Just Like Gram

Grwoing up whenever we needed a gift for the crossing guard or a friend...Gram was there with the perfect something that she had made. Hankies in a thank you card the perfect baby sweater set for the friends new baby and so on over the years. Gram has since passed away but now I find I AM Gram.  My Granddaughter Elizabeth has once again put in an order for a friends baby gift.

camo booties, owl hat, sweater with owl button and a 12 point star blanket.

It is nice for a change to do little boy items but I will be more than ready to get back to pinks and fun colors after all this.
I have to admit that now I know how my Gran felt when people admired the work she did and saw the littlea gifts on the kids in our lives. Customers often send me photos from photo shoots and I love it.

Organizing My Time

This has been a whirl wind year. We have moved and went from a household of eight to ten depending on the day to just a couple with the occasional overnight guests. That all took some getting used to. Then once again I felt that it was up to me to step up and help out a family member, so we brought Tabitha my niece up from Tennessee to stay. She is five. Now I am back to getting someone off to school, reading bedtime stories and making sure there are freeze pops in the freezer for her new group of friends. All of this plus taking online college classes and running Grammas Gifts. Busy yes, but loving it. I think we all have a purpose and when my Gram was ill and I went to care for her, I thought she had trained me for this, then my Mom came up from Tulsa after my Brothers death and I stepped up to make sure she was set up and alright. We checked up on my Uncle until he passed and now a little visitor. I think this is my purpose, to make sure the others are all taken care of, and I am good with it.

This is Tabitha, and she loves to model hats, how wonderful!

With the new house came yard work and we were starting from a blank slate so for Mother's Day the family came together with gifts of plants and did some gardening for me.

Liz in the grey sweatshirt is our nursing student and is helping Tabitha get toiknow all the family members

Samantha in the black jacket should feel right at home, as a kid she was always picking up bugs and frogs and like today WORMS!

JJ would like to stop gardening and take the worms fishing!

The shop has stayed fairly busy and I added a few new items to the inventory

Luau anyone?

A knotted pixie hat

and a few more cute photo props or shower gifts

It is Nice to Be Busy

Things have been pretty busy around our house lately.  My Etsy shop Grammas Gifts has picked up again, and that keeps me hooking. I am taking two classes online and am learning to study all over again. Then we did have seven new puppies come along, my Granddaughter brought her dog Daisy for a visit and she decided to stay a bit. I was also trying to get ready for Easter at the new house, the little guys and I will be heading to Montello and the Annual Easter Bunny Parade. This is the fifth year and each year the crowd grows. The kids really look forward to this. Being from the Chicago area, as kids we went to the mall and saw the Easter Bunny. In this area there is no place to take the kids, and the Garden Center has been kind enough to bring the Easter Bunny to the folks of all ages who live here. Now add to that they we are in the process of trying to get my five year old niece here from Tennessee. Visits with social workers and loads of red tape. The probate on my Uncles estate is still hanging open , so yes we are busy here.
Even though all this is going on I had to get ready for spring. I decided to make what I am calling a diabetic Easter wreath, let me give you a peek....here is a link for the peeps

Marshmallow peep like bunnies.....NO SUGAR involved

Nothing fancy, but a touch of spring on my front door.

our seven little puppies are now wide eyed and crawling everywhere!  The Mom is overwhelmed, so many little mouths to feed.

These are our two guys last year when the weather was warm, the snow was gone and it felt like spring. This year we may be wearing snow boots and mittens to hunt for eggs.

Busy Days

I always thought as the kids grew and I got slightly older I would be less busy and have more ME time. So far, I haven't found that. About two weeks ago we had a litter of puppies, seven healthy little fur balls. Amazing, but I get up at night when one crawls away from Mom and cries, not once but several times a night. Like getting up for those night time feedings all over again.

With my Etsy shop, orders and classes I am taking online my life is pretty full.  Grandkids, kids, pets and did I mention my Grandaughter who is in college to be a nurse brought us her dog to VISIT.  Daisy is a good dog, but as my husband says another dog!

Today we are getting the two little guys for the weekend. I love having them here, I was raised in a house where my Gram lived with us . I need that hands on, as much as some of the kids fight this tooth and nail. Like has been said many times "It takes a village to raise a child"  and I agree. Now with all this going on we also have my Mom recovery from colon surgery and has just started chemo last week. STRESS should be my middle name, so to cope and not go on a never ending eating spree I crochet. I also have discovered Facebook and am trying to use that wonderful tool to help share my shop and keep in touch.
I added a few new patterns for this spring and am busy working on those adorable drivers caps. While watching Marie on the Halllmark channel today I saw one of the young models come out in a drivers cap. The trend for all well dressed little dudes this spring.

This is my go to pattern for spring, I know have made some longer pants and will add them to other listing for yet another look.  

Now with the boys coming I get to do some baking, as hubby and I do not need it ourselves. I have raised another group of boys who thinks Grammas cookie jar should always be full. I found this recipe and breakfast should be quite tasty and different. 

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup milk (use coconut milk for dairy free, this is what I used)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup raisins (plus more for garnish)

Instructions

1. In a bowl add the flour, oats, salt, brown sugar, baking powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, mix until well combined. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the milk, egg and vanilla, stir until just combined. Add the raisins and stir.
2. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat, coat with cooking spray.
3. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter on the hot griddle. Cook until dry on the edges and bubbles start to form in the center. Flip and cook on the other side until cooked through, about 2 more minutes.
4. 
   

