Dune Blanket Ta-Da and ZZ Shoot

Hello my friends. How is your week going? We're having a busy one, for retired people anyway. :-) I am happy to share that I finished my Dune blanket, designed by my friend in England, blogger Lucy, at Attic24 blog.

This is a lap blanket/afghan size and I am making two, one for each of my granddaughters in Ohio. I don't get to see them often, so I want them to have this blanket to wrap themselves in a hug from me whenever they feel like it.

I have decided that I will go ahead and send this to Jenna, the oldest, as it took me nearly half a year to make and I want her to enjoy it while I work another half year on the 2nd one for Paige.

I did not like the 3 darkest colors in the palette so I bought some other colors for the 2nd one. I hope I like it as well. We'll see.

I did a simple shell border in blue and dusty pink. I think it works.

I knitted this hat many years ago and wear it throughout December each year. I had originally made my own pom-pom out of the off-white velour yarn but it fell apart. SO.. I ordered this faux fur one not long ago and affixed it on my hat. I wore this in the Veteran's Day parade as we have the windows down through the parade route and I needed it to keep warm! I did knit the hat but crocheted the brim.

My ZZ plant has put out a shoot.. I'm excited to see a new leaf emerge.

I took this photo a few days ago..

And I just took this one.. it's neat how you feel you can actually see them grow. Do you have houseplants? Do you love seeing them grow and change?

I was looking for my first octopus ink painting the other day, it's of Dayle pulling our 3 little children on one sled down our snowy driveway. I did NOT find that one but I did find this one of an old barn. I'm going to hang this on the family room wall where I have the other ones. I remember taking this photo when I was driving through the countryside to visit my mom on their property in Scio, OR. A friend of mine sent me the raw octopus ink from their fishing boat in Alaska and told me of a woman there who used it to do paintings.. so I did and love the vintage look of them.

I ran across this photo and thought I'd share it, I made this teapot for my friend Shirley and saw it at her house. I threw all the pieces individually and then joined them together by scoring each piece and added slip which is a mixture of clay and water. I made a clay strip for the two pieces where the handle fits and the top of the lid. After bisque firing, I glazed it and high fired it. Then Dayle bent a coat hanger wire to make the handle and I did a macrame cover for it and finished it off with beads. :-)