Gone Visiting

It's been colder than a dickens in our neck of the woods for the last couple of days. We are so ready for spring. And we didn't even get it as bad as people up in the north and north-east. I think the older I get, the warmer I like it, but by no means temps in the 100's.

So what does a girl do when it is so cold outside and one has cabin fever? We go visiting. Today I went to see my friend Daniela (she also comes from Germany). She has her own store which is called Fabrics & Quilts, in Reyno Arkansas. If it wasn't a 45 minute ride one way to her shop from my house to her store, I would be hanging out there all the time. It's a place of Inspiration.

My Friend Daniela

Always smiling and always working on something

Here is a first look into her store.

The store itself is inside an old school that is now empty and being repurposed 

for other things.

Lots of yummy fabrics to be had

And lots of thread in any color you can think of

Another view

She also has other crafters, which includes myself, who sell their projects/crafts throughout her store. There are so many talented people out there. In a second room she has tables with sewing machines, so other people can come to sew right there in the store and also that she can have classes in all sorts of crafts. The room also contains a long-arm quilting machine to finish any quilt.

This is one of the talented people. She makes wonderful jewelry. Wish I could buy about 

half of what she makes. But than I would be in the poor house lol.

These are just a few of the beautiful Quilts Daniela has made.

The are all for sale.

Last but not least, here you can see a few of my things up for sale.

So I can say I had a wonderful visit out there, with good company, good coffee and lots of smiles and laughter. I would call that a good day.

Until next time from my neck of the woods I wish you a wonderful day!

While I was watching Downton Abbey Part 4

"Happy Monday" Friends!

First I would like to say Thank You to all the lovely participants in the "Grow your Blog" event who have stopped by my blog and have left wonderful comments, joined the give-away and/or became followers. It was quite a wonderful event.

It was a good thing that I had a day of Saturday during this event, because let me tell you, I couldn't stop browsing around all the lovely blogs on the list. I spend hours looking at all that loveliness. The only thing that kept me going was a cup of coffee or two. So many beautiful crafts and so much color. There will be quite a few new blogs that I will follow and enjoy. What a lovely way to get to know new and interesting people, and I am glad to be part of it.

So with that said, it is a good thing I got any kind of crochet done at all. But I did. I did cheat a little bit and worked on the shawl in between shows when I had a little time. Last night while watching Part 4 of the show, I finished the shawl itself. So now all I have left is the border and I hope I will be able to finish it during next weeks show and than have a big Ta-Ta.

This is the center of the shawl.

The shawl itself is crocheted in two directions, from the 

center out.

With that it gave this nice center affect. It looks

a bit like a flower.

There is quite a bit of controversy going on around my favorite show. Many people are complaining about the changes. I personally say, change is good. With one of the favorite characters leaving last season, it left a hole. They also brought in a story line that is not very popular. I don't want to say what that is, as I don't want to be a spoil sport to those who haven't seen it yet, but I think bad things happen to good people and it is interesting to watch how people will deal with these problems. Enough said. I will continue to be a loyal fan of the show.

As always wishing you a wonderful day from my neck of the woods. Until next time......

Hallo and Welcome to this "Grow your Blog" Party

Welcome and please come in. First I would like to say a big Thanks to Vicki at 2 Bags Full for hosting this wonderful Blog Party for us little Crafters who are still in need of growing our blogs. It's very much appreciated.

My name is Erika and I for the moment live in rural northern Arkansas. I am single (divorced) and in my mid-fifties.I share my house with four lovely critters, two doggies, a Yorkie named Gidget and a Shit-Zhu named Seffi, and two cats, one boy named Picaso and one female named Sissi (my little grumpy cat).

                                                          

                      

My adventures into crafting started when I was a wee little bit, around 5 or 6. I was very lucky to have had a loving and very patient Granny to take the time to teach me things from sewing to crocheting and knitting. They have become a live long love for me. Originally I come from Germany, but I have enjoyed live in the USA for over 35 years now

For a living I work as a Caregiver for Alzheimer, Cancer and Heart Patients. For that reason I work a lot of odd hours and also can't blog as much as I once did. But I love what I do and so that is ok.

I started blogging to keep a record of some of the things I was making and doing in my life. I also just loved to browse through all the other lovely blogs out there with their wonderful colorful crafts. They inspire me and encourage me to do better. My first love is crochet, but I also knit, sew, loom and yes even a little painting.

One of the things I collect is Coca-Cola and for that reason you will see many crafts on my blog made around the colors of red, white and black. My living room is arranged around this collection, which is steadily growing. I just love it!

So now how about it little give-away for all the lovely people joining this blog party? You want to know what it is? Well I think I will keep that a secret for a little while longer, but I promise it will be something everyone will enjoy. Hint: it will be something I have sewn or crocheted. Everybody is welcome to participate.

The Catch: Please leave a comment at the end of this blog post by February 14, 2014 and hopefully I will pull your name out of the hat that day.

Now I will grab a good cup of Java and go browsing around all your lovely blogs. Hope you stay a while on mine and look around. I hope you see something you like and it makes you come back for another look.

Wishing you all a wonderful day! Until we see each other again..........

