1950's Potholder....

 I finished it today. I did it in the yellow and mint colors of the 1950's and I'm going to make them in various colors. I love the pattern. 

Below is before I joined the front and back and made the border flowers... 

Here's an old pattern from my 1950's crochet book I'm working on. I'm using yellow for the flowers and a light mint green, because it makes it look more vintage and colors of that time period. I'll show pics as I finish one. To see the image bigger when you click on it you have to right click and click view.It's amazing whoever figured out how to make the flowers in this pattern, and we'll probably never know who made it. I've always loved it and was going to try and figure it out myself, after having the book and working the flowers, no way I could have and I've been crocheting for years. Amazing...

 

Briar Rose Runner

This crochet filet graph is called Briar Rose Runner and a very old pattern using crochet thread. I got this graph a long time ago from the old angelfire web pages, those were so good. I hate it when so many good sites are just gone, like geocities, some good stuff. Wayback Machine had this for awhile, now I can't find it.

I started this a long time ago and was going to start it back up. I know you chain 206 to start, wish I had the full instructions, but you can follow the graph. It's not very big, but you can put it in your paint program and make it bigger. Up at the top you'll see the arrow and it says center, kind of hard to read, but you just start that half like it was a mirror image. See where that leaf is starting at the very top, that's the graph going backwards, if you understand what I'm saying. You can google Briar Rose Runner crochet and you'll see what I'm talking about, don't want to use someone else's photo from their site without permission.

Half finished with my red checkered afghan, yay!

Peaceful evening light...

So sitting here today, I looked up and realized how dusty my room had gotten and so quick. I guess it's the fan in the room,so took care of all that today, turned on my twinkle lights that run from the top of the dresser mirror to the nightstand. I love how mirrors reflect the lights, twinkle and candlelights. Lit up some candles tonight, sitting against the pillows, listening to the fan and just thinking on things. Sometimes you have to do that, it helps comes up with ideas.

My daughter was talking about how she started writing a story and she's so happy, because she's had a writer's block. I told her everyone that creates things always does at one time or the other. Sometimes you just have to stop and take other things in to be able to put out something. Sometimes you also have to sit and reflect on life anyway, and not just go and go without thinking.

The little jewelry box was just a little wooden box I painted long ago and modpodged a print out on top I had gotten online. It was so simple and cheap, but has come to be one of my favorite little jewelry boxes.

Miss Molly... Do Not Disturb...

Molly loves laying under my blankets and esp anything I'm working on. I went to grab a cup of coffee and when I came back, as usual, she was laying under the ripple very comfortably...

She looked up at me like, "Did you really just disturb my rest and why?" ...

She looked and started ignoring me, completely turning her body away...

I got up a little bit later, came back and she had turned back...

to her original position...

I've gotten into this mood to do some hard cleaning, started yesterday getting my deck ready for the summer. When you have an old deck that's untreated w/varnish it gets green from over the winter, yuck. I take bleach water and scrub it with a wire brush, whew, luckily it's not too big. When you start seeing the difference it feels so good, like you've really accomplished something and know you won't have to do it again till next year. LOL

Anywayyyyy, I've finished half of it, scrubbing up deck chairs and the table, oh my husband's going to barbecue me something this next weekend, after all this work. :D He will, he loves his grill. I'm not a summer person, at all, but when it's here I like it and take full advantage of it.

I came in, took a shower, amazing how wonderful a shower feels when you get so hot, it's like Heaven. I ran downstairs for a cup of coffee and cut the tops off some strawberries to freeze. I'm going to make a strawberry smoothie later in the blender. So now I'm just chillin' and going to get back to my afghan.I can't tell you how in love I am with this sweet magnolia flower, it's amazing how this one little flower smells.

Update on red and white afghan...

I love red and white, here's an update on my red and cream checkered one I started.

I was looking for little bags to put leftover candle wax in that I was taking out of candleholders and cleaning up. I found the little bags, but saw my old sewing needleholders. One was from Woolworth and not sure where the other was sold, but I've had them forever and they were my mother's. I took a pic of them open, love the foil that holds the needles. See the leather knee patch in the back, can you believe it was only 79cents, now you know that's old. I have sewing things in the kaboodle, tins, boxes and even mason jars. :D 

Then I got back to cleaning up some of my candleholders. When they get so low the wick doesn't light, it's time to dig out the wax and put them in bags for the tarts burner. I like to divide some of the wax that I really love seperately in bags, but if there's just some different waxes I'll toss them together. You never know how they'll smell when burning a mix of scented wax. I take the candle label off if it'll stick together and put it on the little bag, if not I'll just use a marker for the scent name. I also like to put tealights in some of my favorite glass pieces. They're very pretty lit up close together like on a tray.

PS My husband brought in a Magnolia flower from the Magnolia tree. It smells wonderful...

Found this online on how to start a Magnolia tree from seeds or cuttings...

To germinate Magnolia seeds I would recommend using the paper towel method....with a little twist. First collect the red seeds. Then, using either a razor blade or an x-acto knife, carefully cut the outer shell. Once you have the actually seed in hand fill a glass with semi-warm water. Let them soak for about ten to fifteen minutes. Then get a paper towel and moisten it with the same temperature of water. Place the seeds in the middle of the towel and fold it hamburger style. Put everything in a ziplock bag; flatten it, and leave it by a window for about three weeks. You can tell if the seeds have germinated once you see the ziplock bag rise. This keeps the moisture constant in the bag and will help keep the seeds warm.

Another site...

Instructions

        1 Gather seeds. Collect as soon as possible after they mature in mid-September to early October. Spread the cone-like fruit out to dry for several days. Shake the seeds out of the dried cone.
        2 Store seeds over winter. Place seeds in a plastic bag containing sand and peat moss. Store in the refrigerator at 40 degrees or lower for three to six months before planting.
        3 Plant seeds. The following spring, plant the seeds either directly in a seedbed in the ground or in individual starter pots filled with rich potting soil. Sow seeds ¼ inch deep and firm soil gently over the seeds. Keep moist until they germinate.
        4 To grow magnolia from cuttings, gather pieces of softwood in later winter or early spring. Softwood is new wood whose bark is still soft enough to be easily pierced with your fingernail. Cut pieces that are 4 to 6 inches long, and try to include a couple leaves at the top. Make a clean diagonal cut at the bottom of the cutting. This is the part you will insert into the soil.
        5 Place in rooting medium. Use either vermiculite or peat moss to root cuttings. Fill starter pots with rooting medium. Place cutting into rooting medium, leaving about half of it above the soil line. Cover each pot with its own plastic bag. Humidity is vital when rooting softwood cuttings. Keep the plastic over the pot, except when watering. Place the pots in a protected spot in the shade. Check for roots in four to six weeks. Another sign that the cutting has "taken" is if it starts to grow new leaves.
        6 Transplant seedling or cutting where tree is to grow. Transplant seedlings when they are about a foot high and cuttings when they have a small root ball and their leaves are actively growing. Add some regular garden compost to the hole when transplanting. Set the magnolia so the soil is at the same place on the trunk as it was before transplanting it. Water well and feed with liquid fertilizer every two weeks until late summer, then stop feeding until spring.

So into roses right now ♥

They're smelling so good and honeysucles are almost done. My daughter brought a couple in to see if they're ready and not quite yet, but they smell so wonderful. I have to get strawberries this weekend, it's almost over for them.

I just dry the smaller roses on a paper plate, longer stem roses I hang upside down and some I put in a napkin in a big heavy book. The petals spread out to dry on a plate are good for making potpourri.