Camping Dreams

Yesterday I was on Facebook and I saw a post that my cousin had put up with a picture of a vintage camper. It is so cute!

 

 

If I thought that we could have a camper as cute as this I would suggest that Eddie and I go buy one in heartbeat. It's amazing what one can do with an older camper. When you see pictures of vintage campers, it's hard to see beyond the age to visualize something that would be this inviting.

 

Several years ago, Eddie I owned a fairly large van. We love to go to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and this one particular time we decided to take the van and rent a space in a campground. So, that's exactly what we did. We didn't have anything to cook with, we just rented the space to sleep there, and there was a small restaurant at the end of the road where we had planned to go and eat breakfast.

 

I was surpised at how comfortable the van slept. We laid down the back seat of the van and it made a nice wide bed for both of us. Eddie is 6 feet tall and it was long enough that he was able to sleep comfortably too. The only thing was that sometime in the night I had to pee and I had to walk to the building to use the restroom. That wasn't fun, walking in my pajamas half asleep to a building to use the restroom. I told Eddie I would just go outside the back of the van and use it there. Ha ha! He said, "You can't do that. There are people walking around out there." I said, "Surely not at this time of the night." I finally decided to give up and go to the building to use the restroom and, sure enough, there was a man walking around out there. He wasn't threatening at all, and I'm assuming he was going to the restroom too.

 

The next morning, we were awakened by the smells of coffee brewing, bacon frying and we were about to starve to death!  When we woke up we saw people around us cooking over campfires and on little cookstoves and I have to say I was extremely envious, wishing we had brought something to cook with because it really looked like fun.  We had to get up and drive the van to that restaurant to get something to eat. We decided that the next time we did this, we would bring things to cook with, but somehow we just never did it again.


Now that I'm retired, we probably could go camping, but would we? I'm wondering if I love the "idea" of camping more than actually doing camping itself? Am I really interested in camping or do I just want to look at the pictures of cute campers and wish we had one and just dream about it? For one thing, campers do require maintenance and when you go camping you have to hook it up, put the awning up and various physical things that at this point, I'm not sure Eddie could do. He had bypass surgery last August and he is still not able to do heavy lifting. Yesterday we went to Walmart and to buy cat litter. We usually buy the 25 pound bags of litter because they last awhile. We bought 3 of them and I guess we must both be wimpy or weaker than we used to be because it took both of us to lift the 25 pound bags of litter and take them into the house. So, I would love to try camping again, but I'm reluctant to make the commitment at this point until I'm sure that Eddie can handle the maintenance and setting up of it. We have thought about getting one of those popup campers, but I would have to see some cute ones decorated to get me interested. I would guess that a popup wouldn't be as much maintenance as the smaller pull along campers like in the picture above. So, for the time being, I will look at pictures of cute decorated campers and dream about having one and camping in it.  I've been doing image searches on Google for cute decorated vintage campers and here are a couple more pictures that I found.

 
 

Forgiveness

Today I felt led to post some Bible verses and quotes on forgiveness:

 

Psalm 103:8-12 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

The Christian’s Attitude of Forgiveness

Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (attitude: forgive because you love the Lord)

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (attitude: can love cover it?)

2 Corinthians 2:5-8 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. (attitude: stand ready to forgive)

Galatians 6:1-2 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (attitude: approach gently and stand ready to restore the relationship)

Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.(attitude: loving and forgiving just like God forgave you)

Christian Quotes About Forgiveness

“A forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it can never be shown against the man. “ ~ Henry Ward Beecher

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

“Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.” ~ Billy Graham

“Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.” ~ C.S. Lewis

“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” ~ Alexander Pope

Vintage Korean Change Purses

Today is my birthday and one of my best friends gave me a beautiful vintage change purse.

I just love this little change purse!

I didn't realize how much until I remembered how vintage and unique they are.  My mother has a small vintage beaded change purse that she keeps her spare change in.  She had used it so long that some of the beads were falling off and it was literally falling apart.  I found her another newer purse, not beaded, but she loved it just the same.

My new change purse prompted me to look for some historical information on it and try to date it.  One source I found said that these purses were from the 50's and another one said the 60's.

