My Critters and the Ladies who Made Them

This is Luann, a knitter  I met at Yarn Envy.
Luann likes to knit critters - dogs, cats, alien
creatures - you name it, Luann has probably knit it!
When I saw her "alien with a tutu" I asked Luann to make one for me. I requested blue and wanted red fingernails. As you can see, that's what I got.
I named her Rebby, for my daughter, Rebekah.


Below is Rose, another knitting friend I met @ Yarn Envy. Rose is an accomplished knitter, too. She teaches knitting and crocheting classes at the shop.
Rose was making an elephant for her grandchild and I asked her to make one for me. I wanted it to be pink and I named this animal Sarah, for
                                                                                      my oldest daughter.
                                                                                      These creatures sit on my bed and bring me fond
                                                                                      memories of my two dear daughters.

I need some lessons in placement of pictures! I am having a terrible time getting the pics and words where I want them. Hopefully, what I've done will help you identify the knitter with her critter.

 

Growing Things

 These are my lovely poppies. How I wish I could pick them and have them in the house........but
they quickly die.

To the left of the picture is my peony bush. It is loaded with buds and just about ready to pop. 

 I put my hand by a poppy bud so you can see how big they are! I will have between 50-70 blooms
on these plants. There are 5 plants and two different colors.

Here is the vegetable garden. Fran and I bought the tomatoes, red and green peppers, sage, rosemary and cilantro. This morning Wilbur roto-tilled our plot (shaped like the state of Nevada)
and Fran and I planted. We have cherry tomatoes and regular-sized ones.
I have a friend who loves fried green tomatoes. When there are some green ones big enough to fry, I will take them to her house. She will make her yummy, yummy meatloaf and I will fry the green tomatoes. That will be some meal!

Birds At The Feeder

 I ordered this bird feeder from a catalogue of Susi's when I visited her last October. The catalogue said, "Squirrel proof" and they were right. As you can see in the second picture the openings are only big enough for small birds. The squirrel cannot get into the feeder, no matter how hard she tries. I have seen her, sitting on the newel post, swishing her tail in anger! I will say she once knocked it off the hook onto the ground. Still, the only feed she got was what fell out as the cage dropped and hit the dirt. The next time Bill was here, he pinched together the S-hook and now the squirrel  can't knock it off. I can't knock it off!!

The second picture is empty of birds. I took it to show you the construction.

You can just see the top of the bird inside the cage in the picture below. It is VERY hard to get a picture of the birds because they fly away if they see any movement inside the house. I stood back a ways and put the zoom lens on in picture 2 but, just as I was ready to take a pic of 3 birds in the feeder, they all flew away! Darn!

I want to get a hummingbird feeder. I can imagine how hard it will be to get a picture of one of those!

"Mundane Things" is a BIG OOPS!!

I was going to write in here about odds and ends ~ things that don't need a whole blog to themselves and can be clustered together in one blog.
So, naturally, I had to got back and read the last blog. Guess what I found!!!
"Tracy has the ability to find great humor in mundane things". Just before that I commented on Tracy using her husband, children and dog for this humor.
TRACY ~ I did NOT mean your husband, children and dog are mundane!! I guess I need to read through my blogs many times before I hit that button "Publish".

Where I Go On Saturday

Every Saturday, for the last 3 plus years, I have spent the day at Yarn Envy and Vintage Bistro.
Some words about these two places ~ Yarn Envy is jointly owned by Tracy and Candy. Vintage Bistro is owned by Bill. Candy and Bill are married and the parents of my dear tutor, Heather.
The yarn shop and bistro are located in one corner of a large garden center. Unfortunately, the garden center has gone out of business and thus is empty. Yarn Envy is creeping, creeping into more and more space. We kid and say they will eventually take over the whole building. The yarn business is growing and we knitters are all happy
about that.

The lady above is Tracy. Knitters, note the beautiful sweater she is wearing. She is one fine knitter! Tracy is the mother of two daughters, one in pharmacy school and the other  in medical school at UTMC, where Joan was. If you walk in the building and hear a lot of loud laughing, it's because Tracy is telling us about an experience she had with her husband, children or dog. She has the ability to find great humor in mundane things.

