Home on the Range and Hearts

I have been spending on the average about three to four hours outside each day, walking, enjoying my Gizzy, the ducks and just communing with Mother Nature, thankful for being alive. Soon it will be hot again and I'll be confined to the indoors with artificial air...something I do not look forward to.

Wednesday I'm going to the Valdosta Allergy and Asthma clinic for an Asthma test and see what can be done about my coughing so much. I've had this cough for four years now and it's time to get to the bottom of this. Obviously it's not going away and now I lost my singing voice - I'm fed up!

Meanwhile, I enjoy being outside. It's been so nice and warm the past few days that the honey bees have been very active. They were buzzing around, you'd almost have to duck out of their way. Here's one that landed on my walker and I managed to get a decent photograph of her:

One of our resident strays, Smoky, who was altered during our spay/neuter fundraiser, follows Gizzy and me half-way down to the lake. Here he is hiding in the shrubs as we walk by:

(you have to look twice to see him)

(a bit closer up)

He is my next dilemma when/if I move. He's too tame to be wild and too wild to be tame...he latched on to me and now I allow him to spend the night in the bedroom on top of the big pile of comforters (sigh!) Maybe this allergist can help figure out a way for me to stay here, because honestly, I am not looking forward to moving again, but my health has to come first! I can't go on like this!

On Friday night I had my own, private crochet-along with Teresa on her You Tube channel. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. She shows how to make the cutest little hearts, the super easy way! You should really try it. She has so many other patterns that she crochets on her videos, awesome!

This is the tutorial I used for the smaller hearts (very easy!):




I used this tutorial for the larger hearts that would also make excellent coasters, especially if you used cotton yarn.

Easy crocheted hearts
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2YzJOuSnJ4&feature=relmfu

I made this lot just sitting here watching Teresa of Art of Crochet show me how and it was so much fun. A nice change from looking at patterns PLUS, she also shows the left-handed crochet version:

I love the way she explains things, so nice and calm and best part is, you can just hit "pause" and "play" at your pace. I will try some of her other patterns she offers in her tutorials. I signed up for her channel. Between her and Maggie Weldon, one could learn how to crochet without ever leaving the house.

Last night, I crocheted this little hanging picture frame for my mother. I purchased some plastic child's heart shaped bracelets from the Dollar Store and just crocheted around it and then crocheted a separate heart that I sewed onto the back to the frame so that a picture can be inserted. I think my mom will love this:

Since using the digital camera, I don't have many recent photos of myself on hand, so I just used an old one of Gizzy and me in younger days (about 10 years ago) and put it in there. There is no pattern for this. I just made it up, but I've seen similar frames before, so it's not a big revelation on my part.

Here's the back:

You get 12 bracelets in a pack for $1.50, so I'll be making more in different colors and offer them for sale in my Etsy Shop and give some away to a couple of friends/neighbors so they can put their own photo in there.

I'm also in a Heart Swap, so that might be a good one to give away, either that or my crocheted potpourri heart (I'm torn) - what do you think?

My Swap recipient lives in England, so would she like this potpourri pouch in cotton better (that's about 7") or would she like the picture frame hanger (about 4.5") for her own photo. I'd like to hear your opinion, please!