Better Late Than Never

Better late than never ... I hope Flower Lady agrees.

Back in January I participated in Vicki's, from Two Bags Full,  Grow Your Blog Party.  Many participants offered a prize for visiting and leaving a comment. At my post I chose to do this also. I love the idea of creating a gift for someone I do not know. There's a peace in creating something for someone just out of love for your craft and the love of spreading joy.

 Lorraine from Flower Lady's Musings was my winner. I've been following Lorraine's blog for a while, and I was so happy she was my winner.

I won this adorable handmade pillow from Jessica from Blessings in the Country.

                      

I had already decided what I was going to make for Lorraine. I had joyfully browsed through books for inspiration. I had sketched my design. I had made the fabric for the front of the pillow. Then I got the flu. Ugh! Sitting at my worktable needle felting and sewing was something I did not have the strength to do. For now ...

BUT, after drinking lots of fluids and getting plenty of rest I got better, and I was able to return to creating my special project for Lorraine. I am always in awe of how God created our bodies with the ability to heal themselves.


This photo is of my sketch. Drawing is not one of my gifts so I use cookie cutters and stencils to help me with my sketching.

This is the fabric that I made. First, I knit it on my knitting machine, then I threw it in the washing machine to felt. I used Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool to create my fabric. This yarn creates a felt that is soft to the touch and so wonderful to work with.

Next, I needle felted my design onto the felt. I used cookie cutters to help me with my design. They also protect my fingers from the sharp felting needles.

I added some embellishments. This is my favorite part! I love to embellish things! 

I apologize for the poor photo. The sunlight streaming in the window makes the right side look a bit tan colored. The whole backing is ivory. Photography is a skill that I want to improve. 

                                

I then sewed on the fabric for the back of the pillow and stuffed the pillow with fiberfill.

                               

I hope Flower Lady likes it. 

GROW YOUR BLOG

 Hi! I'm Terry. Welcome! 

First, I would like to thank Vicki from 2 Bags Full for hosting this annual "Grow Your Blog" party. Thank you, Vicki! 

I am most happily married to Gary. I am the very proud mother of Meredith, Rick, Shannon, and Tracy. My children are 26 years old. Yes, all four of them. They are quadruplets. Here's a picture when they were babies. 

 

I also have a furry baby named Dory. 

I am an elementary school special education teacher. I was blessed to be able to stay home with my children for the first 8 years, then I returned to work - part time at first, but full time since they were 14. I am looking forward to retiring. I dream of baking cookies and doing crafts with my grandchildren (none yet, but I'm dreaming) and having lots of time to devote to my other passions.

I love to teach, read, write (in the form of journaling and blogging), take long walks with my girl friend Denise, care for and decorate my home, spend time with my family and friends, craft, knit, crochet, and needle felt. 

I named my blog "Sharing Divine Inspiration" because every morning I have my first cup of coffee with God. I express my gratitude, read a devotional or two, and listen. I listen for Divine Guidance and Inspiration. I then go about my day following that Guidance and Inspiration. I blog to share with you what I am Divinely Inspired to do.

I choose not to blog about my job, however I may occasionally share a good child's book or website.  I sometimes blog about my home and family. I always blog about my creative passion.

My creative passion is hand making felt fabric, then needle felting a design on it, then making pictures, pillows, and handbags with it. Here are a few photos of my projects: 

Above is a pillow I made for my sister. I hand knit-felted, also known as fulling, the green fabric then needle felted the design. Green is her favorite color, and she has a granddaughter named Daisy. 

This was my give away for Vicki's first Grow Your Blog party. I made this using the same procedure as above, then matted and framed it. I used cookie cutters to help me with the house and the heart. The stars are buttons. 

To make the bag above I hand knit, holding two strands together, the bag in two pieces, front and back. Then I crocheted it together and felted it. The bumps on the sides were by accident - I think they were the result of crocheting. I needle felted the design, and attached the handles. I still need to line this bag, then it will be done. I've been making this for myself, so it keeps getting put on the back burner. I am planning to use this as my knitting bag. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I am designing a prize for a visitor from this wonderful party. I don't know exactly what it will be yet, but I can tell you that it will be felted. Just leave a comment on this post, and you are automatically entered. I will announce the winner on February 15 as Vicki requested. 

I am looking forward to curling up in my favorite green chair, with a hot cup of coffee, my iPad, my cat Dory, and visiting your blog. 

With gratitude,

Terry

The Lemonade Toy Project - Calling Knitters, Crocheters, Sewers

The Lemonade Toy Project

Formerly known as The Lemonade Blanket Project

My Inspiration

click on the image above to go to alexslemonade.org

Have you heard about Alexandra "Alex" Scott? She was a 4 year old girl determined to find a cure for childhood cancers. 

Alex was a little girl with cancer. She decided that she was going to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to make better medicine to help all children. Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand  is a picture book written by Alex's parents telling her story. 

click on the above image to go to amazon.com 

I am an elementary school teacher and an avid knitter. In the winter of 2012, inspired by Alex's story, my fifth grade students held a fundraiser for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation called "Collect Coins for Cancer." My students raised $4,865.00 for the foundation. During the time of our fundraiser I asked my contact person if anyone was knitting blankets for the children who were impacted by childhood cancer. The answer I received was, "No." That is when I decided to begin "The Lemonade Blanket Project." The Lemonade Blanket Project collected handmade blankets for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation to be distributed to children who have been impacted by childhood cancer. More than 75 blankets were provided through the kindness, love, and generosity of knitters, crocheters, sewers, and quilters. Joyfully, the foundation has informed me that all of the children they serve have received a blanket, and they have extras for any future child who may need one.

Every year, in December, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation holds a Heroes' Dinner for the children. I thought that this year we could provide a hand knitted, crocheted or sewn stuffed toy for each child. 

