"But It Called To Me..."

Perhaps I should be embarrassed... but, no, I'm actually a little giddy.



As I was finishing my last quilt the leftover border fabric just called out that it needed to be a purse!



I envisioned putting together some of my recent craft forays into this purse...



I'm so happy with my finished results... I just love creating something new and useful (and dang-cute to boot) with leftovers!

Purse Obsession

"Grammie, you have a new purse every time you come here!"



That's what Ashton said to me a couple of weeks ago... and she's not wrong. This one is the latest COMPLETED purse (yup, there's already another one in the works!)

I've always liked purses and I have quite a collection of them, but it really didn't get to *obsession* status until this spring!  First I saw Rebekah's flower bag when I was visiting in March, and as usual, I had all of the makings for my version of her bag before I left town. (Yeah... lots of trips to town on this one!)



I hadn't even finished that purse when I saw another purse at the UVRMC gift shop (for the bargain price of $240!).



I was obsessed with it too! But I needed to MAKE this one, as well, because there is no way I'm going to spend that much money on a HAND BAG!



This latest one I like to call my Pinterest Purse! (Bet you can't guess where I saw this one!) Again, with the *I've got to make this happy purse!*

I followed all of the links until I finally tracked down the English instructions for this crocheted bag.

There is a correction to the original instructions-  “It seems to me there’s a mistake in the English version of the pattern. I’m pretty sure there’s an extra Ch 3 in round 2. I think Round 2 should read: Ch 3, 2 dc, 2 dc through chain, Ch 3, 2 dc through chain, 3 dc, (no Ch 3 here) 2 dc through chain, Ch3, 2 dc through chain, 3 dc, 2 dc through chain, etc…”  This was an accurate correction.

I got my yarn online from KnitPicks.com. You also need to know that I'm a rebel and instead of the 5 or 7 rounds suggested for each block in the pattern I did 6! I wanted my purse to be an in-between size. I ordered 5 balls of the Felici Fingering Self Striping Sock yarn and have enough left I could have done the 7-round size block.

As I was working on this I realized that anything small would go right through the holes in the block. So I lined the bag. Do you recognize the lining fabric? It is leftovers from the girls camp aprons.



I cut 4 strips the same size at the block strips, sewed them together and then just edge-stitched/crocheted through the lining around the top of the purse and handles (like the crocheted edge baby blankets and burp cloths.)

Stay tuned for my next purse! Is there a 12-step program for making purses?

Joanie's Rock Garden

Do I have a story... (I love stories!)

I have a thing about rocks! Not a new attraction, mind you, I've had it for years. I have special rocks ferreted away all over the place. They range in size from OH.My.Stinkin.Heck to tiny ones that float (yes, there really are rocks that float!) And, you will notice, I have a label/tag *rocks*.  Different, but there you are!

In June when I was cleaning up flower beds, fighting with the sprinkler system and the like I got the great idea to take an otherwise ugly corner in the little island situated between the driveway, sidewalk and front porch and create a rock garden.



But before I tell you about the rock garden, now in beautiful full bloom I have to... 

*back up the story truck*!

I've blogged before about this particular rock.



When I stopped to take this photo last March 19th the thought occurred to me that perhaps I'd like to take some Feather River rocks home with me! I tried to figure out how to get this one home! (bwahahahaha... don't be ree-Dic-u-Lous!)

What about this one? OK! (heavy sigh)



I finally had to settle for these (decomposed granite) that had come crashing down on the road in the recent winter storms...



I brought them home and put them in the garage to wait until I decided what I would do with them.

You know that I love to create: sewing, quilting, painting, crafting, gardening... but usually I just do what I like! I don't think much about the symbolism of my creation. I can only think of a couple times that symbolism is what has driven a project. This project: my rock garden didn't start out to be symbolic but when I finished I realized that there was so much symbolism there I couldn't ignore it!

