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Still Sick

1/20/2017

It's been almost 2 1/2 weeks now, and I'm still feeling awful. The sore throat and coughing are slowly fading, thanks to the antibiotics, but I was also diagnosed with a nasty ear infection, which presented with popping ears, vertigo, and severe ringing in my head. Looks like this is going to take a while.

About the only thing I'm managing to do these days, is a bit of knitting. So far I've made two small sweater sets, and just started on the scarf for the second one. I have a lot of dolls that need sweaters, and at least I feel like I'm doing something a little constructive. But I sure hope I get over all these bugs well before I run out of sweaters to knit!

Holly's Log

1/15/2017

After considerable hammering, drilling, and gluing, Holly's Yule Log was finished...

So she took it to her Mom...

Leona lit the candles, and they sat and reminisced as the Christmas season finally came to an end

Chloe's Toys

1/15/2017

I don't know how I missed posting any of the pictures from this photo shoot earlier this past week.

Chloe with her Ark and giraffes....

...and Nami with her crown of gift bows....

Endless Flu

1/13/2017

Feels like we've been sick forever! All of January, so far anyways. The first week my symptoms weren't too bad, although Jan was quite ill. But a few days ago I came down with his cough and sore throat too. It's one nasty bug, and brought to mind this photo from three years ago....

Well, I'm not one to stay in bed all day - unless I'm really, really, REALLY sick - so I'm just trying
to take it easy, doing a bit of knitting, taking a photo or two, and making some puzzles.

Hopefully we'll be feeling well enough this weekend, so we can finally take down all the
Christmas decorations. I think I've had enough of them, and it's time to move on.

Holly's Project

1/13/2017

Holly has been busy working on her secret project. Be careful, and watch your fingers!

Firewood

1/12/2017

Holly was eager to use her new tools, so her Dad took her out to the back woodlot to help him saw firewood. He figured that was simple enough, and a great way to learn how to saw properly....

"This is hard work!"

But she kept right at it....

"Can I take this piece? I want to make something out of it."

A Sweater from Scraps

1/9/2017

I'm working on a sweater for one of my new KIDs. I have so many great new sock yarns, but they are not the same thickness as the brand of sock yarns that I used for my first few doll sweaters a few years ago. But I hate making up new knitting patterns. So the plan was to knit just a sleeve from some of the old leftover yarn, and then knit a sleeve out of some of the new yarn, then compare them and make notes, and revise my knitting pattern to accomodate the newer yarns.

But I loved how the test sleeve turned out, so made a second identical one, and now I'm trying to make a whole sweater set, and have started on the body......

The bits and pieces of leftover yarn are from these two sweaters, but almost all the dark
green and dark purple have been used up, leaving only the middle and lighter tones....

I just hope there's enough for a whole new sweater and hat.

Holly's Gift

1/9/2017

Holly's Dad had a special Christmas gift for her, and her brothers gathered around to see.....

"My own tools! Now I can help you make stuff!"

"This is a really great saw!"

"Now we just need to come up with a project..."

A Big Hug

1/8/2017

Nyssa and Eric's Mom gathered them in close, for a big 'thank you' hug.....

"The flowers are beautiful! Thank you so much!"

Flowers for Mom

1/7/2017

The kids chipped in together, and bought their Mom two beautiful poinsettia plants...

So I know everyone is wondering where I got the tiny poinsettia plants.
I made them. Or more accurately, I shrunk some.

I started with two small poinsettia plants that I picked up at the dollar store before Christmas. I figured I would cut down the flowers to a smaller size, but the other day when I finally got to work on them, I decided that I didn't much care for the velvet flowers and glittered stamens after all. Plus, when I unwrapped the bases, I discovered they were made of some unidentifyable, crumbly, mortar-like substance. Well, I've read enough warnings about the health hazards of many of the Chinese-made items that Dollar stores carry, so decided not to use them. Jan smashed the pots - outside where there's good ventilation - and then he made two new pots out of wooden discs.

I traded the velvet flowers for some similar-sized fabric ones that were laying around loose in the decoration boxes. There were the regular red ones, a darker red, and some pink ones. I pulled the flowers apart, and proceeded to cut the petal sections down to about half. I also cut off some of the outer stamens to reduce the size of the centers. Then I put the flowers back together again.

Then I hot glued the original plants into the wooden pots, trimmed the ends of the wires, and glued the flowers back onto the ends of the stems. Added the original foil wrapping, and made a bow.

Voila! Tiny poinsettia plants!

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