Summer and Mandalas

I haven't posted in awhile but am trying to change that. We shall see anyhow. Thought I'd share part of what I've been doing. Crochet seems to have taken over my life the past few months and many things have been created, but finally had the time to do something for myself. I took a couple of old Ikea bar stools and cleaned them up and crocheted mandala seat covers, then decided to make back covers as well. Then seeing as how I wanted to coordinate the freshly painted table/umbrella combo for the back patio, well you see by the photos what happened next. These were all done with Peaches & Cream cotton yarn and I sprayed them with a UV water proof type spray. When it rained recently, you could see it worked, cuz of the water beading up on them. So that's it for now. More later!

Please vote for my photo if you think it deserves to win Shutterfly's Summer Freedom Contest here. Even if you don't vote, check it out.......and THANKS YALL! Contest is now over, thanks to those that showed interest!
Ooh...also, you can vote daily!!!

In my World...

Just a few photos of things going on in my world lately. Busy making baby gifts for friends in our church having a little boy...making hats and bags for one of our granddaughters...sitting around watching deer and baby fawn...going to new places...and riding the Harley. I love Summer even if you can fry eggs on the sidewalk!

Basic granny type afghan pattern for a baby, measuring 36" x 36". I used 3 colors: berry blue, heather gray and off white.

And with the leftovers from the baby afghan, I made this wee little earflap hat too.

Together so you can see the stitches better.

Decided to make a ruffly little hat for Panda and a matching bag as well. She liked wearing her Daddy's ID badge from a job around her neck, so I made this so she could do the same with it.

Out back where we discovered the baby fawn. She's wearing her hat with a lantana flower sprig poked into it that she pulled off of the plant.

What a smile! This was the other hat I crocheted. It has a tiny little brim and a layered flower attached to it. Notice she has hijacked my phone (again). HAHA

Sitting on Yeh Yeh's (Grandpa's) Harley with me making sure she doesn't fall off. It was a beautiful day and she'd just gottten out of bed. That's Daddy in the background sitting on the front porch.

Here's Dad (our second oldest son) and Panda walking along Lake Travis at the Hula Hut where we waited to be seated for a Father's Day lunch. Was a steamy but great day and the food and scenery were both very nice!

Pet Count

Odd topic I know. But before I go into that, just wanted to let those of you who read my blog know what my family has been up to lately. Actually enjoying summer! We've taken 2 trips to the coast and have been to several new movies out and even explored our little neck of the woods like we never have before. Funny how little I even knew about the DFW area and all of the beautiful areas and things there are to do without traveling that far. DH has been recovering from rotator cuff repair surgery and off from work for a few weeks. Physical Therapy is in progress and he is progressing very well the doc says. It was hard making him rest from day one because that is the kind of person he is.
I was out back today putting some things in our upstairs barn storage and started wondering if we'd all gone crazy. Our "pet count" is now up to seven. We have 4 doxies, 1 min pin, 1 rabbit and as of yesterday....1 fire belly toad. Before that, we had about a dozen hermit crabs that we brought back from Galveston. Bad decision. They are not land hermit crabs and they all died :( So to make up for my daughter's terrible loss, we went and checked into land hermit crabs and ended up bringing home a fire belly toad instead. Go figger?!? They say that these can have a life span of 10-15 years if properly cared for. Imagine that? It looks sort of like a moist colorful tree frog, but it's actually a toad found in China. Vivid green and black specks on top and bright red underbelly. It sure loves to snap up crickets! I'll post pics of it later if we can get it to be still long enough.
Anyhow, I hope everyone is having a great summer and is all ready for their kiddos to go back to school soon, cuz I know we are! It starts on the 25th of August for us. I am so anxious to go back to Scotland in the Fall and meet our new granddaughter that is expected in early November!!!
Oh, another thing. Don't laugh now! I turn 50 this year. That is not funny. We will have our 5th grandchild born this year. That is not funny either. But in honor of both events, I plan on getting inked. No kidding! I wanted to do a thistle one near my ankle because of the significance of it as far as it being the National flower of Scotland. Also in mind was maybe 5 flowers representing the 5th grandchild. Then the alternative tat would be the Celtic symbol for motherhood which pretty much says it all I thought. Perhaps I'll design one with all of these things combined. I've been playing around with it, doing sketches and looking online for ideas and inspiration. If anyone has any thoughts, please let me know!
Later!
-greenie