Where Does Your Mind Go When You're....

... crocheting? Do you think about the person you're making the scarf for, mentally figure up the yarn $$ you spent on the project? Or do you prefer to daydream, thinking about everything BUT crochet? It's just one of those questions that popped into my mind and attached before it had the chance to leave!

I tend to think a lot when I'm crocheting OR gardening. Yesterday I was hosing off the winter's accumulation of mud and debris from where it collects at one end of our big cement patio. I probably spent a good hour doing it.  When I'm focusing on something like that, it's easy to let my mind just go where it will.

You know that feeling when you had some big dream overnight and you can't remember it after you wake up? Many times hours later I'll be doing something "mindless" and flashes from the dream will start floating up from the depths. Wonder why that is. I've always found it fascinating, though.

Today I have a whole "day off" – that is, nowhere I need to be. It's supposed to be 70º and sunny today, how perfect is that... so part of my day will probably be spent outdoors. I still have lots of things to get planted and transplanted, so that's one possibility. Another is any one of these tasks from my "to-do" list for Spring 2012...

A Generous Kid | Garden Bliss!

I have to share this photo,  my Ladybug and Carianne's Winnie, definite BFF's. They nap together at least once a day like this. They are snoozing on a brand new doggie bed, one of six donated to our rescue by Stevie's Furry Friends, Inc. Stevie Nelson is the ASPCA's "Kid Of The Year," and he has an awesome story. This six year old boy decided that for his birthday, rather than getting a gift, he wanted to do something to help rescue dogs. Stevie's Mom got into the project, and ended up raising funds and receiving many in-kind donations from pet product manufacturers to distribute to rescues! You can check out Stevie's website here. Our furkids are extremely grateful for the gift of these wonderfully soft and comfy brand new beds! Thank you so much, Stevie! 

I had the most fun day I've had in a long time this week! There is this amazing private nursery/greenhouse here in my neighborhood. Year before last, my son John took me there for some "happy plant time." I was struggling with every agonizing step back then, so I probably spent 15 minutes (which were heaven, nonetheless) there and gave up.  Last year, I couldn't walk at all in a place like that. Well, this year was different! I went all by myself and just got lost in the plants for a couple of hours. Got acquainted with the owner, and she gave me the grand tour. 

Photo credit to Jeff McCormack

I found some really interesting perennial plants. Have you ever heard of the "Mortgage Lifter" tomato? It's an heirloom, I had heard of it and added to my mental "wish list" to try someday. When the greenhouse lady told me she had them, I did the happy dance!! Supposedly they are 2# tomatoes. She was a great saleswoman – I ended up with a white just-over-cherry size tomato, a purple one, and a couple others. She also talked me into doing a mosquito repellent planter – lemon basil and citrus geranium. She swore she never has mosquitos on her porch with these. They're a huge problem here, and if it works it'll be amazing! Now to find a "puppy safe" spot to put it on the back patio! Macey the white german shepherd pup is so good, but still at that "eat anything" stage of course. She's getting so big, she's 25 pounds now!

Empress Wu Hosta, image source unknown.

I have such a plant wish list. At the top this year is an Empress Wu hosta. I have room for ginormous hostas here. I found one at that nursery for $20, I may have to go back and get it. I'm looking for hostas that are blue, blue/green/yellow combinations, and textured leaves. That's what I appear to be short on. I found my Krossa last year, and a nice Red October. Got butterfly bushes in white, pink and purple. I still need to get the Kaleidoscope, it's awesome. I had one at the farm but it didn't make it here.

Kaleidoscope Butterfly Bush.
Photo credit to "A Garden Place"

Today is veggie garden day. John turned over my new little space for me, and I have rhubarb, asparagus, and Yukon Gold potatoes to plant. Plus seed stuff - parsnips, turnips, corn, lettuce and some squash.  I have two large window box containers of herbs growing out front. The cilantro's beautiful, and the dill just came up. Not sure about the thyme yet. 

I have such a plant wish list. At the top this year is an Empress Wu hosta. I have room for ginormous hostas here. The Empress Wu is the largest hosta known in existence. The clump is around 5 feet around and of similar height.  I found one at that nursery for $20, I may have to go back and get it. I'm looking for hostas that are blue, blue/green/yellow combinations, and textured leaves. That's what I appear to be short on. I found my Krossa last year, and a nice Red October. Got butterfly bushes in white, pink and purple. I still need to get the Kaleidoscope, it's awesome. I had one at the farm but it didn't make it here.