Just a Note

     Hi, I hope someone in the blogging world can help me with this little issue. I have been going through the list of other blogs that I liked and many of them are not active anymore. It says you can hide them, but they don't go away that way. Does anybody have any knowledge of how I can delete them? I would like to add others to my list that are more current. Any help in this issue would be appreciated. Thanks

While I was watching Downton Abbey Part 3

     Hallo Friends, hope you all had a wonderful week and even better weekend. Mine was pretty nice, if busy. But I am not complaining, as I enjoyed every minute of it.

     From now on I will have to work every Sunday night, so I will watch Downton Abbey on Monday's. As always I just loved my favorite show. Every week it seems to get better and more interesting. Every week I feel transported back in time. Have I mentioned I love this show?

     Yes I also worked on my shawl. Sometimes it is not easy, especially when I get into the show, but progress needs to be made. It's coming along nicely, but I also ran into an issue. I followed the pattern in the book, using the kind of yarn called for and also the right needle. but as it turns out that if I stayed with the pattern the way it is called for, it would be a shawl for a child instead of an adult. So I am doubling up on the length and hope it will come out better. Has that ever happened to you? Or am I doing something else wrong? Any advice would be appreciated.

     Here now a look at how far I have come today:

     I am very much enjoying this pattern. Looking forward to seeing it finished myself now. Might get it done by next week.

     That's it from my neck of the woods today. Until soon!!

While I was watching Downton Abbey, Part 2

     Hallo Friends! I hope this finds you all well.

     As it goes with things in life sometimes, my plans didn't quite go as I had planned this week. First I ended up working on Sunday night and didn't get to watch "Downton Abbey" that night. Second I was going to continue working on the afghan that I showed you last week. Well low and behold, I did not have the color yarn I had wanted to continue with. This will mean a trip to Hobby Lobby, but that is not around the corner from my house, because I live in the country. So this will have to wait until I get a chance to go there sometime next week. Has that ever happened to you?

     So I went to plan B. On Monday I watched "Downton Abbey" from a recording. I also decided to work on a different project until the time I can get the new yarn. 

     Recently I got this new books on crocheted shawls. There are many lovely patterns inside and I will try and make each one of them as time goes by.

     I decided on this pattern, but not the same color and I chose white

Here is the beginning

And this is how far I made it while watching my favorite show

And now a little close-up

     Wow, "Downton Abbey" is going to be sooooo goood this season. I just love that show. Can't tell, can you? Are you watching? Are you looking forward to what is coming next? Personally I can't wait for next Sunday. Wish I could rush it along.

     Ok that's enough yapping about this show. What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Place-mats Weaving

     As today was a very yucky rainy day outdoors, it was the perfect day to sit on a big weaving loom and make something pretty for my household. Many of you know that I am an avid coca-cola collector and that my house is somewhat decorated around that, especially color wise with the red, white and black. So it will come as no surprise that these place mats are also in those colors.

     The weaving loom does not belong to me, but my friend Gena is so nice to share it with her friends to learn and/or to make their own projects. I also did not do the hard work of actually stringing this weaving loom. That would probably take me a month of Sunday's to learn. Just to show you a view of the setup:

     All I can say is wowwww........that's a lot of string. Thanks Gena for doing all the hard work for me.

     I am planning on making four place mats, but today I managed to only do one. It does take a bit of time to work on it. Admittedly I was also busy talking to my friend at the same time, which slows me down some, but without would be a lot less fun. Just another excuse to have another little get together with said friend and what could be better than that?

     That's how it looks at the beginning

Work in progress

A little close up

One last view

     Now all the place mats stay on the frame until all 4 are made and maybe also a dishtowel to go with it. Than they will be taken of the frame, hemmed and washed before brightening up my house. Looking forward to seeing them on my table all finished. Will share with you when they are all done.

     Thanks for stopping by today to share in my little weaving adventure. Until soon I wish you a wonderful weekend !

     

A new Beginning & While I am watching Downton Abbey, Part 1

     The new year 2014 has arrived and with that I thought it would be a good time to restart my blog.

     Sadly 2013 was not a good year for me, neither personal, health wise or professionally. For that reason blogging and crafting took a back seat.

     Finally over the last few weeks the urge to return to crafting has grabbed me ever so slowly and we will make a fresh start and hope that 2014 will be a wonderfully productive and fun year.

     Hope yours will be the Best as well!!!


     Over a snowed in weekend in December 2013 I went into a knitting and looming frenzy to make a few Christmas presents. The following is the result of it. All in all I made 8 hats that weekend, not all pictured. They were well received on Christmas morning and are now keeping a few heads and ears warm with this cold flash we are currently having.

     Last night one of my favorite shows returned here in the states with it's premier. Many of you are probably enjoying this show as well. From what I hear there are groups out there with people who are watching this show together and or crafting together. How Fun! Which show am I talking about, you ask? Well it is "Downton Abbey" of course. Are you following this story as well? 

     Since I live in a rather rural area and there aren't any groups I could join, I made the decision to make one crochet project just during those evenings watching. I picked a colorful afghan, as I feel the need for some color in this dreary time of year. Here now the beginning of it from last night:

Wonder where this colorful project will lead me. New colors to come during my next viewing session. Looking forward to seeing this project grow as I am being transported to a different time.


     Well now that is it from my neck of the woods today. Hope to see you all soon again. Have a wonderful and day everyone!