Hens and chicks were in this ugly, little corner when I move here and managed to survive with minimal attention. These sweet little survivors would get to take center stage right there with my Feather River rocks. That was the start...



As I'd just re-potted my house plants I had my Shamrock plant: which dates back to my Joanie O'Kelley days. I had a bunch of little light pink bulbs left and decided to add some of these. Also Aloe Vera that used to grow in a protected corner in my Palmdale garden.



DeLoris and I had been plant shopping and I found this beautiful tri-colored Sedum... another tenacious survivor.



I wanted some height so I added a pot with petunias, of course, and a beautiful geranium that called to me. Then I filled in and around the bed with my plenteous supply Hobble Creek rocks (that literally grow in my soil here. Truly, rocks percolate up through the soil because of the freezing/thawing process... so they must GROW!)



Then, last Sunday, our Relief Society lesson was President Uchtdorf's Conference address The Merciful Obtain Mercy (aka *Stop It*). As an object lesson Noelle gave each of the Relief Society Presidency a large rock to hold... for the whole lesson! Colleen Lee started to doodle on her's writing key phrases from the lesson on her rock.



I KNEW I had to have that rock for my rock garden.



So, what of the symbolism?

• ROCKS = My Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is my sure foundation! (And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. Helaman 5:12)
• HENS & CHICKS = Those wonderful, eternal family ties! (My Celestial children, my parents!)
• SURVIVORS = I am one!
• FEATHER RIVER ROCKS = my roots.
• SHAMROCK PLANT = Not just luck... but the CHOICE to be happy even when things go terrible wrong.
• ALOE VERA = that wonderful healing balm.
• PALMDALE (a protected corner) = a place where my roots grew deep!  I still have roots there!
• DeLORIS = my friends, who are also survivors, who help me on my rocky road.
• PETUNIAS = this sweet smelling flower will always remind me of my dear Mom!  I must have them in my gardens.
• HOBBLE CREEK ROCKS = my new home... I'm so grateful for all of the wonderful, bounteous blessings that have come to me here.  Yes, more roots that just seem to connect right back to my Greenville days of small town, mountains, and seasons.
• *STOP IT* =  The constant need to forgive AND be forgiven.

Every time I look at my wonderful rock garden, which is almost daily, it makes me happy and reminds me of all of the blessings I have.

*Happily-Waiting-Projects*

I finished one of my *happily-waiting-projects* this week. I just love how they wait so patiently for me... we have a good relationship that way...



It is always helpful to me if there is something pivotal going on in my life so I can remember when I started a project. (You can read about other projects HERE- shopping for fabric to make Desi a diaper bag & HERE- Bek was pregnant with Brock)

This project is an easy one to remember because of the *project box* that it lived in for almost 3.5 years. I got this darling lunch box after Sandy and Matthew got sealed on 3.6.9- to eat (in a driving snowstorm) on the way home from the Manti temple!  I loved this creative little fellow and just had to save it!



Just a few days later I flew out to CA to visit with Bek (my partner in textile-crime) and we just HAD to go to town and shop... several times! I started out with just a simple fat quarter pack of blues, browns and greens from Wal-Mart but by the time I flew home two week later (after a wonderful week of Grammie-duties) I had the makings for the wonderful happy quilt all cut out and with several rounds of the log cabin blocks completed. It needed a place to live (I must have project boxes, usually they are the Sterilite boxes) and this darling box just happened to be the lucky recipient!



I did more piecing, but if you can tell there are a LOT of tiny pieces that make up each block. At some point, I cleaned up this project and put it away to wait on the shelf... I've returned to it several times in the intervening years but, as I mentioned, I just finished it this week.

Now here is one of the happy parts about being creative... there is  

SO MUCH WONDERFUL CREATIVE JUICE

that flows when I first start a project! Oh! The grand plans... the mental images of my finished project!  

I LOVE IT!

