Sunday Inspiration

Nurturing a Marriage

My husband and I celebrated 32 years of marriage last week.

Seven years after our wedding we became the joyful, but very tired, parents of quadruplets.

My very wise in-laws encouraged us to go away, just the two of us, a couple times a year. My very wise and kind in-laws babysat for us in those early years so we could get away and nurture our marriage. And sleep!

We don't need Grandma and Grandpa to babysit anymore, but still, 32 years later, we get away, just the two of us, a few times a year. Nurturing a marriage is a very good thing.

A few years ago we found a spot, not too far from home, that has become our favorite place to go.

When we arrived this amazing artwork was hanging on the wall. 

Yep, those are baby sneakers. Do you think this is a sign that there may be even more children in our future? That would be grandchildren!

We had dinner at this amazing restaurant! The food was scrumptious. The service was perfect. Just click on the photo if you want to know more about this restaurant.

Then back to our little get away place for after dinner coffee. Well, I had coffee. My husband had a beer.

The next day we headed into a wonderful little town for breakfast.

                              

I spotted this place as we were driving down the street. Oh, it was love at first sight. We were definitely eating here!

That's my husband enjoying his homemade quiche and chocolate chocolate chip muffin. My husband is a chocolate fanatic. Me too! We were made for each other.

It was a wonderful anniversary weekend! Thank You, God.

Love,

Terry

Sunday Inspiration

Sunday Inspiration

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. -Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

Where Bloggers Create 2013

Today is a, "It's definitely summer!" kind of day. The weather is hot and sticky, the walkers and runners were out before seven a.m., the elementary school parking lot is full once again because summer school is in session, I can hear the neighborhood kids playing in their yards, and Karen Valentine is hosting her annual Where Bloggers Create. It is summer! Yay!

Thank you Karen, http://www.mydesertcottage.com/,  for hosting this wonderful party! It is so much fun to visit all the fabulous studios. I get so many fantastic ideas!

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and come on  in to my studio. My name is Terry, and I am delighted to show you around.

We are entering the studio from the kitchen. This room was once our dining room. We used it once a year at Christmas. I was slowly, but surely, taking it over. One day my husband said, "Would you like to have that room for yourself?"  Within 24 hours out went the dining room furniture and in went my stuff. 

Here we are entering from the foyer. Right now both entries are doorless. (My computer doesn't like my made up word.) Some day I would like to put doors at both entrances. I dream of glass doors with panes to match the sliding door you can see in this picture. I also dream of making skirts for my tables. 

Let's zoom in a bit so you can have a closer look. I am going to start from the left and make my way around the room. 

My husband bought me this fantastic pegboard last year for my birthday. It is actually four pegboards lined up. It is metal so I can use magnetic containers on it also. I dream of putting a beautiful frame around it.  So many of my tools are right at my fingertips. I have more crafting tools than I can fit on that pegboard. I try to keep the tools I use all the time on it.

I use a lot of cookie cutters when I needle felt. My peg board is perfect for keeping them handy.

My knitting needles. My needle stash is going down. Whenever someone wants to learn to knit I grab a pair of needles from my jar, a skein of yarn from my stash and teach. They get to keep the needles and yarn. Somehow my stash never seems to go down. 

A bowl of gorgeous pink yarn that I purchased at Vogue Knitting Live New York. This fabulous event comes to New York every January. I never miss it! I purchased this yarn for Vicki's, http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/, Pink Scarf Project. Click on the picture below to learn more about this project.

The picture in the frame was a Mother's Day card from one of my daughters. I had to frame it! Isn't it adorable?

My chocolate stash. No further explanation is needed. :)

My wine fridge. Chocolate, wine, now you know why I spend so much time in this room. 

This is the view from my studio chair. It's a wonderful place to day dream. Oh and, of course, work.

This is the view from outside looking into my studio. You can find me on that white wicker chair on summer mornings drinking my coffee and on summer evenings knitting with a glass of wine. Sometimes my son will come home from work, sit in the rocker and talk for a little while. I love when he does that. 

The pink scarf I am making for Vicki's Pink Scarf Project. I just have to add the fringe and then it's ready to go!

