Years ago, I wove dozens of pot holders for a school fundraiser. It was a small lap size project where one could be finished during a favorite TV show. Cotton loops are my favorite.
Potholders
A couple of years ago, I discovered knitting. I consider knitting a form of meditation (given the pattern is simple :). The cowl scarf is a favorite of mine as a quick lap size project. My stash will be given away today at a flash mob style service project for the homeless.
Cowl scarves
Report on the 5th annual gathering to prepare gift bags for the women housed at the Wheeler Mission Center for Women and Children. Kathy Layne has called on friends, neighbors and co-workers to give 65 generously stuffed Christmas gift bags for the women/mothers at the shelter. A good time was had by all!
Not this grass!
Amber waves
Chair to Throne
Japanese Blood Grass
Fall foliage from the ground!
Love this new blog.
http://pimlaspondering.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/release-the-kraken/
When I googled “kraken”, I found out it was a mythical sea creature.
Fast forward to today, when I am wrestling with nine-year old perennial geraniums….ah ha these subterranean roots remind me of the images for “kraken”.
Rose Garden @ Hampton Court
>Click here to view this photo book
Thames Cruise London to Hampton Court, May 2012
The first time I put my photography up for sale was two years ago in a Silent Auction fund-raiser for Aspiration Awards for young women pursuing degrees in technology, math and science. Now we are getting ready for a third auction and again my contribution are ten 8″ X 10″ matted prints.
Most of my images for 2010 were taken at McCormick Place in Chicago. Since the 2011 auction was held at a holiday networking event, I choose mostly floral images. This year my choice images are from London and Hawaii.
Originally, I used Kodakgallery.com. This year I used MPix.com. The paper was not as heavy, but the same metallic glossy finish. The prints are very good quality. To keep my costs down, I procured mats from GoldenStateArt.com. Excellent source. They even include a sealable plastic wrap/envelope for each mat.
Silent Auction Contribution 2012
Everything sold in the last two auctions. ENCORE!
To Elfcroft, stitched service (the last three years) has meant prayer shawls, aprons for Wheeler Mission and girls plus boys clothes for Helping Hands Touching Hearts. My late start for this year’s shipment to South Africa was jump started with boy’s shorts from Target clearance sales. The slow rolling start at sewing uses up the last of former curtains turned boy’s shorts in my first shipment in 2010. (Think of the movie “Sound of Music”.)
Simplicity 5218….four pair, size 4
Also last year, I had long narrow bands left over from making girls dresses with Simplicity 2228. I sewed those bands together to make dresses with See and Sew B5592. Yeah! four more dresses out of last years stock.
See and Sew B5592
More to follow!
The latest Abode software is great for merging files, searching, etc. I have used it at work. Personally, I learned a lesson from Quicken and lost data, because I did not keep up with their revisions from 2002 to 2008. Also, all my Kodakgallery.com albums moved to Shutterfly.com as a result to the sale. This post probably should be about scanning to organize personal records, but I’m not there yet.
I have had my grandfather’s cherry writing desk as long as I can remember. When we got our first personal computer in the 1990s, a modern style desk was part of the package. The PC is long gone and the computer desk now has a flat screen TV. For a few years, my home office was the writing desk and bookcases. That was until two years ago, when I had a new addition to the guest room.
Almost new desk
One of my favorite things, is being able to have my Macbook Pro and iPad charging on the keyboard tray while only my old laptop takes desktop space. I did round-up many files, etc. However, getting to the title of this post….my system is more like “buckets”…with handles to grab and go…..medical, financial, home and work.
“bucket” files
Yes, this is old school. First things first. My original system used notebooks, after 25 years…that did not hold up. So, this week my current “buckets” met old “notebooks” to merge into $20 worth of hanging files for a comprehensive sort.
This was a matter of life and death. After ten years of growth as feature plants in my largest perennial bed, my pair of Wine and Roses Weigela looked very ragged this spring. With instructions from Google search references, I trimmed them back only to have severe drought conditions thru July and into August.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6403914_prune-wine-rose-weigela.html
The great challenge in my case was to get positioned correctly to pull up volunteer trees growing up through the woody weigela branches. (This is also a problem with butterfly bushes and lilacs.) More trimming gave me better access. Rain from Hurricane Isaac gave me better chances of pulling (the not so little) trees up. I decided that if I could not remove the volunteer trees from the tangled branches, the weigela would need to go.
Digging required my super professional weed shovel, because the roots can be 12 inches deep!
Pro-weeder
Mission accomplished. One bag full of volunteer trees and trimmings. Weigela topped off with 1 cu ft enriched garden soil and 2 cu ft mulch each.
Weigela
elfcroft 