"Fall Is Just Up The Stairs..."

(Ever get tired of saying "around the corner?") Going up the stairs means I have to climb to get somewhere, and that I do, both literally and figuratively. 

Once the weather cools down just a little bit, I have to go upstairs to the attic to pick up on the long overdue unpacking. (Yesterday was a blazing 97º and the temps in our attic are far above that). I did manage to tough out about 45 minutes up there Saturday to sort out several big piles of clothing into different sizes. By the time I finished I felt like I'd spent an hour in a sauna. We have been through an extraordinarily hot summer for Omaha this year, and I don't like that one bit! Along with the extreme drought we are still in, it's been a struggle to keep plants alive. 

It's also made me cranky! I'm a cool-weather girl and I love my rainy, dreary days. Since June, there has been exactly ONE of those.  The weather man promised this morning that we're going to drop into the 80's by tomorrow and will stay cooler for the next few days after that with a chance of rain. So I'm hopeful!  Sorry, all you sun-lovers out there... your turn is over for awhile, I'm hoping! Anybody know any great rain or thunderstorm videos? I think I could use one.

On the figurative side, I have an uphill climb still ahead on my personal goals of more weight loss and finishing work on my book. Those are hard, but exciting things to look forward to! I'm looking at a total of over 75 crochet patterns here, and trying to decide whether to put them all in one book. I also have to find all of the crocheted items I can to re-photograph them. Pattern tester volunteers (God love 'em!!) are waiting for assignments. There is a lot to do!

Speaking of that... I'd better get to work now!

Mourning The Loss Of "Monty Rat" Schnauzer

Yesterday I had to make the very difficult decision to end the suffering of my little rescue boy, Monty Schnauzer. Monty fell suddenly ill and collapsed and at age 12+ the prognosis was very bad. My "sweet little psychopath," as I loved to call him, had suffered enough. Although as a rescuer I have counseled many people on making this hard decision, trying to figure out if it is the right time, it is very different when you're the one standing in front of the vet waiting for your decision. 

"Monty Rat" Schnauzer
2000 – 2012

In the end, I know I made the right decision... but the second guessing, the "what if's" will always be in my mind. That's just my nature, I'm afraid.  I do know I made the right decision seven years ago when I allowed Monty to stay in my rescue. Monty put me in the ER the first night he arrived after biting me on the throat! I knew at that moment he could never be placed anywhere. But there was just something about him. A day turned into a week, and at the end of that time Monty walked up to me and wanted to be picked up. That was that. From that moment on I could do anything with Monty. He had made his decision.  The little guy leaves a big hole in my home and he will be forever missed. I hope to see him again someday. 

Here is a painting I did years ago called "Schnauzie Crossing The Bridge." I am hoping a kindly dog rescuer, along with all of Monty's friends – Sheina Marie, Sparky Lynn, Harry, Casey Anne, Koby and more will be waiting to greet him. 

You can read Monty's Memorial story here. 

Working Hard At The Crochet Book!

For years there has been an ever-growing stack of handwritten patterns sitting on the shelf in my desk! Pattern books have always been a great source of enjoyment to me. The idea of books full of patterns gathering dust forever just seems wrong. They should be out there for the world to see and make.

"So what's the holdup?" you may ask. Well, I've had problems with my eyesight due to having Myasthenia Gravis for over 20 years, and they in fact cost me the ability to crochet from patterns! "MG" also gave me permanent double vision at certain distances. While I do receive treatment for MG to help symptoms, the condition itself is incurable. (To learn more about Myasthenia, visit the National MG Foundation's website). Myasthenia is also one of the many diseases supported by the Muscular Dystrophy Association!

But rather than quit crocheting, I decided to "do my own thing" and design my own patterns as I went.  That wasn't something that happened overnight; it was more of a gradual progress as I experimented with things and as my eyes became retrained to work in a different way. The picture below shows how I've always designed in the past.

Here's how I always worked before –
writing a pattern in a notebook as I went. This
project was my Easter Bunny Egg, free pattern available here.

That same eye problem I mentioned earlier makes it difficult for me to transcribe my notes to the computer. I have problems with focusing quickly back and forth.My very good friend Heidi came to the rescue this year when she offered to transcribe all my handwritten patterns into text files for me! Now I can manipulate the text to my heart's content... and achieve my dream of the crochet book!

I just wrote an article about my "Big Dream" at Squidoo.com – that big dream is publishing a book of all my crochet designs together! (You can read that article here). It will be called Crochet With Sheila – A Lifetime Of Crochet.  I'm almost unbearably excited over it!

