A Return to Blogging

Hello blogging friends!  I hope your summer (or winter I guess, depending upon which end of the world you're on) has been lovely.  I am dismayed at how long its been since Carol or I have posted anything on TwoLuLa.  

I decided to go back and read our first post and reconnect with why we started TwoLuLa in the first place.  Carol wrote:

"Cynthia and I have decided to embark on a journey to discover the creativity in our friendship, in our lives, in our unique perspective on life as Christian women in a Lutheran church, in the ordinariness of our days, and who knows where that journey will lead us?  

We create.  We both crochet.  Cynthia gardens and dabbles in sketching.  She has even taken that step into learning more in an art class!  I have made jewelry.  I love to write.  Cynthia quilts.  I dream of quilting.  I sew.  Lately, I have been involved in making huge banners for our new church worship space.  We both collect books and specialty magazines.  And we have families – believe me child-raising and husband-pleasing takes enormous amounts of creativity and perseverance and endurance.  And prayer.  Lots and lots of prayer!

So to refuse to allow life to get in the way of creativity, we have decided to get together on a weekly or nearly-weekly basis to be creative.  To chat.  To grow our friendship.  And along the way, improve our lives.

I hope something that we do inspires you, or at the very least, makes you smile or laugh with us."

I think we both still agree that its vital to find creative time in each day - be it crochet, knitting, sewing or needlework,  drawing, painting, writing or photography, gardening, cooking or homemaking.  Creativity  takes so many, many forms! But whatever the form, it is rejuvenating to the spirit and calming to the body. And absolutely essential!

Carol and I have not done a good job at all with getting together on a weekly or even near weekly basis. This we must remedy!  Children return to school in two weeks or so and I think we will, no, I know we must, begin our weekly visits again.

My first Wool Eater blanket.

So what creative endeavors have I been occupied with?  The summer months have definitely lessened my time spent crocheting.  But I did start a new bavarian crochet (aka Wool Eater) blanket.  The one I started a few months ago, which was intended as a blanket for a cousin's little girl ended up as a table topper in my home.  While I loved the colors, I thought they were better suited to my dining room than for this little girl. 

So here's my progress on blanket number two:

My plan is a bit of a rainbow effect.  As you can see I am into the blues now.  They will slowly turn to greens and then yellows.  Looking at it I wish I had a better gradation of pinks and purples, but I was trying to work with the yarn I have and resist the temptation to buy more.

 

Some of the pinks and purples are the same as the first blanket.  It was absolutely amazing the effect the  rounds of blue had.  The whole blanket just popped!

I have also been working on my son Daniel's blanket and am almost done crocheting the rows.  I need to take some photos to post.  Maybe tomorrow, if its sunny and I get new camera batteries.

Running with a meadow of butterflies and birds on one side of me and...

 I started running back in June while on vacation down in Hilton Head South Carolina.  It was so, so lovely to run along the beach with the ocean on one side of me and the endless sky above.  I wish I had pictures to share.  I kept on running once we returned from that paradise.  Mainly I run around the neighborhood, but sometimes I find lovely places such as the Teetertown Nature Preserve in New Jersey.

a sweet little pond on the other.

I find  my time running to be so rejuvenating and spirit lifting.  I am not mom nor wife nor daughter when I run.  Just me, listening to music and being with me.

Peace,

Cynthia

Some more time in the garden

I enjoyed some time in the garden today with my camera, that is after I finished my morning weeding and watering!  But, I have to admit,  I do find any type of work in the garden blissful and centering. It allows my mind time to work through whatever may be troubling it.

Peace,

Cynthia

A time to rejuvenate

Carol and I got together yesterday for the first time in absolutely weeks and weeks. Each of our lives have been so very full lately - full of wonderful things like  a daughter returning from a trip far, far away,  daughters completing another semester at college, high school senior prom, award ceremonies and graduation, a son's first semi-formal dance (and date!), and backyard prep for a major graduation party!  Phew!  Great stuff!  Unfortunately there have also been some far from wonderful things happening also...a mother's heightened battle with cancer, a father's continually deteriorating dementia/Alzheimer's, sudden loss of a brother-in-law and worries for the nephew, and fear for a daughter's safety and well being.  

The roller coaster ride of ups and downs has been exhausting. I woke up yesterday morning and realized that I had slept through the night for the first time in weeks!  A feeling of happiness and balance is beginning to return and I welcome it.

So Carol and I planned a lovely, leisurely afternoon to talk, catch up with each other, drink tea in my newly created backyard "tea house", share some creative ideas and just generally rejuvenate. 

 We tried!   We fit in some rejuvenation time, that is in between phone calls and texts from one of Carol's daughters about how to get spilled salad dressing off of the living room rug and texts from the other about how to deal with a difficult roommate who appeared to be itching for a fight.  We tried between my attempts to reach my daughter who was a bit lost on her way camping with friends.

