blessed us. He not only provided a house in the perfect location for us next door to Mom, but he also provided furniture too! He is so good.

I am excited to have a dedicated crafting area at one end of the family room where I can leave my sewing machine out and have my yarn stored where it will be easy to get to. Now that I know this is happening, I’m very eager to move and get started on our new life. I did book the POD for our move in September. I have also reserved a U-Haul trailer for May.  Dennis and I will fill the U-Haul and take it back then. It will be our first time in the house to see what all needs to be done.

I’m sorry about the lighting in the following pictures. It was very hard to get good photos this week as it’s been snowing lightly or raining nearly every day. Tomorrow is supposed to be 47°F. Isn’t that crazy?  I will take it since tomorrow is my birthday and you all know how much I detest winter. I feel like God is giving me a gift of springtime weather. A little bit of warmth and spring rain showers.

This is the baby blanket that I was crocheting on last week. I used the same cross-stitch pattern that Teresa is using on her blanket from Lucy at Attic 24. You can find photos of Teresa‘s blanket on her blog which is on my sidebar under “Teresa Kasner.”

I just made up a very simple border of chains and a shell stitch using triple crochet. The second photo is much closer to the actual color of the blanket. This will be donated to the hospital nursery here in Spokane.

Next I have been following a lady on YouTube named the “Crocheting House Mouse.” She is crocheting a mystery shawl where every night her husband chooses a color out of her scraps and puts it in a bag for her so she will be surprised. That is the next row she puts on her shawl. She only crochets one row a day.  Well, I used the same pattern, but I used one entire skein of Knit Picks speckle yarn in fingering weight and several of my scrap sock yarn balls. I was trying to make it in more muted colors and not overly bright. I just ordered enough material from “Goods” store in Pennsylvania to make five summer dresses. I chose colors to go with the speckle yarn out of my scrap bag that would match some of the colors in those dresses.   I think this light shawl will be perfect for the summer evenings.  I’m sorry it isn’t stretched or blocked yet. I really have no place here to block something this large.

Two more pair of mittens were made using two strands held together of the Lion Brand Cupcake yarn. These mittens are so soft. One ball of the cupcake yarn was enough to make four pair of mittens with just a little less than one yard left over! It was wonderful. I felt like I had used almost every bit of that yarn. Thank you to the person who gave me this yarn. You know who you are. Four little children will have warm hands next winter because of your generosity in donating this yarn.

As I said earlier, every day for the past week we have had rain or snow. One day it would snow 3 to 4 inches and the next it would rain and wash a lot of it away. Then it would snow again overnight and then turn to rain again. Right now we have a little piles of snow but most of it is gone. I’m sure that if it gets as warm as they say it will tomorrow, the last reminders of the white stuff will disappear. Yay! I know some of you are just getting your first real snow this weekend. Debbie, I’m talking to you! I hope you’re enjoying it as much as you thought you would.😍

Brad and Mandy gave us a gift card to the Olive Garden for Christmas. I’m going to call in an order tomorrow and Dennis will stop and pick it up on his way home from work. That will be my birthday dinner! I also have a grocery pick up tomorrow morning and I ordered a little 5 inch cake 🎂 that will be the perfect size for Dennis and I to each have a piece tomorrow night after dinner. That way there won’t be a big cake sitting around waiting for me to eat the whole thing! And really, we all know that’s what would happen.😂 Alex already FaceTimed this evening from Japan to wish me a happy birthday because it’s Monday there already!

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and are safe and well. No luck so far on getting vaccine appointment for Dennis but I keep trying. How are you all doing in the process?  I am so sorry this is so long. Thank you for hanging around if you made it this far. I guess I had more to talk to you about then I realized!

Blessings and love, 

Betsy

Snowy Day☃️❄️☃️

We had snow off and on most of the day today. Luckily it didn’t accumulate very much, only an inch or two. Not so back in Nebraska. Piper was out of school today and she’s out again tomorrow because of a blizzard that they have had and are still getting snow from.  I think their final predicted total is somewhere between 14 and 16 inches!  Mandy got to run the big snowblower by herself today.  I think it will really help take a load off of her shoulders.

I made two more pair of mittens with the last donated skein of yarn from my anonymous benefactor. I couldn’t find any patterns I liked that used just one skein  of the cupcake yarn, so I unraveled it from the skein and made individual balls of each color. Then I knit the mittens holding two strands together since it was a thinner yarn than I usually use. I think they turned out great.  I also think there is enough yarn to make two more pair.

I have been admiring the blanket that my friend Teresa has been crocheting. You can see it by clicking on “Teresa Kasner” over on my sidebar. On Saturday, after studying the stitches,  I decided to try to make a baby blanket using the same stitch. This is what I came up with.

