Back to the blog?

I have really been thinking of getting back to this blog, but wasn't sure if I wanted to take the time, and I miss sharing projects and everyday stuff...so, why not start up again? I couldn't think of any reason not to, so here I am.

I was reading through my older entries and it sure has been awhile! We have had a lot of changes in our life since then. Our oldest daughter is now married and we have had another graduation...3 years ago...lol...time flies. We now homeschool, which has been a wonderful blessing from the Lord. I can't imagine not doing it. We just finished our fourth year and, Praise God, it was our best year yet. We have also changed churches, which was very hard. We had been at our church for six years, but the Lord had led us to move on. It was the right decision for us, we now attend a church 30 minutes away (previously we traveled 5 min.), but we know it's the Lord's will for us to be there. We have met several wonderful families and believe we are finally learning to be who God wants us to be. I pray that we can continue to grow in Him and be used for His glory.

I plan on sharing pictures of not only projects that I am working on, but also of our family. We are looking forward to a very eventful summer. A friend of our family is getting married in July and we are very excited about that. We also plan on attending a fair or two and a rodeo in Vermont. We will also camp, fish, ride bikes, hike and fellowship with family and friends. The Lord has truly blessed us with family and friends. It has been exciting making new friendships with our church family.

Well, I guess that is enough of an update for now. I look forward to writing again soon. I hope to have my entries be a bit more interesting, but felt a small update was in order. I may just bore anyone that reads this blog...I hope not, LOL

Mason Dixon dish cloth

First of all, sorry about the picture. Not the best, camera needs batteries so I used the scanner. Anyway, I think I'm keeping this one. I don't have any of these, I've given them all away, so I may keep this or not. Not sure yet.

I went back to the doctor's again. I'm on three new prescriptions so perhaps soon I will feel normal again.

I'm currently working on a felted bag for myself and really wanted it done for this weekend, but it's not going to happen. That's okay, I just started it Saturday anyway. So, I'm sure I'll have it done by the following weekend.

I received an MP3 player from my daughter and her boyfriend. They new I wanted one and I said I was going to ask for one for Mother's Day and they decided to surprise me. I love it! It is the neatest little gadget. It is made by Creative, it's a Zen. It's so cute, it's white and orange and I can put up to 500 songs and pictures on it. Too cool! I love music and the kids usually have the television occupied when I'm knitting so now I can listen to music while they watch tv and I knit.

The secret pal 9 is ending in a few weeks. I have enjoyed it so much! It's been fun shopping for someone and getting to know people. I'm not sure if I will sign up for SP10 or not. I might, depending on finances.

I guess that's it for now. I need to go take my medicine and get more chores done. Unfortunately, the medicine makes me dizzy and drowsy. So chores will have to come first. I fell asleep knittng yesterday afternoon. It was a good thing my husband Bill had the day off.

Oh I forgot to mention! We went to a play with our church family and it was amazing. It was in Providence, RI and Bill and I had never seen a play before. It was called "Wicked" and if you have seen it you know that you will never watch the Wizard of OZ and think of the witch in the same way. If you haven't seen it, you really should. It was wonderful!

Okay, now I better go!

Forgive me for bragging

But I made my mother-in-law a felted purse for Christmas and it's my favorite so far. I wanted to keep it, LOL! It was done in Mauch Chunky and a red mohair. I made I-cord handles and mixed in a little bit of Patons Glitterspun in the top of the bag and the handles. The grey yarn is by Galway. I am so happy with the way it came out! I ended up completeing 13 Christmas gifts and was very pleased with that. Not counting some miscellaneous wash clothes. I hope all that received a knitted gift was pleased. My total completed projects for 2006 is 77! That does include EVERYTHING! I'm hoping to reach 100 for 2007, but I have some big projects planned so we will have to see.

A question for my secret pal. I haven't heard from you in a while via e-mail. I'm hoping your not ill. Drop me a note when you get time. Just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you. I know your very good about reading my blog. Hope all is well!

Tis The Season...

