Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Knitting a Dress & GREEN Farm Yard

Remember my Maggie Maria Rabbit I made from the kit from Alicia Paulson?  WELL.. she just brought out some knitting patterns for new clothes for her Maggie Rabbits and I fell in love with this cute little knitted dress, so I ordered the pattern and some teeny tiny buttons.  By the way, she sold out 1000 kits in a few days, but has now made a LOT more and so if you want a kit with all the materials, you can buy it in her online shop.  Here I am below, on my THIRD try, knitting my little tiny dress.  I'm not an accomplished knitter, so this is quite a challenge for me.  I started using a #5 circular needle and the yarn was stretched so far on the needles I couldn't knit.. try #2 was on 4 double pointed needles, and I realized that I didn't know how to use stitch markers on knitting, only crochet.  I emailed my knitting friend, Meredith from Mereknits Blog and she has kindly helped me with a myriad of questions.
Here is my Maggie Maria showing off the beginnings of her dress.  I'm using my vintage faux tortoise shell knitting needles I bought from Australia on eBay.  LOVE them.
After 3 tries and HOURS of frustration and feeling like I wanted to jump off a cliff.. I think I have it.  The next row scares me.  More on this next update.
I went outside to see what was growing and found my little roses I potted up last summer in bloom.. this one's name is "Playboy". 
I think I lost the marker for this one, but I think it's a super doubled old rose.  These 4 are from Heritage Roses - each rose is true to the roots - they don't use root stock and grafting.  This one smells divine!
I have tons of my 4th of July roses - it's a climber.
The begonia is happy.
My hosta is huge with Japanese Forest Grass behind it, and my corkscrew willow coming along.
My orange honeysuckle is covered with blooms!
And here is the yellow centered rhodie, our 2nd last to bloom.
I noticed our sage in the herb pots was in bloom!
During the winter wind storms, a big huge branch broke off one of our Douglas Fir trees and fell on my beloved "Beauty Bush".  Hubby used the tractor to try to straighten up the old shrub, but 2/3rds of it broke off when he was trying to save it.  I'm so happy to see that 1/3 of it survived and it's in bloom.  I love this flower, like little orchids.
Pretty, huh?
I'm near the top of the creek of our water feature - do you see Dayle's garden sculpture of a Chinese warrior.  He guards to creek and pond.  He hasn't done too good of a job, letting Great Blue Heron's take our fish and raccoons, also.  :-)
From under my Japanese red maple.. our deck and back door.. and the creek.
Do you think it's green enough here?  I mean.. really!
My garden sculpture is a art deco lady leaning on a stone wall.  To her right we planted a hardy fuchsia - it's doing pretty good!
This Sweet William comes back in this pot every year.  Love it.
Our woodlot from the bedroom French doors.  Green!
One of my newer blog friends is Jennifer from Thistle Bear Home and she posted a few days ago about her wonderful parents-in-law and the 2 lockets they gave her while there on a visit.  I told her I'd share my locket.  I found it on eBay - it's vintage and made of rose gold with old style diamonds in a star pattern on the cover.
I often wonder about it's history.  It's engraved on the back - Nov 1907 with the initials of A, T & S.  I knew it was fate that I found it as those are the initials of my 3 children, Amy, Travis & Shawn.  :-)
I wear this often.
Inside I printed up tiny photos of Dayle and I when we were married and our 3 children, all their senior graduation photos.  These have faded, I think I need to print up a new set of photos.  
I just received a box of 100 of these pins - they depict the highway sign that I drew and designed which has been on our highway here for many years.  If you want one, I'm selling them for $5 plus $2 S&H.  Just email me at Teresa@byTeresa.com  -- they are 1 inch wide and 1.25 inches long.
My daughter sent me the cutest photo of our youngest granddaughter, Paige.  Isn't she adorable?  She graduated from Pre-School!  
We had a nice peaceful weekend remembering our service men and women.  On Sunday around noon our son and dil brought our 13 and 8 year old grandsons to spend the night here while they had some me time at Skamania Lodge in the gorge.  The boys were fun to have with us.  What amazed me was their appetites!  Their parents brought a crate of fresh strawberries and they ate the entire thing in just a few hours!  For dinner we made them a 9x13 pan of chicken in a garlic cream sauce with white and wild rice.. and they polished the whole thing off!  (We ate our lo-cal dinners)  Then for breakfast Dayle made them 10 eggs scrambled with cheese, and 2 pieces of toast, and after that, they toasted up the entire rest of the loaf of bread and ate it with 1/2 jar of jam!  Gadzooks!  Growing boys!!  LOL!!  Have a great week!!  We'll be attending our 5 year old grandson's graduation from Pre-School on Thursday - that should be fun!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

21 comments:

  1. What a full post! Thank you for sharing your locket, it's beautiful! I love old jewelry that you don't know a lot about; my husband gave me a ring when we first got together (not an engagement ring, more of a friendship ring) that he found in a truck stop when he was a kid. It's a signet ring with initials and I love to ponder the mystery of who it belonged to. All of your flowers are looking great, but no, your yard is not nearly green enough! Ha. ;)

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  2. I think the yarn you picked is perfect for the sweater. It was so hard for me to try and match yarn to a picture on the computer screen. Don't let the next row bother you one bit, you can do it. Love the flowers and the lush greenery surrounding you.
    Hugs to you sweet Teresa,
    Meredith

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  3. The flowers are so pretty, and I love the yarn that the bunny is knitting with. Talk to you soon. XOXO

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  4. Your garden is so lush and green. I just love that!