It is a very pretty and simple cross stitch. I don’t know if I made it exactly like hers, but I like the way this one looks too.  I am ready to put the border on now.

I went to pick up our mail this morning at Larry and Nita’s and I had a package that I was not expecting. It was from Lorraine, who lives on a little island off the coast of Scotland. You can find Lorraine‘s blog on my sidebar if you click on “Mama’s Mercantile”. It appears she has been a busy little elf, sending packages far and wide all over the globe!

I received a beautiful bag that I am assuming she sent for a project or knitting bag, but I am tempted to use it as my handbag because it’s so beautiful. She also enclosed a needle holder. Both of them have the sweetest little lambs on them.

Lorraine does the most beautiful sewing work. Her stitches are perfect. Look at this cheerful lining and the sweet little rabbit fabric for the pocket inside. I am in love with this bag.

Inside the needle holder she even included three pair of knitting needles! Look at the fabric she used for the pockets. Isn’t this perfect?

What can I say? I feel very loved and spoiled by all of my friends here. Lorraine, I don’t know how to thank you. I feel like I’m having early birthday gifts. The snowman from Cindy last week and this beautiful bag and knitting needle holder from Lorraine. Thank you both so very much.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and you are all doing well. I have heard of three more friends who have the dreaded virus.  We still can’t find any place for Dennis to get the vaccine, but believe me, I am checking every day to see if there’s somewhere I can get him an appointment.

We had a very quiet weekend here. We spent most of it just reading and watching videos.  We attended a couple of online church services. It was very cold and snowy so we didn’t go out much except to walk Chloe.  This morning I talked to my sister for quite a long time. It was so nice. She took a personal day from work because of the bad snowstorm. I don’t have anything to complain about when I see the snow that they’ve had this year. We’ve had a very nice winter so far.

Take care and I’ll be back soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

Happy Thursday

Good morning my friends! It’s another cold and cloudy day here in Spokane. There were blue skies and sunshine when I woke up, but it has gone away. I don’t have a lot of plans for today other than to start a new knitting project. I ended up having another octicular migraine yesterday late in the morning, so I was out of commission most of the afternoon. Today is a much better day with just a bit of a lingering headache, nothing to complain about though. I thought I would share the  “Sheep Virtues” with you again after I outlined all of the sheep with one strand of dark brown. I think it made a big difference, don’t you?

I also made four more pair of mittens, so I’m all caught up for January. I’m trying to get creative and use up all of my little balls of leftover yarn.

This is the new project I will be starting, although I want to make them into full mittens instead of fingerless. When it’s as cold as it is right now you need your fingertips covered too!  I am going to be using some leftover Knit Picks sock yarn in Stroll Heather. I’m using the Farmhouse and Persimmon colorways.

I think I should have enough yarn.

I can’t share too many photos of the house because absolutely no paperwork has been signed yet, but here is one photo of the outside. It has a double car garage to the left and two windows above the garage. The two windows are the two guest rooms and the master bedroom and bath are in the back of the house. The three windows on the right top are the living room and bottom is the family room. Sorry it’s blurry, but this photo has been emailed three times and saved.  The house has permanent siding and vinyl wrapped windows, as well as “gutter helmets.” It is virtually no maintenance on the outside besides lawn care and snow removal. I really didn’t want another split level house, but there aren’t a lot of choices right now. I would have preferred an older, one level craftsman house, but we don’t always get what we want do we?  I am very happy that the Lord has provided this home for us in such an excellent location.  As for our moving date, that is still up in the air. As I said in my last post, we’re hoping to go back in the spring and start cleaning the house out and see what needs to be done. The actual move probably won’t be until fall.  Although we will be right next-door to Dennis’s mom, Mandy, Brad and Piper will be about 20 minutes away and my sister about 20 minutes the other direction. There is family scattered all in between and my brother is across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs.

Look, look, look! I had a surprise in the mail yesterday. Cindy from the “Delighted Hands” blog over on my side bar sent me one of her sweet little snowman. She is becoming a whiz using the lathe that she recently started working on. She makes the most exquisite bowls from logs found on their property! And these sweet little snowman too! I have fallen in love with every one that I saw on her blog. She knows that I collect snowmen and they are my favorite winter decoration. She even signed the bottom of it. When she is a famous artist, I will have one of her first art pieces. 💜☃️💜 He has a place of honor here in the RV and he will have one in the new house too. I think he will be a snowman that stays out year-round. Thank you so much Cindy! He is so handsome with his wonderful smile and fancy scarf.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and are safe and well.

This verse is one of my absolute favorites. When I would sit at the lake and see the eagles flying over, I couldn’t help but quote this verse in my mind each time.

Blessings and love,

Betsy