A lil bit of Saturday Market love

Sweet Baby Viola! Isn't she just a doll baby in her Angie hat. As I was making it, I knew it would be a pressie for her. Her momma loves pink and brown. Such the sunniest of babies.

We had a really nice day. It was sooooo cool. Loved the low humidity and sweet breeze. :o)

Just laying around, taking things easy.

Yep. That is how we roll at my house. Total slackards.

Here is the "skinny" on my doctor's appointment and what is going on with my brain tumor surgery. The doctor said my lungs were not in a good place for this magnitude of surgery. (I still have the pleurisy.) I would have to stay on a vent after the surgery, which would NOT be a good thing. So, I go have another MRI, more in depth, in September and see him the next week. We will go from there. BUT I have told them I have a quilt retreat I am hosting in early November. A girl has priorities you know. I honestly thought this would be over and I would be on the healing  process side of things now. I am trying to be good and rest more and stress less. The last is not happening too well. Life you know has a way of rearing it's ugly head. The doctor also dropped some news on me I did not know. He thought probably someone else had told me. I have arterial nerve damage to one of the 3 main brain nerves. Said it was old damage. And then there is the pill I am now taking once a week to try to reduce the swelling of brain capillaries. Forty dollars, yes $40 for one pill after insurance. Whatever.

So stop on by and we will take a break with Timmy and Toby and bask in the sunshine and talk about future plans and what we are wanting to create. And maybe I will share my chocolate stash with you. :o)

Crocheting and Chickens and Surgery...oh MY!

More baby hats. Lots more. They have been selling well for me at Farmer's Market. I have several listed now in my Etsy store also.

Miss Jaidy loves the chickies! She wanted to catch them all and gives them lots of pets. Her expressions were so cute. And then Penny is THE chicken whisper.

And now the not so fun part of the post. I see the neurosurgeon on Wednesday in Indy. It is a pre-surgery consult, so should know the date of my surgery that day. This has been a long time coming. I have had this brain tumor or more than one, for about 10 years. Technology is now allowing the removal. I just want it. Over. With. Now to get my lungs to play pretty with everything and we should be a go. I still have pleurisy (and one cracked rib) and they want that to be healed before surgery. I would appreciate your prayers in all this. As always, God is why I am still fighting a good fight and not pushing up daisies.

Hope you are in a cool shady place today. Enjoying life and your loved ones.

ps: And a big thank you shout out to those who donated to my starting a Project Linus chapter! I will have this done before surgery.

Asking for your help

I am wanting to start a local chapter of Project Linus. There is not one in our area and there is a great need for snuggly blankies for children and teens. Project Linus only accepts new chapter applications once a year, in August. And there is a application fee of $100. I have spoken to them about this. There is no "scholarships" or other assistance available. The monies go towards a variety of expenses and so on. I am asking for donations towards this amount if it touches your heart to do so. This is a wonderful opportunity for blankets to go into the hands of children in need. I thought with the backing of the Project Linus name, it would make more impact in my community when it comes to donating the blankets. Hope this makes sense to you. I have had this on my heart to do for sometime. I have saved up a portion of the funds needed, but with my health expenses, well honestly, I just can not come up with it all. If you feel led to donate anything towards this, I can accept PayPal.

If you have quilts, afghans or children's panels you would like to donate, let me know and I will send you my mailing address. Please know I put a lot of prayer and thought into this before I sought donations. This is not for my personal gain. I promise.

Thank you so much for your consideration of this. (I have never used this format before, if you have problems with the button, please let me know.)

How to lanolize wool soakers

Crocheting for babies has always been a great love of mine. Now I am crocheting lanolized wool soakers. These are diaper covers that help keep the baby dry by wicking the moisture away from the cloth diaper. You can use these with disposable also. The wool has a natural antibacterial property that neutralizes the urine. Cannot do too much for good ole poo though. :o) There are several styles to use: diaper covers (without legs), shorties (with just a bit of a leg), longies (full leg coverage) and sleep sacks. The sleep sack is perfect for newborn and small babies that do not move a lot. Makes for an easy sleeepytime diaper change with the open end. 

Here are pics of a couple of my wool soakers listed on Etsy.

I sell my soakers, lanolized and ready to wear. This is what keeps them waterproof. Here is simple tutorial on how I do mine.

 I use liquid lanolin, a small jar and a teaspoon. This is my soaker sleep sack. I mix 1/2 teaspoon of the liquid lanolin to hot water in the jar. (The hot water helps melt the lanolin. This is the only time you will use anything hot). This is per soaker. If I was doing 2 soakers, I would add 1 teaspoon. Then shake like crazy. Then shake some more. You want the lanolin to evenly disperse and be a creamy milk color.

Fill the sink with tepid water. Not cold, but definitely not warm. You do not want your soaker to felt or full in water that is too warm. Add your jar of mixed lanolin. Use your hand to mix it throughout the water evenly. 

Place your soaker into the water. Gently push the soaker under water until it stay. Let soak 5 minutes and turn over. Let soak another 5 minutes. Turn the soaker inside out and let soak 5-10 more minutes.

Gently fold the soaker into fourths and squeeze the excess water out. Place the soaker onto a dry large bath towel. Roll the towel and gently squeeze.

Remove the soaker from the towel and place somewhere safe to drip dry. You do NOT machine dry your wool soakers. It will compress the fibers and shrink them up. Drying time depends on many factors: weight and twist of yarn and humidity are the top ones that come to mind. Right now with the hot and humid Indiana weather we are having, I am thinking it might take 3 days. Eeek!
I hope this helps those who had questions about relanolizing their soakers. We need more babies in our family! I am so ready to be a grammy!!!! :o)

Goings on

The farmer's market that Penny and I vendor at, had a wedding. It was so sweet. The young people had met at the market last year while their parents were vendoring. Love blossomed. And they had their wedding on the town lawn, after market on Saturday. All the market vendors and customers were cordially invited.

A sign someone made and set up.

The musicians.

The happy couple walking under an arch of garden implements for the processional. :o) The guests were instructed to bring a canning jar for flower bouquets to hold and their garden implements for the arch.

This lil sweetie is wearing one of my cotton crocheted hat. Her parents are vendors and she is the highlight of my day on Saturdays. Love my baby holding time.

Another lil dolly has one of my children's hats. Look at that natural curly red hair. She is pure sunshine. Love watching her and listening to her talk. Someone asked her this past Saturday where she got that pretty red hair. Her reply? Jesus. :o))))) Her mom said she hadn't ever said that before. Being only 4, you never know what she will say.

I have reopened my Etsy store. Have been working on wool soakers for cloth diaper babies. Although, they are also great for disposables. Wool allows the body to stay at an even temperature, so helps with diaper rashes. I am lanolizing them, so they will be absorbent yet will not easily leak. Making baby and children items gives me great pleasure.

Hope you had a love Independence Day.