(Yield: 6-8 pancakes)

So hug your family , stay warm and try some of these pancakes!

Time to Think

Early this morning my hubby took my Grandson Carsen back to his Dad'd, something we do almost every week. He is my little house guest and gives me reasons to bake cookies and watch cartoons. We spend our days watching the Rifleman, Bonanza and a new favorite of his Gunsmoke. He wants to be a cowboy when he grows up, he is three. In the photo he is busy with his cowboy dog, a cockapoo named BINGO.  We could not have found him a better companion, he is patient, loves the attention and a great side kick to our cowboy. I only hope this phase lasts for years.
The only down side to all this fun we have is that I tend to get very little crocheting done. Over the past few weeks I have bought some very cute patterns and am waiting to try them out. Some of them come from Boomer Beanies, RAKJ patterns and Crazy Socks Designs. There are so many more and with the help of Ravelry and Craftsy a new pattern is very easy to find. The problem is there are more patterns than time lately.  I am working on a set of boxey bunny hats and pants for twins as well as a rhino and in between some african flower hexagons for a bedspread for me.

I am having so much fun working up these little sets, now if we just had some little ones.  I should bite my tongue......we did get little ones today   SEVEN puppies how exciting and this event brought my first home alone day to a stop while all the labor and birthing went on this afternoon.

Mandy the "mom" is a bichon and a one person dog, Mine , she was very upset as she worked so hard this afternoon. This is #5, atleast that is what I was calling him as I rubbed him to get him to wiggle around, he had a hard time coming into the world. 

So, with all this fun behind me, I will get my computer stuff doe and turn in so I can really hook away tomorrow. Orders for the shop to finish and new patterns to try out. Maybe I can get a yarn run to Joanns in the game plan, I got a coupon in the mail.

Picture Perfect

I love to crochet and come up with new items for the Etsy shop. In order to do that I need to take photos, now my photos have greatly improved since I started but are by no means great. Yesterday I found a message from a customer who had bought my mermaid tail to use in her photo shoot.  I love the mermaid outfit but this photo makes it look wonderful.

I have had a few other items photographed and shared with me and am always speechless.  I have to stop and pat myself on the back!

These two were taken by Heather from h Photography in Paris, Texas.    

I am working on a few new addition while filling order, It is funny how the popular hat or outfit changes, right now it seems to be the drivers cap and suspender pants while a few months back it was the mermaid.

 Bunny hats and booties

Christening gowns

and the Driver's cap and bow tie st.  

Now off to crochet some ruffles with photos to come.

Thinking Spring

I know that it is still very cold in many places, but I am going to ignore all that and think spring. Bunnies came to mind the other day and so I broke out the pink and white yarn and made a bunny hat and diaper cover set. Having no little ones here to try them on makes the photo shoots a little less fun.

the soft white hat and diaper cover came out adorable and my favorite part was the fluffy pink tail.

I have a frog and lobster in the works, I am also looking for a boys Christening outfit to crochet, so far not much luck.
I switch between crocheting to working on my online classes and then trying to redecorate our home. That in it self will be a huge project and I can't wait to get started.

This is a photo from one of my customers of her little one in my frog hat with the flower, a fun spring time hat for kids up to 4T.  I must confess though that my Granddaughter in college has one of these hats also.  Size is never an issue.

I am now off to make dog treats. Back before Christmas JJ's dog Spot had two puppies and they are now ready to go live with new families and we are having one last puppy party before they go. Here is a link for the treats I am making, http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/01/14/sweet-potato-pretzel-dog-treats-happy-6th-birthday-einstein

This has been a week without my little helpers and I still find myself turning on channel 19 at 5:00 to watch The Rifleman, Carsen favorite show.  He puts on his hat , grabs his rifle and announces The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors and then fires his rifle. We eat dinner around this show. If I could only find a way to keep him this big!

Carsen and his "cowboy dog"  BINGO.

Inspiration

After having been away from the Etsy shop for a few months it has been an adjustment getting back in gear and crocheting while working on online classes and then my visits with the boys.  Maybe I am just beyond such multitasking .  Even though I did manage to get some new items listed and made some great sales. The inspiration for these adorable drivers hat outfits is my Great Grandson Carsen, he loves hats and looked like this hat was just made for him.

After seeing him in this I set out to make it for some little guys, a great item for photo shoots or just to dress up a little guy.

this is a customers photo from a newborn shoot. Just adorable.  Now I also have to start thinking Valentines Day and spring even though it is still quite chilly here. So on my list for the upcoming days are fluffy chicks and Drivers caps.  It is nice to be busy again and I love the feedback. I also am working on some doll clothes since I have two beautiful granddaughters who just got American Girl type dolls for Christmas. This is all fun, and a Granddaughter who has requested I work up a border collie hat for her. I will let you know how all that comes out. 

Off for some pancakes and housecleaning before I can work on my hats while my inspiration for these is playing The Rifleman, he just loves Chuck Connors and watches it daily. Bonanze, Gunsmoke and the Rifleman and his day is made. The good old days!