Pulling Ideas Together: Hats, Flowers etc.

There are a lot of things I've been wanting to try for a long time and I've finally gotten around to working on them.

I started with a red hat and a purple hat to honor my Grandmother and my Mother.

Next I added a straw hat to honor my other Grandmother who used to take me to her little County Fair.

I threw in cups, saucers and a teapot to honor my friends who visit me for tea.

As you can see here part of the designs that are on the purple hat are the same ones that I used on the wheelchair ramp that I painted in front of my house.

So is the band on the red hat.

Of course the daisies began to creep in too.

Did you figure out why I put stripes in the background? I just had to continue with the theme I used on my wheelchair ramp project. I guess you could say the stripes represent the posts.

Grandma Julia, the straw hat is for you.

The design is still evolving and I'm working in some fun touches that remind me of my siblings as well.

I've wanted to include all the favorite things about my family and my garden so I needed to add roses here as well.

Things were looking pretty good at this point but I decided to add some lilacs because as kids we loved to play in the lilac bushes and I continue to grow them now because they make me feel happy and young again.

There are so many other things I want to say and do with paint but only so much room on this one canvas so I'm wrapping this one up and moving on to 2 other paintings.

All that remains now is to take this to Zazzle and find as many ways to share it with others as I can.

As always I will start with postage stamps, cards and stickers so that I can write everyone that's been asking me about this. Then on to all sorts of products for everyone else.

Junk mail to Fun Mail

I pulled these things from a few catalogs in today's mail.

My aim today was to create a pleasant afternoon tea to send to a friend.
I started with this victorian lady with a rose.

Inside the card were hats and flowers. After I shot this picture I drew some leaves around the flowers in colored pencil and finished writing my letter.

The back of the card became a pleasant place for a cup of tea. My dream patio with wicker furniture and lots of wonderful plants.

  Here's a combination view of the front and the back of the card.

Cold Weather Projects

In between putting the garden down for the winter I've been crocheting and donating more of these hats. I got 2 out of the purple yarn I had and I'm working the last of the skein into stripes with some of the other bits of yarn I had on hand.

With all of the other projects we're doing don't forget that it's always cold somewhere in the world and take some time to make something warm to share. Some organizations will even provide you with patterns or yarn to make the things you'll be donating.

I think I actually like the striped one better-how about you?

Projects like this make me feel that the time was well spent in spite of the way that most people react. For some reason when they see a fat woman crocheting they seem to assume that you've got the approximate I.Q. of a piece of furniture. Somehow it doesn't dawn on them that anyone who can take a hook and a piece of yarn and turn it into anything they want is probably smarter than they are.

Hats

The photo on top is how these hats look when you fold up the brim. The photo below is another hat that I just finished so I threw them both in the scanner so you can see how they look either way.

The Mac and Cheese Price Challenge Following Crochet Group

Well, there are a few projects underway but I haven't finished anything yet. In addition to the potholder and hat I've got going here I crocheted the first half of a white hat for a friend. The dark hat you see here will probably be finished by the end of the night depending on whether or not there's anything I want to watch on TV. I may take as look at Chuck or Grimm, it depends on what sort of a mood I'm in.

Shopping was interesting today. I was looking for a box of mac and cheese and found the prices ranging from thirty seven cents to well over $1.00. I purchased one at 37 cents, one at 50 cents and one of the expensive ones so we'll be running a bit of a taste test this week to see just how much difference there is between them. Isn't it funny how widely prices vary on such a basic item?

Making Room for Creativity

I decided to kick the comfy chair to the cub to make room for one more work table in here. I have an old Brother Bulky Knitting Machine that I used to make mittens, hats, scarves and slippers on so I thought it would be handy to do some of that again before the really cold weather sets in. 

Amazingly my hubby decided to get rid of his recliner too and  they were gone in minutes!!!
It was nice to see people so happy to get them and we're looking forward to the changes in here.

There wasn't even time to snap a picture of both chairs. What an interesting way to start a day!

Trying Something New

A friend in painting group loaned me this book that uses watercolor washes over pen and ink.  I've done pen and ink  and I've done watercolors but I've never combined them before so I'm excited by the possibilities. I got caught up crocheting 3 more hats and making a bunch of valentine cards but I picked up the right ink and am ready to sit down and give this a try. I'll keep you posted on the results.