Hey Lilley, This is for You- Crochet Bracelets

I found this crochet pattern online and love it.  Here are some bracelets I have already made.  They are my first ones so not perfect, but I'm getting better.  Also, the yarn is not ideal for this stitch.  The yarn I have is too fuzzy (except for the red bracelet but that was Sarah's yarn and I finished it off), this stitch needs a smooth yarn.  No worries, I'm going to get some very soon =)

Art Projects

Here are some of the art projects I'm doing.  For those of you who don't know I'm taking a ceramics class and I'm working on a few projects right now.  I wanted to wait until I had a finished product to show you but figured, with ceramics, you never know how the glazing is going to turn out.  I decided I would put these up now and if I like the glaze, I'll update this post =)

This first project is a double walled pot.  There are two walls which mean I can carve through the outside wall and the inside wall remains intact. 

Stage 1: This is the pot after I have thrown it on the wheel 

 Stage 2:  I then drew my design on the outside layer and carved out some pieces.  As you can see, my outside wall is really thick.  It was my first one so I'm not freaking out about it, but the next one I do, my outside wall will be a lot thinner.

Stage 3:  Then I carved out my dragon.  The handles on the sides are the flames coming out of the dragons mouth.  I have the exact same dragon on the other side blowing flames to make the handle on the other side.  

Stage 4 and 5:  Next step is to let it dry and then bisque fire it, and then last step is to glaze it.  We will have to see how that turns out.  At this moment I have no idea how I want to glaze it.

HONEY

Another pot I am working on is a honey pot.  I want to make several of these so this one is just a trial of things I want to try.  I'm not totally happy how it is turning out (the handles don't quite work and the HONEY sign sticks out too much) but I will know for my next ones.  I do like the flower and bee though.  Once again, we will just have to see how the glaze will turn out.

WINDOWS

People here in the east like to throw a lot of useful things out on their curbs.  One thing is old windows.  I have seen some pretty things done with old windows so I decided I would have a go at it.  This is my final product with one of the windows I grabbed.  It took me four months to finally get the whole thing together.  Bless David for letting me keep these windows leaning up against the wall for that long.  We really don't have much room and they were definitely in the way so thank you Hubby for supporting me.  I think it would look better on an accented wall but that will just have to wait.

Visiting the Evans

Sarah had little Alice Lilley Evans so I went to Michigan for a week to help out.  I didn't pull out my camera very often so I don't have a picture of Baby Evans but she is beautiful!  I do have a few pics of Madison and some of our adventures.

Sarah was craving several foods she was not able to eat during her pregnancy due to heartburn and Better than Anything Cake was one of those foods.  Madison was a good little helper. . .

 and did a great job cleaning the bowl!

WHAT IS THAT!!!

Madison, Mom, and I were walking back from dropping off Abby at Preschool when Madison asks, "what is that?"

Hanging on the grate was a cute little raccoon.  Madison was worried that it was stuck so Sarah called animal control to report the raccoon.  We checked on it several times in the next four hours but by the time animal control got there, it was gone.  

 Madison spent a good couple of hours on the internet researching stuck raccoons.  It was a fun afternoon.

Holly Jolly Christmas 2012

This is what Abby and Madison found when they woke up Christmas morning.  They were so excited!

 Dave and I trying to look awake after being jumped on by the girls to wake us up.  Christmas is so much more fun with children.  They let us sleep in till 7:30 which was really nice of them.

Madison and Abby pointing out the deer tracks and carrot crumbs they found out the back door.  The girls left Santa a cinnamon roll and the reindeer each got their very own baby carrot.  As you can see, both liked what was left for them.

 These were the presents they girls got from Santa.  They played with them the whole time we were there.

This is how Dave really felt that 'early' in the morning.  WEAK SAUCE!!!  We had a really fun time at Sarah and Brian's place and it was hard to go home.  Thankfully I'll be out there shortly to help when little Baby Evans is born.  Can't wait!

Back Home in New York Playing in the Snow

Don't you just love our snowman.  He is so talented.  We had to take several pictures to get the humans on their heads though.  I used to be so good at a headstand but alas, apparently not anymore.  In my defense, I had already worked out my arms an hour that day and they were a bit tired.  As you can see, I had to cop out and do a hand stand.  Good times =)

Much to be Thankful for!

 This was my successfully made pecan pie.  Dave liked it so much he practically ate a whole one all by himself.  The crust turned out a bit too flakey but other than that, it was awesome.

David really likes aprons =)  due to our lack of a man apron, he is wearing mine and looks very nice, I might add.  He helped with Thanksgiving dinner and made the mashed potatoes.  We had a pot luck dinner with about 8 other families in the ward and had a very nice time.  

Halloween- BOO!

 These were our costumes if you can call Dave's a costume.  We went to a friends party and I got all dressed up and Dave went in what he was wearing that day already, a Captain Obvious t-shirt.  I guess it works.

 I went as a goth because Dave kept making fun of my Bellatrix Lestrange costume I have worn for the past three years (it might even be four), even though it totally rocks. 

This is Matt and Liz.  She was Amelia Earhart and he was a priest (obviously)

My Beach Fix

Liz and I went to Ontario Lake Beach and put our feet in the water.  We pretended it was the ocean. The beach had real sand =)  That made me happy!

 I have never seen geese on a beach but there they were.  Just a reminder that we were not at the ocean but it was till pretty.

 I loved this shirt so I took a picture.  

 The fisherman would often catch these little trash fish.  They would get in trouble if they threw them back in the water so they just threw them on the pier for the sea gulls to eat. . . kinda gross!  Watch where you step.

 We walked on the pier and there were a lot of people fishing for perch.  My experiences with perch involved a cane pole, worms, and a little pond.  These fishermen were using minos for bait and extra line hooked to the main line so there were two hooks per pole. I have never seen that before.  I got the skinny so if anyone wants to go fishing when they come and visit, I know what to do!