Rocky, Charmie and some of the SYSCO team. 

Instant Gratification

I don't know why Instant Gratification is so alluring. . . There are so many things that are worth waiting for. Yet IG afflicts me at some point and sucks me in, sometimes crippling me from the joys and the process of making.
For me IG comes and goes. It is not a chronic condition that is always present, rather more acute striking and lasting only for a time, attacking when I am distracted, when I have been on a roll and think, "it won't happen to me."
That's when it hits!
Right now it's hitting hard. I want so badly to just start and or finish some larger projects that I have wanted to do for some time, but I'm stuck in the rut of IG.
The good thing is that I don't stop making. . . just change how I go about it. I think when I'm under IG's spell I get more creative. I am completely winging it. I have no plan, no vision no insight, no preparedness to equip me for success. No, I just go along, catching this idea or that, looking for solutions to little problems and finding them in IG projects.
And then almost as soon as it came, it passes and I can press on.

Pin cushion

My mommy needed a pin cushion so I decided to make her one. Recently I saw instructions somewhere. . . but I couldn't find them so I winged it. It's not perfect, but it will work. 

Embroidery on knits

Well here's the knit top that I repeatedly almost ruined, but wouldn't quit trying on because for some reason I LOVE to wear it. . . at least I did before I embroidered it. The embroidery is just the lettering. The flowers are cut from knit fabric and I appliqued them on, and I don't know what I'm doing appliqueing at all, but my first attempts to embroider left some serious holes and I needed to cover them up. The larger flower is outlined in blanket stitch, the smaller one in feather stitch, neither the best choice, but I was playing around. I've learned some things through this project, like I really really need a good machine embroidery book for starters, and some stabilation things for knits, and super important, my pe150 takes a SHORT bobbin! 

Chillin'

Here's Rocky getting a back massage in "his chair." The boy's couldn't resist. They both were crawling all over him the entire time just trying to be close to daddy! 

SYSCO Cares

This Saturday our family will join with other employees from Rocky's work and community members in a walk to raise money for Juvenille Diabetes. SYSCO provided shirts for us, but they didn't have any in toddler sizes so I cut down two small shirts to make the boys rompers to wear. Here's Mardie wearing his romper, barely able to contain himself. I finished Charmie's after the boys had gone to bed so I'll have to try it on him tomorrow.
Please click the link Juvenille Diabetes to help us "Ray's" support for this venture. Search for Rocky Ray or Doreen Ray our state is North Carolina. Thank you in advance for your help!

Front of T-Shirt uncut. 

Back of T-Shirt uncut. 

Back of Mardie's. 

Charmie's larger version on top, and Mardie's on the bottom. 

The first summer tan

I had just brought the boys in from playing outside for most of the morning in their pool for their nap. I had at this point taken off their fuzzy bunz, rubbed them down with aloe vera after sun lotion and put on sposies :p They were playing by the back door, probably wishing to be outside and they were so cute so I had to take this picture. You don't need to adjust the color of your screen. . . yes they did get quite a tan. As you can see by the color variation on each of their thighs. Evidently cloth diapers cover quite a few inches wider swath on the legs, well that is cloth that gets wet, lol.
All I can say is thank God for that deck with a baby gate and their pool because it along with their matchbox car washes kept them occupied for several hours so that Rocky and I could get yard work done. Rocky and I were in the sun too long!!! Next time we need to take a cue from the kids, that when it's time for them to go in, we should too!
The good thing is that we've both concluded that all this working in the hot sun is going to get us more fit and trim. . . we hope!

Sunday activities

This is how the time change affected my family. Here are the boys at 9am sleeping soundly in our bed. They look so peaceful there. The day had not really begun for our family though so this is how it should be. Most of today was spent outside. 

Wake up call!

At 7am almost every morning for the last 2 months I've had a wakeup call of hammering, sawing, drilling and various other construction sounds. The owner and developer of our neighborhood have collectively decided that now is the time to finish developing our neighborhood. When they started there were about 20 lots remaining, including one to either side of our home and directly across the street. The home across the street was completed a scant 5.5 weeks from when they first broke ground and the new owners moved in last week.

This morning I woke to sounds extremely close to our home and after looking out our side window I saw this excavator and several men and their other vehicles. We knew the day was coming. . . in fact figured it would be soon. So it's begun.

They were at other locations until right when Rocky and I got home today. Rocky went over to talk to the operator and discovered it was the owner. Rocky and I had previously discussed renting some equipment to do some excavation work in our back yard. The project had not gotten started other than Rocky doing the shoveling and rock wall building by hand on the right side of the back yard where he built a gorgeous raised bed, retaining wall.

Rocky talked to the machine owner/operator and asked if he could do the work that we wanted done. Though before he started, we had agreed upon a price (that being for the estimated several hours of work that it would take) after Rocky and I demolished the fence and moved the plants and rocks (landscaping) he came over to our yard and did what we needed in 20 minutes! And to top it all off, when we asked his price, he said no charge! He did it for free. Hallelujah, Praise God!

So now this summer Rocky and I have our work literally cut out for us in our back yard! This picture shows both lots, the property line is slightly to the left of center of the pipe.