The most comfortable chair in the house. That is if you can get to it before our cat Bernie does. He doesn't like to share.

The chair really looks like this, but I have to keep it covered because Bernie sheds like crazy. 

My signed Mary Engelbreit picture. It is a good reminder. Must keep my wits about me.

This is Dory, our other cat. She is not in the studio, but I had to show you a picture of her too. She is a talker. She will hold a whole conversation with you. Oddly, we know what she is telling us. 

Just a little bit of my yarn stash. The rest of it is in a closet with a ton of other crafting supplies. My dad would have called it Fibber McGee's closet. Must clean out that closet.

Fibber McGee and Molly

The Hall Closet

The two jars on the right hold most of my roving. I love having the roving in the jars, because at a glance I can see what colors I have, and it all looks so pretty together. See the little puppy on top of the blue jar? I am an elementary special education teacher. Last year I received that from a past student. It is actually a book mark. He sent it to me for teaching him how to read. He said that he wanted me to have the book mark, because it was well used.  He thought that I would appreciate that. He was absolutely right! I will treasure that bookmark forever. 

This precious picture was made for me by another student. I treasure gifts like these. 

A bowl full of bling yarn. Everyone has to have a little bling!

My art is knitting, crocheting and needle felting. 

I made this pillow a few years ago for Living Felt's Peace Felt project. http://www.peacefelt.org/

I knit felted the fabric, then needle felted the design. 

I made this pillow for one of my sisters. She requested daisies because she has a granddaughter named Daisy.

I am working on this handbag now. I need to attach the handles and line the bag. Then it is good to go!

I made this picture for a blog party give-away. I knit felted the background and needle felted the design. The stars are buttons.

A Halloween wreath I made when I was learning how to needle felt. 

A prayer shawl. 

I did not make these. A friend of a friend just gave me her 25 year old, never been used, Bond Knitting Machine. I am abundantly grateful! Now I can create the fabric for my pillows, bags and pictures in less time. Hopefully, I will be able to create more than a couple of pieces a year now. I plan to open an Etsy Shop, sell my work and donate the money to charity. I am inspired by Vicki from http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/. The pieces above were also given to me by the lady who gave me the knitting machine. I want to create a thank you gift for her using those pieces. If you have any suggestions of what I can make for her please let me know. 

Have you heard of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation? http://www.alexslemonade.org/

I collect handmade blankets for children who have been impacted by childhood cancer. Please check out my  website http://www.thelemonadeblanketproject.org/  or you can click on the tab at the top of my blog.

Well, it's time to make dinner. Thank you for stopping by my studio. I hope you enjoyed the tour. 

Love,

Terry

Liebster

I've been nominated for a Liebster Award!

Liebster is a German word that means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, pleasant and valued.

I am abundantly honored! Susan Barclay from http://notesfrominnisfree.blogspot.com/ blessed my blog with this honor. Thank you, Susan!  You can read her Liebster blog post here: http://notesfrominnisfree.blogspot.com/2013/06/lalalalalala-liebster.html

This award has a purpose. I understand that it is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers with the purpose of recognizing their blog and encouraging them to continue blogging. Thank you, Susan! 

"But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." -2 Chronicles 15:7

In acceptance of this award I am to:
1. Give 11 random facts about myself.
2. Answer the 11 questions Susan Barclay asked me.
3. Nominate 11 people for this award.
4. Make up 11 original questions for my nominees to answer about themselves.


Okay, here we go!


Eleven random facts about myself: (in no particular order)

1. I love New York City and Barry Manilow! Put the two together and I am in heaven!

2. I ran the New York Marathon with my daughter Shannon for my 50th birthday.
(That would be 5 years ago.)

3. I love cats. I have always had cats. I have two cats now. I will always have cats. Yes, catS, I like have two -- only two, I am not a crazy cat lady. The photo is of our cats now - Dory and Bernie.

4. I love M&Ms! There is a M&M World in New York City! Heaven!

These tubes are filled with M&Ms!!!!  

