I knit this top for Brooke a few months ago. She wore it on the plane to Costa Rica, this pic was shot from our hotel balcony. We just arrived and she quickly took it off for something cooler. It looks great over a lacey white dress. The Berrocco pattern included cute ruffle shorts however the look is a little young for Brooke. I had to double strand the yarn for a larger top than the pattern called for. I need to try harder to steer away from pink and creams in the future. On a good note: Brooke's cast is coming off tomorrow!
June 02, 2010
February 15, 2010
Kendall and Reiley's First Oil Paintings
Painting with watercolors for more than five years I finally asked Carol, the girl's instructor if they could switch to oils. She always discouraged us from oil painting due to the difficulties and required skills. Not to mention economics, as I quickly learned!
They recently completed their fist still life paintings. Years working with watercolors helped make their first attempt with oils a success.
Here is Reiley's portrayal of an Italian kitchen scene ...And Kendall's from a different angle ...
Off to get them framed!
Happy Valentine's Day
Kendall and Reiley were busy making and decorating 75 mousse filled chocolate cordials for Valentine's Day gifts. Brooke gladly helped by eating all the broken chocolate cup crumbles like a little mouse. They were delicious!
February 14, 2010
Through the Eyes of My 13 Year Old
My girls fill notebooks and notebooks sketching anything and everything. Today Reiley made quick sketches on loose sheets of paper in the morning while waiting for breakfast, at a restaurant while waiting for dinner and later while we were relaxing in front of the TV watching The Olympics.
She showed me her sketches and I quickly realized how I love seeing myself through her eyes!
Here I am in the kitchen making whole grain pancakes, dining at Best Lees, and knitting while watching Olympic Speed Skaters at night.
I know, very June Clever-ish ... but still, I got a kick out of seeing Reiley's highly inflated "peaches-and-cream" perception of me!
Happy Chinese New Year!
Back from a two week working trip in Chengdu, China and not quite adjusted to the time zone change, we didn't think Bob would be overly excited to celebrate the Chinese New Year, we were wrong. The girls donned their newly gifted necklaces, earrings and bracelets from China to celebrate the beginning of the Year of The Tiger. Understandably afraid of masks, it took a little while for Brooke to enjoy the attentions from the dancing dragons and animated Chinese dancers.
Happy Chinese New Year!
January 17, 2010
Brooke's Shrug for Ballet Class
Whirligig Shrug by Stefanie Japel. Published in Interweave Knits, Weekend 2009. I knit this for Brooke to wear to her ballet classes. She wanted it to look "like a princess sweater" so I added pink ribbons in and out of the eyelets in the pattern around the sleeves. The ribbon also helps to hold the shrug on because I made it a little large so it will last. Easy to knit with great pattern design. Knit with leftover organic cotton from Lion Brand.
She loves it ..... striking poses and dancing. Her new song is "Hey Soul Sister" by Train. She sings it everywhere she goes and adopted a silly new attitude to go with. Having two 13 year old sisters she is growing up fast.
Click on photos for close ups. Details in the pattern are difficult to see in the photos because of the cream yarn color.
January 14, 2010
Christmas Cowl for Lindsey
Before Christmas I ran across a pattern from French Press Knits, a beautiful Breckenridge Cowl. I quickly ran out for a soft 100% Peruvian Wool and knit this for my sister-in-law, Lindsey. I finished it just on time and wrapped it for her for Christmas. My daughter picked two large pretty brushed silver buttons. It looked great on her ...... but everything looks good on her as you can see.
Melynda of French Press Knits offers beautiful pattern designs including sweet felted slippers. At first I was going to make a pair for Lindsey however she wears the prettiest winter coats I thought the cowl would be perfect for.
French Press knits blog:
http://www.frenchpressknits.blogspot.com/
December 23, 2009
Christmas Crafts
Last year I purchased six vintage figurines thinking they would be cute for the girls to make Christmas snow globes as gifts. The figurines are very small and snow globe kits were large so the gifts were a no go.
This year after poking around etsy and asking many sellers I finally found mini snow globes. The girls used acrylic paints for the base and gave the kissing Clauses to their grandma, I saved the mouse for my 3 year old who love Christmas mice. It would have been nice to have made them musical however I didn't think about it until they were gone.