Later this week, probably tomorrow this pipe will be extended 16' and more dirt will be brought in to back fill the lot to the left of our home. Once that is done Rocky can extend this section of fence to enclose our back yard again. Some of the original fencing is laying against the back of our house, and at the corner of the house you can see a dark mark on the siding that is where the fence originally was positioned.

The below picture really shows the terracing well. In the other pictures it looks graded into a gradual slope, but in this one you can see the enlarged "steps" that we had cut into the yard. Now we need a million rocks to hold up that dirt, and we have tons to start with already in the excavated area.

I was so happy that even in all of the fence removing and excavation our Weeping Willow trees did not have to be moved, and were saved!


Charmie and Mardie had so much fun. When Rocky and Aaron, the guy in the excavator started talking he let Charmie and Mardie sit in the cab of this big machine and for a long time they just crawled around and pressed buttons and gears pretending to drive. Later, after we temporarily lost Mardie (who won't answer when you are calling for him) we partitioned the boys onto the deck due to the fact that both Rocky and I needed to work in the yard to prepare it for this job yet know that the boys were safe. They had a blast, playing in my dirt filled flower pots. Mardie not only bathed in the dirt, but actually ate some. Then they rearranged all of our furniture so that they could climb onto and off of it, and drive their little ride on cars onto and off of it. They tried to remove the baby gate, but it was too sturdy. Just as I was calling it quits Mardie decided to use a chair to climb over the deck railing and was dangling about 6' in the air holding on with just his arms. Rocky realized before I did and sent me to rescue him. Praise God for his protection of babies! That was when I decided to take the boys in for a bath and some indoor play while we waited for Rocky to finish up outside.

Denim, Denim, Denim

The Value Village in my town was having a 1/2 price clothing sale. I found out yesterday and planned an early morning trip this morning to get denim. It was a productive trip. I scored 8 generously sized full length dresses with little wear, no stains, rips, tears or imperfections that I can see. I chose dresses over pants because I have a greater chance of being able to get larger pieces of uninterrupted fabric this way. I'm pleased with this venture. Now I just have to wash and cut up all of these pieces. I Plan to make a rag quilt from them, and possibly something else when it's all said and done.

The first Bob square

My boys both love Bob the Builder. Here is the first block of a quilt for one of them. I am not sure when I will be finishing it, due to the fact that embroidering the squares takes a while and I'm not really motivated to do more than one in a sitting. This square is 6.5". I'm pleased with the outcome except for the fact that Bob has green hair. (Who would have thunk "dark olive" wasn't green?) I guess I will not only be looking at the color name, but the embroidery area when I get around to the next square.

Oh and I figured out part of the problem I was having with embroidering knits. I had combined bobbins from my sewing and embroidery machine thinking that they were similar enough to use interchangeably. I did notice that on end some were taller than others, but the diameter was the same so I didn't think much of it. When I started this block my thread kept jamming and the top thread was sucking down into the bobin case and wrapping around the bobbin. I was using the thicker bobbin at the time. I couldn't figure it out until the third try of untangling everything that possibly my machine didn't like this bobbin. I switched it out for a shorter bobbin and voila, perfect normal embroidery. I need to make a tiny little reminder lable for my machine which says "short bobbins only" as I am sure I will forget this little important factoid at some point in the future. In the picture below, the black one is the one that I started with, the white one is the one I had to use.

Chevron Tank

I finished knitting the front of the Chevron Tank today and then constructed it.  I still need to wash and block it, but here's a photo of it first.  Sorry J, no string for my neck.

Making this has gotten me excited about some other summer projects. 

I've lost weight

6.7oz. to be exact. Not by any special diet or anything. . . I just shed my locks. I've been contemplating it for a while and finally yesterday decided. So. . . today after running another errand solo I stopped by the salon and got a little trim. No I'm not keeping them, I just brought them home for the sake of this photo.

Yes I'm very happy having shed my dreads. I loved them and hated them, and I'm sure eventually I'll miss them, but for now I'm enjoying my mini fro!

Now my little Mardie on the other hand, all of his life I've had locks so when I came home he freaked out. He didn't want me to hold him or anything, he was a little scared of me I think. Charmie immediately asked me if I had gotten a haircut. Rocky gave his stamp of approval which is all that matters. . . Mardie will come around later tonight when it's time to nurse, at that time he won't care if I've got locks or not!

Dyed and Wound

Now what shall I become?

Dyed Lace

I ordered some practice lace yarn in natural color merino wool and here it is dyed and drying. I'll take another pic when it's dried and wound into a ball, and of course the project when I make it. It's 880 yards/ 100gms.

I used 4 packets of Black Cherry, 3 of Cherry and 3 of Orange Kool Aid.

Park Play

Rocky and I went to check out a park that we are going to have a church picnic at later this spring and while we were there he played with the boys, I was out there for a little while until I was too cold.  He's got Mardie squeezed between his knees and is hopping across this horizontal ladder thingie with him balanced there.  Mardie thought it was a blast!  Charmie is below inspecting a stink bug, all the while proclaiming, "it's a beetle mommy!"