Desi and I were talking about that yesterday! She was feeling a little down because, like me, she has a lot of half-finished projects...So I reminded her that *they* don't mind waiting! Sometimes Most times I have to be in a certain frame of mind to do a certain kind of project... this one, for instance, required the ability to find happiness in the slow, methodical, ickie-pickie process... Some days I just need to have more progress than that! But other days I find that this methodical process soothes me. See how that works?

I'm so grateful to be far enough down my creative-life-path to realize that unfinished projects are old friends waiting for a happy reunion... not some-THING waiting to whack me over the head "BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED ME!!!"

And here is another happy-serendipitous thing about this quilt... If I'd finished it way back in 2009 I wouldn't have had the Chenile-It to add as a visual stop between the blocks and my WONDERFUL floral border (and on the binding) AND I wouldn't have been able to quilt it on my fantastic Sweet 16!



See how that works?

"So Here I Am, Just Mindin' My Own Business..."

"...out for an evening stroll when some *yappy-crappy* little dog outs me! *Yap-yap-yap*  Mind your own business Whitey! Hey! I'm allowed to walk on the public street if I want to!"



"Then this absolute FREAK OF NATURE in plaid shorts comes stomping up to me! Hey! Watch where you're stepping! My legs are fragile (fra-GEE-lay... must be Italian!) but does *FoN* pay any attention? No! And then this huge foot comes way close to me... watch out!  Don't touch me... I have tarantula skills!"



"HA! It works every time! Act fierce and they go away and leave me alone. Now, if I can just get up this curb and into the grass I will be set for the evening of catching my fill of crickets! DE-lish!"

"OH MY STINKIN'HECK!! (hey, I AM a Utah Tarantula!) There's the grass! I can feel it with my front furry feet! Wait! WAIT!! WAIT!!! Something green and long is prodding me ahead! I don't like this! Where did that nice cool grass go? I'm trapped in this tall white thing! Wait... wait... I can just climb up the side! But every time I try there is a 7.0 earthquake and I fall back to the slimey-peach-scented-floor of my prison cell! Wahhhh! I was just mindin' my own business!! Sniff! Sob!"

"Then, and you're not going to believe this, the whole sky goes dark blue! I can distinguish the faint letters... B Y U! What does this mean?"

"Mild aftershocks keep coming in a rhythmic pattern, but I'm holding it together! When all of a sudden the sky lightens and I hear the most awful screeching and wailing from some little mutant FoN beings who go by the names of Zoe and Lucy! Zoe is very respectful and wants to know all about me but that Lucy! Stop with the screeching... you are breaking my poor arachnid eardrums."

"I never thought I would be thankful to see the sky go dark again... but I am! Blessed silence and just a rhythmic rocking motion. (Eeww! I think I'm going to be sick!)"

"Then, if you will believe this, the sky lightens again and my prison cell seems to be slowly tumbling! What is that? Hey I know that! Dried grass, dirt, weeds, bushes... I'm going to make a break for it! FoN starts to leave... but WAIT! No! don't come back at me with that pink-clicking thing!"



"Oh, blessed freedom! I guess I will think twice before I go out for an evening stroll down the middle of the street! It's grass and weeds for all the way!"

**By special request from Tawna! 

Tarantula!!!

This evening I had to go repair the fence where Harley has literally knocked off boards trying to get at Wilson-the-dog, that none of the neighborhood dogs like. (Poor Wilson!) While I was out there wielding my power drill the Pickerings came walking by with their little dog, Cooper (who also hates poor Wilson). We got to chatting and pretty soon Cooper starts growling and barking at something. I assumed it was another dog!

NOPE...

It was this bad boy! Walking Stalking across the street, bold as you please!  You know me!  I whipped out my MPC!



What the heck? I'd heard that tarantulas lived in Utah but didn't expect to see one in my neighborhood! This is the first one I've seen in seven and half years.

I've been told that tarantulas don't bite humans (I even let one climb on Tadhg's arm several years ago when we found it in YLP! Yeah, great Grammie behavior!)