December 02, 2009
16" Waldorf Doll - Brooke
Brooke was made for Charley, my friend's daughter for Christmas.
The girls won state!
Bosque Girls Cross Country won 1A-2A State Champions.
Kendall (second from right) placed in the top 10 with time of 20.13.
Reiley (fourth from right) placed 13th with time of 20.37
Congratulations Bosque!!!
December 01, 2009
Our First Garden
We've been living in our home for the past 8 years or so and have always been weary of the mounds of dirt on the west side of our property. We decided to finally do something about it. We hired a landscaper, showed him photos of what we like and he got busy.
We wanted all the look to look natural and rustic. Garden steps would be giant flat boulders, the planters we wanted giant moss rock.
Here's Brooke inspecting the materials for our coyote fence.
The garden was finished after planting season so I got busy as fast I could. Bob's parents were in town which I was grateful for ...... they helped with the planting of the herbs, berries and tomato plants.
Brooke's house took a couple of weekends to build. Bob assembled it and put shingles on the roof in the hot summer sun. The house turned out to be more difficult than advertised. The girls took an entire weekend painting the outside and inside and decorating. Brooke loves her new house!
This is just a sampling of the tomatoes picked each weekend. We would process the tomatoes into juice immediately to freeze or I would spend all day making delicious tomato sauce to freeze.
The girls had fun with the tomato press .... for a few weeks at least. There were so many tomatoes the novelty soon wore off.
I found the best tomato sauce recipe! It took the entire day however it was pretty amazing. The chunky vegetables and fresh tomatoes made for a fresh, flavorful sauce.
We had zucchini and squash growing so fast .... anyone and everyone who crossed my path went home with an armload. My mother-in-law gave me an ingenious recipe for a zucchini dessert. The zucchini crumble tasted was delicious. I served the dessert to company and no one believed the apple crumble a la mode they thought they were eating was in fact zucchini.
A weekend of picking.
This is the first garden we ever had. We didn't know when to pick the watermelon. We waited a little too long however it was so good we called friends and family to come over and taste our super sweet watermelon. It was the best!
Potatoes are ready to harvest. Kendall enjoyed digging up armfuls of potatoes with every plant.
Her bag was quickly filling up.
Kendall with a bag full of green chile and bell peppers. Working the garden every weekend was a lot of work. Processing everything consumed our weekends. Having a freezer full of organic garden vegetables can't be beat.
Brooke thought the okra was funny looking.
One of my favorite part of the garden is the gate I designed. Rustic and masculine it opens to huge boulder steps leading to the garden.
It was unreal how quickly the season ended. We were having so much fun with our garden we didn't want it to end. When first frost was forecasted we covered most of the garden with tarp to save the remaining vegetables. We picked most of the remaining tomatoes and brought them inside to ripen.
Our pumpkins were so fun to grow. Next year we are going to try to grow them even larger. The plants quickly took over pathways, grew up over walls and steps. Their leaves were as big as I ever saw.
The girls loved the strawberries the most. Even the littlest strawberries were packed with flavor. The first thing Brooke would do when she ran out to the garden was to look for ripe strawberries and eat them before anyone else could get one.
I grew so many different herbs and didn't know how to process them. I cut basil, parsley, oregano, cilantro and more for my brother, a chef and cooked with them as much as possible however much of it did go to waste. There was so much to do I didn't do much with the herbs.
We have apple, pear, peach and cherry trees. Thank goodness they won't grow fruit for a while ... the vegetables were all consuming. We did get a few apples and ate those as soon as they were ripe however as exciting as it is to grow a treeful of fruit I know it's going to increase our workload and we may even need to purchase a new freezer!
October 28, 2009
Halloween Pumpkin Party
This weekend we had a pumpkin birthday party for my mom.
I have to start off with a photo of my pumpkins!
65.8 pounds (middle), 55 pounds (left) and 35 pounds (the white inbred) .....
My girls were on the decoration committee....
Butternut squash vase with flowers from our garden.
Pumpkin vase ........
Proud Brooke on her pumpkins.