If you are interested in helping please knit, crochet or sew a stuffed toy for a child. Any color is fine. Please no buttons or other materials that could be a choking hazard. Kindly use hypoallergenic polyfill, and please make the toy huggable, not huge.

Completed stuffed toys can be sent to:

The Lemonade Blanket Project

133 Kiel Ave.

Kinnelon, NJ 0740

Thank you!
Terry                                        

Vogue Knitting Live

Saturday, January 22 was a cold and blustery day in New York City. Taking place at the Javits Center was the motorcycle and boat show. Taking place at the Hilton New York was Vogue Knitting Live! On this cold windy morning, my sister-in-law, Doreen, her friend, Amelia, and I drove to Port Imperial to take the ferry over to New York City. The ferry was packed with lots of men and a few women going to the boat and motorcycle show, and lots of women and a few men going to Vogue Knitting Live. Once off the ferry we took the bus up to 52nd street and walked the few blocks to the New York Hilton. Upon entering the Hilton we quickly realized that we were in knitting heaven. Vogue Knitting Live took up three, (or was it four?) floors of the hotel. There were two floors called The Marketplace, where you could purchase everything ever made for knitting and crocheting. There was amazing yarn by the miles. The rooms were filled with the most talented knitters and crocheters in the U.S. Inspiration was everywhere! I easily could have spent thousand of dollars on the patterns, books, yarn, and other materials, but I carefully walked through the two floors of marketplace booths and then made my purchases. I purchased an autographed book titled Cowlgirls by Cathy Carron. I was blessed to have some time to talk with Cathy and we quickly discovered that we were both moms to beautiful daughters whom we love to knit for. Cathy's book is filled with cowls to knit for my girls. I also purchased a pattern book titled Huggable Friends 1. This book is filled with patterns to make adorable huggable boy and girl dolls. My niece is expecting boy-girl twins in June and these dolls would make the perfect gift. At the same booth I bought the coloring book of huggable dolls. I thought perhaps I could use the pictures in the book as patterns for needle felted dolls. My final purchase was the gorgeous knitting bag that is in the photo on this post. I did not get the name of the talented woman who made this amazing bag, but I believe you can find some on Etsy. They are each one of a kind, but each and every one is beautiful. There were also lots of classes to take and lectures to attend. We chose to just go this year and get a good idea for what is was all about. Next year, though, I plan to sign up for those. As soon as Vogue announces the dates for next year I will be marking them in my calendar. If you live on the west coast Vogue Knitting Live is coming to you in April. Check out http://www.vogueknittinglive.com/. It is one event you do not want to miss if you are a knitter or crocheter.

I must also mention that we had a delicious lunch at The New York Marketplace. This was on the ground floor of the hotel. Both the service and the food was outstanding. I will certainly be returning to eat there, even if there isn't a knitting event taking place.

Deadlines

I am not good with deadlines when it comes to my art projects. That is why I rarely choose to make gifts with deadlines such as birthdays, anniversaries, showers, etc. I like to just create and give. So when Lion Brand posted to knit a scarf for the Special Olympics I checked out the deadline date and seriously checked with myself about whether or not I could meet it. The deadline date was about two months away at the time, and I sincerely believed that I could complete the scarf in time. So, I ordered the yarn, extra actually, thinking that I had enough time to make two. The yarn arrived quite promptly, and I began to knit. I am a teacher so when Christmas vacation came I used any spare time I could find to work on that scarf. It was not completed by the time to go back to school, and once back at school I was concererned about the little time I could find to knit, as the deadline was approaching. Fortunately, we had a snow day, and I spent the day knitting away. I finished the scarf and mailed it off on the very last day it could be sent, in other words - the deadline! While at the UPS Store I then read the mailing directions - "Place in a zip loc bag." "Uh oh." I said the the UPS clerk, "do you have a zip loc bag? If not, can you wrap this in plastic for me?" "Yep," he replied, "we will take care of it for you?" Well, I left the scarf with the kind clerk and went to work. Recently, I was looking at photos of the thousands of scarves that arrived for the Special Olympics, and every one of them was in a zip loc bag. Apparently, I am the only one who did not read the mailing directions. I am keeping the faith that my UPS clerk made that plastic look like a zip loc bag, and some one participating in the Special Olympics will proudly wear the scarf I knit.

The other day, I signed up to knit a blanket for Debbie Macomber's "Knit 1, Bless 2" program. The due date is May 31. I do believe that I can finish the blanket I started last year for this cause. Afterall, it is halfway completed. I promise, I learned my lesson and this time I will thoroughly read the mailing directions.

The other lesson in this: I will be much more compassionate towards my students when they don't read all the directions and make a mistake. I will extend to them the same kind smile I am hoping whoever opened my scarf had on his or her face as they placed it in the pile with all the other scarves that arrived the way they were suppose to.

I finally finished my brown shawl! I started this shawl exactly one year ago. I was knitting it to wear to my nephew's wedding. I knitted it every spare moment for two weeks before the wedding. I worked on it for five hours straight as we drove from NJ to Washington, DC. I worked on it whenever I could steal some time in the hotel. An hour before the wedding I realized that although I could finish knitting the shawl, I would not have enough time to weave in all the ends. Unfortunately, there weren't enough ends to look anything like fringe. My husband then informed me that I probably wasn't going to need it because it was 90+ degrees and very humid outside. So it went back into the knitting bag. There is sat for a months. But every time I wore the brown dress I was making it to go with, I thought, "I've got to finish that shawl." Well, tonight, one year later, my husband and I are going out to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary and I am wearing the brown dress and the hand knitted shawl. Despite the fact that at 7:30 P.M. it is 79 degrees. I hope it's cold in the restaurant.