In my searching, I also found some pictures of others that are similar.  They are so pretty!

Happy Valentine's Day!

In this world when there are so many family members who are cruel to one another, it's so wonderful to know that I have a wonderful husband who loves me and who knows how much I love him.

  We both know each other so very well and have such a bond that not many people can understand or even hope to understand.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and I hope you have someone in your life who loves and treasures you as much.

Crazy

Things in my life have been crazy lately.

 Confusing things.

Hurtful things.

Things I will never get over.

But yes ... I really will ... in time, with God's help.

In times of stress, I have always let God get me through.  It's always been true, and it's still true now.  Another thing I have always done to help me get through difficult times is my needlework.  So a crazy quilt just seemed appropriate.

I love crazy quilts.  Several years ago when I was researching my family tree on my mom's side I found a distant cousin who had been doing the same thing.  She had a crazy quilt that our great-grandmother had made.  I have a picture of it somewhere.  I'll find it and post it here.

I tried to take a picture of the wall hanging I'm working on.  It's just 4 blocks, but I couldn't get the whole thing in and get a good picture, so I decided to post pictures of a couple of the blocks.

This is my crazy quilt wall hanging in progress.  I'm really enjoying it.  I have already pieced my blocks and I'm now in the process of embroidering the blocks.  That has been a learning experience, but I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out so far.

Little Blue House and the Blue Max Special

I’m kind of sad and really nostalgic today.  I’ve been thinking about things we have owned in the past and sold.  The main thing I’m sad about is the house we used to live in before the house we live in now.  When Eddie and I first got married we lived in his trailer that he had bought when he was still single.  We had some good memories there, but as time went on we decided to buy a house.  We found a little house on the other side of town from where we were living at the time.  It was a cute and pretty little house.  It was a little blue house that sat on a little hill on about an acre and a half of land.  We used to sit on the front porch in our rockers and just look down the hill and watch the traffic go by, or watch our neighbor work in his vegetable garden.  It was a nice, quiet relaxing little area.  This picture is not of our front porch and rockers, but reminds me so much of how it looked:

I really miss my front porch.

Eventually, we decided we wanted a bigger house and smaller yard, so we started looking.  We couldn’t really find anything that we liked, so when my Aunt Dorothy moved into assisted living we bought her house from her.  I cried when I left our little blue house.  We had lots of wonderful memories there, but it was time to move on.  I feel like that was our little house and I guess I still think about it a lot.  Since we sold the house, it has gone through more than one owner.  I don’t know if the house is being rented or is owned by the people who live in it now, but Eddie said he has been by there and it looks awful.  He said whoever owns it has torn the blue siding off and tried to paint it.  The yard looks terrible.  The neighbors say the people who live there now party all the time and there are always loads of cars and people in the yard.  They said they have to call the police on them about every 2 or 3 days.  It really makes me sad and breaks my heart to know that our little blue house, which was once such a place of refuge and wonderful memories, has been mistreated this way.  I remember when we bought the house, the then owner had grown up in the house and her mother had lived there until she died.  She had even planted some of the trees in the yard.  In fact, the owners of that house once owned almost all of the land around the house.  The owner told me that she was glad we bought the house because she knew we would take care of it.  There is something about passing something along to someone else, believing that the new owner will continue to take care of it and not mistreat it.  I feel really badly about how the house is being mistreated now.  I told Eddie to not even tell me anything else about it, it breaks my heart so.  I just think that God is responsible for everything we have.  We don’t really own anything.  Everything is His and he gives it to us to take care of while we are on this earth.  I guess I just feel badly because it’s not being taken care of.  People these days just don’t have any respect for anything.  It’s really sad.

Another thing that Eddie told me this morning was that he thinks he saw a car that we used to own.  We sold it, too, several years ago.  It was a 1986 Mercury Cougar that was a dark blue on top and the bottom part was silver.  It was called a Blue Max special.  We called it “Old Blue.”  He said it thinks he saw it in the parking lot of a restaurant where he was eating this morning.  He said it looked terrible and said it looks like there was piles of trash and junk inside it.  That breaks my heart too.  We loved that car and it served us well over the years.