Lindsey rejected her albino pumpkin. She didn't want anything to do with it. I thought she would sympathize with whitey, newly part of a Mexican family and all. Guess not ..... Pasty ended up coming home with me instead of being displayed on their front yard. I'll take care of you ...little ashen buddy.
Aunt Jeannine tried the hardest to win. She is ALWAYS and forever in competition with my girls. She is probably the single driving force behind my girls giving all they've got. The girls are determined to best her at everything - and she is a fierce competitor so it gets pretty crazy. All three ended up with a numb, useless hand afterwards! Aunt Jeannine ended up taking third to Reiley (1st) and Kendall (2nd). I have to admit, her pumpkin was pretty cool in person.
Kendall's ghost pumpkin (2nd place).
Reiley took 1st place with her pumpkin pumpkin. She took home the $35 prize. She was so excited. I couldn't vote for one daughter over the other so I sneaked two ballots in the basket; one for Kendall and the other for Reiley. I know ... cheater, cheater pumpkin eater . ha ha.
The funniest? My MACHO Uncle Ed made a BEAUTIFUL floral pumpkin arrangement. Isn't it pretty? So Martha-Stewardy of him! Glad to see he has mellowed and as gotten in touch with his feminine side in his old age. I lightened the photo to show better .... because it is so rich in detail ... it's perfection and so ... pretty!
Aunt Jeannine baked her famous pumpkin pie which was my mom's birthday cake. Everyone looks like they are part of a cult wearing skull necklaces. Those are the necklaces Reiley made and sold last year. Everyone has one ... fun to see everyone wearing them again.
My sister and mom on her birthday. It was a fun evening.
October 12, 2009
Pumpkins, Stems, Vines ... and a Hat 10/12/09
Every year we throw a pumpkin birthday party for my mom with a pumpkin carving, largest pumpkin and best pumpkin pie contest. This year we started out behind because we had to wait for our garden to be constructed. Everyone's vines and pumpkins were growing while we had nothing planted. In fact, Rudy, (our competitor) was called in to consult and ended up helping to dig trenches in his cowboy boots!
In the end, everyone's pumpkins shriveled and died. I soon found out you have to rotate your crop for a successful harvest. My mom grew a half breed somehow, looks like a cross between a watermelon and a pumpkin with green and orange stripes all around.
Lacking space, my brother David asked if we could grow his pumpkin. He picked his plant, bought it fertilizer and promised to sing to it. In the end I think his pumpkin felt unloved. It grew up pale and .... well, pale. When his wife LIndsey visited it for the first time her first reaction was denial and rejection. Poor pumpkin turned a lighter shade of white ... why don't you love me, mom???
Here is Brooke with the knit pumpkin hat and pumpkin vine scarf I knit her.
Pictured is one of our larger pumpkins. We left the stems long for the time being. They were filled with water so we left it long until it dries out.
I wanted to make her 3 year old cousin, Brandon a pumpkin hat for the pumpkin party. Brandon refused to wear a pumpkin hat, he said the hat was for babies. My husband said, of course he won't wear a pumpkin hat .... he's a boy. Having all girls, a pumpkin hat for a little boy didn't seem implausible. Now I know ........ I always said if I had a boy God help him because I only know girl "things" and this was a perfect example.
Pushing our newly picked pumpkin out of the garden to display in the front yard.
Here is our third giant pumpkin. It is oval shaped and as long as long as the wagon!
Couldn't resist a pumpkin portrait. I know it would have been better if the pumpkin stem was cut down. We felt bad cutting the pumpkins off their vines. The pumpkins were still drinking. We'll cut it when it dries up.
My hard working gardeners. All spring and summer they worked the garden. Every weekend they would go out and pick vegetables, pull weeds and tie our giant tomato bushes to the fences. They netted fruit to keep the birds out and were constantly thrilled by the growth in the garden. We had so much fun ... the pumpkins were the most entertaining.
Last year's party pics .........
Hmmmm...... Uncle David ..... I don't think your so called pumpkin deserves to sit next to the others!
Take it back .... it doesn't even deserve to be called a pumpkin much less be at our party!
Can't believe you tried to enter it ... for shame!
