5 months + a day

I didn't get the chance to post last night, or as you can see by the lack of posts, I haven't posted but only once in the past month. I've been busy in my sewing studio ~ I wanted to build my inventory back up to send to a friend that had a booth in a holiday fair.

I'm not doing well managing my time. Either I sew, or I cook, or I clean but for some reason I cannot do all three. During the time I was preparing for the holiday fair, my brother from DC stopped by and he told me what a mess my house was.... I was like .... "you think"???? It was obvious. Now it is snowing two hours away in the NC Mountains and we still haven't gotten our fall leaves off of the lawn..

And... eeeeeeks.. Thanksgiving is 3, yes threeeeeeeeeeee, days from today! It is true, the older you get ~ the faster time goes. Then again, it feels like it stands still at other times.

Yesterday was the 5th month anniversary of Rod's death. I was doing okay until I went to Donna's house to visit and I needed to borrow Rod's truck while our 2nd vehicle is in the shop. Talk about a HUGE rush of emotions driving HIS truck. The one he took HIS last breath in. The one that he drove over 100,000 miles... The one that still has HIS things in it. And.. you would know I cut on the radio and it was on a country station and the song "fit"...

Thanksgiving is going to be so hard without Rod ~ we'll get through it with lots of tears but with also a huge amount of great memories of Thanksgivings we shared in the past...

On a slightly different subject.... Donna and I went through Rod's t-shirts and I found a person on Etsy, by the name of Patty Evans ~ here is a link to her shop: http://www.patty33oh.etsy.com/ that makes "memory quilts" from t-shirts. Donna got the finished quilt this week ~ it is absolutely stunning!! Nothing like any other t-shirt quilt I've seen before.

I'm posting pictures of the quilt and also Patty's business card and email address. I would recommend her to anyone!! Her communication was fantastic and you can tell she loves making these quilts and her priority is to make it exactly like you want it. I told her I wanted blue fabric that looks like water (since Rod & Donna spent so much time at the lake)..

please click on the photos to see them larger....















Thank you for taking time to visit my blog.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I'll be posting pictures from our annual Thanksgiving Oyster Roast soon....

Nov 4th, 2008 is finally here....

And Eastin so patiently waited right beside me for over an hour and a half for me to vote.

She was so happy that they gave her a "I voted" sticker :)

the 23rd.. another month

Cuddly new chenille listings today :)

6 new listings today!

Fall is definitely here and is is quite nippy outside in the morning. The pastel stroller blanket will be just perfect for morning stroller rides or to keep warm between the house and the car. It will be listed on eBay and the bibs in my little ETSY online store.

If you have signed up for my mailing list, you'll receive notification once they are listed.

If not, here are the links to see these new additions :)

www.hartwelldesigns.etsy.com


http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZhartwelldesigns

Mailing list maintenance

Instead of Spring Cleaning, I'm Fall Cleaning!

I'm trying to get all of my mailing list emails in one database ~ :)

If you are not on my mailing list, and would like to be notified of new creations I have available for sale on eBay or Etsy.. please join below:

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A day on Lake Hartwell

Russ, Eastin, Miller and I ventured out on the lake this past weekend. It was a gorgeous Fall day, the air was slightly crisp but still shorts and t-shirt weather! It is unbelievable how much the levels have dropped since our last time out. I heard that the lake is dropping appx 6" every week. It is scary! There are three new islands that have popped up this past week that we can see from our deck. We are on the main channel of the lake which I'm scared at this rate, will become only a slight river if this continues.

We went to one of our favorite islands.. Only.. It is no longer an island, but has become attached to the main land. You would not believe all of the deer tracks we saw and we even spotted several foxes on what used to be the island.



The white sandy beach was under water this Spring. I have no idea what lives in that deep hole, below the clay cliff Russ is standing on. We kept saying watch out for alligators.




I'm also posting some pictures of several trees, which show their roots. The lake had washed away the dirt and it was really neat seeing what a tree looks like under ground!

blah blah blah is right......

I honestly don't know what else to say, that is why I haven't posted in a long time.