I know we are not supposed to focus on material things ... and I don’t.  I don’t have a desire to own lots of possessions.  I guess it just makes me sad that people who owned our things after us just didn’t take care of them the way we did.  But, then we have no control over who owns our former possessions and the way they take care of them.  I guess we just have to remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21.  I 'm using the King James Version just because I love the language:

¹⁹ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
²⁰ But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Japanese Origami Paper Flowers

This past week, I discovered a cool new project to make and sell at my next craft show.  I saw these pretty Japanese Kusudama Paper Flowers online.  I thought they were so pretty, so I decided to try my hand at it.  Below is my first attempt.  I had a vase around the house that I used and this is my first paper flower arrangement.

These are really fun and so addictive!  People use all kinds of paper to make these.  I used mostly scrapbook paper, but I also used yellow copy paper and book pages.  I'm going to make some more and trying selling some of these arrangements at my next craft show.

Ruffle Scarf

I've been seeing alot lately on the Internet and on blogs about these knitted Ruffle Scarfs.  There are several videos on Youtube for how to make them.  I went to Youtube and just typed in "Ruffle Scarf" in the search box and several came up.  I was curious about how this works and it's really very easy.  The yarn that they are knitted with is a kind of ribbon looking yard, but you spread it out and it makes a lacy type yarn, then you knit into the top holes of the lace.  It's quite simple, really.  A friend of mine has been making them and selling them and she said they were fun.  Well, one day this week I bought some yarn at Hobby Lobby (Yarn Bee Chrysalis) and tried to start one.  I must have been really tired and distracted because I started it about 3 times and every time I got to about the 3rd row, I ended up with more stitches on my needle than I started with.  I was thinking that I wasn't having "fun" at all, but I decided it wasn't going to beat me, so last night I started again and so far it's going really well.  The yarn is kind of fiddly, but once you get the hang of working with it, it's really pretty easy and you get a really festive looking scarf out of it.  I just had to try it and I haven't decided yet if I'm going to wear it or sell it, but if it goes well I'll probably make a couple more, maybe, to sell.  The colors are beautiful.  I love variegated yarn.  It's one of my favorite things.

Chef King

Every day is a little bit better since Eddie's bypass surgery.  That was a real scare for both of us.  And a wakeup call.  We've both been trying to eat healthier more now than ever before.  The other night he decided to cook some balsamic chicken and pork on a small griddle that we have.  It's the kind that you put on top of the stove and when you cook your meat, it has grill marks like you have cooked it on the outside grill.  Only one problem, yuck ... cleaning.  I hate this thing.  The meat is pretty when it's finished, but the darned griddle is a pain in the patootie to clean.  So ... if we ever get it clean this time, we'll definitely be using aluminum foil or something else the next time.  IF we ever get it clean.  We've tried everything.  Right now it has oven cleaner on it.  We'll see how it goes.  Anyway ... I took some photos of Eddie cooking.  He was sitting down and wearing one of my aprons, but he was enjoying every minute of it.  Also, the meat looks really good on the griddle.  It tasted great too and I think we're having leftovers tonight!

Putting Things Into Perspective

I saw a post from one of my favorite bloggers Willa Cline.  If you go to her blog, you can read what she wrote.  It was about someone else that she read about who doesn't understand how people who work full time have time for vacations, etc., when this person spends most of their weekends doing laundry, cleaning house, etc.  Willa was talking about how it's all about deciding what is important to you and doing that.  It's about priorities.  I learned alot about that this past week.  My husband had to have a cardiac triple bypass surgery last week.  It was a shock to both of us.  He is tall (6 feet), not overweight, doesn't have high blood pressure, no sugar problems, no cholesterol problems at least when he had his bloodwork done.  We thought he was in relatively good health.  He had been complaining off and on for the past couple of weeks about being short of breath.  On Tuesday, Aug. 14, he went to the ER.  They ran several tests and ended up doing a artiorgram and found significant blockages.  The dr said stents wouldn't do it and he was recommending bypass.  He had the surgery, came through it fine and is now home recuperating and healing.  What it's taught us is that he had a very close call.  He was very lucky that he went when he did and had it checked out.  It prevented what could have been a much worse outcome.  It's really put things into perspective for us.  It means that we take care of ourselves and spend as much time together as we possibly can and count our blessings.  We also say "I Love You" alot more often.

