How could I forget?? A give away is in order!

One year and one month ago~yesterday~was my blogaversary! I can't believe that when I had my arm twisted to start, I would end up enjoying it so much! In this one short year I have gained a cyber support group that I am now not sure I can live without.

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So in honor of this I feel the need to give something away. I'm not sure what it will be. Is a new snail ready to be born? Or something I haven't thought of yet since it is early and I am still not sure I am awake? Will I even remember this later on?

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If you want a chance to be chosen, make a comment on this post. I will leave it open until next Friday.

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I have decided this will be one of the prizes. I have been helping Jessica to write a tutorial for this cute bag. I just finished it and I think it's pretty cool. She gave me permission to give it away as a preview. I made the smaller bag to match just reversing the fabrics. Stay tuned to see what else might pop up.

When life feels harsh

Notice I said "feels". It's all a matter of perception. I have a great life. Lately for various reasons it has felt a bit tough. I am letting things stress me too much. I have a lot to do, but it will get done. Unexpected difficulties will be overcome somehow. I will eventually get over the fact that someone really doesn't like me. (Having a hard time with that one, soul searching in order there.) And so the snow ball rolls down the hill seeming unstoppable. I do have control over how I feel about it and how I handle things. I gave myself a talking to last night after a special moment and made a list of things that make me happy. It's not the whole list but I don't want you to stop looking at my blog for fear of being bored to insanity. So, here goes.....
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This is a bit of materialistic happiness but I love boots and these are my newest and silliest by far. Can't help it. The brown pair are Sherie's fault. Oh yeah, it is two pair. I just tried on one each to make sure they fit.......
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This one represents the happines of friends. My favorite model showing off something I made. Her mom never seems to tire of me saying try it on Emily and take a picture too!!!!

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Here's the family bit for now.... The kids move away but these two just keep staying around. They like us and make us laugh.

How can you not love them?

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Last but not least, this represents everything good. Babies just do that to me. This one is gorgeous and both she and her mom are doing great! Kara, Kelly and I went to see Adrienne and Elora yesterday. Elora was born Monday weighing in at 7.2 pounds and 19 1/2 inches long. (I really hope I got that right) We took A LOT of pictures of them and baby and us with the baby. Here are just a few. Hope they make you happy too!

Lest you think I exaggerate about the crazy things that keep happening to me........while uploading all these beautiful pics to my computer and deleting them from my camera, it shut down on me. Blue screen, error report crash type stuff. I had to wait all night before I knew the pictures were still there.

Giveaway by someone else!

Jenny has one of her brooches and I've admired it..... Sophie Appleby ( I LOVE her name) is having a giveaway. Lovely blog, lovely shop.

Done...... finally

I started this quilt back in November. I never meant to take this long to finish it. There is not enough time in the day for all the projects I have. Maybe I should stop starting new things...... right. I really love the way this turned out. It just makes me happy.

Felting 1st attempt

My title could also be,

This is all Sherie's and Joan's fault.

Or,

Why, why, why don't I take before pictures????

Oh I know! Because I finished the crocheting at 9:30 last night and started the felting.

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So it started out like this. A chunky wool, a bit more pastel than I like but it's pretty. I made the entire form of the purse. My measurements were about 18 by 11 for the body of the purse. The handles were almost 10 inches above the purse.
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I started trying to felt it in the sink since I don't have a top load washer. It was going to take forever so I just threw it in my machine, on hot and hoped for the best. I think it finished at about 3 in the morning..... When I woke up this morning I found this!!!! Well, I did have to attach the button. It now measures about 12 X 6, the handles are about 6 inches above the purse. I have got them rolled in just like I was hoping would happen!

It was kinda scary not being able to see the felting process. I couldn't choose to stop it any sooner. But all in all it was fun. I wonder if I can do it again and get nearly the same results.