My bags are packed and I'm ready to go!

Busy...Busy...Busy! That's right this summer was jam packed with family, friends, food and fun. I guess you could say the 4 F's. (Hehehehe). Hubby and I loved all of it.

It started out with days spent with the grandkids.

Always such a joy to have them around.
Always so much fun.




Beach time
and kissing
crabs!

Then a visit from relatives from the DC area.
Lot's of laughs!

Visit from my surrogate son

and friends.

Summer Camp at Riverhurst Farm

where I got to spend hours playing and horseback riding.

I've never had the opportunity to attend a Summer Camp so this was my first time!

Would you believe me if I said 

I will be back!

Also I had the pleasure of introducing my son to some of the horses

at the stables. Here he is with Mejia. (sp)

Debra her owner was so kind and answered lots of question from my very

inquisitive son.

I'd love to get him on one and come for a ride with me!

My young friends here accompanied me and as you can see
fell in love with these girls.

My niece was here from Santa Cruz and spent the day with us.
We had a great visit with her and Di.

Later another great day was  spent with some old friends.
Haven't  seen them in years.
Not sure why i don't have a picture of Joyce and Donna
Sorry about that girls
True friends last a lifetime.
From grade 1 till now!
That's a long time.

Labor Day Weekend was spent with family and friends.

A fabulous way to spend the closing of summer.

As I said on top of this post....

My bags are packed and I'm ready to head out to the 

Isles Of Shoals

for our annual Rug Hooking Retreat.

This is going to be a much needed week

to relax and meet up with some new friends.

I'll get back here as soon as i have the time to download my week in pictures.

Till then......A Bientot.

Thanks so much for visiting....feel free to comment.....and most of all

please return.

more snow days....more projects

 Snow days...snow days.

I sure hope this weather comes to a halt sometime soon

because...

these snow days are not good for my heath!

First I made a huge pot of chicken stew with lots of veggies

a very hearty meal.

Decided it needed something special to dip into

so i made a batch of biscuits. 

The next day i made homemade

pizza with onions red peppers and bacon bits.

(Thanks for that Miss Jones...its your fault!)

The following day i needed something sweet so I made a

cranberry orange nut bread.

The real reason for this bread was that I didn't want to be out done by

my girl over at Acorn Hollow!

A while ago one of my knitting friends came over to show me that her son

had bought her a set of wood sock blockers.

Oh My! What a nice gift! Have always wanted a set

for my home made socks.

After looking at them I decided that I could make a set myself.

That's right...you know what's coming next!

I brought the project to my husbands attention and it just so happens he had some extra

plywood in the basement. So between the both of us we made a template and

he cut out the wood.

Sanding, sanding and more sanding i was able to get the feel that I wanted.

I had some leftover urathane that would work perfect.

Next came fine steele wool and lots of elbow grease.

I love how they came out.

What do you think? 

Now I can block all my special socks...like these below.

Wondering why they don't match?

Well they do in a way. I used all my leftover yarn from other projects.

So in a way they do...just not identical!

Got a surprise visit from our Summer neighbors yesterday.

Thought they would check on the amount of snow we have up here.

It was great to see them and turned out to be a big help.

While the guys did some snow shoveling and cleaning up

us girls went up to the center so we could watch the roaring sea.

Oh yea...on to another project....

well I came across these little needle felting kits that I bought

quite a while ago. It was time to take them out and give it a shot.

I've done some needle felting but nothing like this..

I really like how it came out. I think I want to design more and use as gifts.

One of the nice things about this project is instant gratification.

It works up fast and voila..finished.

Fini!

Wow! So sorry about the lengthy post tonight.

A Bientot!

Snow Day!

Do you remember when we were kids and school was called off for a snow day?

Gosh! The good ole days...

Well nothing has changed...I gave myself a day off today.

That's really because i couldn't have gone out even if I wanted to.

This is my view this morning.....the visibility was non existent.

So it was at this point i decided that these projects should be tackled

So kicking up my feet ( that's right I'm wearing a pair of knit-felted slippers

made by yours truly.) i grabbed a U.F.O

 I have a stash of P.I.G.S down stairs in my hide-away

and its time to get working on some.

Ok...I'll tell you

projects in grocery bags!

 I can't take the credit for that one I stole it from a 

lady in a knitting group on Facebook.

Here is another one of the projects that I started humm some time ago.!!!

Stuck! I'm lost as to what they want me to do next.

  Here is the pattern. If any of you reading this blog have made this tote

I sure would appreciate some guidance.

That's about it for now...

gotta go rest up

I have a damn lot of snow to shovel tomorrow.

