Tis the season

Today I have a hundred and one projects to do. Yesterday was a marathon shopping trip after working a 12 hour shift. The crowds got thicker around 1030 so I wound down and headed for home. Fifteen degrees out and I don't know what the windchill was but it was definitely lower than that. Came home and crashed and even wore my fur lined LLBean slippers to bed.
I have some baking to do,not sure I'm up for the cookie exchange at work but I've collected the chocolate and nuts to give it a shot.
None of this doll related but I was delighted to find my newest doll love Hitty made several months on the Hitty 2010 doll calendar along with many other Hittys who have been on the list, HittyGirls much longer. I thought my dear tiny dressed Hitty was lost among the oldtimers but she got to strut her stuff. For her first year, out of the box, and that is a literal phrase she is getting a Muppet Swedish Cook kitchen. I'll have to send photos. A complete kitchen Hitty sized. She'll have to boot the Swedish Muppet cook out the door and take over. A cookstove with opening doors and racks, refrigerator, walls of cabinets and even a butcher block cabinet. She will be thrilled. No time for photos now.
Just glad today is a 'no shopping ' day even though the sun is out.
Here is Hitty in her Christmas dress.
Also will post my new Christmas wreath... store bought after 20 years of refurbishing others I splurged and bought a ready made. Now to get the tree up and all the rest.

Winter Encroaching

West of us the snow is flying and the first frost has bitten off the last of the blooms here. Time to clear the deck of plants and dig in for the winter. Caught the geraniums in all their glory, but I hauled them off to lay over the winter in the garage. Makes the trip to the jeep a garden tour for awhile.
Rainy and cold last Wednesday we had travelers stop on their way to their southern retreat. For several days these Canadians roamed the empty subdivision lots across the street feasting on some mysterious treat before flying on to their spa in the south.
I've been knitting and sewing a bit. Trying to finish some projects in progress and then adding new ones too.
I'll have to post photos of anything I finish soon on here.
Stay warm and dry.

September swept by

After a cold summer an even colder fall has set in here. Today rainy and cloudy and September has snuck on by me without posting here. I've updated my Sasha website with fall outfits and finished the photos of them. Sold a few small Hitty dresses and started some fall knitting.
No colorful fall photos yet. The trees don't seem to be bursting in color yet. So I'll have to resot to taking photos of my autumn wreaths.
A busy week of work and extra seminars and the month has disappeared.
No excitement to report which can be good news. I'll share a few photos.

August Gone by

I can't believe a month has gone by since I posted last. Not a lot happening. An unusually cool summer here. If this is a Canadian summer then I am all for it.
Here are some projects I finished this week. One a gift and one for me. I cannot believe the number of free patterns in knitting and sewing available on line.
My purse is a 'Buttercup' pattern from a genrous blogger. http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/2009/02/free-buttercup-bag-sewing-pattern.html
It turned out really well I think. I used a magnet closure and this nostalgic fabric I found at a quilt store. The rest of the trimmings came from my stash.
More later.

El Paso in the summer

The 'city' promotes flower gardens are certain main corners by the parks and main intersections. These are a few of the prettiest. The Baptist church corner with the small white feeder for religious birds made the front page of the local 'squeak ' newspaper.. Big news in smallville. The year I moved here when I was 16 I groaned as I showed my Dad the front page of the paper at that time showing a sizable crack in the sidewalk downtown.... a foreboding of what EP is all about.
Cool summer here as it is all over the upper midwest and North east. Been really wet and cool for the flowers and they are loving it.
Need to take some photos of sewing projects so you will know it is not all sightseeing here in the metropolis.