Today is veggie garden day. John turned over my new little space for me, and I have rhubarb, asparagus, and Yukon Gold potatoes to plant. Plus seed stuff - parsnips, turnips, corn, lettuce and some squash.  I have two large window box containers of herbs growing out front. The cilantro's beautiful, and the dill just came up. Not sure about the thyme yet. 

We've gone from the 90's to the low 30's more than once in April. Yesterday was 90º and we're supposed to have a hard freeze next Monday night. Will this craziness never end?

Here's a pic I took last night you might enjoy. I bought this amazing hand painted candle holder when I was in the hospital last month. Last night I lit it up and it was throwing the prettiest shadow on the wall, I tried to capture it. 

Well my friends, I have to run and finish up stuff here so I can get outside. It's supposed to be 70º and gorgeous out. After spending yesterday as a "doctor" day, it will be a welcome change.

Out With The Bunnies, In With .... ???

Well, I've managed to exhaust my pastel cravings with all the Easter projects! You can check them out and get all the patterns here.


Right this minute, I'm putting together a facial/household scrubber pattern for this week's column. The key to success with these is the yarn or thread chosen. Obviously for facial you want one type that is very soft, and another type that gently exfoliates. The answer? Well, a two-sided scrubber, of course! Not only are they fast to crochet up, they're "Green-friendly" too! Those little cotton pads do add up in our landfills. 

Some of my Easter 2012 designs.

My "Out My Window" Garden on March 27th

It's very green outside too, I'm having new plants pop up every single day. It's always so exciting for me to see my old friends again. This will be the third summer for my plants here, I'm betting everything will be bigger and better than ever.  Ron bought a blueberry and blackberry plant, I picked up a Pink Lemonade blueberry and a red raspberry. I moved about 3 dozen strawberry plants from a bed in back yard to the out-my-window garden where the dogs will leave them be.  Maybe we'll have some real fruit this year, especially since I put stuff to prevent worms on the cherry tree! 

I had fun making this little "Mini Zen Garden" for myself out of a bunch of assorted glass pieces and shells I had lying around. Now to turn it into a solar fountain... ha ha. 

Raised Bed Full of Promising Things!

Not having so much success with the seed starting experiment outdoors, however. I think the nights are too chilly. So this morning I brought all the little seeds indoors. As long as I can keep Cari's puppy out of them, they should take off just fine. She has a name now, Macey. How cute! She's completely adorable and full of mischief, as every happy puppy should be. 


Had a very nice Easter dinner out with Cari, John had plans with his girlfriend but he did show up in time to have some strawberry shortcake here at home before it disappeared. There wasn't one scrap left.  Speaking of dessert, I had the most awesome thing at dinner. Orange cake with orange icing! It was so yummy and done just a bit on the tangy side, the way I like it. I'll have to make one of those sometime. 

Finally gave in and bought some Starbucks k-cups for my Keurig. And yes, it is just as good as what you get in their shops.  I need to get something that says "powered by coffee" or some such thing! I have been trying to convert to half-caff for my last cup of the day, usually about 1-2 a.m!!


Got some new clippers so all the Schnauzers are in for haircuts this month. I'm sure they'll be thrilled!


Well, off to do my household chores... wish I could train one of the dogs to dustmop! 

A Rare and Beautiful Early Spring!

This is crazy! I have daffodils blooming, my magnolia is about to burst into its pink and white splendor, and there are actually hostas up and unfolding! Unheard of. We don't call this place the "frozen north" for nothing! Spring has made a rare, early appearance here in Omaha. Today's high is supposed to be 72º and our normal highs would be mid 50's right now. 


I've been enjoying my little "nature walks" in the gardens, seeing who has shown up to play every day. Right about now is time to start the tomato plant and pepper seeds in flats. Guess I should've done that in January!


It's Spring at my "design station" right now, too (my desk!) It's covered with prototypes of Easter eggs I've been designing the last couple of days. I'm trying to decide which one is the winner to submit for my   article. I think the one with the bunny border will probably win out. Normally I don't gravitate toward the light pastel colors in the crochet thread department, but at Easter I make an exception. This project is going to incorporate pink, lavender, light blue, green, yellow and white! The colors look so pretty and cheerful. I'm using a new line of size 3 thread called "Bamboo Ice" from Aunt Lydia. The colors and feel are fabulous, but it is annoying to work with! The metallic thread running through it isn't bonded at all to the bamboo part, and it tries to separate constantly. Maybe I need a different hook. Oh well, lesson learned. If I survive it, it'll be pretty and feel wonderful... and I'll probably never work with it again! 

Our yard is so green. The furkids are having a ball playing outside, and want out constantly. I was up in the attic the other day searching for something and one of the girls found a huge stuffed monkey. After checking with the former owner - my daughter, I let them keep it to play with. Here's the video.. 