Brooke (right) and her best friend Charley (left) sitting on Aunt Jeanine's winning entries ......
Hard at work carving pumpkins.
Never any winning entries from Aunt Liz and Uncle Ed however every year they never give up trying ... :)
Making messes ........
Pumpkin pie entries ..... yum!
Party's over ...... pooped out.
October 06, 2009
Brooke's Maxi Top 10/6/09
A fun and quick knit. I've always enjoyed the patterns from a talented mother, Elena. Her daughter is Brooke's age and I consider myself lucky her patterns grow along with Brooke. She is a gifted knitter and uses her daughter for inspiration. For every one knit piece I complete for Brooke, she knits four for her daughter. Her patterns are posted on her website:
http://moreknits.blogspot.com/
Her aspirations for a toddler knit book is in her future. I am sure she will do well, her designs are perfect for a toddler and not fussy at all. I told her I want to knit every one of her patterns however I know I can never keep up!
Brooke loves her new top. Most of the photos I took of her were blurred because she was doing a happy dance because she liked it so much!
Knit with Louisa Harding Cashmir Aran.
September 29, 2009
Brooke's Angel Sweater 9/26/09
Today was a day of races and fiesta. Here is Brooke after a day of waking up before dawn to see their dad race for the Bosque Fun Run. After Kendall and Reiley's race we went to the Corrales Harvest Festival. Our plan was to eat and pick raspberries however the raspberries suffered an early frost so it was not to be. We stopped at a field of sunflowers so I could take a photo of her new sweater.
The pattern is Angel Sweater by Oat Couture. Knit with Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran. The sleeves are a little puffy, I guess this is why it is called "Angel Sweater".
Bob ran the early morning 5K fun run. He placed second after a 21 year old running 19:10. Not bad .... coming in a close second to a guy half your age. Bob said feels like he is just a punk out of high school.
The girls ran their first varsity race at The Bosque Invitational. Bosque took first place! My 8th graders did very well and held their own against their fellow senior racers. They ended up placing in the top ten out of over 100 racers racing against 14 other schools. Kendall came in at 21:14 and Reiley 22:11. We couldn't be more proud. OK, I will stop bragging now :) Here they are warming up.
And their off ......
Here is Reiley coming in at the finish.
Here is Kendall mid race.
Bosque Bobcats.
Congratulatory hug from baby sis.
Since I can't include raspberry picking pictures from this year I found photos from 2007 and 2008. Here is Kendall and Reiley with Brooke and cousin Brandon picking raspberries. Brooke ate as we picked. She loved them. Raspberries .... yum.
Here is uncle David with the gang in 2008. Brooke is wearing one of the first dresses I knit her. She still wears it today as a top.
September 11, 2009
Brooke's Vintage Knit Lace Dress
Brooke's Lace Dress is finally finished and I couldn't be happier! I took the dress down
in full at least four different times. The dress was knit from the bottom up and for some
reason I never noticed a major flaw in the lace pattern of the skirt until I was already
knitting the bodice. After taking the dress down three times and noticing a flaw for the
fourth time I pretended I didn't see it and continued to knit for a full evening before I
talked myself into ripping the dress out yet again and starting over. If I had enough
concentration to keep a lace pattern error free I would have four dresses completed
after all the knitting I did. I was doing a happy dance when I finished this dress! Last
weekend on our way back from Colorado we stopped in Santa Fe. The city's 400th
Anniversary was in full fiesta mode when we went and I saw the cutest Indian fetish
necklace to coordinate perfectly with her new dress. I inherited my grandma's button
collection and not until I sift through those buttons do I realize how lucky I am to have
those buttons to put on my daughter's knit dresses. These two little turquoise ones with
a little rhinestone center couldn't be more perfect. Brooke wore this dress the first day it
was finished. When I put it on her the length of the dress was perfect, it hit right at her calf.
By the day's end it was down to her ankles. The yarn I used was Louisa Harding's
Jasmine yarn. I think the bamboo and silk gives the yarn a lot of stretch. I had to re-block the
dress in an attempt to make it the intended size to no avail. I am sure this is a major knitting
sin but out of desperation I put it in the dryer for 5 minutes ~ it worked! I brought it up at least 2
inches and the belt fit once again. Well at least the dress will fit until at least she is four.