I wanted to give my viewers a size comparison so I stuck my foot down by him.  He was ok until I accidentally touched his little furry leg... then he was in attack mode! I could practically hear him hiss!



And even though I read that tarantulas have been kept in captivity for 30 years I wasn't interested in testing that theory! Luckily I had a stray BYU bucket in the backyard from fruit picking (he was making quick getaway for the grass) so I yoinked it up, got a long iris leaf to use as a prod and got this furry creature into the bucket. He, on the other hand, wasn't too excited about this idea! He was determined to crawl out of said bucket and try his fangs at human-bites! (YIKES! Was my adrenaline ever flowing!)

But since he is *just one of God's little creatures* I speedy-quick got a lid so I could safely carry him to the field not too far from my house (read- far enough away that he won't come back for a visit!) and liberate him.



Boy, oh boy, will he ever have a story to tell the other tarantulas!

Joanie's Big Day

Let me just start by asking, "How can Little Joanie be sixty-years-old?" I've always been the baby of the family... even now I have people say, "You're only 60? Try it from here!" Ah well, 60 is the oldest I've ever been!



On my actual birthday Ann and Wayne came up to go to dinner with us. It was very nice to spend this day with one of my sisters who *prayed for me*!

Since 3rd Sunday Family dinner was this weekend Camille asked if I wanted her to make a Pig Pickin' Cake (cha! YES!) Stuart went digging for candles and the best selection available was a *6* and then a *0* made of mandarin oranges!



Everyone sang *Happy Birthday to Joanie/Mom/Grammie* complete with some harmony by Kevin (I love harmony!)

And as exciting as turning 60 might be for me... it couldn't hold a candle to Uncle Stuart and a swarm of ants on the patio!



This is the second time they've done this!



Which isn't a very smart move... what can I expect? They are ants!

Bye-Bye Beatrix

The Monday after we bought Elio I took Beatrix down to Jake's Brookside Conoco to spruce her up. I did the full vacuum (a whole 75 cents worth, hey, she's small) and the $7 deluxe carwash! I came home and double-vacuumed the mats with my upright vacuum (on the front walk), parked her at the curb (Poor Beatrix, kicked to the curb!) and waited for Gordon to list her on KSL.com classifieds. With one thing and another (plus girls camp) we didn't get the ad placed until Thursday afternoon.

By then Beatrix was dusty and rain spotted so I went to Jake's for another carwash and then we took a little trip up to Kelly's Grove for her very last photo shoot.

The ad wasn't even up for 5 minutes before Gordon was getting texts asking about her. All told 386 views on the ad...

AND less then 48 hours later Beatrix has a new home! She's now going to live with Jake, Kelley and Ashton! (Have you noticed all of the coincidences here?) Kelley commutes from Farmington to West Valley each day for work so Beatrix is the perfect new companion for her! Don't they look happy?

Bye-bye Beatrix, old friend... we've had so many good times together.

Daddy Says...

"You'll never cut yourself with a sharp knife!"

I wish that was true! But my experience would indicate otherwise. Since I keep my knives *nice and sharp*, just like Daddy taught me, when my knife slips, oops! I end up in need of stitches or, better yet, derma-bond and steri-strips.

This latest casualty happened at girls camp while cutting jalapenos. I got a seed under my thumb nail and when I went to flick it out with one of my other nails I made a fist and sliced into the side of my thumb! Ah well, I've done seen worse!

But you know this latest casualty (which has healed nicely, thank you Shannon!) got me to thinking about cutting implements and my affinity for them.  Again, I can give credit to my Daddy. When I was in my mid-teens Daddy got me a wonderful gift (that keeps on giving!)

How can you NOT love an array of cutters like this?

Daddy taught me how to sharpen these babies...

The wooden handles have held up well since I don't frequently wash them in the dishwasher. But my poor cleaver... that's a different story!

