Friday, February 27, 2009

I have been very delinquent writing on my blogspot. Maybe it is because I never have time...I am always too busy flitting about and going to work in our little store - Seasons of Home and then the other reason is that I don't have any pictures to put on because I can't find the cord to my camera....It could be missing in the abyss in the basement, but who knows. I have a very large pile of odds and ends that I want to sell on Ebay. I am slowly (very slowly) trying to get my house cleaned out. I must do it one of these first days. I have lots of good junque....

We had a wonderful Christmas w/ visits from all family members who live far away....The Mark and Andrea Austin Family and their 3 children, Sarah, Andrew and Spencer, and the Spencer and Andrea Jones family who have recently moved to Calif (last June) and their 2 lovely daughters, Kate and Anna. It was fun to get together w/ the whole family. Everyone is growing faster than weeds, and Jerry and I are getting older faster than we want to.

Jerry is very busy working at Midway City Offices. He works very hard and has turned it into a full-time job. Nancy on the other hand is sometimes lazy - sleeping in until at least 9:00 a.m. but staying up well past midnight. She is still felting up a storm and has even made a couple of quilts lately. Tomorrow I am going to learn to use a long arm quilter and so very excited to see how they work and how hard they are to work....maybe I will have to make room for one of those in the basement. Competing w/ all the wool, yarn, roving, wool blankets and 100's of wool sweaters....not sure where I could put it.

Today I had a great time w/ my niece Jennifer and her daughter Emma and my sister Carolyn who drove all the way from Provo (45 min.) - First we went to the fun St. Lawrence Thrift store where we happened on a great sale -- all clothing was $1.00 as well as shoes, purses, etc. I was able to find 1 more wool sweater - unfortunatley by the time we got there it was all picked over, so no real bargains for us. We came home and went down into the "dungeon" of unorganization and disaster, but we managed to find room. Jennifer made a stunning, adorable, felted purse embellished w/ felted flowers...so cute....We wanted Carolyn to try her hand and she worked up a very cute sock monkey out of a sweater sleeve....so nice to use things that have had a life before and now can be turned into something "useful" like a "sock monkey". I will promise to put pics on asap/ Emma who is about 10 made a very fun lady doll w/ yellow hair , a blue bow and great sweater dress w/ tights....after she ran out of stuff to do, headed immediately for the wii upstairs and really had a good time entertaining herself and keeping physically fit.

I have had fun making sock monkey magnets (boy I have turned into a sock monkey type of gal) I think they are scarry looking but rather fun too. I just adore making them and Have myi next one all planned out!

Just one side note about securing wool....the little gal I get it from in Wallsburg, Ut...she usually cleans it for me, but this last time her dad didn't want her to clean it in their sinks inside as the lanolin in the wool is not at all good for plumbing pipes...(Ihave had experience w/ that). Any how, I needed some for my pin cushions...by the way if you go to www.shepherdsbush.com and click on their blog and scroll down, they do have pictures of my pin cushions and felted hearts on there...since I have no pictures, please go there so you can see the fascinating creations!

Well, back to the wool...I was desperate so I told her I would take some dirty wool and wash it myself. You cannot wash it like you wash clothes in the washing machine...You have to soak it and soak it and soak it....and then rinse, rinse, rinse a million times...We live in snowy parts and I could not get to the sprinkler bib to get it soaking w/ out stepping in 4 or 5 feet (maybe more) of snow, so I tried to squeeze myself between the house and the shrubs where the overhang of the house protected it from having huge snowdrifts...I just wore my regular shoes not realizing that it was very muddy , w all those icecicles dripping off and causing a terrible mud problem...After I sunk in a few feet, I decided to get my golashes on to go soak this wool...what a mess...when I went back to try to drain it, the wool was frozen and stuck to the ice....I was able to pry some of it away and try to dry it on the patio table...(ha ha) It blew away and was now stuck to the drifts of snow...maybe in the spring I will be able to retrieve it. My shoes are still outside - ruined I think...the golasshes are covered w/ mud...I will have to wait until spring to see what I can do with them...So much for my washisng of wool. I will stick to the clean kind once Amy gets rolling again and can wash it outside...If only winter would go away. We still have lots of snow on the ground but haven't had a new snow storm for a few weeks now.

2 comments:

Jessica Simonsen Howard said...

Good luck with the wool! Sounds like you both stay quite busy just like my parents. How fun that you were able to have the family all together for the holidays.

Barbara said...

I keep waiting for an update to your blog. We all miss you in Texas!