The pattern is "Vintage Baby Dress" from Piper's Quilts and Comforts. Being the pattern
only goes up to a 24 month size I added an inch to the overall width and made the armholes
and bodice longer. The yarn has little silver sparkles which is perfect for a little girl.
July 29, 2009
"Who Says Roosters Can't Lay Eggs"?
7/27/09
Kendall just finished her Rooster painting!
Very vibrant, I love him!
July 28, 2009
Brooke's Knit Tee
In between projects I saw this simple tee pattern. A quick and easy knit and Brooke loves it along with her sister's pearl necklace.
Pattern: Spring Garden Tee
By Alana Dakos
Yarn: Rowan Calmer
July 12, 2009
Kendall's Lace Tunic
The original pattern from Vogue Knitting is a dress. I decided to knit a variation of the original and make it a swim suit cover-up for Kendall. After many false starts and ripping out numerous mistakes, our summer vacation came and went. So the dress that was to be a cover up became a tunic. When the girls went away to summer camp I made it a personal goal to finish before they came home. A couple of late nights and weaving in the ends on the way to pick them up, it's done! I surprised her with her new top and was quite relieved it fit perfectly. She wore it to her end-of-camp strings concert.
Pattern: Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2007, size small
Yarn: Anny Blatt Louxor
Little sister, Brooke patiently modeled the top in her sister's absence. Not soon after she claimed the top as her own (dress). I jokingly told Kendall she has to share her top with her baby sister. Now not only does she fend off her twin sister from her clothing favorites but she has to share with her 2-year old sister.
Brooke modeling the pre-blocked top and declaring it her dress.
Thank you all the Ravelry knitters I emailed for online help .... and for the help I received from my local knitting store. I received an email from a Ravelry knitter ... "Vogue Knitting is really Vague Knitting." She wasn't kidding.
June 09, 2009
Moose, Lambies and Frogs
Today the girls asked if they could go upstairs and paint something. "Sure" I said. It soon got very quite, I forgot what they were doing. I was really enjoying the quiet house ... a few hours later they come downstairs with these oil paintings. What a nice surprise! They used oil paints they got from their grandma years ago.
Kendall's oil painting of the moose head I am making into Father's Day cards.
I made Reileys' Lambies into a birthday card for Aunt Kim.
The Twin Angels are on a birthday card for their Aunt Kris.
Not to be out done. Kendall drew a frog prince on paper for Brooke to copy. My little 2 year old artist did a great job recreating it. Kendall didn't touch or guide the color pencils as Brooke drew, Brooke was inspired watching her sisters paint and wanted a go at it. She was determined to make a masterpiece of her very own. After which all her energy was spent. Kendall was so excited by Brooke's resolve to draw the perfect frog she tried to get her to draw a cat. Brooke put the pencils down and said "done!" And that was that as they say. I reckon like any artist when the moment hits, you've got to go for it and she did. Hope we can get it out of her again soon!
Kendall's Frog Prince Brooke used as a guide ....
May 29, 2009
Twin Angels by Reiley
Reiley just finished a couple of cupids. She is learning forms and faces. I love their little angel faces! Kendall's rooster painting had to stay behind until July when classes start up again. The paint on Reiley's angels was still drying when she left the last art class to show it to me with a giant smile on her face!
Here are paintings they have finished from before ......
May 24, 2009
Maddie's Baby Knit Blanket
I made this blanket for baby Maddie, my friend's new baby girl. Maddie's grandma makes lovely crochet blankets and dresses for her grand daughters so I knew Maddie's mom would appreciate a hand knit blanket. The pattern is from Knitting for Baby. I used a super soft organic merino yarn by Treliske in Cream. I loved the simplicity of the pattern, the pattern is knit diagonally and has a cute little eyelet trim around it. Before I was finished, I ran across a happy looking blanket with embroidery made by Atelier XT on flickr and loved it. So .... brushing up on my limited crochet and even more limited embroidery skills, I got busy. I finally finished the blanket before baby Maddie turned a month!