Tis the season where I can't shake this awful cough I have! I know I should go to the doctor's but I just keep thinking it will go away. Well, it's not. But anyway...I have been a busy knitter. I hope to put some pics up by Monday. I couldn't sleep last night so I started a pair of mittens for Billy (he's 4) and I was very nervous, I've never made mittens. So I pulled out a pair I printed out courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn. I had some beautiful navy Chunky yarn and started knitting. I worked on the ribbing for awhile before I had to put the kids to bed. Then I snuck back downstairs and finsihed one of the mittens. I didn't get to bed until 1:00 but I was so excited that I figured it out, I didn't care what time it was. That is until this morning when I had to get up at 5:30 to chat with hubby for a bit before he left for work. Then I decided to go downstairs and start the mate to the mitten. I fell asleep in my chair for about 10 mins., LOL. I am always an early riser but I am almost always in bed by 10:00 or 10:30. So I'm a bit tired today but I'll perk up. I'm anxious to get the other mitten done! I also did a scarf for one of my daughters and a felted headband (nice and warm and fuzzy) for another daughter. Along with that I crocheted a snowflake for a neighbor, I still need to pin and starch it, but I think I will make another one to go with it. Christmas is getting close, I need to figure out how many more gifts I need to knit!

On another note, I sent my SP9 pal her package on Tuesday. I can't say anymore about it, don't want to spoil any surprises. But I'm very excited to hear from her when she received it!

Okay, off to do chores so I can spend some quality knitting time at some point today!

The Gingerbread Party

Well here it is! I finally got blogger to cooperate with my gingerbread party pictures! Three out of five of our kids participated. The oldest two were occupied with their own decorating and shopping for the holidays! For those of you who don't know which kid is which, the first picture is our dd #3, Krista, she is almost 12 and loves ALL crafts! The next picture is our youngest and only boy, Billy he will be four in about two weeks. If it involves making a mess, he is in! The final picture is our youngest DD, Tara, the quiet shy one. She is seven and puts up with a lot from her brother. I think we ended up making nearly seventy assorted gingerbread shapes. They had a blast! The mess looks worse than it was and the entire project from start to clean-up was about two hours. Only because we took our time and did a lot of goofing around. I hope you enjoy our pictures!

Some gifts done!

Well, I have a few more gifts done. I really need to get cracking. I was on a roll and lost momentum, gotta pick it back up! I did another Christmas Tree but in green with read and green beads, I don't know why the picture didn't load. Anyway I also did a knitted doily in Euroflax linen. I love the way it came out and it was pretty quick! I'm currently working on a felted bag for my sister's friend, I don't really feel like working on it because it's not one of my projects that I need. Isn't that selfish of me? I have done so many bags, close to a dozen if not more, that I feel burnt out on them. I am also currently working on some crocheted snowflakes. I did six of them two weeks ago to hang in my living room. I'm doing a different one now and am almost done with it, it's so pretty. It will be a gift as well.

I made a bunch of gingerbread cutouts two weeks ago with the kids. Can you tell from the pics how much fun it was? LOL It was quite messy, but well worth it. I'm doing a gingerbread theme in my kitchen this year. They smell so nice, but don't eat them! They are made with applesauce, cinnamon and glue! The two oldest girls weren't home when we did this, so I will have to do it again with them. (For some reason Blogger isn't showing all the pics I have uploaded of our gingerbread 'party') I will have to try to add them again later. Tried two more times and it's not working. I'll do a seperate post maybe later with the pics.

I have also been busy Christmas shopping. Mostly on the internet. It's just easier not having a car during the day. I've been finding some good deals. This has really been cutting into my knitting time. I'm getting a little nervous and my have to reevaluate my knitting list. I have a few ideas that are non-knitting that I may do, it will be less time consuming with a lot of thought still in the giving.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I want to go finish that snowflake and start another!

By the way, a quick wave to all my dear friends at the Heaven & Earth BB.

My apologies

I have been awful this month maintaining my blog, I'm so sorry. I've already written my secret pal and explained my lapse of blogging.

My kids seem to be coming down with one illness after another and Thanksgiving was my exception. I'm hoping everyone is on the mend so that I can get back to my normal routine.

I have accomplished very little knitting as well. Although I did manage to crochet six snowflakes for my curtains. I will try to take pictures of what I have accomplished this month.

I'm also working on some special things for the person I get to spoil. I don't want to say anything more about it, just in case!

It is supposed to get up to near sixty degrees here today in lovely New England, so I am going to take advantage of that and go for a walk this afternoon with my dear friend Cindy. Our families got together over the weekend and had a wonderful time together. We always have fun when we get together and should plan on doing it more.

Okay, well, I need to get the kiddies off to school. I promise I will have a better entry either later today or tomorrow.

To my pal, I hope your trip was wonderful. I'm eager to hear how it went. We still need to trade recipes!