Disappearing Nine Patch in Progress

Tonight I whipped this up:

I don't mean to sound boastful, but this pattern was so easy that it didn't take long at all.  This quilt top looks like I spent tons of time on it and I really didn't.  I put the tutorial on here a couple of posts ago.  These are 9 patch squares that have been cut crosswise down the middle.  Then the little blocks are reassembled into a different looking block.  I'm really loving this pattern.  I found some really pretty 5 inch cotton fabric squares on eBay at a very good price.  They were in my mailbox when I got home from work this afternoon and I couldn't wait to get started.  I guess I don't know when to quit when I start this kind of stuff because I didn't stop until this small wall hanging was sewn together.  It's not finished.  I still have to put borders on and quilt it, but I really wanted to share what I've done so far. 

This fabric is just a hodgepodge of everything.  When you use just 3 or 4 colors it really adds a different look.  Look at this square that I started with some 5 inch squares I already had.

Lots of fun!  I hope this inspires you to make one of your own.  If you do, I hope you share your pictures with me or on your own blog.  But, let me know if you make one and share the photos.  I'll post more photos of this one later.



The Lord is my Shepherd

This morning on the way to work one of my favorite chapters in the Bible came to me.  I used to have it memorized when I was a child, but this morning as I was trying to recall it, I couldn't remember it all.  It just made me realize that I need to memorize it again.  It's Psalm 23.  I love the way this chapter is written and when I read it from the King James Version, it sounds like music.

Psalm 23

(A Psalm of David)

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

I grew up going to church and learning all these verses and chapters from the Bible.  The King James Version is the version of the Bible that we always used.  Over time, I have come to start using other versions as well, but I really like the New International Version.  It makes things easier to understand.

I'm not a person who is what some would call a Bible thumping Christian.  I don't proclaim my Christianity from the rooftops, although I'm sure some would think I should.  I prefer to live my Christian life quietly, without announcing any works I might do.  I think it's much better to do works in quiet so that I don't seem boastful about what I've done and people don't necessarily know it's me that did them.  I know I did them and that's all that matters.  I work mostly behind the scenes in helping people or doing whatever Jesus puts in my path to be done to glorify him.  As I said, I'm not one to shout my Christianity from the rooftops, however I'm not afraid to tell anyone that my Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins.

I hope I don't sound preachy today.  It just seemed like the Lord was leading me to post this on my blog and Facebook today for a reason that only He knows. 

In my next post, I will share some pictures of the Disappearing Nine Patch wall hanging that I've started.  I'm having great fun with this pattern and it's so easy!

Disappearing Nine Patch Block

I'm always looking for new, easy quilt blocks and patterns to make. This morning a coworker brought in a quilt that she had been working on at a quilt retreat. It was beautiful, but the pattern was a little more complicated than I wanted to try. So, I was looking up something else quilt related in Google and ran across this easy quilt pattern that I had seen awhile back and forgotten about it. It's called the Disappearing Nine Patch Block. I've been loving nine patch blocks for a really long time. In fact, my very first quilt was a nine patch quilt. I made several nine patch blocks from scrap fabrics in my stash and I made all of the center squares of the nine patches with red fabric. It was so easy and I had a quilt top in no time. My very first one, and it made me feel so good that I could create something so beautiful. Well ... now, I have discovered a wonderful new variation on the nine patch block. I can't believe I haven't known about this before. Here is a Youtube video tutorial describing it.

Disappearing Nine Patch Block Tutorial

Now, you see how easy this is. I can't wait to try one. But ... then I saw that pretty quilt in the tutorial and those lovely scallop edges. I have shied away from scallop edges in the past, but the following video makes it look very easy. At least it's presented in a way that I think I could actually do it.

How to Make a Scalloped Edge on a Quilt

When she was talking about the scallop ruler, I knew I had to order one of those, so I did that. Then I saw this next video on how to make the continuous bias binding for the scallop edges.

