Springtime ? ? ?

I don't know how long Mother Nature is going to drive us crazy! It is snowing - again.


It is coming down hard and fast. The weather channel said we could expect 2-4". This looks like it is well on its way.


This picture is taken about 15 minutes after the ones above ... snow anyone??


I took this one looking up into the sky - you can see the size of the flakes ...


I had an energy audit done on the house yesterday. It was a bit cold and very windy, but at least the guy didn't have to go on the roof or under the house in these conditions. I will tell you a bit more about an energy audit within the next week.

Hugs to everyone, and stay warm and dry.

I love Springtime ...

I love Spring when everything is starting to sprout and start a new cycle of life. My niece and I planted the Daffodils, oh, 4 or 5 years ago and they faithfully come up and have spread a bit even! They are my sign of Spring. I love these two-toned flowers.


These are all yellow and very bright. Sunshine captured in a flower! I took these two pictures two days ago ...


This Friday we are predicted 67 degree weather - - - really ? ? ? I woke to this today ... and it is still snowing. I figure we had a lousy winter with not much snow, so now winter is making up for it. I have 2-3 inches of snow on the porch and railings.


I wonder how my Daffodils are doing. I could only see two little heads when I looked. I hope they will bounce back, but I'm not sure ... maybe the snow insulated them and they will stand up again ... I'm hoping really, really hard that they will survive!!


I have friends who are going camping for the Black Powder Shoot up the road about 10 miles. It is at a higher elevation ... hmmm. They were to leave tonight, but may just wait until tomorrow... I was suppose to go too, but for my neurotic dog.

Hope the rest of you are having a wonderful sunny and warming Spring!
Hugs

M.I.A. ??? ... no ... just crafting

I didn't realize that I've been gone for a whole month!! I've made hatband patterns, beaded the hatbands, beaded earrings, sewing Prairie Bonnets and Caps. Thinking of more items, running out of time too!! In between all that, I've been baking bread (with a machine) and cutting up my own coleslaw. These two items are a staple here at my house.

Designing the hatbands from scratch almost takes longer than the actual beading. I don't have bead designing software, so I use Excel spreadsheets! I make the cells really, really small and then use the fill color button to design spaces. Sounds simple, but the time to get it right, and the limited amount of colors can make it hard sometimes to get the design right. This one has been put together from 3-4 different (free) patterns.


I made this one first, but I wanted the black, gray, rust and white color combination, but I didn't have those colors. I dug through my beads and found the purple, blue, gray and white that I used. I wasn't sure about the combination while making it, but I really love it now. A geometric woman's hatband.


I still need to add the leather end tabs and ties. I found a skirt at Goodwill that will work just fine ... recycling at its finest!

I also puttered around the kitchen making yummy stuff (for me at least!). I absolutely love my bread machine.


I have made several different flavored loaves aside from the regular white and wheat bread. My favorite, so far, is Onion-Herb bread.


I was enjoying a warm slice of bread and butter when I thought that earrings would be easy and fast. I have at least a dozen that I've made, but they don't really say Mountain Man, so I came up with some new ones.
Blue with bone feathers.


Turquoise with bone feathers.


Purple with silver feathers.


These pictures are a little dark/fuzzy/small because I don't have a good place to take pictures, but I hope you can see them well enough. They were all made one after the other as the designs just flew around the gray matter ... LOL

I also dusted off my sewing machine, dug out some fabrics that fit the Mountain Man era (I hope) and started sewing. The Bonnet was made from a homemade pattern following instructions on how to measure and what areas to measure. I used MY measurements and I can't believe that this bonnet will only fit a toddler!!! ... and NO, I don't have a small head!! LOL


Please excuse my patched ironing board cover - it is hard to find a Teflon cover at a reasonable price, and that is what I want - it irons better (and doesn't burn).



The little ruffled cap was made using a 16" pizza pan with a guess of 2 1/2" for the brim area. It is double fabric, with some handmade bias tape for the casing. I used a ribbon instead of elastic so you can wash and iron very easily.


Wow, I'm getting tired just reading about what I've done ... and I have until next Thursday to get everything done.

I probably should have broken this post into two, but I'm sure that there will be more pictures of crafty items coming soon. I have a Saturday Market to gear up for too, but it runs every Saturday until September, so I can choose the Saturday I want. Then there is another Black Powder Shoot coming up in the middle of June. That one will be bigger, so I need to make lots more stuff! Yeah!!

My girlfriend in Boston also sells at a craft fair in October that she wants me to make stuff for. She says that she has never seen anything like my crafts back there, and that it should sell like hotcakes. Sounds like fun! She stains trays in wonderful patters, crochets afghans and makes large stained glass to hang in windows and the smaller sun catchers. I'd love to be there with her, but not possible for a while.

I'm now going to go sit in the couch and knits some dishcloths or crochet pot scrubbers.
Have a great evening and a wonderful weekend.

Hugs