With Love

About a month or so ago (time is really flying), I made salt dough ornaments with my little neighbor who was 6 at the time (she's 7 now).   It's been years and years since I made salt dough and I learned at that time that winter weather didn't exactly provide the right conditions for  it.

We made small hearts and big hearts and then left them outside for 24 hours to let solar energy do its thing.

They dried perfectly and then it was time to paint.

 

 
I let her have all the fun and only kept one of the bigger hearts for myself.

Crocheted hearts are often made with bits of leftover cotton and gifted to friends.

 
And it's not only my love of crochet that I'm passing on to the younger generation, but I've also got them stitching, too.

This past Saturday my newest little craft friends came for another visit.

And on Wednesday, my neighbors came over and since they are always looking for something crafty to do, I got them stitching, too.

Some freehand embroidery by me using the running stitch from this week's slow stitch sew along that I posted about Wednesday evening.

Let everything we do and say be an expression of the beauty in our heart, always based on LOVE.
(Don Miguel Ruiz)

Blessings to all,

Slow Stitch and Avocado Plants

Embroidery is something I've dabbled in since the age of 10, but it's not something I ever consistently worked on or stuck with.  So when I saw a slow stitch sew along on Instagram hosted by Jill Wignall, I decided to join in.  My hoop is filled with muslin and will become a sampler of all the new stitches we learn.  Monday started off the first week with the running stitch.  

I then remembered a kit I purchased last summer while in Leesburg, VA.

It's a stamped dropcloth sampler kit so I figured this was a good time to dig it out and finally work on it, using a running stitch and whatever else I felt like doing.

I'm happy to say I finished it yesterday.

I know a lot of people who say that handstitching is very relaxing for them.  I really love the look of Indian Kantha and Japanese Boro stitching and that may be something I could enjoy.  I think the reason I've never really done embroidery is because of all the fancy stitches and feeling like they have to be done just right.  I prefer to just play around and not necessarily follow any rules or feel like things have to be perfect.  

The striped material above reminds me of ticking.  It used to be a button-up shirt for my husband, but after a big gaping hole developed in the sleeve, it became material for me. So today I played with threads and stitched a little plant scene just for fun.

Speaking of plants, I'm very, very happy that for the first time I've had success with growing plants from avocado pits.  

And not just one, but four.

Wishing you a wonderful day,

Crazy Coffee

Today we woke to some very humid weather.

My friend, Emina, and I tried out a new restaurant this morning called Majnoon Qahwa which literally translates to Crazy Coffee.

The restaurant has a nice ambience with a beautiful blue decor.

Unfortunately, since I don't eat meat or dairy products, my food options are often quite limited, so I ordered zaatar manaeesh and a fruit salad (which I thought was very overpriced).

My coffee was a Brazilian pour-over blend.

Speaking of crazy coffee, yesterday, my friend, Melissa, whom I've know for about 17 years now, invited a couple of us over to her new diwiniya for breakfast.

Diwaniya means gathering place and traditionally was used by men but, of course, with time, everything evolves.

She recently visited Indonesia and brought back some of the most expensive coffee in the world.

If you've not heard of it, the civet cat eats whole Arabica coffee cherries, but only digests the outer layers surrounding the coffee bean.  The fermented beans are then excreted, collected, separated, sun-dried, roasted and turned into coffee grounds.

The verdict:  I've definitely had a much better cup of coffee, but now I can say that I've literally tried some very "shitty" coffee.

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!

Granny Square Day

On Instagram, August 15th has been declared Granny Square Day by @suregal27.

Crocheters are encouraged to post a traditional granny square with the hashtag #grannysquareday2017 so these are the squares I made to celebrate the day.

Last night a very good friend of my husband's came to visit and showed me this hoodie/poncho that his mom just gave to him for his newborn son.  She told him it was his when he was little and is at least 40 years old now.

He doesn't remember wearing it at all, but it's certainly a wonderful thing that his mom saved it and a lovely gesture that he shared it with me.

When his son was born a few weeks ago, I sent them several presents ... a blanket, teddy bear, and gift bag with soap and washcloth .. all crocheted.  He called to thank me and said his youngest daughters, after seeing everything, really wanted to come see me for a crochet lesson.  

Of course, I enjoy sharing my love of crochet.  Zain will be 7 years old next month so I set her up with a big hook and chunky yarn and had her chaining away in no time.  She kept going, and going, and going, until she had a very long chain to take home.

In the meantime, I had shown 12 year old Ghina one of my granny square baby blankets so she asked if I could teach her how to make a granny square.  She had taken an after school crochet class a couple of years ago and still remembered the stitches, so it took her no time at all to whip up a 3 round granny.

Happy Granny Square Day!

Happy Tuesday!

Second Saturday Meet-up

A new day:

Be open enough to see opportunities.

Be wise enough to be grateful.

Be courageous enough to be happy.

(Steve Maraboli)

This morning my craft group (Kuwait Crafters) had a very successful meet-up at Starbucks, Boulevard Mall, which is just a few minutes from my home.  With a total of 10 in attendance, there was a new face and some I hadn't seen in a while, so there was lots to catch up on.

For the first time, instead of coffee, I had a matcha green tea soy latte, and Zahra provided us with a very, very, very delicious (did I say very :) vegan lemon cake.  Oh my, was it ever good.

She also made us sweet Friendship Day cards.

Mini from MinizDiary took a break from knitting to continue with her cross-stitch project.

Karen and Leanne were knitting away,

while the rest of us crocheted.

It's always nice to see what everyone is working on.  We have some very talented ladies in the group, that's for sure.

105 degrees and humid but it's all good when the day starts with friendship.

Happy Saturday!

ICAD Finish and a Crafty New Month

Yesterday I finished up the 61 day index-card-a-day challenge over on Instagram, with the final prompt being sunset.

Some days I wasn't feeling very creative and found the prompts to be a bit tricky, but for the most part I stuck with them. 

There were a couple of times when I did combine some of the prompts on one index card.  I'm just happy that I actually finished out the 61 days.  In fact, since I still have index cards, I figure I might as well keep creating. 

I really can't believe it's August 1st.

This morning I had a lovely meet-up with my friends Aruna and Emina at a new coffee/library/gallery space called Muse Lounge.

We only had drinks but the dessert display was pretty tempting (no vegan options though).

Aruna is a new crocheter so we were there to encourage her.

 Aruna practicing a granny square.

 Emina's popcorn stitch cushion cover.

I'm always stashbusting and love making grannies as they require little concentration, perfect for a morning of friendship and conversation.

Happy August!