5. I like to be home. There is no where in this world I would rather be than Home Sweet Home.

6. I dream of owning a Yarn Studio. I love to knit, crochet and needle felt. I dream of owning a studio where people of all ages can come to knit, crochet and needle felt and make handmade items for charity. There are so many wonderful knitting charities out there. I dream of having a place where people can come together to create for these charities. A place where we can pack all these items up in beautiful packaging with notes of love and caring to the recipients. A place filled with joy and love and generous hearts.

7. I love coffee and all things coffee. Coffee candy, coffee ice cream, coffee frosting, hot coffee, iced coffee. I think you get the idea!

8. I won't kill a spider. Yep, not even that huge one in the photo that I took in my garage. I see every spider as Charlotte.

9. I could sit in my green chair all day reading and blogging. My sister Helen gave me this chair. It is the most comfortable seat in the house. It lives in my studio. I spend hours in it reading, writing, and yes, of course, napping. It's a great napping chair.

That is when these two aren't on it. Can you see her little black body curled up in the chair? 

10. I love to knit in the car. I know, the photo below is not exactly the car. The photo is of my sister Ann's terrace in Florida. We drove, well actually my husband did the driving, to Florida last April. See that little bundle of pink something on the table? That is the scarf I knit all the way down to Florida and home. Gary, my husband, likes it when I knit - I don't make any comments about his driving when I am knitting - or gasping out of panic. The pink scarf is for Vicki's Pink Scarf Project. You can read more about that here:
http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-pink-scarf-project-opportunity-and_8.html

11. My husband and I will celebrate 32 years of marriage this month.

Oh, yes, another fact about me - we have quadruplets.

I adore my husband and my children!  

My answers to Susan's 11 questions:
1. What motto do you live by?  Kindness Counts

2. What's your day job? I am a special education teacher in an elementary school.

3. What's your favorite movie? Sabrina

4. If you could have dinner with any living person, who would it be? Susan Branch! If you don't know who Susan Branch is check out her blog here: http://www.susanbranch.com/


5. Savory or Sweet? Definitely sweet!


6. What's your favorite book and/or who's your favorite author? Since I am a teacher I feel compelled to include my favorite children's book/author also. My favorite children's book, and everyone who knows me is yelling out, Charlotte's Web! This past school year I read a book titled A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole to my fourth grade students. We all loved this book! It won't replace Charlotte's Web but it's a close second. My favorite adult book is, oh this is hard, I love so many, but since I have to choose just one - Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. I choose Simple Abundance because that book changed my life from a life of "My cup is half empty," to a life of "My cup is half full! Thank You, God!" My favorite author, however, is Debbie Macomber.

7. Any regrets? Only that I didn't learn to be grateful earlier in my life.

8. How long have you known your best friend? 38 years. My best friend is my husband, Gary.

9. If you could wave a magic wand and solve one world issue, which problem would you choose to address? Child abuse. I believe every child deserves to feel safe and loved.

10. Have you ever had surgery? Yes.

11. What's your favorite charity? Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.
http://www.alexslemonade.org/



The eleven blogs I am nominating:
1. Laverne at http://riversidestudios.blogspot.com/

2. harleygirl at http://harleygirl-countrygirl.blogspot.com/

3. Pat at http://backporchmusings.typepad.com/blog/

4. Jeanne at http://backyardneighbor.typepad.com/backyard_neighbor/

5. http://dollinthelookingglass.blogspot.com/

6. Racheld at http://lawntea.blogspot.com/

7. The Thrifter Sisters at http://pyrexthriftersisters.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-few-treasures.html

8. Nicole at http://180degrees4singlemoms.blogspot.com/

9. D. Jean at http://djeanquarles.blogspot.com/

10. Terri at http://terrimorse.typepad.com/comfortcottage/

11. Valrie at http://poemsmyway-valrie.blogspot.com/


My eleven questions for the nominees:
1. What is the first thing you do in the morning?

2. What is the last thing you do at night?

3. Do you have children?

4. What do you love to do?

5. Where do you love to be?

6. Do you like to drive?

7. What is your biggest dream?

8. What is your favorite animal?

9. What is your favorite type of food?

10. Are you a morning dove or a night owl?

11. Why do you blog?


Happy Blogging!
Love,
Terry