I can't put into words what I'm feeling.


The pain of losing Rod has been wearing on me. Everything I see, everything I read, every song I hear, I think of him. The new fall tv shows make me think of him, I'm so sad he isn't here to see them. When I see a Dollywood commercial, I think of him ~ he loved Dolly Parton. At his memorial services, the song "I'll always love you" (Dolly's version) was played along with Country Roads by John Denver.





The leaves changing colors make me think of him and our farm in West Virginia and how gorgeous it has to be there now.

Every moment of the day he is in my thoughts and just knowing that I will never hear his voice again haunts me. My heart aches.
I cannot imagine my life from here on without him ~ our Thanksgiving tradition was roasted oysters and lots of beer. I gave him his own set of oyster knives for Christmas last year for him to use this Thanksgiving :(.

I've lost all 4 of my grandparents, my dad, my mom and now a brother. I don't feel safe, I don't feel whole anymore, actually the only thing I know is what I feel and I'm sad, mad, anxious and realize nothing is forever and tomorrow my world could change again. I could wake up tomorrow and all it would take is one phone call for another change.

It is really amazing how the change of seasons, the crispness in the air, the thoughts of the holidays can bring on such strong emotions and new pain. I had thought with each day passed, that the next day would be easier, I was wrong. With each new day, there is a new emptiness discovered.

Ahhhhhhhh... a cool day, finally!!

What a wonderful way to start the day :)
I take Miller outside and brrrrrrrrrrrrr..... Fall is definitely in the air, atleast today it is and i LOVE it!

I have been working on a pink and white vintage chenille stroller blanket and got it listed tonight on eBay. It is so elegant, the chenilles are just tooooooo yummy! With the chill in the air, it got me motivated to finish this one blanket and get it listed on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=350099252320

I have a blue and white one in the beginning stages and big plans for a vibrant floral one!

On another note... Miller woke me up at 3:45 with a seizure. Looking back at my calendar and I had told Russ last night that he might have one today and yupp... he did. We'll be going to the vet soon with our seizure calendar to see what we need to do from here. Amazingly, I had read that if you apply an ice pack on the lower part of his spine, it will cut the seizure time down ~ and YES!! it sure does! After having one seizure, it is normal for him to have several others. I watched him closely and as soon as he started showing warning signs that one was getting ready to begin, I applied the ice pack and it stopped them! He is just the best boy and it really hurts to see him suffer from this monster. Otherwise ~ he is a happy, healthy pup :)

Fresh Veggies!

Our next door neighbors are out of town and asked us to keep their garden picked while they are gone.

Isn't this basket just absolutely gorgeous of straight-out-of-the-garden treasures??

Summer is coming to an end

and I cannot be happier! It has been hot, humid and oh my gosh!! The mosquitoes have been horrid! I get swarmed everytime I go out the front door. There is little air movement on that side of the house.

Those little buggers have even started coming around on the lake side. Usually it is too windy for them but nope.. no wind. Like I said, it has been hot and humid, so sticky outside. ewwwwwww.... I'm ready for nice crisp Fall air.

Rod has been in my thoughts, it just cannot be true that he is gone. We had so many good times together and I have great memories.

Last Christmas he told Donna not to buy Russ's Christmas present ~ he was going to buy it himself. For Rod to shop means he knows what he is going after. He isn't going out "just looking" for something to buy. He bought Russ a pair of high powered binnoculars because everytime he visited, he said the old ones we have here of Momma's weren't powerful enough.

I snapped the picture below last Summer. It is one of my favorite pictures of all times. Just looking at it makes me think of good times together at the lake.



So Rodney... Russ has been keeping his binnoculars up, we sure do miss you.

Pictures from a wedding I attended

What a wonderful, GORGEOUS evening!The sun was setting, the reception was held on the side of a river in this old Mill building.

Nooooooooooooooo.. Eastin wasn't drinking Bud Light, but she thought she was cool drinking her Sprite out of a Bud Light cup :)
hmmmmmmmm.. I don't know why this picture of the glasses is showing up rotated..

