A Welcome Trip out & Stash-Busting

Yes, this girl had a very welcome and nice time out yesterday. It was so needed. Sometimes we just got to re tank, don't you think?

My friend Karna invited me out to lunch to a little town called Hardy, in northern Arkansas. This little jem of a town is filled with many crafts people and also other little shops.

This is my friend Karna

First we went to this little restaurant called "Words / Afterwords"

I would have probably not found this nice little Restaurant on my own.

It was kind of on a back road and I never saw it on previous visits.

I was told at time they have Live music here

Nice Artists were featured here.

These paintings are for sale

Look at this beautiful coffee/tea bar

There was also an added porch with this wonderful stone fire place.

Wouldn't you love to eat there on a cold day?

Some kids from the local school painted these table.

I see some future artist.

As we were sitting there, to our surprise we ran into some more of our crafty friends,

Penny and Melissa. You can find Penny's blog here

All in all it was a very enjoyable lunch. Really hope we can do it again sometime

soon. I felt much more relaxed afterwards.

Before we went back home, Karna and I visited a few more of the little stores around 

town. The last one was "Hardy Pottery", which is one of my favorites.

After lunch it was back to work.

Now on to my Stash-Busting. Yes, I have decided, a little late I admit, to participate in the Stash-Busting Challenge:

As you will see momentarily, it is a very much needed event in my crafts room. Sometimes you don't even realize how much yarn one girl can stash. To top that of, I have a fabric stash and also a painting stash that need to be worked on.

This is just some of my yarn stash. Holly Molly! There are a lot of future projects in there, wouldn't you say.

This is the first drawer I will be working on: The Cotton Yarn. I have already started and will share my first finished project with you tomorrow.

Wow, that was a long post, huh? Would like to wish you all a nice and relaxing weekend now. Hope to catch you on the flip side.

Hardy, Arkansas

Hallo Friends,

As you have probably noticed I have once again been absence for the last few days. My plight with the Internet continues. In order to write my blog, I have to stay up during the hours of 1 and 5 in the morning, which are not the kind of hours I like to keep. Sorry to gripe to you again. We are currently 5 people in the house, all of us having computers and between us we are only aloud 375 MB during the daytime hours. With e-mail downloads, etc. it is almost impossible. Take my word for it. After that the connection slows down to slower the dial up speed. Scary isn't it in these times of fast DSL or Cable connections. Until I find another solution to this problem, I hope you will all bare with me. Thanks!

The weather here has been absolutely beautiful and almost perfect. Could live with temperatures like these all year round. How has it been where you live?

Have some News to tell. Last weekend we went to the little town of Hardy, Arkansas. It is a crafts Mecca. The whole little town is nothing but crafts stores and a couple of Restaurants. We saw so many wonderful handmade items and artisans, from Quilting to Oil Paintings. Since it is not to far from where I live and since the prices for rent are very low, I have decided, starting next March I will have my own little shop here. I will be carrying crafts from other crafters in the area, (They will also be featured in my online Store shortly), plus my own of course. I am looking very much forward to this opportunity and it has been a dream of mine. Will also have my yarn for sell in the shop. Here now a looksy at the town of Hardy:

Here now a little humor about the town. At one time these buildings were used by the Ladies of the Night to do their business. Men from the Railroad that runs through town were frequent visitors.

Hope you enjoyed this little trip with me. Will sure you more and share more with you about it in the Future. For now I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Until we can see each other again, Take Care!

Funny Friday

Howdy Friends! It's Friday and with that the end of another week. YEAH....! 

REMEMBER to wear something RED today to show your support for women's heart disease awareness on National Wear Red Day. Currently I am wearing a red t-shirt and if I should venture out, I will wear a red winter jacket and a red scarf. RED being my favorite color anyway, I don't see any problem on showing it off.

Okay....now I thought I tell you about something funny. At first it wasn't so funny, but now it is even funny to me. Remember a few posts back I told you about my little critter problem? You know....the MICE? I guess living in an old house like this one, one can't get around having them. One could think so, that I have started my own private critter collection and they feel very much at home in my house. Well coming back to the funny part. Yesterday morning I wanted to take a shower and what do I see??? One big fat mouse, yep. What to do? I really wanted that shower, you know. But that mouse was looking at me with it's little bieddy eyes. So what did I do? Nothing, because before I could, it went down the drain of the bathtub and wouldn't come back out. Now what? I had no choice.....I turned on the hot water and thought it would flush down the rest of the drain. I proceeded to take my shower, but the whole time I was in that tub, I looked at that drain. You know why, don't you? I kept on thinking that mouse was going to jump back out and bite me in the butt. Enough to give a girl nightmares. That must have been the fastest shower I ever took. As I told my girlfriend about it, she just kept on laughing and after a while, I couldn't help but laugh with her. So do you all think it's funny too? Yep, I know, I can hear you all giggle. Admit it, I know you are! Well this morning when I went to the bathroom I heard that noise from the tub again.......and yes, this time there were three little critters in it. And this time I got proof. Want to see?

They are quite the climbers, aren't they? Ok, ok.....enough of my little problem. 

A couple of days ago I told you about the potholders my neighbor requested. Well they are now finished. They are just simple, plain and straightforward. Here are the promised pictures of them. They were made from I LOVE THIS YARN cotton and remind me of sunflowers.