The other day I finally completed the design for my new Spiffer© floor duster/mop crochet permanent refill and got it published. You can get the info here. It's the companion piece to my Spiffer© duster that I've had out there for several years. People started requesting the mop recently, and I said to myself, "DUH!" I really like how it turned out, if I do say so myself.  Great timing, because I've been trying to raise about $200 to get Monty's teeth fixed.  Over halfway there now!


Well, it's time to get to work now! Hope it's warm and beautiful wherever you are. 

The Space Between...

In our lives, like in great designs of any kind, the empty "white space" is what brings the important elements to life. That quiet, boring, rainy Tuesday spent trying to get a piece of crochet thread to turn into what you want makes for a happy success on Thursday when a new design comes to life, creating something where nothing existed before. Long boring days of eating the same thing over and over result in wearing a new size you've never worn before.  And most importantly for me, 12 months of surgeries and physical rehab resulted in a whole new LIFE. Right now, I feel like I'm living in the important elements now instead of the "white space" of waiting. It's pretty cool! I'm doing so many things I haven't done in years!

What pain looked like. At least Ladybug
Schnauzer was laying on top of my head to keep
me company!

On March 11, it will be one year since I had my first hip replacement. This is a day I could never have imagined when I was living with two hips that had no cartilage left, bone grating on bone, and pain unending of a quality I have never experienced, unrelieved for years on end with no hope in sight. I think March 11 will always be a special anniversary for me, because it celebrates the beginning of a new chance at living! In October of 2011, just when I was beginning to fully enjoy my new right hip, I slammed myself back to ground zero with another replacement, this time my left hip. I went from zipping around with a cane to inching through the house on a walker. I remember coming home from that surgery vividly, thinking "What have I DONE!" But as things always do, days turn into weeks and months and finally, a whole year... now.

Just a week after surgery in October 2011. Poor Ladybug
had gotten really sick a couple days before I went into
the surgery. Thankfully my daughter Cari took good
care of her while I was gone. Once I was home, we got
better together.

Kinda happy looking, now – February, 2012

Although it made for a year full of many miseries, the recovery also gave me a whole lot of downtime to focus on what I COULD do – crocheting. Out of the past year came many new designs, from the "Different Rose" doily to the "Sparkly Cupcake Ornament" to "Sally's Dancing Angels"and the "Warm Mobius Scarf, along with many others.  And there's the new design soon to be released that I can't tell you about just yet! I'm grateful for the inspiration for these projects, I love and treasure them all. I can't describe what an honor it is to have someone say they enjoy making something I designed.


I'm very happy that my friend Heidi has done something very special for me! My double vision and focusing problems along with the stroke in my retina in 2009 have made it very difficult to transcribe things. I spent many years as a secretary and publications designer, and the idea that I can't transcribe my own notes is pretty frustrating. Heidi has graciously offered to transcribe all my notebooks filled with my handwritten crochet patterns! And that means something very special is going to happen in 2012! I will be publishing a book of all my crochet designs! We're working hard at it now, and I can't wait to get it done! It's one of those lifetime dream projects. So watch for the news - it's coming! Here are just a few designs that will be in the book.

One of the many Mobius scarves I made as Christmas gifts. Here it's
keeping miss Ladybug warm!

A pattern I'll probably never write up! I made fingerless
gloves for myself, made to exactly fit each hand. Tricky. But I
love 'em!

The Different Rose Mini Doily under construction

Sparkly Cupcake Beaded/Sequined Ornament

Sally's Dancing Angels Doily, before beading, about 16"

SueSu models her pretty sweater back in 2008.

A 3D Poinsettia flower done in a filet-like design.

Another kind of 3D Poinsettia

A whole suite of Poinsettia designs

It's been an amazing week!

Wow!!! Fasten your seat belt and hold on... enjoy the ride... that's what this past week has felt like for me! 


First off, I was privileged to have an article published in an online magazine called "SoCrafty!"  You can see my article here.  "SoCrafty" has asked me to make regular contributions, what an honor! Now I will definitely be busy coming up with new ideas for the articles!



I'm busy working on my newest design, but I can't reveal what it is yet! That's because I'm running a contest at my online crochet group to guess the design and win the pattern! 


The other huge thing that happened this week is that my dream of writing a crochet book with all my designs may be realized sooner than I thought! I lost my visual ability to switch back and forth quickly from one thing to another. I have 15 years of crochet patterns all written down in notebooks, and I'm not able to type them up without a lot of difficulty because of the eyesight thing. Well, my girlfriend Heidi has come to the rescue and offered to type them all up for me and turn them into wonderful text docs that I can manipulate as I wish. This is a dream come true for me!! I really do want to save my designs for posterity, and I will be working hard at making this book happen!