Back in the day before microwaves I used to use this with a hammer to break apart frozen meat. If I could wind back the knife-clock I would do that one differently.

My very favorite pair of scissors that Daddy got me were my button hole scissors.

I don't use them often but I'm so grateful for them every time I do.

And my scalloped pinking shears? The are the best...

But how does one get these sharpened?

This, fortunately, isn't a cutter! It is my Mama's *spatulator*. I've been told that it started life longer than this but one day it got stuck in the beaters of the mixer and Daddy had to shorten it and make a new rounded edge. This old friend has spread enough frosting to cover the state of California!

These? These are of recent date. I got them at my favorite Bosch store in Orem. Yeah, see that green one there? That is the culprit. Now here's the funniest part... I grew up KNOWING these were called *Perry-knives*

And I can't even bring myself to post photos of my knife drawer or stash of scissors! It's a bit of an obsession for me. I can never have too many cutters!

Just yesterday while shopping at *Bed, Bath and Beyond Linens* (just for you Auntie P) I found these babies! Whee-haw... another cutter!

CAULIFLOWER...

AND OTHER GIRLS CAMP ODDITIES!

Noelle was given the *top-dog* assignment as *Chief-Cook-and-Bottle-Washer* just 3 weeks before camp (the previous CC&BW had to back-out unexpectedly) so it was a bit of a scramble to get everything pulled together in time to cooking for and serve 330 bodies X 3-times a day! One of the good ideas Noelle had (and she had many!) was to split up the menu and ask each of us assistants to be responsible for figuring out how much of everything we needed to buy for our 2 meals. (10 meals divided by 5 bodies... see how that works?)

Since all of us were novices it was a bit of a guesstimation game... we all just did the best we could using all of the information we could glean from years of cooking and internet recipes. There was a lot of conferring with one another to determine if we really had the right amounts. (Did I even order beans?)

Some of it we nailed right on and others... well, let's just say that perhaps the *eaters* just didn't consume the recommended daily allotment of...

C-A-U-L-I-F-L-O-W-E-R

Cauliflower made its first debut at Tuesday's salad bar lunch. Holy cow... how much do we have left? We cooked up cauliflower and broccoli for dinner that night. We still have some left? We toted out cauliflower and her little green friend for Wednesday lunch and dinner... AND WE STILL HAD IT COMING OUT OF OUR EARS!

By Thursday morning it had become a running joke *somebody-who-shall-remain-nameless* artfully arranged them on the tables as center pieces and announced to the hungry bodies, "Please only take 3 pieces of cauliflower and broccoli so there will be enough for everyone!" Bwahahahahahaha

Tuesday was a VERY early start! Judy, Carolyn and Colin were all up at 4 am (my clock only has 4 pm!) to start the pot roasts for dinner and french toast with buttermilk syrup for breakfast (oh my Yumminess!) Who couldn't like buttermilk syrup: butter, lots of it, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar!

But with all that sugary sweetness there was a bit of a sticky mess to clean up. I made myself a bucket of soapy water to wipe down the counters, but in my haste I accidentally plunged my cloth into the pot of syrup instead!

Now I ask you... can you tell the difference? I didn't even squeeze my rag in it!  But the majority decided that it was unhygienic! to reuse that syrup and down the drain it went! (sniff... sniff I would have taken it home!)

By after lunch those 4 o'clock ladies needed a nap! Judy came out looking all puffy-eyed but she had the perfect solution! Cucumbers! The plain kind, not the stripedy-kind.

We even had Super-Heros (in costume and out) to help us through our week of cooking and cleaning! This cute Super-Hero's auntie seeded and cut up most of the 20 pounds of tomatoes for pico de gallo. THAT is definite Super-Hero status in my book! (Thank you Heather!)

AFTON- aka the Masked Avenger

I like to say that it was like preparing for Thanksgiving dinner for 4 days straight!

And the oddest of girls camp oddities? I just don't have words!

Vacuum ASS-E-CORIES!