 

Now what you all have planned for the weekend? Watch the SUPERBOWL? I might take a peek here and there, but in general I will most likely catch up on some of my german programs and do some more crocheting. Really need to continue working on my afghans. Otherwise it will most likely be a quiet weekend, with no further plans. For now I hope you all make it a good one and see you again soon.

Weekend Report

Well here we are.....Monday morning again and the end of another weekend. They don't ever seem to last long enough, don't you think? How was yours and what did you all do?

Mine was pretty quiet for the most part. The cold continued throughout the weekend and is supposed to continue for another few days, after which it is supposed to warm up into the 50's with rain. As much as I don't want to see the rain either, the warm-up will be much appreciated, by me and my little critters. We did have a short time yesterday afternoon, when the sun peeked out and we got to go out and play for 45 minutes. The dogs so enjoyed that times, chasing their ball and stuffed animals. They were only to happy to take a nap after.

As I had promised myself, I spend a lot of time in my bed, over and under the covers, catching up on some of my german movies and as I had planned, did some more hooking. I finished a pair of fingerless gloves (Stulpen in German) and a scarve in the same color, which was bright yellow. Yes it was a joy, that beautiful bright yellow color. It cheered me up and made me think of the spring to come, the sunshine and the colorful flowers. Can hardly wait for that.

I had seen these figerless gloves somewhere on the internet, but it had no pattern with it. So I sort of played along and made up my own to fit. It came out pretty good, except I did make them a bit to long and if I make them again have to adjust for that. But they are so nice and warm and was much needed in the last few days. Here a little preview:

 

 

Hope you all can see them good enough. Sorry to say the light in my house is still quite awful. But aren't the a wonderful yellow and cheerful? 

Here now is the scarve in the same bright cheerful color:

 

 

Well what do you all think? Did they come out alright? I certainly had fun hooking them. The patterns were certainly easy to follow and didn't require constant counting and with that perfect to do while watching a movie.

Before I go today I did want to say CONGRATS to the new addition (little man) at ATTIC24 and to Lucy. I do so enjoy her wonderful blog and the snippets she shares of her life. She has also inspired me to try working with colors more than before. THANKS Lucy and good luck and much joy with your new little addition to the family. May you all be happy, healthy and we are looking forward to sharing your little world for many years to come.

That's it for today friends. Hope you all have a good day and a good start to another week. See you tomorrow.

Friday - Week End Report

Good Morning Friends,

Here it is...Friday and once again the end of another week. Got to admit, this morning I really did not want to get out of Bed. The comforter was just to nice, warm and toasty. My dogs on the other hand had different ideas and made sure I got on up and took care of them. Yesterday we had what I would call a light dusting, 1" of snow on the ground. My dogs enjoyed playing in it, but it certainly wasn't enough to built a snowman or anything else for that matter. Overnight the temperatures dropped to uncomfortable so, into the teens (12F) and is supposed to drop some more. Can't wait for the small warm-up we are supposed to have sometime next week. In the meantime, with the weekend ahead, we will snuggle more in bed and watch some good movies and maybe do a little hooking.

Here a little view of my dogs:

I had planned on revealing the winner of my give-away today. Since she did not respond to my e-mail yet, I have decided to postpone it until she does. Hopefully that will happen over the weekend and I will be able to tell you all about it on monday. Sorry you all have to wait a little bit longer, but it is worth the wait.

Ok, I also promised to tell you more of what I have planned for my blog. I have decided to blog about a different subject each day. With that, I hope,  it will get more interesting.

1. Mondays - Weekend Report: I will tell you all about what has been happening over the weekend, including what I have worked on and a bit about my life.
2. Tuesdays - Tuesday Question: Every Tuesday I will put out a craft question for all to answer and share with us in the blogger community.
3. Wednesday - Design Day: On this day I will introduce different designs, which will include freehand crochet, designs I have found on other blogs and find noteworthy, and a pattern for all of you to enjoy and/or share. 
4. Thursday - Remodel: I live in an old rented house and have lived here for the last three years. It badly needs changes made, like painting. I am also looking for solutions for storage, etc. Over the next few month I will be working on improving my living space and thought I would take you along for the ride. Sounds interesting?
5.  Friday - Week-ending Report: I will have a look back at the week, at what I have worked on in my crafts and also finished. Also maybe what other interesting things I have found across the internet, that might be of interest to everybody. 

So what do you all think of that? How about leaving me a comment and sharing your thoughts. Looking forward to reading you all.

The other thing I meant to talk about is,  that I have decided that this is the year I work with bright colors, lots of bright colors, in my crafts and in my life. I have always loved primary colors, especially my favorite color "Red". Until now I have always been somewhat held back in using so much bright color and worked more with pastels or whites. The older I am getting, the more I am telling myself, what do I have to loose. Nothing right? Could be interesting, don't you think? Here are a few samples of what I am talking about and NO,  I cannot take the credit for the pictures, as I found them on the internet.

 

 

 

Now tell me.....what do you all think about that? Good idea or just plain crazy. Well you know, now that I have arrived in my 50's,  I am no longer as concerned about what is crazy or normal anymore. Life is supposed to be lots of fun and since that has been lacking somewhat for a long time, it is time to get back to it and enjoy my later years doing what is fun and exciting. How about coming along for the ride and enjoying it with me?

That's all from me for today. Here is hoping you all have a wonderful weekend and we will see each other again on monday, unless I have something else to report over the weekend. Bye for now or Tschuess how we say in german.