Now for the really fun stuff... I got to take a little trip to Kansas City this past weekend to see my sister, Celia, and Sally, my BFF.  Sally had a very critical illness last fall and I was recovering from the hip surgery so I couldn't make the trip down until now. I hadn't seen Celia since last summer. We got a really neat hotel room and took our little baby Ladybug with us... she is an excellent bye-bye dog! It was her first hotel, first elevator ride, lots of other firsts... and she handled it all in stride!  Here she is, making herself at home on the hotel bed. 

Here she is, making herself at home on the hotel bed. 

Later on, my sister brought over my little precious "niece," Lucy Liu, a tiny Yorkie. She is Ladybug's BFF and they had a ball playing together! 

Left, my sis Celia holding Ladybug, Lucy Liu peeking through, and me.

Later on, Celia and her husband Randy took us to a fabulous buffet dinner at the Argosy Casino. And yes, we did manage to lose just a few coins there! We all had a blast.  

The amazing entrance to the Argosy Casino.
The night sky is all painted but it fooled me!

Ron, left and my brother-in-law Randy chat while Celia
and I are yapping and playing with the furkids.

Ladybug got to cuddle with her aunt Sally and she was a perfect little lady while visiting there all day Sunday.  Sally and I had an awesome time visiting, and her husband Ron made us all a fabulous dinner.  Then Ron (my Ron, LOL) and I stopped for some of our favorite HiBoy burgers and headed back north.  It was a perfect weekend and it did me SO much good to see my two girls!! 

Ladybug loved snuggling with her aunt Sally! The pretty girl
in the background is my fairy-grand-goddaughter, Lacey.

Well, I guess that's enough excitement for one week - and this week has barely started! Love it!!


– Sheila

Not Christmas, But Sure Feels Like It!

Ever had a day where you wake up and feel like it's Christmas morning and you're running to the tree to collect your gifts? This is one of those days for me! I just knew there would be good news in my email (there was) and some great opportunity looms on the horizon.  LOVE days like this! I am very excited to start work on a brand new crochet design today. It's a SECRET!!  It's something I've had a couple of requests to do, and something I've meant to make for years. Something everybody in the whole world needs, too! So, wish me luck, I hope it turns out as well as I'm imagining!

Kind of disappeared a little for awhile, Koby's passing really threw me. (If you haven't read my prior posts, Koby was one of my rescue schnauzers who battled diabetes and finally lost. You can read about him here).  Anyway, here is a photo of Koby in much happier times. He adored his "swimmie pool," I always kept it for him every summer. I miss the little guy terribly. 

We had quite the adventure when we took five dogs in for vaccinations at the local low-cost vax clinic for area rescues. I'd never been to one before, and our budget demanded we give it a try! It was a snowy, windy day, about 18º outside, ice everywhere to walk on... my worst nightmare with two new hips!) But I didn't fall, we managed not to freeze to death, and all the furkids have their shots. Whew. Ron really was a huge help moving the dogs around.  Here they are playing in the snow during the huge snowstorm earlier this month. 

Got out my jewelry stuff to play in and had a great time with my friend Heidi the other night. I had orders for two of the Rainbow Bridge Memorial Gemstone Bracelets. I selected the stones and then turned Heidi loose on laying them out in her preferred design. I think they turned out really pretty, don't you agree?

I really need to start playing jewelry again. I tend to put it aside for long periods of time and then go back to it. 

I spent a lot of time this month sorting out my own costume jewelry and getting rid of the stuff I don't wear or like anymore. 

I'm not sure what it is about rainbows, they just make me happy! The person gets to pick their focal (standout) stone to memorialize an occasion of a particular month. People really seem to appreciate them.  The first one is an October focal that I designed using blue Peruvian opal, white opals, a pink Peruvian opal, and Opalite. 

Here's something new I've been doing the last month or so. There is this site called Listia.com. It works a lot like eBay with auctions, but you GIVE away your items! People bid points which you collect and then use to buy stuff from other people's auctions. It's beautifully simple, really. A very common auction on there is a "stuffed purse." Here is my first stuffed purse auction. It's a blue Coach bag stuffed with various goodies. I'm hoping to get lots of points from this one! Anyway, if you have a lot of stuff you don't want anymore, this is a great place to get rid of it! 

Well, I need to get busy crocheting on that secret project now! Hugs to the world - Sheila