April 16, 2009
Brooke's Cable Knit Tunic
Finally off the needles! Brooke's sweater was knit in bursts of activity and in between projects. Cool, spring weather quickly turns to very warm temperatures in the Southwest, this sweater almost makes me want the cold weather to stick around. I knit for a 3 year old size and I love how it fits big on her, she's so cuddly in it. I was almost finished when I noticed a giant mistake in the cable pattern at the BEGINNING of the second arm (the last piece of the sweater before finishing) ... having to unravel the entire arm and start over wasn't the funnest thing I ever did. Even then I had to argue with myself for almost 45 minutes before conceding. Picot bind offs take so long when you are finally reaching the end! Pattern is from Debbie Bliss's Great KNits for Kids. I used 9 balls of Rowan Cotton Glace with US2 and US3 needles. This is my most favorite knit I made for her.
April 03, 2009
Brooke's Easter Dress
This dress is my favorite for many reasons.
I saw a beautiful crochet and knit dress at Aravore Babies. I searched everywhere for a similar crochet top pattern and couldn't find one.
Coincidently, weeks later my friend and neighbor let the cat out of the bag her mom can crochet. She showed me dresses and blankets her mom made for her daughter and I realized how good she was. The dresses and tops she made her granddaughter, Charley are amazing with intricate lace designs knit with fingerling yarn. Beautiful.
I am sure she was sorry that cat got out. Soon after her mom was making beautiful crochet squares for my daughter's Pay it Forward project.
I knew I was pushing it, she didn't really know me. I had to ask ~ is there any possibility she could look at the photo of the dress and crochet a similar top? I got a quick YES!
I sent along a bag full of Organic Cotton Yarn by Lion Brand in Vanilla. Thinking the dress would be perfect for Easter she whipped it up in no time! It was perfect ~ exactly like the photo. It fit perfectly ~ and the little bell sleeves ~ so sweet!
Obviously not a 'whip it up' kind of knitter, after four or five attempts I finally got the shape of the skirt nailed. A pretty green ribbon and green shoes and we have ourselves an Easter dress!
Thank you so much, Marcella!!!
As you can see from the photo at Aravore Babies , she nailed it ..... beautifully.
I wish I had the talent to knit dresses from photographs! I purchased a pattern for a dress thinking it would be easy to size it down ... not! I realized how talented I am not.
Here is the dress from Vogue Knitting ...
I did find someone who looked at the pattern and knit it in a smaller size for her granddaughter. She told me she just whipped it up. Hmmm.... maybe I will get lucky one day and someone can give me pointers .... this would be a very cute dress for any one of my daughters.
March 29, 2009
Brooke's Vintage Knit Dress
I found a vintage pattern online last year. I knit it large hoping she could wear it for a while. Good thing I remembered it today and put it on - it just fit. The bottom of the skirt has a pretty lace edging however I knit it too long and had to tack it up. Bummer. It is knit from the bottom up so I couldn't unravel it and re-knit a new border to make it shorter. I knit wide armholes so I hope as she grows I can bring back that lace border.
Brooke wasn't much for posing so I take what I can get. I love that she loves this dress so much - she doesn't want to take it off!
I originally crocheted white flowers for the dress however I found these matching green fabric flowers and they gave the dress some girly fun so I sewed those on instead.
Knit in Ornaghi Filati Bambo (very soft) with size 4 needles.
March 25, 2009
Easter Goodness
Trying to think of a fun Easter project for my girls to do and of our need to send off Easter baskets to their cousins in PA, I ran into Angry Chicken's Blog on Cupcakes in Jars. How cute are they? We were off the very next day buying jars and ingredients to make our own. We filled two cases of jars with lemon cake, quick to seal the cupcakes after coming out of the oven to retain moisture.
We learned many people like to make bread in a jar to send to the troops overseas. I can only imagine how nice it would be to receive such a thoughtful, delicious gift from a stranger.
My sister had the cutest vintage bunny card. How cute is this bunny? We used her on our cup-i-cake labels.
We thought it would be fun to include sugar cookies in a jar. The girls and I set aside some of the sugar mixture to dye a dusty rose separating the flour mix from the sugar mix for appearance only. We attached a tag with directions on how to make the cookies. Included in the basket were easter cookie cutter shapes tied with ribbon.