How to Make Continuous Bias Binding

Well, then of course, you know I had to get one of those bias rulers too. Maybe I didn't need that ruler. If I were a more seasoned and experienced quilter I could probably figure out how to make those bias strips without it, but for me, it will be much easier to make them with this ruler, so I ordered one of those too. Sigh ... I guess when it comes to quilting, or any project really, one thing calls for another. But, now I really want to learn how to make those scallop edges. I think they are beautiful and add such elegance to a quilt. I have tons of 5" squares, so I can't wait to start working on the disappearing nine patch block. I will post pictures when I get some of it made.

Book Spine Poetry

I wanted to share something with you that I've been working on the past few days.  I just discovered a really fun, inspiring form of making poetry from book spine titles.  This is the coolest thing.  The best definition of "book spine poetry" that I can give you is that you look for book titles (not authors) either in your own book collection at home, or in a library.  You find a book title that speaks to you or sounds intriguing, then you find some other titles to go along with it to make a short poem in a way that makes sense.  Once you have your books together and your poem, you stack the books with their spines showing in the order of the poem.  You read the titles, not the authors, to make the poem.  Then snap a picture.  Anyone can make poetry with book spine titles.

Then I asked myself, what better place could I do this than in a library where I work?  Man, the possibilities are endless.  It was all I could do today to do my real work.  What I really wanted to do was go out in the stacks and look for poems.  I did manage to make a few and I made this short video.  I hope you enjoy it.

I hope you will be inspired to make your own book spine poetry. If you do, please take pictures and share. My understanding is that some schools are using this as a learning tool to get kids interested in writing poetry. I sure wish my teachers had used these types of things when I was in school. I think my writing and other schoolwork would have been alot more fun if they had.

Wind Storm

This has been an unseasonably hot summer so far. It's been in the 90's almost every day and for the past week or so, the temperatures have been over 100 degrees. We had a bad wind storm last week. I was at home by myself when it hit and I was scared to death! I have never seen the trees bend over the way they did that night. I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

I was pacing the floor. I didn't know what to do, so the only thing I knew to do, if I thought a tornado was coming, was just get in the bathtub and pull a quilt over me and pray and hope for the best. The storm finally ended, but not before taking our power for about 2 days. We did finally get our power back on and it was wonderful!

Kitten Cuteness

We got our new babies this past Saturday.  They are so sweet and adorable!  Just what we needed after losing our precious Heckle a few weeks ago.  I thought I wouldn't be ready, that it would be too soon, but as soon as I saw pictures of these babies on my cousins' Facebook page, I knew I had to have one.  Then ... we decided to get 2 of them so they could be companions and playmates for one another.  We are so glad we did!  They have added so much joy to our lives already (in just 2 days).  They took to us right away, have not been scared at all, so we think it was meant to be.

This precious one is Pepper.

And this sweet baby is Bootsie.

Taking a nap together.  So sweet!

I'm just like a new mother or grandmother.  I've been snapping cute photos like crazy.  I'm going to get an album and document their growth from babies to adults.

Kittens

I never posted about this on my blog because I was so heartbroken about it, but about a month ago we lost our beloved cat, Heckle to a leukemia cancer.  He had had all of his vaccinations, so I couldn't figure out why he got it.  The vet said that it was old age mostly, that when cats reach a certain age, they start to get these kinds of things.  Heckle was 16.

Ever since he died I've been missing him something terrible.  He was such a good cat, had his own personality and was just like having another little person in the house.  He loved to be loved on and petted.  It was so tragic when he got sick and near the end he just didn't resemble himself at all.  The illness took it's toll on him.  After he died, I lit a candle one day and had a little memorial service and talked to him and it made me feel better and gave me closure.

That was a little over a month ago.  One of my cousins has a cat who had 4 kittens about 6 weeks ago.  She posted pictures of them on Facebook and they are so darned cute!  Well, my mind started churning thinking about it and I asked Eddie about adopting one of the kittens.  He said ok and then we started talking about getting 2 kittens.  Now, we are going to adopt 2 of the kittens.  We're very excited, at least I am.  I think Eddie is too, he just isn't saying much.  I think he misses Heckle too and just have that warm presence in the house.  So, on Saturday we are planning to get them.  I've posted a few pictures here that my cousin has posted on Facebook over the last few weeks.  She took these pictures with her camera phone, so they are not very clear, but I think you can get the idea of what they look like.