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  5. Teresa~
    No jumping off cliffs for you...you can do this:) BTW, love Maggie Maria Rabbit's knitted dress so far--the pink is divine!
    Beautiful, beautiful land you have--a definite paradise!
    Blessings,
    Aimee
    PS: Congrats to Paige--cute photo!

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  6. Wow! What a post full of fun. I think you can call your property Oregon Green! Love the knitted dress for Maggie. You can do it!
    Since I've seen your locket personally I can vouch for how beautiful it is.
    Fun times with the bous. Will you share your recipe for the garlic chicken?
    Have a lovely day my friend.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  7. Hi..fabulous blooms, I'm coming to live where you are hehe.
    Maggie's dress is going to be so cute love her.
    Love the star diamond locket..so pretty....off to get ready for my Knit and Natter at 10 this morning..a fun group.
    Hugs x

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  8. What a little cutie, she looks suitably proud of herself. I've been trying some knitting this week as well, it looks like yours is going better than mine!

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  9. Love the shade of pink you are doing the bunny dress in and it looks really good so far. I find that patterns can sometimes be confusing when they are just beginning and once you get going it all falls into place. Can't wait to see it when you're finished. Love your locket too and I can't get over how plush and green it is there. Plants seem to grow like crazy there.

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  10. I do love Maggie Maria. Your roses are beautiful again this year. Pre-school graduations are too cute. I enjoyed the descriptions of the boy's appetites too. I can relate to that. We just get one meal cleared away and it all starts again. :) x

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  11. Hello Teresa, Your Gardens are so lush and green. I especially love your Beauty Bush I am glad it survive to bloom again. Your Maggie Marie looks like she is liking the beginnings of her new dress. Your Grand daughter Paige is very sweet. Lovely photo. Hugs Judy

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  12. Look at you broadening your horizons and whipping up some knitting! You, my dear, must be a very patient person...or determined and stubborn. Ha-ha. I adore that rabbit, and would have loved to have bought a kit to make one, but I don't sew. I know you know that. I bet I have said it in people's comments 100 times. I'm more likely to sew it by hand than use a sewing machine, as long as it's nothing too big or elaborate. Can't wait to see your knitted rabbit dress when it's done. That locket you found on ebay is very cool! Love that it has your kids' initials and that you put all your pictures in it. What a nice thing to pass on some day. All of your flowers pictures are fun to look at...so pretty!

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  13. Hi There, What a beautiful garden you have!!!I'm sure it must be the HQ for all of the garden fairies of the world!!!It really looks quite magical!!!Love your locket!!!Have a great mid week!!!
    Love
    AMarie

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  14. What a fun green yard you have this year. Always amazed at how much ahead you are color wise to us. We are green, but still not a lot of blooms yet. What a fun pin that is to have and treasure.

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  15. Hi Teresa, your garden is looking so lush. Great photos. How amazing that your locket has the initials of your children engraved on the back...it certainly was meant to come to you. Paige looks so sweet but I didn't know that little ones graduated..LOL. Over here the only graduates are those who have completed their university degrees, so they are 21 years or older ;0)
    Have fun with the knitting, it's looking good x

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  16. Hi Teresa your 'garden' and collection of plants and flowers are amazing. The locket is beautiful. I had a lovely one my parents bought me when I was 18 and I lost it. I was devastated and even now so many years later I feel i's loss keenly. Paige is growing up so much isn't she. She is so beautiful. My GD's visited this afternoon and we played together - lovely times. I may be going down south tomorrow with my brother to visit Mum who is in hospital. Love and hugs Anne x

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  17. My dear Teresa your little sweater for Ms Magie Maria is sooo adorable. It looks like fun to make. I also think your nails look fabulous :) the flowers are breathtaking and your granddaughter is the most adorable and gorgeous little princess... Just an overload of happy and pretty things :)

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  18. So darling...graduation from preschool ....mine graduates from high school...it goes fast. Your roses are stunning. xoxo

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  19. Have you read L.I. Wilder's book, Farmer Boy, Teresa? If not you would enjoy reading about what her husband ate as a growing farm boy :-) I love the picture Amy sent you! And I love your garden photos!!! Your locket is a treasure, and I want to buy at least one of your CRG pins when I get home, to treasure. Keep up the good work on MMM's new dress! Along with your other friends, I am confident you will finish it beautifully!
    Love with hugs,
    Gracie

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  20. Teresa, I don't think your farm could look any more beautiful! AND that dress, yup you can do it and it will be awesome!!!! That locket was meant for you, isn't it something how things like that fall into our hands. I love when that happens! Love Paige's picture, now that a TREASURE!!
    Have a great weekend, xoRobin

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