 We finally managed to make two delicious cups of hot tea and were about to head to the garden when my other daughter called to say that her car  broke down on the way home from the beach.  Cups down and into the car we went on a rescue mission.  An hour and a half later we sipped cold tea at the dining room table because now it was too buggy to sit outside.  Oh well!  Such is the life of moms!  But I know neither of us would trade it for anything!

Wishing you all peace,
Cynthia

Peonies & Pop

  

  I don't have much new crochet to show.  I've dabbled here and there, sewed in some ends, played around with colors and began a stool cover (which I'll show as soon as a few more rounds are complete and I buy new batteries for my camera).  Just haven't quite felt the desire. 







Dad's  alzheimer's continues to advance and I have seen marked deterioration, mentally, over the last week. Some days I can get him to respond to me, and others not so much. I find myself thinking back over the last few years. I wonder if I knew then just how precious those days were.  I wish I could get them back.  Now I take Dad for strolls, slowly walking hand in hand.  I think about all the years he held my hand as a child, guiding and leading me, keeping me safe, telling me stories and showing me the wonders of the world around me. Now I guide and protect him, talking away to him as we stroll, hoping that if he doesn't understand my words he at least feels comforted, loved and at peace.

I have been spending time in my garden.  We are getting the yard ready for my daughter's graduation party. But it also feels good, and necessary, to spend time tending things which will grow and flourish. My love of gardening and nature comes from my father.  Dad and I spent many an hour in the garden -  planting, weeding, dead heading, smelling the flowers, looking at the butterflies and talking to the squirrels.  Working in the garden will always be a way to feel close to him. 

My peonies have blossomed.  I cut a few to bring in the house.  I wish they could bloom all summer long, but, alas, I only have them to enjoy for a short time.

Cynthia

A Pieceful Time

    About  two weeks ago my 20 year old daughter, we'll call her Little Miss E,  bought a dress for a dance.  True to her nature, she bought the dress on Thursday for a dance on Friday.  No problem there except that the dress had a hole in it just above the hem. It was a short, form-fitting black dress made out of some sort of very stretchy black fabric - the kind that looks fantastic on her tall, slender figure but would make me look like a tremendously lumpy, overstuffed sack of potatoes. If, that is, I could even get it over one of my thighs.  Knowing my limited sewing abilities with this type of fabric, Little Miss E did the smart thing and called her Aunt Carol.
    Carol came over Friday afternoon equipped with her sewing machine and whatever supplies she thought may be in order.  We examined the dress ("Are you sure this isn't a shirt?" Carol asked) and decided our best bet was to cut off the bottom and re-hem.  Carol tried hemming it on the machine, but we soon decided that hand sewing was the way to go.  All in all, the dress came out pretty good.  I never got to see it on my daughter because she got ready at a friend's house. I'll have to ask her to show Carol and I a photo.

   After watching Carol on her sewing machine, I couldn't resist the urge to do a little sewing for myself.    So last week I took out some fabric and started playing around with some quilt piecing.

I made four half square triangles.  It really is astounding how many patterns you can make with something so simple.  Here are a few:

In the end I decided to make a star of sorts.  I plan to make more in different colors, but all on the same white background, and create a small quilt for the table top.  No additional progress yet.

Cynthia

Fun with Giggles Yarn

Debi at DIy's Hooks and Yarns sent me a skein of Giggles Yarn by Sullivan.  Well, actually not an entire skein.  You see the Giggly fun  started with Pat at Hooks and Books.  Pat had the fun idea of knitting a 6 in by 6 in dishcloth with the Giggles.  Then she had a drawing and sent the remaining yarn to Debi.  Debi, in turn, crocheted her own dishcloth and had a drawing to pass the yarn to another blogger. The winner of that drawing was. . . . . . . . me!

So now its my turn.  I have decided to practice my knitting.  

My friend Liz helped me to remember how to cast on stitches. But I'm afraid I was a bit careless with how many stitches I cast on.  My 6 inch wide dishcloth is now about 7 1/2 inches wide.  I could rip it out and begin again.  Or I could make a rectangular dishcloth thats about 71/2 by 5.  What to do. . . . . . what to do. . . . . . .

For those that know me, the answer is pretty clear - rrrrippppppp! It will bother me to no end  that I messed up the size. But I will giggle as I rip - promise!  And  I do want to try and have enough Giggles left to pass on to someone else. I'll have my own drawing when my dishcloth is done.

 Would you like to get in on the giggly fun?  Just post a comment and let me know.

I'll show my completed dishcloth when its done.  These photos were taken at dusk so I don't think the colors are quite as bright as they truly are.

Flea Market Treasures

Carol and I love to go to the flea market and hunt for treasures.  This is one of my finds from yesterday.  I found it folded up on a table, fell in love with the colors and pattern and  bought it for $6.  I can't help but imagine the hours of work and love that went into this.  The yarn is fairly fine and the stitches are small. Someone must have been so very proud of this.  Who did they make it for?  How did it come to be on a dirty flea market table selling for $6?

 The are a few spots of damage like the one above. I am hoping I can fix them.

Happy treasure hunting to all!

Cynthia