Fun with letters I found on flickr

This was a fun waste of time :)






wanna give it a try???





http://metaatem.net/words/

this makes me want to go buy some Fugly Furniture :)

http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/before-and-after

I wish I had the talent to see beyond what is sitting in front of me at a local thrift store.

If you have some time, you have GOT to see some amazing creations from thrift store finds.

Actually this whole website is amazing!!

Scissor happy again

Yes... as one friend says................

I've been murdering perfectly good bedspreads again.

But... the way I look at it. I'd rather ten people enjoy part of a bedspread than nobody since it is folded up and stored away in a closet, never to be appreciated.



These two new additions to my ever growing collection are absolutely gorgeous!

These two beauties were listed in my etsy store this morning.
(click on the picture to see the listing on Etsy).

I have 5 new additions, two of which my sister picked up for me.

It is about time to start my soft and cuddly patchwork vintage chenille throws soon.

Outside the sky is so crisp, no haze. I can tell Fall will be here soon (even though it is 85 degrees here at the moment). Isn't it amazing how the colors are more vibrant when the Summer starts to close?

Sharing some Seagull photos from earlier this year

click on the link below to see more seagull pictures I took this Spring.

http://krisecraft.smugmug.com/gallery/5906247_7dkG4/1/367393091_3nJpw#367393819_cvpBu

What a way to wake-up!

We had planned to sleep late Saturday morning. Around 8-ish, Miller started barking, so he got the big "be quiet Miller" yelled at him from our bedroom. He kept barking... Then I heard a rumbling sound outside. I was still halfway asleep (or awake) whichever, and I thought that we must be having a thunderstorm. Miller started cutting loose again, not a normal bark bark, but a "there is something wrong" bark.

I sat up on the side of the bed, pulled the curtains back and holy cow!! It was a gorgeous sunny day and there was a hot air balloon just getting ready to touch the grass. NO wonder the poor dog was having a fit! He had never seen a hot air balloon, I wonder what he was thinking?? LOL

I walked out on our deck, hair unbrushed, pj's on and the pilot smiled and said "Good Morning". I went back in and woke Eastin up, who had slept through Miller's barking because her radio was blasting and she didn't hear him.

She was so excited! She couldn't wait to go back to school today to share pictures of what landed next door.

wanna see more?? http://krisecraft.smugmug.com/gallery/5906391_HS7x9/1/367403963_AAjgY#367403963_AAjgY

A Cat in the Hat quilt on eBay

I haven't listed any creations lately, I just haven't felt like sewing. But one day I decided to spend some time in my studio and I created the most vibrant & fun Cat in the Hat quilt. The Seuss fabric has been saved for years, it has been out of print for many years. I just love how the quilt turned out and it would make a great floor quilt (or wall hanging) for a baby boy or a baby girl!

Dr. Seuss is just so much fun :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=350089453043

The drought is in stage three

(click any picture to view larger)

It is so sad looking out over what used to be a gorgeous, full lake. The levels are down, dropping inches daily and the forecast looks even worse! Lake Hartwell flows down to the Savannah River which feeds the ocean. If the Savannah River gets too low, the salt water from the ocean can come upstream and throw the whole eco balance off! I heard that there is a chance the lake will be dropped an additional 10'. There is talk that all boat landings will be closed, the docks at the Marina which hold the houseboats will have to be relocated and the gas dock closed. We are rapidly approaching a huge shelf/drop-off which means our dock will be in deep water but the drawback is, it will be in the main channel of the lake. I went over a bridge the other day and the only thing under the bridge was fields of waist high grass, absolutely no water!

Here are a few pictures I snapped as we went on a "treasure hunt". with the lake levels down, we never know what we'll find! I'm hoping for a huge diamond ring :) We've found several pair of reading glasses, sunglasses, atleast five pocket knives, numerous hammers, wrenches, cell phones... My sister let me borrow her metal detector so if the heat and humidity would drop a little bit ~ I would love to spend a day walking miles of shore.




I'll keep you all posted on our treasures :)