We thought of including icing mix in a jar however maybe the kids will have a limited amount of baking patience. Making sugar cookies surely would be their limit.So we went out an purchased icing and re-labeled it Cup-i-cake Sugarcookie Icing.
In the basket we included fun, colorful sprinkles in vintage looking bunny and chick egg holders.
After leaving UPS I was kicking myself for not taking photos of the baskets before I sent them off! Shopping in Santa Fe I ran into little Easter Limogues, old fashioned rubber band airplanes, and books. Included were Easter cake molds and for the girls, pink rolling pins and gagie pagie pudding pie's vintage inspired aprons for little girls I found on etsy.com.
The girls and I are going to start another project for grandma and their aunt to give for Easter. We all agree Easter is one of the most fun for making special gifts.
Little Cotton Easter Rabbit
I‘ve always wanted to knit a little cotton rabbit however I couldn’t find a pattern. I planned on making little cotton rabbits for Easter baskets this is why I was so happy to finally find a very cute pattern!The rbunny was fun and easy. I used cotton yarn left over from my daughter's blanket (still unfinished after oh, about 6 years) I plan on knitting two more …. we will see.
The pattern was purchased from Debi Birkin on etsy. She also has the cutest little mouse knit pattern I plan on knitting for my daughter.
100 Little Chocolate Frogs ~ YUM YUM!
We had a little bit of froggie love going on in our kitchen for Valentine's Day!
For Valentine's Day gifts for friends and family, we thought about making chocolate.
We decided on peanut butter filled chocolate frogs for Valentine's Day presents. Instead of a box we thought about putting the frogs in a pail and making one a prince.
We made 22 gifts for Valentine's Day. Over 100 frogs were made. We had lots of fun .... until it came to putting on all those little beady eyes ..... with tweezers.
Frog Princes ........
Our little frogies in a bucket .........
"You have to kiss a lotta' frogs before you find your prince" became the theme.
All ready to go!
February 25, 2009
2/25/09
Today my grandma, mom and I packed most of our blankets in the back of our truck. Leaving 1/3 of our blankets behind to be given away to another charity, we headed to UNM Children's Hospital downtown.
On the way over we turned on the radio to 100.3 The Peak. They are at the hospital hosting the annual UNM Children's Hospital Radiothon. It so happens as we were driving down they were asking for blankets for the 103 children staying there. They wanted every child to have a warm blanket that evening. How coincidental was that? They were on the air and gave a blanket to a little girl and were talking about how happy it made her. This got us very excited!
Here is a page off their website where they are asking for blankets for each child staying at the hospital that evening ............ this felt like a sign that it was truly meant to be!
http://www.1003thepeak.com/pages/jackietonyanddonnie.html
Donnie wants EACH child that has to stay here tonight to get one of these blankets to sleep with. You can become a Miracle Maker by calling 272-1003
We arrived and each took a stack of blankets.
In the hospital lobby .....................
When we got off the elevator we were greeting with over a dozen people taking phone donations for the hospital. A few of them started clapping as soon as they saw us with our blankets!
Julia Grimes, director of UNM Children's Hospital was there to greet us. She took us over to Jackie, Tony, and Donnie who were broadcasting live in the lobby of the 6th floor. Julia introduced me and they asked to know more about my project. I showed them my album of postcards, a few of the blankets and they read one of the cards that was attached to the blanket.
Tony went online too look at my blog. He saw the maps, and all the completed blankets. Jackie asked me how I came to get the almost 1500 squares and how the blankets were made in a little over a month. We told her how quickly helping hands from all over the world gave their time and creativity when I reached out.
Here Jackie is looking at my album full of postcards and letters I received along with the squares.
Julia toured us through the Children's Child Life Area. Here we are looking in the doors of the activities room. It had a kitchen and all the toys you could imagine. It had everything to be creative, using your imagination to make creations. They use things you can find in your house everyday. The reason for this is they want parents to realize you do not have to go to the toy store and spend hundreds of dollars on kits, you can find most of what you need to be creative in your own kitchen!
