A Good Bye to my Baby Dog Polar Bear

Last Thursday I had to say good bye to my best friend and family member, my polar bear whom I have had for 14 years. The bone cancer just was making him suffer so much, this is one of the reasons I have not been blogging as much as I did, I wanted time with him, and I wanted to hand feed him to help keep him strong for as long as I could. I love and miss him so much! I write with tears....

He was so very special, patient, loving and I miss hearing his bark, him walking on the tile floor, laying his head in my lap, or checking on me in the bathroom, catching food, stealing food off the table, letting the little girl dogs boss him around, allowing Ruffles our cat to love you and rub on you anytime she wanted, for watching over and protecting us, I miss long walks with you peeing on every piece of grass and peeing like a girl dog when you were a boy, I will miss your excitement when daddy came home, your howls at the door when we would leave and come home, that you loved all kinds of dog toys and would tease Oreocookies by taking them and hiding them outside from her. Even while he was sick he would try to play never showing us how sick he really was. He made my life wonderful for 14 years, I hope he knows how much I love and miss him! He was my family, friend and I know the pain is gone and he lays at rest next to my other dog Buddy, but still miss you... the house is lost without in it....

I will never forget you I will never stop loving you; were one of kind.

What I am Working on Sunday July 17th 2011

I have been working on painting rocks, my favorite famous rock cottages. I found the most interesting rocks and made one of my little rock cottages and I am working on another one right next to it that is not quite completed. Once again in the photo above, I washed the rock in some hot soapy water and let it dry for a few days before I begin painting. I love using acrylic paints best and a good sealer so that the paint will last a very long time. This rock is quite large so it will make a really good door stop the second one that is not finished will be smaller and will be better for setting on a shelf or holding a stack of papers in place. In the photo below is a little cardboard heart box and I had a blast working on it also; using acrylic paints and coffee to make the heart box look really old and aged, I also used a bit of light weight sand paper and lightly, carefully sanded the box for some finishing touches, then sealed it. I did not use and patterns but just the painting by free hand designs both projects and if I goofed a little I think it just added more to both projects by doing free hand with really no intention or pre-plan pattern. Sometimes I find it fun just to sit down and start creating because you just never know what you will come up with and that is the fun of a project the never knowing...

Once Long Ago, a Warm Day on the Oregon Coast, and a Ride

A few days back we were having such nice warm days! it seemed as if summer were here finally so I just had to take some pictures of the ride down the beach. In the top picture I think everyone one else from Portland Oregon had the same idea to head to the beach. We also stopped off at a store for some cool drinks, a bit of fire wood and some burgers to cook on the beach for the day.

Tillamook Head and just watching the waves come in, there was also a warm breezing blowing that day.

I just wanted to share a little of the beach with you all this week!

Time to Blog Again, Crochet purse and Table Cover

Time to blog again; seems life throws something at me every time but with prayers and realizing that it will be alright, trials seem not to be as they appear. Some of the trials have been health issues again with a bout of pneumonia, RA reacting to the stress of a serious family issue.

I have returned again; it has taken a while but thought I better get busy. I have not been able to craft as much lately because the the issues with my daughter who is slightly disabled. There is also the fact that I have been very sad with one of my dogs, my oldest and best sweet heart. I have had polar for 14 years and now I am losing him to cancer that can't be operated on, so I have been spending my time and minutes with him to help him for as long as I can.

I was doing a bit of crocheting and finished a another little purse and table cover.

In the purse pictured above I used a cotton yarn and a small crochet hook to create it. I did not use any patterns but just an idea to what I thought would be a cute purse and I used just the basic stitch making sure the stitches were tight and small so that nothing will fall through. I finished this table cover a while ago and thought I would share it again, I used a wool yarn on it and the edging is a cotton yarn for a final touch. The table cover and purse were fun just to create using just a simple thought and some very basic double stitches. I also added a few pretty buttons to the little purse and it buttons shut using the one button that is somewhat in the center. Later I will add them to the Art fire store, where they can be purchased.

New Hand Crafted Items for the Month of May; The Milk Maiden, crochet hand bag, crochet rag rug

I have just finished crocheting this purple little hand bag with some really nice heavy wool yarn. I did just a very basic double stitch to create the body of the purse and the strap is just a simple chain stitch. Next I took some strands of the yarn and frayed or pulled the yarn apart for the fringe and put it onto the little purse; and I hand sewed some pretty buttons on for added decor.

Then I have also finished a new rag cloth doll, the milk Maiden, she is 22 inches long and made from Onsburg. The doll has been stained and I once again have created and painted on the facial features using acrylic paints. The Milk Maiden's hair is a red wool yard and is not stained either is the hat and dress, this time around I just stained the body of the doll and painted shoes and stockings onto the doll. The hat, dress and bloomers are cotton fabrics that I found in the baby section of a fabric store.

I am also working on a crochet rag rug that is made from cotton and yarn and wool yarn, that is the photo down below, I am almost done with it I just have to add the lighter colored yarn to the rug. It has been a while since my last blog post, I have been as usual battling some health issues, mostly the lungs and the RA have been giving me some serious problems but I am still crafting away!

The Sea Story, a large wall hanging quilt, whacked out by freehand

This is a quilt a did a while back, it is all my design, no patterns were used I just cut all the pieces out by free hand. I used all kinds of fabrics for this quilt there are cottons, rayon's, corduroy, flannel, polyester, muslin, quilt batting, buttons, and yarn used to create this one of kind quilt not to mention all the different stitches used by my sewing machine. This quilt is no longer for sale I have decided to just to kept as a reminder of my Uncle Bill who was in the navy and once told me that untrue stories, wild stories were often called Sea Stories, so thus is the name of this quilt, as it is nothing but a wild tale.

In the first panel there are some mermaids sun bathing and watching over their treasure, and a school of happy fish swimming on a nice warm day. Suddenly the day is spoiled by a silly fisherman who is wanting to catch a grand fish! But this fisherman finds himself in a heap of trouble with mean old octopus, lucky for this fisherman the maids decide to help him out and hand over the treasure to this poor unlucky fisherman!

Later on I may do another sea story quilt, I love whacking it's working with imagination to me, and of cartooning helps me lots in designing these one of kind quilts.

Winner of the Contest is....

Howdy to everyone; well the contest is over and I have picked a winner. The winner is...

"Hi please sign me up for your giveaway.Congrads. on your 200th post" I just picked the last person to comment I was going to just do a drawing but then changed my mind and decided to stick somewhat to the rules so I picked the last comment instead; It just did not seem quite fair to do a drawing with only 3; I will be contacting the winner today and sending out the prizes when I hear from the winner, I will ship both items priority mail with tracking to the winner. I want to say thank you! to those that commented and got the contest ball rolling! I plan on having more contests and hopes are more will play along and be winners!