Patty's new car!

Well....new to Patty anyway. I may be wrong but I believe the year was 1994 when this car was rolled off the assembly line. But it is 4 wheel-drive and that comes in handy down here in the hills in the winter.
So - off I go to Patty's to meet the new car.
Her landscaping efforts are paying off very nicely! Her plants aren't dying!
a picture from the front.



And in the back they are working on replacing a BIG deck! The old boards are off and the new ones are awaiting their staining.


That's a big job!

And, finally, the 'new' car/truck.

And the best part? The cassette tape deck still works! And, even stranger, Patty still has her cassette tapes!


The very best part of my visit to Patty's was that I had my camera on her efforts to get Boo back in the house! I think any of us who are owned by our critters can identify with every single frame!

Boo sees Patty; Patty says 'Stay Boo', time to go inside!

Maybe not so much! Boo wants to stay outside! Patty tries reasoning with Boo. It seems to be working!

And.....Boo finally agrees to go inside.

We've all been there!

A new little friend

I decided I needed a keychain. I have been thinking about making some, thought they might be quick to make and I could add them to my Christmas box. The first one, at least, was not quick! It takes a lot of hidden knots to make sure the dratted thing doesn't come apart at some point! But, like most beadwork, I am sure it will get quicker as I make a few more. The really neat thing is that a new little friend came along to look at it while I was taking pictures.

I had washed some rugs and was drying them over the deck railing so I just used one of them for my picture.


Then here comes another little critter who must have like what he saw!


Unfortunately, he has no real need for a key chain that is 5 times his size so he trundled along on his way to more important things.


It was nice of him to visit, though!

Dry, drought, dry drought

I have no clue how long it has been since we have had rain. It's getting just sad. This is how sad it is!! My pretty little garden! My pretty little backyard....gone!

Hostas:


The brave little Stella d'Oro daylilly is poking it little head out - just one but he's trying! These are re-bloomers...well, they used to re-bloom!


Everything in front - I just went ahead and started cutting it back, especially the black eyed susans...they were black eyed everything!


Clematis....guessing I won't plant more of this!


A close up of the sad clematis...bless it's heart. Dead. Dead and gone.


My pretty little purple coneflowers....the red ones don't even have this much life left in them! The Goldfinches are going to be very hungry this year! Doesn't look like anything a self-respecting Goldfinch would want to munch on.


I have soaker hoses on everything - I've swaddled my day lillies in soaker hoses!


Sigh....




The trees are losing leaves already....


Looking forward to Spring - hoping everything will make it through the winter!

Happy Birthday, Little Brother Ugly!!!!

Dan's birthday was last Sunday. He is 11 years younger than me. That would make him about....ohhhh....about....20 years old!!!! Wow - he looks kind of worn out for 20 years old. Oh well - we just don't need to mention that to him.

Mom took us to a new restaurant in town, it is called a 'Brazilian Steakhouse'. It was amazingly delicious in an amazingly excessive way. Thank you, Mom! They give you little cards - turning the green side up means....bring more!

We were quite full at the end..so full we really didn't get many pictures! If you look closely at the picture below you will see Mom trying to make off with a little bit of my flan!


And we definitely need to remember this desert - very light and very nice. A Papaya not-quite-mousse of some sort.


Finally, we had to turn the red side up which meant - No more!


As always, it was just nice to spend time with Mom, Dan, and Tammy. Happy Birthday, Little Brother! You really aren't so ugly after all. Love, Beautiful Sister (aka BS)

And yet one more....

These are starting to be pretty quick to make!

It's hot and dry here in Southern Indiana

In the high 90's most days, no rain for weeks until today. Don't really need to say it's humid here as this is Southern Indiana and it's usually humid. With the high humidity it has felt like 110 several days in the last couple of weeks. Good to stay inside and bead. Except when my A/C decided to squeal like a banshee! So I called Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers is my hvac person. And he is as nice as the original Mr. Rogers. They may be related, you never know. He oiled the fan and it's been ok since then. It is 15 years old so I know I am living on borrowed time but he wouldn't fix anything, said to wait until it broke again and then he would fix it. And wouldn't even take any money for a service call. Very nice person he is. But I wish he would have fixed something, would have made me feel better.

Anyway.....the Huichol net weave continues!!! I haven't gotten tired of it yet.
I am posting a necklace - another one of the teeny-tiny size 15 beads. I think those work best for a necklace or it would be too big and chunky. I also made a bracelet out of colors I saw in a picture on National Geographic picture-of-the-day. Certainly not colors I would have picked out but my eyes sure enjoyed using them to bead with and I think it will look perfect on someone.

I've given up on clasps, just didn't like the time it took to put them on and didn't feel like I got them exactly right. So these will be solid loops from now on. Until I change my mind again.

I am very pleased with this necklace - it came out even better than I thought it would.


I like working with multiple colors in this weave - keeps it from getting boring. I still need to give it attention that I can't weave it on 'auto-pilot' like I do the crocheted pieces.

There will not be very many of the pieces with size 15 beads!

Now the bracelet - size 11's go much more quickly and you can actually see them!




And the Natl Geographic picture that elicted these colors? Here it is.



Happy beading!

When you are only 10 inches tall

You have to take advantage of every bit of height you can get! This is Mini's new 'spot'.


Same net weave. Still working on purple.

For the Beady-Eyed Bunch

This is the last of the completed pieces for awhile. Some others are in the process of being started but nothing underway yet!

Starting with yet more Huichol net weave!! This one turned out well, I'm trying to work with purple and it's hard.


I tried to get a different look to the loop that goes around the button and it actually worked! For a change. This weave has a very soft 'hand' and I am trying to give it more structure. Not perfect but better than I thought it would come out. And very easy to get on and off but won't fall off.


And more purple - this time in a crocheted piece. When I do crocheted patterns I have to string it all up in a certain order. This is considered a pattern.


And I finished up several crocheted pieces this afternoon. They were beaded into long tubes over the last couple of weeks and just need to be fastened together in a circle - much harder than you would think! I can still ruin the entire piece if I don't get it right. I still have trouble with joining them.
The mixes are commercially prepared mixes so I just use the bead spinner, spin a lot of beads up and mindlessly crochet as I watch TV or on the phone or am in conference calls. Once you finally learn this technique it is good for keeping your hands busy but doesn't need thought. Somehow is easier to concentrate on the information in a conference call and actually remember it if I can do something with my hands!

In no particular order....




Happy Beading!

For the Beady-Eyed Bunch

More beadwork - finally finished the necklace from the Huichol net weave...


The bracelet has gone to it's forever home now but here is their last picture together

And, finally, something besides black, silver, and turquoise! The turquoise snuck back in but the other colors were pretty new for me.

The colors aren't anything I usually wear (so it will show up in the Christmas box) but I have to say that it is even prettier than the pictures show it.

Lastly, I am once again....observed. This time a neon green dragonfly came by to perch on the coin grass while I was taking the pictures! I have never seen that bright a green on a dragonfly and he was quite robust!

We are truly not alone.