my pretty little flower scarf

i crocheted this little scarf/necklace yesterday and today. first i made the flowers using nicki epsteins 'crochet flowers'. the leaves came from the same book. i'd publish the pattern here, but i think i'd get in trouble with the publishers. i put the pieces together four times before i got it just right. i'm really pleased with how this came out. it only took a couple hours to make, so i'm thinking about making a couple more to see if they'd sell. i'd make one for becca, but i don't think she'd wear it. not really her style.

i'm really enjoying crochet and am glad i went ahead and taught myself.

three days ago i made this giant snowflake shrug. the pattern is on crochetme.com. great site, by the way. i got to row 12 and couldn't figure out the directions--it's an advanced pattern and i'm really still just a beginner. i've only been crocheting for about five months. so i kind of made up the last few rows. stupid, i know. anyway, it came out looking good until i put it on. oops. not so good. so i'm going to make another one and take the directions to my local yarn shop and see if they can help me out. if not, i'm betting they'll know someone who can.

my mama is home! yay! the girls keep making her little presents and giving her long hugs. they refused to go to sleep last night until becca promised them grammy would go in and wake them when she got here, which wasn't until two in the morning. they've really, really missed her these few weeks she's been gone. actually, i think it's been a whole month. wow. at the end of june, she'll fly down to anchorage to get the battery replaced in her pacemaker. but she'll only be gone for two or three days. hopefully valette will be able to swing by the hospital to see her. ooooh, that makes me jealous. lot of that going around.

mama had so many stories to tell us that becca and she and i stayed up till after three talking. and boy, did i sleep in this morning. naughty me. mostly it was about the memorial service and renee and denise and andrea and aunt cary and all their kids. sooooo jealous. mama got to go to a dollar store in portland, so she came home bearing sweet little gifts. butterfly stickers and cards, a turquoise fish windchime for me, coloring books for the girls, spices, and silly snacks we can't get up here. fun stuff.

family

i like how this one turned out, except for the lines next to her mouth. to dark.

mama comes home tonight! i'm so excited. she's been in oregon for her sister's memorial service. she got to spend a couple weeks with her brother. they are the last two of the five. and then she spent a day in portland with one of my cousins. i'm so jealous! i'm sooo miss these cousins, and i haven't seen them in about twelve years. their family is dear to me, and mama got to see andrea, denise, and renee at the memorial service for aunt corine, plus their mom, aunt cary, who is my mama's cousin. we just call her aunt cary because it's easier and more fitting to designate her as our aunt. mama got to meet most of their kids, too. sooooo jealous.

peonies

i wrote little words all over this one. you can't really read them with this photo. stuff like memories and barrette... i like it.

i bought peonies at the farmers market last week. so beautiful! and they smelled like heaven. oh, do i love flowers. i carried them around with me until becca told me the girls were gonna knock them over. aren't i silly?

my best friend, valette, sent me the sweetest present in the mail--a beautiful multi-colored sketch book for my art classes in the fall. i'm a little afraid to use it, it's so beautiful, but i also can't wait. maybe i'll draw a picture of nene just to get me started.

have i told the story of nene's name? i don't think so. it's pronounce neenee. and her full name is mnemosyne, prounounced nee-moss-uh-nee. she's named after the greek goddess of memory, in rememberance of cassandra and baby. cassandra was the kitten becca and i got with persephone (pronounced purr-sef-uh-nee) when we lived in texas. cassie lived about three months. she was born without an immune system. we were heart broken. and baby was the tiny kitten we came upon one late, late night driving home from a party when we lived in texas. we drove past her trying to climb back up on the curb and turned around to help her up. becca placed her on the ground and i ran over and immediately picked her up. she was breathing hard, shaking. we talked and finally decided that all we could do was put her down and leave--we lived in the seminary dorms at the time and couldn't have pets. so i put her down. and she just laid there. finally i bent down to pick her up again. and she tried to run. but her little back had been broken by a passing car and her back feet dragged. by this time her mama was pacing in the distance, staring at us and her tiny baby. we decided to take her with us and call a vet and try to help her. so we apoligized to her mama and drove to the dorm. becca drove and i held baby. back at the dorm, she went upstairs to call a vet and i stayed in the lobby with baby (couldn't take her upstairs). i got paper towels to wrap her in to try to keep her warm--she was shaking, in shock. and held and talked to her. i don't remember what i said, nonsense probably. the security guard was totally sympathetic and said how glad he was that we had found her... becca was gone for about twenty minutes. finally she came down and said none of the vets would see her without at least a 100 dollar deposit. we were dead poor. but the animal shelter would put her to sleep for free. oh, dear god. we were heart broken. we wanted to save her! then becca went on to say that none of the vets thought she'd make it... so after much talk and prayer we decided to put her to sleep. by this time i knew she had fleas... and i'd fallen in love with her. so we called the shelter again and arranged to meet someone there. all this to say that nene is my reminder of two beautiful kittens, two kittens i loved with all my heart. she is the perfect reminder of these two dear ones, because i absolutely adore her. and i know baby and cassie are waiting in heaven for me, so i can be with them forever.

