Productivity (and goodies)

I had a fabulous weekend. I am rested and relaxed. I spent evenings in front of a fire - gas logs and air conditioning -great inventions. I ate steamed shrimp and a wonderful layered salad - add oven roasted potatoes and a few glasses of wine. Like heaven. See I am focused on the blessings of an away work weekend. I crocheted and finished Baby Luke's blanket. I finished some cross-stitch lettering for a couple of swaps/challenges I am playing in. So it was a great weekend.

Baby Lukes's blanket does not look like a baby blanket. But the colors work with his nursery. The outside border looks black, but it is dark brown. All of the yarn for this project came from his great-grandmother's things. She passed away right after they found out about this baby coming and when they cleaned out the house, Luke's mom brought two copier boxes of mixed yarns to me. These were all in there. All acrylic, but that works for a baby blanket. The blue is called Dazzelaire and it is thick and soft. The cream is by Caron (called Simply Soft) and for an acrylic yarn it is a dream to work with, so I will use more of this in the future. There is no pattern for this blanket. Six granny squares in the middle and then crochet around until I ran out of yarn. I cannot wait to give this to Stephanie on Wednesday night.


I also had a package waiting when I got home. Goodies from AmyElise designs. This was so much fun to open. And I put some of it into immediate use on my tags for Raesha's swaps. The little purple funny shaped paper, folds up into a tiny envelope. I plan to copy that shape and make some of these from recycled magazine pages. (thanks so much Amy, this was a wonderful surprise to come home to.)

This is the last week of school. Then the summer from H*&$ starts. Both girls are going to have a lot of summer workout stuff for sports. Molly wanted to get a part time job this summer, but she will be driving Abby and herself to workouts.

I have several things going on the craft front. I have lots going on in the studio. I have way too much on my plate - still. I have to work and I have to play. I have to be mommy. The house requires my attention. Finishing the studio will have a huge impact on that - my stuff is everywhere. But I will say, that I have a much better perspective on things since I got some rest and some quiet. Even through a work weekend, Mom took care of herself. I am eating better. I am exercising more diligently. I feel so much better. I am about to have a conversation with my doctor about the hormones I am taking. Right now I am in a very good place. I have come through a bit of a blue (overwhelmed - not depressed) period and now I am ready to run again.

My Mom is doing much better and no longer requires an enormous amount of my attention. She is piecing quilts - oh my such inspiration. I really would like to focus next year on hand quilting a couple for her. She hates to hand quilt, but loves to piece. What would really be nice is a long arm machine for her, but it is so expensive and I enjoy the hand quilting - so maybe I can do some of that for her.

As always, I hope you have a wonderful day.