Sunday, January 24, 2010

Birthdays, Knitting and a Visitor

We had a fun week, this past week. We had a very sweet and lovable visitor in our home. Meet Sky. She is our "grand doggy." She belongs to our daughter, Rebekah, and her family. We had a tremendous amount of fun with Sky. Sky is a white Schnauzer and loves to run, play and walk outside. I didn't let her stay outside, because we have hawks, coyotes and big neighbor dogs who run loose. So, Sky and I took many strolls together.
My birthday was yesterday. I am not the only artsy person in this house. My husband, the UPS STORE guy is also very artsy. (sometimes too artsy, but that is another story.) LOL! This year for my birthday I had many surprises. You see, he loves to do art work on the computer. So, he took some pictures and scanned them into his computer and then did his magic. This top picture, is two, that he made into one. One is of our family when the girls were in their teens and the other is of the two of us from several years ago. I hope to put this in the master bedroom.
Well, that wasn't enough of a project for him, he did more! The next picture is of the 2 of us through several stages of our lives. The first on the left is of us as toddlers. The one of me, is in front of the Christmas tree, I am 2 and holding a doll my oldest brother gave to me. :) The next set of pictures are our senior pictures, from high school. Then we have Jeff in the Air Force and me as a bride, 1973. Then, yes, these next two pictures are us!! Our kids and most people laugh at these photos. It was curly perm days. Remember those or are you too young? MEN and women were getting them then and we both did!!!

No, we are not done yet. This one has a story. I inherited a rocking chair, from my grandmother. Well, I have since found out that it was in my greatgrandmother's home, and my mom has a picture of my grandmother sitting in it at age 1, in 1905. When UPS Store guy and I married, he reupholstered it and fixed an arm that had broken at some point in time. It was lovely. Then in about 1981, one of the rockers broke. We have moved this poor chair from New York, to Texas, to Minnesota, to Massachussetts, to Virginia, to Maryland and to Houston and to Dallas(area). I didn't know if it would ever be fixed, didn't even know who to ask to fix it. But, I wasn't going to give it up. Well, we have a customer who does these types of repairs and upholsters furniture! He worked magic with my chair and I am so appreciative to the UPS STORE guy for this. Here is my repaired chair!


This picture is of the scroll work on the top of the back of the chair. I bet this chair has a lot of stories it could tell, since before 1905!

Today is our oldest daughters birthday! I did do a knitting project for her. She received a red poncho/shrug for her birthday. I used handspun Jacob's Sheep yarn. I purchased the roving already clean and dyed. It was really nice to spin and I put it away until I could figure out what to use it for. Then I found out that Rebekah wanted this shrug. You knit one rectangle and when finished you sew one short end to the opposite end on the long side of the rectangle. It gives you a point in the front and it goes straight across the back.
Well, it needed something, and I wanted a big floppy flower. After trying several different patterns, I told my friend Laurie about it, and she suggested that I crochet one. She told me how she does this flower and I did it. I really like it. I attached it with a coiless safety pin and Rebekah can remove it, if she prefers it without the flower.


5 comments:

  1. Wow. Creativity was just bursting out of your house recently, wasn't it! I'm so happy that Jeff was able to have that beautiful rocker fixed and reupholstered. It's just gorgeous! Happy birthday, by the way! I'm not too far behind you!

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  2. Happy Belated Birthday Joanne! Wow, it must have been a while since I visited your blog...lots of really neat posts and great pictures since I looked last time ;D

    It looks like your UPS Store Guy really outdid himself in the birthday department...what wonderful memories. That chair is beautiful and the artwork fantastic!

    Maybe one day we can spend a birthday weekend together with cake and ice cream and fiber - LOL!

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  3. What a happy post. Love seeing pictures of the dear rocker. I am a huge fan of heirloom furniture.
    The shrug is a treasure.

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  4. What great presents! The chair is really pretty. It's always nice to have an antique from your family.
    Happy happy birthday!

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  5. I do like my poncho very much... Skylar told told me she wishes you'd let her stay outside to teach those neighbor dogs some manners :D

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