ALOHA!

Paradise is wonderful. Paradise with family is even better! Swimming and eating, snorkeling and eating, surviving the Road to Hana and eating, visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center and eating. Yummy! Jane added the frosting to the cake so to speak with her sweet smile and even sweeter spirit. Tom joined us in Honolulu which made me happy! We also toured the Pearl Harbor exhibit which touched my heart and brought home the fact that war is horrible. I am very grateful for those brave men who sacrificed for my freedom! The time in Hawaii was fabulous, the traveling was hellatious. NEVER FLY STANDBY TO HAWAII! I never will again. Thanks to Kim and Jeff for inviting us and sharing their vacation with old people.

What More Could I Want?

This has been a great month for me. First I went to Calgary for 6 days to visit Kim, Jeff and Jane. We had a good time eating out, going to Banff and celebrating Jane's first birthday. We also went to a huge, beautiful farmer's market where we bought cherries(YUM!), nectarines and corn to grill (which was delicious). Jane played in the children's play area with kids bigger than her but wasn't intimidated one bit. She got right in the middle of things. Kim made a delicious raw mousse pie which you can see on Jane's face. She also made raw macaroons--so, so yummy!

The next great thing that happened is that I sold another blanket. Someone bought my Tinkerbell

blanket which is one of my personal favorites. In fact, I have a Tinkerbell scrub top for work. All in all, life is good and I'm loving my family, my sewing and my job.

Fun In The Summertime

Summer has been fun this year even though we've had over 50 straight days of over 100 degrees. Utah in July was beautiful and Dean, Golden, Millie, Pratt, Mabel and I had fun at the American Fork carnival. Then Jonah and Regan stayed here in Tyler for 4 weeks and we went to the lakehouse and played in the water. Jacob and Micah learned to waterski which reminded me of the times we cane down when the kids were young and they all learned to ski too.

I got a job and enjoy working, especially overnight. We also moved Audrey's furniture to storage and cleaned up. Now I have a little time so I sewed a new blanket which is always fun for me. Melinda sent me some cute fabric and I like the way the blanket and burps turned out.

Well, I still have a lot to learn because I can't seem to control where the pictures go. Will I ever get it?

Should I add hats?

Kim gave the idea of adding crocheted hats like these that I made for Jane to my etsy.com site. I don't exactly how I could make them true to size except by head measurement and I don't know how to have people communicate that to me on etsy. This is something I can do while my eye is healing. What do you think? All ideas are welcome.

Thanks Kim!

So Kim says I have to quit just pushing buttons on my computer, but what else do you do when you don't know what you're doing? Anyway, Kim, with Megan's help, talked me through setting up my slide show. It's wonderful to have sons and daughters who are so willing to help. My son Nate got me set up on etsy.

I had another eye surgery last week to strip a membrane from my retina. It went well until the pressure went up sky-high in my eye. The Doctor stuck a needle in my eye and drained some of the fluid and all seems well now. I am anxious for the eye to heal enough to get back to sewing. I love working with fabric and deciding what prints to put together. I'm not artistic at all, so that is about as creative as I get.

There is something calming and fulfilling in making something with my own hands. Cooking doesn't do it for me. It is just a necessity and scrap booking has never been my thing either, but working with fabric and with yarn in fun. Just looking at the finished product makes me happy. I've made and crocheted around dozens of blankets for grandchildren over the years and seeing them swaddled in them is so gratifying.

Well, maybe next week I can get back to my sewing machine. I truly am grateful to still have my vision after 2 detached retinas and 3 eye surgeries.

So Much To Learn

I feel like I'm trying to find the light switch in the dark and am totally turned around in the room. I need some help to figure out how to get gadgets and such on my blog. I used to think I knew some about computers, not! Why did I think that when I'm not even in the "texting world" yet. I have been reading, reading, reading but it's sorta like a foreign language. HELP!

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing

Because I love my children's blogs so much, I've decided to become part of the blogging world. The problem is I have no idea what I'm doing so I guess it's "learn as I go". I love connecting with my family and hope to make some new friends who share some of my interests and hobbies.

I had eye surgery on Monday to remove a membrane that was growing on my retina and distorting my vision. It's healing very well and I hope to get back to my sewing soon. I love to sew and crochet--you know, keep my hands busy. So I decided to combine the two and hemstitch around baby blankets and burp cloths to make them ready for a crocheted edging.

I love working with flannel fabric because it's so soft and warm, yet practical and durable. I come from the generation where we expected quality and took care of things to make them last. I enjoy adding the finishing touch of crocheted edging to the baby blankets I make for grandchildren (lots of those) and also for the ones I give to friends.

It makes me sad that crocheting is almost a lost art. My grandmother who died before I was born did beautiful crochet work. She crocheted words into the pattern and crocheted collars, hats and even dresses. I can't crochet like she did, but I enjoy simple crochet patterns and make hats which are fun for gifts too.