This gentleman is Bill, working on the books. Since he is the owner of the bistro, maybe I should say, "cooking the books".  :-)
Bill is a Lutheran minister, now retired from having a church of his own. He is guest minister at a few Lutheran churches in the area.
Bill is also a chaplain at a Michigan Hospice.
Bill is a baker and makes pies for the bistro ~ very good pies, too. He also makes biscotti.

 This is my tutor, Heather, in her "Wendy's" look. Heather is in school, a lot of it done on the computer, which fascinates me ~ going to college on a computer!  Heather works part time @ the bistro and is an accomplished knitter herself. You can find her behind the counter, making an espresso, out in the kitchen putting together a salad or sandwich or helping a knitter with a purchase or a stitching problem.
And........of course, is a whiz on the computer and has helped me tremendously with this blog.

Last, but surely not least, is Candy. She, too, is an accomplished knitter. Candy and Tracy have known each other for many years, having worked together in a bead store and another yarn shop.
These two ladies have established a thriving business and one of the reasons for it's growth is the willingness to help almost anyone who comes in the door. Women come in with yarn they've bought somewhere else and ask the gals for help. Candy and Tracy are right there to help out the customer and always with a smile and pleasant demeanor. They work with the customers on any
questions, etc. we have.
There are two long white tables that run along one wall of the shop. (Tracy is sitting at one of those tables). Every day that the shop is open, many women sit there and knit, eat breakfast and/or lunch, knit, drink coffee, soda, tea, knit, and BUY, BUY, BUY!
I go on Saturdays (although I've shown up on a Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday), arriving around
10:00 AM. and staying until they close at 4:00 PM. This day is the highlight of my week! In an earlier blog I've talked of the knitters/friends that congregate at Yarn Envy. I wanted to share with you the people who are the best reason I am there!
OK. I've read through twice to be sure I've said all I wanted to and I haven't because I could go on and on about this wonderful place and the great people who own.......
                                          YARN ENVY AND VINTAGE BISTRO!!

The Final Chapter of "The New Room"

This is a great shot of the ceiling color. It is a shade darker then it appears in this shot. The fan's blades are fake wicker.
If you noticed, I have two wicker chairs, Joan's and the one with the plaid pillows and the desk chair is
black fake wicker.
In this picture you can see the two mirrors Rick hung on the landing closet doors. I wanted these to make the room appear a bit larger. The painting to the right was done by Fran's (upstairs) son-in-law. Bill called it "early Jackson Pollack". The print to the right of that I bought, and had framed, @ Hobby Lobby.
This print is titled "The Kiss" and those of you who are proficient in art will know the artist. Joan had
a jigsaw of this painting.
So, to those of you I love, far and wide across this big country of ours, and those close at home, I present my new look. Isn't it different?  Adieu!

The New Room - Chapter 6??

This is a wicker chair that was Joan's. It's the one I used to display the scarves in a previous blog.
The colorful throw was purchased @ Pier One. What's that snuggled in the throw?
Way, way back when Joan and I were teenagers, Seventeen magazine had a section on decorating ~
your bedroom, your bathroom, etc. One article stated, "Use bright bold dashes of tangerine". Joan and I loved that line ~ and would say it a lot. We would go to someone's house to see their newly decorated
den and, when we left, Joan and I would look at each other and say, "The den was nice but it does need a bright bold dash of tangerine". And then we'd laugh!
In many of Joan's houses, if you looked carefully, you'd sometimes see a bright bold dash of tangerine. When I saw this throw, guess what made me buy it!

I made a goof. I have put the same picture in here twice! So I'll say something different for each one.
This black bookcase was directly in front of me when I sat in the flowered chair at the consignment
store. Not only did I say I wanted the chair, I said to Bill, "I want this bookcase!" As you can
see, it holds more than books. Lots of "Chotskis*" live here. The white elephant is a gift from Sientje
Vanderhoeven, a fellow TOPS friend. Sientje is from the Netherlands.
*Chotskis is misspelled but is spelled phonetically. It is a Jewish word for knick knacks, dust collectors, etc.

The hour glass is filled with green sand. Bought it on a whim when I was with John and Jim @ Kohl's.
Can you make out the glass piece that spells "Mom"? It has a picture of Gerty, my mom. She is also in the tiny frame at the upper left. And something else is taking up space here. Hmmmmm.

I have one more picture. It is of the ceiling fan and MUST be a part of this presentation! Back soon!