A Bientot

A bit of a walk down memory lane....

Wow! On Saturday Papa and Mémère got to watch our little guy play basketball. Oh my! That was so much fun. He will be our little JOCK! He is so focused and does a great job dribbling and shooting this brought me right back to when my son played so as you guessed it I was all chocked up and brought me to tears.

 

Now how stinking cute is he?!

   

This week I was finally able to complete Miss A's 1st hooked project.  

  

Now mind you she designed and hooked this all by herself. I gave her the choice of how we could complete it and she chose a "stuffie".

So that's what I did. 

What do you think?

I gave him a scarf and a little bell. We facetime'd the other night so I could show it to her and she screeched with delight. That was a happy girl!!

I was going through my wine stash the other night and what a surprise to find one of my favorite wines. 

Yes!

Yes!

Yes!

And here is my second still down memory lane.

I brought this bottle home from visiting my neice in California.

One of the vineyards we visited and did a tasting at was 

Chateau Montelena!!

If you get the chance check out their web site but better yet if you come across a bottle 

dont hesitate you won't regret it.

Now this is when I must bid you adieu.

The Patriots are about ready to take the field.

Let's hope they get it done.

GO PATS

A Bien  T 

Feeling accomplished!

Today was our Wednesday Hooking day. I completed my flower pillow. Its pressed and ready to be backed. I've added some binding tape with cording. I now need to find a backing for it and I'm thinking a grey or a sage green. I like how it looks....hope you like it also.
I'm looking forward to some comments.

 This second picture really does not show up the detail as much as i would like. Oh well I think you get the idea.

 

 Things are going pretty well but sure will be happy when this week is over.

gotta run..............A Bientot!

A little cheering up will help!!!

Last September I registered for a rug hooking retreat out on Star Island.
As soon as i heard about it i knew i had to attend. For probably 30+ year my husband and i had a boat out on Great Bay NH and we would often jut out to the Isles Of Shoals roughly 7 miles off the coast of NH. We would acnhor there to swin, sun bathe and just take in the magnificent view. I had never stepped foot on the Island. This was my big chance. I started to research the Isles, Star, Smuttynose, Appledore, Malagar, Cedar, White and another I can't remember the name. also Thomas L. Laighton and Celia Laighton Thaxter. After my research I knew i could not pass up this opportunity. I have fallen deeply in love with this Island with all its history. I can't thank Pam Bartlett the organizer of the retreat enough. it has brought me so much joy and peacefulness. I am so grateful for the life i have and i don't take any of it for granted so to be able to add this trip on was such a wonderful gift.

This September there is another retreat scheduled.....I will do all I can to be there again!

As I was flipping through some of these photos today I decided I would blog a bit about them. We've had a bit of a "bump-in-the-road" as they say and am sure that things will return to normal in no time but these photos brought me some joy. I hope they do the same for you as you flip through them.

This picture below was taken coming out of the guest room cottage that Cathy and I stayed in. Yes, I agree....the simple life.....beautiful.

I found this sight to be quite entertaining.....anxious to hear your comments.

These next two photos are 2 of the ladies i met....and i hope we now have a bond that will keep us friends for a long time. We could not have asked for a lovelier group of ladies to spend our time on the island with.
I hope you enjoy these as much as i do. I have more photos and will post at a later date. I'm hoping that I can gather all these photos and put them in a book like shutterfly.

               A Bientôt.......

I

Christmas is over......now I'm ready for Summer!

I don't know about you but that's exactly how I feel. I don't care much for the months of January February and March. April starts to give me hope again. Nice warm weather is soon to be.

Christmas was wonderful and got to spend it with my family. That's what it's all about for me. I've been sick and on antibiotics. Christmas Eve my daughter and I had a glass of wine....just one (1)!! By the time I got ready for bed I was covered in hives! Boy that was fun...NOT! So up until today I've been taking Benedryl....they seem to have finally gone away.

What I like the best about the holidays is school vacation! So for the first 3 days I was able to have my 2 older granddaughters here with me. I had so much planned...didn't get to all of it but sure did have a good time.

Miss A completed her rug Hooking project that she started some time ago and has decided that she wants to make it into a "stuffy" so I'll put that together for her.

 We did lots of sewing. Made some practice sheets for them out of paper. Both Miss A and Miss V did great. Then we went on to making fabric headbands as well as a bag that Miss A decided to embellish with felt scraps and buttons. There was also some ironing involved and they did great. After all that a trek over to the pool was enjoyed. Spent a couple of hours there before coming home only to get ready to get back home. Gosh! They are growing so fast...,where does the time go?