Summer and Humidity all at once

A beautiful summer day here complete with Illinois's famous humidity. I've pictured my AG doll in OR scrubs. The profit goes to Relay for Life and they sold out in 8 hours. I had made 8 of them and the surgery department REALLY liked them. Took over a day and half of sewing to finish them.
Flower and even a volunteer tomato plant are doing super in this cool spring we had up till now.
sandy

Rainy and cool spring here. Peonies drooping to the ground from the weight of the flower heads and the torrential downpours of late. Here is my clematis with its first huge bloom nearly10 inches across. Various clematis plants have suffered agonizing deaths here from lawn mower encounters and other manly tortures but this tuff little plant has survived.
Also here is a photo of my favorite birthday present. A sweetgrass basket from South Carolina brought back as a gift by a close friend. I just love it. So well made. Very firm weave. The gifter also took photos of the basket maker and that makes it even more special.
I've been sewing a bit more lately. Enjoying working with the bright colors of spring and summer.
I redid this bouquet of silk flowers from last year's wreath since Todd loved purple so much. A few white roses added a pop of contrast to the arrangement
That's about all from prairie flatlands.

Almost May

It is cold here still. People shop in summer clothes as though it is not, but the house windows are closed and the furnace is on at night. The garden shops are bare, too chilly and wet to plant now. The farmers are not in the fields because of all the rain.
I've posted a photo of a double pointed needle holder I made last winter. I got a deal on the whole set of wooden short needles so needed a way to keep track of them. I saw a similar one on ebay and just used the corduroy I had in the stash. I'm thinking about a neater way to number the pockets but haven't come up with it yet. They number from 0 to 10.
My tulips have bloomed and the petals are bedraggled from all the wind and rain. I'm going to walk down the road and rescue some purple violets from the roadside before the city mower cuts them down.

Spring ? in the MidWest

So far three to four inches of winter sifting down from the sky. The photo off the deck looks much like the December photo I took of the same scene. Only this time we have the promise of warmer temps by Monday. I have no idea what the temperature is outside but the wind is kicking up. The robbins are perched in the forsythia bush in the back yard stunned and shaking their heads. The cardinals seem unaffected.
Here is a tie purse I made this week after taking a class at a local quilt shop. The tie has deeper tones than the photo shows. The button on the flap is either from my mother's stash or my aunts. It is made from a man's tie and uses all but 4 inches of a wide tie. The cording actually goes better with the tie than the photo shows also. I'm anxious to try more but what would I do with them?
I made some coffee cup cozies for gifts at work. I found some lovely batik fabrics for some of them.
I've been sewing little Hitty clothes this week. The tiny little dresses take as long as the bigger Sasha ones oddly enough.
Stay warm and dry.

March 26

No fantastic travel photos to share. Also no signs of spring but some budding on the trees.

Note the photo on the left... I title it..How I spent my birthday.

That pretty well sums it up.

I love old photos. They tell such a story by the clothes and serious expressions even on children's faces. Here is a photo I found of an OB nurse. I'm sure she is a nurse and not a nanny.
I just finished reading Do Try to Speak as We Do' about the trials of an American nanny of modern day in the UK. It told a lot about both cultures , American and British.
It's been great book reading weather here in the midwest. Rainy and cloudy and terribly gusty at times. Great for reading and sewing.
I had a small sticker 'shock' at JoAnn's today. A packet of 12 snaps are $1.79 now... I can remember way back a year ago when they were a dollar or less. Amazing.
Spent the weekend making a braided rug and two capes for my Hitty Doll. I've had her for five years or so but she just made it out of the box after Christmas. She's accumulated quite a trunkful of clothes. She's tiny.. 6 1/4 inches tall.
I'll post one or two of her many photos.

My first entry. Spring is rearing its stormy head here today. Rain showers off and on after a long snowy winter. I've been sewing and rummaging through fabric and rooting for trim and such that I've reorganized last week and cannot find now. I'm sure I put them in a more accessable place but this week I can't figure out where that might be.
I hope to post photos of projects and things of beauty and interest here. I'm wondering how faithful I can be to posting.
Right now I'm learning so it may be painfully slow. My font choice dances around.
Wish me luck.