Here is just one of the patterns that has never been published before – and
will be included in the new book –
my Stained Glass Afghan, made with every color of DMC's Senso size 3 thread. 

So we're working furiously at it now! We had a major setback when Heidi's computer was stolen before we had transferred the files over. (And we're now doing backups as we go - lesson learned!)

Rather than be discouraged, she jumped right back in and started back at point zero, bless her heart! We've almost replaced all the lost files.

Fortunately, I've discovered a better method of working when I'm designing - I pattern directly onto the computer as I crochet sitting in front of the computer! Weird, yes... but it seems to work! So future patterns will be far easier to compile into collections.

I hope to be making the big announcement that the book is ready in the next couple of months! It will include all of my previously-unpublished patterns. It will not include the crochet patterns I've made available free in my articles at Squidoo.com. I'll probably come up with a compilation of those someday, but my priority right now is the patterns that have not been shared before.

Many thanks to those of you who have supported my work, sent notes of encouragement, and provided feedback on designs you'd like to see!  Keep talking – I'm listening!

Wrapping Up The Backward Roses...

... At least for the moment! Today I'm working on the next-to-last design, a crocheted necklace, for  Series 1 of the Backward Rose... I am already planning Series 2! I have to tell you, this Backward Rose is the design of which I am the very most proud out of everything I've ever done. Why? Because I achieved my goal, to create something completely different in crocheting roses.

What I really love about designing these roses is that the petals/leaves on each pattern are just a tiny bit different. I'm eventually planning to come out with a pattern with a variety of petal designs for the Backward Rose, like modular "plug-ins" to the pattern. I think that'd be fun for everyone to be able to complete roses with their choice of petal design.

When I started this project, I thought about roses a lot, and how we have traditionally crocheted them. Here is a picture of a rose I grew years ago that finally "turned on the light bulb" for me, becoming my inspiration. Next to it is my first Backward Rose prototype. I was really pleased with the result.


On the home front, we're in our sixth week here with almost no measurable rain. A lot of my would-be crocheting time is being spent keeping my precious gardens alive! Every day it's just me and the garden hose or sprinkler, fighting an almost-losing battle to keep everything looking pretty... or at least alive! On top of that, dear husband wanted the grass to be green so I've been watering that too. The constant temps of 95º - 100+ have only made matters worse. Since we have an acre-sized yard, that's a big project! I can only cover half the yard each day.

I've just finished giving all the Miniature Schnauzer furkids their summer haircuts, and I'm sure they all feel a lot better! I'll have to get them together for a group shot.

The other day I had so much fun with my grand-dog Macie, the 7 month old German Shepherd Dog puppy! I was watering with the hand sprayer, and she decided it was fun to play in the water! Well of course I was going to encourage that! But unfortunately I came back awhile later and saw that Macie had decided to roll in the dirt afterward! She was now... "Oreo Puppy!" I snapped this picture, sent it to her Mommy at work, with the note, "You might want to pencil in some bathie time today!" She was mortified... but what happens at Gramma's stays at Gramma's, right?

Well, I need to run and get some errand-y type things done. Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

–Sheila

Below are pictures of each different Backward Rose I've made so far... 

Backward Rose in Pink

Backward Rose Mini Corsage With Crystal

Backward Rose Mini Doily

Backward Rose Doily

Several Backward Roses

A Free Saturday, What To Do!!

I'm at one of those places where I've lined up entirely too many projects for myself, both crochet design and personal! My DH is out of town at a golf tournament, leaving me to my own devices!! Now what to do with all that free time...

My crochet to-do list:

– Design the Backward Rose Mini Doily
– Design the Backward Rose Hair Clip
– Design the Bingo Bag - a fun summery striped purse which my son's girlfriend, Janette, requested I make for her
– Design two more fantasy flowers for a pattern I'm working on

Crossed OFF my to-do list this morning, removing the sleeves from a favorite old top I've never worn much, making it sleeveless and adding edging to the sleeves and hem, plus edging and beads to the neckline. Have it on right now, feels so much better! Now I'll wear the pants off of it for years. It had this beautiful floral embroidery all over it, and nice fabric, but the edges were finished with this crappy plastic tape with stitching over it. Yuck!!  I have to say... please excuse my hair:)

Not crochet, but cool anyway - I bought this green dress, the "perfect sundress," this Spring. Sadly it's a floor-mopper! It stinks to be so short sometimes! Anyway I finally figured out a way to shorten it 5 inches without hemming, with lines of ruching. I wrote it up here if you want to see how it was done.