thank you, god, for the time i had with all the cats i've had. thank you for entrusting me with them. help me be a better steward of the treasures you give to me.

embroidery

i like the red and green against each other, but it looks a bit christmas-y. hmm

just bought doodle stitching at barnes and noble. wonderful embroidery!

i embroider, and am envisioning embroidered pendants in my jewelry.... such lovely possibilities! something to dream on....

summer

i like this because it's rather in your face. yes, the nose is horrible, but the eyes! the chaotic shapes of color behind her! i felt like i took a big step with this one.

it's summer. 90+. i hate being hot. but i shouldn't complain 'cause it was -60 this past winter. so i should soak this heat in like an elixer for january. what makes it worse is the smoke. there's a huge 100,000 acres fire like 50 miles away from where i sit. my sister can't breathe and we've been keeping the girls inside. of course the windows are thrown open with fans in front of them, pulling in this poisoned air. because this is alaska and houses don't have ac. over half the shops don't, either. especially the ones i go to, the little ones snugged into historic downtown houses and buildings.

as a matter of fact, i spent two hours in one of those shops this morning with deborah, my 6 year old niece, making fairies. oh the joy! there is nothing like a small room full of young girls bent over their work, crafting perfectly enchanting fairies. i was the only adult taking the class, but the teacher, jennifer, couldn't have been more gracious. and i just happen to have some of my jewelry for sale in this little adorable shop. so she recognized me and my name as a fellow artist, so that was actually kind of cool. what a lovely morning! it couldn't have gone better, unless i'd taken my sister's digital and documented the whole thing. deborah was ready to go before i was, but my sister had thoughtfully packeged up some snacks and she found some delightful dragonflies for sale to play with--i bought one for each of my nieces (at three dollars a piece it would have been a crime not to). abigail, at three, was too young to take the class, but at deborah's insistence i made one for her, as well. such a little thing, but so thoughtful, on her part. i adore these girls, even though, at times, they try my patience. as all children do.

summer

this is the memory of summer i cherish; windows wide open at night, fans going in all of the rooms, light in the sky all night long... yes, i live in alaska, land of the midnight sun. little song birds chirping at three in the morning, cause it's light, and that's a perfect reason to sing. the *memory* of summer is almost as intoxicating as the actual moments... love, love, love those blissful, easy days of liquid summer.

cartoons, anyone?

there is something strangely cartooney about this one. the eyes? the colors? not sure. the stupid blog is making my picture appear under the words, and it's very annoying. it started doing it like three or four posts ago and i don't like it. arrrrrr. the first thing i talk about is the picture and now that the picture is at the bottom of the post, it doesn't make sense. maybe i should save the comments till the last part of the post. rrrrrrr... not happy.

i love this piece. blue freshwater pearls and my all time favorite swarovski crystals; fire opals. but it hasn't sold yet. hmm. too edgy? my color combination is a little in your face.

looking back

i love her eyes looking back. nose is bad. colors; yes! blue and orange. one of my favorite combos.

yesterday at farmer's market i reached a milestone.

i sold a $100 necklace!!!!! it was turquoise and coral, just beautiful. i kept the matching bracelet and wear it all the time. now it will remind me of this awesome occasion.

woot, woot!

tilted

i like this purple and sagey green combo. love how it turned out. necks a little weird, but it's okay.