This room was amazing. We felt we were on a cruise ship! See the video on the floor showing fish swimming amongst corral. This room is dedicated to Jeff Apodaca. Mr. Apodaca had childhood cancer and survived. He raised money to build this room. It is open in the day for children to read, play games and have fun. They have a chess night, an art night and fun events planned in this room for children staying at UNM Children's Hospital.
This is the library for adults to read and learn about medical conditions, treatments, cures and everything they need to know in laymen's terms.
This suite was build by Ronald McDonald Home. This is for parents of the children staying at UNM Children's Hospital. Here they can feel like they can get away for a short while from their worries and clear their head. There is a kitchen, computers, library and if they have kids not staying at the hospital, there is a little room with toys and books.
It was a fun and exciting day. Here is a webpage from the peak, they linked my blog on their website!
http://www.1003thepeak.com/pages/RadioThon.html
You can also click on "Click here to check out pics from Radiothon 2009" I am in photos #: 37,38 and 39. http://1003thepeak.com/cc-common/gallery/display.html?album_id=166132 Here I copied part of their webpage about the radiothon that I am in ............. Radiothon 2009 Wednesday 02-25-2009 4:20pm MT Hey all, it's Jackie, Tony, and Donnie!
Radiothon 2009 is here and we're broadcasting live from the 6th floor of the UNM Children's Hospital from 6am to 6pm the next three days.
Call 272-1003 or statewide 1-866-811-1003 to become a "Miracle Maker". When you become a Miracle Maker, you'll agree to send the hospital $15 a month until you tell them stop.
Click Here to check out pics from Radiothon 2009, we'll keep adding pics throughout Radiothon
Riley stopped by Radiothon with her school project in "Paying it Forward"....read all about it at her website, http://thehookiepookie.typepad.com/
GREAT JOB RILEY!
Whew! This was a fast paced project! It was very gratifying! As I said before, I am sad to see it come to an end.
On the way home they were talking about my project on air and said my blankets were the majority of the blankets they received. This made me feel good.
2/25/09 • Blankets are ready to go!
Today my mom and I were busy tying ribbon around 24 of the 34 completed blankets. Tomorrow they will be given to UNM Children's Hospital. Julia Grimes, director of UNM Children's Hospital Child Life Program told us I will not be able to meet with the children to personally hand them their blanket as it is against hospital policy. However she will give me a tour through the facility. Each blanket is tied with a pretty ribbon, purple for girls and yellow for boys. I cannot believe the day has come to hand out all these beautiful and special blankets. As we were tying the ribbon we could remember where most of the squares came from. We talked about how amazing it is that in a little over a month we asked for and received almost 1500 squares from all over the world! In less than a month 34 blankets were assembled, borders put around them and they were ready to be given out. There were so many blankets I could call my favorite and I have grown attached to them. I hope these blankets bring a child as much joy as they have brought me. This project made me realize even though most of what everyone hears is the bad in this world, there are clearly so much more good as I have easily found people eager to give their time and energy to help a stranger. I didn't have to look hard or ask around for a long time. Within a week I had almost a hundred people from all over working on squares. Within three weeks I had two hundred people making squares, emailing me ideas for my project and posting nice conversations to one another on my online group page. My family and a friend spent days and days assembling blankets without complaining. They enjoyed doing good for others even if it meant working hours and hours to do so. Everyone is always so busy however they all made time to help. Oh yeah, they do not know how to knit or crochet however now they appreciate all the work that goes into making something pretty, especially my Aunt Jeannine who had to weave in ends for one blanket. It took her weeks and weeks so she was so excited when it was all done. Handwritten notecards were attached to each blanket. The girls received a card with three handmade dolls knitting on the front. The boys will receive notecards with cute sheep in sweaters attached to a ball of yarn. Each notecard I wrote a short letter to let them know how their blanket came to be. I also listed the many different cities where the blankets were made. Well, I am sad it is all ending. It was exciting to go to my mailbox and get so many packages in the mail from all around the world. I am happy we were able to do right by everyone who participated and make beautiful blankets from their squares. We still have 108 squares waiting to be made into two blankets. There are still some squares arriving and then those two blankets will be complete.
