Saturday, October 27, 2007

Scrappin the Night (and day) Away...

Here are a few things I've been working on lately. I went to a crop night at my LSS and got quite a bit done. This was at our choir workshop earlier this year with the Gary Bonner Singers. The workshop was in Arroyo Grande. The layout was done probably a couple of years ago, but I hadn't filled in in yet. I came across these pictures in my box 'o pictures from the kids high school years. I've got tons of them. Way more than I can put in a scrapbook. This is from 1999. The choir was singing Africa by Toto. The costumes were made by a Hollywood costume designer.

This is what I worked on today. The pictures are from my daughter's solo performance in the BHS Pop Show 1999. She performed "He's a Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp. The pictures were scanned so that I could do a digital layout. I love the background. I'm a little slow at digi, but I'm getting it. The background is Bittersweet from Dahlia Co Designs.
This one is my testimony. It's my first digital layout. I did it for the FaithSisters challenge last week. Unfortunately I couldn't get it in on time. Credits to Krystal Hartley's FaithFreebie embelishments, embelishments from Linda Holt's Persian Rug kit available on polkadotpotato.com, background by Cheryl Olson.
Journaling: I don’t remember a time that I didn’t know the Lord. As a small child I remember praying to Him, asking for favors, making vows. When my Barbie doll’s leg got broken I asked Him to heal it. I anxiously awaited the next morning when I would wake up and her leg would be miraculously healed. He said no.When I heard my parents fighting in the next room I vowed I would never do that to my children. It was painful to listen to and He heard my cry. He provided me with a wonderful husband who loves me as I love him. We have been together since 11th grade and married 26 years. I have always felt that God led me to him. I feel pretty lucky and grateful for His hand in our lives. He is my rock who I lean on in the tough times as well as the good. Sometimes I see His sense of humor and I laugh with Him. I marvel at the beauty of his creation and the sky paintings He sends me every morning.I haven’t always walked so closely with Him, but he uses life circumstances to bring me back to Him. I’m hanging on to Him for dear life. Psalm 107:10-15 (NIV) 10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. 15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.
IN OTHER KNITTING NEWS The sleeves for the Oriel Lace Blouse are coming along. I haven't got any pictures of them yet. They are about in the same place as before I frogged. Umm. Not quite. I haven't gotten that far, but close. I finished the scarf for the church ministry. I'll start another one. Maybe even as soon as I get off the computer. The orange light isn't a golden sunset glow. It is the light filtering in from the smoke of the California fires. Today it is almost clear again. I took that picture a couple of days ago. It even rained (if you can call it that) a little today. It would be nice if it just poured for a little while. Well, I need to clean up my scrapbook mess, knit a little and off to bed. I've got an early day at church tomorrow. Singing on the worship team. Yeah!

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Some Crafty Ladies

I just joined a great web site called Faith Sisters. They are into scrapbooking and like to scrapbook their spiritual journey. There's lots of inspiration to be found there. One of the founding members of the site is a friend of mine that used to live here. :( She's very talented in all things Kreative. Another member used to live here too. Now she's far north of me, but sometimes comes to visit.
Last night was scrapbook night at my church. So far I'm fairly lame at my pages, but I hope to get more creative. I just have to figure out how to shoot good pictures so that you can actually see what they're supposed to be. I should know Photoshop pretty well by now with the help of these DVDs. It's always a good idea to take good pictures in the first place. I seem to always have lighting issues.
Knitting Notes:
I finally downloaded some of the pictures I took of the Oriel Lace Blouse. Here's how it looks so far.
Here's the front, a shot of the back, and a close up of the pattern.
It even looks good without sleeves. I am going to finish the sleeves though. I ripped them back to row 16 and now am almost half way to where I was before.
In the mean time I have been knitting a simple scarf for my church's outreach. They want to give scarves, hats and gloves away for Christmas. My first scarf is a 2x2 rib made with Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky. It's almost 3/4 of the way done. I don't have pictures of it yet, but I'll post when I do. I did my first Russian join on this scarf. I think it came out ok. You can't really see it; well I can. I don't think anyone else will though.
The yarn is leftovers from a Christmas project I started in February while my mom was in the hospital. I only need to sew it up. I'll post pictures after Christmas just in case.... ;)

Friday, October 05, 2007

Tomorrow Never Comes...

Boy, I must have been tired. Seems like I had a Rip Van Winkle moment. I never posted the picture of the baby pants,

aren't they cute?!?
I never came back and told you about my Oriel Lace Blouse.

Damnit, Jim, I'm a knitter not a blogger!

Just kidding. I apologize. Can't say I won't do it again. I am a SHE and time just seems to get away from me. Even now I should be working, but here I am trying to catch up with my blog because it has been weighing heavily on my mind since I discovered that I just wasted a whole bunch of time on the sleeves of my blouse. I was thinking this morning as I finished up the last two rows that I might just get this done in time to wear when I go to Texas next time, the home of this beautiful silk yarn. We'll see if that actually happens now. :( I read the instructions wrong. They say"Work center 61 sts according to Oriel chart, working the next 54 rows..." There is no period there after 54 rows. AAAAHHHHHHHH! I worked to 54 rows and guess what the rest of the sentence says? "...changing needle sized as foll: 16 rows with size 7, 16 rows with size 6, 14 rows with size 5, and 8 rows with size 3, ending with chart Row 26. A frogging I will go... 38 rows worth x 2!!!! (I'm working both sleeves at one time in the round. A thrill seeker, I know.)

This really sucks, but I love knitting so much I don't really mind. My DH thinks I'm nuts. I was so mad that I wanted to fix it right then, but alas, I have to get some actual work done. What really makes me mad is that I started with the sleeves and decided I didn't like they way they were coming out, but it gave me a chance to get used to the yarn and get a swatch going. The sleeves are the hardest part of this project and I think I might rewrite the instructions or put a big flag on them saying "beware" if I ever try this again. All in all it is coming along beautifully. I can't wait to get it done. But in the meantime I have to finish a Christmas present and make some scarves for my church's outreach.