We're still in the clenches of this @#$*$ heat wave/drought! I hate having to water every single day. There is a sprinkler system installed here, we've found the things in the yard - but there's no control panel, no place to turn it on that we can find. Guess I'll have to have a sprinkler guy come over and tell me what's what one of these days. Meanwhile, it's crochet awhile, move the sprinkler.

One last quick thing to share – a fellow crocheter is giving away a pretty amazing crocheted Crocus Doily on her blog tomorrow. You still have time to enter the giveaway here.

I Feel Like An Expectant Crochet Mother!

 For some reason the doily design I'm working on is just intriguing the heck out of me! I'm just a short distance from finishing the design, and I feel almost like an expectant mother, waiting for my little project to be "born!"  It's been a whole lot of fun, this little but complex doily! It's called the Backward Rose Doily and it incorporates six of the roses from the pattern you can find here. I just can't wait for it to be finished! I'm a bit torn – I'd love to work on it again in the morning but there's a writing contest on Squidoo, which is a race – so that will probably have to come first. But tomorrow afternoon, watch out - it just may get finished! Here's a teensy preview... If you're guessing it's done in popcorns, you're right!

Nothing much else to tell today. It was a pretty quiet weekend, nothing too eventful to talk about. I did watch that show, I think it was called "Extreme Makeover Weight Loss," about a girl named Ashley who lost over half her body weight. It was quite inspiring, really. I don't normally watch a lot of reality shows, but it caught my attention. Probably because I'm eating a very strict diet right now, trying to watch my blood sugar and hopefully lose some more of my weight. I have regained just a few of the 70 pounds I lost but am working on that. I'm 28 pounds to my goal of 100 pounds.

Playin' In The Flowers!

My crochet work has been a lot of fun so far this Spring and now Summer. I've been in a "flower" phase. First it was lilies, then daisies, marigolds, and now roses. But not just any roses! Although that "same old rose" (you thread crocheters know what I'm talking about) is wonderful, I wanted something new. So I started playing around and studying them, eventually turning to my garden photos. Luckily for many years I've photographed virtually every major flower that has bloomed in my yard. It's just a matter of finding what I wanted. I finally did, and with that, inspiration. I found a pic of a beautiful  lavender rose I'd grown years ago and that was the one I wanted to emulate.  (Oh and if you look closely, the rose has a tiny buzzing visitor!)

It took me about a week of testing ideas (and ripping them out) but it finally hit me how I wanted to do it. The design came together quickly after that and it is now published as a free pattern for a limited time. Eventually it will be "promoted" to my for-sale patterns. It's called the "Backward Rose" and you'll see why when you check out the pattern!

I'm finishing my newest rose design, an individual rosebud, right now. You can find that pattern here. After that I plan to do a Hemerocallis (Daylily) modeled after a beautiful daylily called "Pandora's Box." I can't wait to work on it!

In furkid news, I'm babysitting Macie and Winnie, my doggie granddaughters, while their mama is away on a trip to North Carolina for a week. Macie is an incredibly sweet 6 month old pure white German Shepherd Dog puppy, and Winnie is a 4-year-old Miniature Schnauzer. Then add rescue kids Bailey and Monty, and my used-to-be rescues Sue-Sue and Ladybug, and we have a little Schnauzer rodeo! It's been terribly hot here for well over a week and another week to come, so their outside time is limited. We are fortunate to have a big covered patio in back where they can laze on cool concrete or rugs in the shade. But even still, it's too danged hot.  Tomorrow I'm planning "Doggie Spa Day," will give as many baths and haircuts as I can until I get worn out!

Macie and Winnie on lookout. Macie seems to think she's
the same size as Winnie!

It's been a struggle keeping all the flowers and plants going in this heat with a sprinkle of rain just every few days. One of my favorite things is to photograph gardens right after (or as!) I'm watering them. Here is the garden adjacent to my front stairs. I'm really proud of that Gerbera Daisy (near top center). I overwintered that plant and it nearly croaked but is now all happy and this was its first bloom this year. The big leafy thing at left top is my baby Chocolate Mimosa Tree, which will soon be moved elsewhere. The Stargazers are very pretty this year. The red flowers are just little petunias.

In "me" news, some of you know that I struggle with being a very brittle diabetic and hypoglycemic. In all honesty I haven't been eating correctly for quite awhile. After a couple of very scary hypoglycemic episodes last weekend, I'm trying something completely different. Not the veggie stew I did relentlessly for two years  to lose and keep off 70 pounds. I can't stand the idea of soup right now for some reason. What I'm trying to do is learn about the Glycemic Index and try to eat in a different manner to see if it stabilizes my blood sugar.