The ones we are planning to get are the gray and white one and the striped tabby one with white feet.  They are so cute!

Origami Bookmarks

I think I'm addicted to making these little bookmarks.  They are just so darned easy to make and take less than 2 or 3 minutes.  I've already made a bunch of these.  I'm using one right now on a book I'm reading and it's working pretty well.  It doesn't fall off the page or out of the book.  It reminds me of when I first started making origami cranes.  They turned out to be so easy and therapeutic that I guess I became addicted to making those too.  I have hundreds of them at home.  I'm probably going to be making some more origami crane mobiles to give for gifts.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the bookmarks I've made and the cranes.

Earlier this week I found a pretty origami crane mobile with beads that I want to try and make.  I love this mobile and I can't wait to try one.

Lots of Things

I've been working on a few things since I last posted.  I dabbled into making fabric bowls from the book, It's a Wrap by Susan Breier.  This was something I had seen at my local quilt shop and thought it was cool, but didn't think I would ever try it.  Then, one day I started thinking about it and decided to try it.  I ordered a used copy of the book from Amazon from a dealer in North Carolina.  I live in Tennessee and I thought that by ordering it from a state nearby it wouldn't take as long to get it as maybe from a state farther away.  Wrong!  They didn't even ship it until almost a week after I ordered it.  It was very frustrating since when I'm in the mood to work on a project, I work to work on it NOW.  Fortunately, there were lots of Youtube videos and online sites with tutorials and I basically learned how to do everything without the book.  This was a fun project, but the worst part of it is wrapping the fabric around the clothesline.  Also, it was a bit of a challenge to find the clothesline in my area, so I ended up using a macrame cord that I found at Hobby Lobby.  It worked fine.  So, I made a couple of bowls.  One of them is pictured here:

I think it came out pretty well, but by the time I had made the second one I was just over it.  It came out pretty well too, but I still have to put the fabric edging at the top.  By the time I finally got the book, I was just over it all totally, but I did look through it, decided that it didn't tell me any more than the online resources had.  You can basically learn this technique and not even need the book.

After that, I just got in the mood to work on crocheting granny squares.  I did some images searches in Google and saw some really pretty scarves, so I decided to make one.  I made the first one and really liked it, then I decided to make another one for my mother-in-law for Christmas.

The lighter colored one is the first one I made and the second one in the dark lavender is the one I made for my mother-in-law.  Granny squares are really fun to crochet and you don't need that many for a scarf .. about 12.  I crocheted a single crochet around the outside edge of the scarf all the way around and added some fringe.

I was on Pinterest earlier this week and I saw a really cute idea for bookmarks.  I love origami and I found this great tutorial for making them.  When you get to the blog page, just scroll down a little bit and you will find the tutorial for the origami bookmarks.  They are so easy to make and lots of fun with different colored papers.  I first tried it with some origami papers and then realized that the paper is not strong enough to stay on the corner of your book page.  So, I found some scrapbook papers that I had at home and they are the exact size (3 inch square), so I made several with them and they came out great!  I love these!  They stay on the corner of your page and you can keep them on there until you finish reading and then move them to mark your new page.  One thing I did a little differently from the tutorial was fold in the back flap also, so that when you turn your page, the bookmark will not be in the way of your reading.  Here are a few that I made:

To give you a little more detail, here are some photos to show you how I folded the back flap in so that it doesn't show on the back when you are reading the next page:

After you follow the instructions in the tutorial (the link I mentioned above), your bookmark will look like this:

To fold the back flap in, I turn the bookmark over and fold the flap toward the back to crease it,

Then I turn it back over, and fold the flap inside the bookmark, like this:

When you finish, the bookmark will look like this:

Then you can put it on your page,

and leave it there while you read, and move it to mark your place when you stop reading.

I love these little bookmarks.  They are fun to make and really cute out of the scrapbook papers.  I hope these photos make sense.  If not, let me know and I will try to take some pictures of the whole process.